Decaying Humanity

by James Barton

  “Um, Jim,” she said and pointed behind me. There was a short and loud grunt from behind me. The small group of zombies the first guard had been shooting at had joined us.

  “Rargh-im,” the one grunted.

  I spun around to get a better look. I couldn’t believe what was standing before me.

  “Harvey?”

  “Unghrar-im,” he responded.

  Chapter 12: The Choice

  “Harvey?” I asked again.

  It was Harvey alright, but he had turned. His skin had lost its color and his mouth was stained with blood. He looked at me with dead eyes, but there was a flicker of intelligence in them. He ran his eyes over us and then to the door. He turned his head and followed the black wire to the generators.

  “Ungh!” he shouted.

  “Is he … a thinker?” Shay asked.

  “It looks that way,” I replied. “I always knew you were different, man. I mean in a good way.” The Harvey I knew had died soon after leaving the motel, but there was a flicker of him that still remained. His eyes still had a spark of humanity and intelligence that wasn’t present in the others.

  “I missed you, man. This is it, this is the end.”

  “Unghrim.”

  “Is he trying to say your name?” Shay asked.

  “I don’t know, I always wondered how smart they were. I mean that other one was trying to open our combination lock, so that’s something, right?”

  “I’m really glad to see him, too, but we have to get in here,” Shay said while running her fingers along the hinges of the door.

  I put my hand on the doorknob and turned it slowly. It stopped immediately. It was worth a shot.

  “Rargh,” Harvey shouted at us.

  “Not now, we have to pry this thing open as quietly as possible,” I said to him.

  He stepped up to the door wedging himself between me and Shay. He slapped at the lock like his arm had fallen asleep. He looked me in the eye and slapped at it grunting a second time.

  “We don’t have the key,” I said to him.

  “Unnngh,” his voice moaned.

  “What about the knob, can we rip that off and then open it that way?” I asked Shay.

  “Maybe, but that might still be too noisy. We might have to just kick it in,” she replied.

  I heard Harvey making frustrated grunting sounds right before he shoved the exposed zombie towards the door. The exposed zombie didn’t see anything of interest and began to wander. Harvey let out a low growl and drove his hand towards the man’s pants. He didn’t quite have the motor skills to get anything accomplished, but he kept smacking at his pockets. There was a metallic jingling each time he hit them.

  “Wow, I’m an idiot,” I said aloud.

  I reached into the zombie’s pocket and pulled out a set of keys and showed them to Shay. She glanced at Harvey and then to me and simply rolled her eyes.

  “Well, you didn’t think of it, either,” I mumbled.

  I slid the brass key into the lock and turned it. The deadbolt made a loud clack as it shifted in the frame. I turned the doorknob and cracked the door slightly. I nodded to everyone and took one deep breath before opening the door.

  As the door swung open everything happened so fast. I stepped in to catch two men sitting at a folding table. They were playing cards and watching a small TV. They were a good fifteen steps away and froze when they realized we weren’t their friends from outside. They reached for rifles that were propped up against the table. Without thinking, I knelt down and fired the silenced pistol. The far one fell to the ground, knocking his weapon over on its side.

  The one facing away from us had his weapon drawn and began to turn around. Before he could take a shot, he was pinned to the table by Shay. She moved with the speed of a corredor and hit the man with such force that it bent him backwards over the table. She dug her claws into his wrist and with one forceful snap removed his trigger hand entirely. He started to let out a scream, but it was cut short as she sunk the other claw into his throat.

  The man I had shot earlier pulled himself up and reached for his fallen weapon. I could almost see his thoughts, “Get the gun or run?” The zombies had already begun filing in from the exterior door, but I found a clean angle and took two more shots at him. One struck his chest and he dropped to one knee holding at his wound. The plastic bottle silencer had actually cut down the noise quite well. Anyone in this hallway would be able to hear the commotion, but it was doubtful anyone else would be aware of our invasion.

  Harvey moved silently towards the men at the table. The injured man rose to his feet and had decided the gun was not worth reaching for as zombies began to close in on him. He spun around to flee, but Harvey had caught up to him and grabbed his shirt with both hands. He forcefully yanked the man closer and bit down hard on his neck. He let out a scream of pain that was loud enough to carry down the hallway. Harvey managed to knock him to the ground, his face slamming into the pavement. He ceased his yelling and went limp.

  Shay climbed off the table, straightened her shirt and tucked her hair behind her ears. The man on the table kicked and convulsed before rising to his feet. He stared blankly down the hallway. Harvey continued to take bites of his victim as the group of zombies piled onto the man like a cartoon football game.

  I didn’t know what caused it, or how it worked exactly, but I knew that Shay was getting stronger. I thought that perhaps her emotions could ramp up her infected powers. Desmond had been her only friend before we got there, and losing him had hurt her bad. I wondered what limit there was to this powerful curse.

  It didn’t take long for the dead around us to rise. Shay’s virus must have become more potent. It was so powerful that almost seconds after death they would begin the transformation. I thought back to her story, the one where she had turned the man driving her home. Did the infection adapt to her mood, or needs? Did it evolve? It was a shame we didn’t know how to control it. The ability to turn people just from sharing the same air would come in handy right now. Unfortunately, it seemed this virus had its own plans and we were just along for the ride.

