by Damon Novak
“Shit,” I said. “Forgot I was wearin’ this. Figures. Thought I felt wind on my balls while I was runnin’ around out there.”
“Dad’s over … I mean … dad’s body is at his place,” said Lilly, correcting herself. “I couldn’t stay over there any longer. In his room.”
“Lil, I wanted to bring Tan and Clay home, bury ‘em out here,” I said. “Too many of those sick things out there, though. No way to carry ‘em to the Rover.”
“With what dad did to the house, I’d rather just burn it down.”
“What’d he do?”
Lilly stared at me. “He tried to attack me, Cole,” she almost whispered. “He was crashing into things and I was running, and I just started throwing things in his way. He wouldn’t stop. His eyes … .”
“White? Like cataracts kind of, but worse?”
“Yeah.”
“Same with Clay and Tan.” I stared at her for a long time, then said, “Lilly, we can burn it.”
Lilly nodded. “Yeah. I never want to go back in there. He gave us all the pictures of mom and stuff after she died, anyway. It’s all just junk in there now.”
“Okay. Later, after you’ve had some rest. The cable still workin’?”
“It was, but after about ten minutes of it, I had to turn it off. Scared the crap out of me.”
“We saw a little of it at my house,” said Georgina. “You’re right. It was scary, and I wasn’t sure I believed it. Once we got out on the street, I realized how widespread this is.”
“Georgie, I’m goin’ over to my place to change. You’ll be good here?”
Lilly looked up and nodded at me first. “She’ll be fine. Hurry, Cole, and be careful.”
I stepped out onto the front porch and reached for Lilly’s cigarette pack sittin’ on a little smoker’s table. Normally not a smoker myself, I pulled out a Marlboro and stuck it between my lips as the sound of a motor revving broke the relative silence of our acreage.
By the time I spun the flint wheel on the lighter and the tobacco caught, a police car came slidin’ around the turn in our gravel road, sendin’ a roostertail of pea gravel into the weeds beyond. When it was just about six feet from Lilly’s house, it slid to a stop and the driver’s door flew open.
I saw it was Sonya Brandt in the car, and she was tryin’ to get out. From the glow of the interior light of the Dodge Charger, I could see she was caught in the seat belt. She was lookin’ down, strugglin’ with the buckle, then over at the passenger.
It was her partner, Jerry, who’d been in the boat with Sonya and the rookie cop, right after we found our dead customers.
Even through the windshield, I could see Jerry was sick, crazy like Tanner and Clay. And like that Donna friend of Georgie’s. His hand shot out and caught in her hair, and she screamed.
Jerry made noises just like my brothers had; inhuman growls and guttural choking sounds that sent chills shootin’ all over my body.
I jumped off the porch and ran around to the passenger side of the Charger, yanking open the door. I grabbed Jerry’s collar, and as his face turned toward me, I jammed the barrel of that .45 against his left cheekbone and fired. Half his face splattered the headrest of his seat as the larger chunks of bone got stuck in the wire cage separting the back and front seats. The smaller bits of his face and a whole lot of blood exploded onto the backseat of the cop car.
I thanked God I’d thought to grab the pistol and bring it with me when I was headin’ over to my place to change.
But Jerry didn’t die. His arm shot out and grabbed me before I realized I’d shot him too low. I was beginnin’ to figure out it took a shot to the brain, and unfortunately, that was a little higher up than a man’s mouth. You’ll have to excuse me; I ain’t all that practiced in shootin’ people in the brain.
I heard the click of Sonya’s seatbelt, and she fell out of the driver’s door, scrambling away in the rocks and dirt. Now that there wasn’t any worry about shootin’ her, I jumped back and fired four times, right into Jerry’s noggin.
This time his body slumped forward in his seat.
I didn’t spend any time mourning the guy. I slammed the door and ran around to help Sonya up from the ground. Her arm over my shoulder, I got her to the porch and seated on the step as the door flew open, and a well-armed Lilly bounded onto the porch.
“What happened?” she almost screamed. I raised a hand up to stall her, my heart pumpin’ and my breath catchin’ in my throat too much to answer.
