by Mark Tufo
"You shot me Michael," Eliza said. Pointing to a bullet hole in her black leather jacket. "I had thought I might just kill you slowly. Now, however, I have decided you will have the pleasure of living as I slowly kill your entire family." Eliza turned from me, her gaze now on Tommy. "We are going to have such wonderful talks."
Something was poking my already tender stomach. If I was going out it might as well be as comfortably as possible. I reached into my jacket pocket and wrapped my hand around the offending object. It was one of Justin's syringes that had fallen out of his pack. The cap must have come off as I was being so tenderly cared for and now the point was a good three or four layers deep in my epidermis. I gently pulled it out. 'USE IT' shot through my head. The message was from Tommy but he didn't clarify his thought and I couldn't think to ask him as Eliza turned back to me.
"Use what?" she asked me, one might almost think gently.
Then it hit me what I should use, and as God is my witness I wanted to tell her and I would have if not for Tommy.
"Deus has relinquo vos!" he shouted in Latin (God has forsaken you).
She laughed as she replied back to him. "Ut ego have relinquo him." (As I have forsaken him.) "Your God is dead."
My chance was here, I was of no concern to her as I pulled the syringe out and drove it up to the barrel into her calf. Her backhanded blow sent me rolling twenty feet. If my jaw wasn't shattered, I had at least lost some teeth but the pain was too intense to tell exactly what was busted.
"What have you done?" she questioned calmly as she pulled the needle out of her leg.
'I don't know,' I would have told her but the mere thought of moving my jaw stopped that response in its tracks. The zombies that had been generally milling about paying this little drama not a notice, seemed to awaken as if from a dream. I mean as much as a zombie can seem to 'come awake'. I had an inkling of a feeling what was about to happen as zombies began to close in around the circle. I forced myself to stand as waves of pain cascaded down from the top of my head to the bottom of my spinal column.
"You rise when I tell you to," Eliza said evenly. There was no anger in her voice, only a conveyance of truth. She was used to always being obeyed.
I staggered a few steps, moving away from the perimeter guards. All eyes were on me as I drunkenly made my way back to my family. Tracy looked as if she was going to come to my aid. Eliza interjected herself by quickly moving towards me. It is a strange sensation to find yourself hovering in the air, suspended only by your neck. Eliza, was not much bigger than my daughter, so to look down and see those slender arms have enough power to raise me up like a beer for a toast was strange to say the least.
The pain of my nearly shattered jaw warred with the affliction of having my neck compressed to half its diameter.
"Do you find this as fulfilling as I do?" Eliza asked me.
This chick was psycho, first off between my neck and my jaw I couldn't answer her even if I wanted to. And then what the hell kind of question is that? Sure, sure I always wanted to have the life crushed out of me by a character in a horror movie, it was a lifelong dream of mine. Eliza looked over my shoulder as the first of her human guards let out an ear-piercing shriek. Looks like the zombie menu just grew exponentially.
I could see some strain in Eliza's eyes as she attempted to regain control of the zombies. The shot obviously worked. It had interrupted her communication/control over them. I hoped it was a permanent fix, but temporary at this point was alright too. Still though, she could dispose of my entire family in less than a minute, long before her wall of human sympathizers crumbled. Would zombies eat a vampire? Was she in any danger? I hoped so, but at the same time I wondered whether the living dead eating the undead might be taboo.
Several more humans went down before it began to dawn on them that they had better start defending themselves. The circle we were in nearly halved as they pulled in closer to each other and attempted to gain separation from their allies-turned-enemies.
"Clever Michael," Eliza said as she placed me down on legs that I did not think could support a stork. "Too bad it wasn't your idea but my brother's."
"Who?" My voice came out barely above a whisper. Even with that small amount of movement my jaw felt as if it had come unhinged. The croaking sound that came out could never be construed as a word, but Eliza understood my expression of amazement.
Her pitiless laugh grated through my nerves. "He didn't tell you? You are just the latest failed attempt in a long line of pathetic humans who have tried to stop me. I have killed each and every one of them, some in more creative ways than others perhaps. But in the end and in his own way, Tomas has brought all of those people to their untimely oblivion."
"Not true." I coughed out, clutching my throat and shaking my head. I looked over towards Tommy, whose head was bowed in guilt or angst. It was tough to tell from this distance.
"Ask him yourself."
Did that mean she was going to let me live, for now?
She turned from me. I felt like a mouse and the hawk had moved her gaze to other prey. The relief was that intense.
"This is my time, Tomas, all of mankind will bow before me." She thundered without raising her voice. Gunfire that had moments earlier seemed muted, raised to full volume like a crappy neighbor's stereo at midnight on a Tuesday. The cordon that protected us was rapidly breaking down. Death by zombie all of a sudden seemed an attractive proposition, although in retrospect, neither being eaten nor bled dry has much appeal.
The hairs on the back of my neck and arms began to rise as waves of power sizzled off of Eliza. Some zombies stopped in mid-chew, while others happily feasted on. She was fighting through the vaccination. Should I take a chance and try to deliver some form of death to her in this semi-incapacitated state? If I did and I succeeded that meant the zombie leash would come completely off. If I tried and failed, I might actually get to experience the sensation of being skinned alive. I imagine that she would start from my feet up thereby ensuring I stayed alive the longest while this torture was administered.
