All That I See - 02

by Shane Gregory

  She snorted, “Jason isn’t my boyfriend. He’s just a friend. We fool around and stuff, but that’s all. I’m kind of like his familiar.”

  “Familiar?”

  She didn’t explain. I knew it was vampire lingo, but I didn’t know what it meant.

  “He’s the father of your baby?” I asked.

  “I think so…either him or Antione. We shot Antione. Did I tell you that?”

  “Yeah. So Antione was your boyfriend?”

  “No,” she said. “Just a guy from school.”

  “Where did you go to school?”

  “Samford University,” she said. “A few of us hid out on the second floor of the art center right after everything happened. We stayed there a couple of days until we ran out of food. There were twelve of us in the beginning. We lost Kara, Stephen, and the Chinese chick when we left the building. Then we hid out in a mill for almost two weeks. Then Shawn convinced everyone that we needed to go north. Professor Carter was against it. He thought we should go south to The Gulf and try to get on a ship or something….but the Seebees got him. Now there are just three of us left. It’s taken all this time for us to get this far.”

  “So you were studying art?”

  “No,” she said. “When did I say that?”

  “Never mind,” I said.

  When we pulled into Clayfield, I was surprised to see how deserted it was relative to the last time I was there. I prayed that didn’t mean that Sara had been caught.

  “The last time I was in town, there was a bulldozer parked on 10th Street,” I said. “I don’t know how to drive it, but I guess I’ll have to learn.”

  “What town is this?” she said.

  “Clayfield,” I replied.

  “Clayfield,” she repeated. “Do you have a lot of clay in your fields or something?” She snickered and wiped her nose, looking at me sideways.

  “That’s pretty funny,” I lied, forcing a chuckle. “But really it’s true. There is a lot of clay here. There is a major clay mine right outside of town. That’s not how the town got its name, though. Coincidentally, there was this man named Henry Clayfield, and he—“

  “Snoozeville,” she interrupted.

  “What?”

  “They should have named it Snoozeville after you.”

  “Okay…um, well, here’s the bulldozer. I hope they left the keys in it…and maybe the operator’s manual.”

  I parked close to the machine so my lights could shine in the cab. We did have a moon, but I wanted to be sure I could look at the controls.

  “Stay put,” I said, opening my door. “I’m going to see if I can get that thing running and rolling.”

  I shined the little flashlight around in the vicinity to make sure I was clear then I ran to the bulldozer and climbed inside. I didn’t know if the cage around the cab was standard, or something improvised by Willy Rupe’s men. It did make me feel safe, though.

  I held the flashlight in my teeth for a little while as I messed around with the controls. It was a mess in there as far as I was concerned. I’d never seen so many levers and pedals and buttons just to control one vehicle before, except maybe a cockpit, and I certainly couldn’t fly a plane.

  I finally found the key. I turned off my flashlight and put it in my pocket, when I realized I could see just as well without it; the headlights from the truck were doing fine. I turned the key and the big yellow thing rumbled to life. I realized after I turned it on that I hadn’t given Bern any instructions. The bulldozer had no lights, so I would need her to light my way. I couldn’t get out now, because undoubtedly, the sound of the big engine would have already alerted the infected.

  “Shit,” I said. I had no idea which pedal or lever I should chose first.

  I grabbed one to my right next to the seat, and the blade moved up. I grabbed one to my left next to the seat and the engine got louder.

  “Throttle,” I said to myself.

  I pulled on the handle next to it, and the machine started to roll. Bern laid on the trucks horn. I looked over, but I couldn’t tell what she was trying to do.

  “What an idiot,” I said.

  The bulldozer eased up over the curb and into the front lawn of a little house. There was no steering wheel. I pulled on the handle between my legs, and it moved to the right.

  “So it’s like a joystick,” I said. “Now all I have to do is find the brake.”

  I pushed on one of the pedals in the floor, and it slowed, but didn’t stop. I rolled up into the front porch then front room of the little house. The wall caved in and I heard glass shattering. Bern laid on the horn again.

