by T. Gault
Curtis was holding Francine again and...looked happy. Beth was trying to wrap Francine’s arm with gauze while Curtis was walking around holding her.
“Hold still, I still need to clean it up,” said Beth, trying to hold onto Francine and the gauze.
“It ain’t no bite,” said Sid, wiping his forehead with his arm.
Jim looked pleased but didn’t say a word.
“What was it then?” I asked Beth.
“I guess that thing had some nails and cut her through her sleeve,” replied Beth.
“Oh, good. That’s great news. We just need to clean it up and bandage it then?” I asked.
“Yeah, I put some peroxide on it and I’m trying to wrap it...if THIS CLOWN WOULD PUT HER DOWN!” Beth raised her voice.
“I’m sorry,” muttered Curtis and he put Francine down.
I looked back to where Matt had been standing, but he had walked off somewhere. I stood with the group for a few minutes and smiled. I was happy for Curtis.
CHAPTER 12 - Our castle...
The rest of the group sat between the aisles, filling each other in on their story. We had grabbed a couple bags of beef jerky from the front registers and a few bottles of soda from the coolers next to the registers. We all made sure to keep quiet and we would say something if we heard anything. This night was a little different than the night before in the thrift shop. For some reason this night almost felt like a lock-in.
Frannie sat on Curtis’ lap. Beth had found a big fluffy sleeping bag to lie on. Sid sat picking at his nails with a big hunting knife. Jim sat watching the front doors with his hunting rifle in hand. I sat leaning up against the shelving, watching the back door and occasionally I would glance over to see if Jim was still watching the front.
I listened to Beth and Curtis talk about everything they had been through and learned a little more about Sid than I wanted to know. But I kept wondering where Matt was and when he was going to join the rest of us.
Beth “Bethany Cartwright” said she was not from this area at all, originally. She was from Michigan and she had four brothers. That’s how she learned how to take a solid swing at someone. Derrick Loper was Beth’s friend from work. She knew that he had been trying to get the courage to ask her out for several weeks, but he just never did and now he never would. Beth heard from her brother Frank right when it all started. He told her to go to the police and stay away from hospitals. After what I had seen, this sounded like good advice, except none of us had really seen a police officer anywhere yet. She said she was at home when she first heard about it. She had watched the same reporter get run over by the truck as I had. It was kind of strange yet we all laughed about it when we both realized we saw the same thing. I was reminded of recapping a new movie with a friend. When we realized that we were laughing about someone dying, we stopped suddenly. We all sat in silence for a few moments.
Curtis started talking about sitting at home for almost two days. He said he paced back and forth for a while trying to convince himself that his mom and sister would be back any minute. Curtis told us that his dad had left his mother when he was really young, right around the time his sister was born. Curtis was heavily into video games and told us that he didn’t really notice that his mom and sister were late coming home until about four hours after they should have been home. He was in his room playing online and only stopped playing when one of his friends was “AFK,” which he said meant “Away from the keyboard.” He said his friend Mike told him to hold on because someone was at the door.
Curtis heard Mike put down his headset and then...nothing for about an hour, but Mike never logged off. Curtis tried calling him, but he wouldn’t answer the phone either. Curtis saw someone walking in his backyard and he tried to tell them he was going to call the cops. The man ran after him and Curtis quickly backed into the house, and slammed the door. He knows now that the guy was a carrier, but he said the guy banged on the back door for about the next two hours. Curtis couldn’t wait any longer and he ran outside and drove off in his Mustang.
Frannie started to talk and everyone else immediately halted what they were doing and listened.
“Mommy and I went to get Curtis’ birthday present. The police were fighting with a man in the parking lot. I saw them spray something on his face and they shot these wire things at him and they even hit him with these metal sticks. He wouldn’t listen to them. They got him on the ground finally and put his hands behind his back, but he was still fighting them. Mommy said the man needed some help at the hospital. An ambulance came and took the man away. Me and mommy walked back to the van and she bought me a new dress and a new shirt too. I wanted to hurry home to try them on. She helped me into the back seat. She wanted to put my seatbelt on, but I told her I could do it. She walked around to get in and sat down. She put on her seatbelt...”
Frannie stopped.
“Where is mom?” asked Curtis.
Frannie didn’t answer.
“Frannie you’ve gotta tell me where mom is.”
“...She was in the van,” replied Frannie quietly.
“What, where did she drive to? Why did she leave you? That’s not like mom.”
Frannie looked at Curtis with tears flowing from her small eyes. “The man...before she shut the door. He started grabbing her. I screamed. He was hurting her. I was scared. I got out and ran.”
Curtis started looking sick, “I’m sorry Frannie. I didn’t know. Did mom...get out of the van?”
“I don’t know.” Frannie sobbed.
“She never said anything about this to me,” added Beth. “We found her...Derrick and I found her inside that clothing store where we were hiding. That’s why we were in there.” Beth glared at Jim.
