by Poe, S. B.
Cameron stepped in front of JW and looked at the man trapped in the step. It was still trying to pull free. His legs had been torn up on whatever hellish journey he had endured and trying to pry the leg loose was ripping more flesh away. He was wearing a coat and tie and the front of his shirt was covered in dried vomit and bloodstains. The arms of the jacket were frayed and bloody. Part of the right arm and shoulder was exposed. Cameron could see the vicious open wounds. Bites. Cameron leaned over the railing and puked. He looked back at the thing on his step. The muscle and skin of the wounds were scabbed over and covered with dirt. Puss and blood oozed out of the cracks. JW raised his rifle.
“Wait.” Cameron said.
“Why?”
“You think that crowd has moved on enough not to turn back?” Cameron said.
“What makes you ask that?” JW asked.
“I have been listening to folks talk about their encounters with these things and I know they tend to follow loud sounds.” Cameron said.
“I’ve seen that.” JW admitted. “What else have you heard?”
“I have heard a lot of things. I don’t know how much is true. I heard they could smell better than we can but can’t see for shit. I have heard they are attracted to noise and light. I guess that kind of makes sense if they can’t see well. I hadn’t seen any yet but I have heard them called deadheads, z people, walkers, lamebrains, the dead and poppers.” Cameron added.
“Poppers?” JW asked.
“Apparently they make a popping sound when their skull is cracked open or stabbed. Something about the pressure in their head or something”
“Interesting.” JW said. “What do you call them?”
“I don’t have a name but if you say zombie I wouldn’t disagree. They seem to follow all the zombie rules”
“Zombie rules?”
“Yeah. I learned those from some kid in Ohio last night. They come back from the dead, attack people, eat people, get bit turn into one, die turn into one and the only way to stop them is to get the head. Zombie rules.”
“What about eating brains?” JW asked.
“I don’t really think that it matters what part they eat, they just eat. I think it has more to do with the blood, but that’s just me.”
He looked down at the thing trying to climb the steps. It was looking between them and back at its leg. JW and Cameron were standing about ten feet away from it and it was just jerking its trapped foot trying to move forward. He grabbed a big rock out of the planter sitting on the porch.
“You mind?” JW asked.
“Go right ahead.”
JW moved closer. He studied it a little bit more but when it its opaque eyes turned up to him he brought the rock down on his forehead. Nothing.
“Harder. And more to the side.” Cameron said.
“You wanna do this?” JW asked.
“Nope. Sorry. Just trying to help.”
JW had not struck it very hard intentionally. He wanted to see what the minimum effort was and he didn’t think he was going to have more test subjects so willing. He swung again, a little harder. Nothing. Again. Nothing. The infected was becoming more and more angry. It was wildly reaching for JW with each swing. JW brought the rock down almost full strength into the top of its head. He felt the skull crack.
POP. It collapsed.
JW stepped back. He turned to Cameron. They both looked at each other and smiled.
“Did you hear that?” JW asked.
“Yeah. Sounded like those things we made when we were kids. With balloons and wet newspaper.”
“Paper Mache” JW said.
“That’s it. Blow up the balloon. Cover it with wet newspaper. Let it dry then….”
“Pop” JW finished.
“That same kind of muffled pop. Exactly.” Cameron said.
“Exactly” JW agreed.
“Ok. So, what now?” Cameron asked
“That crowd may be headed towards my camp, I need to keep an eye on it.” JW said.
“Fair enough. Hope you’ll make it back this way.” Cameron replied.
“Oh I’ll make it back. I still want to hear some more about that radio.” JW said.
After seeing the crowd of infected that just passed by Cameron doubted he would be seeing JW again. He gave JW about a twenty percent chance. Cameron had had his first encounter with the infected and survived. He was going to make sure he kept those encounters to a minimum.
He stuck his hand out and JW shook it. JW made his way down the steps and started back on the path towards the road. He walked by the little post office and stopped long enough to kick in the backdoor to the fireworks stand. He stepped inside briefly and came back out. He started out again beside the road. JW picked up the pace a little.
3
That I should Rise
And You should not
Russell looked back and saw Ed standing next to some man and two teenage girls. The man was holding Ed’s gun on Ed. He looked further back over his shoulder and saw a middle-aged woman with streaks of gray in her hair standing over him holding a big ass revolver.
“Hold on honey. You sure you know how to use that thing.”
Evelyn answered by firing a round into the air above his head. He ducked.
She brought the gun back down and this time the barrel was hot against his neck. Russell quickly decided to give up. He’d figure this out when he buttoned his pants up and he’d make sure this bitch got hers too. He stood buckling his belt and raising his hands. Evelyn took the gun he had in his holster.
“Hey, I need that. You know, for protection.” Russell said, smiling at Evelyn.
Tilly rolled over and pulled her pants up. She scrambled backwards away from Russell, never taking her eyes off him. She dropped down against the honeysuckle and started crying. She looked through her tear stained eyes at him. Lori walked past the man holding his hands up and knelt down beside her trying to comfort her. Tilly ignored her.