  “What?!” I yelled back at her, as I yanked on the joystick.

  The machine turned (it felt like it pivoted), raked through the house, then back into the yard. I thought I saw a recliner flip out of the house, but it was dark, so I couldn’t be sure. I dropped off the curb into the street, successfully steered past Bern and the truck then headed north. I was going completely on moonlight by that point.

  Behind me she was on the horn for a third time.

  “For God’s sake, follow me!” I yelled even though I knew she couldn’t hear me. I hoped she was smart enough to figure it out for herself. She had survived this long somehow, so maybe she wasn’t stupid, just crazy.

  I was a full two blocks up the street before she got around to joining me. She pulled alongside me. I looked down into the truck. Her window went down and she yelled something to me, but I couldn’t understand her. She just kept on yelling and looking at me while she did it. The truck was swerving all over the road, because she wouldn’t watch were she was going.

  There were figures all around--shadows in the shadows. Occasionally, the definite form of a person would be illuminated in Bern’s headlights, then disappear again. They were still around, just not congregating.

  I’ve mentioned it before, but I was struck by how unnerving it was to be in a city that is devoid of artificial light. It’s different when I’m in the country—I expect it there—but in the city limits it just adds to the feeling that something is very wrong.

  I wasn’t going very fast. I wanted to remedy that, but I didn’t know how, and I didn’t want to risk going too fast and being unable to control it or pulling on the wrong lever and shutting it down. Because of how slow we traveled, the creatures were able to follow us. I could see their silhouetted forms moving behind us. There were hundreds of them.

  It took us about twenty minutes to get back to her friends.

  Chapter 34

  The crowd around the car had grown, but I felt confident that I could clear them away, and I felt fairly secure inside the cage. I thought the best course of action would be to plow away the ones in front of the car to see if perhaps Cassie and Rodney could just drive out of there. I should have gotten more information from Bern.

  She got on the horn again. I just shook my head, because really there was nothing I could do about it, and I doubted she had anything useful to say.

  I stepped on the pedal in the floor and the bulldozer slowed. I stomped on a second pedal, and it finally came to a full stop. I played around with the lever that controlled the blade. I got it to go down then hit the pavement. It continued to push down until it was lifting up the front of the machine. I backed off. When the front of the dozer dropped back down to the ground, I let my foot off the pedals and steered toward the car. I could hear the blade scraping along the highway. I pushed into the crowd and the bodies heaped up ahead of me. I hoped Bern’s friends were brighter than her and would take the opportunity to escape. They weren’t, and they didn’t.

  Once I cleared the front of the car, there was a short window of opportunity for them to get the car moving before the creatures behind me filled the vacuum. They didn’t take advantage of it, so I decided to make a second pass, thinking that maybe they’d had time to discuss it and come to a realization about what they should do. The second go was just as unsuccessful as the first.

  “Okay,” I said. “We�
��ll try something else.”

  This time I came in and hit them head on. It wasn’t jarring for me at all, but I’m sure they felt it. A couple of zombie torsos rolled off the hood, their legs no doubt mashed to sausage through the grill of the car by my blade. I could see the dark figures inside the car moving around, but that was about all.

  I shoved the car backward through the mob. Finally, someone in the car cranked it, and either shifted it into reverse or neutral. Once I’d pushed them to the outer edge, they took over and backed well clear of the crowd. They must have driven in reverse for almost a quarter of a mile before stopping. Of course, the crowd pursued them. The driver of the car pulled off onto the ramp, down to the highway, and sped away heading north. Bern followed them. They just kept going. I stared out at their shrinking taillights.

  “You’re welcome,” I said. “Feel free to keep my gun….and truck.”

  I drove the bulldozer onto the overpass and looked up the highway. I watched their taillights get smaller and smaller. They weren’t coming back, that was obvious. Then one of them braked (the lights got brighter) and then the taillights wobbled. I couldn’t tell which vehicle it was. It wobbled then cut off to the left and stopped. The other vehicle kept going.

