Land of the Dogs (Book 1)

by S. L. Rowland

  “This is incredible,” he said. “You could live off this for years.”

  “This isn’t even half of it. I have two more rooms full of stuff,” said Hanzel. “Hand me your bag.”

  Hanzel filled Simon’s bag with beef jerky, candy bars, potato chips, and an assortment of other foods. He topped it off with several sodas and then emptied four water bottles into Simon’s gallon jug.

  “Thank you so much, Hanzel. You are literally a life saver,” said Simon.

  “Don’t mention it. You seem like a good kid. I hope it all works out for you,” said Hanzel. “If you’re ever in the area again, stop by; but please knock first.” He laughed at his own joke.

  “Will do,” said Simon. He walked out the door and was on the road again.

  With a full stomach and a sugar high, Simon made great time the rest of the day. With food to give him energy and water for hydration, he was able to walk nearly twenty miles. He would be at the next settlement by afternoon tomorrow.

  As dusk approached, Simon began to look for a place to camp for the night. The area he was in was heavily wooded, as the space between towns often was. None of this is very appealing. All of the trees are too close together, but if I don’t pick something soon, I won’t be able to see.

  Simon settled on an area where the trees were less dense. He climbed up and fastened his hammock between two pine trees. He pulled out a candy bar from his bag and another orange soda. Man, I love sugar.

  After eating, Simon climbed in his hammock to settle down for the night. The tree cover blotted out the moon, which was in full force tonight, making it nearly impossible to see. Under the cover of darkness, Simon disappeared in the trees. It wasn’t long before he fell asleep. The wind, which had picked up again, was less noticeable in the woods; only the faintest whistle could be heard overhead as the treetops whipped back and forth.

  Crunch. The snap of breaking limbs woke Simon. The noise sounded like it was only a few feet away, but the darkness prevented him from seeing. His eyes had slightly adjusted to the lack of light. Footsteps could be heard in the distance accompanied by soft groans and mumbles. Oh, shit, thought Simon. There was more than one of them, of that he was certain, but how many, he couldn’t tell.

  In the dark, he knew he couldn’t fight. The monsters definitely had the advantage under the circumstance. With no other choice, Simon decided to wait until dawn to try anything. He spent the rest of the night on alert with the sounds of the groaning monsters always within earshot. Occasionally, one would pass beneath him, as if sensing Simon nearby but unable to grasp where. The hours slowly crept by before the sun began to breach the horizon and Simon could hazily make out his surroundings.

  Not ten feet from where he lay, five of the undead stumbled through the forest. Two men and three women, all wearing camouflage, grunted and shambled beneath Simon. One of the men had a gaping wound on his neck where someone had bitten him. The yellow pus slowly seeped out and down his jacket. Two of the women had shotgun blasts to their midsections. Simon couldn’t make out the other two standing behind them. They stumbled back and forth, sensing Simon in the area, but unable to locate him.

  Simon just watched them for what seemed like hours. As the sun rose, he continued to make out more and more of the bodies. When he had enough light to see clearly, he decided to act. Simon rolled out of the hammock and landed with a soft thud on the pine needle floor. One of the women turned her head, aware of the disturbance. The others quickly noticed Simon’s appearance and came charging after him. Simon grabbed Slugger, which he had placed beside the tree while he slept, and prepared for their onslaught. One of the women came first. A quick swing to the head dropped her to the floor, the remnants of her past intelligent life left splattered on the pine next to her. A second swing took out the man behind her and he fell to the ground. Simon’s blood was pumping. He felt alive. He felt strong. His next swing hit the other woman in the neck and separated her head from shoulders. The head rolled along the forest floor, still moaning and biting. There were two left, both running at Simon at the same speed. He knew he couldn’t take them out at once, so he ran towards the road. Simon tripped on a stump hidden beneath the pine needles and fell face first into the dirt. The man behind him tripped over Simon’s body and fell across him. Adrenaline pumping, Simon kicked the man off and into the woman behind him. They both fell down. That gave Simon the time he needed get on his feet. The woman was up first and charged Simon again, like a wild boar, eyes filled with madness. He took a hard swing and that was all that was needed to cave in the woman’s head. A line of pungent pus shot towards Simon as Slugger made contact and soaked through his shirt. Only the man remained. He had been a strong man once, perhaps a farmer. His neck was still large from years of hard work. His glazed eyes showed nothing. He stood there for a moment, almost human, before letting out a guttural moan and charging. Simon readied his swing. When the man was in striking range, Simon swung with everything he had. Slugger met the decayed flesh of the man’s head with a wet crunch. Flecks of bone and pus and brain tissue burst into the air. The man collapsed instantly to the ground, his own flesh raining down upon him.