  There was a feeding frenzy on the downed man. It only took him seconds to turn after dying, but you don’t die right away from being eaten alive. There are vital parts that have to fail before death will actually set in. By the time the zombies counted him as one of their own, there wasn’t much left of him. He resembled the remaining fragments of a discarded chicken wing. His bones showed through and entire sections of his flesh were missing. He attempted to stand and could not. He was missing strands of muscle, which rendered him practically immobile. He moved his mouth to moan, but no sound escaped his lips.

  I stepped up to him and pointed the pistol at his head. Shay grabbed my arm and gave me an offended look that simply said, “Don’t, he doesn’t deserve mercy.”

  The zombies began to wander down the dimly lit corridor. I remembered this hallway from working here. Ahead were a couple of exits to the layaway department, a few manager bathrooms, and then of course the management office. Further down the hallway was the receiving department. The hallway had a dim orange glow about it and there was a sliver of white coming from underneath the management door. The undead seemed to be stumbling towards it. Despite our somewhat noisy entrance, no one rushed to our location. There were still very faint gunshot sounds coming from inside the store. Desmond must have really screwed up their plans.

  The raiders had been highly equipped and at least moderately skilled. What they clearly lacked was modesty. There were hardly any guards or lookouts and I’m sure they never expected to be attacked. Their overconfidence was going to be their downfall.

  As we approached the door to the management office, I could hear talking from inside. I couldn’t make it out, but soon it wouldn’t matter. I held the pistol in one hand and the machete in the other. I made one final nod to Shay and Harvey before going inside.

  I kicked the flimsy plasterboard door and it shattered into pieces. There was
a woman sitting at a desk alone. On the desk was a large military style radio. Terrified, she jumped to her feet and spun around holding her hands up in submission. “What the hell…”

  “Jaime?” I asked.

  “Jim?” she responded. “Oh my God, Tiffany Mason!”

  Shay had stepped into the room looking angry and confused at the same time. As we scanned the small management room, there were papers tacked up all over the wall. There were multiple pictures of Tiffany. There were maps with highlighted routes and pins and string connecting different routes. A red pin caught my eye—Medina, which was connected to Freeport by a blue string. There were pictures from traffic cameras as she drove her way back home. The last picture on the wall was from the large four-way stop in town.

  “What the hell is all this?” Shay asked.

  “I can explain, I’m not what you think,” Jaime said.

  “Are you tracking her down?” I asked. My eye caught an enlarged map of the town that had each building numbered. More than half of the buildings had red X’s marked through them.

  “When everything started going crazy, I hid in here,” Jaime said. “It was survival of the fittest here and after most of the chaos settled, a few men had taken their weapons and pushed out all the panicking customers. Somehow without even exchanging words, people with guns just sort of joined their side. Within the day there were six armed guards at every entrance and the customers had been pushed out.”

  “Pushed? You mean chained down to be eaten alive?” Shay asked.

  “They were ruthless about it, but after the first couple died the rest ran away. I’m not one of them. I would never do that. I’m a prisoner…,” Jaime began.

  “Oh shut it, I’m not buying that,” Shay snapped. “You have it better than everyone else in town. You are making yourself useful by putting X’s on all those buildings. You do know what they are doing with the people in those X houses, right?”

  “I picked up a transmission from the Army on my manager radio. They were looking for someone who had the cure. I told them I knew the area and I was taking shelter with a bunch of armed thugs. I thought they would come and save me, but instead they just brought a bunch of papers and maps to start looking for you. I told them these guys were ruthless and the military captain just smiled at me and said, “That’s exactly what I need.” The next thing I knew we were set up with generators and enough food to last until winter.”

  Shay shook her head. “It’s funny how you are playing the victim in all this. You are the only one in a hundred miles with electricity and an endless supply of food, but I’m supposed to feel sorry for you.”

  “I’m just telling you what happened.”

  “Well let me tell you what happened. You took your little bribes, and systematically sent them home to home as they murdered and pillaged. You sat back in your office chair, safe and sound. Your people killed an eight-year-old boy and tied my friend up in your parking lot to be eaten alive. Jim’s best friend got infected after running from your men, who, by the way, were burning down a pier full of innocent fishermen.”

  “I don’t know what to say. I, I didn’t have a choice.”

  “You always have a choice,” Shay responded.

  “What are you going to do with me?” she asked.

  “I’m not going to do anything, I’ll just stand on the side and do nothing, just like you,” Shay said as she sidestepped from the doorframe. Harvey and a handful of other zombies poured into the room.

  I nodded to Shay with an approving look. Hell, that was a pretty good line.

  Jaime was screaming for help and I simply watched as the zombies began to tear into her. I was soon overwhelmed by the hunger, seeing it made me almost lose my mind. I couldn’t hold it back any longer and I threw myself into the group and took a nasty bite. Tasting the fresh meat was something that gave me an overwhelming sense of euphoria. Shay put her arms around my waist and pulled me away.

  “That’s enough,” she whispered.

