I was thinking we should go huntin’. But…” Gale said, after finishing the last bite of her meal. She left the room and came back in with a couple rifles, and bows. “You better know how to shoot first.”
Chapter 20
“After we ate Gale and I walked out into the woods. It was nice to be back in the forest again. I mean I never really left, but it’s different when you just stay in the same part for a long time, you get used to it. She led me out a good couple miles to an old shooting range built in the backwoods and said “My friend Mr. Gray used to own this place. He built it to be a spot where no one from town could hear him shooting, because some of his neighbors were getting pissed off.” She set the guns down on an old table. “Ok Jake, here take a bow.”
I grabbed it from her hand, but was a little confused and asked “Ok, but why not use the guns?”
“Because the sound from a gun carries a long way, and do you really want to drag those ‘X’ bastards all the way out here if they hear us?” I knew she had a good point there, but the whole reason we went out there was so that you couldn’t hear the guns from town. “Don’t worry, you’re going to shoot the guns off today too, but let’s do that last. I really want you to get good with a bow. Think about it, they don’t make a lot of sound, and they won’t attract a lot of attention. If you have to use a gun then do it, but if you don’t have to, then a bow is better.”
I started to pull back on the string, but stopped. “Wait, the first thing you did was shoot a gun at me.”
“Yeah, but I knew it didn’t matter then. See, I didn’t know if you had a gun or not, and either way you were going to be able to call for help, so I might as well have used the gun.” I nodded and went back to what I was doing. “No, you have your stance all wrong, here let me show you.”
She took her bow in hand and fed an arrow down to the nock. Her stance was perfect. It was something she had been doing for a long time, and it showed. “See, you want to extend the arm that’s holding it far from your body, but don’t overextend it, or it will bite you.”
I tried to mimic her stance, but I’m sure it wasn’t anywhere close. “Oh, like this?” I asked.
She flashed a slight grin and said “Close enough.” When I let loose an arrow for the first time it veered off course, and the string snapped hitting the inside of my elbow, leaving a huge red mark. “See what I meant by over extending it?” she said laughing at me. That was a perfect example of the kind of person she was too. She would teach you what you needed to know, but would let you learn you’re lessons the hard way.
I did manage to get a few arrows in the target by the end of the day, but it was not something that I was good at by any means. When it was about time to leave she said. “Alright, let’s get in a bit of gun practice, we’ll keep it short though, that way if anyone hears it we can get out of here before they can find us.” She put the gun in my hand carefully. “With guns you need to be careful, don’t just flail it around like that bullshit in the movies. If you ever point a gun at someone, you had better be prepared to kill them. As for how to hold it, put the stock in the butt of your shoulder, like this.” She held up her gun to show me. Keep it tight against it or else… it’ll bite you.” The way she spoke at the end was both mocking and encouraging.
This time I paid close attention to what she was saying. I did exactly as she did, and put the gun in my shoulder as tight as I could. When she had finally said I was ready, she gave me some ammo, and let me squeeze off a couple rounds. It was fun, and I was actually half decent at hitting what I wanted to.
“Alright, you have the basics.” She said packing up the ammunition, and cleaning the guns. “You’re going to practice every day, you got that?”
“But won’t we run out of bullets?” I asked helping her grab things.
“I doubt it, old Bill was preparing for the end of the world. He has a stock pile in a bomb shelter that’s hidden under his old house.”
“Wait Bill didn’t make it even though he was prepared?”
“Listen Jake.” Gale looked at me with a somber expression. “We were all caught with our panties down when this shit happened. Do you get me? Every single one of us.”
