by TW Brown
Looking over my shoulder at everybody, I took in a few observations. I hadn’t had a lot of time to just sit and think in I couldn’t recall how long. Sunshine and Jon were sitting on the wooden bench by the window where the outside thermometer could be seen. All I cared about was that it was obviously cold enough to snow. I didn’t need a thermometer…I could just look and know.
My gaze lingered on the pair. Sunshine was leaning in close as the two were immersed in conversation. I could see her left hand keep drifting over to Jon, brushing his. As for Jon, his gaze never left Sunshine’s face. His chin rested in his hand and he simply stared.
The world was freezing and love still blooms. I was happy for them, I really was. Having Melissa meant always having a reason to survive. Once more, I was amazed at how much I’d gained as the world came to an end.
I looked back outside just as something dark shot past. My mind did a quick check; Fiona was up in the tower on watch. She was one that I never had to worry about when it came to falling asleep on duty. So if it wasn’t her, then who?
“Daddy!” Thalia came bounding into the room all excited with Emily on her heels. “Can we go out on our sleds now?”
“Sweetie, not now,” I said as I climbed to my feet. “Jon, get Jake, Jesus and Brad.”
“But, Jamie is outside…he can watch us,” Emily insisted.
“What!” Every head popped up almost in unison.
“Jamie went outside,” Emily repeated with a bit of trepidation.
Climbing to my feet, I headed to the front door. That obviously explained what had just shot past my window. The only reason I reached the porch first was because I was closest. In seconds I was joined on the porch by Jon, Sunshine, DeAngelo, and Billy. It wasn’t hard to spot Jamie. He was dressed in jeans and a dark blue pullover sweatshirt.
“What the heck is he doing?” Billy asked.
“Go get your gear on, kid” Jon ordered. Billy nodded and went back inside without a question.
“You think bringing him is the best choice?” I asked after Billy was inside.
“Jamie isn’t planning on coming back,” Jon said grimly. “The only chance of talking him in is to bring one of his friends.”
“He headed down the trail towards the camp sites,” Sunshine offered. “Why go there instead of up the road or just out into the woods?”
I thought about it for a second. An idea came. I admit it was a stretch, but it was worth a shot.
“I’m coming with you,” I insisted.
“You think that is a good idea?” Jon asked, his gaze going to my bad leg.
“Not entirely,” I admitted. “However, I’ve known the kid longest with the exception of Billy, and I knew Teresa…spoke to her at the end. Maybe I can talk him down from the ledge.”
“If Dr. Zahn asks, I’m telling her I advised you against it,” Jon quipped.
“Tattletale,” I sniped back.
The twenty minutes that it took us to get on our gear seemed like hours. By then I had fended off Melissa and Dr. Zahn. They both called me a variety of synonyms for “idiot” as I slipped my feet into my boots.
“Do you understand that your leg still has substantial healing left?” Dr. Zahn scolded. “I didn’t fix you so that you could wander out and break it again.”
“I was with her at the end, Doc,” I said. “I was also with him when he thought he was infected and about to die. It was me who he came to when he wanted to be put down. I just think I should be the one there when we find him to tell him why he needs to come back. Plus…I owe that much to Teresa. She wanted me to keep an eye on him after she died and that is what I intend to do.”
“Going out and getting yourself killed in this weather doesn’t do anybody any good,” Melissa launched another argument when the pleading and name calling obviously hadn’t helped. “Just like your argument about doing what is right to take care of Thalia and Emily if it came to it…how can you go out in that and risk your life, Jon’s and Billy’s?”
“We are going out into the snow…not into a horde of zombies,” I countered.
“Both kill you just as dead,” Dr. Zahn shot back. I hate being double-teamed.
“Yes, but the difference is that if the weather becomes too dangerous, we can head back.”
“The question is will you,” Melissa said without missing a beat. “You are the type who will keep telling yourself that it is just a bit farther. There comes a time where you pass the point of no return.”
