The Broken and the Dead (Book 1)

by Jay Morris

  “Mom, I can’t reach Marcus. I can’t get Tammy or Krista- I can’t get anyone.” and she started to cry.

  Mom went to her and held her, frankly I didn’t care too much, Marcus was a dope and Tammy was stuck up, but then again Krista was pretty nice and she always said hi to me even though Elaine thought I was just a kid. After we ate lunch Lucy was looking like she was really thinking about something. Finally she spoke up:

  “Mommy? Ronald wants to know something.” Mom tried to smile and she looked kindly at her.

  “Okay Honey, what does Ronald want to know?”

  Lucy took a deep breath then holding Ronald out in front of her she moved the little stuffed bear from side to side and she spoke in what a little girl would consider a ‘deep’ voice:

  “I’m Ronald Bear and I wants to know what should we do?”

  Ronald’s question hit all of us like a brick, there were things we could do, of course there was.

  “Water.” Mom said, “Lucy you and Ronald go and fill every bottle with water that you can find and fill the tubs too.”

  Lucy ran off, happy to have something to do.

  “Johnny, go out to the garage and find all the camping equipment and set it out where Daddy parks. Make sure it’s all in good shape and then find all the hand tools that you think we might need. Find a saw, hammer, screw drivers all that kind of stuff but only hand tools, can you do that?”

  I smiled at Mom. “Sure I can!” and I ran down the stairs into the garage.

  Mom and Elaine went through everything in the house all the canned food and things that would keep were arranged out in the garage by the camping things. Then I could hear them talking and I knew they talked about cooking anything that might spoil first. Anything that would keep, we would keep. Anything else was open season. I found the big plastic water cooler inside of the matching Coleman ice chest. I took it into the kitchen and set it on the counter next to a couple of dozen other bottles and jars. Lucy had been busy, everything from 2 liter bottles to jelly jars. Most of them had come from the recycling bin out back. There was also a full case of Lakeland spring water that Elaine always insisted on and for the first time I was happy for it. Lucy came into the kitchen and clapped when she saw the water cooler and she quickly filled it too. She really liked the little spigot thingy and I saw her getting herself and Ronald several drinks but she always refilled the cooler after.

  The power came back on for a while that evening; the news channels had degenerated. Gone were the slick suited, always calm anchor-people with their practiced Midwest accents. Now, fear and exhaustion marred them, easily read by all who cared to look.

  There were scenes of tanks advancing through suburban neighborhoods, entire city blocks were on fire, but the worst was the panic: people who packed themselves into a car in an attempt to escape suddenly found one of them, perhaps a child or husband or grandmother, had changed into a killer. No one was immune: police stations, army units, fire departments, hospitals, schools and even churches hid serpents in their midst. Airplanes fell from the sky when someone, the pilot or some passengers, changed. Soldiers couldn’t count on the person next to them. I could only imagine what it was like for a soldier in a tank to find out he was trapped in a metal coffin with 3 or 4 monsters who wanted only to kill and eat him. In our town, not far from us, rifle and machinegun fire echoed through the night. Sirens and screams punctuated by explosions. The four of us huddled on the couch together, Lucy trying to get her teddy to go to sleep, Elaine sobbing quietly, while my mother just stared at the TV as the scenes of the end of the world displayed in high definition for us. Around 3 AM, the power went out for the last time and I wondered if the monsters would come for us in the dark. But they didn’t- not that night.

  Day 3

  The morning came and we all moved around the house like mice. We were afraid to make any sounds even though we could still hear sporadic gunfire in the distance. We ate breakfast, I guess it was breakfast, Mom cooked us steaks from the freezer and eggs and toaster waffles. We all forced it down; we knew it was going to go bad if we didn’t. Mom and Elaine were talking in the kitchen while I was playing with Lucy, supposedly trying to keep her mind off of things, but the truth was I needed just as much of that as she did. We just about jumped out of our socks when there was a loud knock at the door. Elaine ran to look out the peep and saw Mr. Caulfield and Mr. and Mrs. Franks on our front porch.

