by Marie Lanza
Melody always felt the sudden instinct to shield Aubrey’s eyes from seeing the infected. Aubrey cried out as the bodies slammed against the windows, their bloodied faces growling against the glass.
Beck drove forward running down several at a time, rolling over their bodies, plowing them down like weeds. The infected bodies flattened as the weight of the Humvee rolled over them. Suddenly, a body stuck and was pulled up inside the wheel well then another body got stuck, and the tire churned against flesh and bone, knocking them around until the tire stopped spinning, grinding the Humvee to a stop.
“This isn’t sounding good, Beck.” Mike was pressing his face against his window in an attempt to see anything that could tell them what was happening.
The infected bodies were jammed inside the wheel well.
They were stuck.
“Son of a bitch!” Beck shouted.
Mike rolled down his window low enough to get his knife through, taking out the infected against his window. Jason and Beck did the same. Their blades knocked down one by one with new faces taking their place.
“We have to get out there and clear the wheel,” Mike said.
When Beck’s side was clear, he jumped out of the Humvee to take on the remaining infected. There were still a few handfuls left, with the Humvee disposing of most of them. The infected directed their attention to Beck, clearing for Mike and Jason to get out of the Humvee.
The unspoken plan was going downhill fast, with the group outnumbered and surrounded. It was four to one and they were doing everything they could to keep the infected back. Jason kicked two to the ground, slowing their advance, before killing another. Mike and Beck were back to back as they fought the infected that were surrounding them.
Melody struggled to stay in the Humvee and not jump out to help. Her mind went back and forth on whether or not she could leave Aubrey safely in the vehicle.
As Melody’s mind settled on leaving Aubrey, she grabbed the gun Jason had given her and went to get out, when two men with bandanas over their faces, jumped from the woods and began attacking the infected. Coming up from behind, the infected didn’t stand a chance by the surprise kills. One holding a shovel, the other an ax, they took the heads off the infected, giving Jason, Beck, and Mike the advantage to kill the others.
When the two strangers were done, they turned to see Jason, Mike, and Beck had all pulled their weapons, with dead aims on both of them.
“We don’t mean any harm,” the man called out as he pulled the covering from his face before raising his hands in the air. “This is all we have for weapons.” His shoulders raised as he ducked his head afraid someone may shoot him.
No one put their guns down.
Melody ran around the Humvee to get a better view of the group, but still used the vehicle as cover in case everyone started shooting.
The man put his arms down. He was a husky older man mostly balding and a full beard starting to grow. The other was younger, skinny thing but seemed to be able to handle himself.
“You don’t want to make that mistake. Get your hands back up!” Beck demanded.
“How many do you have?” Mike called out.
No one was taking any chances after the last group they had run into.
The man seemed confused, “I… my family, a few friends. Sorry I didn’t mean to frighten you. We have a camp site just here.” He pointed behind him. “We have no weapons. I just saw the truck and hoped it was help.”
“What’s your name, sir?” Beck asked.
“Bill.” He looked desperate and haggard. “This is my son, Corey.”
Mike was the first to lower his weapon, then Beck. Jason held out and figured he should keep everyone covered.
Melody stood tight against the Humvee and attempted to search through the brush to find whatever group he was talking about.
“We have a campsite. I can show you. It’s my other son, he’s sick. Please.”
Curiosity got the best of them. Beck and Mike followed with Jason and Melody grabbing Aubrey, before catching up to the others.
“Again, we didn’t mean to alarm you,” Bill reaffirmed. “We can’t remember the last time we’ve seen other people still alive.”
Bill took them down a hiking path far enough where they lost visual of the Humvee, to a campsite.
Everyone stood with looks of serious concern.
“Bill?” a woman spoke up.
“It’s OK. Military!”
They got a good look at the group, who were now all on their feet. Besides Bill, they could see the group consisted of a teenage girl, a woman who was assumed Bill’s wife, and another middle-aged couple, but no other teenage boy. Everyone looked dirty, tired, and a little scared, but in all around surprisingly good health. They had a campsite completely set up with tents, packs stuffed with goods, and tools most likely being used for weapons.
“You said your son is sick?” Jason asked.
“Yes, he’s in his tent.”
“I’m a doctor, do you mind if I take a look at him?” Jason asked.
Bill’s wife immediately began to weep.
“Please,” Bill’s voice cracked as he made his way through the campsite.
Jason followed with Mike close behind for back-up.
Melody stayed her distance still somewhat cautious although she hated having so much distrust for people.
The tent was open with a boy who looked about sixteen years old shivering under a sleeping bag.
“What’s his name?” Jason asked as he gave him a look over before entering the tent.
“Kyle.”
Jason stepped in the tent. “Hi, Kyle. You can call me Jason. I’m a doctor.” Jason kneeled down over the young boy. “Do you mind if I take a look at you?”
Kyle didn’t answer, too weak to speak and barely able to keep his eyes open to stare. His skin was grayish pale, sweat beaded on his forehead, while his eyes looked dry and red.
