Valley of Death, Zombie Trailer Park

by William Bebb

The squealing and grinding of metal on metal coming from the truck's bumper continued as they inched forward and pushed the burned out police car further under the bus and out of the road.

  Billy looked back out the rear window while Maria was still silently praying and holding her Crucifix tightly. The big silvery sewage tank made it hard to see much. The boy finally stood up on the seat and leaned over behind Josey until his grandfather's trailer was visible. “Some of them are coming after us, we gotta go. We gotta go, now,” Billy said, as he stared back at his grandfather’s trailer lying on its side surrounded by nearly all the undead.

  There couldn't have been more than a few dozen, but to Billy it looked like hundreds. They were all pushing, scratching, and beating on the walls and windows, trying to get inside his grandpa's trailer.

  Boris whined and stood on Maria's lap as she continued to pray.

  When the trailer exploded pieces of metal, furniture, undead men, and torn chunks of bodies were blown out in all directions for hundreds of feet. The liquid propane tank had been filled only a week earlier and the explosion disintegrated the trailer entirely.

  Billy was blinded by the flash and yelped in surprise. He leaned against Maria and Boris, crying as debris started to rain down from the sky.

  A badly deteriorated, gray colored, severed foot wearing a brown leather sandal landed on the hood of the truck, where it sat like the ugliest hood ornament ever imagined.

  “Just a little more,” Josey grunted as the truck inched past the last of the bus. He had to ride the edge of the road to get by and the tires slid toward the drop off. “Come on, you son of a bitch! Go, go, go!” he shouted while stomping the gas pedal to the floor.

  The truck tilted more for several nerve wracking seconds and the shuddering silver tank on the back of the truck made loud ominous creaking noises before the tires finally found enough traction to let them continue up the road. The truck passed the last of the wreck and slowly climbed the hill.

  The small group of pursuers, included Sazera and Shoemaker who were closing in on the slowly escaping truck. Several other Screamers followed by a Dead Heads ran through the smoldering remains of the fire and followed the two former ICE agents.

  The truck moved slowly up the hill and almost reached the first turn back when the engine knocked and backfired loudly.

  “No, no, don't you stop. Just a little more, please!” Josey pleaded.

  The engine coughed and sputtered, making the truck shudder and buck as they started the turn.

  “Come on, go damn it! Go please, please!”

  The engine roared to life and he put it back into gear shouting, “Yes!”

  Boris whined anxiously and looked over at Josey.

  Billy held onto Maria while afterimages of the trailer explosion made seeing difficult. From behind the truck, a small choir of screams increased in volume as they closed the distance.

  The big tank’s creaking sound grew louder as the truck made it halfway through the turn then shuddered violently and finally ran out of gas. When the engine fell silent, Josey lowered his head onto the steering wheel and wanted to cry while slamming the parking brake down. He couldn't imagine things being much worse but the disturbing possibility of the truck rolling backward down the steep road made engaging the brake seem at least somewhat worth doing.

  A loud cracking sound came from the back as the truck started to lean slowly toward the right. Maria screamed as she saw in her mind the truck tumbling over and rolling down the hill. The truck tilted more and more on its right side wheels and no one dared to move as the left side wheels left the ground. It tottered uncertainly for what seemed an eternity, before a loud crack followed by a tremendous gong-like sound and a loud metal drum roll filled the air.

  The truck slammed back down on its wheels and everyone including Boris turned to look out the rear window. They stared at the enormous silver septic tank that had finally broken free and fallen off the truck. It rolled back down the center of the road slowly at first but gradually picked up speed as it went. The sewage tank was going down the road like a smelly steamroller running over the pursuers before eventually slamming into the smoldering remains of the bus.

  Upon impact, the tank burst open like a water balloon that only Satan himself would have the mind to devise. The spray of bodily wastes went in every direction, drenching everything in the area. (From smoldering bits of trailers to a wide variety of sizes and shapes of smoking and burning body parts)

  “What happened?” Billy asked, rubbing at his eyes. “I can't see.”

  Maria hugged him and said, “I think it's all over. It really is all over, right Josey?”

  Josey had been staring out the truck's rear window at the scene of devastation, when a car horn sounded and made him jerk back around. He turned and saw a little green car in the middle of the road, with a lady sitting behind the wheel giving him an irritated look.

  Billy could have told him who it was had he not been still somewhat blinded from the trailer explosion.

  Opening the truck door, Josey climbed down and limped toward the car. “Um, we uh-” he stammered 'intelligently'.

