by Nick Younker
Linton walked into the bathroom and took the call from Stark. She could hear him in there, talking to on the phone while the urine splashed against the toilet water. She rolled her eyes and thought, Men! They are so primitive when they’re together. That gave her a chuckle. She got up and dressed herself. She knew Linton probably had to go deal with something in town,, so they would likely be leaving soon.
Linton walked out of the bathroom with the phone in one hand and his other hand adjusting his manhood. Kelly laughed.
“Golly gee, Romeo. Did you get them to settle right?” she asked.
Linton smiled at her, sat down and took his pants off again.
“I don’t think now’s the time to be doing that,” Kelly said.
Linton slipped his underwear on.
“I just need to get these underwear on or else the stones get in a bind,” Linton said.
Kelly chuckled and pulled on her sweater and jacket.
“Do we have to leave?” she asked.
“Well, I have to. Got an issue to deal with. Cliff Holder’s up in Fogstow throwing his weight around. Why don’t you and Lucy stay here with Carolyn and enjoy the donuts? You’ll love her homemade icing.”
Kelly was famished.
“Now that sounds good,” she said. She kissed him just before they walked through the door and headed for the main house.
Lucy opened the door, still in her pajamas and with a major case of bedhead, right before they got to it.
“Come on in, you two yahoos,” Lucy said in a sleepy little voice.
It was apparent she had already dug into the donuts because she had icing stuck to her cheeks. Kelly walked in and kissed Lucy’s forehead. Linton did the same, then he grabbed a donut and went back toward the door.
“I’ll be back this afternoon to pick you two up,” Linton said.
Carolyn walked over and kissed his cheek as he was leaving.
“Don’t rush, son. Let the girls have some time together this morning,” Carolyn said.
Kelly put her arms around Linton’s neck and planted a warm and loving kiss on him.
“See you later today, soldier,” Kelly said.
Linton nodded, and just before he left, he said, “I love you.”
* * *
Linton pulled his Bronco out of the reservation and onto Highway 66, where a black, extended-cab truck sped past him. He thought it was Cliff Holder, but he was not sure. He could have always chased him down for speeding, but he decided not to. Not my jurisdiction, he thought.
The drive back to Fogstow was a quick one, and as soon as he rounded the curve into town, he saw Bob’s Jeep in the ditch.
Linton pulled off to the shoulder and turned his emergency lights on. He figured no one was in the Jeep, but he had to go down and make sure.
He carefully made his way down the incline and as he approached the Jeep, he could see Bob inside, with a tree limb stuck in his neck.
Linton jerked the door open and blood spilled off Bob’s pant leg and spattered on the ground.
“Oh, no! No, no, no, no! Bob! Can you hear me, buddy?”
Bob’s eyes were closed.
“Bob! Wake up, buddy!” Linton said, gently shaking Bob’s arm.
Bob’s eyes fluttered open, but he was weak. Talking was out of the question.
Linton looked around the Jeep for the kids, but he didn’t see them. There was no blood anywhere else, which was a good sign. Either they were fine and had gone for help, or they hadn’t been in the car with him. That awful Sandra could have come and taken them with her, but that was unlikely.
Linton had started to get on his radio unit to call for help, but he saw Jeff pull up on the three-wheeler.
“Stark! Call and get an ambulance here right now!” he ordered.
“I already did it, Boss. His kids came and got me at the office. I got an ambulance and a fire engine coming with an emergency saw from Barrelton.”
“Where are his kids?”
“They’re back at the Co-op. I left them with Burnley. He called their mother to come and get them.”
“How far out is the ambulance?” Linton yelled. He was becoming hysterical. There was no way to compress the wound. Blood flowed steadily down Bob’s body.
Linton reached down and grabbed Bob’s hand. Bob had no family but the kids.
“Bob, you hang in there with me, bub! We’ve got help coming. You’re gonna be just fine!” Linton said.
Blood welled in Bob’s eyes. He could barely see Linton, but he was glad he was there with him. If he’d had a brother in this world, he would have wanted it to be Linton.
