A Good Distance From Dying

by David Carroll

  “I don’t think that rigor will set in at all.” I said.

  “Agreed.” Jack said.

  “Why do you think that Charlie?” Said Sass.

  “Because they’re still making noise.”

  Everyone but Jack was looking at me with a look that said they thought I was an idiot.

  “Let me explain how rigor mortis works. It ties in the to the musculature system. Rigor starts around two to three hours after a person dies, and it completely locks them up around twelve to eighteen hours. After about two days the rigor will leave the body, and that is when decay will start. It works like this; there are two filaments that make your muscles move. The body uses something called ATP to force the two filaments to move the muscles. The body uses oxygen to create the ATP so once there is no oxygen in the body then there can be no movement and rigor will set in. These zombies we are dealing with can moan and yell like air raid sirens. You can’t speak without air. This tells me that these zombies are still sucking air down their throats. They may not need it to survive, but they are still doing it. This results in them making noise and it will also keep rigor from setting in.”

  “And no rigor means no decay.” Jack added.

  “Charlie?” Sass said. “Don’t take this the wrong way, but how do you know all that stuff about rigor mortis?”

  I waved him off, “I did a paper in high school about it. I used to listen to Iron Maiden all the time and wanted to know why Eddie didn’t ever lock up.”

  “Eddie?” Shawn asked.

  “He’s the dead looking guy on all of Maiden’s album covers.” Veronica said with a smile to me. Yes, my dear, your stock did just go up a few more points.

  “So, we have a couple of theories that both explain the burst of power as they cross over and the slowness that sets in directly afterwards. What happened to you after the experience with the fast zombie, Charlie?”

  “We saw another zombie come up to the door. He was slow. He started pounding on the door and his jaw fell off.” I started laughing remembering this and Shawn and Veronica started laughing as well.

  “Are you serious?” Shawn asked.

  “Yeah, it was like BANG! BANG! BANG! And pop, off went the jaw. Sass didn’t find it funny, but I almost wet myself I was laughing so hard. After that we decided we needed a different way out of the building we ran out the front after another zombie came after us. We got in Sass’s truck and left. Here’s the thing though. There was a whole group of them at the side door now. We figured that the sound of the jawless guy beating on the door had drawn the others over.”

  “I believe it was more than that Charlie.” Sass said. “I think they realized the reason he would be trying to beat his way into the building was because there was food inside.”

  “That would be bad.” Amanda said.

  “Yes.” Jack said. “That would be very bad news for us.”

  “Why would that be bad?” Shawn asked.

  “Because that would mean that on some fundamental level these things can reason. It may be something that will never develop further, but it is something that could make them even more dangerous than they are now.” Amanda said.

  “The brain is nothing but a big muscle. I’m sure you’ve all heard that before. Any muscle can grow as long as it is being exercised. If these zombies have reasoning skills now, no matter how small, it could be grown to a point where they’re able to figure out how to do any number of things.” Jack said.

  “It wouldn’t happen over night or even within the next decade, but eventually they may be able to think for themselves, and then we are going to be at a huge

  disadvantage.” Amanda said.

  “Okay, I see your point, but we are way off the grid with this one guys. Even you two have to see that.” I said.

  “Yes, this area is highly speculative but the same thing could be said for finding a zombie who is tamed by somebody singing rap music.” Jack said.

  I looked at him and he smiled at me as if to say, “Your move, me compadre.” I had no move to that one so all I could do was tip my head and say, “Touché.”

  Jack nodded back to me. “I will say that I do agree with you Charlie. Speculation into that area is a bit further down the road. A couple of zombies coming to bang on a door just because another one is already doing it is far from a decisive example of reasoning.” Jack said.

  “Well, since we are talking about the reasoning theory here I think I need to tell you about something that happened much later in the day. It made me start theorizing something along the line of intelligent zombies myself.” I said.

  “And what would that be?” Jack asked.

  “As we were leaving a farm house I stopped to watch some dead that were roaming around a signal fire. Some were walking around not even noticing the fire blazing away a few feet from them. Others were standing there looking into the flames as if they were mesmerized by them. Still others were walking right into the flames and burning up. It looked like they thought that they could catch the flames and by the time they realized that they couldn’t they were burning to death. This made me think that there had to be variances in the mental state, or capacity, of these zombies. If they were all the same then they would all react to the fire the same. The fact that their reactions varied meant the way their brains functioned also had to vary.”

  Jack was quiet again as he thought about what I had said.

  “I agree. What could cause this variance though? That is the question that we need to concern ourselves with. Like they used to sing on Saturday mornings, knowledge is power.”

  “It gets weirder.” I said. Jacks eyebrows rose again. “Please, continue.”

