I could make all the plans I wanted for my beyond room now, but odds are it would never be built. I looked through the first window and saw that the only employees left in the store were the type that would bite your head off if you brought back an item to be returned. It was freaky; there was no movement from the dead inside the store. They were all standing at the front of the store looking out the windows, watching the world outside their little box. Amanda would pass and they didn’t even show signs of recognition of movement outside, but when I walked passed, their eyes would lock with mine and they would follow my movement with just their eyes until the eyes couldn’t track me anymore then their heads would slowly pivot as far as they could watching me move out of their line of sight. Once I was out of their line of sight they would slowly move their heads back until they were positioned forward again. I had stopped once I was out of view and crept back watching one of the zombies at Shoe Carnival reset like that. I had never seen zombies behave like this. As I was studying what was going on Marky Mark passed me by and coughed quietly. It was an unspoken, “Stop what you’re doing and do what Amanda said.” I nodded to him but went back to watching the zombies in the windows. Sass passed me a few seconds later and said, “Charlie, we need to keep moving.” I looked at him and asked, “Are you seeing this?” He nodded but didn’t stop walking. “Yes, it’s weird. Let’s go.”
I couldn’t believe that they were okay with just walking away from this. Fred passed me and didn’t say a word then Jane was standing beside me.
“Damned strange behavior isn’t it?” He asked. We were both looking into the window and watching the dead eyes watch us.
“It’s like they can’t believe we exist or something. They see us as a curiosity, but not as a possible food source.” I said.
“Like we’re fish in a bowl.” Jane said.
“Yeah, that’s it exactly. Maybe it’s got something to do with the hunger. Maybe if they go so long without being able to satisfy that hunger something just kind of snaps in their head. They lose touch or go zombie insane or something.”
Jane looked at me thinking about my words then he looked at the zombies in the store.
“After all of this is over with we need to come back here, just you and me. We need to run some experiments on these window shoppers and see what their deal is. For now though, we need to keep moving or Amanda is going to go off on one of her ‘I will shoot you’ tangents.”
This made me smile, I was a veteran of listing to Amanda tell people that she was going to shoot them. I had even watched her put a bullet in a couple that had made the mistake of thinking she was all talk. She was wound up pretty tight at the moment and I didn’t want to push her, so I agreed with Jane and we both started walking again.
Watching the zombies do their thing was almost hypnotizing. The eyes sliding over, following you, until they couldn’t move anymore then the head would slowly rotate around as far is it could, still tracking your movement. Over and over each zombie we passed would do this. It’s hard to describe what it was like to watch this other than it was really, really, cool. That is at least it was until we got to the Dress Barn.
As I made it to the second window of the Dress Barn I was shocked into immobility. The man standing there was familiar to me. I hadn’t known him for long while he was alive, but in my dreams, I am with him every night. I stopped walking and stood in front of the window with my mouth hanging open.
“No…you can’t be here.” I said in a voice that couldn’t have been more than a whisper.
Jane had taken a few more steps before he realized that I had stopped. I can’t even imagine what went through his head when he turned and saw me. Then he heard me speak and the fear took hold of him.
“Charlie? Charlie what’s wrong?”
I could hear him, but I couldn’t take my eyes away from Jim. He stood behind the glass looking at me. He looked so pissed.
“There’s no way you’re here. You died on the interstate.” I said in the whispered voice. Jim didn’t answer. He stood there looking into my eyes getting angrier and angrier.
Again, I heard Jane’s voice, “Charlie?”
I can’t describe this in any way that will make sense. I knew there was no way this could be Jim. I knew that he had died miles from where we stood, and he wasn’t infected. Even if he had been turned into a zombie the chances of him making it here and then getting inside this building were not even in the ball park of being astronomical. There was no way what I was seeing was real, but I couldn’t argue with the fact that I was seeing it. They say that seeing is believing. And there is so much truth to that. I felt fear and paranoia grip me so tightly that I couldn’t get away. It didn’t matter if I knew that this couldn’t be real. It didn’t matter if I knew I should run. Nothing mattered except those two dead eyes.