“What, we were all a little on edge and I said some things,” blurted Jim.
Beth looked back at Curtis, “She was sitting on the floor inside the store in the children’s section. I guess that’s where your mom bought her that dress.”
“Wait, I thought you said you had to fight your way into that store,” I asked.
“We did. She was sitting so still on the floor that the ones inside the store didn’t even notice her, but when we were moving past the store, I looked inside and she looked at me. I told Derrick we had to help her and we went inside. They came at us just like when we left the store and Derrick did his best to fight them off, but...well you guys know how it turned out,” responded Beth.
“I’m thankful that you did that for my sister,” said Curtis to Beth.
Beth just looked at Curtis and nodded.
“I know you guys don’t want to go out on another rescue party, but I have to find out if my mom might still be alive. I think if you guys had any idea where the rest of your families were, you would want to look for them too,” said Curtis, looking at all of us.
“I’m not real fond of the idea, but I can understand where you’re coming from,” I said.
“No offense to anyone else, but I’m not going,” Beth said.
“That’s understandable. You’ve just gotten out of all of that out there. I wouldn’t want to jump right back in either,” I replied.
“That’s not what I’m saying really. Again, no offense to anyone, but with what she just said...your mom probably didn’t make it,” Beth said.
“I’m always game, bud,” said Sid, proudly tapping his shotgun on his shoulder.
“You know this guy wouldn’t stand a chance without me,” said Jim, pointing at Sid.
“Hey there, big fella. If I recall, I was the one that saved your lousy shootin’ tail at the store,” said Sid raising an eyebrow.
“Eh, whatever,” responded Jim.
“Well, we’re not going out tonight anyway. They’re too agitated outside and I’m still not sure what condition my truck is going to be in tomorrow morning,” I said.
“What the heck happened to your truck?” asked Sid.
“Oh, right, you guys were already inside. One of them got into the back and tried to crawl
through the window to the bed. Last I saw, he was hanging out inside the cab and I left my door open. The dome light is probably on and if I don’t get the door shut before the battery dies, we’ll need another vehicle tomorrow,” I responded.
“What, you just need to get the door shut?” asked Jim.
Jim walked over to the rack of baseball bats and picked out a bat. He swung it a few times and walked back over to the rest of us. Sid looked at Jim and shook his head just before he walked over to the same rack and selected his own bat.
“Ok bud, me and Jim are gonna take care of them while you get that door shut,” said Sid, swinging the bat in his hands.
“Yeah, well, worry about old rotten face inside the cab tomorrow,” added Jim.
“Alright then,” I said as I led the way toward the back door.
I put my hand on the door handle and looked at Sid and Jim. They each gave me a nod and I readied my pipe sword. I opened the door and was greeted by about ten carriers. They all started grabbing and reaching at the same time. I began shoving them back and kicked them in the chest when I could. Once I broke through the clot outside the door, I sprinted to my truck. The door was still open and there was my unwanted passenger still trying to get out of the window. I grabbed onto the door and started to shut it, but the thought of how disgusting the inside of that truck would be in the morning made me think twice.
I pulled the door back open and jabbed the point of my sword through the eye socket of its skull. I tried to bash it in the head several times, but I couldn’t get the leverage to produce a kill shot. I glanced back at Sid and Jim. They seemed to be taking out the ones around the door. I dropped my sword to the ground and took hold of the carrier around the neck just under its chin. I pulled and yanked at it until I felt something starting to give. I thought just maybe I was getting it to come through the hole. Then I felt something pop and the upper torso came flopping out onto the front seat of the truck. It had ripped in half, spilling a brownish goo all over the seat and it was still trying to get me. I looked back at the other two guys and realized that even this little bit of commotion was enough to capture the attention of other ones close by. They were starting to crowd around the door again, even with the two of them fighting them off. I picked up my sword and caved in the cranium of the carrier hanging half out of my truck, dragged it onto the asphalt and threw the truck door shut.
I turned and ran toward the back door of the building and yelled to the others to get back inside. I shoved and kicked my way back through the wall of walking, decayed flesh and forced my way back inside. Sid and Jim stumbled in with me, but we weren’t able to get the door shut before one of them slid in through the crack in the door.
Beth had been waiting on the other side of the door when we came back inside. She slammed the corpse up against the cinder block wall and destroyed its face with the mannequin’s arm. We managed to get the door closed and we all sighed in relief. I stared at the remains lying motionless on the floor at our feet. I had not really had the opportunity, if that is the right word, to see one of them without having to worry about the twenty others coming after me. This one looked like it had once been a male, but none of us were sure about the race. Most of its hair was gone and any distinguishable features were sunken in, faded, or just rotted away altogether. Its skin was a greenish-gray color and we could all see the fatal wound that ended this person’s life. The left side of its neck was ripped to shreds and dried brown blood ran down its shirt. I also suddenly noticed the horrible smell hovering about the body. I guess I had never really noticed it because of the bursts of adrenaline.