“How long has he been like this?” Jason reached out placing his hand on Kyle’s forehead. “He’s on fire.” Jason pulled Kyle’s arm out of the cover to check his pulse, feeling he barely had one. As Jason lifted the sleeping bag to place his arm back under, he noticed Kyle was lying in a puddle of blood. He urgently looked to Bill. “Was he bit?”
“What? No! No, he wasn’t!” Bill insisted.
Jason pulled the covers completely off of the young boy.
“Kyle?” Bill’s wife approached the tent but was blocked by Mike.
“Ma’am, please.”
“No, let me get to my son!” the mother pleaded. “He’s just sick!”
Bill ran outside to hold his wife back. “He just started running a temperature. He never said anything about being bit.”
Jason rolled Kyle onto his side and lifted his shirt where it appeared the most blood had been pooling. It was what Jason didn’t want to see – bite marks. Kyle had flesh ripped from his lower back over his kidney area. Jason let out a long sigh and rolled the kid back over and covered him back up.
Jason walked out of the tent and looked at the woman. “I’m so sorry. If you want, I can go get the medical kit and find something to make him more comfortable.” Jason’s words were like a physical force that ripped the mother’s strength from her legs, causing her knees to buckle and collapse her body to the ground. Her lungs released a cry that shook everyone to their core as she cried for her son.
“I guess we all sorta knew,” the other man in the group spoke out. “It was just too awful to think about.”
“We can stay until it’s time.” Jason looked at Melody who nodded her approval, then to Beck and Mike for confirmation.
Bill shook his head has he held his arms tightly around his wife.
“I’ll go get the kit.” Beck jogged out of the campsite to get what everyone knew was merely a prop to, in some way, bring comfort to the grieving family.
Bill’s wife finally calmed and walked over to a downed tree they sat on like a bench. The other teenagers sat on each s
ide of their mother and cried with her at the inevitable loss of their brother.
Beck returned to the camp fairly quickly, delivering the medical bag to Jason.
Jason set the useless bag down on his lap as if he was going to start sifting through it to find miracle items to cure Kyle. “How long have you been here?” Jason asked Bill and Nancy to bring their thoughts away from their son for just a moment of distraction.
“Here, just a few days. Since Kyle got too sick. We came over from that valley where you’re headed. Scouted the area a few times,” Bill pointed out. “When the outbreak happened, we were on a backpacking tour. Heard it over the radio, started seeing the fires. Our cars were stolen where we had left them which was when we saw our first sightings of those things. Been roaming ever since.” Bill sounded as if he was in a daze of denial.
“Did you see what happened in Glen by any chance?” Melody took a seat on the tree bench with Aubrey.
Bill took a pause.
“Dad, that’s that town we saw yesterday,” Corey prompted.
“Oh yeah, yeah. That place was run over as usual. We didn’t get too close. It was smoky, but we didn’t see anything burning which was odd.”
“Because the fires are underground,” Beck mumbled in frustration. “Anything else?”
“No. Sorry.” Bill seemed disappointed he couldn’t be more help.
“I’m going to go sit with your son. Is that OK?” Jason asked. He used his words carefully, asking permission and made sure they were aware of all his actions.
“Yes please, please see if you can help him rest.”
Mike went with Jason almost as if he was keeping guard. Jason didn’t know if it was his distrust of these new people or he was afraid this kid was going to turn and start attacking. Either way, he preferred the company.
Inside the tent, Kyle’s breath was barely a wheeze. As he died, it became more difficult to breathe.
“Do we really have something you could give him?” Mike asked.
Jason looked Kyle over as he lay there dying. “No. I saw this on the ship. He’s in the transition phase. Basically a fancy way of saying he’s already dead.” Jason’s words were blunt and cold. “Fuck.” Jason thought for a moment. “Mike, close the tent.”
Mike was hesitant at first but zipped up the tent to give them privacy. As he turned back to Jason and Kyle, Jason placed his hand over Kyle’s nose and mouth.
With barely any air left in his lungs and his body already at death’s door, there was no fight from Kyle. His body relaxed and he was gone.
Jason pulled his knife and shoved it through the base of his head into his brain. It was quiet and quick.
“Shit, man. We’re all doomed, aren’t we…?” Mike took in a deep breath. “Poor kid.”
Jason put his knife away and stood up. “He’s the lucky one. We have to live with this.”
Outside, everyone’s eyes were on Jason when he exited the tent. Jason didn’t have to say a word for the group to know Kyle was dead.
Nancy’s cry was muffled as she buried her face in Bill’s chest. The rest of the group huddled around her in a sign of support for the loss.
Melody stood up with Aubrey as Jason approached them. “There was nothing you could do,” Melody whispered.
“I know.” Jason was grateful for the backing.
It was a long several minutes of mourning before Bill pulled away from his wife and walked over to the group. “Thank you. Just for trying.”
“I’m sorry we couldn’t help.”
“We knew. Deep down. It’s that place you put stuff when you aren’t ready to accept.”
“What’s your plan?” Beck still had the need deeply set in his bones to help them.
Bill’s eyes sank to the ground and then back to Beck. “First, I need to bury my son. We honestly don’t have anything after that. Just surviving at this point.”
“We thought the military were taking people,” Nancy spoke up, her eyes were swollen red with tears still streaming down her cheeks.
