Marionette Zombie Series (Book 2): Walk With Me

by Poe, S. B.

  “Yeah, right here. Any news on the smell?” Bridger asked.

  “None of it good. There is a crowd of them. I had to hunker to let it pass. There are dozens of them. They may have turned your way. I think they heard those gun shots.”

  “Checking on those now.” Bridger said.

  “ I am heading your way. Let me know what you find out but be alert.”

  Bridger put the walkie back in his pocket and looked at Raj.

  “Shit. Did he say a dozens?” Raj asked.

  “That’s what it sounded like. Listen, we don’t know what’s out there. We need to be cautious. Shit.”

  “What?” Raj asked.

  “I have the walkie, they don’t know back there.” Bridger said pointing back down the dirt road. “We need to make sure they know.”

  “Ok. I’ll go on to the creek and check on Tilly and the others and you go back.” Raj said.

  Bridger smiled. He had great teeth. Being on TV, the dentist was on the expense account. He had always been particular about his teeth but the guy they had on retainer at the network was great.

  “Ok. I get it, I do. But it would be best for you to go back and tell them what we know.” Bridger said.

  “You think that since you were once some kind of soldier that you can do things we mere mortal civilians can’t?” Raj asked.

  “Yes.” Bridger’s smile faded. Raj had known Bridger for about two weeks under extremely difficult circumstance, to say the least. Bridger had always smiled. For the first time Raj took the full measure of the man standing in front of him He was at least six foot two and built a lot better than most men half his age. His head was as close to bald as Bridger could keep it with a dull razor and cold water. His forearms muscles were clearly defined underneath his chestnut skin. He looked at Bridger’s eyes. Raj stepped back a bit.

  “Just screwing with you.” The smile returned and Raj exhaled. “But seriously, I’ll go to the creek. You head back and tell them what we know. Just make sure everyone stays on the bus. Until…”

  “Until what?” Raj asked.

  “Just until.”

  Raj looked at him one more time. He turned and started back to the buses. Bridger watched him for a minute and turned down the dirt road and headed for the creek. He kept listening for screams or shots or anything. He heard nothing. He kept scanning the woods for any movement. Everything seemed to be as it should be. That made him a little nervous. He could finally see the truck up ahead parked by the side of the road. He could see a line of black smoke rising from over the trees against the purple sky of the setting sun. He shouldered his rifle to look through the ACOG scope. He could see red hair sitting in the passenger seat. Tilly. He couldn’t see anyone else. He started to lower his rifle to walk over when he saw Charlie come out of the woods with some man Bridger didn’t know. Lori and Jennifer, who had been sitting on the ground on the other side of the truck, stood up. He saw Evelyn, carrying a gas can walk out of the woods behind Charlie and the new guy. He watched Charlie, the new guy and the two girls climb in the bed of the truck. Evelyn leaned in the passenger window and said something to Tilly but she didn't respond. He saw Evelyn get in the driver seat and start driving back down the road. He slung his rifle over his shoulder and stepped out. The truck made its way towards him, headlights burning in the evening dusk.

  4

  Easier than just

  Waiting around to die

  Evelyn stopped the truck when she saw Bridger standing in the middle of the road. He hung his head in.

  “Everything ok? We heard some shots,” he asked, smiling.

  “Long story, you can hear it when we get back. And everything will be ok.” Turning her head towards Tilly.

  She put the truck in park, opened the driver’s door and slid over in the middle.

  “You drive.”

  He got in the truck and put it in gear. It was slightly less than a mile to where they had made their home. Just a few minutes drive.

  “I talked to JW, we have a problem.” Bridger said as they pulled off.

  “There may be crowd of them headed this way. He said he had hunkered down to let them pass. I think we should do the same thing.”

  “Hunker down. Just wait for them?” Evelyn asked.

  “Well, not wait for them, wait them out. Just let them walk by. Hopefully they will.” Bridger said.

  “Hopefully.” Evelyn replied. Tilly had said nothing. She just stared straight ahead watching the bugs dance in the headlight glare.

