by catt dahman
“Guilty,” Tevin banged again.
“How many stairs were there from the first floor to the second?” Jimmy asked Leandra.
She said ‘she felt as if there had been a million’ and was pronounced guilty.
“Double or nothing? What color tee shirt does keyboard cat wear?”
Leandra just glared.
She was dismissed as a witness. “You really suck as a defense attorney; you don’t even know how courts are run,” she said.
Next, Carl sang for them and then demanded that Danny name all the Supremes. He refused to say a word, just staring into the cold eyes of the boys.
“Okay, How many seasons did The Simpsons run before Red hit?”
Danny suddenly jumped to his feet, vaulted over the railing, falling onto Carl, hoped his weight would do some damage. Cedric shot his gun into the ceiling and then pointed to Zane, stopping the fight. Carl kicked at Danny’s ribs before getting the man back into his chair.
Anders refused to cooperate, “You are beneath my dignity.” He was also guilty as charged. He ignored the question about how many calories a Dr Pepper had.
Leandra told them Gabe couldn’t speak. “He can’t, so don’t waste your time.”
“Sorry, but everyone gets a fair and equal trial with us.” Nate told Gabe to sit in the witness chair. “How many hits did the famed rap group Yellow Wayne Jester have?”
Gabe held up one finger.
“That’s right.”
The others stared in shock.
“Not guilty,” Tevin proclaimed, “but guilty by association, so he goes, too.”
“And the boy?” Nate asked?
“He might be one of us; we can teach him right. He can learn the intricate ways of the judicial system. Innocent,” Tevin stated.
Nate went over, and without a warning, shot Fred in the leg. While everyone yelled and tried to get away, he calmly shot Danny while Cedric jumped over to club Gabe and Anders. All of them cheered as the men bled.
Jimmy watched the women, keeping his gun on Zane, while Fred and Danny were pulled along since they refused to walk. They were pulled painfully down the stairs and outside.
Cedric periodically used the bat to club them in the head. Bleeding badly, both were easily tied to poles close to the building; Fred kept up a stream of curses and pleading, but Danny didn’t say a word now. He just stared.
Anders walked down and didn’t fight as he was tied to a pole. To him, it was almost over, and as heartsick as he felt, he kept one image in his mind, one that he had been in Diana’s diary. It was a drawn image by her that he had torn out and secreted from all of the others. It was what he believed in and hoped for in the end. It was what gave him peace.
Leandra and Ariel both fought hard, bucking and biting, but they were carried down and tied as well. Leandra sobbed for her son, crying so hard she was almost hysterical. Seeing this, Danny began to scream now for his wife and son. Gabe was set aside to be dealt with afterwards.
“I love you, Zane,” Leandra called as the men splashed her with stinking fluid that stung her skin. It hurt, and she could hardly breathe.
Fred called for Ariel, incoherently, as he was splashed and then lit on fire.
Ariel screamed with pain, an almost inhuman sound since it was so high pitched.
Then they were all torched, except for Zane and Gabe, all screaming with pain as the flames melted skin, charred flesh, while the muscles drew up, making their limbs curl. They covered Gabriel with the inflammable liquid and set him alight, too, cheering as he curled into a fetal position and rolled to put out the flames; he was more interesting than the others were because he could move.
The brain is always last to cook. Until their hearts were burned up, they shrieked.Zane cried for his mommy and friends, fell to his hands and knees, watching in horror. Nate popped him in the head, leaving a gash that bled.He was mad and sad and something else, some emotion that he was too young to put a name to. Grief surged in his soul, rising up, and light swelled all around him.
“What the fuck?” Tevin could feel the change in heat.
“Light…on the kid. He’s glowing or some shit,” Cedric muttered, unable to explain, backing away from Zane.
Through her pain, Leandra’s eyes burned almost away but saw her son amid a tremendous light that kept building. Pride surrounded her last seconds, and she let go, feeling peace wash over her.
