by Giacomi, A.
Cam leaves with my father, winking at me before he leaves. I suppose that was his way of saying, “good job”? I do feel better now that I have heaved that rather heavy rock off my chest. I didn’t know how people kept secrets, didn’t it eat them up inside, hollow them out, kill them in a sense? Allowing that secret to spill out of me gave me a feeling of rebirth. I felt hopeful for the first time in a long time. Perhaps I could live out the rest of my days quietly; happily, with the people I loved safely by my side.
Alex bursts my happy bubble almost immediately after the boys leave. She immediately blurts out a comment I know she had been saving this entire time. I knew she had seemed a little quiet, but it was because she had been biting her tongue.
“Eve, you know you can’t stay here, right? It’s not safe! This is temporary. I’m really happy for your and your little reunion, but I think you and your dad should maybe leave Little Lake?”
I notice how she doesn’t mention Cam or herself. Was this a declaration of jealousy or my over protective friend Alex speaking from the heart? I couldn’t be sure, but the statement stung none the less.
“Alex where the hell am I supposed to go? And won’t it look suspicious if my dad up and leaves without any notice? That’s not like him and this whole town knows it. He’s a man stuck in his ways and he’s said millions of times that he’ll die in that house.”
Alex nods. “That’s true. I suppose it’s a discussion you’ll have to have with him, though. I don’t feel that either of you are safe here. CSIS could still be watching, and I don’t want you both to wind up dead simply because you weren’t brave enough to make the move.”
I smirk. “Alex, I’m dead. You’re going to have to adjust to that. I’ve been dead a few years now; soon I’ll be gone altogether. It will be easier for you when that time comes if you already see me as dead…”
Alex goes quiet and then lets out the ugliest sob I had ever heard. It sounds sort of like a moose eating a duck. I suppose pain sounded horrific and odd for people who were never really accustomed to this sort of tragedy. The biggest tragedy of her life was the fact that her parents acted like bitter teenagers, her sister was a bit of a bitch, and she herself lacked confidence. Those were not terrible tragedies, those were common life problems. Today’s tragedy was an entirely different batch of painful.
I embrace Alex, simply because I don’t even know what else to say. I can’t offer her solace. Our worlds had been turned upside-down and would remain that way. Alex pushes me away. “I’m okay. I just…it’s all a lot sometimes and it catches up to me. I really just thought we would all grow old together, our kids would play together. You know we’d have normal lives. Now we can’t have any of that, can we?” Alex brushes the blonde locks sticking to her face back behind her ear and tries to compose herself.
“You can still have that, Alex. I may not be here to see it, but I’m hoping you can have every happiness you’ve ever desired. When I’m gone, find yourself a good guy, not some asshole like your last boyfriends. Someone who respects you loves you for who you are, and would never try to change you. Also…and this is entirely up to fate…maybe if you have a little girl someday you can name her after me? I would like to live on in some way…no pressure or anything…just thought it would be cool to have something named after me.”
We both laugh, and I’m glad for the lighter moment through the tears. Alex and I had been through a lot together, and I was going to try and make things right between us. I knew she cared for Cam, but it could never work, Alex needed a fresh start. A life without me, a man with no memory of me, that would truly help her move on.
CHAPTER FIVE
CAM
A few weeks pass in the Brenner household and all is blissful. I had never seen Mr. Brenner happier. The only sadness came from parting with Winston, with Eve in the house, the dog couldn’t function. Winston hated the scent of her and perhaps would have given away her presence in the Brenner household. Winston went to a nice family just outside of Little Lake, and that made it a little easier, at least he would have good company. Eve was a little gutted knowing that she was the reason Winston had to leave. He had been her petite friend for a long time, but her transformation made her out to be an intruder rather than a companion to him. The hours of barking, trying to train Winston to tolerate Eve, simply didn’t work, therefore this was the only solution.
“It was for the best,” I try to tell her, and although she nods, she can’t seem to shake her remorse.
