The Demon Dead

by Arthur M Wyatt

  To the left it was the same. Cars were piled up. Some of them burned. Charred bodies at the wheel.

  They drove through the intersection and toward the Yorktown. John slowed at the baseball field. He loved coming here to watch the kids play and had dreamed of someday watching his own kid play here.

  "Can we stop and look?" Jimmy asked.

  "Sorry buddy we have to find a boat. I wish we had time," John said.

  "You play baseball," Amy asked him.

  "Sure do," Jimmy said, "short stop."

  "Wow," John said, "that's a hard position to play."

  "I would rather play football but my Dad wanted me to play baseball. He said I was to little to play football."

  "One of these days you'll get to play baseball again," Amy added.

  "I hope so," Jimmy said.

  John drove on to the Yorktown and stopped in the parking lot.

  "That would be one hell of a fortress if we had enough people and weapons," he said.

  "If only," Amy smiled.

  They stared at the old Carrier. The number ten shown prominently on the superstructure. John never served on a carrier. He preferred the smaller ships. He spent most of his time on frigates. Just the same, seeing the old ship always brought back great memories.

  "It's getting late," Derek said from the back of the truck breaking the silence.

  "I know," John said.

  They continued on to the Marina. Pulling up at the fuel pumps John got out of the truck and scanned the line of boats.

  "What do you think," John said to Derek.

  "Looks like we have some good boats to chose from," he said. “Question is do any of them have the keys in them.”

  Amy helped Jimmy out of the truck.

  "I'm sleepy," he said burying his face in Amy's side.

  "Soon, Jimmy, real soon."

  John and Derek walked the dock looking for any sign that someone had been there recently or was still there. Amy stood guard at the truck with the shotgun.

  Near the end of the dock they heard a grunt off to the right and turned to look. At the end of one of the side docks was a lone gomer sitting on an over turned bucket staring down at a cooler at his feet that had a sign that said "Bait: $6.00" taped to it.

  Derek stopped and raised the rifle.

  "Should we kill it?" he asked John.

  "No, he's harmless."

  "What do you mean, harmless?"

  "I mean he won't hurt anyone. We call theses guys gomers.

  "You mean like gomer Pyle?"

  Derek lowered his weapon.

  The gomer made no attempt to get up and didn't seem to notice them.

  "Yeah something like that."

  They both laughed then Derek said. "Well, are you going to explain or not?"

  "A gomer is a zombie that doesn't know it's dead yet. They try to go about life, ironic right, like everything's the same. Amy believes the soul of the person the zombie once was is trapped inside."

  "That's deep man," Derek said.

  "Oh, it gets better. Regular zombies are just, well, zombies. The soul has moved on and the only thing left is the dumb old zombie. They're kind of like sharks. Running on instinct."

  "What about the demons," Derek asked.

  "Demons are zombies that have been possessed by evil spirits or... demons."

  Derek laughed nervously.

  "With the soul gone," John continued, "the demons can occupy the space vacated by the soul."

  "Holy shit dude, that's too wild,"

  "That’s our theory anyway."

  "Actually it makes perfect sense. It explains it better than anything I can think of."

  "Are you religious Derek?"

  "Not really, you?"

  "A little. Haven't attended church regularly in years.

  "Me either," Derek said. "I guess you could call me an agnostic Christian, if that makes sense."

  "What do you mean?"

  "It means I was raised a Christian, I believe and everything, but have questions that I haven't reconciled within myself yet. I mean there has to be something out there. You know what I mean?"

  "Yes, I think so."

  "I mean, my adopted parents had a strong faith, I just could never get that, you know, absolute Santa Clause type faith myself. I wish I could, it was just harder for me."

  "Now who's getting deep?" John said.

  They both laughed.

  "And now," Derek continued, "I don't know what to believe or not believe. I think Amy is on to something though. There has to be a supernatural aspect to this. There's no other explanation."

  "Right, that's exactly what I think too. You know what they say, there are no atheist in foxholes."

  They laughed again.

  Derek walked over to the gomer and stopped a couple of feet from him. The gomer reached over and opened the cooler and pulled out a small plastic container with a lid on it. Derek stepped back a couple of feet and raised the rifle.

  “Take it,” john said.

  Derek took the worms and backed away. The zombie grunted and held out his hand.

  “What does he want,” Derek asked John.

  “He wants you to pay for the worms.”

  "He wants me to what?”

  John started laughing.

  “Pay for the worms. Just give him a buck man.”

  “A buck?” Derek said. “It says six dollars.”

  John tried not to laugh but couldn't help it. Derek was taking this very seriously.

  “Gomers can't count," John said grinning, "just give him something.”

  Derek dug a wrinkled one-dollar bill out of his pocket and handed it to the gomer then turned to walk away.

  The gomer grunted again and stood up. Derek spun around and pointed the rifle at him.

  “Wait,” John said.

  “What the hell does he want now,” Derek said.

  The gomer stuck his hand in his jacket pocket and pulled out a hand full of change.

  What now?” Derek said.

  “Take the change,” John told him.