Linton gripped Bob’s hand and tried to find some way of holding the blood in. He reached around his neck, but it was coming out everywhere. He frantically grabbed in every possible place around the tree limb on his neck to stop the blood loss, but it just kept gushing, covering Bob and Linton both.
Bob’s eyelids were getting heavy. He struggled just to keep them open. He wanted to say something, but it was too hard to get any words through his throat. He muttered something indistinguishable to Linton. Blood sprayed out of his mouth with each attempt.
“What, bub? I can’t understand you,” Linton said. He held his ear close to Bob’s mouth.
Stark stood back and watched, his own eyes starting to water. He knew Bob wasn’t going to make it.
Bob muttered something again, spraying blood on Linton’s ear. Linton did not move, but he could not make out what Bob was saying. He thought he heard him say Tell them, but he wasn’t sure. He didn’t want to worry Bob, so he pretended he had heard him.
“Okay, bub, I’ll tell them,” Linton said.
Bob smiled. He weakly ran his finger across the blood-stained side of the door. He wrote the word “SORY” on it.
Linton grasped Bob’s hand again. Bob squeezed Linton’s hand for a moment longer, and then his grip weakened.
Bob Stamps died with his eyes open, staring at his best friend, his brother.
***
5
Arn took a couple of hamburgers off the stove and laid them on a plate. The whole time he’d been cooking them, they smelled wrong, as if they had spoiled or something. He hadn’t noticed anything wrong with them when they were raw, but now that they were cooked, they just didn’t smell right.
He decided he’d better try one before he sent them out to Perry and Erin. Even Harry was standing off to the side, smelling them and eyeing Arn with suspicion.
“What’s wrong with them?” Harry asked.
“I’m not sure. They seemed just fine before I grilled them. We just got this batch in yesterday, so they ought to be fresh enough,” Arn said.
Harry opened the cooler door and noticed that it seemed to be working fine. None of the other meat seemed to be spoiled. He closed it, and then looked back at Arn.
“Let’s just give them a bite and see if they’re okay to eat.”
“Okay,” Arn said. He took a bite of the burger then wrinkled his nose in disgust and spat it out immediately.
“I take it that one was no good,” Harry said.
Harry picked up another one and took a bite; he had the same reaction. It tasted like wet paper, as if it were not meant for human consumption. But it did not taste like it was rotten.
Harry glanced back toward the dining entrance and wondered what to do. The most logical thing was to load everyone in the car and take them elsewhere to get some food. He had soup at his house, and that was probably the best thing for them. His own hunger had risen to an agonizing level.
Arn was looking at Harry in a kind of daze. He didn’t seem sick, just confused. Harry himself felt a little dazed as he looked back at Arn. He looked at Arn’s body and a sick thought went through his mind. The sight of Arn’s body, the veins that bulged from his skinny hands and the cords of his neck, made him hungry.
Harry knew that fog had done a real number on them, and even though he was aware of his craving, he could not seem to bring himself away from it. Harry
knew Arn was looking at him the same way, with those horrible thoughts going through his brain. The only other thing he could think of was the increasing weakness in his body. His eyes felt dry and all his teeth were beginning to ache, as if he’d bitten down on hard candy and the sugar-crusted coating had lodged there, eating away at the enamel.
They stared at each other for half a minute before a scream from outside on the dock broke their gaze. They ran out of the kitchen to find Perry and Erin gone. They went to the dock and found Erin holding her hand over her mouth while Perry kneeled beside the dock with his hands pulled back as if something had come out of the water and bite him. He hadn’t stepped away from whatever it was.
Harry approached Perry and found him looking at a dead body that had surfaced next to the dock. It was the body of a woman dressed in a brown overcoat. One of her shoes was missing and her pantyhose had been torn in many places. By the looks of her body, Harry guessed she’d been in the water for weeks. Her skin was grey and bloated, with patches of discoloration.
Harry knew if someone were to try to pull her out, her body would likely tear apart. The combination of skin pigment and bloating indicated the muscle had already dislodged from her bones and that only her overstrained skin was holding it all in..