  She called out to Mom and she quickly let them in. They were checking for people who might want to go with them, it seemed that Mr. Frank’s family owned a large mountain lodge in West Virginia. They said it was not visible from the highway but was only minutes from it. There were lots of bedrooms and they thought that there was safety in numbers. Mom thought about it only for a moment or two but when she said that we would join them Elaine jumped in the conversation:

  “MOM, what about Daddy? How will he know where we are?”

  Mr. Franks looked at Elaine and said “Don’t worry; we will leave him a map and directions and the phone number too! He can join us there.”

  I wasn’t sure but I thought that maybe Mr. Franks was just trying to be nice, he knew just like I did that Daddy wasn’t coming home.

  Mr. Franks and Mr. Caulfield left to check for anyone else but Mrs. Franks stayed to give Mom suggestions,( no help mind you, but lots of suggestions). She did write out the address and directions to the Frank’s lodge, which was something I suppose. Mom’s van was in the garage and since we had all our supplies in the other bay it didn’t take long to load it. We did have some problems putting the hard shell car top carrier on but we eventually got it. In that, we loaded everything that we thought we wouldn’t need right away. I have no idea how Dad used to do that all by himself. Lucy arranged all the water containers in the far back of the van along with some “on the road” type snacks. At the last moment I thought to load Dad’s fishing gear, I used Velcro straps to attach it to the roof rack next to the carrier.

  Mom called to Lucy who appeared with her little Indian bow and arrow set. A bright red artificial feather stuck jauntily in her wavy brown hair.

  “Robert Bear and I are ready Mommy” she said, looking as serious as she could.

  I turned and looked at Mom. “Weapons,” I whispered.

  She nodded and said, “Johnny go get the big knife set from the counter.”

  I ran inside and took the whole knife set under my arm then my baseball bag from the pantry where we kept it during little league season. I had two bats in there as well as my glove and a couple of balls. Whose knows? Maybe someday we’d want to play baseball. We all piled into the van and Mom tried the remote but then remembered the power was out, she had Elaine go and release the door and she slid it easily up.

  There were three cars waiting for us, the Franks in the lead, the Caulfield’s’ big Jeep next and I couldn’t believe it, the Driscol’s blue land cruiser was just in front of us. And there was Billy, waving madly to me from the back window. I leaned over the seat and honked Mom’s horn for her.

  “Johnny!” she corrected, “Don’t do that!”

  But I could tell she was happy to see Billy too. We pulled out of the garage, paused while Elaine pulled the door down and got into the passenger seat next to Mom. We started down the street to follow the others.

  We had gone a whole 50 yards before Elaine started in on her cell phone again with no more luck than she had during the previous 24 hours. Twenty five more yards and she was asking if we could go by some friend’s house, Krista’s I think. Ten more yards before the Driscol’s brake lights came on and there was the sound of tires screeching, a huge crash, and the sound of glass raining down like someone had just dropped a tray of fine crystal. “Oh my God, oh my God, oh my GOD!” Elaine said in a fit of sudden religion, she was rocking in the seat, her eyes unable to focus on anything or anyone, she just kept up her mantra of “oh my God”.

  Ahead of us, I could see that the Franks’ SUV had been totally creamed from the side, a polic
e cruiser, lights on but sirens off, had just nailed them going at least 50 miles per hour before it bounced off and crashed into the front of the Caulfield’s jeep. I could see Mrs. Driscol getting out of her car and waving to Billy to stay where he was.

  “What’s going on?” I asked.

  “Johnny stay here with your sisters.” Mom answered and she got out to help as well.

  I looked at Elaine: her eyes were wide and she wasn’t even blinking, she just kept typing 9-1-1 and hitting ‘call’ over and over. I have to admit this really freaked me out as much or more as the wreck. Mrs. Driscol was helping Mr. Caulfield and Mom ran by them to help the Franks, but when she got by the police cruiser she looked in the window and then down the street, it was then she began to scream. Both Mr. and Mrs. Franks were just coming around the front of the police car when Mom started to run back towards us. They looked up and fear was instantly etched on their faces. I looked back up the road where the police car had come from and a crowd of about a dozen or so people were running down the street towards us, I was sure they were the crazies they talked about on TV. They sure looked it. Some of them were covered in blood, others not so much, but they all were screaming non-words at us and looked more like animals than people. They were not armed that I could see but they looked so fierce I didn’t think that was going to matter a whole lot.