Following Eve for feedings had proven to be quite easy. We found out that one of the locals was a drug dealer, he was heavily staffed and his drug lab just so happened to be in his basement. One evening Eve seized them at gunpoint, tied them all up, and had been slowly eating them one by one. I kept them alive, fed them snacks, only so they could sustain my girlfriend. Oddly enough I didn’t feel badly about the loss of human life, they weren’t exactly people worth saving. They themselves had killed, and all in the name of financial gain.
I remember going to Tim Horton’s one morning and Officer Hon was there speaking to a few other officers talking about how the crime rate in town had gone down to about a zero over the past two weeks. I smirk proudly. Thanks to Eve there had been no robberies, no kidnappings, no drug deals. The worst men in town were locked up in a basement, which Eve had been using as her personal Shawarma shop.
For a while, the Brenner house was happy and vibrant. We cooked together, talked about fond memories, and Alex would come over almost every day to join us. It seemed too perfect to last, and it was.
One evening, Eve turns on the television that we all huddled around after dinner. The nightly news is interrupted by a special announcement from the Prime Minister.
“Good evening fellow Canadians, it is with a heavy heart that I come to you live with some tragic news. I felt that it was important to bring this threat to your attention so that you can protect yourselves if need be. I had been asked to keep these attacks silent, but as the threat grows, so does my need to protect you all. There seems to be a gang of individuals claiming to be zombies. These individuals are attacking people, typically in the night, but not exclusively. Victims have been found scattered in pieces with their flesh removed.”
The Prime Minister looks as though he might vomit, but then regains his composure and continues. “This cult of cannibals is considered armed and dangerous. They have been spotted in nearly every Province and it seems that they are acquiring members at a staggering rate. We are working diligently to find the source of these attacks and those involved, but until then, I am requesting a curfew of 9 p.m. since most of the attacks occur in the evening. I am also requesting that you stay in large groups for support, no matter where you go. Be cautious and aware of your surroundings. I will make another announcement outlining our progress by the end of the week, until then we will keep doing our jobs…protecting Canadian citizens.”
The television grows silent after that. I couldn’t really blame the station. That was a tough act to follow. We all stare at each other with panicked eyes. It was happening, containment had failed. Eve had an idea as to who was responsible for this outbreak. This would give Agent Williams leverage, the government would have to trust him, and perhaps give him more power than he deserved to hold.
Eve starts freaking out and babbling, “How could I have been so stupid? I knew that nothing was going to be alright after I had dug up the news a few weeks back. The zombie problem was spreading right under our noses. Right under our noses, guys! The government had done such a great job of covering up the attacks that no one would be prepared by the time it got out of hand, and now it is out of hand…”
Eve’s father speaks next, “We should go. Find somewhere safer.”
I keep quiet as Eve and her father discuss plausible locations back and forth. Alex simply looks numb. She was obviously scared. I watch as she fidgets with her hands and grinds her teeth. I am shocked
when she speaks in a more serious and composed tone.
“Listen we need to go soon. The longer we wait, the more people will be doing the same thing. Three days, no less! We need to pack supplies, weapons, and anything else we need. I think we should just keep going north until it seems quiet enough. Less people, less threat.”
Alex made perfect sense, and so we started packing that very night. We all packed some warmer clothing since we didn’t know how long we’d be gone for. I think we were planning on forever. I wanted to say something encouraging but came up empty handed. Our group consisted of two humans, a zombie, and an old man, I wasn’t sure we stood much of a chance, but we had to try. I had to try. These people were my family, they were all I had left in this world, and if it were me or them, I’d gladly sacrifice every bit of me.
***
Day two, Eve begs me to take her to her basement buffet. She wants to have as much strength as she can muster for tomorrow’s departure. She decided she was going to eat the final four remaining survivors. It would be a waste leaving them down there to be zombie bait for anyone other than Eve, after all, she was the one protecting our asses, so I was all for it. Drug dealer buffet it is!