“Jon and Billy will be with me,” I reminded.
“And Jon might be the only person worse than you at admitting defeat,” Melissa retorted. “As for Billy…that is the last of his childhood friends out there. You don’t think he will go until it is too late to come back?”
I had to admit that all of her points were good ones. Once we got outside that door, we were outside of the only place even moderately safe for the time being. The snow was bad enough that we had lost sight of Jamie before he even reached the tree line.
We were risking three lives to save one. At what point did that stop being acceptable? When did the time come when we could allow one of ours to die? I remember watching movies like Saving Private Ryan way back when and asking myself if there was really justification in saving one person at the risk of several. I held to the belief that the only person who ever got it right in the movies was Spock. That whole “needs of the few” thing always seemed a much smarter recourse. Now I understood. It wasn’t logic at all…it was being human. If we let that part of us die, were we any better than the zombie?
I made sure to kiss Thalia and Emily and tell them that I would hurry back. I was met at the door by Melissa and Dr. Zahn, who both had stern looks on their faces.
“I understand why we need to try,” Melissa said. “What I don’t understand is why it has to be you.”
“We’ve been through a lot over the past few months,” I said. I know it wasn’t much of an answer, but it was the best I could offer. I kissed her and stepped outside into the wind, the snow…and the cold.
“His tracks will be easy to follow,” Jon said. I noticed that he had to practically yell to be heard above the wind.
I looked around and took in our surroundings. At some point, I had decided that this would be a good spot to dig in. I realized now that there were probably better locations not nearly as high up in altitude. There was nothing to be done about it at the present. I certainly couldn’t uproot everybody and move them just as winter was revving up.
I followed Jon down the stairs and into the white. It didn’t take long for the pain to ramp up, but I’d be damned if I was going to show it. Billy was behind me, and a couple of times, I felt his hand on my back to keep me from falling.
“He started slowing down,” Jon called over his shoulder. “The tracks have changed. It looks like he started bogging down right around here.”
We continued walking and I stopped being able to feel my hands or feet after a while. My nose felt like it would shatter if I touched it.
Then we ran into our first zombie.
Jon stopped and I ran right into his back. I guess that, at some point, I had dropped my head and simply followed in his footsteps.
“Company,” was all he said.
I looked up and saw it. For the first time, I wasn’t really worried by the appearance of a zombie. This thing was having a hell of a time. It had slid down a sheer slope that took it to the creek. Every time it tried to stand and take a step forward, it lost its footing and ended up on its ass in the water. I could see ice already crusting its matted hair. Our arrival had sent it into a tizzy and it was desperately trying to get up and climb the hill.
Billy stepped forward and drew a blade, but Jon stopped him. “That thing ain’t getting up that incline,” Jon said. “You kill it and it is likely to still be here in the spring. Leave it be. It’ll eventually move on.”
Billy shrugged and we continued on our trek. Sure enough, Jamie was taking us to the camp site that he ha
d gone to when we thought I was going to have to kill him. We slogged up a small hill and passed the vague entrances to a few more sites until we finally reached the one where we found Jamie. He was sitting against a tree with his head down. There was enough snow on him that I was pretty sure we were too late.
“Jamie!” Billy called and pushed past me to his friend.
At first there was no response as Billy shook and then slapped the young man. Jon and I drew near, but neither would interfere. My only concern was that, if he died, having already been bitten, we knew that he would come back as one of them. It didn’t matter that the bite itself didn’t kill him. Immunity only meant that the bite would not do him in at the moment. Once you were bit, I guess it was in your system and when you finally died, you turned.
Jamie looked up, and that is when I realized that I must have been holding my breath, because it came out in a whoosh. His eyes were normal—bloodshot and swollen, but very normal.
“W-w-why can’t you leave me be?” Jamie managed through chattering teeth.
