by Ben McElyea
“What are my two options? I want to live!”
“You can either be sacrificed to send the dark god your love or become an animal.”
“What do you mean when you say become an animal?”
“Those are your choices. If you do not choose one of the two options, I will choose for you.”
“You’re crazy! I didn’t do anything wrong!”
“You’re imperfect and have to atone for it! This is your last chance, Patrick. Do you choose to be sacrificed? Or do you choose to become an animal of the dark god?”
“I don’t want to do either! I just want to leave! I want my daughter back!”
“I’m going to choose for you. You’re going to serve the dark god as an animal! The dark god will be pleased!”
“No!”
Jerry and Ted untied Patrick and held him at gunpoint.
“Remove your clothes,” Steven said to Patrick.
“No! Please! I can’t do this!”
“Remove his clothing,” Steven said to Jerry and Ted. “If he resists, shoot him in the foot.”
Patrick didn’t resist. He bawled as Ted removed his clothing piece by piece. Patrick covered his groin with his hands.
“Come, everyone!” Steven said as he spun around and waved at the ceiling. “It’s time to give Patrick his new home.”
What was done to Thomas was done to Patrick. Jake, Eric, Pete, and Dan cringed at the sight of Thomas and the other bare people chained to the ground. Thomas sat on the ground with his legs crossed. He reached out his hand for Jake, but said nothing. He was covered with cuts and bruises. A zombie stood at the fence.
“Will that zombie be able to reach them?” Jake asked Steven.
“If that is the dark god’s will, so be it. Patrick is living as a child of the dark god now. He’s embraced perfection. You’re all free to go. My followers and I will take good care of Patrick. May the dark god bless you all!”
Jake and the others were given back Thomas’s and their possessions. They quickly got out of there.
“Where’s Patrick?” Melissa asked.
“He’s gone,” said Pete.
“Is he dead?”
“He’s as good as dead.”
“What do you mean?”
“If I were to tell you, you’d wish I hadn’t.”
“I have no one now.”
“Thanks,” said Courtney. “I thought we were friends.”
“You’re all my friends. I just liked him a lot.”
“You’re one of us. We’ll help you and you’ll help us.”
“We keep dying. I don’t want anyone else to die.”
41
A few months passed by. Still worried about running out of food, Jake and the others continued searching buildings of all kinds. Most of what they found consisted of batteries, lighters, vitamins, books, noodles, and canned goods. Running low on ammunition, they had to trade half the food they found.
“We’re getting by,” Eric said as he paced the floor.
“We’re doing better than most people here,” said Jake.
“It’d be great to have some fruit,” said Pete. “I’d love to have an apple.”
“That’d be nice,” Courtney said as she warmed her hands near the fire. “I’d love some strawberries.”
“We’re not finding nearly as much food as we were,” Said Jake. “It concerns me. I’m going to talk to Jonathan. I’m not risking my life for barely enough.”
“I’m coming with you,” said Dan.
Dan followed Jake to Jonathan’s home. Jake knocked on the door. Jonathan swung it open.
“Is there something I should know?” Jonathan asked.
“My group and I are concerned,” Jake said firmly.
“Concerned about what?”
“Food is becoming harder to come by.”
“I’ve noticed this.”
“I think we should move.”
“I was thinking the same thing.”
“We’re taking great risks for small rewards. I know there’s more food elsewhere. There has to be.”
“I think we should leave tomorrow.”
“That sounds good. Please let me know before you depart.”
“See you tomorrow.”
The next morning, Jonathan knocked on the team’s door.
“It’s time, Jake.”
“How many agreed to go with us?”
“Everyone’s on board. Including you and your friends, there are fifteen of us. Are you and your people ready?”
“Yeah. We’ve packed and are ready to go.”
“Let’s go.”
Everyone followed Jonathan and the other survivors through the roads and snow. Some would flinch when they heard someone step on a twig. Not sure where they were headed, the brave and timid survivors hurried to find a new place to live.
“We’re near where I went to high school,” said Jake. “This area is full of houses. It’ll be a great place to live.”
“Then it’s settled,” said Jonathan. “We’re going there.”
“Where did all of you come from?” Dan asked Jonathan.
“I came from Oklahoma. Most of the people with us are from the western part of Tennessee.”
“So it is bad everywhere.”
“It is bad everywhere.”
“I’ve accepted it,” said Jake.
“Accepted what?” Eric asked.
“How it’s going to be.”
42
“You’re just now accepting it?”
“Yeah.”
“You’ve been doing exceptionally well for someone who’s just now adapting.”
“I just hold it in.”
“I know where we’re headed,” Dan said to Jake.
“So?”
“I’m not so sure if I want to find out if they made it or not.”
“We’re going to find out.”
Several wandering zombies were walking through the roads. Not wanting to attract extra attention while being out in the open, they used melee weapons. Jake, Dan, and Pete observed the strangers in the group. They figured Jonathan, Kathy, Theresa, Dustin, Jasmine, and Emily out as they traveled. They heard nothing from three of them.