  Simon let out a sigh. What the hell was that? Five of them just walking through the woods. He went back to his camp and packed up. The stench from the bodies followed Simon as he walked past them. Simon took his knife and stabbed the moving head before embarking on the final miles to the next camp.

  Simon had heard very little about what lay ahead. He only knew no one he had met so far had made much contact with this settlement. It was only circled on the map the Mayor had given him, located in what had been another small town. Perhaps it had fared better than the others.

  Simon trudged warily down the road. His senses were on alert, not knowing what awaited him at the next camp. He spotted a sign that read ‘Griffin’s Hollow: 5 miles.’ An hour and a half later, he could see the settlement. A gated community with brick walls surrounded the perimeter. Simon saw large brick houses on the other side of the walls, dozens of them. People walked in the streets. A few women stood near the entrance with rifles.

  Simon camped beneath a tree and watched for a while, studying the people and the way they interacted. They all seemed to get along. They smiled. He ate beef jerky while he watched. As the midday heat began to fill the air, Simon had seen enough. Now is as good a time as ever, I guess. Simon picked up his bag and walked toward the entrance. As he approached, a young woman spotted him.

  “Dan, what are you doing out there?” she asked, her eyebrows scrunched in confusion.

  Why is she calling me Dan?

  “How did you get out there? These gates have been shut all day,” she said. She was about Simon’s age. Her blond hair fell to her shoulders and blew in the wind. She looked familiar to Simon. For a moment, he simply looked into her icy blue eyes.

  “Violet?” Simon knew it was her. He could never forget those eyes. They used to watch him every Thursday night when Simon played baseball. She would sit in the same spot at every home game, cheering on the team.

  At that moment, it clicked for her, too. “Simon? How? How is this possible?” She opened the gate without thinking and ran out to him. “We all thought you were dead.” She embraced him in a tight bear hug. “Your brother is going to shit his pants,” she yelled.

  “Dan’s here? I’ve been searching for him and Mom.” A small crowd had gathered around the gate. They were watching Simon and whispering to each other.

  “Follow me, I’ll take you to him right away. I can’t believe this. Cheryl, watch the gate please. I’ll explain everything later.”

  Violet grabbed Simon by the hand and pulled him inside Griffin’s Hollow. “This is so crazy. I never thought I would see you again. I mean, I went to your funeral. I’m sure you have a lot to tell, and I want to hear it all, but I know your brother will want to see you.”

  They raced down the street. The community had changed very little in appearance since everything went to hell. The
lawns were converted to gardens and the windows were bare to let in as much light as possible, but they still had the air of upper middle-class homes. They had the look of propriety. The gardens were ripe with fruit. Tomatoes hung from vines; squash and watermelon lay ready to be picked. Simon saw green beans, strawberries, potatoes. One house had a chicken roost where a fountain used to be.

  “How have you been?” asked Simon, admiring his surroundings as they walked briskly down the street. It was a stupid question, but it was nice to hear her voice.

  “I’m doing okay, considering. This is a good place.” She pointed to a building down the street. “We’re almost there. Your brother is working in the old pool-house. We use it to store all of the fruits and vegetables we grow. He’s gotten super strong, so he does all the heavy lifting.”