“You can’t do this,” Billy said, kneeling in front of Jamie and pulling a coat out of the small pack he was carrying. “You can’t just quit on me like this.”
“I can’t do it anymore,” Jamie insisted.
“You can’t quit!” Billy shot back. “We’ve been through too much shit for you to just do…this!”
“Billy…” Jamie’s voice broke, and a sob was all he could manage.
“No!” Billy yelled in his friend’s face. “I lost Aaron, and Joseph. I’ll be damned if I will lose you, too. You were there that night. Remember when I lost my mom? That thing pulled her right through the window of the car. We were all in the back…and saw that monster rip my mother open and start eating.
”When we were climbing out of the car and she sat up…I was ready to just quit. I would have let her get me because I didn’t want to run…not without my mom.”
Billy was on his knees in the snow by now. Tears were streaming down his cheeks and I almost wanted to move away in order to give the two some privacy. I felt like I was seeing something too personal for an audience.
“She did everything for us all those years after my dad split. And she was there, reaching out for me with that crying noise coming out of her mouth. You made me run. Remember? You told me she would want me to live, and every single zombie that I killed from that day on would be for my mom.
“When we got ambushed in that town during the supply run…when I got separated from the group? All I could think of was that I had to survive to kill more of those things for my mom…because you told me to.”
“It’s not the same,” Jamie protested. “I just don’t have anything left inside.”
“So you can go out into the woods and die?” Billy’s voice grew angry now. “That’s a bunch of crap! We grew up together…my mom was the one who took you to the doctor when you fell out of the tree in my back yard and broke your arm. It was me you stayed with when your sister and brother were born…and it was my mom who came and got us when your family was outside the door trying to eat us! You think I wasn’t broken inside when my mom died…after saving us?”
“But…” Jamie tried to protest but Billy wasn’t in the mood to listen.
“No! You do not get to say that some girl we met when the world was coming to an end means more than my mom!”
The two boys stared at each other. Both of them were crying now and from that point, I couldn’t hear any more of what was being said as they went forehead-to-forehead and started whispering…or at least not talking loud enough for me or Jon to be able to hear.
I limped over to Jon. He was watching back the way we’d come. I immediately went on my guard. Had that zombie we left by the creek managed to climb up? Was he coming to break up the big emotional moment taking place?
“What’s wrong?” I whispered. My gaze alternated between the two boys and back up the trail.
“Thought I heard something,” Jon said.
I tried to block out the conversation coming from behind me and focus on whatever it was that had Jon’s hackles up. As much as I strained…I didn’t hear a damn think except for the wind in the trees. Behind me, I could hear Billy and Jamie still talking in hushed tones. Other than that, I wasn’t hearing anyth—
“Please help me!” the voice cried.
Then I heard something else…like a chainsaw or something with a small engine that revved high. My brain was about to provide the answer when the girl came crashing through the trees. She was on skis and until her face hit the low branch, she seemed to be doing quite well. Behind her was a heavily bundled figure on a snowmobile.
I grabbed the heavy machete from where it hung on my belt and cursed not having a gun. The girl on skis tried to get to her feet, but was struggling. The person on the snowmobile did a pretty amazing power slide and raced back to the downed skier. Neither of them noticed us yet, and we really couldn’t do a thing to help the skier from so far away. I was prepared for the worst.
“Grab hold!” the person on the snowmobile shouted and tossed a knotted rope.
I was so relieved that they were obviously a team that it took me a second or two to realize that if they weren’t chasing each other…that meant something else was on their heels. When I saw them, I felt something twist in my stomach. An image of my beloved Basset Hound, Pluck, his insides dragging behind him, was the only thing that could match my horror. Despite all I had seen up to this point, this new horror topped them.
I have no idea what could have taken down the entire pack of wolves, but there they were. I guess dogs and wolves were related close enough so that these now-hideous creatures suffered the same fate of their domesticated brethren.