The rest, burning, stopped screaming as calmness settled over them, taking away the pain and fear. It was quiet now.It was over for them, and they passed away. The terrible smell of roasting flesh, a porkish smell, was replaced by the scent of nothing at all.
The bodies on the poles made snapping sounds, and their heads fell off, falling to the ground like small, burned sacks. Cedric, Carl, Jimmy, and Nate pulled Tevin back with them. “What the hell?” Nate asked.
“Why’d the heads snap off?” Carl demanded.
The eyes of each who had been tied to the poles glowed red.
Before the boys could move, wind came sweeping in as a huge force, and the heads flew through the air, slamming into their targets hard enough to break bones. The hard wind had blown the heads right into the kids. It had to be a fluke.
But each boy went up fast as the temperature built. Clothing and skin melted away in the first split second; then, each boy went from orange to white with heat, dying and cooking so fast that not one had the time even to cry out.
While they had shown no mercy at all, they were quickly dead and incinerated, bones and all, within a few seconds, leaving only a pile of grey ashes, which blew away because it was so fine.
When Zane regained consciousness, he didn’t see the boys or any ashes; he saw headless, burned people whom he had loved, and he cried a long time over them. Gabe’s flames had gone out because he had rolled around on the ground.
Zane didn’t know what he had done or if he had done anything at all. He didn’t even notice the drops of blood that had fallen from his head wound to the soil, changing to rubies as the drops fell. Rubies had no value anyway.
“You’ll have to carry me, Gabe. I’m little, and my head hurts,” Zane said.
Gabe stood, his charred, blackened skin splitting open to ooze. Once Zane was in his arms, the pain receded, and Gabriel was able to walk along at a good pace.
He didn’t pay much attention when he bathed a few days later and old skin fell away, leaving healthy skin, albeit with scars. He fed Zane and kept him safe, he carried the child until the head wound healed, and he rocked him soothingly when Zane cried for his mother and daddy.
Sometimes Zane tried to recall what had happened back there with the evil men and boys, but it was foggy in his head. All he remembered was the bright, warm light and how his mommy looked like an angel. He thought about how Bible stories talked about avenging angels and that soothed him for some reason.
At times, he gently rubbed Gabe’s burned skin, and it seemed to help his friend.He was careful now since once when he forgot what he was doing and left his hand too long on Gabe’s back, the man’s shirt had ended up with a scorched spot the same size and shape of the boy’s hand. Zane knew the word moderation. It meant that too much and too little was bad, and just right, like the Three Bears’ porridge was always best.
At the Arkansas state line, Zane pointed, “South, Gabe, let’s go south.” He and Gabe walked, and if they had been shown a picture of a giant of a man and a little boy walking on a lonely road together, a picture torn from a diary, they would have been very surprised.
And they walked south.
18
Changes
Bryan and Len took their teams back to Popetown for another search of the grounds but found no more zombies.A team of volunteers helped to gather the dead and burn them in a pit, along with the pornographic materials that they found.
Like the others before them, they found the compound amazing in its possibilities for safety and comfort. Len declared it safe enough that a few could even stay and be
gin to inventory everything.
One afternoon, late, Beth led some women and Alex in an escapade they swore Len would never hear of. Undressing, they dove into the deeper water to swim and relax in the faster water that soothed sore muscles. It was cold but felt wonderful, and they only regretted that Johnny wasn’t able to join them. Later, Len asked about all the wet hair, but no one would say a word, leaving him to chuckle and swear he would find out the truth.
Hannah had shown Katie how to swim, and the little girl remembered from the summer before, taking to it quickly. “It’s good to be the gay man,” Alex stated.
At the hospital besides keeping a close guard, they loaded trucks with supplies to move into the compound. It was difficult to imagine how much they had amassed even with the inventories, until they had to carry it out, load it for transport, and then unload it all. The mattresses were the worst part of moving. Len also wanted the chairs and other things, so they’d never have to return to the place once out of it.
