by Steven Till
CHAPTER 33 REUNION
A half-mile away from the river banks where Boomer had come ashore, Nathan and Ronnie continued northwest along the river. The buildings were now more abundant, allowing the pair to weave through alleyways, keeping themselves hidden from any searching eyes.
Nathan’s body began to twang with the familiar pain of the Hunger as they travelled. The rats and pigeons that he had been eating up until this point only dulled the waves of distress the Hunger had been subjecting his body to. He knew that he wasn’t eating nearly enough meat and he had a theory that until he finally consumed human flesh, the pangs would continue to plague him. He wouldn’t allow himself to succumb to the temptation, of course.
It was horrible enough that Evelyn would have to behold the monster that he had become; he wasn’t about to lose the last remnants of his humanity. Nathan wasn’t delusional though. He knew that the moment she gazed upon his gnarled, deformed body, she would no doubt scream, cry, and then blow his face off with whatever gun she managed to find nearby.
As he and Ronnie continued to weave through the buildings along Route 51, thoughts of a cure for the infection danced in his head. Don’t be an idiot, there’s no way to reverse this shit, he thought. Foolish hope and misplaced dreams were all that those ideas would ever amount to. Nathan’s logic then shifted to more practical reasoning. Perhaps if he consumed larger animals instead of rats and pigeons, he’d be able to prolong the relief from that tortuous hunger pain. Maybe a cat or a dog...No. Not a dog. Visions of Boomer flashed in his head. Monster or not, he knew that he couldn’t bring himself to harm a dog. A cat? Even that would be a stretch. Groundhog? Raccoon? Yeah, he could handle that.
A sharp crack of a stick caused the pair to freeze. Nathan looked at Ronnie, who gazed back at him with the same quizzical look. They were standing behind a group of row houses that sat about ten feet in front of a long stretch of woods.
CRACK!
He snapped his head towards the wall of trees and shrubs. The second sound was louder than the first, heralding the near arrival of what, a zombie? A soldier gone AWOL in an attempt at survival?
An ominous thought oozed into the back of Nathan’s consciousness. What if it was the unknown monster from the subway tunnel? If his skin was capable of crawling, it would have been at that moment. The encounter in the tunnel had terrified him. The glimpse of the creature emerging from the shadows as he hurled himself off of the bridge had emblazoned a horrific dread upon his psyche. Now the foliage before them shook from the approaching unknown and the fear from the bridge returned with renewed fervor.
“Dude, whatta ya wanna do?” Ronnie asked in a gurgled whisper; the nervousness in his voice obvious.
“Wait,” was all he said as he held up his hand to silence his friend. Ronnie obliged and stood rigid, focused on the rustling brush that was drawing closer.
The two young zombies stood motionless as they steeled themselves for what was about to happen. Neither twitched a muscle. Neither made a sound. Seconds stretched out into eons as the movement in the woods drew near. One hundred feet. Fifty feet. The pair moved in unison into a defensive stance. The underbrush, a mere ten feet away from them, quivered and shook. This was it.
From the shadows of the forest sprang a dog no more than sixty pounds. Its fur was wet and matted with blood, mud, and leaves. Upon seeing the zombies in the clearing, the little dog began growling, but then stopped, cocking its head inquisitively. Nathan looked at Ronnie who shrugged. Looking back at the ragged looking canine, Nathan inspected the mutt.
“Holy shit, it can’t be. Can it?” he said under his breath. “Boomer? Boo is that you?” he asked
Boomer's tail wagged emphatically as he performed the most ridiculous happy dance ever seen by human, or zombie eyes. Whimpering and grunting out of sheer joy, Boomer bounded towards Nathan and the two embraced. Master had changed into one of the dead things, but he was different from the rest that he had encountered on his journey. It didn’t matter that he had changed, he was still his human and he had found him. He had finally found his master.