  “I’m sorry, I couldn’t hold it back.”

  “It is who we are now; I guess we can’t hold it back forever. I just didn’t want to accept it,” she said.

  “I’m with you and that’s all I need. I’m sorry; you said no more mushy stuff.”

  “No, I needed that one. I’m happy we found each other,” she said while wiping blood off my mouth with her sleeve.

  “Ungrah!” Harvey roared to us with a mouthful of person.

  Jaime quickly turned and stumbled out of the office along with the other zombies. Harvey pointed weakly at the radio and grunted loudly again.

  “What is your problem?” I asked, looking at the radio.

  “Unghron.”

  “Oh, mother of all shit-fucks,” I said.

  “That’s colorful,” Shay replied sarcastically.

  I shook her and pointed at the radio. On the base of the microphone were the words, “Push to toggle,” and a glowing red light stared back at us. I crept over to the radio and pressed the button. The small red light went dark.

  “Oh no, was that broadcasting … to the Army?” Shay asked. Except, we already knew the answer.

  Harvey looked at us with those intelligent eyes, waiting for our next move.

  “We have to get out of here,” I said and made my way for the door.

  “If we leave without the supplies, Pablo will die.”

  “The Army is probably on their way now,” I said.

  “Let them come; I need a word with them anyways.”

  “No thank you, these guys are trained to do headshots as the standard. We need to just get our stuff and leave as quick as we can. I’d take you over revenge. Killing every last raider won’t bring our friends back.”

  “Yeah, but it will stop them from hurting anyone else.”

  “We get the stuff and kill anyone in our way, that’s all,” I said.

  “Deal, but we’re coming back for them all one day,” she responded.

  The idea of the military coming filled me with a sense of dread. One well-placed shot from a soldier could be the end for either of us. As I started to exit the room, there was a striking pain in my shoulders. I reeled back as if I had just been struck with a sledgehammer.

  “Are you okay?” Shay asked.

  “Yeah, my back just hurts. Did you feel anything like this when you … changed?”

  “Not like that, but my hands were sore for days after my first … clawing. I’ll look you over after we get out of her. You just have to push through whatever it is.”

  We threw the door open and moved further into the store. The sound of gunshots still echoed throughout. I holstered the pistol and tugged at the strap on the shotgun. I held it firmly as we moved through the layaway section. There in front of us was the electronics section. There were video games and movies strewn across the floor. The display consoles were being used to play the latest games. I was so jealous. We were stuck watching the grass grow while they had an endless supply of entertainment. The lights in the store were much dimmer than when they were powered by the city, but we could still see our way around.

  We hugged the back wall and moved towards the camping supplies. I had no qualms about taking someone down, but I wanted to avoid turning a corner and running face first into a wall of shotguns. One, two and three aisles passed and then down the fourth aisle were two teenage girls.

  They were huddled together looking towards the front of the store before they heard us. They spun around to reveal one blonde and a brunette. I hesitated while I thought to myself that not everyone here was a killer. Of course the store isn’t filled with just brutish men; there would be others, right? There would be women and children that had just managed to stay here for safety, family members of the killers right? Did that mean by relation alone they deserved punishment?

  In my hesitation the blonde haired girl drew a pistol and fired three shots into my chest. While I knew it wouldn’t cause any real damage, the surprise of being shot really pissed me off. I rais
ed the shotgun and pumped out two shells worth of buckshot into them. The blonde fell backwards and the brunette covered her face as blood oozed from her cupped hands. Shay dashed over to them and proceeded to surgically remove the pistol hand from the blonde. She screamed and Shay grabbed her by the throat and lifted her nearly three feet off the ground before slamming the back of her head into the linoleum. There was a hearty cracking sound and skull and brain matter exploded onto the floor. The dark haired girl was still sobbing into her bloody hands.

  Even though I knew I shouldn’t, I hesitated a second time. It was just a girl, barely older than Nikki. Shay, on the other hand, did not hesitate. She took a swipe that didn’t even look like it connected, but the girl’s neck gushed all over her green “Stop reading my shirt” shirt. She fell to a knee and then collapsed into a fetal position. As her hands fell limply at her side I could see the damage the buckshot had caused to her face. It was a saddening sight, her skin punctured and torn, destroying her once pretty young face. One of her eyes had been blown out and it left an empty crater.

  “Stop feeling sorry for them, they shot you without saying a word,” Shay said while the dark haired girl rose to her feet moaning quietly. There was a soft plink as my body rejected and healed over the bullets. I looked down at the bullets and then at the dead girls, it still didn’t sit well with me. Harvey caught up to us and pointed at the blond girl.

  “Ungh!”

  “I know that was wasteful. I got a little carried away,” Shay replied.

  The blonde girl in the pink shirt never got up.

  I had feared that the screaming and gunshots would attract a multitude of hunters. My fears were lifted as the ambient noise from the front still seemed to drown out any other sound. We made our way past the last couple aisles and entered the outdoors section. There were sleeping bags laid out all over the floor and empty petroleum cooker cans littering the aisles. I didn’t see anyone around and the gun case had been completely emptied.

  “We should have made a shopping list,” I said.