“Why not? She’s been doing great.”
“Just…just make sure you think with the right head ok?”
“Whatever dude.”
I shook my head as he walked back to the construction site. I looked at my watch, realizing that Sarah and the group should be back by now. The work had distracted me, and now I was starting to worry that something had gone wrong. “Hey Michael,” I called out.
“Yeah?”
“You’re in charge. Keep ’em working.”
“Where are you going?”
“Don’t worry about it. I’ll be right back,” I said before heading to the garage. I opened the door and backed the bike out. I climbed on, started the engine and took off. I had no pack, no helmet, just my one pistol, and a knife, but I felt compelled to leave right away. I got to the end of the driveway and turned towards town. I had a gut feeling that something had gone wrong.
Fortunately, I was wrong, and when I got about two miles from the house, I saw the two trucks coming down the road. I slowed and came to a stop on the side of the road to wait for them. They saw me and slowed when they got close. Sarah was driving the lead truck, and she rolled her window down, “What the hell are you doing down here? Is everything ok?”
“Yeah, everything’s just fine.”
“Ok, then why are you here?”
“I…Uh I was just going for a ride,” I said lamely.
She glared at me, “You were coming to check on me weren’t you?”
“Of course not.” Her glare intensified. “Ok, you were gone for a long time. I just wanted to make sure.”
“You’ll never change will you?”
“No, probably not.”
“I’ll see you at home,” she said before driving away.
“Ok,” I muttered to myself as the second truck drove past. I turned my bike around and raced to catch up to the trucks.
Back up at the house, I climbed off my bike as they were opening the back of their trucks. They were filled with uniform stacks of boards stacked on top of sheets of plywood. Sarah looked at me smugly, “So, how’d I do?”
“Looks great,” I said walking the bike past her and into the garage.
“You sure?”
“Of course. I never doubted you.”
“So why did you come after us?”
“Just concerned that you might have gotten lost. I know you have a crappy sense of direction,” I smiled.
“Oh, whatever.”
I turned my attention to Jason “Hey, you want to get the guys. They’re digging out back, and I’m pretty sure they’d love to have a break from it, even if it means unloading the trucks.”
“Yeah sure,” he said walking to the back.
Once he was gone, I turned back to Sarah, “So why did you take so long?”
“We ran into a little trouble,” she said casually.
“What’s a little trouble?” I asked seriously.
“There might have been a Walker or two in the hardware store,” she said trying to brush it off like it wasn’t a big deal.
“What!?” I said loudly, “Where did they come from?”
“I don’t really know,” she said honestly.
“Is everyone ok?”
“Oh yeah. Carrie’s a little shaken up, but she’s fine. They went after her first, so she got the biggest shock.”
“That’s good,” I mumbled as I started thinking, How are they still mobile? Why aren’t they mush by now? “What were they like?” I asked.
“What do you mean?”
“How did they look?”
“Um, dead.”
“Well yeah, but were they really decayed? How did they move? Were they fast or slow?”
She frowned as she thought before speaking, “I wasn’t really paying attention to them at the time, but they were definitely moving fast. I mean, not human fast but fast for something that’s supposed to be dead and decaying. And now that you mention it they didn’t look as decayed as they should be.”
“What the fuck?” I said breathlessly.
“What?”
“Well, they should be goo by now. They shouldn’t be able to walk let alone get the drop on you. What is going on?”
“I don’t know, but I think it might be a good idea to keep quiet about it. Wouldn’t want to scare the others,” she said as the group approached the trucks.
“Yeah sure,” I said barely comprehending what she’s said. I spent the entire time thinking about the Walkers, operating on autopilot. About how they could still be intact and mobile. Maybe it has something to do with the bacteria or virus or whatever turned them in the first place, I thought as I carried a rather large board into the garage. I began breaking down what we knew about the infected and what I knew about science and science-fiction. It would make sense if it were a virus. The main objectives of a virus are to infect, duplicate and retransmit. The infection is simple. Any contact with blood or saliva, and assuming any other bodily fluids, can cause infection. The rate of infection depends on the location of initial contact. Duplication in this instance is the virus infecting every cell in the body. This infection is what presumably kills the individual. Retransmission is the special factor when dealing with this virus if it as a virus. To spread, the carrier or Walker must share fluids with a healthy individual. For the carrier to achieve its task, it must remain mobile, indicating the reanimate properties of the virus. Now if the virus could mutate to keep the host intact and mobile longer, then it would become more effective at spreading. The only problem is that mutation takes time. So, I thought, how could a virus mutate this fast? I dwelt on this question the rest of the time spent unloading the truck as well as the time spent resting inside and reached only one possible conclusion. That the virus, if that is what it was, was both man-made and had multiple strains. This conclusion was chilling. “We did this to ourselves,” I muttered.
