For the last insult, Scott approached the bar, unzipped his pants, and peed all over the dead man. Haley had the good sense to look shocked. She turned her head and covered her eyes, but she was giggling.
Scott did a nice job of covering the man in urine, then he zipped up and took a seat with us once again. It was good to have some levity, but the gnawing hunger in my gut was getting to be a real problem. I was having pains that made me clench my hands and hold my stomach. Sometimes I shook uncontrollably, and sometimes I wanted to grab a chunk of dirt and stuff it in my mouth. Anything to fill that void.
I thought back to the gruel I had eaten with the survivors at the Walmart. I would pretty much kill for a bowl of that right now.
Inspecting the cage took Scott and me all of two minutes. It was tall, rounded on top, but covered in a plastic material to keep some rain out. I stuck my hand out the bars by the metal door, but I couldn’t tell what kind of lock held us. I stretched and cranked my wrist around. It was no use. Whatever held us in was out of reach, which made me stomp the ground in frustration.
“I tried that the first day. The lock must be in the center of the door. I couldn’t reach it,” the girl informed us, then went back to staring at nothing. I scowled at that.
Scott and I went over the entire cage again, but we could find no easy way out. Maybe if we had some kind of torch or a hacksaw. Sadly, all we had was some rancid human flesh.
Later in the day, we sat together but didn’t speak. Rain drizzled down, and the sky was dark gray. One of the ghouls walked to our cage and tossed a couple of chunks of meat inside. I eyed him—make that her—but refused to look at the meat.
She was tall and thin, with hands that hung like emaciated sticks. Her fingers were long, and some were missing fingernails. Her skin was the same mottled off-color of the other ghouls. Her eyes glowed green just as those of the other ghouls I had seen, and she was a nightmare. Her skin was sunken, her cheeks barely existent, for her cheekbones were so sharp they looked like they could be used for weapons.
She didn’t speak; just shook as if she were laughing, and then walked away. The zombie wore a faded t-shirt with Elton John’s face on it, which was a strange contrast to her nightmare visage. A pair of canvas-style pants hung around her bony waist.
“Come back with some Wendy’s next time,” Scott called out and flipped her the bird, but she didn’t acknowledge him.
I snickered at his comment.
“Goddamn that woman is butt ugly.” Haley giggled at Scott’s joke this time.
“She was probably a bouncer before the world changed.”
“Nah, man.” Scott shot back. “She was a porn star. I bet she used to shoot three or four movies a week.”
I laughed at the image of that ugly thing ever being attractive. Then I worried that we may have crossed a line by discussing porn in front of the girl, but she didn’t even blink.
“I think she used to be a barista. At a Starbucks or Tully’s,” Haley offered.
“She’d scare off the customers.” Scott scoffed, turned his head, and spit out of the cage. It sailed through the bars and smacked a passing zombie in the leg.
“You’re making an art out of it,” I told him, half expected him to start throwing feces at the zombies, which would be just about the ultimate in irony. Look at the humans in a cage throwing their shit at a bunch of undead.
“I might run out of spit soon. Hope it rains.”
“We’re going to die in here, aren’t we?” Haley whispered.
I went to her side and draped my arm over her shoulder, wanting to tell her that everything was going to be okay and that I had a plan. The problem was, I had nothing. Not only was I out of ideas, I was so hungry there was no way we would have the strength to fight the undead off if we did get free. All they had to do was wait outside for us to eat the rancid zombie meat or die of starvation.
“You’re a brave kid. I respect that you have survived this long, so I’m not gonna bullshit you.” I took a breath. “I don’t know. I honestly don’t know. They never open the cage, so there is no way we can attack or run. We don’t have any sort of tools to get through those bars.”
To make my point, I walked up to the bars and struck one with the meaty part of my hand. They rang hollow, which made the girl’s face drop. I hated to be the bearer of bad news, but I truly saw no hope in our situation.