Len ground his teeth, worrying. There was no way to defend both areas if the horde of thousands of zombies all came at them at the same time, but the compound would be better suited for defense. It was now a matter of getting everyone moved over, but not everyone was ready yet.
“They’re still gathering,” Bryan reported.
“Moving?”
“Not really, just gathering slowly…not as big a group as you all saw, but big enough that I don’t want to face off with them.”
“Maryanne isn’t getting any feelings or visions…or whatever she gets,” Beth said.
“Why do you think she sees things?” Bryan asked.
“Because it’s time for it,” George sat down.
“Time?”
“We spent all of our time working, searching the Internet, watching television, listening to the radio, commuting, taking kids to ball games; we were all so damned busy before.”
Len snarled as he grinned, “I’m busier now than I was before all this.”
“You are working hard, but it’s all for a single purpose…a goal, and you don’t have the other stuff taking your attention. Now, that we don’t have all that bothering us, we can do other things and use other talents.”
“I don’t have special talents,” Beth pouted.
“That’s ‘cause you’re in my no-talent club,” Len said.
“Gee, thanks.”
“Maryanne says people are still deciding if they will be criminals in the new world or good guys, but the time to worry isn’t here yet,” George said.
“I think worrying about zombies eating me is plenty.”
“And why does there have to be a show down and sides anyway?”
“Bryan, come on, you know,” George said. “You can’t sustain a society with equal bad and good.”
“There is no way to get rid of either side completely.”
“True. But if the bad ones win, then they build back a society of cruelty, selfishness, and fear and enjoy it. If the good ones win, then we have justice, fairness, and hope.”
Beth picked at imaginary threads on her pants. “It isn’t right that the bad side gets zombies, too.”
“Bethy, you can bet the zeds bite the bad guys just as often as they do the good.”
“We need to move out within a few days. I’d rather not face any more zeds than we have to,” Len said. He stopped his endless, list writing to pet Dallas, Benny’s border collie who ran up to lick him.“Hey, boy, what’s up?”
“There’s my dog,” Bennie said as he came over. “How are the lists, Len?”
“Long.”
“Okay, I am back on duty.” Beth got up to go, finishing her water, and petting Dallas.
Despite Len’s work, outside the hospital was chaotic as people loaded supplies while others guarded the area, all of them having to step over rubble that would take bulldozers and many man-hours to remove.
Mark used a small CAT to move the biggest obstacles from their paths, and he waved as Beth came out, picking her way through concrete and twisted metal.
“He’s making a dent,” Beth told Misty.
“Slowly. He loves playing with the CAT.”
“I bet.”
Misty walked with Beth, her eyes on the area just past where the rest worked. “What do you want to be when you grow up, Beth?”
“When I grow up?”
“When we get settled more. In the future.” Misty giggled.
“I guess I want to help us stay safe and maybe help with the farming, or maybe I want to guard by horseback. I talked to Len about that; I can ride. One day, I’d like children.”
“Me, too. It’s crazy in this world to have kids, but every generation thinks that the next shouldn’t have children with the world so screwy,” George said.
“He’s smart.”
“We should have kids if we want,” Misty said. “Hannah and Katie, all of them will adapt and live in a different world, but who can say it’s that much worse?”
“We have time to figure it out, don’t we?” Beth asked.
“At Pope…Hopetown.” Misty tried her radio, “Base, this is Alpha, do you read me? Over.”
There was no response.
“George thinks we can use radios but should rely on good communication and ourselves,” Beth quoted.
“No answer,” Misty said, “I guess so. Seems easier if they worked.”
“If it’s easier, then our secret talents don’t work. We forget to use them.”
“You sound just like George.”
“But it makes sense. George said back in the really old days, people had more talents, and we called it magic, but it’s just forgotten talents, power of the mind and body. When we found electricity and all the rest, we forgot our talents.” Beth explained. “I am always asking him to explain to me.”
