by Crae, Edward
“Can we skip the storage units?” Jake asked. “They’re probably looted all to shit anyway.”
“Good point,” she said. “Let’s check the parking lot for a car. I’m tired of walking.”
Thankfully, there was one car in the lot with the keys in it. Unfortunately, its driver was still in it, too. Jake dispatched it quickly by dragging it out and stomping its skull. He then wiped the brains off of his boot on the asphalt.
“Nasty fuckers,” he said.
Toni stepped in and sat in the driver’s seat, smiling widely when the car started right up.
“Fuck yeah,” she said. “Get in.”
“Shotgun,” Jake called.
They tore out of the parking lot and headed toward Nashville. Evidently, Toni was an experienced racecar driver; or she drove like one, at least. Jake glanced at her occasionally, genuinely fearing for his life. She ignored him for the most part, but there was a slight smile on her face.
“What’s up here?” Jake asked. “I’ve never been to Nashville. I didn’t even know there was a Nashville in Indiana.”
“The first thing we’ll see is a pharmacy on the left,” she said. “It’s at the stop light.”
“Good,” Jake said. “Maybe they’ll have some insulin. But I bet it’s expired.”
“Doesn’t matter,” Toni said. “Even if it’s expired, it’s still better than nothing. And there are other things you can take. There are herbs, minerals, and other things that help keep blood sugar down.”
“Like what?”
“Ginseng, chromium, vitamin B, shit like that.”
Jake grunted. He had never really heard of those things being good for blood sugar, but Toni seemed to know what she was talking about.
“Before my career change,” she said, “I was a CNA.”
“Why did you become a trainer?”
“Somebody said I wouldn’t make a good nurse. So I didn’t even bother going ahead to nursing school.”
“You believed them when they said that?” Jake asked.
Toni nodded, pursing her lips. “That’s what you do when it comes out of your mama’s mouth.”
Shit, Jake thought. That wasn’t cool at all. He had never listened to anything his mother said; at least not negative bullshit like that. Most moms had negative things to say on occasion, but telling her kid that he or she was no good at something… That was pure and utter bullshit.
“Fuck that,” Jake said. “You’ve been a good nurse so far.”
He could see her smile, and he knew he had cheered her up a little. That was comforting.
“Here we are,” Toni said.
They pulled up to the intersection where the pharmacy was located. It was big and obvious, sticking out like a sore thumb amongst other buildings that were more rustic looking—except for the gas station across the street, of course. Toni pulled into the parking lot and they stopped right in front of the automatic door. It was already busted out and pulled off of its track.
“Looks like somebody else got here first,” Jake said. “I bet all the good shit is gone.”
“We’ll see,” Toni said, shutting off the car.
They cautiously entered the shattered doors, avoiding the glass that was exploded inward. The pharmacy was fairly well-lit, as the front of the store had large windows near the ceiling. Most of the shelves were in disarray, with a majority of their contents either missing, or dumped onto the floor. Jake could see the pharmacy sign in the back corner.
“There it is,” he said. “Shall we go shopping?”
“Look for whatever you can,” Toni said. “If you have any questions, ask me. But I’m sure you know what you’re looking for. I’ll be keeping an eye out and grabbing those herbs and minerals for you.”
“Alright,” Jake said, heading down the aisle.
The pharmacy counter was broken and smashed in. The shelves inside were mostly bare, having been previously robbed, presumably. Jake went around, searching the remainder of the bottles for medication he knew of. Amaryl was first on his list, and it was easy to find. There were three 500 count bottles.
“Sweet,” he said out loud. “This’ll last a while.”
He noticed an open refrigerator along the back wall. There were several vials lying around it, mostly medications he had never heard of. There were a few Humulin vials, too. He grabbed all four of them, stuffing them in his pocket. They may be bad, he realized, but still better than nothing.
Nearby, there were a number of pen injectors; Victoza, Lantus, etc. He grabbed a handful of those as well, and then went back to the shelves to search for Metformin. There was one 500 count bottle left. He grabbed it, and froze as he heard a low hiss coming from behind another shelf.