I felt Jane’s hand lay across my shoulder, but I couldn’t turn to look at him. I couldn’t do anything but stand there looking at my greatest failure.
“What’s going on Charlie? Who do you see?”
Jane must have thought that I was looking at a relative or maybe a childhood friend. How could I tell him I was looking at ghost zombie that had no business being here? Jim’s eyes never left mine, but his smile began to spread across his face. It made him look like some pissed off Wal-Mart greeter from hell. His hand came up and touched the spot on the side of his face where the glass had first cut into him. Slowly he slid the finger down his face and across his neck following the path that the glass had cut into his skin. By the time he finished this, his smile was gone and he was looking angrier than ever.
“I’m sorry.” I said,
“Sorry for what?” Jane asked.
By this time Amanda and the others noticed that Jane and I had stopped. I think Amanda could tell from my posture that I was in trouble. I could hear her yell something, but I couldn’t make it out. Jane yelled back, “I don’t know.” A second later he added, “Go on, we’ll be fine.”
Jim leaned closer to the window and spoke. It had been over four months, one hundred and twenty-two days, since I had heard his voice, but this zombie was dead on. This was the final nail in the reality coffin. It looked like Jim. It sounded like Jim. It had to be Jim. My doubts were gone. The Jim zombie leaned his forehead against the glass of the window, and looking me in the eyes, said the words he had said in my dreams, again and again.
“Your fault Charlie…your…fault.”
Those words shattered me. I had been haunted by them in my dreams, but hearing them here, in the real world, it cut through me and I felt myself sag to my knees in front of the window. The reaction this had on the others was immediate. Jane grabbed me and pulled me back up shaking me and yelling into my face, “SNAP OUT OF IT! CHARLIE! WAKE UP!” I could hear him, but I didn’t care anymore. Amanda yelled again, and I could make it out this time. She had yelled for the others to go on and she had begun running back to where I stood. I was able to say “Amanda STOP!” as forcefully as I could. I looked to Jane and smiled at him. “Go on Jane, You’re in charge now. I deserve this. It’s been a long time coming and I knew this was always how it would end.”
I shrugged out of Jane’s grip and grabbed the door of the store. I was about to open it and step inside when Jane grabbed me and smacked me across the face multiple times, the smacks were not light. He shook me again and I could feel myself coming completely back to the here and now. I looked at him and I guess he saw my eyes clear because he let me go. I looked back to the window where Jim had been. Inside the store was a very pissed off dead man. The zombie’s hands clenched at his sides and his head fell back as he unleashed a scream at the ceiling of the store that was so strong we were able to plainly hear it outside where we stood.
The dead man was not Jim. I can only imagine that my standing in front of the window had fueled mister zombie into a hunger rage that was about to explode upon the Dress Barn like the mythic holy hand grenade upon a blood thirsty killer rabbit.
“He is not h
appy.” Jane said.
“No, he’s not.”
“Do you know him?”
“Not anymore.” I said and hoped he wouldn’t question me further.
“You said some things there that I think we need to talk about when we get to a safe spot.” He said and gave me a look that let me know I was not getting out of this discussion.
“I said don’t stop!” Amanda yelled from our right. She had stopped when I had told her to, but she hadn’t started walking back. The others had stopped walking just past where she stood. In front of us the pissed off zombie had bent over and grabbed a chair. He was struggling to pick the chair up over his head.
