by Dziekan, PJ
♦
They were off just after dawn the next morning. Mick drove, Sarah rode shotgun with Bobby in the back. “We found this warehouse about six months ago,” Sarah explained to Bobby. “We tried our best to disguise it, make it look like it had already been looted. We were planning to come back to it.”
“Why didn’t you?”
“Things were a little tense when we left there. We got shot at. It wasn’t prudent to go back for it, so we didn’t. Besides, we were pretty well stocked anyway.” Sarah spotted a creature moving slowly through a field. “Getting low now and we still got a wait for the garden.”
“Thanks for taking me in and not leaving me there.”
“I was there for Ryan. You were a bonus.” She caught his eye and smiled.
“How’d you guys end up here, anyway? This place is just about perfect.”
Sarah let Mick tell the story. After all, it was his uncle’s place. She leaned back in the seat, enjoying the ride. It was still rural enough that there weren’t tons of bodies or vehicles clogging the road, just a few here and there that Mick steered around. Aside from the zombie roaming the field, she saw no others. She could almost believe she was out on a Sunday drive with her boyfriend until they passed a gas station burned to the ground, a few blackened husks that resembled humans sprawled on the ground.
“So, what’s your story, Bobby?”
“’Bout the same as everyone else’s.” He leaned back in his seat, folded his arms across his chest. “I was home when everything started. I – I was between jobs.” He let out a little laugh. “Actually, I was lazy and I didn’t want to look for a job. I was on the verge of getting evicted. When the reports started, I stayed inside and locked my doors. I didn’t leave my apartment for over a week, and only then because I was down to my last can of corn.
“As soon as I went outside, I was attacked by one of those things.” Bobby shuddered. “I only got away because it slipped in a pile of dog shit and fell. I ran until I couldn’t run anymore. Lived on the streets for a few days until a group of survivors found me. We gathered more and more until we were up to about 50 people. We had a nice camp in the woods, until a horde came through. A couple of us got away and we thought we found sanctuary in Sugar Creek.” He fell silent, the memories clouding his mind.
Mick looked over at Sarah, who shrugged. She still wasn’t good at the comfort giving. “Sorry about your friends,” she said.
“We’ve all lost people,” he said. “It’s the way of the world.”
The rest of the trip was silent, everyone contemplating what had been lost.
♦
The warehouse looked pretty much as they had left it, albeit a little duller, a little more desolate. Mick parked around the back, near to where they had parked on their first trip. They got out, weapons of choice in hand, and stared at the partially open back door.
“Well?” Mick asked Sarah.
“Let’s go.”
They walked to the door, Mick pointing at a badly decomposed body, barely recognizable as once being human. “See that?” He said to Bobby. “That one almost got me. Sarah killed it with a rock.”
Bobby looked at Sarah as she was rolling her eyes at Mick. “Seriously?”
“Yeah, and I should have let it chomp on his big head.” She bounded up the stairs, waiting in front of the door. “Skylights should let enough light in, but get your flashlights ready in case.” She banged her pipe on the barely open door and waited.
They could hear movement, fast sounds, not the slow steady thumps that usually meant zombies. Sarah waited another few minutes to be safe then pushed the door open with her pipe. She moved to walk in, but Mick pushed ahead of her, earning an exasperated sigh from Sarah. Bobby smiled apologetically as he motioned her in, following closely behind.
The warehouse had a distinctly animal smell. As they advanced deeper, Sarah saw why. The body they had dragged to the entrance was undisturbed, but the crackers she had scattered around it were gone. Animal tracks dotted the layers of dust on the floor. She could see boxes chewed open, nests made from the scraps. The smell of animal spoor was strong, making Sarah’s nose twitch.
“God, it stinks in here!” Mick said, waving his hand in front of his face.
“Let’s just hope they didn’t get into everything.” Sarah moved past the body, deeper into the warehouse where they hid the food.
The only thing left untouched by the animals that made the warehouse their home was the canned goods. The critters had chewed through the boxes, moving onto easier pickings once they encountered the metal cans. They carried the torn boxes carefully to the Jeep, Sarah moaning the loss of the crackers, the pudding cups, the plastic bottles of juice, the precooked bacon. But they did manage to fill the Jeep with canned goods from vegetables to dried beef to evaporated milk.