Harry also realized why Perry hadn’t pulled back yet. It was the same reason he himself continued to get closer to the body floating before them in the river channel. It was the smell emanating from her corpse. It was horribly attractive.
Harry sat down in cross-legged beside Perry. They both stared at the body. Neither questioned the other, and they were eventually joined by Erin and Arn. They all sat there, unconcerned about seeing a dead body or reporting it to the police. The only thing on their mind was their hunger. They were changing, and they craved something new. Something that scared them all, but nevertheless had attracted them to the dock in the first place. They could have gone home and eaten something from their own cupboards, but the smell had led them back inside the Stow. And now, they sat in front of the rotting corpse of a lady none of them knew. The only thing they could understand was what they felt, not what they saw. Because the only thing they saw . . . was food.
A few other people had made their way up to the docks from Squaw Creek. They were all confused, pale and weak, guided only by the smells. Darvin Brown and his wife Connie were among them. Darvin sat down beside Harry, looking at the floating body. He hesitated at first, but then he put his hand in the water beside the body. He touched the corpse and the skin broke, releasing a liquefied cloud into the water.
They all reached down and cupped their hands in the cloudy water and pulled it back up to their mouths like they were drinking soup. The thought of their actions horrified them, but they couldn’t stop. The water was comforting them, making them feel better. The cloud dissipated and Harry poked the corpse again and more came out.
No one was bold enough to do much more than poke the body until Arn lowered himself into the cold river water. He held himself afloat by the side of the dock and they all watched him intently, hoping he could do what they had not been able to bring themselves to do. Arn pulled the lady’s corpse to his face, and without hesitation, bit into her abdomen. Her liquefied organs ran over his face in a silky black gush.
The group pulled the corpse partially out of the water and everyone starting biting her to pieces. Piece by piece, the dead woman’s body was being consumed. More people approached in horror, but they eventually participated, too.
Gasps were heard behind them as the people of Squaw Creek had come out of their homes and to the dock. They were terrified of what they saw, yet still drawn to the event. The smell, coupled with their agonizing pains, had led them there. By the time the greater Squaw Creek populace arrived, the body had been devoured and the bones sank into the channel.
Harry leaned against a post in shame. Despite all his training in the medical field, he had absolutely no answer for what had caused him to do this. It was beyond anything he had ever known or experienced. It was incomprehensible. But one thing was certain — he was starting to feel better.
Several people were ladling handfuls of water from the channel and into their mouths. Harry realized the community had already taken to its new biology, no matter how horrifying it was to them. The pain within them demanded it. The river water would partially satiate their hunger, but it would not be enough. Harry alone had had to fill his stomach with the rotten meat of the corpse before he felt whole again.
Even still, he felt the weakness and pain that he’d imagined dying people felt just before they passed on. His best guess was that they were indeed dying. Their bodies were changing, and consuming human flesh only delayed the process — the process of decomposition. His joints ached, his head hurt, his muscles were sore and weak and his back felt contorted. It hurt to see, hear, taste and feel. The only thing that gave him comfort was his sense of smell. His teeth ached, and he felt as if some of them were loosening.
The real question was, how long before he needed more? How long before all of these people needed more? He knew the fall of Fogstow was likely imminent. He had felt the hunger, and he knew how powerful it was. It hadn’t taken him long to consume the dead woman, and when the pain returned, how bold would they all be when it came to relieving it?
Harry wiped his face off. His nails scratched him, and when he pulled his hands back to look, he noticed the nails had grown thicker — much thicker. His body still felt weak, but his fingernails were very hard. They had grown about a quarter inch past his finger, and he guessed they were about an eighth of an inch thick. They were also itchy — excessively itchy. He tried running them along the dock planks to scratch them, but once he pulled his hand back, the itch would return.
