by L. A. Boruff
Ty didn’t hesitate to leave the garage the moment all of us were safely inside. I was sitting on Zeke’s lap with his arms tightly around my body after he buckled the seatbelt around us. Ty insisted we put them on in case the ride got bumpy. It wasn’t a silly request after the last couple of hours. Who knew what we would find as we left the garage and the city?
The truck merged slowly onto Broad St. as the fireworks display seemed to reach the grand finale. Booms lit up the sky in a quick succession as burst after burst of bright lights exploded into the dark night. Smoke limited visibility but I didn’t suggest the flood lights. Attracting extra attention was a stupid choice. Luck fortuned the brave and fearless so Ty’s decision to pick up speed during the finale was one I understood. The added noise should make our passage virtually undetectable by comparison. He pressed down hard over the gas pedal as we crossed the next road and headed toward the interstate.
The center of town resembled a war zone. Bodies were strewn along the ground, some still twitching. More people must have had the same idea about escape because several cars were also fleeing the area while others were parked with the doors wide open. Corpses hung half out of their seats as their unseeing eyes stared up at the distant stars. Some of the zombies were yanking people to the ground and feasting on their flesh. Screams joined the blasts and booms of the patriotic music that blared throughout the city.
I’d forgotten how music always accompanied the light show each year. We didn’t hear it clearly in the garage but now the melodies seemed to echo with a morbid cruelty that made my hands clench tighter around Zeke’s shoulders. Torn and eviscerated bodies covered the ground as more of the horde moved through the crowded streets and into the Scioto River. Unfortunately, that was also the same place the fireworks originated and anyone within the vicinity was overrun.
“We have to get through this mess, Zeke.”
“Ty,” he gulped, “we’re too close to the epicenter. It’s like ground fucken zero, man.”
Ty’s expression was determined, and I knew he would drive right over the dead and the undead if needed. He clenched his teeth and nodded. Anticipating his next move, I curled around Zeke tighter as he warned, “this is gonna get bumpy.”
Ty turned the wheel slightly and drove up on the sidewalk with a grim shrug, beginning to plow through anyone in our way. I watched with macabre fascination at the vast amount of people that were now among these unlucky cannibals. The number seemed to multiply by the minute. Snarls and groans joined the jerky and twisted movements of the swarming mass of bodies. There were so many of them.
“We’re never going to make it,” I whispered with horror, frightened when dozens of hands reached for the glass and exterior of the truck. Ty pushed the gas pedal to the ground and began mowing them over as the tires climbed over the uneven ground. The engine roared with the extra effort and we bounced up and down in our seats as both Zeke and Ty cursed periodically.
“This is insanity,” Zeke blurted as dark blood splattered the truck and some of the monsters managed to climb on the hood. We couldn’t move faster. The horde was too thick. If we didn’t do something soon, we’d all end up dead because we’d never leave downtown.
Ty gestured to the backseat. “I have a few flares. Maybe you could slide the back window open enough to throw a few out and distract some of them.”
Zeke grinned and unbuckled the seatbelt as he pushed me down to the floorboards. “Stay here, babe. I’ve got my own fireworks to light up.” He rummaged around in the backseat until he emerged with a few flares and the gun as well as a few extra sticks of something red. It didn’t occur to me what they were at the time. I completely forgot Ty worked construction and led his own crew.
The back window slid across as Zeke loaded a flare into the pistol.
“Don’t forget you’re not supposed to look at the damn thing after you fire. Don’t need sparks and residual hot material burning your eyes out.”
Zeke snorted with Ty’s warning. “I know what I’m doing.” He cleared his throat. “I don’t think we’re downwind enough.”
“Just aim high but you’re gonna have to extend your arm and that’s gonna leave you vulnerable to all of these crazy fuckers.”
“Shit,” Zeke cursed. “Can you drive any faster?”
“Would we be moving this slow if that was possible?”
The two brothers eyed one another with a combination of irritation and mild amusement.