As we drive to the house at the edge of town where her meals are hiding, I notice that the neighbourhood is already a little quieter. Had some left already? Or had they decided to hide inside? I try not to think too much about it, I was already worried enough.
When we arrive at the house I feel as though something is amiss. I ask Eve to stay behind me as I venture into the basement. She laughs and pushes me aside. “It’s safer if I go first, Cam, don’t be stupid.”
As we make our way down, it’s fairly quiet inside and it reeks of death. When I enter the room I notice two of the men tied to the wall had been shot in the head, the other two were wild-eyed and thankfully still alive. They watch us silently as we approach.
“What happened here?” Eve asks delicately.
They shiver at the sound of her voice, and their fear seems to make Eve hungrier. One of the men closes his eyes and continues to shake. The other finds his words and tells us that a man came to visit them and asked about Eve.
“Me? How did they know I had been here? Who was this man?” Eve shouts.
“He didn’t give a name, but he knew you were keeping us as food down here. Somehow he just knew. He wanted to know where you were staying, but I didn’t know, so he killed Eric and Teddy over there.”
“Oh shut up!” Eve says harshly, “Don’t even try to act like good people. I know what you’ve done, and you don’t deserve an ounce of mercy.”
The man is now sobbing harder as Eve breathes in his face.
“You stop your crying right now, you’re making me lose my appetite. I don’t like whimpering food.” And with that, she spits on him.
Eve could be extremely scary when she wanted to be. I suppose all the agent training she endured with CSIS had hardened her a tad. She wasn’t as afraid of a fight as she used to be, and her interrogation techniques were…well…questionable.
Eve grabs each of their wrists and begins pressing, when the screams come, I knew that she was crushing their bones. When she felt that she’d given them enough agony, she begins her questioning again, “Did you tell this man anything about me?”
They shake their heads declaring their innocence.
“Are you sure?” she asks as she runs her nails along one of the man’s cheeks in a threatening way.
They say nothing.
“You know I’m going to kill you both. Don’t you want to die with a clear conscience?” Eve says with a menacing look.
The men stutter, and beg for their freedom, one of them blurts out, “We told him about your friend over there. That you traveled with a muscular dark haired man.”
They were pointing at me. I’m pleased to hear the word muscular and have to hold back a sarcastic, “Why thank you,” this was not the time for cute jokes, clearly.
Eve slaps his mouth as the last word leaves his lips; she bitterly declares, “You’ve made a big mistake!”
And with that, Eve directs me out of the basement, saying, “We need to talk.” I was glad to leave the weepy drug dealers behind. They may not be good people, but human suffering was still difficult to listen to.
“Look, Cam, my suspicion is that they encountered Agent Williams, and now he knows that you’re helping me, he might also be aware of the fact that you have been staying with my father. It looks as though we should speed up our exit plan.”
I completely agree with her, the sooner we got out of Little Lake the safer we’d be.
“Cam we need to leave tonight! They’re going to come looking for me. Maybe they’re already at my dad’s house. I need you to go there, make sure they’re safe…make sure everything is ready. I will meet you when I finish up here.”
She turns away from me, but I grab her hand. “No Eve, I’m supposed to stay with you. I’m not leaving, what if they find you here? Won’t you need help?”
“No Cam, they need your help. Alex has been a complete ball of anxiety lately and I don’t trust her to defend a sandbox from toddlers let alone my father from government agents. So please do this for me, make sure they’re safe. Nothing is going to happen to me, I’ve got this.”
I lock my lips to hers briefly and then she begins to walk away. Just before she meets the stairs she halts uncomfortably and drops to her knees. I’m already racing over to her. Thank god I hadn’t left yet.
“Eve, what’s the matter?” I ask as she’s panting on the ground on all fours. Sweat begins to form on her forehead. I worry that this might be it, the moment we had been preparing for. I try to move her to a more comfortable position, but she pushes me away.
