by Poe, S. B.
The Dead of Night
Marionette Zombie Series
Book 4
SB Poe
Copyright © 2018 SB Poe
Cover Image by K.Poe
All rights reserved.
ISBN:
ISBN-13: 9781720209881
DEDICATION
To My Wife
For my Kids
CONTENTS
Acknowledgments
i
1
The Last Goodbye
3
2
Where the cold wind blows
24
3
Road of Bones
42
4
Don’t Leave Today
55
5
Another Road
80
6
Footprints
98
7
Cold as the Dead
111
8
Fly away Little Bird
125
9
Seventy Miles or so
142
10
11
Look over the Hill
The only child for a hundred miles
The Journal of Cameron Day
156
173
177
This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, businesses, places, events, locales, and incidents are either the products of the author’s imagination or used in a fictitious manner. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, or actual events is purely coincidental.
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
Thank you all for following me on this journey
1
The Last Goodbye
Josh leaned against the doorframe as he looked into the bedroom. Pictures adorned the mirror over the white wicker vanity table. A dog. A group of girls, including Lori and Jennifer, at some concert stared back from another. Several stuffed animals peered from the closet. Lori was lying on the bed with her back to the door.
She’d barely spoken to any of them since Devin and Jahda told her what they found in the basement. The pantry had yielded up the few things left to eat and the others sat at the dining table eating a small meal of tuna fish and peanut butter but Lori didn’t join them. She had not moved from the kitchen floor. She leaned against the dishwasher looking at the stairs to the basement. Josh tried to talk to her but she just kept staring straight ahead. Then she announced she was going to bed and walked up to her room. Josh followed a little while later.
“Lori, I know you’re not asleep.” Josh said “Come on. I’m sorry. We didn’t know. There was no way any of us could have known.”
“We didn’t have to leave.” Lori said, rolling over and looking at him.
“You’re right. We didn’t have to. But think about it, Jennifer’s house was surrounded when we got there. How long would you have been able to hold off that crowd? Do you think you would have survived long enough for your parents to come?” Josh knew his argument was solid, he also knew that if he had a chance to see his father again he would do anything.
“They came. They came and I wasn’t there. And I wasn’t there because of you.” Lori said.
“Ok. Fine. What are you going to do now?” Josh asked. “Stay here?”
“It’s my home.” Lori said.
“No it’s just a house now. Four walls and a roof. Just like mine.” Josh said. “Lori, listen to me, you need to stay with us. You need to stay with me.”
“Why?” Lori said.
“I…I…need you. I need you with me.” Josh said.
“I don’t care what you need. I need my mother and father and you kept me from them.” Lori said.
“But staying with them now isn’t an option. I know you’re upset, I know how it feels to lose someone close.” Josh said.
“You had the chance to say goodbye.” Lori said.
Josh just stood and looked at her. He knew he couldn’t win this argument.
“You’re right. I’m sorry. We’ll be downstairs. Goodnight.” Josh said. He turned and walked down the stairs.
Jahda and Devin had found a few blankets in one of the closets and spread them out on the floor. Devin grabbed a pillow off the big couch and threw it down too.
“I’ll take the floor, you take the couch.” He said to Jahda.
“Well ain’t you the gentleman. You can bet your ass I’ll take advantage of that.” She said as she flopped down on the couch. Josh walked into the living room.
“How’s she doing?” Jahda asked.
“I don’t know. I guess she’s ok but she’s pretty pissed at me.” Josh said.
“She’s not pissed at you man. She’s just a little broken right now and she wants someone to blame. You didn’t do anything wrong. Hell from the stories you’ve told us it sounds like y’all did most everything right.” Devin said.
“He’s right. She’ll see that. She’ll snap back. Just let your girlfriend sleep for now.” Jahda said.
“I really hope you’re right.” Josh said. “But she’s not my girlfriend.”
“You’re kidding right?” Jahda said.
“Nope. I mean we kissed once but nothing serious.” Josh said.
“Well brother, the way you and her look at each other, it’s serious. Even if y’all don’t know it yet.” Jahda said. “Go to sleep.”
Josh grabbed one of the blankets and curled up on an overstuffed recliner. They had been going so hard today that within a few minutes they were all asleep. They had barricaded the doors with furniture and the windows were high enough off the ground that they were pretty sure a stringer couldn’t get to them. Besides, since they had gotten here they hadn’t seen any stringers at all. Well except for the two in the basement.
Lori lay in her bed looking out of the window. She cried into the same pillow she had cried into when her dog, Sir Pemberton, died last year. She looked back out of the window at the tree limbs she used to climb when she was not much younger. She thought about the dream she had the other night before they crossed the bridge. She cried some more. Finally she cried herself to sleep.