“Just fire the damn flare,” I intervened, knowing how the two of them could get in a pissing contest over nothing but testosterone. “Please,” I added as a hand smacked the window above my head and I jumped.
Zeke stuck his arm out of the window and aimed up at the sky, pulling the trigger as the flare left the gun and soared up into the sky where it exploded into a bright orange eruption. The noise and light helped to distract some but not all of the bodies pushing in at all angles and sides of the truck. Zeke shot off one more, but they didn’t seem as interested. Something sparked in his hand and Ty shouted, cursing as Zeke laughed. I didn’t realize what was happening until I saw the object launch through the air and land against the side of one of the buildings behind us as Ty muttered under his breath.
“Holy fuck!” Zeke exclaimed as the stick of dynamite hit the brick and detonated, blowing a wide crater into the side of the façade. The combustion was louder than the boom of the fireworks from minutes ago and multiplied by at least ten. Shuffling feet moved away from our position and toward the source of all the new noises as the building began to crumble.
“Are you crazy?” I screamed as the truck rocked a bit on the road and continued its uneven pitch forward.
“That was brilliantly idiotic,” Ty admitted as the crowd began to disperse and the horde moved toward the remnants of the explosion quicker than any of us expected. “We’re lucky you didn’t kill us all.”
“We weren’t that close,” Zeke argued. “I knew the building was far enough away to be safe. I’d never chance hurting Nat.”
“Yeah, well, don’t do anything that impulsive again.” I stared Zeke down as he chuckled and pulled me back into his lap after he shut the window. “We’re free of the crowd now. That’s all that matters.”
“Not quite. We’ve got another problem,” Ty observed, his voice deep and unsettling, “we’re almost out of gas.”
8
Zeke
“No problem,” I answered quickly. “We stop for gas. So what? We get out of downtown and it shouldn’t be so bad. I doubt we’ll run into trouble.”
“Yeah,” my brother snorted, “sure.”
I ignored his sarcasm as I leaned down and pressed a kiss on top of Nat’s head. At least we weren’t bouncing as hard as before. The underside of this truck and the body would be dented and covered in mangled body parts and blood, but the vehicle was holding up well. Maybe Ty hadn’t thought of how his baby was being mistreated right now. He spent a lot of money for the extra enhancements and I was grateful we would reap the benefits.
We drove about five minutes before Ty turned onto one of the gas stations off Fifth Ave. We were far closer to downtown than I preferred but I still clung to the idea that the majority of the chaos had been centered around the holiday festivities. Ty pulled up to the pumps and parked. We all stared out of the windows, but nothing was there. Not even other drivers or cars, at least not pumping gas.
Ty and I exited the vehicle at the same time as we cautiously scanned the area. It was eerily quiet. The loud noises from downtown were barely audible. A couple of cars were parked around the lot of the Turkey Hill gas station as we exchanged a look. Ty ticked his head toward Natalie, and I nodded.
“Hey babe, why don’t you stay here? We won’t be long.”
She bit her lip as her eyes scanned the area and I could see the uncertainty in her eyes. “You sure?”
“Yeah, lock the doors. We’ll be back in a few minutes. Okay?”
She hugged my torso tight and then hopped in the truc
k, slamming down the lock as she hunched down in the seat.
Ty snatched the bat from the backseat as he shut the door and we both moved cautiously forward. A couple of cars were parked out front of the entrance but as I looked inside, I didn’t see anyone walking around. No clerk was at the front register either.
“Any particular reason why you don’t want to just pay at the pump and get the fuck out of here?” I asked, slightly on edge.
“We need to know, Zeke.”
He didn’t say more, and I sighed. He was right. “What the hell do we call these things?”
Ty arched a brow as if he thought I was crazy. “Zombie? Walker? Infected? Who knows what the fuck the correct term is? They’re nasty fuckers and they eat human flesh. Maybe brains, too. It’s not like they have a human side anymore. Remember that.” He gripped the bat tighter as we stood outside the front glass doors. “As far as I’m concerned, they’re undead.”
“I knew you’d have a big long-winded response like that.”
