by Brown, TW
“What would you do if this were the other way around?” I asked.
I took another step closer and the zombie matched me. Eventually, we were maybe just under ten feet or so from each other. Now I could really see the wear and tear that her body had endured over the years. I actually had to wonder how she hadn’t just fallen apart.
She opened her mouth and let loose with a low moan. Her head tilted to the side and then seemed to drift so that she looked down. If I didn’t know any better, I would swear she was looking at the machete at my hip. Maybe that was just my brain trying to push me in the direction that I knew was the right one.
“I’m sorry that this happened to you, Emily.” I still made no move for my weapon and she made no attempt to lunge at me or anything that might be perceived as an attack. “You are going to make me choose, aren’t you?”
I shot a look past her at the little herd of zombies still just milling about on the road just up from us. I had to wonder why they had not advanced, not that I wanted them all standing here this close, but still, for them to do what they were doing, that had to mean that the child version could somehow communicate…or, at the very least, make semi-cognizant decisions.
“I wish for just one minute you could speak,” I said, returning my focus to the zombie before me. It was in that moment that I had another realization; I had always looked up to Emily. Not just in how I regarded her, but also the simple fact that she was taller. Now, I was standing here, looking down at the shell of what had once been one of the people that I loved more than anything else. And that was the issue now; that love was not past-tense. I still loved Emily with all my heart, but I loved the Emily that taught me to tie my shoes. I loved the Emily that helped me with my English and corrected me when I mispronounced a word or jumbled things. This thing, no matter the resemblance, was not Emily.
I brought my hand up in front of me, extending it towards the little creature. The zombie tilted its head and now regarded my hand much like Timmy had done with the fire bomb. I raised it and lowered it slowly. Sure enough, the zombie’s gaze locked on to it and followed enough so that its head rose and fell in sync with my movements.
In a flash, I tore my machete free from my hip and swung it down hard. It cleaved through the skull fairly easily like was always the case with the older zombies. Black ooze dribbled down its face as it dropped to the ground in a heap. Two things happened at almost exactly the same instance. First, and most important to me, that thing on the ground no longer looked like anything other than an old weathered corpse. Second, that little herd all snapped out of whatever trance they were in and started for me.
“Yeah…I kinda thought that would happen,” I sighed.
I turned and started jogging down the gradual slope a ways, my eyes searching for the right spot. At last I found what I was looking for; off to the right was a small rocky outcropping about fifteen or twenty feet up the very steep incline. I put on a burst of speed and hit the hill going almost full tilt. I had to scramble and almost crawl to make it up. If I would have lost my footing even once, then I would need to abandon this location and look for another. Luck was with me.
I reached the flat rock that jutted from the side of the hill like a giant Frisbee that had been hurled and gotten stuck. I stood up and was about to dust myself off out of habit when I noticed several of the cats beginning to detach from the zombie children. While the undead would not have a snowball’s chance in reaching me, those cats were a very different story.
I knelt, and realized that I didn’t have anything that I could actually light and keep burning so that I could light my little fire bomb. That was a stupid mistake.
I stuffed the small box back in my pouch and considered my options. If I slid down now, I might still be ahead of the pack, but it would be close…and then there were the cats. I had no choice. I had to go up.
Turning, I looked for the best possible route. About fifty feet from where I was currently standing was the first of the shabby little pine trees that was in a fight to defy gravity and rocky ground as it jutted out defiantly from the near vertical incline.
I started up, taking the time to glance over my shoulder once at my pursuers. The group was stopping now and massing directly below me. Fortunately, the cats seemed content to drift around the legs of their monstrous companions. I returned my attention to the task at hand which was climbing this little rock wall. I reached the tree and gave it a good tug to make sure it would not just rip free when I pulled myself up. It looked like all it would need was a stiff breeze to remove it from its precarious perch, but surprisingly enough, it was rooted firmly in place.
I braced myself and sort of snuggled into the face of the hillside as I got out my tinderbox again. It was easy to grab some twigs and dead pine needles. The next problem was finding a place to actually make my little fire. I eventually managed to flatten out a spot where the tree was rooted to the rocky ground.
After that, it was an easy job of getting my fire going and then lighting two of my fire bombs. I leaned out a ways and just lobbed them into the midst of the little mob. It was actually quite terrible to watch. I didn’t have any problem with the zombies being torched, but the cats were a different story.
I know that they are carriers. I know they are dangerous to the living. That does not mean it is easy to listen to those howls and screeches as they got caught in the flames. The moment the fire bombs ignited, several of the felines bolted, but it was already too late. It was like watching a meteor swarm that went in crazy, random directions. However, no surprise, the zombies all pretty much stayed put. The ones that had not caught fire initially were quickly engulfed as the fire spread from one closely crowded in body to the next.
I watched from my perch as the little meteors eventually slowed and stopped. The zombie children took a while. I hadn’t really thought about the fact that this would not be like a blade or arrow to the head. I had to wait for the fire to burn to the point of destroying whatever it was inside the skull that allowed these things to function.
