by T. Gault
I walked back over to where I had dropped the keys to the beat-up sedan and picked them up. As I stood up, I could see slight movements in the tree line. I looked closer at the motion and could see that several stumbling corpses were coming out of the trees. I looked back over at the police car and a group of about five carriers were crowded around the car. Matt had picked up on them too and pulled out his machete. He ran over to my car and jumped into the passenger’s seat. I slid the key into the ignition, hoping for a miracle. I turned the key and the rusting, poorly maintained car sputtered to life. I could see a large cloud of black smoke blow out of the exhaust, and if the carriers didn’t hear the car start, they could definitely smell it. I pulled the door shut and raced toward the opening in the crime scene tape on the opposite side. I could see in the rearview mirror that the noise and commotion had stirred up all of the carriers in the area. Some of the less rotten-looking corpses were almost at a full run after the car, and the more heavily decomposed ones were shuffling as fast as they could.
Matt tapped my shoulder and pointed to the back seat of the car. I looked over my shoulder and saw—lying on the back seat—a small child. She looked to be about the same age as Frannie and appeared to have not been injured. I pulled the car over and Matt pulled out his shotgun. He placed the muzzle on the girl’s head and nudged her with it. She didn’t move. He looked at me and nudged her harder, but still there was no movement. I looked out the back window and could see that the group from the crime scene was still coming after us.
“She probably was left in the car alone after all of that happened. Maybe she was in the accident and had internal bleeding…who knows. Just leave her there. We don’t have time to get rid of the body now. She’s not going to try to bite me, but they will if we stay here. Besides that, this thing doesn’t have much gas in it and I don’t know if it will even keep running,” I said as I pulled away from the shoulder.
“Hey, but I did want to check out this truck up here,” said Matt pointing at the large tractor-trailer stuck in the ditch.
I looked behind us and the corpses did appear to be far enough away that we would have a few minutes. I sped up and pulled up next to the truck. Matt quickly jumped out of the car and I did the same. Matt ran over to the driver’s side of the truck and climbed up to look into the window. I walked around to the back door of the sedan and opened the door. I grabbed the legs of the little girl and pulled to get her out of the car. I could hear suction and a tearing sound as I pulled and could feel that she was stuck to the seat from decay. I stopped, pulled and looked around in the car for a blanket or something.
I popped the trunk and walked around to the back. There were several bags of old clothes in the trunk. I grabbed one of them and pulled it open. I pulled out a large overcoat from the bag and walked back to throw it over the girl. The coat was heavy on one side. I shook the coat and could hear something clunking around inside one of the pockets. Shotgun shells. I threw the coat over the girl and ran back to the trunk. I moved around some of the bags and there it was, a sawed-off double-barrel shotgun. I chuckled for a moment in disbelief, thinking about all the noise Matt made and all the time he wasted on the police car. I pulled it out and checked the chambers. It was loaded but one of the shells had been fired already. I brought it up to the front of the car and put it on the driver’s seat.
I looked over at the truck for Matt, but he was nowhere in sight. I looked back to the advancing carriers and they were starting to get close enough that I felt like we were running out of time.
“Matt?” Where are you?” I asked as I ran over to the truck. I looked into the window, but didn’t see Matt anywhere. I looked back at the running corpses and I couldn’t wait any longer.
“Matt I’m leaving!” I said as I jumped off of the truck and ran back to the car.
I got into the driver’s seat and threw the shotgun onto the passenger’s seat. I put the car in gear and started to pull off. The driver’s side door of the truck flew open and Matt jumped out holding his backpack. He ran to the passenger’s-side door of the car and I slowed for him to get in. He started to step into the car, but I felt one of the corpses slam into the back of the car. Matt turned with his shotgun and blasted it in the face. The body of the carrier smashed into the open passenger’s-side door and Matt shoved it to the ground and climbed into the passenger’s seat.
“I almost left your happy tail,” I said, jamming the gas to the floor.
“I think I got some good stuff though,” replied Matt. “But what am I sitting on?”
“Oh, yeah, I found that in the trunk of this beast,” I said.
Matt lifted up the sawed-off shotgun and raised an eyebrow. “Interesting.”
“So what was so fantastic that you almost got left behind?” I asked.
“Food…canned food to be exact. Some truckers live out of their trucks while they are making shipments because it saves time and money. So some of them keep food in there too and it hasn’t been particularly hot the last few days, so it’s probably still good,” said Matt, looking very pleased.
“Like what? What was in there?” I asked.
“Beans, some canned fruit, canned pasta, and a couple other things,” said Matt.
“Great, now we just have to stay alive long enough to eat that stuff,” I said.
“I was gonna ask too, um...why didn’t you take that out of the back seat?” asked Matt.
“She’s kinda stuck to the seat and I didn’t really want to know what happens if only part of her comes off of the seat,” I replied.
“Okay, whatever. We’re not going to be keeping this junker for long anyway,” said Matt.