They stopped when they saw a group of four standing in the middle of the road. Jonathan waved. One of the four waved back. Jake and the other fourteen watched the woods on the sides of the road, wondering if the encounter was a trap. It wasn’t.
“Who are you?” Jonathan asked. “Where did the four of you come from?”
“I’m Randy. This is Amanda and Robert. We’ve been traveling for a long time. We just find food and move on.”
“There’s little back from where we came.”
“Same.”
“What should we do with you?”
“Please don’t kill us.”
“We have our guns aimed at you. The four of you have your guns pointed at us.”
“We’re in a bad situation. Our lives are in your hands. What will you do? Will you kill us, let us pass, or let us join you?”
“We’re robbing them,” said Eric. “It’s the best idea.”
“Robbing them?” Jonathan asked.
“Yes. We’re going to rob them.”
“We should give them a chance, Eric.”
“No, we shouldn’t.”
“We have plenty of mouths to feed as it is. We need the guns and supplies they have.”
“That’s cruel.”
“Too bad. The four of you are to give us everything you have. In exchange, you get to live.”
“We’ll be defenseless.”
“I don’t care.”
“Okay. I have no choice but to do as you say.”
Randy put his rifle and backpack on the ground.
“We understand we’ve lost. We’re going to give you everything we have and be on our way.”
The four victims walked past Jake and the others and disappeared into the distance.
“I don’t like the decision that
was made,” Jonathan said to Jake.
“Survival of the fittest,” Jake replied.
43
Jake and Eric were searching cars on the side of the road while making their way to Jake and Dan’s childhood home. They would pry open the trunks of cars. After they found a case of water and canned meat, everyone else did the same. The trunks of every other car contained food or water.
They reached the neighborhood and saw a gruesome display. Decapitated heads and headless bodies were strewn about. A bloody axe was stuck in the ground. Blood, organs, and body parts was caked upon the surface of a wide tree stump.
“This place is being used,” Dan whispered. “We need to get out of here. I don’t want to encounter people any more than we have to.”
“We need to find out if Mom and Dad are still here.”
“I know you want to find out, Jake. I just don’t think it’s a good idea to stay here any longer.”
“The house is just around the corner. Let’s check it out. Maybe we’ll find them or a trace of them.”
“I doubt they’re here, but we’ll look real quick.”
Jake and Dan stood in front of their parents’ door.
“Make it quick,” said Jonathan. “We need to keep moving.”
Jake turned the door knob. The door was unlocked. Jake and Dan searched room after room. Their parents were not in the house. A large blood stain was on the floor next to their parents’ bed.
“Do you think that’s Mom or Dad’s blood?” Dan asked.
“I don’t know. What I do know is we need to get out of here before the executioner or executioners come back.”
Jake grabbed a family photo from the top of the living room’s mantle and met with his brother and the others outside.
“I figured they might have left a note,” said Jake.
“It’ll be okay,” Dan replied.
“Which way should we go now?” Jonathan asked.
“We can take some of the backroads,” Jake answered as he put the family photo in his duffle bag.
“Where will the roads take us?”
“There’s a library, small grocery store, a few gas stations, and two or three neighborhoods. It’ll be a good place to stay for a while.”
“Sounds good.”
“We can’t go into any highly populated areas.”
“We already know. We figured that out the hard way.”
“It’s cold. Let’s hurry.”
After several hours of walking, the survivors reached one of the three neighborhoods.
“Back in high school,” Jake began, “I used to work with a guy who lived in this neighborhood. I know this neighborhood like the back of my hand.”
“Let’s clear the place out,” said Eric.
“There’s something I’m not going to like about living here,” Dan said as he followed everyone to the first house.
“What’s that?” Jonathan asked.
“We’ll have no defense here.”
“Dan’s right. There are few cars and no barrier of any kind to keep the zombies away from our homes.”
“We don’t have much to work with. A lot of what we have will be used to keep warm.”
“Was coming here a mistake?”
“No,” Jake answered. “We’ll use half of the furniture and other wooden objects in the neighborhood to build a barrier around a single house. We’ll all stay in that house. We’ll have little privacy, but it needs to be done.”
“Good idea,” Pete said before sipping from his flask. “We’ll be a lot safer at the end of the day.”
“I’m tired of moving,” Melissa said. “I’m glad we’re here.”
“Me too,” said Courtney.
44
There were small groups of zombies in every house. Six of the corpses were people who committed suicide by hanging and overdose. The survivors chose the house to settle in and got to work. Everyone worked hard for hours to build a barricade made of several bookshelves, tables, trash cans, chairs, a few cars, desks, televisions, mattresses and the box springs with them, dressers, cabinets, hutches, vacuums, bags full of clothes, washers, dryers, refrigerators, couches, and junk.
“It should hold at least a few zombies at bay,” Eric said, sitting on a bench on the porch. “All the gaps are filled.”
“Let’s get inside,” said Jonathan. “It’s cold and getting dark. Do we have wood to burn?”
“We’ll get wood from the fallen tree branches. Our blankets will be enough. Let’s make a few trips for wood and get warm.”