As I sat on my perch, I tried to look back up the road towards where I had come from to see if maybe anybody might be drawn to my little fire. All I was greeted with was silence. The longer I sat here with the column of smoke swirling and twisting skyward without anybody being drawn to investigate, the more I became anxious.
If my side had won the day, then surely Timmy would have told them about where I’d gone. If the bad guys were the victors, well, then I would be glad I had this head start climbing this hill. I looked up at the top where the face of the hill crested. It was another thirty or forty feet up and the climb was more difficult the farther up you went. At one point, it actually looked like the wall slanted out over me.
I wouldn’t be climbing to the top unless it became a necessity. Eventually, the zombies began to topple. One by one—and much too slowly for my liking—the entire group fell and was still. I waited a little longer and then made my way down. It was harder than I expected. The rocks would not be forgiving if I fell and I could just picture myself losing my footing and plummeting to my painful death on the rocks and blackened bones below.
When my feet finally touched relatively flat ground, I was tempted to kneel down and kiss the earth. Instead, I started back up to the bus where I’d left Timmy. I came to the lone zombie body sprawled on the ground where I’d left it and decided that, zombie corpse or not, Emily’s memory deserved better than this. I took out one of the fire bombs and broke the top off. After pouring the contents on the frail looking thing, I grabbed a handful of dead grass from beside the road and lit it.
“Rest in peace, sister,” I whispered as I tossed the smoldering grass onto the doused corpse. There was a brief pause and then a “whoosh” as the fire caught.
I continued up the hill. Behind me I could hear the pop and hiss as fire cleansed away the remains of a monster and allowed Emily to move on once and for all. I dismissed the tears in my eyes as a result of getting smoke in them.
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10
Vignettes LXX
“Sorry about all that,” Dee said with a shrug and a tone that made it clear that she was anything but sorry. “Can’t very well run background checks anymore. And if we went solely on appearance, we would be setting ourselves up for disaster. There was this one girl a few years ago…tiny little thing. We brought her in nearly dead. When she got healthy, she played sick a little bit longer. We think it was to get a better idea of our strengths and weaknesses. She killed five men before we stopped her.”
Juan was still a little bit confused. Apparently it showed on his face, because Dee laughed and clapped him on the shoulder.
“You can come back to our little camp. We got about a dozen people clustered in a spot near the river. We have enough surplus that we can help equip you and your girls for your trip to Anchorage.”
“But, I thought—” Juan stammered, still not understanding exactly what was happening.
“If you was a bad guy, then you probably wouldn’t have had a problem bartering off one of those little angels.” Dee tilted her head towards Della and Denita. “You acted exactly the way that a father is supposed to act.” With that, Dee raised a hand. A man emerged from the growth at the edge of the clearing.
“You really need to learn to do that sooner,” the man snarled, although his soft tone hinted that he was not actually angry. He stepped up beside Dee and extended a hand to Juan. “Name’s Kit.”
“Juan.” His daughters bounded up and took a spot at each side, tugging on his sleeves. “And these are my daughters, Della and Denita.”
“Pleased to meet you all.” Kit knelt so that he could be closer to eye level with the girls. He reached inside his fur vest and produced two chunks of something amber colored. He handed one to each of the girls. “Honey caramel,” Kit explained as the girls each accepted the proffered sweet.
“What do you say?” Juan stage-whispered.
“Thank you,” the girls replied in unison.
“So, we hear you are headed for Anchorage.” Kit rose back to his feet and Juan gave him a quick once over.
This man was not the type of person that he expected to encounter; especially if he was left behind as some sort of back-up in case Juan had turned out to be a bad guy. He was medium height and very skinny. He had dark brown hair and brown eyes. Basically, he was easily forgotten. He did not stand out in any way at all.
“Got separated from my friends.” Juan went on to explain about how Gerald had saved him and helped nurse him back to health.
“Gerald is a good guy,” Kit said with a nod. “He probably comes downriver to our camp once or twice a year to trade.”
“So, if you want to come with us back to our place, we can help get you geared up for your trip,” Dee offered. “Judging by your condition, I am not certain that you should be making that trip right now, but it isn’t my place to tell you your business.”
“We didn’t really have any other choices or options,” Juan groused. “And what little we did have was lost when that herd wiped out Gerald’s place.”
“You could stay on with us,” Kit suggested.
Juan had only taken a few steps, and stopping once his forward momentum had taken effect was not something he relished, but now it was his turn to be the suspicious one. These people were complete strangers, and he had two little girls to watch over.
“I appreciate the offer, but I hope you will understand when I say that I can’t give you an answer just yet. Hell, I am taking a risk just following you up to this point.”
Kit laughed, and it was a pleasant sound. He glanced down at the girls and winked. “Says the man who sent two little girls out into the wilderness to knock on some stranger’s door to ask for help.”
“Like the old saying goes…desperate times call for desperate measures.”
Despite holding on to a certain amount of his skepticism, Juan still felt himself warming to the idea of postponing the trip to Anchorage. His mind flashed back to the encounter with the wolves that had started this falling dominoes event. An encounter like that now would end badly; and not just for him, but more than likely for his daughters as well.
