“I think it’s a graveyard. Maybe where they buried some of the victims from this area.”
“Oh…” She wasn’t sure she wanted to stay and watch the show if corpse munching was going to be the entertainment.
Something else moved in the shadows…another figure…then another. Both moved toward the sound of the digging. “I don’t know if we should be up here,” she said, lowering her voice until it was barely audible. She knew if the Eaters caught wind of them or they were too loud and attracted attention, there would be no rest until every single one within a mile or two was put down.
“It’s a good post to keep an eye on things. Jordan can only see the parking lot from the window.” Aidan’s head swiveled in the opposite direction, looking north up 77, the long stretch of road that led to Dudleyville, Hayden, then connected with a half dozen other routes that eventually led to Sedona.
“You’re watching the road, aren’t you?”
His head bobbed up and down.
“You still think they’ll come after us?”
“Can’t rule it out.”
“They don’t know who we are. We never used our real names.”
“That don’t mean shit. If they captured any of the RT, they might have broken down under torture and told O.N.E. where to find us.”
She thought of Vinnie, Ruth, and Paige…everyone they’d gotten close enough to, to share any personal information with…was dead. But, that didn’t mean they hadn’t spilled some beans before they expired. Aidan was right to be concerned— this wasn’t going to be a safe place to hang out for a while, even if food safety wasn’t an issue. She sighed. Just one night of sleep…just one to recover from the ordeal in Sedona would be nice. She patted him on the shoulder. “How’s your head?”
“Feels like someone took a jackhammer to it, but I think I’ll be all right.”
“Kai seems to think so.”
“A little rest and I’ll be fit as a fiddle again.”
She smiled and gave him another pat. Then, she glanced towards the wheelbarrow area. The digging sounds had stopped. They’d been replaced with more stomach-churning crunching, and sloppy, wet slurping sounds and growls coming from the heap of bodies gathered in a group like a pack of feasting wolves.
“Don’t be long,” she whispered. “You could use some more sleep too.” Then, as quietly as she could, she rose to her feet and tiptoed back to the hatch.
The party was winding down now, and the group was starting to make up beds around the sanctuary. Hannah found some extra blankets for Cheryl, and gave her another stack for Aidan. After settling on an area adjacent to the wall that was a good distance away from the others, Cheryl made up her bed then made one for Aidan a couple of yards from hers.
She was still awake when Aidan finally came down from the roof, but there was a buzz saw chorus of snores around her since the other revelers had dozed off. Aidan snuffed out the candle that Hannah had left burning for him to see his way. Then, he moved his bedding next to her. She was trying to ignore the burning sensation of smoke tickling her throat when she felt a hand on her hip that slowly began sliding up towards her breast.
“You can’t be serious,” she said, nudging him away.
“We could be quiet,” he breathed into her ear.
“No…we’re in a room full of people…and in case you hadn’t noticed…a church.”
“Never took you for the religious type.”
“Good night, Aidan.”
“Good night,” he said. Then, he rolled over and faced away from her.
Chapter 3
“Are you going to get married?”
Cheryl opened her eyes, wondering where she was and who was talking to her. She saw the tall wooden cross on hanging on the pulpit wall, the iconic symbol inside Divine Sundays and turned her head towards the angelic voice beside her.
Cassie was sitting cross-legged beside her. “Is Aidan your boyfriend? Are you going to marry him?”
“Oh sweetie…I don’t think about things like that anymore. The world’s a different place now.” There was no reason to admit to this little girl that she’d been daydreaming on the way down to Sabre, imagining living in a cabin that Aidan had built and watching him come home from a hunt with a deer slung over his shoulders, boasting about the number of decrepit Eaters he’d shot along the way.
“But now Aidan’s your boyfriend, right? You sleep with him.”
“Uhhh…” Before she could figure out how to answer that one, she heard the tinkling of a chime coming from a clock in the sanctuary. It metered out seven chimes then went silent.
