Nick walked over to the Escalade’s driver’s door. “You’re driving?”
“Yeah, I’m driving.” I said. The doctor’s head was down; he was staring into his own lap. He was in shock, I think.
“Follow closely. We’re going to the cemetery.”
“Okay.” I couldn’t remember the last time I was at a cemetery.
Nick reached into the truck and gently stroked my cheek. His touch seemed to soothe the incessant pounding in my chest. I watched as Nick jogged back to the Camaro. I turned on the engine and pulled off behind Nick after he turned the Camaro around and headed out the way we entered.
We arrived at the Riverside Hills Cemetery twenty minutes later. The gates to the cemetery were closed but not locked. Joe jumped out the Camaro and opened the gates for our entry. After I pulled into the gates, Joe closed the gates behind us. I’m not sure why. What if we have to make a speedy getaway?
Joe hopped on the trunk of the Camaro and let Nick drive with him sitting on the trunk. Since I was behind them driving the Escalade, I just kept thinking that Joe would fall off the trunk of the Camaro and I wouldn’t have time to stop and I would run over him and kill him.
I really thought the cemetery would be overrun with deadies. But as we drove further into the resting place of the deceased there were none in sight. Maybe the newly dead didn’t want to hang out with the old dead. If that’s the case, I can relate. Most supermodels are the newly rich. The men with old family money will accept you but the women snub their rhinoplasties at you. That was a different world, a world not so long ago. I wish I could forget my old life.
We didn’t drive far. Joe hopped off the trunk.
Nick got out the Camaro and approached me. “Hey Doc, you stay here and we will dig.”
The doctor shook his head but didn’t utter a word.
“You need help. I can help.” I asked although I knew Nick and Joe could handle digging a grave. I just wanted to get out of the car and away from the grief and sorrow that radiated from Doctor Mark.
“Yeah we need you to watch our backs while we dig.” Nick said. I was pleased that he caught my hint.
I climbed out the truck and followed Nick and Joe. They had already grabbed shovels from the trunk and headed out to a plot of land to dig. I watched them and every now and then Nick would look back at me and give me a half smile.
Nick sure looked sexy shirtless and all sweaty. The images of Nick’s naked body were quickly wiped from my mind just as soon as Nick and Joe hauled Joan’s dead body out of the trunk of the Camaro and tossed it in the shallow grave they dug.
I had the task of bringing Doctor Mark to the gravesite. I wasn’t sure why I had to go get him. Joan was buried. They had covered her body with earth. Maybe Nick wanted the doctor to say his last good-byes but it was getting dark out and I wanted to go home.
We all crowded around the dirt mound.
“Doc I’m going to say a few words if that’s okay with you.” Nick said this and I couldn’t believe he was going to speak over this grave.
“Yes please.” The doctor muttered as he wiped his eyes.
“Even though I did not know Joan well, she was part of our group. When a piece of the group leaves, we all become weaker but still we become stronger. Joan will forever be loved by those who knew her and loved her. Her dying wish was for Doc to take care of their son and because we are a group it is our responsible to take care of each other. Death may come often but life will prevail.”
Nick slightly bowed his head.
“God, give us grace to accept with serenity
the things that cannot be changed,
Courage to change the things
which should be changed,
and the Wisdom to distinguish
the one from the other.
Living one day at a time,
Enjoying one moment at a time,
Accepting hardship as a pathway to peace,
Taking, as Jesus did,
This sinful world as it is,
Not as I would have it,
Trusting that you will make all things right,
If I surrender to your will,
So that I may be reasonably happy in this life,
And supremely happy with you forever in the next
Amen” Nick glanced around at us.
There was a quiet calm that went through the air embraced us all. Nick has the Serenity Prayer memorized. He always amazes me. “The sun is going down we should go. Doc, you ready?”
“Yeah.” Doctor Mark nodded and that was the end of the chapter in my life with Joan.
CHAPTER 13
The ride back to Eola was quiet. I drove with Doctor Mark as my passenger. That’s how we rode to the cemetery so why change now. There was no way Joe was going to ride with the doctor. Joe didn’t like the doctor. He just tolerated him. I still believe there is more to their differences then I know. Even though I wanted to ride with Nick, I had to do the right thing. In the doctor’s unstable condition I could not leave him alone.
We made it home. There was a lot of physical exertion that take place when we left the house but it paled in compassion to the mental exertion. The day to day fight to live another day is arduous.
We were inside the house and my feet on the hardwood floors were comforting. We filed into the common area one at a time but we were minus one. This had happen before with Ray. Will the day come when I’m the one that leaves never to return?
“Where is my mother?” Brandon asked. I had never really paid that much attention to him even though we were about the same age. He was there for a day and my attention shifted to the threat before I could even give him direct eye contact. Now Brandon was here on the couch in the position his sister usually occupied and I didn’t envy him. He was thumbing through a magazine, and looking much younger than his age.
“Brandon,” said Doctor Mark as we entered, dirty, tired and forlorn.
Brandon looked up from the magazine. “What?”
Kait strolled down the stairs with Michelle right behind her.
“Brandon, your mom, she didn’t make it.”