“Jerry,” I began, fighting for breath. “He changed into … one of those freaks. He was attackin’ Sonya.”
Sonya nodded beside me, her breath comin’ as fast as mine, but she didn’t respond.
“Sonya, are you all right?” I asked. “He bite you or anything?”
She shook her head, inspecting her arms. “No, I don’t think so. He started to get sick just about twenty minutes ago, then he like passed out and when he came to, he tried to get me.”
“How’d you end up here?” I asked.
“First, how did you remember my name?” she asked.
“Easy,” I said. “You’re the only woman I’ve ever met in the presence of a zombie. A man remembers shit like that.”
“God, don’t let that be what these really are,” said Georgina, from the porch. “I’d have to forget everything I ever knew about medicine.”
“Anyway, Jerry wanted to come back to interview you some more about what happened to those tourists on your airboat. Your address was in the GPS already, so after he got sick, we weren’t far away so I just kept heading here. I’m not really sure why.”
“Cole, you help her inside, and then you go get out of that stupid robe,” said Lilly.
“I beg your pardon,” said Georgina. “That robe was my stupid ex-husband’s.” She gave a tentative smile at her joke as she stood, but it didn’t stick around long.
I could see Lilly had no room in her mood for a smile of any kind, and I didn’t blame her. She ignored the attempt at levity and looked from me to the door. “Hurry back, CB.”
I got up and helped Sonya to her feet, and I helped her inside to the couch, where she sat. Georgina came in behind us and sat beside her.
I said, “I’ll be back. Keep this door closed and locked, and keep your eye out front. Y’all put your heads together and see what you come up with. We need to do somethin’, I’m just not sure what.”
Ω
I didn’t need a shower because I’d had one at Georgina’s, but I put on a clean pair of underwear, blue jeans and a black tee shirt. I had way more white than black, but what with the possibility of blood sprayin’ out there, I didn’t think lighter colors were a good fashion choice.
I got a bag from my closet and filled it with long guns. I had another smaller duffle that I tucked about six handguns into, of various makes and calibers, and grabbed my two ammo cans, too.
In the back of my head, all I kept thinkin’ was Where the hell are we goin’?
When I got back to the house, Lilly answered that question.
“I think we should head back to the store. You’ve got a queen-sized inflatable air mattress, and so do I. And that crappy couch. too. If we double up, that’ll be plenty. There are the vending machines, plus we have that fridge in the office. We’ve got a generator and a good-sized propane tank to feed it.”
“Don’t forget the gator meat,” I said.
“There’s that, plus we can pack as much food as we can into coolers.”
“You’ve been thinkin’,” I said. “What then?”
“CB, it’s off the Alley. Almost nobody lives out there, so none of these things should be out there. Make sense?”
“It does make sense,” said Georgina. “In outbreak situations, isolation is best. Especially with something that seems to be transmitted … in this manner.”
“What do you mean?” asked Sonya.
“I need to tell you what I saw,” I said. “Georgie’s talkin’ about bites. They attack you, bite
you, and you get sick. If it’s in the air, I don’t have any idea why we’re not sick, but I’ve seen it transferred the other way.”
“That’s what I mean,” said Dr. Lake. “Ordinarily, disease is transmitted by touch, sexual contact, ingestion or by air. While it may be easier to avoid an actual bite or scratch – if that’s also a method of transfer – the more isolated we are, the better.”
“Look, I’ll go wherever,” said Sonya. “The streets are crazy, and I haven’t been able to reach dispatch in hours.”
“Where’s your family, Sonya?” asked Georgina.
“Asheville, North Carolina,” she said. “My dad and my little brother. Well, not so little. He’s fourteen.”
I looked at Lilly, who was pacin’ back and forth, chewin’ her bottom lip. I knew that look. She was about to suggest somethin’ that nobody was gonna like. When she stopped behind the sofa and folded her arms, I knew it was time.
“Hold up,” I said. “Lilly, what’s goin’ on?”