  Mr. Franks opened the Driscol’s car and helped Billy get out, Mom was helping Mr. Caulfield. “Come on Elaine, we gotta get outta here” I yelled.

  I started pulling on her shoulder but she wouldn’t respond to me.

  “I’m scared Johnny”, my little sister said, she was holding Ronald to her chest like a shield.

  It was the first words she had spoken. Mr. Caulfield stopped and said something to Mom then started back to the police car. I figured he was going to see if anyone was alive in there. Mr. Franks opened the rear driver’s side door.

  “Come on kids we’re going to my house for now” he said.

  Mrs. Franks opened the driver’s door and reaching in said

  “You are Elaine right? Come on honey, it’ll be okay.”

  Elaine did nothing for a second then she took Mrs. Franks hand and started scooting over to her. We all kind of got bunched up about the same time, all but Mr. Caulfield, who had succeeded in getting the cop out of his car, he had blood on his head and he was limping something terrible. The officer yelled something at Mr. Caulfield and he reached back into his car for a shotgun. That’s when we saw more of the crazies coming from between the houses, headed straight for us. The path to the Frank’s ‘Mc Mansion’ was cut off. The shotgun was incredibly loud: 1, 2, 3, 4 blasts before the cop was tackled by the mob. His shrieks were horrible as they tore him apart.

  We all gathered up at the rear of our van and I could hear Elaine scream

  “WHAT ARE WE GOING TO DO?”

  I looked around and it was clear no one had any ideas, Mr. Franks was holding his wife, Mom and Mrs. Driscol held on to Lucy, Billy and me and poor Elaine just kept crying out for us to do something. Mr. Caulfield reached into our van and got my baseball bat. He looked determined and angry.

  “Mommy, where is Mrs. Caulfield?” Lucy asked.

  “Not now honey.” Mom whispered.

  The first mob was still taking the cop apart, eating what was left of him. But the second mob was just at the curb opposite us, that was when more blasts rang out. It was Old Man Tucker.

  He walked down the street. He had two guns, one in each hand; in his left hand he had what looked like something Marshal Dillon would carry in the stupid ‘Gunsmoke’ reruns my dad liked so much, in the other hand a more modern looking pistol, black and menacing. He was firing with the black gun really fast but when one of those crazies got too close he would pause, lift the big cowboy gun and when it went off it sounded like a cannon. When that thing hit, the crazy would be knocked off his feet.

  Old Man Tucker started yelling at us,

  “COME ON, COME ON! MOVE IT! THIS WAY!”

  At first no one did anything but finally Lucy did, she just started walking towards the old guy. She didn’t take her eyes off of him like he had just invited her for a tea party. That got Mom moving,

  “All right, let’s go!” she yelled and we all started heading that way following Lucy.

  Lucy stood behind him and waited, Old Man Tucker pointed the black gun at the sky, and did something to it and an empty magazine fell to the ground at his feet. He fired once more with the other gun then produced another magazine and shoved it in the grip of the black gun. Mom grabbed Lucy and picked her up then we all paused like we just didn’t know which way to go.

  “MY HOUSE! RUN! GO! GO! GO!” he yelled.

  He started backing down the street and we all ran ahead of him, all of us that is except for Mr. Caulfield, who stayed near Old Man Tucker’s back. That baseball bat waving back and forth in his hand and I could tell he was more than willing to crack one of those crazies with it, in fact he looked like he wanted to do nothing more.

  That was when something went wrong with the black gun and Tucker cursed. He fired once more with the cowboy then turned and start to run after us; he might have been big and mean but he would lose a race with a turtle with a bad leg. The crazies were on him in a flash, when one grabbed his arm he spun around to hit it in the head with the butt of his revolver. A second crazy tackled him and he went down hard. I swear he bounced. That was when Mr. Caulfield reached him, he smashed the crazy’s head with my bat and pulled Tucker out from under the attacker. Mr. Caulfield jogged easily beside Tucker as he huffed and puffed his way to us.