“Did what?” Sarah asked.
“Huh?” I said surfacing from my thoughts.
“You’ve spent the last hour or so staring into space, and just a second ago you said we did this to ourselves. What are you thinking about? What did we do?”
“Nothing,” I said shaking my head, “Just…nothing.”
“No, tell me.”
“It’s not important now.”
“James,” she said in a warning tone.
“Ok, ok. I was thinking about what you said about the Walkers you ran into.”
“About how they shouldn’t be able to move anymore?”
“Yeah, and I came up with an answer that’s not very comforting.”
“What is it?”
“Well…” I told her everything that I had been thinking, explain the functions of a virus and how I assumed this one worked. I was sure she knew how a virus worked and didn’t need me to tell her but she let me go on and explain everything anyway. Finally, I told her that the only logical explanation was that the virus was man-made and that there were at least two strains of it.
“You mean we destroyed ourselves?” she said quietly.
“It makes sense,” I said, my thoughts turning darker. “When empires grow too large something happens to quell them. It happens all the time. The Mayan Empire, Genghis Khan, Rome. They were all powerful empires before they collapsed. Maybe the human race just got too big, became too smart, too arrogant. It’s not something I’d like to agree with, but it does make sense.”
She shook her head before resting it on my chest. “That’s just…insane. Who could have created the virus? How did it get out?”
“I don’t know who could have invented it but it getting out is a little simpler to understand. Maybe someone who worked on the project became infected. Maybe someone tried to sell a sample of it to another country, and it got free in transport. It could have been any number of things really.”
“I just can’t believe that we could have done this to ourselves, even by accident.”
“I don’t want to believe it either, but I can’t think of anythin
g else and man, would I like someone to blame.”
She laughed at that, “Not like it would do anything.”
“No, but it would make me feel better.”
“Here, maybe this will make you feel better,” she said before giving me a quick kiss.
I smiled, “Yeah, I think I’m getting there.”
Another two days passed without incident, but then we had a few things that rocked the boat. The first happened around lunch. The dog that had made it a habit to get breakfast at our place had started coming around for lunch as well. I would throw a few handfuls of canned chicken and a few slices of beef jerky over the side of the fence and watch as it ate it all. Then I would go back to work on whatever project needed my attention. We had begun the upgrades in the fence, beginning with the flimsiest areas, and had started to reinforce the entrance and sides to the storage. That is what I was doing when the first incident occurred. Everyone was outside enjoying the calm weather. Most of us were working, but a few were having fun, mainly Liz and Michelle, they were running around, playing catch and making little crown things out of flowers. I warned Michelle that she needed to behave and watch out for all the work that was being done around her. She said she would be careful before racing off and nearly running into Matt who was carrying a heavy wood plank. I shook my head and turned my attention back to my work. Later I vaguely heard Liz call out that she was heading into the house for a minute to grab something and that Michelle would still be outside. I grunted in acknowledgment but barely paid any attention to what she actually said.
What happened next happened so fast that I had little to no time to react. The first thing I heard was a loud, concussive bark. I looked up to see the dog, which hadn’t been there a moment ago because I had already fed it, barreling towards the fence. I watched as, with one giant leap, it planted its front two paws on the top of the fence and hauled its thick body up and over. I could see its muscles ripple as it landed on the grass and continue along a path that led it straight towards Michelle who was suddenly frozen with fear and holding a large yellow ball. Now because of the number of accidents I’ve seen I often see dozens of possible scenarios when something bad could happen. Like when a small baby is about to fall, I see it hitting its head on the coffee table, falling backward to hit its head, getting hurt somehow by someone rushing to its aid, and I come up with a way to handle the situation after the accident occurs. Now what I saw if that bug dog collided with Michelle was not pretty. Every scenario was bloody and life-threatening for both Michelle and the dog. In the brief milliseconds that I had before the dog made contact, I came up with no way to help or save her. If that dog wanted her dead it would get its way, and I had no way to stop it, but I had to try. I dropped the wood siding that I had been helping to fit through the entrance of the storage, pulled my gun and began aiming it and was about to pull the trigger when two things happened that changed the situation entirely. The first was that the dog knocked Michelle to her back and was instantly on top of her, stopping me from shooting just in case I hit her instead. The second was that I heard no scream of pain or terror, no, I heard laughter. A loud and happy giggle came from Michelle who was still pinned by the dog. It wasn’t mauling her, it was licking her. My arm holding the gun dropped to my side as she gently pushed the dog off of her and stood to pet it.