  “I got thinking earlier in the day about randomness of abilities. How some people are born with physical attributes that will allow them to make millions playing sports. Others are born with the type of intellect that will surely make them a lock for scholarships and jobs creating the next generation of technological breakthroughs. Then there are the prodigies. The alphas of a particular field. Either playing piano or painting or whatever. I had begun to wonder if there could be alphas in this new dead race as well. What if there were zombies that never ran out of speed or strength, zombies that are born with a higher intellect than the others. Maybe even an intellect that is as sharp as it was when they were alive. Then I began to think that if you gave any credit to the possibility that there could be alphas among the zombies then you would have to also accept the fact that there could be a zombie born with the alpha of both physical and mental traits. It would be incredibly rare but the odds would be there. There would have to be a chance.”

  Jack laughed, “And you said we were way out in left field. Charlie, that is a very scary thought to start considering. Alpha zombies? That would definitely be a game changer, wouldn’t it?”

  “Do you think what Charlie is talking about could be a reality?” Amanda asked Jack.

  “As much as I don’t want to say yes, I have to. We have already seen demonstrations in both physical and mental attributes that scale up or down the ability ladder. And the rap music guy, I still don’t know how that fits into all of this. But one thing is very easy to see. These zombies aren’t all the same. We can’t come up with a way of looking at them where one rule fits all.”

  “And we haven’t even started in on the kids yet.” Sass said.

  “No shit.” Shawn said.

  “What about the kids?” Jack asked.

  “From what I have experienced today I would have to say that the rules the adult zombies have to follow are completely thrown out the window when you start talking about the kids.” I said.

  “In what way?” Asked Jack.

  Sass began to laugh, “I would have to say in every way.”

  “Amen to that.” Said Shawn.

  “The kids seem to still possess the ability to think and reason. They also never seem to run out of the energy that the adults burn through. They never get any slower. We saw this first hand with t
he wild child pack on the interstate.” I said.

  “What is the wild child pack?”

  “It’s a group of seven or eight dead kids that are staying in their daycare bus on the side of the interstate. They wait for people to come by and then they run out and devour them. Why they didn’t come after us when they had the chance is still something I don’t understand.” I said.

  “Explain to me why you say they can think for themselves.” Jack said.

  I explained what happened when the other group had went into the woods by the side of the road and then what had happened after Judy had died. I explained that it seemed as if this pack of child zombies had a leader and a second in command as well. I told of how he had gone through the use of each of his senses in an attempt to pin point where we were and it was obvious that his switching from each one was a mental decision he was making. Also, the fact that the girl with the black ponytails had made the decision to wait before getting his attention. Jack looked horror struck as I told him this.

  “That’s not the worse part.” Sass said. “Tell him about the kid on the bridge Charlie.”

  “Yeah, this one is really freaky.” I said and Jack looked like he couldn’t take much more freaky zombie kid behavior before his brain would just shut down from the implications of it all. I told him about the kid in the RV and the nightmare air raid siren call for help he sent out when he couldn’t reach us.

  “He…called for help?” Jack said in a whisper.

  “Yes. The kids have some special abilities that make them much more dangerous than the adults.” I said.

  “Do you have any theories as to why the kids are so different?” Jack asked.

  “No. Nothing other than, they’re kids. I’m not sure how different their bodies are from adults, but there have to be some differences. Those differences, whatever they may be, could be our answer.” I said.

  “It could also be the infection itself that initiates the change. If this is a man made threat it could have been designed to react this way in children.” Amanda added. “I can see that.” Jack said.

  “I don’t really think I witnessed anything else today except for another something to add to the list of the fast movers.” I said to Jack.

  “What else do you have for us Charlie?” Jack said.

  “When Sass and I first got to the bridge we entered a building the sat just off the side of the road. What we found inside there was...noteworthy to say the least."

  "Oh God, that muscle bound thing." Sass said.

  "Yeah. This guy looked like a mountain of muscle. He was huge. He had also been infected. It seemed after he had permanently dealt with the zombies who had sentenced him to death, he locked himself in the store's restroom."

  "And when Charlie opened the door this guy came out like a pissed off Godzilla who just caught the first glimpse of Japan."

  “True. Who knows how long he had been locked away in that room, but when he saw us he ripped the restroom door off it's hinges and threatened to bring the whole building down as he came after us. He had all his speed and strength still. I don’t think the energy depletes on its own. I think that it stays stored in their bodies until they use it up.”

  “What are you saying? That a person who became a zombie today will have that burst of speed and strength six months from now if he’s closed up in a broom closet from now till then?” Veronica asked.

  “Yes. That is exactly what I’m saying.” I said.

  “Charlie man, that would be all kinds of bad for us survivors.” Shawn said.

  “It is nothing that can be listed as a definite, but it is nice to have that information in the back of our minds. Remember we are never safe. This conversation has shown us without question that these zombies are a threat that we aren’t even close to understanding.” Jack said.

  “So where do we stand then?” Shawn asked.

  “We have fast movers. We have evidence of mental and physical variations within the adult zombies. We also have child zombies that can run, think and call for help.” Jack said.

  “Don’t forget the rap guy.” Shawn said.

  “Oh yeah, and we have evidence that some zombies still love rap music. Honestly, I felt a lot more confident about surviving in this world before we sat down to have our little conversation.” Jack said.