  Derek lowered his weapon and held out his hand. The gomer dropped the change in his hand. Derek counted it.

  “Hey, he gave me one dollar and ninety three cents in change, I only gave him a dollar.”

  “Tell him thank you,” John said then began laughing again.

  “Real funny,” Derek said grinning.

  The gomer went back to his bucket and sat down. Derek turned around to go back to the main dock but stopped.

  “Think I found us a boat,” he said to John.

  John joined him at the back of a forty foot boat. A luxury fishing boat with an upper helm station. On the back of the boat, painted in bold black letters was the word “Demon”.

  “Perfect,” John said.

  “Unreal," Derek said. “I drove one of these this past Labor day. Fast boat. Lots of room inside too. Full kitchen, staterooms with plenty of room to sleep. I mean it's got everything you could imagine. The whole nine yards.”

  “Lets check it out,” John said jumping over the side and onto the deck.

  Derek followed. The main helm station was on the bridge which was accessed by climbing a ladder beside the cabin door. It was very spacious and had a sitting area in front of the wheel that curled around the front and right side.

  Inside the boat was orderly and very neat. Inside the cabin, or the salon, there was a couch that started at the door and curved around to the left. On the right by the cabin door was a bookcase with another curved couch. This area served as the dining area with a table mounted to the floor.

  In the back of the cabin on the left side was a small kitchen with a microwave oven and a glass top two-burner range. There was plenty of cabinet space. A small refrigerator was under the counter by the range.

  Derek looked through the cabinets. There were plenty of dry goods on the boat as well as a fully stocked liquor cabinet.

  Past the salon a doorway led to the stateroom where there was another sm
all kitchen immediately inside the door and to the left. On the right was a bunkroom with two side-by-side bunks with only a couple of feet separating them. Just past the kitchen area on the left was a small bathroom with a shower. In the bow was the main stateroom with a full bed and a skylight directly overhead.

  "Dude," Derek said laughing, "this is nicer than my apartment."

  Hanging on a key rack by the bathroom were the keys to the boats ignition.

  “Ah the keys,” Derek said. “I’m climbing up to the bridge to turn on the boats systems and see if they're working,”

  “Ok, everything looks great in here, I’m going back up to get Amy and Jimmy. They're going to love this.”

  Derek climbed to the Capt’s chair and inserted the key.

  “Alright baby let’s see what you’ve got.”

  He turned the key and watched as the lights and gauges lit up. The fuel tanks were full and the batteries was completely charged. He put the engine in neutral and pushed the ignition. The engines roared to life. He turned to see if their gomer friend had noticed. It was looking at the boat but stayed put on his bucket.

  Derek revved the engines, let them idle for a few minutes, then shut them down.

  “What’s up?” Amy asked as John walked up to the truck.

  “Derek found a boat.”

  “I heard.”

  “And a gomer,” John said laughing.

  “What’s so funny,” Amy asked.

  “He sold Derek some worms.”

  “Are you serious?”

  “Serious, he gave him change back too.”

  "Gotta love those gomers," Amy smiled. “I would love to hear the story but we have company again,” she said and pointed down the street.

  “Our demon friends?”

  “Bingo.”

  John walked over to the truck.

  “How you holding up there champ?” he asked Jimmy.

  “Good.”

  John took the binoculars from the dash and went back to where Amy was standing. He scanned the street leading back to the Yorktown and saw the three demons just off the road in the bushes watching.

  “Hold this,” he handed the binoculars to Amy and took the 9mm from his waistband.

  “Think you can hit them from here?”

  “I doubt it but you never know. Wish I had the hunting rifle. Watch them through the binoculars and see what they do.”

  Amy trained the binoculars on the demons and waited.

  John fired six shots in quick succession at the spot the Demons were standing.

  Amy saw tree bark fly into the air beside one of the zombies as they all dove for cover.

  “I don’t think you hit one,” Amy said, “but you did scare the hell out of them. If that’s even possible.”

  “Maybe that will buy us some time while we unload the truck,” John answered.

  “Do you think it’s the same ones?” she said.

  “Absolutely,” John said. “It’ll be dark soon we need to get moving.”

  John walked over to the truck and got in.

  “Ready for a boat ride,” he said to Jimmy.

  “Sure.”

  Amy got into the truck and they drove onto the dock.

  “Are you sure it will hold us?” Amy asked.

  “Oh yeah, we can’t drive it onto the floating dock but this one would hold an eighteen wheeler.”

  Derek was waiting at the side dock and told them where to stop.

  “Give Amy the rifle. She can stand watch while we unload the truck.”

  Amy took the binoculars and started scanning.

  John got Jimmy from the truck and took him into the boats cabin.

  “Wow,” Jimmy said, “a TV and a Blue-Ray.”

  “I hadn’t noticed that,” John said rubbing Jimmy on the top of the head.

  Jimmy laid down on one of the couches and was soon asleep.

  They unloaded the supplies quickly. Derek made preparations to get underway while John went to get Amy.

  Amy had walked back to the end of the dock and was sitting on a bench, rifle in her lap, looking through the binoculars.