  I sat there in the bulldozer, surrounded by zombies, watching those taillights and working out what might have been going on. Rodney and Cassie must not have realized that it was Bern in the other vehicle. Even though they were freed by the bulldozer, they were no doubt afraid that I might not be a very nice person, and perhaps the person in the truck was chasing them down to hurt them. Or, maybe they did know it was Bern and just wanted to be away from her. Or maybe the stopped vehicle contained Rodney and Cassie, but Bern was just too daft to stop.

  I looked around me at the moonlit creatures lowing and moaning and howling around me. One of the smart ones had even climbed up on the bulldozer’s tread. He had hooked his fingers in the wire of my cage and was trying to chew his way into me.

  “Hold on tight, buddy,” I said. I lifted my feet off the pedals and the machine began to move. He held on, but his feet went with the tread. Very soon he was being pulled down the deadly conveyor belt to be smeared on the road.

  I took the ramp and rolled toward those lonely taillights. I didn’t like that I was being followed—I was going to need some breathing room to check on the vehicle—so I shined my flashlight on the lever that had initially got the machine moving in the first place. I noticed that there were notches, and I hoped that meant different speeds. I stopped again, moved the lever to a different notch, and was pleased to find I was going faster. I stopped again and shifted to the farthest notch. That did it. I wouldn’t win any races unless I was racing zombies…which I was. I easily outdistanced them. I figured I must have been going about 30 or 40 mph. I would have a little time to check out the vehicle and occupants before the creatures caught up.

  As I neared the vehicle, I saw that it was the truck and it was in the median. It looked like Bern had run off the road. I stopped the bulldozer and climbed out.

  I opened the door on the truck, but Bern wasn’t inside. I shined the little flashlight around, and then I saw her. She was kneeling in the road. I’d driven right past her, and if I’d been in the other lane, I would have run over her.

  “Bern!” I yelled, running to her. “What the hell are you doing?”

  She was hugging an animal. She looked up at me and I saw that it was a dog.

  “I killed it,” she cried. “I ran over it.”

  “Bern, we can’t be out here we—“

  Then I heard a yelp nearby. Then another. I shined the flashlight around me. Glowing eyes all around.

  “Dammit, Bern, get back in the truck!”

  More glowing eyes came into view ahead of the truck. They neared and the headlights illuminated three dogs.

  “Look, there’s more!” Bern said. “Come here, puppy.”

  “Get in the truck!”

  “Here, puppy,” she said, reaching out her hand. She was still on her knees with the dead dog in her lap. She whistled. I opened the passenger door of the truck. One of the dogs (in the dim light, it looked like Old Yeller…after the rabies) ran at me. I jumped in and shut the door before it could get me. I rolled down the window.

  “Bern, get in the truck!”

  More dogs darted through the headlights toward her. Her pistol was in the seat, and my shotgun with its one shell was there, too. Bern screamed. I didn’t have much time. I slid over to the driver’s seat and pulled the truck back onto the highway making a U-turn so the lights were shining on her. There were ten dogs that I could see, but I would catch glimpses of shadows in the moonlight and eyes shining then disappearing. Bern was covered up and screaming.

  The dogs were yapping and snarling and doing their best to get a piece of her. Bern was on her back, her legs kicking wildly. I stepped out of the truck with the pistol and drew down on the pack. I fired twice. One yelped and whined. The rest were visibly startled by the noise, and most of them shied away with their tails between their legs. Some, however, were hesitant to give up their prey.

  I took careful aim on one of the brave ones and fired again. It fell and twisted on the ground. The others ran a short distance away. I advanced. They watched me from the edge of the light.

  “Bern, can you walk?”

  She didn’t answer, but I could hear her crying, so I knew she was alive.

  “Bern?”

  She was bleeding from her face and at least one arm. I took a look around at the pacing, waiting pack. They were eerily quiet.