Toni was there beside him almost immediately, her revolvers drawn. Jake set down his pack and pulled out his shotgun. The two of them waited, searching the shadows for the source of the hiss.
Then, a pair of clawed hands appeared over the top of a nearby shelf, followed by the horrid face of a stalker. It howled at them through its fanged maw. Jake aimed and fired as he backed away. Toni let loose a barrage, sprinting behind another counter. The stalker leaped off of the shelf and gave chase.
Jake cocked his shotgun and fired another round, striking the creature in its hard, pale back. It squealed with pain and turned to face him, vile fluids spilling out of its wound. It charged, opening its maw impossibly wide. Toni slammed into him, knocking him out of the way just as the creature leaped.
Her revolvers sounded one after the other repeatedly as the two of them fell to the ground roughly. The stalker slammed against the broken counter behind them, full of holes and twitching. Toni stood, holding one revolver to its head. She looked back at Jake as he recovered.
“This is one ugly fucker,” she said, blowing its head off.
Jake’s heart was pounding. He thought it was a heart attack at first, but realized there was no pain. It was pleasant, actually. Exhilarating, in fact. He jumped up with a smile, tensing his muscles and lolling his head around.
“That was fuckin’ awesome,” he said.
Toni chuckled, setting her revolvers on the counter and searching her pack for more bullets.
“Damn,” she said. “Two boxes left. I hope the gun stores have magnums.”
“In a town like this?” Jake wondered. “Probably mostly hunting rounds.”
“Indiana has a minimum .357 rule for deer hunting,” Toni said.
“Yeah,” Jake said. “I forgot about that. I don’t do a whole lot of hunting.”
Toni holstered her revolvers, and then came to Jake to look him over. “You alright,” she asked. “Are you hurt?”
Jake looked himself over, seeing nothing but maybe a scuff mark from landing on the rough carpet. “Nope,” he said. “I’m good. Feel pretty nice, actually.”
“Good,” Toni said. “I found some of the herbs. Now I just need something else.”
Jake sat down on the counter as Toni went searching through the meds. After several minutes, and a shitload of cursing, she finally picked up a bottle.
“Bingo,” she said, stuffing the bottle in her pocket.
“What was that?” Jake asked.
“Adderall,” she said. “I feel like gettin’ jacked.”
Jake shook his head.
Just like Dan, he thought with a chuckle.
After continuing down the main drag, Toni took a left at the next stop sign. Another block later, she turned right, slowing down and gliding along the curb. She and Jake looked to the right, where a half-collapsed house stood. A sign was near the sidewalk, knocked over and facing up to the sky.
“This is one of the gun shops,” Toni said.
“It looks like it used to be a house.”
“Probably,” Toni replied, parking the car. “It looks like it’s been hit already. But there should be something left, at least.”
They stepped out of the car with guns drawn. Jake looked around, noticing the pioneer-style architecture of the h
ouses and small businesses on the block. There were log, sandstone block, and other types. It was rather quaint.
He hated it.
“This town reminds of a little Disney World area,” he said. “I keep thinking Mickey Mouse or a dude dressed in peasant clothing is gonna step out and scare the shit out of us.”
“That’s the appeal,” Toni said. “Old pioneer colony shit. I like it.”
Jake shrugged, following her up the sidewalk to the gun shop’s front door. Not that they really had to use the front door; the left corner of the building was partially crumbled, revealing the pegboards of tactical parts that hung on the walls.
The small foyer had a small flight of stairs going up to the main area, and a stairway to the right that led down into the darkness. Toni stepped up to the main floor, and holstered her revolvers after taking a quick look around.
Jake’s eyes were immediately drawn to the shotguns that hung on the back wall, and Toni went to the right, where the handguns and ammo were located. Jake grinned at the shotguns, but was really interested in a particular rifle that hung alongside them. It was a Hi-Point 9mm Carbine; basically a pistol in the shape of a rifle. He had heard about them—good things mostly—but its appeal was more curiosity, not functionality.