“This’ll do for a while,” Sarah said, looking at the back of the Jeep riding low from the supplies stacked in the back.
“Can’t we fit more?’ Bobby asked. “In the back seat?”
“You’ll be the one sitting with it,” Sarah said. “Are you OK with that?”
“Yeah, it’s fine. I just think we should get as much as we can.”
“Good man.” Mick clapped him on the back. “Let’s go get more tomatoes. Sarah loves them.”
She stuck her tongue out at him and he laughed. She scanned the parking lot before she followed the guys back in. “It’s odd not seeing many zombies. Usually there’s at least a few hanging around.”
“Weather probably took a lot of them out,” Mick said to her as he grabbed two cases of canned peas.
“I guess,” she said. She picked up a case of vegetable soup. “Just seems odd.”
♦
They got back to the farm close to lunch time. Everyone stopped what they were doing to see what they had brought back. In celebration of the good haul, they had an early lunch. Just as they were eating their dessert of cinnamon apples, the sensor by the old logging trail went off.
“I’ll go,” Dylan said. “It’s probably nothing. That damn sensor’s been going nuts lately.”
“Don’t expect me to save you any dessert,” Sarah said with a smile.
“Yeah, but I won’t have to unload the Jeep,” he answered. Sarah laughed as he walked away.
Sarah, Bobby and Donna started unloading the Jeep, while the others scattered to various tasks. They stacked the cases of cans in the barn in a haphazard fashion, planning to inventory when they had finished. The Jeep was half empty when Sarah spotted Dylan coming back, moving fast. “What was it, a skunk?” She called, a case of pears in her hands and a smile on her face. When she saw the fear in his eyes as he drew closer, her smile faded. “What is it? What’s wrong?”
“There’s a horde coming down the hill.”
“What?” She nearly dropped the case of pears.
“I couldn’t see the end of them. I took out the lead couple, but we’ll never get them all.” “How long ‘til they’re here?”
“Ten minutes, maybe.”
A child’s scream pierced the air. The pears fell from her hands as Sarah ran. Lily was standing beside the barn, hands in front of her face. An emaciated zombie, naked except for a pair of shorts, was advancing towards her. “Run!” Sarah screamed as she ran at the creature, hitting it low and taking it down. She rolled away from it, stumbling to her feet. She drew back to kick the zombie, but Dylan was already there, stomping his boot on the zombie’s skull, his foot going through the weakened bone, squirting black blood and brains on the ground.
“Ten minutes?” Sarah asked, her chest heaving.
“That didn’t come from the logging trail,” Dylan said. “Wrong direction.”
“Fuck.” Sarah turned and saw Mick and Ryan.
“What the fuck?” Mick asked.
“We have to go,” Sarah said. “Now. Start throwing supplies in the cars.” She walked quickly to the front of the barn.
“What? Why?” Ryan followed.
“Horde coming in the logging trail. Dylan says we got maybe ten minutes.”
“What was that, then?” Ryan asked, pointing at the dead zombie.
“We got a sensor down.” Sarah rounded the barn and saw everyone standing there, Lily being comforted by Julianne. “Probably the ridge path with the bad battery.”
“Shit.” Ryan shook his head. “I should have fixed that.”
“Too late now,” Sarah muttered. “Listen up!” She called to the group. All eyes focused on her. “There’s a horde coming. Start loading food, water, whatever. We’re leaving in in five minutes. Whatever we don’t have, we do without.”
Everyone scattered except Julianne and Lily, who was still crying. Sarah walked to Julianne. “You keep the kids together, OK?”
