by catt dahman
“But we could get more gas, right? I mean all the cars are just sitting out there and service stations….” Natalie said.
“It goes bad after a few months, so since we aren’t refining our own fuel, it’s going to be back to horses and wagon for us,” Thurman told her.
“That explains why Len and Beth were so excited about all those horses and cows they brought from other ranches.”
“They still have that cattle drive going; the cows we rescued from those ranches are still being herded over, and horses are being led over.I volunteered us to do some hay transport,” Thurman said.
Natalie dressed ‘butch’ giggled now. “I hope you’re kidding; oh, you aren’t kidding, oh, boy.”
Pan said he couldn’t wait to see who could load the most hay, making it a contest for them.
At the main house and its buildings: a church, a cafeteria/meeting hall, dorms, an auditorium, and more were a beehive of activity everywhere as everyone was busy with jobs.
The children attended school early in the day, but then according to the different ages, they did chores later: inventorying, stocking, feeding the animals, and learning skills before trips to the small river, pond, or swimming pools for fun. The teachers were with them at all times, and with the total freedom to make choices about how to educate the young, they had decided books and other materials should be only a small part of the education.
The teachers were slowly moving all of the books into another building so that the children could help set up a library. The teachers hoped that they could add many books about farming and other forgotten skills for everyone to learn. Old-world skills were valuable again; carpenters, engineers, teachers, and farmers were crucial to survival.
A team had already figured out how, with pipes, tanks, construction materials, and some imagination, to build private outdoor showers that had cold water from the spring and hot water warmed from the sun. Sanitation, a medical area, and the security were next on the agenda. The farming and farm animals would be last.
Not one person complained about helping to build even though it was hard work and the man who ordered them around was particular and a perfectionist.
But running a small village, which would grow and sustain itself while keeping everyone happy and comfortable, took a little of the old world, too.Until they could break habits and dependency, there would be many supply runs.
Across the compound, Len drove out with Rae, Big Bill, and Rev to check the houses closest to the compound. They started with a trailer park with singles and doublewides in a somewhat kept-up neighborhood.
The plan was simple. With consideration of the narrow confines in some of the mobile homes, they would kick in doors and wait to see what moaned back at them.
“Holy shit, it stinks,” Rev said in the first mobile home. A man and woman were rotting in the bed where they had suffered with Red; the man did a murder-suicide for them. Bottle flies still covered the room where maggots wiggled happily in the slimy ooze that dripped from the bed down onto the carpet. The scent of blood, urine, and feces added to the stench and had the team backing out fast, without searching for supplies.
The next was another tight, singlewide mobile home with narrowed halls and empty of zeds. After a quick search, they scored a few cases of bottled water, a Walther P-38 pistol that Len fell in love with, along with five bricks of ammo, and several clips.
They secured the contents of the medical cabinet, took sheets, blankets, a box of candles, and a few rolls of duct tape. The case of toilet tissue was almost celebrated. Books and magazines were grabbed, and almost everything in the home was something they needed unless it was electrical.
Big Bill found the keys to the Ford truck which they began loading.
In the next home, they found some items that made them finally smile. Len found big trash bags to put the stuffed animals in and storage boxes that he filled with toys while Rae stuffed boxes full of home schooling books. The items seemed to be for children from kindergarten to junior high; the books would help the community teachers with the schooling even if the children wouldn’t be excited.
They loaded the biggest pans and bowls they found, along with food containers, aluminum foil, baggies, and the entire contents of a junk drawer. They took perfume and after shave lotion, along with other items from the bathroom: rubbing alcohol, Q-tips, sun tan lotion, mosquito wipes and spray, hand sanitizer, and calamine lotion, Visine eye drops, and tea tree oil.
A dead dog in the laundry area reminded them that with the vanishing of people as caretakers, pets also suffered and died horrible deaths from hunger and thirst. They took the pet food from a cabinet and a few other pet supplies, regretting that they didn’t find more animals alive.
“Okay, Foxy Roxy Rae, take point.”
Rae gave him a dirty look and moved forward after Len kicked in the door of a nice, white double-wide set in a tree-covered lot, covered with children’s outdoor toys, dead flowers, and shrubs. They heard moans almost at once. The inside was dark and reeked of decomposition and body fluids. Rae moved in and fell, sprawling over a plastic kiddy-car just as a pair of Reds came into the living area.
She cursed in Arabic, adding some color to the situation, as she mentally kicked herself for being so clumsy.
A man and woman, both zombies and probably the parents of the children who had left the toys in the way, attacked.
Len groaned and staggered back, trying to get his gun as they closed in. Big Bill brutally kicked the man, knocking him back a few paces, and Len did the same to the mother.
Then, they were able to put both down with only a few shots wasted. With his flashlight, Len was able to see that the man was a true Red, his pajama- bottoms caked with feces and blood, and vomit and blood coated his chest.
This supply run had been hairy, but on a scale of one to ten, ten being the worst, it was still about a three for danger so far.
The woman had one arm, and her neck was chewed through to the bone when her husband arose to cannibalize her and infected her as he did.