After only a brief pause, she said, “I want to bury Pa.” Her face told me it wasn’t a request. “Before anything else. You’ve got that little dozer.”
She hesitated for a few seconds, then asked, “What happened to Clay and Tan? What’d you do with them, after you … .”
She trailed off, unable to finish the question. I couldn’t fault her. There’d been no blame in her voice; just concern. After all, she knew what she had to do to our Pa.
I walked around and sat in a chair beside the sofa, and took a deep breath. “We ran into some of those crazies when we were tryin’ to get to the Rover. They were just outside the gate. I ran back inside to get a knife to murder ‘em with, and I took a minute to move their … their bodies.”
It still felt wrong to say that about my brothers. I never really thought I’d be without either one of ‘em this early on in my life. I’m positive Lilly didn’t either.
Lilly nodded and wiped at another tear. She didn’t like to cry in front of people. Even when she was a little bitty girl, she’d stub a toe or skin her knee, and that’s when that chewin’ her bottom lip thing started. Anything to avoid cryin’ in front of her tough, older brothers.
“I put Tan back in the guestroom bed and said my goodbyes. Then I went and picked Clay up off the floor and rested him on the couch in the livin’ room. Can’t say I said any prayers, but I gave ‘em both my love and respect.”
Lilly nodded, staring at my face for a long time without blinkin’. Finally, she walked around the couch, threw her arms around my neck and whispered, “I’m glad you’re okay, CB. I woulda just walked into that swamp and let whatever happened happen.”
“You won’t be doin’ that, because I need someone to take care of me,” I whispered back. Then, leaning away from her as I took her hands in mine, I said, much louder, “I’m sure Georgie and Sonya here are quite capable, but they don’t have a clue as to how much help I need to get through a day yet.”
“When they find out, they’ll probably leave,” said Lilly, breaking free. She looked outside, then back at Sonya and Dr. Lake. “We’ll take care of this,” she said. “We have a mini-dozer, so it won’t take long. Y’all settle in, but keep a weapon nearby.”
Ω
I didn’t wanna see my Pa’s body. Especially shot in the head like he was. I knew it had to be how Lilly had killed him, because it seems to be the only thing that works.
Like it or not, I knew there was no way I could avoid lookin’ at my father’s face one last time. I’d see the damage done, not only from Lilly’s gun, but from this horrid disease that works its black magic on people fast.
Lilly opened the door of his house and waved me in. It didn’t stink much yet, but it only took me a second to realize Lilly had cranked the air conditioning down to about fifty or so. The girl was always thinkin’ ahead.
She rubbed her arms, also feeling the chill. “I guess let’s wrap him, so when we’re done with the hole we can just haul him out.”
“Got a spot in mind?” I asked.
“Just away from tree roots. And preferably, boulders.”
There was a boulder problem underground where we lived. You could dig a goddamned swimmin’ pool in one spot with nary a pebble in your way, but turn around and dig a post hole a few feet behind you, and you’ll hit fuckin’ rocks the size of Volkswagens.
“He’s in here,” she said, leading me to the hallway. There was a pocket door that separated the living room from the hall, and it was partially closed. When I looked down, I saw why. My Pa’s boot was wedged in the open gap, toe pointed up.
I slid the door open, and there he was.
I didn’t expect what I saw. I didn’t expect to react the way I did. When I saw him there, the puke came so fast I barely had time to slap my hand over my mouth before it was spewin’ between my fingers, and I didn’t slow until my belt buckle slammed into the kitchen counter and I was bent over, my head in the sink.
I hit the water and started splashin’ my face before I was even done. I felt my body shakin’, and realized I felt queasy.
“You okay, CB?” asked Lilly behind me.
I nodded without turning around. “Just need a sec.”
“Take as many as you need,” she said, and I heard the kitchen chair scrape along the wood floor.
When I was done, I turned around. “Did he come after you?” I asked.
She nodded. “CB, I … I tried to hold him, but he was trying to bite me, and he wouldn’t stop. I’d already seen some stuff on the news, so I had an idea what was wrong with him, but when they said they were dead … .”