After gathering wood for an hour, the three strangers in the group rested in the bathroom while the others did in the living room. Everyone took turns sitting in front of the fireplace.
“We’ll go searching for stuff tomorrow,” Eric said as he threw a clump of twigs onto the fire. “Who’s coming with me?”
“Dan and I will go,” said Jake.
“I’ll go,” said Pete.
Courtney and Melissa also volunteered. The next day, Jake and his original companions managed to find enough food to last them for a week in a locked pantry.
“I’m sure there’s stuff all over the place,” said Dan. “Every trip will be worth it.”
Weeks of successful scavenging without any accidents made everyone happy. No one had worries for a while.
One night, Eric tapped Jake, Dan, Pete, and Jonathan on the shoulder and led them to one of the bedrooms.
“What’s up?” Dan asked.
“Can we trust the people in the bathroom?”
“They’re okay,” Jonathan said, rubbing his grey beard. “They’re odd and don’t say much, but they’re good people.”
“What are their names?”
“Ben, Jamal, and Dentin. They’re alright. They lived next to me before the outbreak. They didn’t recover so well. That’s probably why they don’t say so much.”
“Are they a danger to us or themselves?”
“I don’t think so.”
“I’ll take your word for it, then.”
Time passed. The survivors had endured the harsh winter. They were surprised no one died for the rest of the season. They were doing fine with everything except for a lack of ammunition. At the beginning of spring, a passing group of other survivors passed through. Jake’s group and the passersby did not want bloodshed, so they steered clear of each other.
“I’m surprised they didn’t shoot at us,” Dan said happily. “They just wanted to pass through. Jake, how are we on supplies?”
“We’re not doing so well. We need to move again.”
“No,” said Melissa.
“Yeah. Let’s go near the mall.”
“No way,” said Eric.
“Why not?”
“There will be lots of zombies there, too many zombies for us to risk it.”
“You have a point. We’ll steer clear of that area.”
Jake led everyone past area after area. He wanted a break, but didn’t get one. Zombie after zombie crossed the group’s path. After a while, Jake and the others walked behind the rest of the group to avoid fighting the undead. They came across a small house. Guns at the hip, they walked to and climbed over the short white fence and approached the house. An old man, two middle aged women, one middle aged man, and one young man walked outside.
“Lower your guns!” the old man yelled. “Lower your guns and we’ll lower ours. There’s no need for bloodshed!”
“Let’s do what the man said,” Pete said. These people don’t want any trouble. Let me handle this. Lower your weapons, everyone.”
“We’ve shot all kinds of people who’ve shot at us!” the old man cried. “We don’t want any trouble, but we’ll shoot if we have to!”
“No worries!” Pete yelled. “We’re just looking for a place to settle in.”
“I’m not so sure I want you or any of your people here.”
“We’re not bad people. We’ve traveled a long way. We have crop seeds. We can protect you.”
“How
do I know you and your people won’t stab me in the back?”
“These are the words from one honest man to another. My name’s Pete. I was a tobacco farmer for twenty-eight years. I was a sergeant in the Marines for years. Before all this happened, I was a hardworking American. I am still that honest man.”
“I feel like you mean what you say, but I don’t trust your group.”
“We’ll do well together. We have nowhere else to go. It’s spring. My friend Eric has lots of crop seeds.”
“We have lots of food. People have been stealing my tomatoes, watermelons, and lettuce. We can only catch so many of the thieves.”
“If you let us combine forces, no one will steal your crops again.”
“You all would be many more mouths to feed.”
“We’ll all carry our own weight. Some of us will search for food, water, and supplies every day.”
“We don’t have a lot of water.”
“We have some. We’d be more than happy to share. We have a lot of bottled water. It looks like it’s going to rain soon. We should hurry and get containers to catch as much rainwater as we can.”
“Hurry up and help me, then. I’ll talk to you, but I’m not talking to the rest of you. There are things you can use to catch the rainwater in the house and barn. Hurry up. We’ll be behind you.”
“Don’t shoot us.”
“We won’t.”
Pete led Jake, Eric, Dan, Courtney, Melissa, Jonathan, Kathy, Teresa, Dustin, Jasmine, Ben, Jamal, Emily, and Dentin to and inside the barn. They dragged out troughs, pans, pots, bowls, and tarps. They saw a chicken coop full of chickens and thought of fried chicken. The tarps held up by sticks and 2x4’s made up makeshift pools. To catch as much rainwater as they could, they dug holes in the ground. The rain started shortly after they were finished. It was a downpour. Everyone stood in the rain and looked around them. For a brief moment, all forgot about what was going on in the world.
“This is great,” Dan said to Jake. “It’s like a short break from everything.”
“Watch your surroundings, Dan.”
“I am. I’m just enjoying the rain.”
Jake stared at the farm’s group as it rained. He felt something wasn’t right. Pete noticed.
“Stop,” Pete whispered.
“No.”
“Yes. Stop.”
“We can’t trust them. We should get out of here.”
“Not every person we come across is a bad person.”