Cassie hopped to her feet and smoothed out the hem of the dress made from a cream-colored flour sack with a braided rainbow-colored sash at her waist that looked like it was made from a hodgepodge of recycled plastic bread bags.
“Hannah made this for me. Do you like it?”
“It’s lovely.”
“Thanks,” she said with a twirl. “Maybe she can make one for you too. Then, you won’t have to wear that dirty shirt and jeans.”
Cheryl peeled the blanket off and glanced down at her clothing. It was more than just filthy; some of the dark stains were Aidan’s blood, and some were from the last ghoul that had tried to devour her. “You’re right, sweetie. I don’t think I want to wear a dress like you, but I should find something else to wear.
At Cassie’s insistence, minutes later, Hannah led her to the back bedroom and offered an array of clothing for her to choose from. She rejected the frilly blouse and long skirt that was offered first and finally accepted an old pair of Jeremiah’s jeans, belted tight at the waist to hold them up, and an old t-shirt from his Harley-Davidson collection.
“You can change in here,” Hannah said as her hand rested on the door knob. “Come on Cassie…”
The girl held her stance, swinging back and forth as she toyed with the hem of her dress. She glanced up at Cheryl then back to Hannah.
“It’s okay,” Cheryl said. “She can stay.”
As soon as Hannah shut the door, Cassie plopped down on the bed. Cheryl changed her shirt first then began to remove her jeans.
“What is that?” Cassie asked, pointing to her thigh.
Cheryl looked down at the zipper like scar that ran from her upper thigh nearly to her knee. It was healed long ago but still had cross hatches from the stitches. “I got hurt on some barbed wire.”
“Were you being chased by the zombies?”
“Yes,” she replied, cringing at the memory of her narrow escape that hot spring day on her patrol at Fort San Manuel just east of Tucson.
“How many of them were there?”
“A few,” she said, removing the jeans, tossing them on the floor and trying to erase the images in her mind of the skeletal creatures coming out of the desert sand.
“Do you have any kids?”
Cheryl pulled on the oversized pair of Levis. “No.”
“Why not? You look old enough to.”
Cheryl fastened the belt around her waist and slipped the prong from the buckle into the last hole. She put her hand on her hip and looked at the girl. “You ask a lot of questions.”
“So? How else do you get to know anything?”
“I guess that’s a good point.” She reached out and ruffled the girl’s hair. Cassie sat there patiently with her arms folded as if she was still waiting for an answer. “If you really want to know…I guess I never had kids because I just never found the right guy. A girl’s got to kiss a few frogs before she finds her prince.”
“Frogs? Euggh!” Her face wrinkled up in disgust.
“Haven’t you ever seen a Disney—” She stopped. Who knew what kind of upbringing the girl had had before the world went to crap. She didn’t want to sound like she was chastising her. “Oh…never mind. Let’s go see what Hannah’s got for breakfast.”
“It’s some of her crummy biscuits,” Cassie said, hopping off the bed.
“You mean crumby, right?” Cheryl asked as they stepped i
nto the hallway.
“No. I mean crummy. They’re hard and taste like dirt. They really suck.”
Cheryl laughed and said, “At least it’s food, right?”
Cassie didn’t reply as she ran towards the kitchen.
When she stepped into the sanctuary, Aidan was on the front pew, kicked back with a cup of water. A smile played across his face when he saw her attire. “I’m not sure if you look ready to ride or if you look like you’re playing dress up in daddy’s clothes.”
She glared at him.
“Sorry,” he said with a sheepish look before returning to his cup of water with renewed interest.
Given his head wound, she forgave him for forgetting that remarks about her father or any “daddy” in general were forbidden. It was hard enough to deal with the pain of what had happened to her dad without having the fresh scab torn off her heart.
A few minutes later, she was munching on one of Hannah’s crummy biscuits (Cassie was right—they did taste like dirt) and a few sweet sunflower greens when Jeremiah settled into a pew next to her.