She again let her words die off, shaking her head slowly. A few seconds later, she looked up at me again. “Well, that’s when I got a whole new perspective.”
“They actually came right out and said they were dead? On the news?” I asked. “Those words? Because Lilly, that means I didn’t kill my brothers, and you didn’t kill Pa. They were … fuck. I don’t know.”
“That’s a hard one,” she said, her voice cracking, and almost a nervous, sing-song. “Coming up with the most comfortable conditions to shoot your own blood.”
“I can’t believe you came back over here after hearin’ that on the news.”
“I didn’t believe it. Did you, at first?”
I shook my head and opened my mouth to say somethin’, but she didn’t give me time to come up with an answer. It wasn’t that she was so quick to follow up; it was that I’d just seen too much, too fast, and denial of the obvious had been gettin’ harder and harder for me to cling to.
“Hell no, you didn’t believe it. I know what you went through before taking out our brothers, CB. I know it, because I went through the same thing before I did that to Pa. Doubt, denial, a thousand arguments in my head.”
My head ached from all the crazy thoughts and memories. “I lost every one of those arguments when I heard ‘em choke-screamin’. That’s what it sounds like, you know. Like they got a goddamned pussy hair caught in their throats and they’re tryin’ to get it out.”
“Nice, CB. Hope you’re not talking that way in front of the doctor in there.”
“Sorry. It’s the only way I can describe it,” I said. “I’m fuckin’ glad girls shave these days.”
“Next time try using a cat coughing up a hairball.”
She was not amused, and worse still, I wasn’t tryin’ to amuse her.
“What’s done is done,” I said, yankin’ about half a roll of paper towels off and wiping my entire face and neck. “Now let’s do this. I’ll say my goodbyes when he’s in the ground and covered.”
“Don’t look at him anymore, CB,” said Lilly. “He wouldn’t want it either.
I nodded. We got to work.
Ω
CHAPTER EIGHT
There wasn’t much to say over my Pa’s grave. He was a solitary man after Ma died, and I think he was better off dead than livin’ with what was goin’ on. It sucked that he had to change into a freakazoid after he died the fi
rst time, but I was equally glad Lilly had the composure to put him to his final rest.
Now she’d have that burden on her shoulders for the rest of her life. I promised myself I’d be there for her if she seemed to be strugglin’ with it. I knew she’d be there for me, and I was already sure I’d need her to get me through some tough times.
The actual process of buryin’ Pa was easy with the heavy equipment, but for some reason, I still sweat like a horse when I run a dozer. When I was done, I needed another shower.
Before our little service for our father, I took the time to have one at my house. I texted Lilly first to make sure everyone was okay at her place, and then I got cleaned up. I opened my gun safe and laid out everything I had that I hadn’t already stuffed into the two duffles I’d started fillin’ earlier. I didn’t know when, but I was sure I’d need them before too long. After I finished packin’ up the rest of my guns, I headed out to say goodbye to my Pa.
Georgie and Sonya asked if they could stand alongside us when we said our goodbyes, and we agreed. I figured there’d be a lot of killin’ in our future where nobody was gettin’ buried.
It was clearly out of respect, plus it turned out that Sonya had met Pa once before, a couple weeks earlier. She said she’d just started the force and came in to introduce herself while the rest of us were all off on tours. Pa was workin’ the counter alone that day.
“Pa,” I said. “You’re with Ma now, and I’m sure she’s glad to have you there. I for one am glad she wasn’t here to see what’s goin’ on right now. Talk about addin’ insult to injury.”
In my mind, I was thinkin’ about how her last act was to throw herself to the gators. The way she might’ve died in this crazy world was almost identical, only it wouldn’t be gators doin’ the chewin’. It’d be people. Zombie people.
This was gonna take some gettin’ used to.
“You finished?” asked Lilly.
“Nope,” I said, shuffling my feet in the fresh, sandy dirt. I took a deep breath and looked toward the sky. I don’t know why I did that, but it was probably because I knew my brothers weren’t in that hole with my Pa.