“So, do you think Jim got the last thing I said? Do you think they went back for us at the Game Stop?” Matt
“Don’t know,” said Matt as he stared out the window at the passing trees.
“I guess I’d like to think that they would have gone back for us, but I really hope that they didn’t,” I said.
“Why do you say that?” asked Matt.
“We made it out. We’re on the way to the church. They didn’t need to go get us. I’d hate to be responsible for any of them being hurt or...bitten,” I said.
“Well, I guess we’ll find out in a few minutes,” said Matt.
It didn’t take us long to find our way back to the church with our clunker of a ride. I felt scared, happy, and hesitant all at once. The van was there, sitting parked in the parking lot. There didn’t appear to be any new damage to it. There were a handful of corpses standing outside of the door to the front side of the church. The noise of our vehicle quickly drew their attention. I threw the car into park and shut off the engine. The car sputtered and backfired as the engine died. Matt and I quickly got out of the car and separated to split up the small group. Between us we were able to take care of the group quickly. I started to knock on the door, but Matt grabbed my arm.
“You still have that walkie?” asked Matt.
“Um, yeah, but why wouldn’t we just knock?” I responded.
“Because they were just knocking,” said Matt and pointed to the dismembered corpses.
“Good point,” I said.
CLICK, “Anybody there?” I said into the radio.
PFFFF, “How did you...hold on I’ll let you in,” said Beth.
I looked over at Matt and he looked eager to get inside after hearing Beth’s voice. I was eager to get inside after knowing that they were still alive. The door squeaked open and Matt and I stepped inside. Beth reached over and hugged Matt. Matt looked shocked, but happy about it. I raised an eyebrow at Matt and started to walk into the church. I expected to hear people talking or something, but the building was quiet. The sun hadn’t gone down yet. It couldn’t have been more than three or four o’clock in the afternoon.
“Where is everyone?” I asked.
“Most of us are still here, trying to recover,” said Beth.
“What do you mean, ‘most of us’?” I asked.
�
��We did go back for you. Jim said he didn’t couldn’t hear the name of the place you said to go, but he wanted to go back anyway,” said Beth.
“What, did Jim get hurt?” I asked.
“No, Jim’s fine. Well, sort of. He feels responsible for the whole thing,” said Beth.
“Wait, what happened?” I said beginning to be frustrated.
“Okay, um, Jim said he wanted to go back for you guys. Tracey told him that she wanted to go too, but she had to take care of Sid’s arm first. She convinced Jim to wait until the morning to go back. She also took a look at Frannie and told us that she knew what antibiotics to get. It was so hard to convince Sid that he shouldn’t go. He has been in a huff all day. Well, until Jim came back. Anyway, Jim, Tracey and Bishop Hadley all decided that they were going to try to find you guys. Jim said they decided to check for you at the Sports Authority first and then they were just going to slow-roll through the area and see if you guys popped out.
After they didn’t find you at the sports shop, Jim said they checked the other stores in the area. He said they drove past a cigar shop and he thought he saw one of you inside. They all jumped out and kicked in the door. Jim said there was no one inside. Not even any infected people. Jim said he kinda lost it for a minute and started looking through the store again. Bishop Hadley told Jim they needed to leave. Hadley ran to the van and Jim saw a wave of infected coming through the parking lot.
Hadley was grabbed by several of them. Tracey ran to help the Bishop, but there were too many of them. Jim tried to shoot them off of Hadley...” Beth paused.
“Okay, then what?” Matt asked.
“He shot Tracey!” said Beth, beginning to cry.
“What? Is she okay? Where is she?” I asked.
“The massive crowd took Bishop Hadley, but somehow Jim got Tracey into the van and drove out of the area. Jim said that Tracey told him where her ambulance was last and he took her there. He said that she tried to tell him how to stop the bleeding and how to bandage the wound. Jim was too nervous and he couldn’t stop the bleeding. He put the supplies into the van and drove her back here. He ran inside with her and put her on the floor. He screamed for someone to help. Tracey wasn’t breathing. Jim tried to tell us what she had told him, but we couldn’t get it to work. She died,” said Beth, wiping tears from her eyes.
“I don’t know what to say. She was a good person. She was good to have around too,” I said.
“Yeah, this blows,” said Matt.
Beth cleared her throat. “Rev is having a kind of funeral service or something in the auditorium for Tracey and Bishop Hadley. Jim is sitting in one of the classrooms with Sid and hasn’t been able to look at Tracey since it happened,” said Beth.
“How’s Sid doing anyway?” I asked.
“Better now. Jim did bring back some pain meds from the ambulance. Otherwise, he is taking the loss of his arm pretty well. He was making jokes about being unarmed before...well you know,” said Beth.
“How about Frannie?” asked Matt.
“Yeah, and Curtis where’s he at? Why didn’t he go?” I asked.
“Curtis. He said he wasn’t going to leave Frannie again after the Sports Authority. Frannie’s not doing too good. She hasn’t been talking and her fever is really high. Tracey said she knew most drug stores carried the antibiotics Frannie would need, but she never told any of us the name. Or maybe she did, but none of us knew what she was talking about,” said Beth.