“Cam, give me a little space, it’s just so hot all of a sudden. Her shirt begins to rapidly cling to her. Her entire body screams from heat, even though the weather was perfectly comfortable today. She eventually collapses to her side. I lay her head in my lap.
“Do you need to eat, Eve? Is that it?”
She nods. “That and I think I’m getting worse, Cam, I can feel it spreading.”
Her eyes are more fiery than usual. I check her arm where the decay had begun and it seemed to be spreading the fastest. A few nails were missing and the hand was starting to look a bit purple now, just like the rest of the arm. She was still refusing to cut it off, claiming that she would need it to fight. It would slow infection, but it would not save her life, so she saw no point to it.
“You’re right, Eve, it is spreading. I think we need to get you some food. Couldn’t hurt.”
Eve tries to stand, but she’s weak. I lift her off the ground and carry her back into the basement. The men down there look hopeful when they see Eve’s limp body in my arms. That makes me truly hate them. I wanted to make sure that this last feeding was the worst one by far.
I drag Eve over to the first man and sit her right in front of him. His arms are shackled above his head and his legs were too tired to do much more than wriggle there. Eve licks her lips as she sniffs the air.
I grab a large knife off one of the tables and hold it above one of the drug dealers, who is now pleading for his life. Before I plunge the knife, I smile back at Eve. “I told ya you were gonna need my help.”
And with that, I plunge the knife into his abdomen and fish out his intestines for Eve to grab at. She frantically pulls and chomps and slurps on them while the man watches his insides being eaten. Not the most pleasant way to go, but I had to feed my girl. The other man screams as he watches his friend’s life pour out of him. I point to him. “Quiet please, you’ll have your turn in a moment, be patient.” That shuts him up a tad, his screams become whimpers.
Eve is now able to stand again; she seems rejuvenated in a way. The blue veins cover her body and I back away. That always meant that the Azrael Virus had more say than Eve did. I
t was controlling her now and she was very hungry.
A much more zombified Eve approaches the whimpering man whose eyes are wider than terror could procure. This was more than terror, deeper, this was death. It’s not every day that you get to look death in the eye as it greets you. Eve was to be his Reaper.
She pounces on him and begins to tear away at an arm. That kept them alive a little longer, that way she could feast on more before they died. A zombie diet consisted of living flesh. Once the meal died, it was on to the next. I suppose it was no different than fresh food?
Eve has nearly torn the arm away. Pieces of bone stick out as the man continues to scream. Luckily the basement had been well soundproofed by these paranoid drug dealers. Next, Eve goes for the face; she tears out an eye and eats it like it’s the best thing she’s ever tasted. I should be grossed out, I should hate watching this, but I had already seen and done worse. I suppose I was becoming desensitized to it, that and I preferred Eve to live; I didn’t really care about many others. Perhaps that wasn’t a very humanitarian thing to say, but when you have a zombie girlfriend; it sort of changes your view of the world. Some people deserve to die, and they seem to live forever, some people deserve more time, and yet they get shafted. Eve was sort of balancing it out by being a sort of Santa Claus for the dead; she only ate those who had been naughty.
When Eve finished playing with her food, she snaps his neck and the screams end instantly. The silence fills the room; I swear I could almost feel life leaving the room like a cool breeze. I call Eve to follow me, but she quickly jerks her head to look at me, her eyes dead and white. The red glow had gone and something different now had her. I stay quiet as I watch Eve place her entire mouth over the corpse’s nose. She inhales and begins to slurp furiously. I suppose I hadn’t seen everything quite yet. As Eve pulls away there are strings of brain hanging from the man’s nostrils. Eve had attempted an Egyptian extraction, although using your own face to remove the brain was not typical of the Egyptian mummification ritual. I suppose it worked for her. She sucked out what dangled and remained of the brain, she was in ecstasy. Her eyes roll back into her head and when they roll back toward me, she’s Eve again, the red eyes burn once more, but the strange veins are gone. You could almost mistake her for human if she put sunglasses on and covered her rotten arm.