The bars were thick, at least an inch around. They must have originally housed some sort of small animals, maybe even monkeys.
“There has to be a way.” She sighed and stared out, up at the clouds. They had grown thicker, making the day even darker. Now a crackle sounded from far away, and a blast of lightning lit the sky. It was a full twelve seconds before we heard the thunder. I watched my two companions, and sure enough, they had both been counting.
The rain started coming down harder. Sticking my hand out, I let some run over my palm in an attempt to clean it. I rubbed it against the inside of one pant leg, then stuck it out again and caught enough to sip.
Haley and Scott joined me, and for the next hour, we drank our fill. After the negative turn our conversation had taken, all at my doing, it was pleasant to return to happier thoughts.
* * *
We passed the night in silence, huddled together, shivering from the cold as rain pelted down. It ran into the caged area and soaked the ground, wetting our clothes making sleep impossible. We kept the girl between us, but it was only for warmth. The last thing I was thinking about was the fact that I had a female pressed against my body. I needed her and Scott just for warmth.
Lightning continued to blast the air around us. I may have dozed a few times, but not for long. Somehow Scott slipped into sleep and even snored.
I was so hungry. It was at least three days since I’d last had food, and I was starting to daydream about every meal I had ever eaten. I remembered a day when Allison and I went to the city and stopped at a burger joint. I had a fish sandwich that dripped tartar sauce all over the plate, so I dipped my onion rings into the stuff. How I wanted that meal again. I would even settle for one of the poorly cooked deer steaks from the cabin. The thought of the cabin made me wonder how Katherine was doing.
Kicking the cage in frustration, the lashing blow made me fall on my ass. I was weak, but the force of trying to put my foot through a metal bar was oddly therapeutic.
For a long time, I sat staring at the dark clouds. The rain grew heavier, and I didn’t have anything to do but watch it. Rain. Wet ground. I followed the tiny rivers of water that were forming. They rushed in every direction, but some were coming at the cage. I knew that if the rain didn’t let up soon, we would be sitting in a puddle.
Water flowed around the bars of the cage, and that was what caught my eye. I got to my feet and walked to the place I had kicked. The bars went deep into the ground, and I suspected they had some sort of thick cap to hold them in. But the mud around them told a different story.
I grabbed hold of the bars and lifted straight up. I almost broke into tears when they budged. It wasn’t much, but I could tell that we had a chance. Why didn’t I think of this before?
After waking Scott, I furiously whispered my plan into his ear. He was sluggish, but after he stood and stretched, we took a shot at the cage. He was out of it, judging by the way he came awake, rising slowly and shaking his head. I’m sure he felt the way I did, which was exhausted. But how else would we ever get out of this place if we didn’t try to move the cage?
We both squatted down and lifted, but the cage was very heavy. We kept looking over our shoulders and peering into the night, expecting the zombies to take notice of us at any time, but luck was on our side. The ghouls were doing whatever they did at night. They were always scarce after dark. In fact, I didn’t remember seeing any of them in the dark while we were locked up. Their oddly glowing eyes didn’t seek us out.
We stood and lifted and had better luck. The cage gave a sucking sound as the bars came out of the mud. The bars ca
me up about an inch, but we set it back down. We could lift the cage, but not high enough for either of us to get out.
“Lift it higher and I can fit. I’ll figure out the lock and go get keys if I have to,” Haley said.
“You wouldn’t leave us here, would you?” Scott asked.
“No way. I actually like you guys. You make me laugh, and he is kind of a badass.” She indicated me.
“Not really a badass stuck in a cage now, am I?”
“No, but if I help you guys out, I think you might be able to protect my lily white ass from those things.”
Scott chuckled appreciatively. At her humor, I hoped. She may have been aged from the terrible life we were forced to live, but Haley was still just a child as far as I was concerned.
“Come on. We don’t have all day!” Was this the same girl who was shivering and wrapped in a ball the first night, afraid of my touch?