From where we stood watching the angry dead guy there was an Old Navy store then the shopping center did a ninety-degree turn making the building look like the letter “L” and the shops began to head towards the road again. Amanda was at the turn of the “L” and was in front of a store named “Oreck”. Jane never looked her way, he was too busy watching the zombie as he worked to raise a chair over his head. knew we should be running, but I couldn’t bring myself to do it. There was something about this zombies attempt to lift the chair that just absorbed your attention. I couldn’t hear what Amanda yelled at us next. I can’t even remember breathing while I watched this ordeal play out in front of me. Then the chair slammed down into the window. I heard the dull hollow thud of the chair striking the window and I saw the spider web of cracks race out and away from the point of impact. I could feel Jane bump up against me as he shifted his weight to the balls of his feet to start running. I could hear the roaring scream of the angry dead guy inside the Dress Barn and I could hear Big Lou as he started to do his low growl that meant trouble is coming. Over both the dead guys roar and my dog’s warnings I could hear Amanda yelling at us, her voice clear and commanding. What she was saying scared me more than anything I had experienced since day one of this brand new world. The cool, calm of Amanda Asare was gone. In its place was a voice filled with panic. A voice filled with fear.
Amanda Asare screamed, “RUN!”
SIXTEEN
In zombie movies the good guys always know what to do and they do it with zero hesitation. However, here in the real world it’s much different. You don’t know what’s going on. You don’t have a clue why these dead guys are doing what they are doing. You are doing your best to just keep your head above water. Society deeming you the good guy doesn’t mean that you’re always going to have the answers. Unlike the movies, you are scared and uncertain and nervous and tense and stressed out and of course you’re pissed that life has to be this way. Your head is so full of different thoughts and emotions that sometimes your brain really has to work hard to get a command to the part of your body that it needs to get to. I heard Amanda scream RUN, but I was powerless to follow that command. I watched as Jane moved away from me at a constantly accelerating speed and I did nothing but stand there. I watched the angry zombie lift the chair again and still I just stood there watching it all happen. I heard Big Lou start to bark and still I couldn’t find the clarity of mind to do anything but stand there. The chair arced back towards the window and this time it blasted through the glass. The chair itself came out of the angry zombie’s hands and it sailed through the window and bounced across the parking lot to my left. I still stood there as the angry zombie’s expression turned from one of anger to what I could only describe as wonder. As he looked out the window his mouth dropped open. A slow breeze was dragging itself across the parking lot and I am sure that he could now feel the wind as it met his dead flesh. He reached out his hand and held it through the window. He gave a questioning look at his hand then, gripping the window frame, he leaned out and let the wind pull itself across his face. His eyes closed, and his mouth actually formed into a smile. I stood there completely spellbound by what I was seeing. As he had grabbed the window frame the splintered remains of the glass had tore through his hands, but not once did he show any signs of pain or even caring that he would now be able to see through his palms. He just stood there smiling at me as the wind played across his face and blew his hair around his eyes. I don’t think that he would have ever moved had Amanda not yelled again, but she did. As soon as her voice cut across the parking lot, the dead man’s eyes shot open and flittered around for a moment as he attempted to get his bearings, then his eyes fell on me. He didn’t move he just looked at me. I stood there, completely still, thinking that as long as I didn’t move he wouldn’t see me, but his face was getting red again. The anger was creeping back into his features as he threw his head back and let out a long, loud, scream. He pulled forward and flung his body out of the window and onto the sidewalk in front of me as I backed out into the parking lot. I now decided that the best plan I had going for me was to turn and run, which I did.
The others were almost to the end of the shops heading for the road and I was catching up quickly as I cut across the parking lot to meet up with them. I heard Amanda tell the others, “Forget about the stop sign, keep going. Run to the road. We need room to fight.”