“What the fuck does that mean?” Brandon’s magazine jetted to the floor as Brandon stood and charged toward his father. Brandon landed inches from the doctor’s face. “Tell me what happened.”
“We had trouble with some zombies and she didn’t make it out.” The doctor started his feeble web of lies. I wish we would have come up with a story ahead of time but this is not really an issue that belongs to the rest of us. Just because Nick is a mechanic doesn’t mean he can fix everything for everybody. I’m a retired supermodel so I’m no good in this situation. This is between Doctor Mark and his family.
Nick and Joe stood away but present in the room of doom. Michelle continued to descend down the steps. Kait took a seat on the stairs and watched the action unfold through the wooden bars of the staircase.
“You let her die!” Brandon roared his accusations through clenched teeth.
“No son, no. I just couldn’t save her.”
“You’re lying. You’re a fucking liar.” Brandon broke into tears and I had seen enough. I think Doctor Mark went to hold him but I retreated down the hall and into the kitchen. I grabbed a beer from a cooler that seat in the floor underneath the kitchen table.
When I opened the can of beer Michelle was standing behind me. She had been staring a hole in the back of my head. What now? I had a hard day. I’m in no mood for a girl fight. What does big red want, to insult me probably? I decided to ignore her, a skill I picked up from Nick.
“Jesse.” She’s knows my name. Would she please forget it?
“Michelle.” I was curt as I tried on the semblance of a smile.
“What happened?” She asked. I was surprised that she was even speaking to me.
“What do you mean?” I played dumb. I was fairly good at it. I was a supermodel we played dumb all the time.
“What happened out there with Joan?”
“Exactly what Doctor Mark said. She didn’t make it.” I plainly stated wishing she would leave me alone. Today was a pretty emotional day for me. I witnessed a man confess his love to a dying woman. I witnessed Joan die and come back to life as a deadie. Plus I witnessed Joan get a bullet in the forehead. I wasn’t in a good or talkative mood. I was exhausted with today’s events.
“I want to hear it from you.” She pressed, in her nosey know-it-all way.
“Why?” Why was I keeping this barren conversation pregnant?
“I want to know if you’re going to lie to me. I know when Mark is lying.”
“And?”
“He’s lying about something. He’s not telling the entire story.” She eyed me with a firmness that was surprisingly genuine.
“Sometimes a lie is better just for all parties everybody concerned.” I kind of jumbled my words but I’m caught off guard by reds frankness.
“Maybe.” She folded her arms under her ample chest.
“Brandon just loss his mother, we should let him grieve.”
“I understand that and I agree. Just tell me the truth. I’m not going to say anything to anybody. Just tell me what happened.”
I took a step forward and Michelle must have thought I would strike her because she flinched for no other apparent reason. “Joan was bitten when we rescued her from the house. She tried to hide it. I saw her bite mark. I told the others. She had the fever and we all had to get her out of the house before she turned into one of the dead and started to kill or infect us all. We took her to a parking garage and we waited until she turned just to make sure. Doctor Mark put a bullet in her head because it was the best option given the circumstances. He really didn’t have any other choices. We buried Joan’s body at a cemetery and that’s the truth.”
Michelle gasped. I guess that’s not what she expected to hear. It’s not what I expected to say but I’m tired, hot and an emotional wreck. I just want to go to sleep and turn my brain off completely.
“You guys didn’t have a choice. She put us all in danger… I’m not going to say anything.” She turned on her heels and left me standing alone in the kitchen. Did I expect her to care about Joan? Joan stood in the way of her and Doctor Mark. If Michelle knew that Doctor Mark still loved Joan I’m sure Michelle would have had no problem putting a bullet in her brain. Maybe I was just making Michelle into a monster. We are all monsters in some way or another. Humans slaughter each other for many reasons. We kill and we are no different from the deadies. Like the dead we are going from place to place looking, searching for something, something that we will never find. Peace perhaps?
Before I knew it I had already opened my second can of beer and guzzled it down. I was sitting at the kitchen table alone when Malik walked in and saw me gripping my empty beer can.
“Hey.” Malik bobbed my way.
“Hey.” I responded.
Malik walked to the cabinet and grabbed a plastic bowl and a box of Fruit Loops. “You want some?”
“Yeah,” I said and he grabbed another bowl and placed it on the table. I sat quietly as he placed the bowl on the table in front of me. He poured me some cereal in my bowl and then poured his. He grabbed one bottle of water from the bottom shelf out of the refrigerator. The entire bottom shelf was filled with only bottled water. He grabbed two plastic spoons from a drawer and placed them on the table.
Malik took the seat across from me. “You want some water in your bowl.”
“Yeah,” I was out of clever words and was stuck with the inept one word response. Malik poured water into my bowl first. I took a spoonful of Fruit Loops into my mouth. He poured the rest of the water into his bowl.
He stuffed a hefty spoonful into his mouth. “I would kill for some vitamin D milk.”
“Is that right?” I couldn’t believe I had three words that were somewhat snarky. “Well, I would kill for a strawberry milkshake.”
Malik chuckled. “I would kill for a Big Mac.”
“I would kill for Garrett’s popcorn.” I had him bet with that one.