I counted eleven dark forms moving through the trees. The one in the lead was coated in crimson ice and snow. Fresh blood—I only knew it was fresh because it was still very red—stained the clumps of snow clinging to its fur and when it turned its head my direction, a few dark drops fell from its muzzle. The rest were spreading out in a semi-circle around the fallen skier and the person on the snowmobile trying to save his friend. (I knew it was a male because I’d heard the voice.)
The leader of the undead wolf pack seemed to regard us from a distance for a moment before returning its attention to the closer potential meal. One thing I learned right then was that a slow zombie-wolf is faster than a healthy human. It moved in for the kill and I knew without a doubt that the people were goners.
“Hey!” Bolting past me, Jamie began yelling, waving his arms. Billy was right on his heels.
The wolves stopped and turned their terrible heads our direction. Proving that all zombies are equally stupid, they stopped feet away from the cowering couple who looked like they had resigned themselves to dying together and turned to this new sound. That was also the first time that the couple became aware that they weren’t alone in the woods.
I looked at Jon who shrugged, shook his head and pulled a spear free to meet the oncoming threat. I set my feet and readied myself for the pair that had chosen to veer away from the leader.
I had a few seconds to watch as Jamie met the leading wolf in a clearing between a pair of pines. Since I hadn’t recalled him having any weapons, I assumed Billy had given over one of his. It was an aluminum baseball bat, and his first swing connected with a metallic ting. The wolf flew to the left, but the second one was on him before he could come back around with a follow-through. Jamie vanished in the snow and all I could see was the ridge of the front haunches of his attacker peeking above the white.
Then mine were on me. I judged which one would attack first and stepped into it with an overhead cleave that shattered skull and muzzle. As luck would have it, the blade was wedged in tight and came free from my grip. I barely had enough time to get my knife free of its sheath when the second one lunged and got a mouthful of my jeans. I was fortunate that I pulled away when I did because a wolf’s teeth are much sharper than a human’s and the material tore leaving my
lower left leg exposed.
I brought my knife in from the side and it skidded across the crown of the creature’s head doing no substantial damage whatsoever. I felt a surge of fear that almost paralyzed me. My bladder let go and my only cognizant thought was how warm my crotch felt for that split second. Teeth came down hard on my arm and I felt the obscenely strong grip lock down just above the wrist where something popped. I lucked out in that my free hand was the one with the knife. I drove the blade down with all my strength and was relieved that zombie wolves shut down just as fast as their human counterparts. I took a second to ensure my leather jacket hadn’t ripped. My left wrist was probably hurt, and when this adrenaline wore off, I was certain the pain would be harsh, but for now I was thankful there were no tears in the material.
I looked around to see Billy stepping away from a dark lump. Jon was moving in a circle as he faced a pair and that determined where my help was needed most. I did have a second to appreciate that the snowmobile rider had dismounted and was standing over the skier. Two wolves looked to be dead, and two more were trying to figure out how to get past the honest-to-goodness sword he was waving in their faces. I saw no sign of Jamie, but I did see two wolves that looked like they were worrying at something in the snow where Jamie had gone down.
“They won’t get close enough for me to hit ‘em!” Jon yelled. As I drew closer, I watched as first one, then the other, made little feints but then drew back. I hadn’t seen anything like this in a human zombie. I had to wonder if this was due to some sort of animal instinct. If people did certain things out of some sort of lingering memory, then perhaps these wolves were still acting on theirs.
Once I had closed to within a few yards, I called out,” Here, boy!” (Hey…what else was I gonna say?) I froze when both heads turned my direction. Now all I could feel was the cold snow on my exposed leg and I just knew that the wolves were gonna go for that. What the hell had I been thinking?
Thankfully, Jon was a man who had the instincts of a fighter. He came in fast with his spear and plunged it into the wolf that was closest to me. He pulled back and thrust as the second wolf was now turning back once more to its original target. That actually caused Jon to miss his mark, and the spear plunged in and through the creature’s neck.