In the glass case, were laser sights, scopes, fore grips, and just about anything else that could be mounted on a picatinny rail. Nothing particularly useful for a shotgun. However, there was a shell holder that buckled onto the buttstock. He took it, installed it, and filled it up with shells from his pocket.
As he turned to join Toni, he noticed a jewel of a rifle. In a nearby case that was shattered and knocked over, some dipshit had left his favorite rifle. The beautifully crafted lever-action Henry Repeater was truly a sight for sore eyes. It was the most kickass piece of machinery ever constructed by man. He shouldered his shotgun and picked up the bad boy, admiring it like a crack head admiring a rock—or something just as disturbing.
He searched the nearby shelves and racks for a sling, finding a nice black leather dealie with studs and skulls. He attached it quickly and slung the rifle over his shoulder. Now he could join Toni in the search for ammo.
She was still in the handgun room, trying on various new holsters. She currently admired herself in a cowboy-like leather belt with low-hanging holsters. She looked up at Jake as he entered. Jake nodded his approval. She looked hot as fuck; like an escaped slave chick strapping up to take revenge on her former captors. The movie Django came to mind.
“Damn,” Jake said. “They’re definitely you.”
“Did you find anything you like?” she asked.
He held up his new Henry. Toni stuck out an approving lip, slipping on a new coat she had found. It was black suede, with nice, big cowboy buckles, and a studded belt.
“You look fucking bad ass,” Jake said. “I need to find me another coat.”
Toni pointed over to the opposite wall. There, on a hook, was a black leather trench coat; sleek and shiny, and extra-large. Jake grinned, dropping his gear and trying it on. It fit almost perfectly. Strangely enough, the sleeves were a bit long.
“This must have belonged to someone even taller than me,” he said. “But it works.”
Toni gave him an approving nod, holding her revolvers up. “Now we look like some total badasses,” she said.
Jake picked up his gear. “Alright then,” he said. “Let’s grab some more ammo and go do some badass shit.”
Chapter Six
Travis watched from the safety of the scaffolding as Cliff crept up behind a shuffler that was spotted roaming the nearby forest. He had asked Cliff to try and disable one without damaging it too much. He had faith that the man could do it, as his military experience had made him an effective “creeper” as Cliff had put it.
Travis had an idea that could help him figure out the cause of the infection. The shufflers seemed to be mindless wanderers with a single purpose; to migrate to areas where the living were gathered in large numbers. Though in the past this was obvious, it was clear that their purpose or instinct had changed. They were now aggressive, and Travis wanted to know why.
He clenched his jaw as Cliff neared the creature. The thing was oblivious to his approach and made no indication that it even had any idea of its surroundings. It was simply a lone wanderer with no real destination. That was good. It was what he had hoped for, as it would support his theory.
Cliff dispatched the creature quickly by jabbing his knife into the base of its skull. The thing dropped like a rock, and Cliff gave Travis a thumbs up. Eric burst from the brush on the outside of the fence, rushing toward Cliff, clothed in a jump suit, rubber gloves, and a dust mask. He quickly took the creature by the shoulders and dragged it around to the gate, where Lena stood watch.
Travis ran over to it, kneeling beside its lifeless form as the others gathered around. He donned his own mask, rubber gloves, and apron, and drew his knife.
“Stand back,” he said to the others. “I don’t want anyone getting infected with this fungus.”
He stared down at the shuffler’s face, noting the extreme infestation of mold that had eaten away most of its skin. Carefully, he placed his knife against its forehead, rocking it with hard downward pressure as if he were splitting a coconut. The skull was surprisingly easy to cut, and he had no trouble penetrating it.
When he was satisfied with his cut, he set his knife aside. He then placed his fingers into the split, and gently pulled. The skull came apart with some cracking and slurping noises, followed by the rank stench of mildew and other foul things.
“Jesus Christ,” Cliff said.
Travis could hear Eric make a gagging noise. Lena was silent.