Julianne nodded, her eyes wide with fear. Sarah darted across the yard and ran up the porch, passing Donna and April carrying boxes and bags from the house. “Mikey, Elizabeth, Christa, take your stuff out and stay with Julianne.” She didn’t wait for an answer as she headed to the cabinet where they kept the guns. In one motion, she opened the doors and reached for one of the 9s, grabbing a box of ammo with her other hand. She tucked the gun in her waistband and reached for a shotgun with a loop of rope in the trigger guard. She hung the rope around her neck, shoving her hand through, leaving the shotgun to hang by her side. With no wasted motion, she cracked the breach and loaded the gun, snapping it shut and letting it drop. She reached for the black fanny pack tucked in the back. She unzipped it and dumped ammo inside, for the 9mm and the shotgun. She clipped it around her waist, twisting it so that it lay on the hip opposite the shotgun.
Ryan appeared next to her. He armed himself, dumping the few remaining guns and ammo into an old Army duffel. “We only got a couple minutes,” he panted, slightly out of breath. “Mick just killed another one behind the house.”
Her heart in her throat, she ran outside to see frenzied activity. Food, water, other supplies were being thrown into the backs of the vehicles with no thought to organization. She grabbed her pipe from where it rested next to the front door and searched the frantically moving bodies. She didn’t see Mick or Becca. She had to trust they were okay.
She headed to the barn, hauling cases of food that she had just unloaded from the Jeep, dumping them inside, going back for more. All the while, she kept her eyes peeled for trouble, her pipe close at hand. The scream had her tossing the case of water, bottles scattering in the back of the Jeep. She grabbed her pipe as she ran around the barn.
The kids were pressed against the wall of the barn, each clutching a small bag of treasures they couldn’t bear to leave behind. Julianne was in front of them, a piece of wood in her hands. She was yelling as she pushed it toward the pair of zombies advancing on her and the children. Sarah was fumbling to get the gun from her waistband when Julianne let out a primal scream and charged the closest one, tackling it to the ground. She scrambled to get back to her feet, but not before the second zombie pounced on her back, his teeth tearing into her neck.
Sarah’s scream and Julianne’s sounded as one. Sarah aimed the gun, but their heads were too close. She was afraid to hit Julianne. Does it even matter? A dark voice in her head spoke up. Sarah shook the thought out of her head and ran up to the tangle of bodies. She put the gun against the head of the zombie on the ground, ignoring its snapping teeth as she fired. As soon as she pulled the trigger, she moved the gun to the other zombie, the one who was chewing on Julianne’s flesh. She fired, blood and brains splattering Julianne, who lay on the ground moaning.
“Oh, fuck.” The shots she had fired had attracted the attention of half a dozen zombies. They were all shuffling forward, their moans a cacophony of sounds.
She looked down, saw Julianne’s eyes open, staring at nothing. Biting back a sob, she put the gun to her forehead and fired. Lily’s scream startled her and her head flew up to see the four of them huddled against the barn. “Let’s go!” She grabbed Elizabeth’s hand, trusting the others to follow.
“You killed her!” Lily sobbed.
Sarah didn’t respond. What could she say? She prodded the kids ahead of her, glancing over her shoulder at the approaching creatures.
They came around the barn to see zombies surrounding the cars. Ryan, Dylan, Dominic, Michelle and Jack were holding them off while April, Donna, Steven and Bobby finished loading the vehicles. She brought her pipe up one handed and thrust it at a zombie just a few feet away, staying between the approaching horde and the kids. “Christa, get the kids to the cars. Lock yourselves in.” She barely heard the teen’s murmured reply as she smashed another skull, the creature dropping at her feet.
“Ryan!” She yelled. “Where’s Mick? Becca?”
Ryan pushed a female zombie away with his bat, pulled the pistol from his waist and shot her in the face. “I don’t know!”
“Shit.” Sarah glanced behind her, saw the area free of zombies. She pulled the gun from her waistband and ran towards the house, calling for Mick and Becca.
CHAPTER NINETEEN
Sarah slammed through the front door of the house. It was empty but for the scattered items they were leaving behind. Her footsteps echoed as she moved through the house to the back door. She ran out, seeing Becca in the garden, frantically pulling plants and dumping them into a bucket. “Becca, let’s go!” Sarah bounded down the steps and ran towards the garden, sidestepping a slow child zombie.
She was at Becca’s side in seconds, pulling the younger girl’s arm. “Come on!”
“I just wanted to get some fresh plants,” Becca panted as she began to run with Sarah, the bucket slapping her leg. “Who knows if we can grow them again?”