“We need to get rid of this somehow,” I said to the others.
“Well, I don’t recommend getting rid of it the same way it came in,” said Jim.
“We could throw it off of the roof,” I said as I pulled out my portable radio.
CLICK, “Hey, Matt. You still up on the roof?” I radioed to Matt.
PFFFF, “Yeah...why?” Matt responded.
CLICK, “Stay up there, we’re going to need your help with something,” I said.
PFFFF, “What, the carrier you clowns let in when you went outside?” Matt asked.
CLICK, “Yeah, that’d be the one,” I replied.
Jim picked up a pack of climbing rope and Sid grabbed a tarp from the boating section. We rolled the corpse up inside the tarp and tied it up with some of the rope. Jim reminded me of one of those New York mobsters getting rid of a body in a piece of carpet. Sid and Jim seemed to be fairly comfortable moving the corpse around from the previous bodies they had moved. We dragged the remains to the bottom of the ladder leading to the roof and I climbed up to help hoist it up. Jim tied the rope around the carrier’s waist and helped to push it up from the bottom while Matt and I pulled it up to the roof.
Once I was on top of the roof, I figured out why Matt liked it up there. Aside from the shadows moving down below us and the occasional gunshot in the distance, it was very peaceful. You could see most of the surrounding area and it was easy to just look up at the sky, blocking out everything else.
“Hey, let’s toss this thing and be done with it. I’m tired,” said Jim.
Matt rolled his eyes and grabbed the feet. Sid was over near the front of the store, looking down to the parking lot.
“Hey, let’s sling him over this side. I bet you can’t hit that car down there,” taunted Sid.
“Okay, buddy, you’re on. Fifty bucks says I can get him through the windshield,” Jim responded.
“No way. But I’ll take that bet,” Sid said with a chuckle.
Jim and Matt stood as close to the ledge as they could and began to swing the body back and forth.
“On three,” Jim said to Matt.
“One, two, three,” counted Jim and they both let go with a shove.
We all watched as the corpse smashed to the asphalt just in front of the car.
“Ugh, crap!” said Jim.
“Woo wee!” Sid burst with excitement. “Pay up, bucko!”
“I’m good for it, but I’ll have to go to an ATM,” replied Jim without thinking about it.
“An ATM, huh?” I asked.
Jim looked back at Sid and they both got quiet. All four of us climbed down the ladder and picked a spot to sleep for the night inside the office. It was pretty cramped but other than the bathrooms, it was the only place inside the store where we could have a door between us and the rest of the store. None of us trusted the barricade to keep them out for good. Frannie curled up next to Beth and Jim told Frannie a bedtime story. Curtis tried to join in telling the story, but Jim kept correcting his mistakes in the story. It was something about a bunny. Matt wouldn’t lie down. He sat with his back against the wall and kept his shotgun at his side. Sid was out faster than anyone else. He started talking in his sleep for a few minutes. The rest of us got a good laugh out of it. We had no idea what he was dreaming about, but he mumbled something about getting ready to get on board a ship. He also held his hands in the air and acted like he was playing a flute. Matt stayed awake longer than me, but just before I dosed off, I saw him looking at Beth. He didn’t say a word to her, but I could tell that he wanted to.
Dream #3...
I stand in an unfamiliar place. I am standing on the second or third floor of the building I’m in. Down below I can see several people walking through an open hallway. The walls around me are cracked and broken in places. The people moving below are alive. They don’t appear to be carriers. I turn to look behind me and see that I am inside of a small store with what looks like souvenir shirts and various other trinkets. A group of people is huddled in the far corner of the shop. They are looking to me as though they are waiting for me to say something.
I hear a male voice say, “I don’t think they’ll find us here. They look like they’re just passing through, but still keep quiet.”
I look down at my clothes, but I don’t recognize what I’m wearing and as I look closer at the group of people, I don’t recognize an
y of them. I turn and look out toward the open sky behind myself and realize...I’m inside of an airport terminal. Half of the building is missing and there are parts of a jetliner all over the floors below. I peer around the edge of half of a wall left to the shop and see another group of people huddled inside of another shop. They are all frightened and trying to stay unnoticed.
I walk back toward the huddled group in my store and I hear the voice again, “Just stay calm and don’t worry. They weren’t looking up toward us. They were just running through.”
I realize this time that the voice is coming from me, but it’s not my voice. I turn to find any reflective surface inside the store. I see a display for sunglasses in the center of the room. There is a mirror on the side of it. I walk over to the mirror and gaze into the glass only to see a blurry face. I try so hard to focus on the image, but it’s impossible. I hear a new noise outside. This noise is not from the others on the bottom floor. The noise is coming from what they were running from. An enormous tidal wave of carriers is forcing its way across the landscape. They will be inside of the terminal in seconds. Somehow I know that they will find us. They will not stop until they reach us.