“You’ve got a little gardening experience. I was wondering if you think it’s a good idea to set up some containers outside. You know…keep the soil around the roots covered so no critters can shat in it. It might be worth a try. Then, we could grow tomatoes and things like that again. It sure would make Hannah feel better to grow something. If she can’t get outside and get her hands dirty, I’m worried she’s not going to be able to hold it together.”
“I don’t know. Even in a container…the soil…”
“I got an idea when I was digging a grave the other day. I figure the soil deep down, a good five or six feet or so should be all right. It’s virgin soil, not like the top soil where raccoons, skunks, and birds feast on the corpses and poop out the virus. And even if they did contaminate the surface, deep down there are no worries about bacteria digesting the virus and it being taken up into the roots of the plants.”
“If that’s really happening—if that’s how food is getting contaminated—how are we ever going to know if it’s safe to eat anything grown outside again?”
Jeremiah hung his head low. “I’ve asked the Lord that many times lately, and I haven’t got an answer yet. I’ve considered for a long time that this virus might actually have some qualities like a prion. You know…the kind of infectious protein that causes Mad Cow Disease. If that’s the case, we may never be rid of it once it gets widely distributed into the soil. You can’t cook that sort of thing out of your food like you can with bacteria like e. coli or salmonella. It’s pretty crazy when you think about it. Who could have suspected there would be some sort of synergy between the soil bacteria, plant roots, and this disease? There’s a whole lot of complexity in God’s creation. We just couldn’t have had that sort of foresight.”
“We?”
“Uhhh…you know…Hannah…me…and the guys. We’ve been talking about all of this a lot lately.”
“When you were a janitor at XCGEN, I bet you heard a lot of shop talk between the lab technicians while you were tidying up and mopping the floors. You probably know more about their diabolical activities than most people.”
“Oh sure. I eavesdropped here and there. Even though what they were doing was all hush hush, I could tell there was a lot of excitement brewing about the experiments they were doing. O.N.E. had some pretty deep pockets, so everyone was paid very well to keep their mouths shut, especially about the nature of their devious activities.”
“I understand why you got disgusted and left.”
“Yup,” Jeremiah said. “At least I socked away enough of my salary to help buy this place.”
Zach and Diego walked past them; Zach grumbling with a mouth full of biscuit. “Call me slow one more time, amigo…”
After they passed, Jeremiah jumped up and slapped his knees, ending their discussion about the lab. “So, how about it? Are you up for some planting this morning?”
“I guess so. If you really think it’s worth a try.”
“Good…because if we don’t figure out a way to produce more food, pretty soon our only plan will be to pray for God to send manna. Let’s get you a trowel and I’ll show you where I’ve stashed the soil you can use.”
“Just me? Why don’t we get the guys to help?”
“Zach and Diego are hung over this morning and a little too pissy to work together without shouting and drawing attention from any roaming ghouls. Kai is keeping Hannah busy in the kitchen as a distraction, so we can surprise her. And I don’t think I could get Jordan to leave his window post even if I begged him—he hasn’t been outside in weeks. So, I think if Aidan and I take guns and walk the perimeter, you can work in peace and work quickly. I’ll go grab the seeds. I’ve got some beans, some tomatoes, some peppers…”
He walked off mumbling to himself as she went to find her shoes and her gun.
A few minutes later, she met Jeremiah by the shed where he kept his motorcycle that hadn’t been driven in almost a year for lack of gasoline and a vast assortment of garden tools. He pointed her towards a metal trash can. When he lifted the lid, he said, “All this is from several feet down. It should be clean.”
She looked at the pale colored soil, full of sand and grit. It looked innocuous enough.
“And you can fertilize the containers with some of our homemade black gold.” He opened the cooler sitting next to the can, revealing a brown-black, crumbly mixture writhing with pink worms. “It’s all made from vegetable scraps and some old newspaper…and heck of a lot of worm poop.”
Cheryl marveled at the sight, knowing the stuff was like vitamins for crops—the best kind you could get.