“Alright. So what now?” Russell asked. “What you gonna do? Call the cops. File charges. Give me my gun back and we’ll just be on our way. That’s what gonna happen now. Understand?”
“I don’t think so.” Ed said.
“What?” Russell looked surprised at Ed.
“That was fucked up. I thought you were pretty much full of shit with your compound and all but I didn’t think you would try some shit like that.”
“Shut up about that shit. Shut the fuck up.” Russell was visibly angry now.
“About what, your little fucking apocalypse bunker? That shit?” Ed said.
“Both of you shut up. Right now.” Evelyn said.
“Look honey, just let us go. We’ll leave and the world will go on.” Russell said, smiling his best “yes mam, we were just leaving” smile.
Evelyn watched Tilly stand up from the honeysuckle behind the smiling jackass in front of her. She saw her walk towards him. She saw the shotgun come up to the back of his head.
“New rules. New world. And assholes like you don’t get to fucking participate.” Tilly said as Russell wheeled on his heels to face her.
The realization of the shotgun in his face was the last thing to go through his mind, that and a dozen buckshot pellets.
Ed started shaking. He had watched the back of Russell’s head come apart when the red haired girl pulled the trigger. Evelyn reached up and wiped away the little droplet of blood that had landed on her cheek. She paused and put her revolver back into her holster. She stepped over the man on the ground and put her arms around Tilly. She felt her start to shake and then she felt her push away. Tilly stepped back and took a defiant breath. She wiped her eyes.
“Fuck him.”
She turned and walked back up the trail towards the truck. Lori and Jennifer followed her. Charlie wiped his forehead. Evelyn watched the girls walk away.
“So, what do we do with you?” She said turning to Ed.
He was still looking at the man on the ground. He had not taken his eyes off of him. He did
now. He raised his hands again.
“Hey listen, I didn’t know he was like that. Not really. I mean he was crazy but he seemed to have a plan. I didn’t know it involved shit like this. I swear. Please don’t kill me.” Ed was almost crying.
“Look dude calm down. We’re not gonna kill ya.”
“So I’m free to go?” Ed perked up.
“Nope. I don’t know what to do with you. Evelyn, what do you think?” Charlie said turning to Evelyn.
“I think he goes with us for now. We’ll get back and tell Kate what happened. We’ll let her decide.”
“Decide what?” Ed said.
“Whether to kill you or not. Start walking.” Evelyn said.
They walked back towards the truck with Charlie next to Ed. Evelyn was pulling the rear and watched Ed as he animatedly told Charlie whatever he was telling him. She was far enough behind that she couldn’t really hear. She heard the name Russell a few times. She assumed that was the dead jackass they had left by the creek. She stopped.
“Charlie.” She said.
Charlie stopped and turned around. Ed did too.
“We can’t just leave him there. We have to bury him. Or burn him.”
Evelyn came out of the woods and walked to the truck. Lori and Jennifer were sitting on the ground leaned against the door. Tilly was in the passengers seat. She didn’t look when Evelyn spoke.
“We have to burn the body. I just came to get some gas. Your Dad is gathering up some wood.”
“What about that other asshole?” Jennifer asked.
“That other asshole is helping. And I am not sure he’s an asshole. Maybe he just has asshole friends. Anyway, he’s helping right now and he seems like he didn’t really know the other asshole. The dead asshole.” She said the last part looking into the window at Tilly. Tilly ignored her.
Evelyn grabbed the gas can and tapped the side of the door. Tilly looked at her. Evelyn looked at her with her best, “I am here for you” expression. Tilly nodded and turned back to starring straight ahead.
Charlie and Ed had managed to gather a small matt of limbs and leaves onto a wide sandy spot and laid the body on it. Evelyn came down the path with the gas can. She started dousing the pyre. Once she was satisfied with her effort she stepped back and brushed her hands against her pockets.
“I don’t smoke. I don’t have any matches.” Evelyn said.
“Neither do I,” said Charlie.
Ed reached into his pocket on his shirt a produced a magnesium stick. He pulled his pocketknife out. He reached down and tore a piece off of Russell’s t-shirt and wrapped it around the end of one of the sticks making a torch. He rolled the torch into some of the puddled gas and laid it on the ground. He held the magnesium stick over the torch and scraped it with his knife, letting the shavings drop onto it. He hit the striker on the other side of the magnesium stick with the blade his knife and a spark jumped onto the shavings. The shavings sparked too. Enough for the gas vapors to ignite. He stood. He tossed the torch onto the pile. They stood and watched as the flames caught. They turned and walk away.
JW had covered about half the distance when he stopped to drink some water. He looked at his watch. He had been traveling for an hour. He had followed the crowd’s trail. They had stayed close to the road too. He didn’t know where they came from or where they were going but he was catching them. He topped a small rise and the valley floor opened up below him. Laying just over the rise was one of them. Below him, a few hundred yards further in the valley he could see the infected. He watched them through the small binoculars he kept in his pocket. Most were just shuffling along with a few falling over and being trampled. Once the crowd passed over them, they would stand back up and start shuffling again.