“Do you have gifts?”
“None,” Beth laughed. “So when Maryanne says the bad side worries about me, I have to laugh about it. I have zero talents.”
“Zed at three o’clock, wanna try your talent for shooting?”
Beth took aim and looked through her scope carefully. She fired, blowing a hole through its skull.
“Good eye, Beth,” Len called to her. It was better than when he used to yell at her about having to take several shots to put a zed down.
“So, we have everything cleaned out,” Bryan told Beth as they finished up, and later he walked back inside with her. He felt pretty good since he was more active than when he had been with the military. He had lost some weight, was building more muscle tone, and felt stronger. His swagger earned a quick smirk from Beth.
“You better be really glad we did all the wet work first. Conner’s team had sheer hell.” Guilt washed her as she realized how thankful she was that it wasn’t her team down there.Kim or George might have lost their hands. She didn’t think she could have led as well as Julia had, and it shamed her a little.
“Conner is doing better since he’s hydrated and medicated. Juan hated to remove his hand, but Juan saved his life.”
“Juan rocked the situation,” she said.
“He did.”
“Len is ready to get us all moved in. I’m excited about real rooms and real space.”
“Me, too. It’s a lot of space to guard though.”
Beth nodded, “But some of us ride horse back and can cover the area. We can teach you city slickers to ride, too.”
“Very funny.”
“Can’t wait to see you get thrown from a horse, City Boy,” she grinned at Bryan.
He scowled.
Beth nudged Julia as they stood in line for their dinner. “Feeling better?”
“Tons.”
“Eat more veggies,” Beth told her. “Double carrots?” she begged the woman loading plates.
“You can have mine if you share dessert,” Alex offered.
“Deal.”
After they ate and dishes were cleaned, Jilly Montaine sang old tunes from her mother’s movies and from Broadway for e
ntertainment. She was very good. She bowed and curtsied happily, as they called for encores.
George told them, “See? Her special talent, and she’s using it to give us all some needed entertainment. That’s how it is supposed to work.” He cheered as Jilly finished another song. Jilly waved dramatically at her audience since she was in full Cinder Montaine mode.
The ones, who weren’t on guard, fell into bed, exhausted, needing rest, but hoping for dreamless, comforting sleep. Each morning, they whispered to each other about bad dreams and nightmares that they had had, which disturbed them and made them less rested.
Mark had nightmares. In his sleep, he grabbed for Misty, holding her tightly but mumbling aloud. He dreamed he stood on a hilltop in the moonlight. Clouds flittered across, making the light jump and bounce in shades of grey. He could hear an old song player, a man singing about something being a thriller or chiller.
As he watched, looking into in the graveyard below, Mark saw dirt shuddering in rolls atop graves, causing tombstones to lean or fall over. In one, a skeletal hand reached upwards to claw for freedom while at another, a coffin bulged outward, making the soil explode and fall back like rain. Mark whined as he watched.
In her room, Beth tossed her head, trying to stop seeing a corpse who scratched and lunged its way out of a grave to a sitting position. The woman wore a pink hat, and maggots made her face wiggle and twitch violently as she opened her maw to moan.
Alex tried to turn his eyes away as he dreamed of a line of corpses and skeletons, rising up to their feet, just below a hill. He heard music and thought the skulls angled toward the notes that were carried on the wind.
Len saw bones dancing in the moonlight.
Johnny turned away from the withered face and the one staring, gleeful eye. She whimpered as she curled in to cradle her injured hand away from the monsters. “Go away,” she whispered.
As Beth screamed, she bolted upright, shaking with fear.
“Beth?” Kim rolled towards her and sat up. “You screamed.”
“Yeh, I woke myself screaming. I can still hear it.”
Kim shot to his feet. “Those are real screams.” He dressed lightning fast, grabbed his guns, yanked on his hat, and rushed out the door before Beth could get her pants on. She still was creeped out, and her fingers shook, as she got dressed.