“I thought we could put the containers in the front parking lot. It faces south, so they’ll get plenty of sun there. I’ll grab the wheelbarrow, and we’ll haul it over there.”
Jeremiah returned a few seconds later. If he’d noticed any gnawed-on bones or body parts near the wheelbarrow where she and Aidan had seen Eaters feasting last night, he didn’t mention it when he came back. “Aidan’s already pacing by the north area of the road, and I’m going start near you and keep circling around the building as you work. Just give a short whistle if you need anything, and try to work fast.”
“Okay,” she said. “I’ll do my best. I think it will be a nice surprise for Hannah, so I don’t want to take too long and have her come out here looking for us.”
With his rifle slung over his shoulder, Jeremiah left.
Cheryl stuffed the seed packets in her pockets then got to work picking some five–gallon containers out from the stack against the wall. Once she had them in place in the parking lot, she started hauling the soil in the wheelbarrow to fill them.
It was sunny this morning and probably already in the mid 80’s. She’d worked up a good sweat by the time she got the last container filled. The feeling of working her muscles and being outside, even if it was in soot-tinged air, was good. When she took the seeds out of her pocket and got ready to plant, she marveled at the idea of doing some gardening again. Simply plunking a few seeds into some containers was an act of hope.
She hadn’t thought to look for some gloves before she plunged her hands into the soil and starting poking holes to drop the seeds in. She’d been vaccinated back at Fort San Manuel, but now knowing that the vaccine had been developed by XCGen for the O.N.E. organization, she didn’t trust that she had any sort of immunity to the virus…or prions…or whatever the hell had been unleashed on the planet by the greedy bastards that created it. Her hands were already covered in dirt by the time she’d had the thought, so she kept going, figuring that this planting event was going to be an act of faith as well.
Jeremiah passed by her on his round, giving her a salute then holding his hands clasped in front of him as if in prayer.
Fearing that Hannah would come looking for her soon or that something else would spoil what had so far been smooth work, Cheryl tried to speed it up. She started to plant some pole beans
but stopped, remembering that she wanted to put some stakes in first. She poked three sticks into the soil and started to tie them at the top with twine, so they’d hold together in a teepee fashion. As she reached down to cut some more string, a shadow fell over her. She reached for the gun at her side and whipped around.
Cassie stood there. “I haven’t seen the sun for so long. It feels good on my arms.” She held her arms wide and turned her face towards the sky, smiling as her cheeks flushed from the warmth. “You won’t tell, will you? Grandma Hannah would be really mad at me.”
Cheryl put her gun away and rose to her feet. “What’re you doing out here? You know you’re not supposed to…” She scanned around the parking lot and looked towards the road. When she didn’t see any sign of intruders, she looked back towards Cassie who was positively beaming with joy. “All right…I’ll give you one minute to soak up a little sun then I’m going to march you right back inside. It’s just not safe for you to be out here. If Jeremiah sees you, he’ll probably give both of us a spanking!”
“What are you planting? Can I help?”
“See that packet of seeds over there?” She pointed to the beans a couple feet away. “Can you hand it to me?”
Cassie grabbed the package from the bottom end. The flap at the top was open and all the beans fell to pavement. “Oops! Sorry…” she said as she leaned over to pick them up.
Cheryl helped her scoop them up. When they had retrieved the last few, she glanced at the northern horizon. Was that a figure coming up the road? She squinted, starting at the dark shape about a mile away and put her hand on the gun holstered on her hip. “On second thought…time’s up for gardening. Let’s get you back in—”
There was a gunshot in the garden area on the other side of the building. Then, a series of shots rang out from the roadside.
She dove for Cassie, snatching her up in her arms. Before she could turn and run towards the building, a one-armed figure appeared between them and the front door. It was a young man—or the walking remnants of what used to be a slender teenager before death and decay had turned his flesh gray and caused it to peel in ragged strips down his face. His eyes were sunken, gelatinous orbs with a yellow tinge, and his broken black teeth were bared as he snarled at them.
Eaters: Resurrection Page 3