“Everything has failed. I’m sorry to have to tell you that. We were headed to the last known facility in the area we thought would be standing, Camp Glen. Unfortunately, it appears we were wrong.”
A gasp came over the group hearing the news.
“So looks like we’re still on our own out here.” Bill sounded crushed.
“I’m afraid so.”
Even though they had already been dealt with that reality, listening to those words, Melody still felt the same initial devastating blow.
“Now, what do you say we go take a look at that mess underneath your Hummer.” Now Bill was the one trying to change the subject. “Corey?”
“We’re not in any rush if you need a bit longer with your family,” Jason said.
“No, sitting around won’t do us any good.”
No one tried to convince Bill to sit around, understanding that everyone mourned in their own way.
The group gave a casual goodbye to the others, before leaving with Bill and Corey to head back to the Humvee. There were no handshakes or hugs, just simple acknowledgements of each other.
As they walked up to the scene, Melody realized she hadn’t noticed the gore they had left behind. Slaughtered bodies of infected sprawled out over the road where the Humvee had made a trail as they attempted to get past the horde. Infected were flattened road kill, with most of their bodies ripped apart from the Humvee, leaving just their head and arms able to still attempt to reach hold of the living that walked past them.
Bill took his shovel to the infected that were still moving, even those just twitching, and decapitated them one by one.
They gathered around the Humvee’s front tire to look at the damage the infected had caused. Mangled bodies were twisted up inside the wheel well jamming the tires. One infected, with its body completely contorted, and bones protruding from its limbs after ripping through the flesh from bending in ways a normal body shouldn’t, still bit and growled at the group.
Mike leaned in with his knife, silencing its snarls.
“Well, who’s ready to get their hands dirty?” Mike asked as he leaned in and began pulling on the crunched bodies in the wheel well.
Jason and Beck stepped in to help. The rotting remains ripped apart easily as the men tugged on them. As they tossed the body parts, Bill and his son, Corey, moved them away from the Humvee.
There wasn’t one person in the group who didn’t cringe with every splatter of intestines hitting the ground, or squishy shredding of flesh as parts were separated.
Melody’s stomach turned. She walked away towards the back of the Humvee to prevent Aubrey from seeing too much. Melody leaned against the back of the vehicle as the men continued to clear out the wheel well. Death surrounded them with the smell of rotting meat, so intense it felt like it was burning a hole in her brain. It was painful to breathe in and the idea of breathing through her mouth was just as awful.
Every few minutes, Melody would peek around the Humvee to see the work in progress. Bill and Corey were the variety of good people humanity needed in this cruel world they found themselves in. Their group seemed to manage fairly well on their own, but Melody couldn’t imagine how much longer they could stay alive with axes and shovels for defense. If the infected didn’t find them, those outlaws they ran into would.
The guys worked for the better part of an hour when Melody caught them saying they were done. She peeked around the Humvee to see their progress. They had all stepped back and away from the wheel well, while continuing to look it over. Beck walked around to climb in the driver’s seat and started the engine. He rolled a few feet before stopping and jumping back out.
“Looks like we’re gold.” Jason smiled.
Melody made her way back to the front of the Humvee to join in saying goodbye to Bill and Corey.
She tugged on Jason, whispering at a level only he could hear, “We can’t just leave them here.”
Jason looked back at her a little surprised
by her comment, but he knew she was right. These were good people who were fighting to survive. Jason also knew if they were in a different situation and still had the truck, Beck would have wanted to take them. Jason approached the group. “We don’t have room in the one vehicle, but if you can make it to Summer Springs, we’re headed there. I’m happy to give you the location.”
Beck was taken aback and happy about the gesture at the same time.
Bill looked a little surprised but approving of the idea as he looked over the faces of their group. “Like I said, I need to bury my son, but we have nothing after that. This could be something for us to look forward to.”
“Be on look-out, though, besides the infected, we ran into a group of real winners,” Beck instructed with concern.
Bill turned to Corey, then back to the group. “We can handle ourselves. We know all these mountain ranges well and can certainly stay out of sight if we need to.” Bill nodded his head as he collected his thoughts. “Yeah, what have we got to lose?”
Bill extended his hand and Jason accepted, then to Beck.
“We’ll see you again,” Beck assured.
“Yes. We’ll meet again,” Bill avowed.
Chapter 11
Melody took a last look back at Bill and Corey before they were out of sight. She was heartbroken they couldn’t help them more, but comforted in believing they would make it to Summer Springs.
The fire road rolled up and over the hills, twisting around to give them a wider view of the world. Melody’s eye’s scanned the towns below them. Dense populations of people stuffed in apartment buildings, condominiums, and homes. Those people now stuck there forever with diseased minds, left to wander until they rotted away or were killed by the living. She was happy to be driving on the fire road, happy not to be among the infected that were gathered in the towns. There were no more raging gun battles, no more raids, no more fires – just old air that smelled of rot and the decaying shells of human remains that still walked like they were alive.
“How do you think we lost everything so fast?” Melody asked anyone who wanted to answer.
Everyone thought about that answer for a few seconds in silence. Melody didn’t push for anyone to speak up.