What made Len pause was that she looked as if she hadn’t been a zed for more than a few weeks.
Maybe the man had turned and come to the house? Big Bill and Len quickly grabbed the couple’s feet and dragged the couple over to a darker corner so no one would trip over them or have to look at them anymore.
“Foxy?”
“I’m okay, but why are you calling me that?” Rae was originally from Bahrain, her accent still thick, but she was talking more often now and was comfortable with Len and the team.
Rev chuckled as he guarded the door, watching the outside as the rest went ahead. “I like it.” He kicked the plastic riding toy outside.
“And since you hate the name, it strengthens my reputation as a real nasty son of a bitch,” said Len.
“It is easier to say Bill and Rae than to say Big Bill and Foxy Rae,” she said. “Imbecilic Rev and Insane Len.”
She did a search through the kitchen, seeing dirty dishes in the sink and empty boxes of food in a garbage bag; she called out that it was clear.
“Oh, my God, was that Foxy Rae being funny?” Len chuckled.
“This is Foxy Rae flipping you off,” she said with an obscene gesture and a grin that made them all snicker.
“Whatcha got?”
Rae tried to see in the gloom. “Four closed rooms.” Choosing one at random, she kicked it in and welcomed the light from the small bathroom window. “Clear.”
Big Bill slid in to double check the room and see what was in the medical cabinets.
Len followed Rae as she kicked in a second door that faced the front of the house.“What the hell?” she asked as she walked in.
The room looked as if it had been used as a hospital or sick room with dirty plastic pans and equipment thrown every where; a comfortable, plaid wingback chair was tossed onto its side, with a paperback copy of a Stephen King book next to it. Rae saw it was the one about the rabid dog. Looking around, she saw the
bed was a mess of diarrhea and blood, with filthy bed sheets hanging from the bed and dripping the foul-smelling bodily fluids on the floor.
“Curious.”
Len ran it all over in his mind.
“I bet he was in a coma, came back out, and was one of those zeds.She ran away scared, knocking over her chair. See the scratches on the door here? He was locked in and couldn’t open the door, so he scratched at it, wondering why she opened the door? He was locked in for a long time, and she must have opened the door; it isn’t broken,” Len mused.
“Bathroom is clear; nice bath is in there; look at the sunken tub,” Rae said.
They went back out, leaving everything there since the smell of death and body fluids would never come out of any supplies from the houses of the sick and dead.
Rae kicked in another door and fell back against Len. Had she not brought her rifle to block the attack, the small child would have gotten her. Why was this place so full of things to trip over?
Len ground his teeth and fired, putting the child down quickly. The boy was about four, smallish, and had pieces missing from his arm. A huge blood puddle was dried on the floor where he had obviously been attacked as the splashes and splatters on the walls, Pollack-like masterpieces of gore, attested to that.
Len grabbed a blanket and dropped it over the child before they shut the door. Len nodded, letting Big Bill know those rooms didn’t need to be looked at again.
“ The mother let her husband out, and he went after the kid? What was she thinking?”
“Last room,” Rae said, kicking the door in and standing in a better stance this time in case she was attacked again.
The sunlight was bright, streaming through a large window with blue curtains pulled back. No blood was on the carpet, or on the pale blue walls, which were decorated with teddy bears, or on a big, soft navy reclining chair. A toy box, a playpen, and a toddler bed, which was still more crib than bed with its railings to keep a baby safe, finished out the decorations; none had blood on them.
She felt dread in her gut.
They heard a gurgle.
Rae held her hand up to Len to show she had this even though he cocked his head at her to ask if she were sure. This work shouldn’t all be shouldered onto one person, and Len did his share of the wet work.
Rae saw the victim was a year-old-child; there was blood.She partially closed her eyes and thumbed her M-16 to full automatic and shot until the bolt locked to the rear. Without a word, she ejected the magazine and slapped another in place. “Clear.”
“That’s bad,” Big Bill said, rubbing his chin absently; he patted Rae on her shoulder as she left the room, and then he pulled the door closed again.
They ran their lights over the rooms again before they left, glancing over the living room and kitchen but refusing to search because of the smell of death. Rev was outside, and Big Bill was at the threshold when Rae’s voice stopped them. “Odd.”
“Hmm?”
“Look.” Rae used her flashlight to show them as she walked over, picked up a box, and then set it back down. She seemed to be searching for something: she lifted up whatever it was to see it better; Len thought she was looking at a small stick.
“Rae?”
She had a funny look on her face, and quietly and quickly, using her flashlight, she walked over to the corner to look at the bodies.
All at once, she walked backwards, her flashlight falling as she grabbed her mouth in the universal sign she was about to vomit.
Big Bill slammed himself back inside and against a wall as she ran past him and to the outside, already beginning to vomit as she ran.
Big Bill and Len stared at one another.
“She okay?” Big Bill asked.
Rev called back, “She’s just really sick…bad sick...what happened?”
Then, he paused and called again to his team, “Umm, Len, she said to tell you that she was looking at a pregnancy kit, and the results were positive? What the hell is she talking about?”