CHAPTER 34 WAITING
Sam peered through the narrow slit in the blinds. The moonlight shimmered over the countless alabaster faces which surrounded the building. He heard the collective hiss of the dead as they stood there staring back at him. He knew that they knew he was watching. What he didn’t know was why they weren’t attacking. They just stood there. Watching. Waiting. Waiting for what?
Behind him, the clicking and clacking of firearms resounded as the others prepared to make their stand. Even Rachel Cowan, the snobby socialite, armed herself with a snub-nosed pistol. Sam was happy that his brother was a conspiracy nut. Byron had made a safe room under the shop and stocked it for World War III. Too bad he hadn't lived through the cancer; he would have been ecstatic that his doomsday prepping wasn't in vain. A somber, heavy silence weighed on the small band of survivors. They all knew that time was running out. They all knew that soon, they would be dead.
Carlos meandered down the long aisle towards the front door and stopped just behind Sam. “Excuse me, Mr. Lusce,” Carlos whispered, “but it would seem as though we are completely surrounded by those...things. They’re at the back door.”
Sam dropped the blind and turned to face Carlos, who grew anxious being so close to a glass door with an army of bloodthirsty monsters on the other side. Holding his gaze for a moment, Sam turned and walked towards the rear door.
He could hear them before he even got to the cash register. The unmistakable hiss droned beyond the thick steel door. Another noise sounded over the monotonous tone of the dead; the rapping of claws on the cinder block walls. Every few moments, one of the deadly talons screamed across the metal door like nails on a chalkboard.
His eyes moved from the door to the ladder that led up to the roof. He couldn’t detect any noise from there, but he would bet that the dead had made their way up top as well. He focused his attention to the door opposite the ladder, which led to the small office he used to get away from the antics of Bill and Pete. They had locked Ethan inside once they were positive he had been infected.
Alison had insisted that he stay alive, citing all the usual doctor ideals that many new med students tend to be fanatical about. Shawn was about to impale Ethan’s head with a crossbow bolt, when Alison intervened, using herself as a shield to protect the soon-to-be-zombified Ethan. Theresa sided with Alison, pleading to spare the young man from what many in the room felt was the humane thing to do. The group conceded to the women’s pleas and spared him, but they felt it prudent to isolate him from the rest of the group.
Sam stared hard at the door, attempting to hear any noise from the small office, but it was impossible with the swarm right there in the back alley. He moved closer, placing his ear against the door. Nothing. As far as he could tell, Ethan either passed out or was dead. After another minute, Sam turned from the door and made his way back out into the showroom.
Chatty had taken up position at the front door, staring at the dire situation outside. He stood rigid, still, and unflinching. Daniel and Shawn made their way to the front door and stood next to the hulking titan of a man, attempting to get a better look at their enemy. Theresa, Allison, Rachel, and Evelyn stood along the counter. Evelyn was showing the other women how to use their weaponry. Sam was impressed with how well she knew her way around a firearm. His former neighbor wrote several spy thrillers and while researching one of her books, she spent a lot of time at the gun range, learning about a whole slew of various weaponry.
“So how many do you think are out there?” Carlos asked, startling Sam out of his thoughts.
“Shit son, don’t scare me like that!” he yelled in a whisper. “If I had to guess, I’d say thousands. Then again, I was never much of an optimist.”
He could see Carlos’s face go green at the mental image his estimate had evoked. He let out a chuckle. “I’ve been known to be wrong from time to time.”
Carlos managed
a weak and unconvincing smile before he hurried back to the front door with the other men. Sam followed close behind, hoping as much as Carlos that his guess was wrong. A moment later, the men stood together in silence, the collective pounding of their hearts matched the drone of the terror outside.
****************
A flash blinded the undead girl, stopping her in her tracks. The Horde halted behind her; those in the front ranks desperately trying to avoid trampling their little leader, for fear of the consequences. They might not think too much, but they know enough not to cross their Queen.