“How about Rev and Deandre? How are they holding up?” I asked.
Matt walked past Beth and me and said, “Augh, enough talking about people. Let’s just go see for ourselves.”
Beth rolled her eyes, but watched to see where Matt went as he walked, “The Reverend and Deandre are fine I guess. I haven’t heard that Deandre kid say a word and the Reverend keeps talking about God’s will,” said Beth.
“Okay, well, I’m really hungry and thirsty. I think Rev said they ran a soup kitchen here right?” I asked Beth like she would know more about it than I would.
“Yeah, we had some things to eat while Jim’s party was out, but no one else has felt like eating since,” said Beth.
“Well, I feel awful about Tracey and Hadley too, but I seriously feel like I’m about to pass out,” I said.
Beth walked with me to the kitchen of the church and pointed out a cabinet full of canned goods. There were a whole lot of cans of green beans and just about whatever canned fruit you could ask for. There was also a stack of water jugs in one of the pantries. I pulled out my water bottle from my backpack and filled it up. Even the room-temperature water felt good to drink. I found a can opener and opened a can of beans and a can of pears. Given the fact that I hadn’t really eaten actual food in more than a day, I probably shouldn’t have eaten as fast as I did. I sat back in a chair in the kitchen and just stared at the wall for a few minutes. It was the first time since that morning that I had been able to lower my guard.
My backpack sat on the floor next to my seat. I’d left it unzipped after I pulled out my water bottle. I could see the video camera sitting in the bottom of the bag. I reached inside and quickly pulled it out. It had been a while since Dad had shown me how to use the camera and it took me a few seconds to figure out where the power switch was. I flipped open the viewfinder display and turned it on. The battery icon was blinking, but I pressed the play button anyway.
There was Thomas, staring at me.
“I’m not sure who is going to find this,” Thomas said, “and I’m not sure how long I can stay awake. I feel like I’m going to pass out. Anyway, I couldn’t think of anything else to do. I tried calling all of you guys with the phone here in the garage, but nobody would answer. I even tried calling 9-1-1. I need somebody to come get me...listen to me. I’m talking to this camera like you can hear me. I don’t really know why I even turned this on.” Thomas reached over and shut off the camera.
I sat staring at the display thinking, That’s it? I waited all this time for that?
I reached over to turn the power off and the display came back up. There was Thomas again.
“Alright...I’m really starting...to worry now...I have dozed off...a few times now. I was going to try to...run for the front of the house...and get a neighbor, but...there are more crazy people out there. I don’t know what...else to do....” Thomas sat glaring into the camera for a few moments.
“I...I’m scared...I tried to call everyone again...but still no one will pick up. My shoulder really hurts. My hand is getting numb. Where are you guys? I need some....” Thomas stopped.
I could hear the garage phone ringing and Thomas became excited. He got up and walked over to the phone.
“He...Hello?” Thomas stuttered. “Dad?”
The camera shut off and I was left sitting there waiting to find out anything that would let me know where dad and mom might be.
“No, that can’t be it,” I said out loud to myself.
I tried to turn the camera back on, but the battery was completely dead. I sat trying to think of any way that I could get the camera working again, but without a working power outlet, there wasn’t much I could do. I felt like smashing the camera, but I wanted even more to know what dad said to Thomas on the phone. I sighed and put the camera back into my backpack.
I thought maybe Rev might have something I could use to charge the camera, but I needed to check on the others in the group before I worried about seeing the tape. I saw Rev sitting in the auditorium and he looked like he was praying. I didn’t want to interrupt him. I could see Tracey lying on a table at the front of the room. Someone had laid her on her back and folded her arms. She almost looked peaceful. I hadn’t known her but for a day, but she would have fit in really well with the rest of our group. I heard a door shut down the hall and saw Deandre walking toward the auditorium with a handful of dandelions and a couple other wild flowers from the rear yard of the church. He stopped and looked at me for a moment. He looked over at Tracey and lowered his head as he walked int
o the room with Rev. He walked passed Rev and put the flowers on Tracey’s body. He leaned over, hugged Tracey, and walked back out of the room and past me.
“Hey, Deandre,” I said.
He turned and looked back at me.
“She was your friend?” I asked.
Deandre looked uncomfortable, but he nodded in response.
“She was my friend too. I’m sorry that our friend is dead. Maybe she’s in a better place,” I said.
Deandre just looked at me. I could see that his eyes were filling with tears. He slowly turned and walked away from me as he wiped his eyes with his arm. I didn’t know what else to say. All of us had experienced so much death in the last few days that it almost felt like we might be getting used to it. I didn’t know if that was a good thing or a bad thing. I looked in at Rev one more time and continued walking down the hall to look for the others. I could hear some chatter coming from one of the classrooms down the hall. It sounded like Jim and Sid talking. Jim was obviously down on himself for what had happened.