Well, I did as she said and practiced every day, and what do you know I got good at shooting. Hell, I was even pretty good with a bow after a few weeks. When Gale saw that I was good enough, she woke me up early one day and dragged me out to go hunt. I was so excited that morning, which is not really the best thing to be when you have to be quiet for hours. Still, the day was fresh, and forest was calm. The hunt was of course boring for the first few hours. Being calm and looking for an animal takes time, and there isn’t anything you can really do to make it go faster. But sure enough, after a little while we found a buck. It wasn’t a very big one, but it wasn’t like we were trophy hunting, so we took our time to get up to it nice and slow. She tapped me on the shoulder and pointed at my bow, to tell me to take the shot. I went through all the motions that I was used to now, breathing in and slowly exhaling as I would release the arrow. However, I hesitated a bit. Shooting a target is not quite like killing something to live. I let it go when I realized that is was no different than killing the birds and squirrels that I had eaten in the past, it was just bigger now.
I took another breath, and this time let the arrow fly. I flinched, but the arrow struck true. The stag whimpered and stumbled a few feet before falling to the ground and breathing heavily for a few moments, and then finally breathing its last.
“Good shot.” said Gale breaking the silence, and putting back her arrow at the same time. It wasn’t until I turned around that I noticed that she was ready to take a shot if I missed.
“Thanks.” I said back to her, and we approached the kill.
“Ok here’s the fun part. Take this rope, and tie it around its neck.” She handed me the rope and I stared at her confused. “Are you kidding…?” She sighed at me before going on. “Look, just do it.” When I had tied what I thought was a good enough knot she threw the rope over a tree branch. “Help me hoist it up.” We pulled the buck about half way up until its hind legs were just barely touching the ground. Then she handed me a knife. “Cut its throat, and make sure to cut the windpipe.” If you couldn’t tell already, this was my first time cleaning something that big, and I didn’t have a clue what to do, or even what was going to be done. I wore a grimace on my face the whole time I did what she told me. “Good, now cut it from the crotch up to the sternum here.” She pointed where I needed to cut at, and gave me this look that in and of itself said, “Go ahead!”
“Awe, this is messed up.” I said as I started to cut.
Gale just smiled at me and pointed at the first membrane layer that needed to be cut. I caught my breath and did as she said. The guts slopped down inside to the lower membrane and I squirmed.
Gale knew all too well what would happen next, and I know now she wanted to see my face when it happened. “Cut the second one.” She pointed again and stepped back. I felt queasy, but continued on. I started to cut the lower membrane, and the guts just spilled out onto the ground. If only it were just the ground… I was standing too close, and I got covered in blood and entrails. It was disgusting, and even though I had seen the mangled zombies walk and tear people apart, I wasn’t ready for this. There was always something different about the zombies. It was like watching a movie, as opposed to actually spilling the blood yourself. So I wasn’t ready for that… And… As per my usual fashion, I threw up.
Gale thought it was the funniest damn thing she ever saw though, and after about half a minute of her insulting laughter, she said, “You’re not done yet. You’ve still got to squeeze the shit out of the asshole, and cut off the colon.” I looked at her with the best puppy dog eye’s I could muster, but she didn’t take any of that kind of crap. “No, I’m not going to do it. Grab the knife, and get to cutting.”
She made me field dress and butcher the whole thing. It wasn’t anything that I had ever had a chance
to get used to, but she knew it was just what I needed to get me used to the concept of surviving. After that, Gale began to teach me many things. She took me out to the greenhouse and showed me how to grow crops properly. She showed me how to make soap from lye, made from the ashes of the fireplace. She went further than I would have ever expected, because apparently when she was little she had a friend that was an Indian, you know Native American, and her grandpa taught them both how to really live off the land. Gale taught me how to make a bow, and tan the leather from the animals we killed. She was truly something else, not like anyone I had ever met before, the kind of person that was completely prepared for everything that they needed to do.
After about two years it had all really sunk in, and I wasn’t just the dumb kid that got lucky anymore. I knew what I was doing out in the wild, and there was little that surprised me. I had remade all my own clothes, and crafted my own bow. I had become just like her. I even picked up her bad speech patterns and habits a little. So I figure she wasn’t purely a good influence on me, but still… I would be dead without her.”