It took about twenty minutes, but at last the trail ended in a clearing. A half dozen cabins and another dozen or so smaller structures dotted the massive clearing that extended to both sides of the fast moving river that cut through the landscape. A rope bridge spanned the waterway and there was even a large raft that looked like it could be pulled across by the use of a rope and pulley system in case animals needed to be transported.
“Look, Papi!” Della pointed. “They have reindeers!”
A small herd of the animals grazed in a fenced off area on the far side of the river where a massive clearing had been set up and marked off with a split-rail fence. There was also a garden of sorts and a collection of five greenhouses.
“The three of you would be welcome to stay while you get your legs back under you. There is plenty of work, so no worries about being a charity case.” Kit pulled the group up short and turned to face Juan. “And who knows, you might like it here.”
“Can I ask why you were headed to Anchorage?” Dee blurted, earning a scowl from Kit.
“Ain’t none of our business, Dee,” the man hissed. “You’ll have to excuse her. She can be a bit of a busybody.” That last word was emphasized and spoken a bit louder.
Juan opened his mouth, and then he paused, leaving it open as thoughts careened around in his mind. This move had been for Mackenzie.
“My wife,” Juan blurted before he realized the words were coming out of his mouth. “She wanted to make the move. I think she felt it was good for the girls. Also, I think she was tired of playing Pioneer Woman. Being in a town had some sort of appeal to her.”
Kit gave a nod and Dee opened her mouth to speak again, but shut it just as quickly. Juan glanced down at the girls who had spied something that had them as transfixed as any child first spotting the old sign that announced that they were about to enter the “Happiest Place on Earth.”
The structure was larger than any of the cabins, and even though it was a good distance away and across a river that was creating plenty of noise in its own right, Juan could now hear the squeals and laughter of other children. It was still a bit too far away to actually make out much in the way of details, but there was definitely movement as children scrambled over the giant wooden play structure.
The rest of the walk was a chorus of the girls asking if they could go play and Juan telling them that there would be time later. After the tenth or so plea, Dee gave Juan a look with a raised eyebrow and made a nod indicating that she would take the girls if he wanted.
Juan consented and the words were no sooner out of his mouth when both girls let go of his hands and clutched onto Dee’s after they kissed and hugged their dad while professing their thanks as well as spewing promises of how well-behaved they would be for Dee.
Once they were gone, Kit turned to face Juan. His expression was serious, but there was compassion in his eyes that caught Juan a little off balance.
“Look, you have some time to figure out what you want to do, but I wanted to be the first person to formally extend an invitation to you and your daughters to stay if you like.” He paused and glanced over his shoulder at the diminishing trio of figures. “I may have mistaken something, but it seems to me that you might not have actually wanted to make the trip to Anchorage.”
Juan sighed. “Actually, I don’t much care where I live. All I want is for the girls to grow up in a safe place…as safe as a place can be these days anyway.”
“Well then, why don’t you take advantage of this little rehab period? Give things a while and make up your mind when the next thaw comes. Anchorage isn’t going anywhere, and I think we can safely say that you are not in any real condition to do any traveling at the moment.”
Juan considered the man’s words. He knew to his core that Kit was speaking the truth. He almost laughed when he considered
everything as a whole.
For the first few years, life had been one nightmare after another. He, Mackenzie, and the other people that they sort of picked up along the way had endured a hell that was unthinkable that night he fell asleep in the backseat of his car where he parked in the University Blocks to get a little bit of uninterrupted sleep. Everything had changed when that undead hand had slapped the window of his car and woke him to a world where the dead would swiftly knock the living from the ledge of their perch atop the food chain.
He had fought through things that he had not thought himself capable. But, for the last several years, they had built up a home along one of the many rivers that cut through the Alaskan Wilderness.
He and Mackenzie had brought three beautiful children into the world. They lost one to the zombies. Perhaps that should have been the wake-up call to remind Juan of the world they now lived; but, through the grief, he and Mackenzie had built up the idea that perhaps the world could eventually slip back to normal.
Juan had finally agreed to make the move to Anchorage. However, that journey seemed to be ill-fated from the start. First they lost the dog, only to have it turn. He lost Mackenzie. Then, in what he now saw as his own recklessness and false sense of invincibility that he’d built unknowingly over the years, he had almost died. The fact that he was ready to welcome such a fate and leave his two daughters as orphans had been a scalding reminder of his responsibility.
By the time they reached the trench and fence barricade so common in today’s world, Juan was almost certain of what he should…no, what he would do. If the soul-searching that he had done during the walk did not steel his resolve on a specific course, then what he saw as he drew near to the giant wooden play structure certainly did.
Della and Denita were running around in a game of tag with several other children. In fact, it took Juan a moment to actually process how many children he did see; well over two dozen between the ages of perhaps as young as five and as old as twelve. To add to the scene were another handful of teens who were watching the game with one eye and the surrounding woods with the other.