  The lady’s eyes opened wide as she stared at a large limping man wearing a brown blood spattered leather coat with a swastika on the armband who was carrying a sword. Her lifelong belief about never judging a book by its cover was completely and instantly shattered. She put the car in reverse and sped away from the giant, blood splattered, lumbering, and obviously crazy man.

  There was a short blond haired blur that ran past Josey screaming, “Mom, mom, wait!”

  Billy had regained enough sight to recognize his mother's car and continued running after it and shouting while waving his arms over his head.

  His mother looked forward and spotted Billy running away from the crazy man holding the sword. She stared at Billy and was within seconds of hitting the brakes when a sheriff's department cruiser came around the corner behind her. The cars weren't going fast, but the impact did enough damage to set off her airbag.

  “Willie! Look out!” Bo shouted, from the passenger seat. He saw the green car backing quickly up the road as they came around the turn but Willie didn't.

  Willie had been eating a lemon cream filled doughnut and trying to explain how doughnuts were not really bad for his Diabetes, because they contained fruit, when the cars collided.

  “You're a damn moron!” Bo yelled, before getting out and running to the driver side of the green car.

  Willie sucked the lemon jelly off his fingers that had been holding it at the moment of impact. He put the car in park and followed Bo, grumbling, “It wasn't me. It was all that crazy bitch's fault.”

  Bo saw the green car was filled with bright multicolored helium balloons floating against the ceiling. The messy remains of a chocolate birthday cake were splattered on the floor and dashboard on the passenger side.

  A little boy was crying and pointing back toward the trailer park, yammering unintelligibly to the lady in the car, but they both seemed okay. She doesn’t seem hurt. Shame about the cake, but it could have been a lot worse, Bo thought.

  Looking further down the road, he saw a very big blood splattered man clutching a sword standing beside a truck. Bo quickly understood the situation and felt years of training automatically take over. “Drop the weapon!” he yelled at Josey, while drawing his gun. “Just drop it, NOW!”

  Willie wiped his fingers on his shirt sleeve and waddled after Bo.

  The officers saw the big man look over his shoulder, back down the road, then drop the sword and raise his hands up in the air.

  “You're not going to believe this, but I'm glad you-” Josey started to say, but Bo interrupted him. “Shut up! Don't you dare move! Just don't you fucking move an inch! Willie, cover the passenger side!” Bo yelled, in a commanding voice as he stood a few feet away from the giant and obviously insane man. The big man looked exhausted and his coat was streaked in dried blood and gore.

  “I got her covered,” Willi
e said aiming his gun at Maria who was sitting in the truck with her hands on top of the dashboard.

  Boris looked from one officer to the other and growled at both.

  Josey stood still with his hands up in the air, staring at the hood of his truck and thought, Crap! All this, I survived all this shit just to get shot by a cop. He's going to shoot me as soon as he sees what's on the hood. God help me.

  Bo saw the big man shaking his head and staring at the hood of the truck. He glanced over and then looked again. There was a bloody severed foot in a sandal on the hood.

  “Officer, I- I can explain. I know this looks bad, but I really can explain,” Josey said and turned to look back behind him down the road.

  “Okay, just shut up and turn around. Slowly lean over the hood, Mr. Hitler. Put your hands behind your back. Stay sharp, Willie.” Bo said, with his gun still pointed at Josey.

  Josey sighed and leaned forward trying to avoid touching the still smoldering foot.

  In seconds the cold metal handcuffs were slapped onto his wrists after Bo came up behind him.

  “Hey Bo, something’s burning down in the park and- wow! Just look, there’s bodies everywhere,” Willie said, from the other side of the truck. He saw someone wearing an ICE uniform crawling in the roadway a few feet behind the truck. The man looked badly injured and Willie forgot about guarding Maria and trotted toward him.

  A dog barked from the cab of the truck as the girl inside yelled something at Bo.

  “Willie, get your fat ass back here! Go back to the squad car and call for backup!” Bo yelled, as he saw his partner run past the rear of the truck. Dumb-ass, we’ve got enough crap to deal with without you running off.

  “Now get down on the ground, Mr. Hitler,” Bo said, roughly pushing Josey off the hood so he fell onto the dusty road. Josey felt and heard his nose break as he landed hard face first on the ground.

  Lying in the dusty road, Josey cried out at the sudden and intense flash of pain.

  Boris had seen more than enough. The dog was still tired but knew something had to be done. He leaped through the open driver side door and knocked Bo over on his butt.

  Bo yelped as he hit the ground and saw the dog hurry over and start licking Mr. Hitler's face.

  From still inside the truck cab, Maria yelled, “Be careful!”