  They pulled up to Janice’s car and parked. Tilly opened the door and walked towards the corral. Raj saw her and came off the bus to meet her. She looked at him. He knew something was wrong. He wrapped his arm around her and led her around the front of the bus; it was the closest thing to privacy he could muster.

  “Tilly, what happened?” Raj asked.

  “Nothing happened. Well mostly nothing. This stranger tried to attack me.”

  “This guy?” Raj interrupted. He pointed at the stranger climbing out of the back of the truck. Raj took a step away and Tilly reached out a grabbed his arm.

  “No. Not that guy. I don’t know who that guy is. The guy that attacked me isn’t here.”

  “Where is he?” Raj asked.

  “I killed him.” Tilly said.

  Raj just looked at her. He could see the resolve in her eyes but he could see her losing the battle against her tears. She would cry now, and he would comfort her but he knew she would hold most of it inside.

  “I know this is hard but we all need to talk.” Evelyn stuck her head around the front of the bus. “I don’t want to interrupt but this can’t wait.”

  “It’s ok. We’ll be right there.” Tilly said, mustering half a smile and wiping her eyes.

  “On our way.” Raj said. Turning back to Tilly. “You ok?”

  “I will be.” Tilly said.

  Kate met Bridger as he came into the corral.

  “Is he ok?” she asked.

  “He sounded fine last I talked to him.” Bridger said.

  “Give it to me.” Kate said, holding out her hand. He handed her the walkie.

  “JW, JW, you there?” she thumbed the button.

  “JW, this is Kate, are you there?” she was met with static.

  She looked at Bridger.

  “It don’t mean anything. He is probably just a little close to them and turned it off so it didn’t make a noise at the wrong time. Just being smart.”

  “You’d better be right.” Kate said, thrusting the walkie back at him.

  They joined the others in the corral. Bridger looked around. Janice, Jeremy, Clyde, Ray, Dottie, Josh, Scott, Kate, Charlie, Jennifer, Lori, Chris, Amanda and the new guy all sat around the campfire. Evelyn came from around the front of the bus followed shortly by Raj and Tilly. Charlie and the new guy were whispering to each other as Bridger cleared his throat, they all looked at him.

  “Ok folks, here is the deal. We don't have a lot of time to discuss this, as a matter of fact, I have no idea how much time we have. We have a crowd of infected that may be headed our way. We are going to assume they are but we are not going to panic. I want everybody to get on the buses. We will wait them out. We will let them walk right by. And we will be very quiet.” He glanced at Amanda. “Any questions?”

  “How long?” Dottie asked. “How long do we wait?”

  “Until they pass by or JW gets here and gives us the all clear.”

  “Why don’t we just load up the buses and leave?” Josh said.

  “We could, but we don’t have anywhere to go. We can’t just drive off and hope. That is something we need to discuss later, but right now we are going to stay and ride this out. Everybody ready?” Bridger concluded by kicking dirt on the fire until it had mostly died out. As the others made their way into their buses he could hear the unmistakable sound of weapons being checked and loaded. Once everyone was on the bus he was left standing alone in the corral. The sun was gone and the sky was dark purple. He could s
ee Venus and the crescent moon.

  “Ok, folks. Here we go. Remember. Quiet.” He climbed onto his bus.

  JW started jogging after the crowd again. He knew that Bridger would have everyone ready, although he didn’t know what ready meant. He should have told him to get everyone on the bus and drive away but he knew Bridger wouldn’t leave without him. JW wouldn’t leave Bridger out here either. Maybe they could get on the bus and just let them pass by. That had worked for him. He reached up and knocked on his head with his knuckles for not coming up with that already. He was a hundred yards or so behind the crowd. He stopped. He leaned his back against a tree and reached into his pocket for the walkie. He felt pressure on his foot. He looked down and saw one of the infected on the ground bending around from the other side of the tree. He grabbed the knife. As he did the thing grabbed his leg and knocked him off balance. He dropped the knife. He tried to grab it but it was out of reach. He tried to shake loose but the thing would not let go. JW was surprised at how strong it was. He kicked at it and managed to momentarily break its grip. He pulled the walkie out of his pocket.

  “No you don’t you shithead. No the hell you don’t.” He hit the top of its head as hard as he could.