  We went in through the back door and spilled in there like water through a hose. We spread out through the kitchen making room for those behind us. Finally Mr. Caulfield and then Old Man Tucker joined us. Old Man Tucker slammed the door shut and turned a deadbolt, then he reached up and slid a bolt up into the frame and then he reached down and did the same thing with one that went into the floor. The door didn’t have a window in it, and the rest of the windows were high up and covered with weird metal mesh. I guess it was decorative but it reminded me more of the things they put over store windows so crooks can’t get in. I for one was happy they were there.

  I could hear the mob or what was left of it pounding on the door. Old Man Tucker turned to us and said

  “Don’t worry, it’s a steel door, there ain’t enough of them to get through it.”

  Lucy was standing near him and said

  “Ain’t is not a word Mr. Tucker.”

  Billy and I looked at each other in horror, oh my God what was he going to do to her now? He laughed. Quiet and low more kind of a rumble really, but it was a laugh.

  “You are right Miss Lucy. I shall try and remember that.”

  How anyone could laugh was beyond me but he did.

  We had barely caught our breath when an angry voice made me jump.

  “Alright Tucker, where did you get those guns?”

  Mr. Franks stepped forward, obviously angry at something. Old Man Tucker turned and stared at him

  “None of your fucking business Franks” he answered.

  “Now listen here Tucker, just who do you think you are?”

  Mr. Franks said as he started across the room towards Old Man Tucker. Personally I thought Mr. Franks was stupid and I guess my Mom agreed because she stepped in between them and asked

  “What difference does it make? He saved us.”

  Mr. Franks looked like he couldn’t believe what my Mom just said.

  “Saved us? Are you stupid? They only came after us when he started shooting those people out there!”

  Mr. Franks said.

  “That’s bullshit Bob.” Mr. Caulfield said. “We would not have made it 10 yards if he hadn’t come out there for us.”

  Mr. Franks looked like his face was going to explode “If you think I am going to stay here with some gun toting psycho then you have another thing..”

  Whatever Mr. Franks was going to say was lost
to history because Old Man Tucker shoved that big cowboy gun right in his face, and said “Get out.” Mr. Franks sputtered and try to say something but Old Man Tucker cut him off again and pulled the hammer back with what seemed to be a thunderous “CLICK”.

  “I said get out.”

  That’s when Mrs. Franks got involved.

  “You can’t do that Tur..um..Mr. Tucker. You send us out there you will be killing us.” she said.

  “Not my problem Ms. Franks, but you can stay if you want.”

  Mrs. Franks started to plead again and Mr. Franks looked like he was trying to appeal to Mr. Caulfield. I could see that Old Man Tucker was getting close to losing it. That was when Lucy tugged on his shirt.

  Old Man Tucker glanced briefly down at her,

  “What is it Miss Lucy?” he said as he returned his attention to Mr. Franks.

  Lucy said “I don’t think you should send him outside just for being a nosey poker.”

  Old Man Tucker laughed for the second time.

  “Well, I reckon you are right about that too Miss Lucy.” and he pointed the gun at the ceiling and slowly let the hammer down. Lucy added that she was not sure but she didn’t think “reckon” was a word either. Old Man Tucker looked at Mr. Franks and said,

  “Well, I guess you owe your life to the good sense of young Miss Lucy here.”

  He moved towards the sink where he put pulled the slide back on the black gun and a bullet tumbled out. He put a fresh magazine in, chambered a new round then set the black pistol down on the counter. He picked up a glass and filled it from the faucet. He drank it then turned back to all of us.

  “Well, make yourselves at home, living room through there, den past that” he pointed the other direction and said, “bath room is at the end of the hall. My bedroom is on the left, an extra one is on the right. We can figure out the sleeping arrangements later but I have got to lay down for a bit, my back is killing me. If you want Mrs. Driscol there are cans of chili in the cupboard and a big pot under the sink.”