She woke to starlight. It was still night. She sat up and put her feet on the floor. The air was cold and she could see her breath. She thought of her mother and father two floors below her. A lump formed in her throat. Sleep had cleared her mind a little and some of the shock had gone away. She knew that she had probably overreacted to Josh and she was going to fix that but right now she needed to have her own chance to say goodbye. The house was quiet and dark but she knew her way around, why wouldn't she, it was her home. She made her way down the stairs and looked back down the open hallway. She could see someone asleep on the recliner so she tiptoed into the kitchen.
She went down the stairs. She stood at the door to the basement for a long while. Finally she opened it up and turned on her flashlight. She could see a shape in the chair and another on the floor. She could smell the rot on them but she had to do this. She walked up to the shape on the floor and shined the light. Her mother had been gone for a while now and her skin had turned black and bloated. She recognized the necklace she wore. A single silver cross with the inscription, ‘Oh Lord in the darkness, Lead me home’.
She reached down and took the chain off. She turned to her father. He was still tied to the chair and she couldn’t see his face through the plastic. She reached up and undid the rope holding his neck. His head flopped forward and for a brief moment she thought he was still alive. She jumped back and almost screamed.
It was in that moment that she knew Josh had been right. She was more afraid he was undead than sad that he was gone.
She knew he had been gone a long time now. And no amount of anger was going to change that. She pulled the plastic off his head and looked at his face. She sat down on the floor next to them.
“Mom, Dad, I love you. I am alive. I’m sorry I wasn’t there when you came but I don’t know if I would be here now if I had been. I came looking for you too. And I found you. I love you both so much. Thank you for everything you gave me.”
She sat on the floor and cried for a while. When she finished she reached over and pulled her father’s watch off his wrist. It was something she had given him on one of his birthdays when she was little. Her mother picked it out and had it engraved. “The Best Daddy a little girl could have. Love LOLO”. She strapped it on her wrist and stood.
“I love you both. Goodbye.” She turned and went out the door, closing it behind her.
She looked up to the top of the stairs and could see some light. The sun was starting to rise. She got to the top of the stairs and walked into the living room. She saw Josh still asleep in the recliner. She knelt down beside him and brushed his hair out of his eyes. They opened.
“I’m sorry.” She said.
He reached out and ran his hand through her hair and pulled her to his lips. She kissed him back.
“I’m sorry too. We should have come back sooner.” Josh said.
“I don’t think it would have mattered. I think this is what was supposed to happen. I need to believe that.” Lori said.
Jahda had awoken when Lori had first come down the stairs but she didn’t say anything. She lay there until she saw Lori come back out of the kitchen. She watched the moment the two of them shared with a silent smile. She wanted to jump up and say ‘See, told ya so’ but she restrained herself. She gave them another minute and then she rolled over and yawned loudly.
“Ohhh, that was a good sleep right there.” She said, announcing that she was awake. She turned and looked at the two of them and then at Devin on the floor. He was still flat of his back snoring hard. She sat up and kicked his feet.
“Wake up bitch.” She said. She rolled her feet up under her and sat up higher on the couch. She looked out the window to see the sun rise.
“Oh shit.” She said as she quickly ducked back down.
“Wake up Devin. Wake up right now.” She said as she kicked his feet in earnest. “Get down” She motioned to Lori and Josh as she slid off the couch onto the floor.
“What, what?” Devin said as he sat up on the floor.
“SHHHH” Jahda said.
“What?” Devin said in a harsh whisper.
“Outside. Slowly. Look outside.” Jahda said.
They all slowly looked over the couch. The sun hadn’t crossed over the horizon yet but the world was already brightening as it marched towards the sky. The grayness was giving over to whiteness and the outside world came into view. It was full of stringers. Sometime during the night a large crowd had gathered on the yard and it was still there wondering around. Some were right next to the window, their heads passing across the bottoms. Josh turned and looked out of the only other window he could see right now, the one in the mudroom door. He could see more stringers on that side of the house too.
“Shit.” Devin said.
“What do we do?” Lori asked.
“Can we get to the truck?” Josh asked.
Devin crawled over to the other side of the living room and looked down the hallway to the front door. He could see that several stringers had made their way up the steps and were now milling around the porch right outside the door. Through the sidelights it looked like the porch was full.
“Not that way.” Devin said as he crawled back.
“We can’t get through them?” Josh asked.
“Too many.” Devin said.
“So we’re stuck. Until they leave.” Lori said.
“They won’t leave. I promise you the ones by the house have already smelled us. That’s why they are so close. They won’t leave as long as they can smell us. And we can’t change our smell.” Jahda said.
“So what are you saying?” Josh asked.
“I’m saying that either we figure out a way out of here or this is where we will spend the rest of our short short lives. Once they figure out we are on the other side of that door, they’ll get inside.” Jahda said.
“I thought they couldn’t open doors.” Lori said.