I veered around a truck and had almost made it back to the group when I heard feet running after me. At that moment the true gravity of the situation hit me and I realized exactly what Amanda had tried to keep from me. I knew what had gotten her so spooked. The first night that we had been in Johnson City we had spoken with Jack about the theories we had formed about the zombies during our road trip. One of the theories I had come up with was that the muscle mass of the zombies didn’t deteriorate unless the zombies used the muscles in question. If that were true, and it was looking like it was, we had shop after shop of fast moving, strong zombies just waiting to be unleashed upon this world. Those feet I heard coming for me were the sound of a charging zombie that had waited four long months to have a bit of the good stuff, my good stuff. I would hate to sound selfish or anything, but I really like all of my parts and pieces where they are and the idea of losing a chunk of myself to Jimmy, the angry zombie boy, was really something I had no desire to take part in. I hoped Amanda or Jane would blow the top of my new friends head off. Luck was not with me though. The others were in the middle of the road and were just turning around to face whatever was coming at them. Behind my own little drama that was playing out I could hear more glass breaking and a sea of moaning getting louder and louder. All I could imagine was that the other window shoppers had seen what screaming boy had done and that light bulb had ignited in their dark dead heads. Things were going south quick and these would be fast movers, not the slow lumbering husks that we were used to seeing. I wanted to yell out a warning, but before I could get the air in my lungs to do so I felt the weight of my angry zombie slam into my back. The force of the blow picked me up off my feet and slammed me down onto my stomach knocking the air out of my lungs and allowing me to see some pretty stars for a few seconds. When I hit I had instinctively rolled. I was in a lane of the parking lot and had cars on both sides of me, so I was blocked from my groups view. I knew I was on my own. I remembered the hand to hand combat training that both Amanda and Jane had given me over the last few months and doing so was most likely the only thing that saved my life. I rolled to my right when I hit the ground. This put me and my attacker into the middle of the lane giving me room to maneuver and also allowing our momentum to pull him off of my back and throw him away from me. I was down maybe ten seconds at most but by the time I got to my knees the zombie was already coming for me. I slid onto my toes and waited for him to be the correct distance from me before swinging around and kicking out with my foot in a sweeping motion which caught the zombie behind the knee and pulled him down backwards to the ground. As soon as he hit the ground he rolled into his side and began to get up again, but this time I was able get my pack off and free my bat from its holder. I spun around and looked at the dead man. He was stalking towards me, still fast but noticeably slower than when we started this. I was hoping that his strength would be diminished as well, but I wasn’t counting it. I could see other zombies
running across the parking lot heading for the road and could hear as gunshots began to explode into the quiet morning. The bad part about my fight was that it was taking too long; it would be no time before some of the other zombies would notice me and my new friend. If and when that happened I would have my hands full and I wasn’t sure I would be able to handle it.
Angry boy stalked towards me with his mouth hanging open and a soft hiss coming from his throat. I gave him a wink and he rushed me. His speed was maybe half of what it had been to start with, and it was no problem at all to gauge the speed and track his movement in time to slam my metal bat into his stomach. The zombie bent over from the force of the blow and collapsed to his knees. I brought the bat up over my head and with a downward swing I hit him like a freight train. The blow landed at the base of the zombie’s neck and when it crushed into him, I felt his whole body go limp and fall to the pavement below him. Angry boy would never have to worry about getting stuck in the Dress Barn again. He was done; I would have stuck a fork in him if I had one in my back pack.
After you successfully win a life or death battle the world seems to crash back onto you, at least to me it does. By this I mean that during the fight I am only concentrating on who I am fighting and what can affect the fight I am engaged in. This meant that I was aware of the angry zombie and I was keeping watch at the store side of the parking lot. I was watching to make sure that no other zombies would come after me while I was busy fighting my first guy. Every other visual or sound had been tuned out. Once the fight was over and I was no longer in immediate danger the rest of the world came crashing into my eyes and ears. The brightness of the day. The moaning of the dead. The roar of the gun blasts. Everything was exploding into my head giving me a feeling of sensory overload. I looked up and saw two zombies standing at the edge of the sidewalk looking down the lane to where I stood. This, I took, as a perfect sign for me to get my butt back to the safety of the group. I grabbed my pack and ran down the lane turning left at the end and was no more than thirty yards from where my group stood. The problem with this was the wall of zombies that were between them and me.
Samantha's Song Page 17