  They walked through a small picket fence to enter the pool area. The pool had been converted into a small pond. It was overgrown with algae, but Simon could see fish swimming.

  “We farm our own fish too. It’s pretty cool,” she said. “He should be right inside.”

  Violet opened the door to the pool-house. Simon saw shelves stocked with fruits and vegetables, while crates of not-yet-stocked food sat on the floor. It was arranged like a market, with each food grouped together. In the corner, Simon spotted his brother stocking tomatoes on a shelf. He looked older, almost Simon’s age. He looks just like me. His skinny frame had filled in with muscle and his face had traces of a blooming beard. He didn’t look over when they entered, fixated on his work. Dan was wearing a pair of khaki cargo pants with a red V-neck shirt. It clung tight to his body, and sweat had stained the area in the small of his back.

  “Dan,” Simon called.

  “What can I help you with?” Dan replied. He didn’t look over from his shelves.

  “Dan,” said Violet. “You need to see this.”

  Dan looked over at them. The tomatoes in his hand fell to the floor. One burst, sending its pulpy innards across the floor. He stood there transfixed in total silence and stared at Simon for a few seconds before saying anything.

  “Simon? Is it really you?” he asked.

  Not knowing what else to do, Simon walked over and gave his brother a hug. Overcome with emotion, he pulled him tighter. “It’s me. It’s really me.”

  “Where have you been? We thought you were dead.”

  “Honestly, I don’t really know. I’ll tell you what happened, but I’m not sure you’ll believe me. Where’s Mom?” asked Simon.

  Dan looked from Violet to Simon as if searching for the answer. He looked at his shoes, and his voice was full of defeat when he spoke. “She didn’t make it.”

  “What do you mean she didn’t make it? Is she somewhere else?” Simon knew what Dan meant, but he didn’t want to accept it.

  “No. She didn’t make it here. We were attacked on our way over. We were hungry and didn’t have any weapons, they had been taken from us. There was a herd of the undead, twenty, maybe thirty of them. They were too fast. We tried to run, but they were gaining on us. There was no way we were both making it out of there. She told me to run. She said she would hold them off as long as she could, but that I needed to go. I told her not to. I begged her not to. But you know how she is. Once she makes up her mind, it can’t be changed. She was going to slow them down whether I ran or not, so I ran. I ran as fast as I could until I reached this place and I passed out at the gate.” A single tear ran down his cheek and fell to the floor. Simon knew he had shed many over the attack.

  Simon pulled him in again. He put his hand on the back of Dan’s head as he cried on his shoulder. “It’s okay, brother. I found Claire. We can meet up with her in a few days.”

  Dan pulled away, his eyes wide. “You found Claire? Where was she?”

  “She was at Town Hall the whole time. I’ll tell you everything when we have a chance to sit down and talk,” said Simon.

  “Tell me now. We have time now,” said Dan. At that moment, nothing else mattered.

  “I’ll leave you boys to catch up,” said Violet. “I’m going to find Emma and explain everything. I’m sure the girls have gone wild with speculation. I’ll see you later, Simon.” She winked at him as she walked away.

  Simon sat down at a table in the corner and told his brother everything. He told him about the lake, about finding Claire, going to the Farm, the High School, Hanzel.

  “How is that possible? It’s like you just showed up out of nowhere. And you still think you’re eighteen?” he asked.

  “Yeah.”

  “Well, I am eighteen. I’ve aged these past two years. And you haven’t. We look practically the same. It’s freaky, don’t you think?” said Dan.

  “That has been one of the least freaky things I’ve experienced this past week. I can’t even begin to imagine what it must have been like for you. How long have you been here?” Simon asked.

  “A couple months now. It’s a good place. Everyone has a say in what happens here. Maybe we can come back after we go get Claire. I’m sure Emma will come introduce herself to you. She’s the closest thing this place has to a leader.”