Third choice it was then, escape. That in itself was going to be a risky proposition. Eliza's guards had been halved by the zombies, but half of a shit load still left a crap load and I didn't think they'd just let us strut on out. I more or less made a beeline for my family who was huddled on a curb at the edge of the parking lot.
I looked to Tommy. "Is it true?" His silence spoke volumes. "We'll make time to talk about this later." Maybe.
"I've got a plan, Talbot." BT said softly, although why he was whispering was a mystery considering WWIII was happening all around us.
"Is it better than mine usually are?"
"Me going up to Eliza and asking her nicely if we could leave would be better than most of yours." BT retorted. He then glanced down quickly; he was standing on a storm drain.
"Are you kidding me?" I stage whispered.
"Tommy made sure that we would be in this general vicinity." Tracy said. She had heard the entire conversation between Eliza and myself and wanted to make sure that I remembered where my allegiances were.
"Can you get that thing up?" I asked BT.
"My leg is busted, not my arms. Close in around me."
We gathered into a tight group, which wasn't difficult considering we were almost in a Rugby scrum as it was.
No bad guys noticed, they were too busy elsewhere, as BT clanged the cover off to the side.
"In, in, in." BT said, grabbing Travis and dropping him down the hole.
Next, Justin handed Henry down to Travis, then helped his grandmother and Nicole down. He himself then followed, with Tommy clambering down after him.
"Tracy, go." I said as I saw her indecision.
"You're not going to do anything foolish are you?"
"Me?" I said innocently shaking my head. "Get in. You too, BT."
"Talbot?" BT asked skeptically.
"It's cool, get in, we're running out of time." The battle would end sooner rather than lat
er, and whichever side won, the Talbots & Co. would still lose. I had no intention of doing anything. This was one situation I wanted to be as far removed from as possible. I waited impatiently as BT wriggled his way through the narrow opening. I nearly stepped on his head in my haste to leave this place. I was halfway in the hole when Eliza's eyes locked onto mine. The pull of her was hypnotic. I wanted to be with her, to die miserably by her hand. My left foot came up a rung.
Distantly below me I heard BT exclaim, "What the hell are you doing Tommy, there's not enough room on this ladder for the both of us."
And then a moment later I felt Tommy's hand on my calf, warmth spreading from his touch. Eliza's hold was shattered. I flipped her the bird, and ducked out of sight. Her screech of rage could have broken glass.
CHAPTER TWENTY-FOUR - JOURNAL ENTRY 18 -
We were in the sewers for fifteen minutes before the sound of gunfire finally and mercifully stopped. But that wasn't technically a good thing. Either Eliza had wrested control over the zombies and now her minions were in hot pursuit, or the zombies had won out and they were in cold blooded pursuit.
"Wish I had my scooter," BT complained.
"Oh, you like it now," I puffed behind him. We had been keeping a pretty steady pace and it was wearing us all down.
"Not now, Talbot," BT said through clenched teeth. I could tell he was in immense pain and still I struggled to keep up with him.
"This reminds me of Bilbo."
"I KNOW you didn't just call me a dildo." BT said, pausing to look back over his shoulder.
"Do I look insane? Don't answer that. I meant Bilbo Baggins when he was under that Orc mountain to get that one ring. He thought he was going to be lost forever in those caverns."
"Comforting thought, Talbot. Any chance you could keep it to yourself?" my wife said from further up.
Justin's lighter was barely a flicker against the pressing darkness but when it flittered out the darkness became complete. I could almost imagine an army of orcs creeping up behind us. Was that worse than the alternative?
"Sorry." Justin said. "Burning the hell out of my fingers." We could hear him sucking on his burnt digits in an attempt to take the heat away. I kept thinking about where his fingers had been before he put them in his mouth. Old habits die hard.
"You better be careful with that lighter," BT said. Justin looked back questioningly. "That dog of yours has some super heated ass air and I've got a feeling its combustible."
"That's pretty funny BT, but all the same Justin you should heed his words. Alright let's take five. Everyone get as comfortable as you can, let's just catch our breaths." Superfluous words to say the least. Panting made conversation impossible. I walked back ten or so paces from the pack to get away from the extraneous noise and truly try to hear if anything besides sewer rats were behind us, although that kind of scared the shit out of me too.
I took deep breaths, waiting long pauses in between exhales, to have as little ambient noise around me as possible. What happened next was not something any of us were expecting. The ground began to vibrate. First it was as soft as a cat jumping off a chair and then it began to shake as violently as an elephant taking a spin on a trampoline.
"Talbot?" BT yelled out questioningly.
"Sounds like Eliza." I replied.
"What is she doing?" Carol asked. The break neck pace was having the most effect on her, she had been game so far but she wouldn't be able to do this much longer. Even the fear in her voice was muted.
"Sounds like she's leaving." Travis said with hope.
"It does at that." I added, not so hopefully.
"Mike." Carol started her question. "Why did the zombies attack those men? Shouldn't the pendants have prevented that?"