Len felt a chill race up his spine as his arms broke out in goose bumps.
He walked over, got Rae’s flashlight, shined it at the spot, and went milk white. “Go on, Billy, go wait with the rest, and see to her. I’m coming.”
He slid his gun to full auto this time and fired down at the open, wriggling belly of the woman who was clotted with old blood, slime, and purplish movement.
When he was done, he closed the door, and for the first time since this had even started, he leaned over and vomited into a bed of old, dead roses that had perished with the buds still unopened. As he stared at them, he dry heaved until his stomach ached.
Whatever the story was for this family, he didn’t want to know it.
“Dear, God,” he muttered as he looked at Rae, fury filling him. He wanted to kill whoever had designed the virus and released it. He wanted to rage at God and all of mankind, and he wanted to get drunk.
How much worse could things be?
4
Arkansas
“You okay, Tory?”
“She’s spooked,” Charles said of his daughter while she cleaned up the tea and glass she had dropped. “We both had the most terrible dreams about wolves howling and a one-eyed kid or man? Sometimes, we didn’t know, but we both woke sweating and scared. Some of the rest did, too.”
They paused as a door opened.
“Friends, I hope,” Walt said.
“You’ll be amazed who our friends are,” Charles laughed. He called for the others to join them. “Let’s get everyone in here so we can talk about these dreams, this diary, and the boy; you gotta admit it’s almost unbelievable.”
“Right,” said Lance as he came in, “it’s unbelievable, but then a virus that causes real live zombies to walk around is much more believable.”
His brother, Matt added, “Just like the movies, they always had zombies ending the world, so why not? I’m just surprised we don’t have werewolves and vampires running around to top it all off.”
“Shut up, Matt. Now that ya went and said it, it will come true,” said Lance as he chuckled while the rest gathered. He looked at the newcomers to the room. “You look really familiar,” he said to one man in particular who came in to join them.
Nick smiled broadly. “I do? Think about it, and see if you can guess.”
Tory said, “Remember that older actress, Cinder Montaine?”
“Mighty pretty lady.”
“Well, her group came through, and we let them stay a night, but they were headed south on some mission….” Tory bit her lip, remembering that visit had been before her nightmares; she had thought them all insane, talking about joining sides.
“Anyway, ‘Cinder died,’ they said, which is sad, as if that were still a living part of the old glitz and old life glamour from Hollywood; her daughter Jilly dresses, looks, and acts just like her mother. It was kind of neat to meet them.”
“We should have gone then,” the man said. He could see they were still trying to figure out who he was. “I’ll give you a hint. My brother came to see me a week before this virus took over the US, when it was sweeping China and Australia. He came in a private jet, clandestinely but still had body guards with him.”
“Oh my, God. You’re the brother of the President of the United States,” Walt said.
“Nick.” He held his hand out to shake their hands.
“What is going on? Why aren’t you in a bunker?”
“Well, because even then, they figured bunkers would be infected and would have zeds in them,” Nick said.
“Damn.”
“He knew how bad it was gonna be?”
“When Alan came to see me, he was all about how he loved our family home down here on the river. That wasn’t like him, waxing big about family.He was talking as if he’d never see it again; I see now that was what he expected.”
“In his address, he did seem very uptight,” Walt said. He didn’t vote for the man, and although he was fine with Nick, the President see
med weak and far too liberal for Walt’s taste. The man gave away too much money on silly programs and was said to have an eye for all the ladies.
“So we left right then.My wife, her brother and his family, and my brother, and Alan’s mistress, Sheila, and our parents were there at the family home already.”
“Mistress? Not wife?”
Nick shrugged, “The presidential family went with him; Alan cared more for his mistress.” He didn’t mention that Sheila was pregnant and that even before they got to the family cabin, she was spotting blood and worried. The president had already sent supplies to the family place for them.
Sheila had packed the wrong clothing, cried for Alan, and was a burden, but she was unable even to think with everything happening so fast and with Nick and the rest having to take care of her as if she were a child.
“We got the cabin secured and wood chopped. Things looked good until Sheila and one of the other women both came down with Red and had to be isolated in the cabin. Then, my parents got it and then the kids….”
“That’s rough. My condolences,” Walt said.
Charles broke in, “Nick’s entire family came down with Red, all of them.”
“Ummm. How did you? I mean….” Matt looked at Nick with wonder.
“When they went into comas, I knew what was going to happen. The CDC told us that even if we didn’t believe the reports coming from every other nation, we should believe what was on the news and Internet. They told us that we were warned, and Alan believed the reports.
“When Alan came to see me, he made it clear what things would be like, so I was as ready as anyone could be when his family caught the virus, went into a coma, and turned into the walking dead like some stupid movie on late-night television.” Nick felt bitter. Maybe, it would have been better not to know what was going to happen. Would a person, given the chance, really want to know the hour of his death?
“Nick had to put them down,” said Charles as he patted Nick’s arm.
He didn’t say that Nick waited, sweating and miserable, for his family to awaken, even as the terrible smells behind the closed doors assaulted him.