  “Me too.” Sass said.

  “What’s the next step? What do we need to do now?” Veronica asked. Jack smiled and got to his feet.

  “Next, I would say, it is time for us to sweep Wal-Mart for any zombies we missed during Charlie’s concert.” He saw everyone look around and then begin to get up and grab their weapons.

  “No.” Jack said. “You aren’t going down there. Not this time.”

  “What do you mean we aren’t going down there?” I said.

  “Way to dangerous for you and for us. Amanda and I will be going down to do an isle by isle sweep of the store. We need eyes up top. We need you guys positioned around the store watching to see if there are any zombies coming our way.” Jack said.

  “That makes sense.” Sass said. “What’s your plan?”

  “We will pop a couple of skylights and one of you will be stationed at each one watching a section of the store. You see any movement at all call out on the radio. Amanda and I are good with guns and have been in these types of situations before so we will take the more dangerous part. We should be able to handle ourselves as long as we don’t get surrounded. That is your job. Don’t let us get surrounded. Watch your sectors and let us know everything you see.”

  “Not a problem Jack.” I said.

  “Good. Once we have swept the store I’m going to find one of the scissor lifts and load up tents, sleeping bags, and some food. Then we will set it all up and get some sleep. We will try to finish the store tomorrow and get everything that we will need for the foreseeable future either up top or in staging areas inside the store.”

  “It will be nice to get that tent set up and have a place to sleep for the night.” Sass said.

  “Yeah, feels like today has lasted a week.” Shawn said.

  Jack looked over to Amanda saying, “Let’s get this done and get our new homes built.”

  C H A P T E R F O R T Y

  Once, when I was just a kid, my mom decided that we were going camping for our summer vacation. I was in elementary school at the time, but even at that age I knew that I wasn’t built for what is known as roughing it. It was me, mom and her best friend whose name I can’t remember. We spent a week at this campground in Nashville.

  If you’ve never been camping let me give you the high points. You get there and the first thing you have to do is build your home. Building that nightmare of metal and fabric was a disaster. I remember at one point I walked down to the stream and brought back a river rock to pound the stakes into the ground. The directions had said that set up time would be fifteen to twenty minutes. An hour later, on attempt four, we had our tent constructed. However, it still wasn’t right. If a strong wind blew against the tent the far right corner would try to fly skyward. The fact that one corner of the structure was abandoning the ground while the other three corners remained set seemed to have a dramatic effect on the rest of the tent as it would threaten to completely collapse in upon itself. You may be wondering if we attempted to see where we went wrong and correct the problem. The answer would be no, we did not. We counted it a win that it was standing at all and I simply made a few trips back to the stream until I had enough rocks piled in the corner of the tent to keep it from trying to gain flight in heavy wind.

  All of this is just the first joy of camping. After you successfully build your temporary home, then the real fun begins. Now you have to clear yourself out a place to build your fire. Why do you have to do that? The answer is simple. Look up into the sky. Do you see that big yellow ball of fire that our planet spends its life revolving around? Yes, that is the sun. That is the only heater you have when you’re camping, and guess what? When its night and you really need th
at heater, it’s gone. This means you, like our cavemen ancestors, need fire. To achieve fire you must first clear out a ring on the ground and build a circle around the cleared area with rocks, hello stream again. Then you have to spend an hour collecting wood. All of this so you don’t freeze to death once the sun goes down.

  Are we having fun yet?

  You have spent the majority of the first day of your “vacation” working harder than you would have if you had stayed at home. You’re tired, no strike that, you’re worn out. All you want to do is fall down and get some sleep so hopefully you will be able to have some fun tomorrow, but when you lay down in your sleeping bag, in the tent which is being anchored to the ground by river rocks, you realize something truly awful. Lying there you find that you can feel every dip and rise in the ground below you. You can feel every tree root, every rock, every twig, and even every bug that is crawling under your tent. You can feel it all and you will continue to feel it the entire time you are out here enjoying “God’s country”.

  In my opinion, God can have it.

  And speaking of the bugs. They crawl in your tent. They spend the evening feasting on your blood as you sit around the fire. The light of your fire is drawing all the bugs to you like a lighthouse in a bad storm. It’s hell. Camping is hell. Now and forever that will be my belief. Now I find myself facing the reality that my new home is a tent on top of Wal-Mart. Due to the untimely arrival of the dead I am to be forced to camp out for the rest of my life. Maybe I did die when that wall fell on me back at the factory. Maybe I’m dead and I didn’t go to heaven as previously anticipated. Maybe Jack is really the big red rocker and he is forcing my damnation down my throat as he quietly chuckles to himself about my outright hatred towards anything that makes me sleep outside.

  “Dammit!” A voice cried out from my left. “I can’t do this! This right here is why I quit Boy Scouts! I hate these things!” Shawn was losing it. Right before he had spoke I had heard a soft “Thwong” as his tent pole had somehow found its way to freedom and had shot skyward. This was about the fifth time it had done so.