“Did you see Mick?”
“Out back, getting propane tanks.”
“Get to the cars, I’ll get him.” Sarah ran through the neat rows of the garden, crushing tiny plants underfoot as she headed to the back of the house where the propane tanks were connected. Mick was disconnecting the small tanks from the main hook-up. He seemed oblivious to the zombie approaching his back. She opened her mouth to scream a warning when he grabbed his bat from the ground and stood, taking the creature out when it was merely a foot away.
“Mick! Let’s go!”
His head whipped around and he saw her. Despite the madness around them, he grinned. He dropped the bat and lifted a propane tank in each hand. He jogged over to where she stood. “Got some!”
“You have no weapon, ass.” She stuck the pistol back in her waistband, her flesh getting raw from the scraping metal. She grabbed the rope holding the shotgun and pulled it over her head, stringing it over Mick’s.
“My old pal.” He set a tank down, fixing the gun so it lay against his hip.
With a slight smile, she shook her head. “Come on.”
They ran past the garden, Sarah seeing Becca at the far end, still pulling plants. “Becca!”
Becca looked up and waved, pulling one more plant before she started towards them. She didn’t see the zombie lying on the path until she tripped over it, her bucket flying, plants scattering. The creature grabbed her leg, his rotten teeth sinking easily into the meat of her calf.
“Becca!” Sarah screamed in horror. Pulling the gun, she ran across the garden, aiming at the tall suit clad zombie heading for the squirming food on the ground. She missed, the bullet hitting its shoulder, knocking it face first on the ground inches from Becca’s thrashing body. It reached for her hand, the delicate bones snapping under the force of its bite. Becca’s scream pierced the air.
With a roar, Sarah kicked the creature feasting on Becca’s leg, flipping it off the girl, its teeth pulling a last thread of meat from her leg. Sarah put a bullet in its eye, then one in the forehead of the taller zombie. She dropped to her knees, turning Becca to her back. “Come on, we have to go.”
“No, Sarah.” Becca’s voice was tight with pain. “I’m not going anywhere.”
“Becca, please.” The tears were flowing freely down Sarah’s cheeks.
“Thank you, Sarah, for being there for me.”
Sarah touched Becca’s cheek, tracing the same path her tears were taking. “I’m so sorry. I should never have left you. I should –”
“No, Sarah. Don’t blame yourself.” Becca winced. “I can feel it. It hurts.”
“Oh, Becca, I’m so sorry.”
“Please, Sarah. I – I hate to ask…”
Sarah sobbed. She had been faced with this before. But now, she knew she couldn’t let it happen. Not to Becca. “Of course, Becca,” she whispered. She brought the gun up from her side.
Becca’s eyes slipped closed. “Thank you, Sarah.”
Sarah aimed the gun at her friend’s head. She vaguely heard Mick calling her name. She closed her eyes and pulled the trigger.
“Oh, God, Becca!” Mick was right behind her.
Her eyes still closed, gun held loosely in her fingers, resting on her thigh, tears leaking under her lashes, cutting through the dirt and blood stains on her cheeks, Sarah cried.
“We have to go, Sarah,” Mick said softly. He took her arm and pulled her to a standing position. She opened her eyes and saw Becca on the ground. Hurriedly, she closed them again, not wanting a bloody corpse to be the last memory of her friend. She tightened her grip on the gun, turned in place and opened her eyes again. She began to walk, ignoring the zombies reaching for her. She stopped to pick up Becca’s bucket, a couple dozen plants pitifully strewn about the bottom then continued on. One creature got close enough to brush its skeletal fingers across her sleeve, but she ignored it. Mick swung the propane tank, knocking it to its back, where it floundered like a turtle, trying to rise up again.
They came around the house and paused for a second to take in the chaos in front of them. Dylan was grappling with a zombie. Ryan was shooting those who got too close to the front of the vehicles. Dominic, Jack and Michelle were fighting them off with bats, tire irons, even Sarah’s trusty pipe, whatever was within reach. April had found her nail-studded bat and she was guarding the Ford where the kids were huddled.