  John walked up behind her and tapped her on the shoulder. Startled, she dropped the binoculars, jumped up and raised the rifle to point it at him.

  “Whoa, it’s just me,” John said.

  “Damn it John, don’t do that,” she scolded him, “I almost shot you.”

  “No joke,” John shot back.

  “Sorry John these demons have me a little nervous.”

  “I know, they have us all rattled.”

  “John we’ve seen them since day one but not like this. I don’t know what their deal is but it has me worried.”

  “Me too. Lets get back to the boat. We’re loaded and ready to go.”

  He put his arm around her and they walked back to the truck.

  John checked the truck over good to make sure they weren’t leaving anything behind.

  “Ten minutes,” Derek shouted down to them.

  John waved in the affirmative.

  “Lets check the radio one more time.”

  He climbed back in the truck and turned the switch to the on position and pushed the power button on the radio. The steady monotone of the civil defense tone was still on. More clear this time, but nothing else.

  He hit the seek button until the radio had cycled through the AM dial and stopped on at the same spot.

  He switched to FM and did the same. Still nothing.

  “We can go now,” he said.

  John took the key from the switch and put it in his pocket then locked the doors. Together they walked to the boat. Amy climbed aboard and handed the binoculars to John as Derek started the engines and checked all the gauges.

  Amy went into the cabin. She looked down on Jimmy enviously as he slept soundly.

  “It must be nice to be that relaxed,” she thought.

  John untied the lines and tossed them on the boat, then boarded and climbed up to where Derek was readying to leave.

  “I don’t believe it,” he said looking back where the dock connects to bank.

  “You don’t believe what?” Derek asked.

  “Look.”

  Derek turned around to see the three demons lurking in the shadows.

  “Here,” Derek handed him the rifle.

  John turned to sight in on the demons but they were gone.

  “They’re gone," he said, "let’s get out of here.”

  Derek put the boat in gear and slowly pulled away. John watched the dock through the scope. He put a round into a trash can just for the hell of it but saw nothing else.

  “Hit anything?” Derek asked.

  “Yeah a trash can.”

  They looked at each other but neither one laughed. The tension was palpable. They were anxious to get away from the dock and out into the water.

  “This must be how MacArthur felt when he left Corregidor on a PT boat and snuck out of Manila Bay just ahead of the Japanese,” John said.

  The sun was just above the horizon as they pulled out into the harbor. The water was calm and the sky was clear. It was going to be a cool autumn night.

  “Can you go a little faster?” John asked. “We don’t have much time.”

  Derek pushed the throttle forward as the boats bow rose out of the water.

  “How’s that?”

  “Perfect.”

  It would be a short ride to the fort.

  As they neared the Island Derek took the binoculars from John’s neck and trained them on the Fort.

  “I think you better take a look at this,” he said.

  “What is it?” John asked.

  “Here,” Derek handed him the glasses.

  “Jesus,” he said, “what do we do now?”

  The Fort was covered with zombies. A tour boat was tied up at the dock.

  “Must be from the tour boat,” John said.

  “I don’t see how,” Derek answered, “the tour boat doesn’t run until mid morning. All this start
ed before 06:00.”

  “Maybe a group of people took the boat and made it here trying to escape. However they got here, there they are.”

  There were zombies everywhere John looked. On the dock, inside the Fort and on the boat.

  “They’re everywhere,” he said.

  As they neared the dock Derek cut the engines back and let the boat coast to a stop about fifty yards out.

  The zombies on the dock saw the boat and crowded that side. Five were knocked into the water. They watched as the zombies struggled for a second and then sank.

  “Can zombies drown?” Derek said.

  “I don’t think so. They’re probably on the bottom squirming around.”

  Suddenly a blood-curdling scream echoed through the Fort.

  “What the hell was that?” Derek said.

  “A demon,” Amy said, “maybe more than one. Hard to tell with the echo.”

  They hadn’t noticed that she had come out of the cabin and was standing on the deck below them.

  John scanned the Fort with the binoculars but didn’t notice any demons among the zombies. They stood on the boat in silence straining to hear.

  A dog’s bark broke the silence. Still scanning with the binoculars John saw a Black Lab run out of the Fort.

  “It’s a dog,” he screamed, “A Black Lab with two demons chasing it.”

  “Hey,” Amy screamed. “Hey, over here.”

  Amy stuck her fingers in her mouth and whistled as loud as she could.

  That did it. The dog turned and headed for the Dock.

  “Derek get us closer,” she said.

  Derek put the boats props in gear and edged them a little closer.

  John and Amy were calling the dog as it went to the edge of the dock and stopped.

  The regular zombies took little notice but the demons were closing in.

  “Keep calling it,” John said.

  John slung the rifle over his shoulder and climbed down to the deck.

  Amy climbed down to the back landing of the boat and was calling out to the dog. She whistled again.

  “Come on boy, come on,” she screamed.

  Just as the two demons lunged for it the dog jumped in the water and started paddling toward the boat. Amazingly the demons jumped in after him.