I shook my head and glanced around. With the rain pouring down, it was hard to see if any of the creatures were nearby. I hoped for the best. Scott and I lifted the cage as much as we could. We had to strain and reach down, letting go with one hand each time so we could grip the cage a bit lower. At last, it was about a foot off the ground, and my arms were trembling. I didn’t think I could hold it much longer.
But just like a snake, Haley bolted to the tiny opening and slithered out on her stomach. One advantage to being as starved as we were was that she was pretty far on the skinny side. In fact, she looked like one of those Hollywood starlets that ate a bowl of peas for dinner.
I nodded at Scott, and we lowered the cage as quietly and as slowly as we dared. I wanted to drop the damn thing, but I was afraid it would sound like a bunch of bells ringing. We managed to set it down with just a few grunts. When it had sunk back into the earth, I breathed a sigh of relief and stared at my friend. He shot me a quick grin, then his gaze darted to the girl.
The night folded around her as she scurried away. Eventually she came back around and looked at the lock, then at us. After she tugged at something, she disappeared. Scott and I waited for a minute, sure that she would reappear. A form walked toward the cage, but it was hard to tell if it was Haley. As the shuffling steps drew near, we both knew it was one of the dead.
It was a man this time. He was dressed in a gaudy red velvet shirt with blue pants. He looked like some ridiculous troubadour. Probably worked at a Mexican restaurant and was caught in the mess in his uniform.
“Friend of yours?” I asked Scott.
“Hey, fuck you, white boy. If I had a gun, I’d put him down with a single shot, Latino or not, bright puffy red shirt or not. Although I give him points for style. It’s hard to pull off that ensemble.”
Clapping my hand over his shoulder, I suppressed a chuckle. It was odd to think I had known this man for a very short time, and yet he was now my best friend in the world. He was currently my only friend, and I felt a fierce need to protect him even though he was more than capable of taking care of himself.
“I hope she comes back,” I said.
“You don’t think she will?”
“Would you?”
“For you? Nah, I’d rather haul ass out of here and take my chances in the woods all alone. Of course I would, dumb-ass.”
“Yeah? Well, I’d let you rot. You smell like death.”
“You’re one to talk.”
Scott walked over to the other side of the cage and stretched his hand out. He came back with the arm I had tossed aside the night before. He took it to the bars where we had lifted the cage and held it out to the zombie, hand first, like he was offering a handshake.
“Hey. Take this and fuck off.” He held the hand up and waved it around. The zombie didn’t have very good motor skills, but he managed to take the arm and sink his teeth into the rotted flesh. Then he wandered away with the morsel hanging out of his mouth.
“Do you blame me for this?” I had been afraid to voice this question, but it had gnawed at me since the day I awoke in a cave.
“I don’t, man. There were too many of them. They had that planned for a long time. They are getting smarter, the green guys.” He didn’t turn around, just kept talking into the night. “We noticed them changing a month or so ago. Getting more coordinated.”
“I can’t help but think it was me that brought them. I should have killed that ghoul when I had the chance.”
“Coulda shoulda. No way to change that shit now.”
I sighed and stared into the darkness around us.
We waited for what seemed forever, while the rain continued to hammer down. We discussed how to get the cage lifted long enough for the other to slip through, but I was already so tired I could barely lift my hand to my head, let alone hold the cage up long enough for him to slip out.
I sat down in the mud and thought about the meat they would offer in the morning. Should we give in? Give up our humanity? At least I wouldn’t be hungry and cold anymore. It would also give me a chance to see what they saw, feel the world the way they felt it. In a way, I felt sorry for the damned things. It wasn’t their fault they became they way they were. History was littered with tales of people eating the dead. It was a shame that we were being hunted to extinction by the ‘better’ humans. We are you. Only better. The ghouls words came back and chilled me to the bone.