A shot rang out. It sounded like a pistol and it came from the direction of camp. He looked in that way and then back at the crowd. They had stopped. Some were turning their heads toward the sound; the rest just stood starring at the ground. The straggler near him began to try and stand again. He made his way closer. It was a child. He crept up beside it. It kept trying to stand but one leg would just buckle when it stepped and it would fall down again. The Achilles tendon had been bitten through. One of its arms no longer worked for some reason. JW couldn’t see any obvious injury but it hung by its side and never tried to bend. There were spots of skull exposed where it had either fallen hard or had been hit by something. He pulled his knife out. It was a useful tool. It had a butt plate of hardened steel that worked just fine as a hammer.
He noticed the shoes as the thing toppled over again. He stopped. They were gray Nike’s with a blue swoosh. The same type shoe that Scott had worn his whole life. His mother had bought him a pair when he was about three and he loved them. He said they made him fast. It was cute. But since then, every time he bought new shoes, he got a new pair of that same shoe. He had been wearing them his whole life. JW suddenly thought about the terrible end to this child. What horror had it witnessed in its final moments? Did it leave this world screaming in pain wondering why his mother and father had let this happen? Did it die afraid and alone? Or did his parents feed him rat poison trying to spare him this?
Every time it made an attempt to walk JW almost found himself rooting for it. A second shot rang out. More muffled but from the same direction, snapping him out of his thoughts. He caught himself. Whatever this thing had been is gone. What this is now is not a child. It is dangerous. He got closer and flipped his knife in his hand so the blade pointed up. He kicked the good leg out from under it as it made another attempt to stand. He fell on its back and shoved the knife behind the ear. He drove it up and in.
Pop. The thing went limp.
JW stood up and looked around. The crowd had started walking towards the sound of the gunshots. He pulled the walkie out of his pocket.
“Bridger, you there?”
“Bridger, are you there?” He released the button.
The group gathered around the campfire to get the evening meal together. They still had several cans of Spam and plenty of canned vegetables. They could still choose from Vienna Sausages and canned chicken. Most were glad the canned chili was gone. Tonight they were having Spam and beans. They also had some canned peaches for desert. The Toles had brought a good stash but Evelyn and Charlie had brought plenty too. Janice had a few things but most of what she had packed was lost at the church. They still had enough food to last another week or so. Bridger had been telling Raj he could construct some squirrel poles to start catching them for food if they needed to. Raj had no idea what a squirrel pole was but Bridger had convinced him that it worked like a charm. He would show him tomorrow. Raj had the fire going. They were just waiting for the water.
“So who wants Spam?” Janice asked nudging Clyde who was smiling and nodding yes.
“I do.” Clyde said.
“I do too.” Jeremy chimed in.
“Well good.” Janice laughed.
A pistol shot rang out.
“What was that?” Jennifer asked.
“Sounded like a gun.” Ray Harrison said.
Ray and his wife Dottie had been with Janice at the church and then at the school. They had been neighbors of a sort. Janice’s family rented the house behind them and the chain link fence separating the yard didn’t keep them from getting to know each other. The Harrison’s had helped Janice by babysitting Jeremy so she could go back to work after her husband died. They knew her nephew, Clyde, from church too. They had all attended Forest Grove Methodist in South Springs. They had all gathered there seeking shelter from this storm. They found none.
“So what do we do?” Amanda asked.
“We don’t do anything.” Bridger said. “I will go see what is going on.”
“We can’t just sit here. They might need help.” Chris added.
“They might. But since we haven’t heard any additional shots they might have just come across a snake trying to find a good spot for the winter.” Bridger said. He walked over to the side of the bus
and grabbed his rifle. He turned to say something.
The second shot rang out. This one sounded different. More muffled.
“You were saying?” Raj looked at Bridger.
They all stood. Kate and Dottie came from the back of the bus over to the fire. They were all looking in the same direction. Josh and Scott came out of the woods on the other side of the camp into the corral. They had been on patrol and heard the first shot.
“Ok. Everybody just relax. I will walk down and see what I can see.” Bridger said.
“I am coming with you.” Raj said.
“Get everybody on the buses and close the doors. Just in case.” Bridger told Kate as he checked to make sure he had a round in the chamber.
Bridger watched as Kate got everyone on the bus. Raj walked up to him shouldering a shotgun.
“You ready?” Raj asked.
“Are you?” Bridger replied, raising one eyebrow.
The buses were parked on either side of the dirt road with their side doors facing the center. They had parked the Harrison’s and Janice’s cars across the road on one end and Kate’s SUV across the road on the other. They had started referring to the area in the middle as the corral. They had their fire in the middle with all their various chairs gathered around it. They hung the few things they had washed on a line made from the bailing wire they had found in the trunk of Ray’s car. He had picked it up at a garage sale for a quarter, or so the handwritten sticker said. He may have dickered on the price.
Bridger and Raj walked between the bus and Kate’s SUV and got down the road about a hundred yards. Raj started walking a little faster.
“Whoa, slow down.” Bridger said.
“Why?”
“We don’t know …” the walkie crackled.
“Bridger, you there?”
“Bridger, are you there?” JW’s voice came from the speaker.