  The skull popped and the walkie shattered. Both died. He dropped down on his bottom and pulled himself away a few feet. Shit.

  He gathered himself and picked up his knife. He needed to keep moving. The loss of the walkie increased the urgency in his mind. He had to make sure he was there to help. He looked down at the thing on the ground. He spit on it.

  “Fuck you.” He started after the crowd again.

  Bridger looked out the window of the bus. The moon was just a crescent but the skies were clear. The light reflecting from the moon cast off the atmosphere and brightened the sky. Since the world had gone dark, those surviving had been treated to the most spectacular views of the night sky, even though most had spent the time huddled in the dark trying to stay alive. When he was in the desert just outside Mosul all those years ago he would stare at the sky. The stars in the sky stared back. Unchanging. Things down here had certainly changed.

  He could see through the trees as the cool air settled into a shimmering mist on the ground. The trees were just shadows divided by shards of moonlight slicing through the mostly bare limbs. As he watched, black shapes moved. One, then another. The crowd began to appear, first as shadows and then into the light filtering between the trees. He looked back to the interior of the bus. Everyone was up against a window looking out. He quietly backed out of the seat he was leaning in and walked down the center aisle tapping each person. They all pulled away from the windows a little and watched from the darkness.

  The angle didn’t let them see right next to the bus without leaning against the window. They didn’t need to see. They could hear them bumping up against the side of the bus. Occasionally a hand would shoot up against a window. When that would happen, Bridger expected for someone to cry out. Hell, the first time it happened it was almost him that did it. He was impressed by how well the group in his bus was holding on. He wondered about the other bus.

  The windows facing the corral changed from the silvery white of the moon to a dull orange. Bridger rose up in the seat to look. They had dug a shallow pit and surrounded it with larger stones they had found by the creek to build their fire in. One of the infected had fallen into it and apparently the fire had not been completely out. It had rolled around and struggled enough that the coals had reignited and the tattered clothing had caught. It managed to stand up as the flames climbed its back. The dress burned around its legs and its long hair started to catch. It was oblivious to it. The fire engulfed its hair and burned quickly. Others had been drawn to the dancing embers floating from the burning living corpse. There were now maybe half a dozen inside the corral and the fire had spread to each one as they came too close to the first. As each one caught fire they would continue their aimless shuffling. They seemed completely unfazed by the flames. He could see their faces start to blacken and crack from the fire engulfing them.

  Bridger looked down the aisle of the bus again. He could see disbelief reflected by the firelight outside the windows. He could hear mumbled words of shock but nothing that would carry. He raised his head again, happy that everyone had held it together. He could see a face reflected in the bus across the corral. The face slowly grew out of the darkness and Bridger was thinking to himself, “Please get back”. He realized a moment later that the face was growing because the light was coming closer to it. One of the infected was walking towards it. The face withdrew a little further into the darkness. Raj. The thing outside stopped right against the side of the bus. Bridger watched, as it turned around and just stood there burning. The flames were licking the side of the bus. A few other infected had walked over to it and now they were all against the side of the bus across the corral. All of them were on fire.

  Raj had watched as the burning things slammed against the side of the bus. He turned, wide-eyed, down the aisle looking at the other people on the bus. Tilly was right next to him. She was still looking out of the window at the growing crowd of burning dead. Janice and her boys huddled in the back next to the emergency exit door. Ray and Dottie were just in front of them. Chris and Amanda were sitting in the front of the bus.

  “We have to do something.” Chris said.

  “What?” Tilly said.

  “I don’t know but we can’t stay in here. This bus is about to catch on fire.” Chris said.

  Raj got up and walked to the back of the bus. He leaned over Janice and looked out of the back door. He could only see as far as the glow cast from the walking torches. He didn’t see any other dead. He glanced over his shoulder at the flames as they licked up the side of the bus. The rest of the people on the bus had lined up behind him, anticipating his next words.

  “We have to go, now.” Raj reached for the door handle. Janice jumped out first, followed by Jeremy and Clyde. As Ray jumped down he landed awkwardly. They all heard the snap when his leg broke. He yelled. His voice carried and they all looked into the darkness beyond the bus. One by one, as the crowd turned to face the sound, their eyes reflected the firelight. The dark woods filled up with dozens of glowing red eyes. Janice screamed.