Chapter 21
Jake was smiling with his eyes closed as he remembered the fond memories of his old friend. He took a moment to savor the memories past, until Barry interrupted his peace.
“So she must have been really close to you? Like a second mother?” he asked.
Jake grinned like a buffoon. “More like a cantankerous bastard old grandma… but yeah, she was family.” Jake scratched the side of his face while he pondered what to tell next in the story. “Yup, she was great. Where was I…? Oh yeah, about two years had passed since I first met Gale when I noticed it was coming up on her fifty ninth birthday. I wanted to get her something special for it, and I knew she had a fondness for the drink in the past.
In Bear Lake there was a liquor store, and for the most part the town had not been raided for supplies. I guess the remote location didn’t make it the most appealing place to look for stuff, but still, there was always evidence that some people had been there. Anyway, I wanted to get her a bottle of her old brand of whiskey, so I got up early in the morning and went out to the edge of town. I took my bow and a revolver with me, because the bow was a good quiet weapon, but you never know when you need a gun. I walked into town slowly and silently, although it wasn’t as necessary anymore. The decayed bodies of the dead were almost all gone, none of them walked the streets anymore, and Bear Lake was as deserted as it was destroyed. There was still no need to draw attention to myself, so I went to the store quietly with my bow ready. The door was locked but that didn’t mean anything with all the windows busted out. I crawled my way inside through the broken glass and found the stench of death overwhelming inside, but it was worse than just the smell of rotting bodies. There was more to it, like the smell of body odor, rotting flesh, and shit all rolled into one. It was one of the worst smells ever.
I didn’t think much of it at the time, because bad smells lingered on in many places where people had died. I covered my nose and continued on inside the store. I slung my bow around my shoulder, as it wasn’t really all that useful inside anyway. It was dark inside with no lights, which made it hard to see what I was looking for. I grabbed a few bottles and walked over to where the light came in through the windows. I had grabbed the wrong ones and had to look for more several times. When finally, I got closer to the back of the store and picked up one of the last remaining bottles that were there… And that’s when I heard something. Just a slight rustle, off in the shadow. The hair on the back of my neck stood on end, and I froze looking into the back of the store. I couldn’t see anything. After a moment, I began to calm down, thinking that it was just an animal, the zombies didn’t hesitate if they knew you were there. I took the bottle and started to back up toward the light, when the shadow lunged at me.
It pinned me to the ground quickly and powerfully, but I pushed against its chest to keep it from getting me. That was the first time that I encountered a lurker. That is what the zombies had become, the ones that survived were the ones that hunted better than the others, and the lurkers would lay in wait for something to come to them. It had pushed me into the light behind the shelves when I fell to the ground, and I could see it clearly. It was black as night. The skin had formed a thick crust over the surface, something like fingernails, but a bit more flexible at the joints, and the smell was coming from it. The lips and cheeks were torn off so that its teeth were completely bare, and saliva poured from its mouth. It snapped its jaw at me, trying to get a bite as I struggled to hold it off.”
Jake paused in telling his story for a moment. “You don’t look surprised Barry.
“What do you mean?” He asked back.
“Well, usually when I describe a lurker to people who haven’t ever seen one, they get a little uneasy.” Jake said a little confused.
Barry shuffled in his seat and shook his head a bit. “Oh, yeah, well, I’ve seen one on that video they show kids in school. You know the PSA’s they put out to keep kids out of abandoned structures.”