The vivid image lingered in Sunshine’s vision as the bright flash in her mind began to subside. A face floated before her. A woman, quite beautiful, despite the blood and grime which gilded her face. An expression of hate, loathing, and disgust is worn by the stranger. A moment later, the image dissolved.
Sunshine knew what she saw; the last few moments from one of her children. Who was this woman? she wondered. There was a familiarity about her that she couldn’t figure out. Sure that she had seen her before, the zombie queen strained and visualized the countless faces that she saw, both from her children’s eyes and her own.
Seconds turned into minutes as she stood catatonic, focusing herself inward as she searched for the answer. “There,” she whispered. A large grin spread over Sunshine’s face. That’s where she knew the face from. While she attempted to probe the man’s mind, she caught a glimpse of the same woman for just an instant. The feeling that the man, this Nathan, associated with the woman was—love.
“The game has changed, Nathan,” she said to herself. “You will not elude me again.” Continuing forward, Sunshine reached out her thoughts to her hell spawn already at the woman’s location and ordered them to await her arrival.
****************
“So any of you cowboys got any bright ideas?” Shawn asked with his usual abrasiveness. He peered at the growing brood of enemies outside.
“What are they doing?” asked Daniel, approaching the front door with Sam and Evelyn close behind.
“Nothing. That’s the problem,” replied Shawn.
“Isn’t that a good thing?”
“They’re just standing there. They’re not attacking. They’re not advancing; hell, they aren’t even strategizing. If anything, they’re backing off. That worries me. It’s almost like they’re behaving as a unit; as if they were taking orders...” Shawn trailed off as his mind finished piecing together the implications of his thought.
Evelyn contemplated Shawn's observations. If the infected were more than mindless predators, if they organized themselves, then they were royally screwed. They would be seriously outmatched. “So let’s assume for the moment that these things can think for themselves. How do we outsmart them?” she asked.
“I don’t know if we can,” replied Shawn. “We don’t even know what their motivation is. Nor do we know their endgame.”
“Look at that,” she said as she gazed out the front door.
“They’re retreating?” Daniel asked.
“No. My bet is that they’re getting into a defensive position. Staying close so they can keep an eye on us, but moving far enough away to make any offensive we might be able to mount completely useless,” Shawn observed.
Sam cleared the tension from his throat. “I think Shawn here is right. They’re hunkering down for a good ‘ol fashioned siege.”
“What, like in medieval times? They’re just gonna sit out there and wait for us to die of starvation?” Daniel asked, a little skeptical.
“No,” Evelyn answered. “They’re holding us prisoner.”
Sam threw an inquisitive look at the young writer through narrow eyes. “How do you figure that?”
Without glancing away from the window, she explained herself to the men behind her, as well as the other curious survivors who crept towards the front door to listen.
“Think about it, there must be thousands of them out there and we can safely assume that those numbers are climbing. If they really wanted to get in here, their sheer numbers alone would make this little stronghold of ours look like a lemonade stand built by six year olds. No, their plan isn’t to wait us out, they’re keeping us here until something, or someone, arrives.”
The words sent chills down the spine of every person within earshot of her, including Shawn. As each one of them processed the situation in their heads, they could visualize a tsunami of undead bodies rolling towards the store, razing it to the ground. They all knew that she was right.
“She’s right,” Sam uttered in a commanding voice. “So what we need to do is come up with a strategy to get us the hell out of here.”
Sam looked around at the crowd gathered around him. By now all the survivors huddled by the front door, standing in a stunned realization. “Any ideas? Anyone?”
A long silence extended well beyond uncomfortable and a good way into unbearable. Finally, Evelyn turned to the group. “I have a plan.”
CHAPTER 35 CROSSING AGAIN
The bridge, like every other in the city, had been blown, leaving bergs of rubble poking through the surface of the Ohio River. Nathan and Ronnie continued to move north, sticking as close to the banks as possible. They had decided to make their way to Neville Island, an industrial island which was home to a coke plant and other industrial factories. It didn’t matter that the bridges were gone; they could just walk across along the river bottom, but, Boomer would have a difficult time crossing the river for a second time. Neville Island would make for two shorter crossings, allowing them to rest on land halfway across.