  “Get up, Bern. We need to go right now.”

  I pushed a dead dog off her. Another lay nearby, while a third continued to kick and whimper. It had been someone’s pet once. It still wore a thick leather collar around its neck and a second narrow flea collar. Now it was a killer just like the rest.

  I pulled Bern into a seated position. She cradled her left arm. One of the dogs decided to test me and crept into the light. I couldn’t let it do that. The others might be emboldened by its example. I shot, and it practically did a somersault. I wasn’t sure if I’d hit it or just scared it, but then it fell. It’s whole body seemed to tense up as if it were stretching, then one of its hind legs started to kick and spin it around on the pavement. The other dogs converged on it, fighting for its carcass. This gave me the time I needed.

  I got Bern to stand, draped her arm over my shoulders, and then we hobbled back to the truck. I got her into the passenger side. Then I fired the gun into the night to keep them scared long enough for me to get around the truck and get inside.

  Once I was behind the wheel, I turned on the interior light and looked at her. She was leaning against the door crying and holding her arm. A plug of flesh was missing from her cheek. There were also teeth marks in her forehead.

  “Where all are you hurt?” I said.

  She would only stare ahead and cry. I pulled off the rag I had been using as a mask and put against the wound in her face.

  “I’m going to take you to a doctor,” I said. “You’re going to be fine.”

  “That poor puppy,” she said.

  “Where are you hurt?”

  “My arm hurts really bad.”

  “Is that all? Did they bite you anywhere else?”

  “Cassie and Rodney left me.”

  “They didn’t know it was you,” I said, shifting into drive and turning the truck around. “Do you know where they were planning to go?”

  “We never decided on a place. We were just going north.”

  We arrived at the assisted living facility, and I parked directly in front of Somerville’s apartment. The curtains moved then the door opened. Dr. Barr came outside with the pistol in his hand.

  “I’ve got a young woman here,” I said, getting out. “She’s hurt.”

  Dr. Barr stuffed the pistol in his pants and came out to help me. Ellen appeared in the doorway but didn’t come outside.

  “What happened?” t
he doctor asked examining the wound in Bern’s face.

  “Dogs,” I said.

  “Were they rabid?”

  “I don’t think so. I don’t know.”

  “Well, dogs don’t just attack people,” he said.

  “Things are different now,” I said.

  “You think they have the virus?”

  “No,” I said. “They’ve just….reverted, I guess. They were feral.”

  He looked at me dubiously, “Help me get her inside.”

  Bern was able to walk on her own, but we assisted her. Ellen stepped aside to let us pass. She gave me a cold look when I went by her. We put Bern on my mattress in the floor.

  “Go get my bag,” he said to me. “Ellen, light some more candles in here, and bring me that gallon jug of water.”

  I went into the bedroom. Mr. Somerville was sleeping soundly. I was about to leave with the bag when Ellen came into the room and picked up a lit candle from the nightstand.

  “What part of ‘don’t come back’ did you not hear?” she whispered.

  “She’s hurt,” I whispered back.

  “She’s all chewed up,” she said. “She’s probably infected.”

  “It was dogs, not people.”

  “What did you do with my shotgun?” she asked. “I want it back.”

  “It’s in the truck,” I said. “I’ll get it for you.”

  “I’ll get it,” she said, turning to leave.

  I didn’t want her to do that. Bern’s pistol was still in there. I knew Ellen would take it, and I needed a weapon. I grabbed her shoulder to stop her. She spun around. As she did, she grabbed one of my fingers and twisted it back. That brought me to my knees. She shoved the candle in my face then bent so we were face to face, the candle between us.

  “Don’t you ever touch me again,” she hissed. The flame on the wick danced in her breath.

  She stalked out leaving me in the floor. I made a fist a few times to work the pain out of the finger she’d twisted. I didn’t get why she was so venomous toward me, but so compliant toward Dr. Barr. I wasn’t the one taking advantage of her.