Jake laughed a little bit. “Yeah, I’ve seen that one, it’s garbage, just a guy in black paint with a mask. Trust me Barry, the real ones are a lot more gruesome than that. Their grotesque and deformed hands have sharp fingernails, and their hair is all but gone. The skin is cracked and splits as it grows new layers underneath. They’re almost always naked, not that you can tell that they were ever human, because the wear and time breaks down their clothes. They don’t move like a fresh zombie, they are more quick and direct in their actions…” Barry just sat there with a bit of a blank look on his face. “Well, I guess it’s really not that important how they look, but what happened next is. I shoved the bottle in its mouth to keep it from biting me for a moment, long enough to grab my pistol. I squeezed the trigger, but it spit out the bottle and I missed when it fell and hit me in the head. I pushed it with my knee and shoved it back long enough for me to get a few shots in. I shot out some of its teeth, and put two in its chest, but it forced its way back down on top of me. I only had two shots left when I put the barrel in its mouth and aimed up toward the brain. It bit down on the gun, and I sprayed the contents of its skull out of the back of its head.
When it fell limp I did too. I was terrified, and covered in spit and blood. My heart was racing after that. I just wanted to lay there and catch my breath, but I knew that if another one came I wouldn’t stand much of a chance. I shoved it off and started to make my way out of the store when I heard someone yell.
“’s that you Dennis? What’s going on?” I heard his footsteps as he approached the store. I quickly made my way to a back door, and unlocked it as softly and deft as I could.
I slipped out of the back and walked around the side making sure to close the door behind me, turning the handle as I closed it to prevent the clicking sound of the latch. I peered around the corner to see who it was that was coming to the liquor store. He came into view but I couldn’t make that much of him. He was a tall and slender man. He looked like he was having a hard time getting enough food, but when people are hungry, they can be even more dangerous, so I kept quiet. A thought crossed my mind at that moment. This was probably what I would have been if I hadn’t found Gale, just a starving man looking for some food that wasn’t rotten.
Across the street I heard someone yell back. “That wasn’t me!” The man in front of me gave his attention to the voice that was coming out of a building across the street. When he turned I felt my heart stop. On his back was a large red ‘X’, and I knew that this was going to be trouble. I pointed my gun at him. I knew they were already looking for me, so making sure that I killed him with the gun made more sense than just putting an arrow in his back. I figured if I could take one down now, then that was a good shot I might not get again.
I aimed the barrel straight at the back of his head, but I started to quiver as I did it. I tried to compose myself, but this was different than killing an animal, or even a zombie. This was a living breathing p
erson, and I couldn’t help but hold my fire. I tried to squeeze the trigger, but my will to shoot him just left me… I couldn’t do it.”
“Really?” Barry interrupted. “Even after all the crap they put you through, you still couldn’t bring yourself to kill one?”
Jake looked at him almost baffled. “Well yeah, I mean, they were still people.”
“But you only knew them from the time they tried to kill you, how could you just get over that?”
“Well I couldn’t, but it was even harder to get over my own humanity and kill them in cold blood. Look, I wasn’t a trained soldier, I still felt a little sympathy for them, even if they were bastards. And hell even soldiers have trouble with that.”
Barry scratched the side of his head trying to grasp what he was hearing. “I’m sorry Jake, but I don’t think that I could still have compassion for my enemies after what you were put through.”
“Well that’s what happened. I was too softhearted to kill ‘em, or maybe just too foolish. But I really couldn’t do it. When I realized that, I lowered the gun in frustration, and was about to make my way out into the forest out back of the store, when whoever the hell Dennis was popped his head out of the building across the street. He looked at the man that was in front of me. “Someone else has got to be…” I saw him squint as his eyes got used to the light, and he saw me. “Oh shit behind you!”
The ‘X’ that was just in front of me turned around and brandished his own handgun and let a round loose. He missed and I stepped back around the corner as fast as I could. I ran for the woods, and they followed suit, yelling stuff at each other like “Come on back, we just want to play.” They were stupid taunts, from wild men. I mostly tried to ignore what they were saying while I ran through the woods, in my attempt to lose them. It wasn’t working though. They were just barely faster than me, but they kept stopping to try and shoot me, which kept them right behind me. I went to the only place that I knew was going to be safe, Gale’s house.
The Red X_Complete Edition Page 10