Boomer came bounding back from his hunting trip; he had been bringing Nathan and Ronnie various small game animals ever since finding them. He seemed to instinctively know that they needed to feed. The two zombies took the little gifts and devoured them as they arrived.
“Shouldn’t be too much farther,” Nathan said with a mouth full of opossum.
Ronnie grunted in response. Boomer took a break from hunting and walked with them for a while. He kept an alert eye out for any possible danger; his tail never ceasing to wag emphatically. Although the dog had little left in his tank, being with his master gave him renewed energy.
They walked at a steady pace in relative silence, save for the constant squishing and crunching of zombie snacks the pair were noshing on. Nathan couldn’t help but reflect on the events that had transpired in only a day’s time. His mundane existence seemed like a lifetime ago. He had to chuckle to himself, because technically, it was. Within hours, his life had ended and now he and his comrade-in-arms were doomed to wander the earth as new members in the ranks of the undead. The sight of Pittsburgh in flames tore at him, for he knew in his gut that the rest of the world most likely suffered a similar fate.
What was to become of them now? Would they be able to find Eve? Was she still alive? The idea that she had made it, that she was surviving somehow, had kept him going. If he had to face the harsh reality that she was gone, then his already hopeless situation would be too much to bear. He pushed that possibility out of his head. Until they found hard proof either way, he had to stay positive; had to keep going.
Although he and Ronnie didn’t feel fatigue or exhaustion, Nathan was tired. Trying to wrap his brain around their situation had almost caused his head to explode. The other thoughts that were giving him trouble, were those of Sunshine. It was strange enough that a little girl, of all people, would be capable of organizing and leading such a vast army. Then there was the mental attack that she had unleashed on him. He didn’t know how that was possible. He had seen other animal species exhibit a chemical-based method of communication, through pheromones of some kind. No, it wasn’t chemically-based. There’s no way she would have been able to get inside his head the way that she did; he could hear her inside his mind. No chemical could do that.
He pondered the logistics of Sunshine's ability as they drew closer to Neville Island. Ronnie was uncharacteristically quiet as they walked. Nathan wasn't the only
one reflecting on their new life. Surprisingly enough, they hadn't encountered anyone as they made their way; neither living nor dead. He knew they weren't alone though. Abhorrent cries from the undead, mingled with the wails of the human victims continued in the distance. Gunfire echoed through the valley. Its cadence was sporadic; the military was losing. It came down to simple numbers. The infected were adding to their ranks at an exponential rate. There's no way the soldiers could hold against the onslaught of the growing horde.
Nathan stopped and grabbed Ronnie's arm. "Look dude, there."
Ronnie followed his gaze and saw the small canoe caught against the brush along the shore. "Cool, a boat! Wait, why do we need a boat?"
"We don’t need a boat," he answered as he made his way down to the water. "Boomer does."
"Right on," Ronnie said with a perplexed look on his face. "So, why do we need a boat?"
"Man, you really need to stop eating people. I think it's starting to get to you. WE don't need a boat, but Boomer does. That little dude has been through hell; he won't be able to make it across the water in his condition."
The pair looked at the dog. He looked ragged. His long fur that had once been soft and shiny was now matted and caked with dirt and blood. Small twigs and leaves mingled amongst the tangled mats of hair. Despite his appearance, Boomer stood proud, wagged his tail, and wore the biggest smile on his face. Nathan grinned and turned his attention to the dingy and started a visual inspection. "It seems to be intact. Some minor surface damage, but it should make it across just fine."
A few minutes later, they had enough brush cleared to drag the boat down to the shoreline. Boomer immediately jumped into the boat.
“Hold up man,” Ronnie said as he hastily made his way up to the road. A moment later, he returned with a stop sign, post and all. “Thought we’d need a paddle,” he said with a grin.