  The rest of them were still on the bus. Raj, Tilly, Chris and Amanda watched as Janice snatched Jeremy and Clyde’s hands and took off running into the woods away from the glowing eyes. Dottie climbed down and was on the ground trying to help Ray. Chris jumped down and tried to help Ray stand. He couldn’t. Raj and Tilly helped Amanda off the bus after them. Raj knelt down and slid one hand under Ray’s leg and the other around his back.

  “Chris, grab my hands. Form a seat and let’s carry him.” Raj said. Chris caught on and grabbed Raj’s hands. They lifted Ray and started to go. Out of the darkness came one of the infected. It was one of the burnt ones. The fire had run out of things to burn on it. The thing standing in front of them had no clothes, no hair, no lips and no eyelids. It was blackened and the skin had cracked. Blood and rot was oozing through the cracks. Amanda screamed.

  “Damn, can you not do that all the time?” Tilly looked at her. She shouldered the shotgun she was carrying and fired at the infected. “Let’s go.”

  She grabbed Amanda’s hand and headed around to the front of the bus. Janice and the boys were nowhere to be seen. As they reached the back of Kate’s SUV, Chris tripped. He, Raj and Ray all went to the ground. One of the infected came around the other side of the SUV between Ray and the other two. It wasn’t a burnt one. It had once been a man wearing a sweater with khaki pants. The pants were ripped at the bottom and the sweater was now just ribbon. The arms of the infected were covered in bruises and open wounds. There was a large bite mark on its face and the skin around it had puckered and swollen into an angry gaping wound. Parts of its teeth were visible in the hole. Ray was trying to drag himself away. He looked up into its face. The things hair was matted and bloody. The opaque eyes turned downward to R
ay. He rolled over and tried to raise himself up on his leg but it gave way. As he fell back down to the ground the infected fell on top of him, biting into his back. Ray yelled in pain. Raj tried to grab Ray but as he did another infected came out of the darkness. He and Chris scrambled back and ducked into the woods. Raj looked back at Ray, he couldn’t help him. He and Chris ran a few yards and stopped as another one of the dead stepped in front of them.

  Dottie, who had gone around the other side of the SUV with Tilly and Amanda, stopped and turned towards the voice of the man she had shared the last 42 years with. Tilly tried to grab her arm but she shook it off and went towards him. Tilly and Amanda followed her around the other side of the SUV. They saw Ray lying on his belly with an infected taking a bite out of his lower back. Tilly raised the shotgun and hit the thing in the back of the head with the butt. It made an audible pop. The thing went limp. Dottie dropped to the ground and put her hand on Ray’s back.

  “Ray, Ray. Please, please you have to get up. You have too.” Dottie said. Tilly was standing over the couple holding the shotgun and looking for any nearby infected. Amanda pulled out the revolver Bridger had given her. Ray was on his knees looking over his shoulder at Dottie.

  “I can’t. Besides what’s the point?” reaching his hand back and touching the bite over his kidney. Dottie put her hand on top of his and looked into his eyes.

  “What do I do, what do I do?” She frantically asked.

  “Run” Ray said. “I love ya darling but you gotta go.” Ray said. He looked at her, half smiling with tears in his eyes. She cradled his face and kissed him. He ran his hand through her hair one more time.

  “Go, you have too.” Ray said as another infected came out of the woods. Dottie kept her hand on his face. She heard Amanda scream and fire at the infected coming out of the tree line.

  Dottie looked at her husband. He had jerked under her grip. He was looking down at his chest as the blood bloomed on his shirt. He looked back at Dottie with shock. She understood quickly what had happened. He teetered and fell over. Amanda looked over the gun at Dottie, tendrils of smoke still coming from the barrel. She dropped the gun. Tilly had seen enough. She grabbed Dottie and pulled her to the back of the SUV. She popped open the rear hatch and roughly shoved Dottie into the back. She looked back over her shoulder at Amanda who was still standing in shock looking down at Ray. He had quit moving.