The terrible annoyance, of this coupled with his new biology, was overwhelming. His brethren were gathered around him, scooping out river water polluted by the remains of a rotten corpse. He watched Perry and Erin sitting side-by-side across the dock, scratching their nails across the wooden planks obsessively. Arn scratched his against the outer wall of the Stow, and Darvin was using small rocks on his nails, like he was sharpening a blade.
This was bad. Very bad.
***
6
Joe rolled out of the top bunk of Noah’s bed and woke him as soon as the sun was up. He had changed his mind about pulling that body out of the mine tunnel. It just seemed like a better bet to tell Chief Derr about it and let the police handle it.
“Hey, man. I’m not going back to those mine shafts without the Boss,” Joe said.
Noah sat up in his bed and didn’t even have to wipe the sleep from his eyes. He had lain awake nearly all night long thinking about what they were going to do today.
“I don’t want to, either. I agree; let’s just tell the Boss and let them handle it.”
Joe was glad that Noah was onboard with the new plan.. They’re the police, that’s what they get paid to do.
Noah wondered if Joe was catching on to the possibility that Siders could be his father. He certainly wasn’t going to say anything to him, but he knew Joe was a smart kid, and he also knew that his dad wasn’t of any Native American descent, so what else explained his complexion?
“Do you want to go and tell him now, or what?” Noah asked.
Joe just sat there and needled the idea around in his head for a few moments. He, too, thought Siders might very well be his real father. But the worst part of that was, what if he figures it out, too? What if he comes back to get me, to take me away? If he finds out it was me who ratted him out, he’ll kill me too, just like that lady in the grain sack.
“Let’s just get some breakfast first,” Joe said.
They both went downstairs and found Noah’s parents looking out the living room windows, drinking coffee in their robes. Noah’s dad had weatherproofed the house two years ago and the fog hadn’t made it in the night before. They had slept like babies last night while the rest of Squaw Creek was submerged in the cl
oud.
“What’s going on, Dad?” Noah asked.
Norman Buchanon would have spent that Saturday morning reading the newspaper, but this Saturday he was more interested in the unrest happening outside his home. On a normal day, he would have answered Noah’s question with That’s nice or Have fun out there. But this morning was different, and he barely noticed Noah or Joe. He felt like he needed to keep on top of what was going on, especially considering how everyone he’d seen looked as if they were fighting the plague. And for some reason they were all bundled up in winter clothes. He knew it was cold out, but not quite cold enough for a winter coat, long underwear and snow boots. They were also moving in the direction of the docks, as opposed to heading toward East Jamison Medical Center, where they obviously needed to be seen.
Margie Buchanon usually fielded Noah’s questions. When he came in, she let the drapes fall back into place and she walked up and hugged Noah, careful not to spill any of her coffee on him.
“Come on, boys. I’ve got some bacon on the stove and scrambled eggs,” Margie said.
“But what’s going on outside, Mom?” Noah asked.
She gently led them away from the darkened living room..
“Well, it’s nothing the county can’t handle. It looks like there may be a nasty virus going around, because everyone seems sickly. Let’s just get you boys fed and we’ll pull some board games out of the closet and make a day out of it.”
The boys were perplexed, and they knew that if Noah’s mom wasn’t letting them go outside, then they wouldn’t be able to tell Chief Derr what they had seen the day before. And they couldn’t tell Noah’s mom, because if she found out they had been exploring the old mines near the sinkholes, they would both get their asses whipped.
Norman walked into the kitchen, looking worried.
“Margie, did you lock up the back door and the garage door?” Norman asked.
“I’m not sure. Why?”
“They’re walking through the yard now.”
Margie and Norman both dashed out of the kitchen for the garage and back door. Noah and Joe seized the opportunity and went to the window to see what was going on. Outside they saw people hobbling with limps in both legs, holding blankets across their backs and wrapped around their bellies. Their faces were pale; some seemed to even be turning blue. They shuffled slowly, like they were zombies, or as if they were in pain. There must have been a hundred people migrating down Adams Street. They saw the boys in the window but just looked away, intent on their destination. The docks, maybe? All the boys knew was that it looked like a scene straight from Dawn of the Dead.