“Fuck off, little brother.”
I shot him a wide smile before opening the door on the left. “After you, princess.”
Ty huffed but entered first as I knew he would. I shut the door without any noise and was thankful no bell dinged to announce our arrival. Rows of shelving were stocked with snacks and typical mini mart supplies. I picked up a basket and shrugged, gesturing to the empty store. “We don’t know what’s going to happen now. I’m stocking us up on essentials.”
Ty frowned but agreed as he began to walk the aisles, his bat firmly clenched in his hands. Alert and ready for a confrontation, he was far smarter than my dumb ass. I began tossing items like beef jerky, trail mix, chocolate, and granola bars into my basket. Once it was full, I grabbed another and stocked it full of drinks. Out of necessity I grabbed as much beer as I could. If the world was going to shit, I needed alcohol. That was a given.
I’d done a mental calculation the whole time and figured we spent about $200 with our haul. Ty slapped a couple of bills on the counter as he walked the perimeter of the store. No one had greeted us or walked in from the back. There was no doubt the place was deserted. That fact alone should have made us more cautious, but we quickly gathered up our stuff and headed back to the truck.
Nat rolled her eyes but didn’t say anything about our shopping trip as I loaded everything into the backseat. I only had the beer left to grab. “Why don’t you start filling up the tank while I grab the rest of the beer? I’m starting to feel like someone is watching us or some shit.”
Ty nodded as his nervous gaze scanned the lot. I ran back to the store and scooped up the beer, my heart hammering in my chest the whole time. On the way out I noticed the big package of toilet paper and snatched it, too. Just in case. Maybe Natalie would get a good laugh out of that.
Her eyes were closed when I opened the door and stashed the goods. I shut it again quietly as I turned to my brother. “Do you think we should fill the gas can, too?”
“Yeah, why not? I already swiped my card. Couldn’t hurt to have a backup.”
He paused filling the tank and stuck the nozzle into the top of the can, the dumping liquid chugging into the container with zeal. My eyes kept silent vigil on the property and I half expected someone to shout at us at any moment. He handed me the full can when he finished, and I twisted the cap on before placing it in the back of the truck. He actually had two cans and we ended up filling both in the awkward silence.
Ty inserted the nozzle back into his truck’s port and was almost done filling the large thirty-one-gallon tank when a noise startled us. A dull roar followed by the sound of something shattering off to my right like broken glass. I spun as the undead body of a large middle-aged man with a rounded gut waddled in our direction and gnashed his teeth together. Something about his distended belly didn’t look right. Blue spidery veins stuck out against his skin as the t-shirt he wore was slashed and ripped open in multiple spots.
“Fuck!” Ty yelled as he picked up the bat and prepared to stand his ground.
I yanked the nozzle from the truck’s tank and placed it back while spinning the gas cap back on all in the time it took Natalie to shout my name and Ty to yell for me to get inside the truck. I wasn’t leaving him alone. “Fuck that! Let’s go!”
Normally I thought of my brother as a highly intelligent person but not today. He ran forward and hit that overweight motherfucker directly in the middle of his stomach. I didn’t know what Ty thought was going to happen. Maybe he was under the impression the man would just fall down.
Nope. Didn’t happen.
The overextended belly popped like a fucken balloon and knocked my brother backward into the side of the pumps with the force. Ty struggled to stand as the man’s stomach leaked and oozed a foul-smelling putrid liquid that was an odd mixture of yellow and green. I nearly hurled at the stench but bent down and tugged on my brother as he stood. We raced to the truck as Natalie screamed.
Directly in front of us were at least a half dozen more undead, their arms extended as their hands reached in our direction. Blood draped most of the bodies as limbs dragged or shuffled our way in anticipation of a meal. We barely made it to the driver’s side as the two of us jumped into the truck.
Ty started the engine as Nat bumped the knob on the radio and loud music blared through the speakers. Metallica’s For Whom the Bell Tolls filled the cab as heavy guitars and James Hetfield’s deep voice belted the lyrics, “take a look to the sky just before you die. It’s the last time you will.” Bells chimed in the background and joined the fading booms of fireworks across the city. The hauntingly prophetic tone and darkly sinister words sent a chill down my spine.