“Now,” Travis said. “Let’s take a look at this brain.”
He pulled as hard as he could, laying the entire head open into two halves. Through the smell, and the tiny wisps of spores, Travis could see the brain. It was gelatinous, partially liquefied, and black. He stared at it for a moment, trying to figure out what could cause such a thing. He thought back to his medical training in the early days, when he had performed dissections of cadavers that had died of mysterious circumstances.
The only thing he could compare the brain’s condition to was the decay caused by major fungal infections; mostly due to black mold. It was very similar here.
“Look at how the tissue has been partially dissolved,” he said, poking the brain with his knife. “It still maintains its shape, for the most part, but the frontal and temporal lobes are nothing but putrefied shells.”
He jabbed his knife into the black material, swirling it around, letting it fall away like gelatin. When he had scraped away everything that he could, all that was left was a small section of organ attached the spinal cord, with a jumble of nerves that connected it to a slightly larger organ.
“Medulla Oblongata,” he said. “Brain stem, amygdala, cerebellum. These are the most primitive areas; the ones that control motor skills, involuntary processes, and the rest of it controls basic instincts.”
“Like what?” Cliff asked.
“Hunger, fight or flight, aggression.”
He lifted up the floppy section with his knife. “It’s this part that worries me,” he said. “It’s much larger than usual, and has something unknown attached to it. And that, itself, has a cord that wraps itself around the medulla oblongata and proceeds into the spinal column.”
“What is it?” Lena asked. Eric vomited nearby.
“Well,” Travis said, watching Eric spew the contents of his stomach. “I’m not sure, man. The only thing I tell is that the areas of the brain that control our speech, thinking, and reasoning are gone. All that’s left is the primitive part necessary for this thing to walk, see, hear, and do a minimum of thinking. If you look here, there is a very small portion of entorhinal cortex left. That tells me that maybe there is a small amount of memory left. But it would be just enough for it to recognize material things.”
“Like what?” Lena as
ked, seemingly fascinated. Eric vomited again.
“Something like ‘hey, that’s a tree. Walk around it,’ or whatever. This is fascinating, man. Heavy shit.”
“So,” Cliff said. “It’s basically a Democrat.”
Travis chuckled, shaking his head.
“Cut open its abdomen,” Cliff said. “Dan and Drew said these things are where the floaters come from.”
“Floaters?” Travis asked.
“The green things.”
Travis nodded. He remembered now. There was one in the woods nearby when they had first arrived. It was going uphill toward the church that Eric and Dan had found a few days earlier. Maybe that was what had caused the people there to turn. He got up and crouched next to the creature’s abdomen, pulling its ‘Have a Nice Day’ T-shirt up.
With a careful hand, he cut open the soft flesh. Once again, the smell of rot, mildew, and shit spewed out like a cloud of poisonous shit. Eric vomited again.
“Good lord,” Lena said, standing and backing away.
Travis pulled the abdomen apart, clenching his teeth as the gloppy slimy flesh tore open. Inside the cavity, there was a brown mass of tissue that was wrapped in some sort of transparent sack. The same strange looking cord was wrapped around the object, and it went into the spinal column just at the base of the pelvis.
“It looks like an embryonic floater,” Cliff said. “Not that I’ve seen one before, but I imagine that’s what it would look like.”
Travis nodded, disgusted. He had seen enough. His theory was correct; at least as the shufflers were concerned. He wondered still what the story was with the others; the shamblers and their aggressiveness, or the mutant things that were nothing short of monsters from some alien horror movie.
“Alright,” he said, standing. “Let’s burn this thing up and have beer. This really fucked me up, man.”
“Did you find what you were looking for?” Cliff asked.
Travis nodded, staring down at the creature. “Unfortunately, yes.”
Dan, Drew, and Max arrived at the Salt Creek area of Nashville just at the beginnings of dusk. There was a chain grocery store, a McDonald’s, the hardware store, and several clinics there. There were also some apartments, one of them half-finished, and a police station nestled in back.