  Bo thought she meant be careful of the big guy on the ground or the dog... or maybe both. All he could make out from her yelling was “careful monsters!” and “leave him alone!”

  Boris growled and stood between Bo and the large man on the ground.

  The deputy aimed his gun at the snarling dog, thinking, God, I hate to shoot a dog.

  Two screams rang out simultaneously. One sounded like Willie, the other was the little boy. The kid ran down the road shouting, “Hey, you fart knocker, don't you dare shoot my dog!”

  The lady from the car was chasing the kid and Willie's yelling was only adding to the already confusing situation.

  Bo backed up to see where Willie was and saw him kicking a badly injured man slowly crawling on the road.

  “Willie! What the hell are you doing!? Leave that guy alone and get back over here, now!” Bo yelled, growing angrier by the second.

  Willie trudged back up the road, cradling his injured hand, and grumbling to himself.

  Bo turned back to the dog and saw the kid was on his knees hugging it. The boy stared up ferociously at him and was yelling at him.

  The woman in the truck was yelling something and pointing at Willie.

  Bo put his gun back in his holster as the lady from the car yelled at the boy to get away from the mangy, flea bitten, mongrel of a dog. The deputy was surrounded by chaotic screaming people and had exceeded his breaking point. “EVERYONE, SHUT UP!” Bo bellowed.

  The yelling stopped.

  Bo looked at the boy and could see he'd been crying and looked like he was ready to die to protect the mangy dog. “Look kid, if that’s your dog fine. Get him and go with that lady back to her car. This is a bad man. I don't want to see you get hurt, okay?”

  “That filthy flea bitten beast most certainly is not his dog. Billy, get away from that nasty thing, right this second. It's going to bite you,” Cheryl said angrily, walking forward.

  The boy ignored his mom and held Boris closer. When he saw Willie's bloody hand as he walked up beside Bo, his face paled. “Did someone bite you?” Billy asked, in a shaky voice.

  Bo looked at Willie and his bloody hand.

  “Damn right. That’s what you get for trying to help somebody. The dirty piece of shit actually bit me,” Willie said, looking angrily back down the road.

  “He's going to turn into a zombie, shoot him!” Billy shouted at Bo.

  “What?” Bo asked, looking at the boy in utter confusion.

  “Boy's right. Be careful,” came the nasally distorted yet scared voice of the cuffed big man lying on the dusty road.

  “They're telling the truth, just look at him!” The woman inside the truck cab shouted.

  Bo looked at each as they spoke, but it was the dog that eventually made him back away from Willie.

  It stopped looking at Bo and growled loudly while staring at Willie. The dog's hair bushed out as its body trembled. Still staring at the dog, Bo smelled urine and excrement very close by.

  He turned and saw Willie trembling with his mouth hanging open, drooling. Bo quickly backed further away from him when he started convulsing and screaming. He pulled his gun and pointed it at Willie, watching in horrified fascination as the whites of his eyes changed within seconds to a bright red color.

  “Willie?” Bo asked, cautiously.

  Willie's face twisted in rage as he ran straight at Bo with his arms outstretched, screaming like a thing from a nightmare.

  Deputy Bo Autry relied on years of training and instinct. He fired fast and accurately. Three shots hit dead center in the torso and Willie flew backward and collapsed on the ground; where he shook for a moment then died.

  Oh shit. What the fuck did I just do? I'm so fucked, Bo thought, sliding his gun back in the holster.

  Billy's mom fainted and fell beside Josey in the dust.

  “You need to shoot him in the head,” Billy said in a scolding tone of voice, looking up at Bo while shuddering and backing closer to Josey's sword that had been dropped on the dusty road.

  “Boy's right, you have to shoot him in the head,” Josey's distorted voice called up from the ground.

  “El hombre de la cabeza! Do it now! Shoot his head!” Maria screamed.

  Bo looked utterly bewildered. “He's dead. Everyone calm down and everything will be okay. I don't know what's been going on out here, but you all need to calm down. Whatever happened to my partner is done with. He's dead. How I'm going to explain all this I have no idea but it's all over now.”

  Billy looked past Bo with his eyes widening. “If he's dead why's he getting up again?” He asked while reaching down and grabbing the sword handle. The boy stood holding the sword beside Josey and his unconscious mother trembling, but with a determined look on his young face that would have made his grandfather very proud.

  Bo whirled around as Willie stood up, yelled and ran forward... yet again.

  “Son of a bitch!” Bo fired the rest of his clip. The shots burst Willie Dunn's head like an overripe watermelon that had been stuffed with dynamite.