“Yeah, but if enough of them are pushing against it, its going to collapse. If they get inside we are toast.” Devin said.
“Ok, look, really quietly we need to get upstairs. If they do get in they’ll have a harder time finding us. But if they see us moving it could set them off. So really slow and really quiet.” Jahda said.
They all crept as best they could to the stairs and quietly made their way up. They went into Lori’s room and looked out of the window onto the back yard. What had been an empty lawn twelve hours ago was now full of stringers. They went across the hall to her parent’s room and looked out of the window into the front yard. It was just as bad. Jahda looked down at the truck sitting in front of the garage. She had an idea.
“Lori, is there a room that has a window that we can get out onto the roof of the garage?” Jahda asked.
“Yeah, my bathroom window looks out over the garage. I used to climb out there sometimes.” Lori said as she began to understand part of the plan.
“Ok. So we can get out and get to the truck.”
“Yeah, but we won’t make it into the truck. There are a bunch of stringers around it. They probably smell us on it too.” Devin said.
“They’ll leave.” Jahda said.
“Why would they do that?” Josh asked.
“Because I am going to open the front door.” Jahda said.
Devin and Josh stood at the top of the stairs. Jahda was standing one step down. She looked down the hallway and could see shapes moving around the porch through the sidelights. She looked back up at Devin and Josh. Lori stood by the window in the bathroom waiting to do her part. She kept her eyes on the stringers around the truck.
“Ok folks, everyone ready?” She asked.
“I guess.” Devin said. He had his pistol in his hand.
“Yeah, let’s get this done.” Josh said. He had his out pistol too, an old army issue M9 from his father.
Jahda looked back down the stairs and then back up at them.
“Make sure you don’t shoot me when I come by.” Jahda said smiling at Devin.
“Not a chance.” He said smiling back.
She crept down the stairs and looked at the front door. She knew she had to move the chair out of the way to open the door but she hoped the sound and movement of her doing it would help with the plan. She turned back one more time.
“Well, here goes nothing.” She said as she walked down the last few stairs.
She reached the chair and started to grab the back. She looked out of the windows beside the door. They had seen her. The ones she could see were all turning and their mouths had started their methodical chomping. She didn’t spend too much time watching as she drug the chair away from the door. She could hear them on the other side, banging and scrapping. She heard the sound of glass breaking and looked into the living room. A stringer put its head through one the windows. It impaled its throat onto the broken glass and was stuck. It was hanging over the sill, black blood pouring onto the floor, mouth still chomping. She heard the door start to crack.
“Ok it’s time.” She yelled up to them.
The time for quiet was over. She stood in the middle of the foyer and reached for the door. She turned the deadbolt and the latch lock. She took a deep breath and reached for the door handle. She turned it in her hand and pulled the door open. The stringer on the other side of the door was surprised at first and just stared blankly at her. And then the others behind it began falling into the open space pushing the first one aside. The first one across the threshold was a woman. Her hair had burnt off along with most of the soft parts of her face. Her hands were a mix
ture of fingers and bones. Some of the fingers still had skin and muscle but some didn’t. They just hung between the others even when she reached out, because there was no tendon to straighten them.
Jahda shot her just over the right eye. The noise of the gun in the house was loud. Even louder than she had anticipated but noise was what she needed now.
“COME ON YOU FUCKERS. COME GET YA SOME DARK MEAT.” She yelled as she fired into the crowd cramming through the door.
She heard more glass breaking. Devin and Josh had come to the bottom of the stairs and could see into the kitchen. Stringers had started breaking the glass on the mudroom door. They could see them squeezing through. The jagged glass ripped into skin, slicing deep, but the stringer ignored it and kept crawling through.
“We’re running out of time.” Devin said. He yelled back up the stairs. “LORI, TALK TO ME.”
“Not yet.” She called down.
“Shit, this isn’t working.” Devin said.
Jahda was still standing in the foyer firing at faces as they appeared. She had almost blocked the door with bodies.
“COME ON. COME GET US.” She yelled again.
“COME ON. COME ON YOU DEAD MOTHER FUCKERS.” Devin yelled too.
Jahda started to back up towards the stairs as more of them came over the dam of the dead at the front door. Devin and Josh stood on the first few stairs waiting for her to get to them. She fired a few more times and backed up to them. The smell of gunpowder and rot filled the house.
“Ok. Now we just have to hold them off until we can go.” Jahda said turning to Devin and Josh.
They all aimed their pistols at the crowd filing through the door. They heard more glass breaking. They knew they were trying to come in from all sides now. They could see into the kitchen and the first one through the window was still hanging as the other piled against the door. They were pushing against the things lower back and legs while his arms and shoulders doubled over the broken window of the door. They were squeezing him like a tube of toothpaste and most of the rot inside was coming out his mouth and nose.