“I would kill for a Portillo’s Italian beef.” Malik said as he licked his lips.
“I will kill to have my old life back.”
“You win.” Malik said before he stuffed more cereal into his mouth.
We finished our milkless bowls of cereal in silence and I was off to the solace of the attic getaway and asleep before I could remove my Nike’s.
Sleep is the best medicine and sometimes there are these fabulous dreams that take you to a place where you can forget that you are trapped in a deadies apocalypse.
We are rattled awake in the night. What time is it? I sit up at the same time as Nick and I grab his wrist to look at his wristwatch that illuminates in the dark with the push of a button. It’s 3:33a.m. There’s another CRASH! Nick is up on his feet before I can blink my eyes. When I open my eyes and adjust them to the darkness. He is up on his feet in his boots with his Glock in his hand and his Magnum in his waistband.
He’s headed for the door and I grab my Colt. I follow him down the stairs. We reach the second floor hall. Kait and Brandon are standing in the doorway of the master bedroom.
“What is going on?” Kait screams through her fear.
Naveen’s head pops out of the room that he and Ray once shared.
I follow Nick down the stairs and I almost fall in the frenzy of what lies on the first floor. Naveen was near me and that’s when the series of de ja vu moments hit my consciousness.
Joe was downstairs waiting for us. “Calm down. They broke another window but it’s boarded up. They didn’t get through.” He whispered. I wish we hadn’t made so much noise stampeding down the stairs. Doctor Mark was standing on the wall next to Malik. Apparently the noise woke us all from our sleep.
“How many of them are out there?” Nick followed his cue and spoke in a hushed tone.
“A shitload, every night the herd of freaks grows.”
There is it the constant BUMPING, BANGING, THUMPING and POUNDING on the windows and walls of the old post office. There’s no way any of us can sleep through this.
“They know we’re in here.” Doctor Mark whispered from the darkness.
“We need to find a safer place.” Nick stated the obvious.
“You have been saying that for how long now? If we make it ‘til morning, I’m taking my kids and getting the hell out of here.”
“Doc we can’t split the group up.” Nick was right. We have to work together as a cohesive unit in order for this to work for us all.
“I can do whatever I want. I’m packing my truck and we’re leaving. We’re going to the mall.”
“Okay, this is your show. You’re in charge.” Nick said as he throws up in hands in exasperation.
“I don’t want to be in charge. I want to take my kids somewhere safe.” The doctor was beginning to sound like a broken record.
“What makes you think I don’t?” Nick snapped.
“It’s time to move on and I’ve been through enough.” Doctor Mark took one brave step forward.
“I’m sorry you had to do that but it was what was best for your kids and the group as a whole.”
“I know that. I understand it and I’m grateful.”
“You should be. I know you think we’re the muscle and you’re the brain but you have to be a team player in order for this to work.” Nick was making total sense.
“Nick I don’t care what you say. I’m done with talking. I’m done with these zombie wake up calls.”
“So what now we’re going to just stop working together?” Nick asked.
“I’m leaving and that’s that.” Doctor Mark walked toward the kitchen and left us alone in the common area bewildered and quiet.
Quiet was not the right word. We were silent but the deadies outside were anything but. They moaned in unison like a choir of ghouls lead by a phantom conductor. The bumping was the cymbals. The banging was the violins. The thumping was the cello. The pounding was the flutes. We were loc
ked in a mezzanine of terror.
There was no doubt the doctor meant what he said. I understood him but there was real serious danger beyond these walls. Danger he couldn’t even dream of. Danger I had seen with my own eyes. Evil that was epic, tragic and absolute.
Nick walked over to the far wall and let his back slide down it until he was in a sitting position. I went over and sat next to him.
Joe took his seat by the door. He had his rifle in his hand. I looked over at Nick sitting on the floor next to me. Nick’s eyes were trained on the boarded up front door. He didn’t blink. My eyes were tired and my spirit was the same. Could I really fall asleep with all the ruckus the deadies were keeping up outside our kingdoms walls, the moaning, the groaning and the banging. I leaned my head over and it landed on Nick’s shoulder. I found out as soon as my eyes closed that I really could fall asleep with the deadhead noise.
I woke the next morning on the floor with my face smashed into a pillow. I opened my eyes and across the room were three black plastic garbage bags that were full. Nick wasn’t beside me. I had slept and missed something. I wiped the sleep from my eyes and sat up against the wall. I had to pee. It was the beer I consumed last night. I stood and the realization of a headache was evident. I headed to the half bathroom that was down the hall. Malik’s bedroom door was open. I looked in and saw him putting things into a black plastic garbage bag.
I went to the half bath and closed the door. I took my seat on the throne and I drifted off into a comfortable state of relief until…
Knock! Knock! Knock! Who the hell was knocking on the bathroom door? Seriously?
“Jesse.” Nick’s voice penetrated through the door.
“Yeah what do you want?”
“Nothing, I’ll wait out here for you.”
Geez, is he really going to wait outside the door for me to conduct my business. Oooookay. I flushed the toilet and washed my hands. When I opened the door Nick was standing there.
Deadies: Book 1, 2 & 3 Page 13