To tell the truth, I would rather die than eat the rancid flesh. I would rather sit here and starve to death than become one of those things. Sighing, I leaned back against the cage. The rain had died down a bit, and the cover kept my back from getting more drenched. There was no way I could lay on the cold wet earth.
Scott sat beside me but didn’t speak. Weary, I laid my head back and closed my eyes. Without the girl here, we didn’t seem too concerned about huddling for warmth like we did before.
I was drifting off when a hand landed on my shoulder, which made me jump away from the bars. Heart pounding in my chest, I came up in a fighting stance, despite my foggy mind.
It was the girl, and she looked scared. Her hair was pushed back behind her ears, and her face was washed clean, so at least the rain had done some good. A bar sat in her hand—just a hunk of metal. I crept closer to her.
“I couldn’t find any kind of keys. There is a lock, but it’s dark, and I can’t see how it works.” She was standing by the door, feeling it with one hand. Metal clanked on metal, but she moved it gently.
“What are you planning to do?” I said.
“Not sure. I thought I could hit the lock, but I don’t want to bring anyone. Maybe I can wrap the bar in something.”
“Good thinking.” Scott unbuttoned his shirt and slipped it off. He handed it to her through the base of the cage, then stood shivering. His skin should have been dark, like he had a tan, but he was just as pale and white as me. I was probably paler. Glancing down at my hands and forearms, I realized that if I had red eyes, I would make a pretty good albino. I laughed at that thought, and Scott looked at me with a quizzical expression.
I was losing it.
She wrapped the bar in the shirt and then took a tentative swing at the other side. I couldn’t see what she was doing, but the sound was like thunder. It was softer with the padding, but to me it sounded loud enough to wake everyone in the camp.
The people in the cage across from us were on their feet, peering at us. They looked like desperate refugees, like something out of a movie about the Holocaust. The feed pit—that’s what they were in. If we got out, I knew I would have to take them with us.
She hit the door again, and a zombie wandered by on the other side of the cage. Scott used quick thinking, dashing over to that side and calling to the creature. It walked up to the bars, and he kept the dead man entertained by making faces and hand gestures. He held his arm out, and when the zombie went for it, he jerked it back inside.
If it wandered to the other side, we were screwed, unless she was quick enough to bash in its head.
“Shit!” she whispered. Another clang. This wasn’t workin
g.
“Describe the lock to me,” I said.
“It’s not a lock. It’s just a bent piece of metal. The sides are away from each other, kind of like a Z. I can move it, but not far. There’s some kind of bolt or something holding it shut. I tried hitting the bolt, but it didn’t work.”
“How thick is the Z-shaped piece?” I kept my voice calm and low in the hope that it would soothe her. I didn’t want panic to show, even though I was about to go out of my mind with fear.
“Not very thick. But it is pretty hard.”
“Can you slide the bar between it and the door?”
“Oh!”
She handed the shirt back, and then I heard metal scraping on metal. She groaned, then there was a snap and she fell back. I pressed on the door, but it didn’t budge, which made me want to scream! Glancing over at Scott, I found he still attempted to keep the zombie’s attention, but it kept trying to wander off.
Then there was a grating noise, and something hit the ground with a thunk. Pressing on the door again, I found it opened on noisy hinges.
“Help us!” someone called. The others in the cage across from us had their hands pressed between the bars. Dirty hands and dirty faces—just like us.
I slid out of the tiny opening, and when I saw Haley, I swept her up in a fierce embrace. As I held her tightly to me, she sobbed in relief. “I thought I could sneak into a shack and find a key. But the guys with the green eyes were in there. I was lucky I didn’t get caught.”
“You did great, kiddo. I’m so proud of you.”
The people in the other cage didn’t take long to catch on after they watched us. Three or four of them lifted the cage, and others slithered beneath. It was dark, and rain still drizzled down, making it hard to see for more than a few feet. The others looked to be in pretty bad shape. I was concerned that they would be hard to separate from the dead in the event that it came to a fight.
Beyond the Barriers Page 22