We didn’t look back as Ty revved the engine and the tires squealed on the pavement. I thought I heard the sound of maniacal laughter and shook my head at the ludicrousness of that thought. Once we were back on the road I sank back against the seat and met Natalie’s smirk as her eyes landed on the huge twelve count double roll package of toilet paper. Ty met my gaze in the rearview mirror.
For two or three ironically charged seconds the three of us just stared at one another until the silence was broken by our slightly psychotic bursts of relieved laughter.
Time marches on, for whom the bell tolls . . . yeah, nature had a sick sense of humor.
“Fuck! That was close,” Ty observed. “I just want to go home and forget this day ever began.”
I held onto Natalie tighter as she sighed softly and joined me in the backseat. “Home as we know it will never be the same.”
Shit. She was right.
9
Ty
“I’m suddenly exhausted,” Zeke murmured as Natalie pushed him down in the seat.
“Here, use the toilet paper as a pillow.” A few giggles escaped her lips.
“You’re laughing now but we’re gonna need this later,” he cautioned. “I just need to shut my eyes for ten minutes while we drive to our place.”
“Go ahead,” I added. “Never know what we’ll find when we arrive.”
The interstate was fairly empty, but an occasional car would pass by as we drove toward Westerville. I was fighting fatigue myself. The adrenaline rush had now left my body and all of us were ready for a few hours of rest. Being the oldest meant I was going to take the first watch and since I was driving it made sense to let Zeke recharge.
Natalie climbed up front with me and buckled herself into the seat as her gaze shifted in my direction. By the look on her face I already knew she wanted to talk about Tara. “I’m sorry.”
Sighing, I felt my chest tighten for a moment as I fought to keep my emotions under control. Tara had meant much more to me than I had led on. Our relationship had progressed quickly, and we were ready to officially call ourselves a couple. We’d planned on telling Zeke and Natalie tonight. I still couldn’t believe that she was gone.
“What happened?” I finally asked, ignoring the sudden pain in my chest. I wasn’t sure why I felt such emotion. I didn’
t love Tara, but I had cared for her deeply. We might have been something more but now I’d never get the chance to find out. Maybe that was sorrow that filled my chest. The missed opportunity and the bitter sense of regret.
“She was bitten,” Natalie choked out. “I don’t know what happened exactly. She was alright one minute . . . and the next she wasn’t. She almost killed me, Ty.”
Shit.
Now I felt worse.
“Hey, Nat,” I gulped and reached over to squeeze her hand. “I don’t blame you and you sure as hell shouldn’t blame yourself. It’s just fucked up. That’s all. No one is at fault.”
“I highly doubt that.” She shook her head. “Someone messed with the bottled water distribution in the Columbus area. People are responsible out there for what happened tonight. They have to pay for what they’ve done.”
“I agree with you,” I replied carefully, “but you know it’s impossible now, right? The fucking zombie apocalypse has been unleashed. Nothing is going to be the same ever again.”
Natalie squeezed my hand in return and released it. “Tara cared deeply for you. I’m not sure what you had going on, but she was excited to see you tonight. For what it’s worth, she spent her last hours with you on her mind.”
My fingers gripped my steering wheel so tightly they turned white. I wish she hadn’t told me that. I didn’t know how to process those words. The loss gutted me, and I felt almost queasy.
“We’re nearly to your townhouse.”
Nat didn’t mind my change of subject. She patted my shoulder with understanding and reached back to grab my brother’s crotch before tapping him on the leg. “Wake up, babe. We’re almost home.”
He jerked awake and grinned as I resisted the urge to roll my eyes. The two of them were nauseatingly adorable but I did love Natalie like a sister. She was good for Zeke. He’d matured a lot since they met, and he was ready for the next step in his life. Eyeing the big rock on her finger I knew they’d find their happiness even with the craziness that happened tonight.