  As if on cue, there was a light knock at the door and a woman walked in. She was young, in her early thirties. Her hair was a fiery red, her skin pale but for the few freckles around her nose. She wore blue jeans with a low cut blue shirt.

  “Well, I’ll be damned. I’d swear you two were twins.” She walked over to where they were sitting.

  “Simon, this is Emma. Emma, this is my brother, Simon,” said Dan. Emma extended her arm to Simon.

  “I didn’t know you had a brother,” said Emma.

  “We thought he was dead. He went missing over two years ago. Before any of this ever happened.”

  “Where were you all this time, Simon?” she asked. Her eyes never left his.

  “It’s a long story.”

  “They all are,” she said, matter-of-factly. “How did you find us anyhow?”

  “There was a circle on a map. That’s all I knew about this place. My sister and I had been out searching for our mom and Dan for over a week now.”

  “Would this be the same sister Dan was searching for when he came here?”

  “It is,” said Dan.

  “This just gets more and more interesting by the minute,” Emma said. “But I’ll leave it for another time. What’s your plan from here?”

  Dan spoke first. “We’re going to go get Claire. And then we’ll come back here.”

  “I think that’s something we’ll need to decide as a group,” said Simon. “This seems like a nice place, but we can’t make decisions for Claire without her consent.”

  “I like you already,” said Emma. “We’ve got a great place here. It truly is. Everyone has a say and is respected. Nothing happens without a majority vote, and we vote on everything as a community. I’ve heard of some of the other places out there. And I can tell you for a fact that we do things better here. There is no one person calling the shots. If you have an idea, you bring it before the group and if you get enough votes, it becomes law until it is overturned or reworked.”

  “It sounds like you have a pretty good system,” said Simon. If it worked as well as she said, Simon could see the appeal of such a place.

  “I spent the majority of my adult life fighting for equal rights for people. It took the downfall of civilization as we know it for it to finally happen, but I think we’re on the right track, here at least,” she said. “It was nice to meet you, Simon. Normally, I wouldn’t give you free run of the place on day one, but I trust Dan with my life. I have work I need to get back to, but I would like to invite you and Dan over to dinner tonight if you’re up for it. You should stay the night and head out tomorrow.”

  “That sounds great,” said Simon.

  “Take care, boys,” she said as she walked out the door.

  “She’s a great woman,” said Dan. “She helped found this place after everything went bad. She lived here with her husband, but he died in an attac
k. She got this place up and running so people wouldn’t have to worry as much.” Dan noticed the tomatoes he had dropped on the floor. “Do you want to help me take care of my work while you’re here? We can get twice as much done so that it doesn’t have to get passed off to someone else while we’re gone.”

  “Of course, anything I can do to help,” said Simon.

  “Great. I’ll finish putting these away later, it’s the easy part. There should be a pallet outside. We’ll pull that along. It’s how we get the produce from the houses to here in as few trips as possible.”

  “Not a bad idea,” said Simon.

  “I’m sure you saw all the gardens on your way in?” asked Dan.

  “I did.” He remembered all the fruits and vegetables just waiting to be picked in each yard.

  “Each house has one. Some have two. And for the most part, they all grow different things. I go around gathering up the ripe produce and I bring it back to the pool-house, where it is sorted. Every house is able to cook whatever they want. We just keep it there so everyone has access. And if something starts to go bad, I’ll encourage people to use it up first, which they usually do.”

  “How is every house able to cook without gas or power?” asked Simon.

  “We’re pretty lucky. There is this guy named Jimmy. He can fix about anything. When he first got here, he had the idea to turn all the gas stoves into wood burning. With some pipe and other materials we were able to gather, it only took a couple of months to rig up the whole neighborhood.”

  At the first house, a two-story colonial that had white pillars going from the first floor to a porch on the second, they picked up a crate of squash, zucchini, and cantaloupe. Mr. Brown waved at them as they took the box away. He looked a little puzzled when he noticed that Simon and Dan looked exactly alike. He rubbed his eyes with his finger and thumb, looked at them again, and then turned for his house.