"Normally yeah, but I think it's clear now whose blood is in those vials, and when the shot interrupted her control, the pendants became decorative jewelry."
Carol absently fingered the pendant she wore, wondering if wearing the blood of one's enemy around her neck was even worth it now.
We rested a minute or two more before the slow, steady stench of zombies caught up to me. I looked back in the direction we had come. I couldn't see anything, but one doesn't need the sense of sight to know when zombies are getting too close. "Time to go," I said, catching back up to the group.
"Mike, we just sat down and my mother is exhausted," Tracy said irritably.
I didn't say anything. I didn't have to. The smell passed me on by and traveled up to the rest of the suddenly not-so-weary travelers.
"Are they under the control of Eliza?" Nicole asked.
"Does it matter?" Justin replied.
BT helped Carol up. "I'll help her BT, you get in the middle." Justin's lighter lit back up just in time for me to see the questioning glance on BT's face. "I don't trust you." I told him.
"What are you talking about, man?" BT asked.
"Oh I can see you doing some stupid heroic thing because you can't keep up and you're going to sacrifice yourself for the good of the many or some such crap."
"What? Do you think you have the market cornered on stupid heroic crap? I can pull off my own stupid moves you know."
"Can both of you please get your big inflated diva egos in gear?" Tracy said.
"She called you a diva." I said pointing to BT.
"Now I know why Paul and Alex went their own way." BT mumbled. "Who knew? I should have joined them." His muttered comments kept going long after we started anew.
Our pace had taken a significant downturn. The five minutes of rest had done us more harm than good. Lactic acid had enough time to build up in the dormant muscles. Carol and BT were both struggling. Carol, I could assist. Helping BT with anything short of a tow truck wasn't going to work.
Something was getting close. There was the occasional clatter of a bottle being kicked or the sound of a foot splashing into a puddle. There were no arcs of light from flashlights cutting through the tunnel. That was of small solace though. A bullet might be a kinder way to go. It was damn near impossible to tell how far we had come underground. Justin had kept us on a fairly straight course, just as I had told him to, but the disorienting combination of the darkness and the pressing walls made gauging distance difficult. Our direction had mostly been a southeastern route away from Lake Michigan. I figured we had to be nearing the outer edges of Camp Custer and that could possibly mean a dead end. I couldn't imagine any Commander worth his weight in salt allowing an open passage right under his feet. There would be bars across the tunnel soon and once we got to them it would be too late; we would have to backtrack to an alternate exit while hopefully avoiding our pursuers. With nothing more than our bare hands against an enemy that loved to bite, I was looking for an egress now.
"Justin, next junction we go up." I yelled.
"We out of the base?" He asked.
"Doubt it seriously, but close. We need a truck, guns, rest, food, shelter and maybe four or five other things."
"Got it."
CHAPTER TWENTY-FIVE - JOURNAL ENTRY 19 -
Within five minutes we were on terra firma as opposed to under it. There would eventually be eternity for that, just not yet. Camp Custer was in ruins. It looked like a set from a 1960's Godzilla movie. Buildings were smashed to rubble, fires blazed, cars and trucks were strewn about. You know the idiom: History always repeats itself. Camp Custer fell just like the legendary General. Who was the idiot that named this place? His first choice was probably Camp Alamo or Camp Pearl Harbor, maybe even Camp Waterloo. I would have gone with a name that didn't ultimately spell doom and destruction, but that's just me.
Sadness threatened to completely overwhelm our beleaguered band of travelers. We were all tired. Add in a heavy dose of depression, stir in a dash of death and you get a recipe that nobody wants to choke down. I had to keep telling myself this wasn't home, this had been merely a brief respite, a healing way station until we were able to get back on our feet both physically and mentally. Another two months or even a year or so
here would have been perfection but Tommy's sister had other ideas. That was another wrinkle I would have to deal with eventually; 'all good things to those who wait,' I thought sarcastically.
We hadn't moved very far at all from the manhole cover we had come up from when the stench of death wafted up; it wasn't too difficult to figure out what was down there. For the first time I was thankful it was zombies and not humans. Unless we had moved on to Zombies Version 3.0 they would not possess the motor skills necessary to climb the ladder, but it still made my skin crawl that they were that close. Apparently I wasn't the only one that shared that sentiment, as we all collectively and subconsciously moved farther away from our escape hole.
"Alright, we've got to find some wheels," I said, more to break the painful silence that had settled on us all than to relate any new information on our plan.
"Mike." Carol said as she sat down on some cinder blocks that had once held up a wall on what used to be a nail salon. "I need to rest."
I looked hard at her, not out of anger but only for concentration purposes. I was adverse to splitting up.
"I'll stay with her," BT said. It was part altruism and part necessity for BT. He wasn't in much better shape than Carol was. Pain exuded from every motion as he plopped down on his own makeshift resting spot.
This was sucking more and more. Those two couldn't outrun a crawling zombie and I was about to leave them to their own devices without any protection whatsoever. Their decisions were made. The best thing I could do for them was hurry up. Their concealment in this destroyed stretch of roadway was not by the book battle tactics but it would have to do.