“Oh my God,” yelled Sarah as she watched what had happened.
“Shit,” muttered a few of the guys.
I couldn’t believe my eyes. The big dog that hadn’t let me get near it was now sitting diligently next to Michelle while she pet every inch of it, laughing. She then wrapped her arms around its thick neck and gave it a hug.
“What the hell is going on?” asked Sarah.
“There…there supposed to be great with kids,” I said dazed, “I just didn’t think this great,” I said holstering my gun and walking over to the two playmates. When I got within five feet of the pair the dog let out a deep growl, halting me in my tracks.
“Hey, stop that,” Michelle chastised the big canine. To my further surprise, the dog did exactly what she ordered and sat quietly panting.
“Michelle honey, why don’t you come over here,” I said gesturing to my side.
“Don’t worry James. He won’t hurt you.”
I took a tentative step towards the dog and wasn’t greeted by the familiar growl. It just looked at me with intelligent eyes. Eyes that said he’d only do what Michelle ordered.
I shook my head knelt next to the big dog. I looked at his round tag hanging from his collar and read his name. “Bear huh,” I said scratching his head as his ear perked at his own name. “Well Bear, welcome to the family. It’s ok everyone. Come on over, he’s not going to hurt anyone.” They were cautious but soon realized that if Michelle was petting the big animal, they could too.
We were all gathered around Bear when Liz emerged from the house carrying a glass of something. She took one look at the dog and us and asked, “Ok, what’d I miss?” I couldn’t help but laugh and was soon joined by the rest. Our laughter was complimented by Bears powerful barks which soon quieted us down. “No seriously,” Liz said, “What happened?”
We quickly explained what had happened and I reassured Liz as her face grew pale that it wasn’t her fault. I introduced her to Bear and asked Michelle if she could get a bed ready for him in the laundry room. “But can’t he sleep with me?” she asked.
“Not yet honey. First, he needs to get used to all of us and we have to make sure he’s safe, plus he needs a bath, don’t you think?”
“Yeah I guess he is kind of stinky,” she said glumly.
The rest of the day passed without any trouble from Bear. That night, however, I was greeted with another unexpected visitor. After dinner, we all took our customary seats in the living room to relax, tell stories and have a drink or two. I wasn’t all that interested in socializing because I was exhausted. My muscles hurt from working and my shoulder was just killing me. I sat with my second glass of whiskey dangling from my loose grip. I think I might have fallen asleep once or twice while everyone was still up. As it grew later, I grew more tired and was ready to pass out. Everyone seemed to have the same idea as me, and they began departing to find comfort in their own beds. “Come on James,” urged Sarah, “Let’s go to bed.”
Maybe it was the alcohol or just the exhaustion, but I was very comfortable where I was. “You go ahead. I’ll be there in just a second.”
“You sure?”
“Yeah beautiful,” I said giving her a half-lidded smile, “I’ll be right there.”
“Ok, don’t be too long. I don’t think I can wait up for very long,” she yawned.
“I won’t,” I said sleepily. I was. Before I knew it, I was out right there in my chair. The glass slipped from my hand and spilled its meager contents on the carpet. I wasn’t asleep long, or at least I didn’t think I was, either way, I was awoken in a puzzling way. Someone was sitting in my lap, and I was being kissed. My first thought was that Sarah had come back to get me and was having a little fun at my expense. But then through the sleepy haze, I began noticing things. Sarah didn’t smell like Sarah, she didn’t smell like mint, she smelt like strawberries. And the lips, they felt wrong. Realization dawned on me, and I shoved whoever was on top of me off and onto the floor. They let out a small, startled yip and I stood angrily, “What the fuck do you think you’re doing?” I whispered coldly into the dark.
Chapter 21
The form on the ground rose and stood close to me into the dark. “Oh come on James,” she purred, “I saw the way you looked at me when I was flirting with your brother. I know you want me.”
She leaned in, and I pushed her back, “Jasmine, I don’t know what you’re talking about. You need to leave now.”
She just couldn’t take a hint, even one as obvious as for leave, and moved closer to me again. This time, her voice was less airy and more forceful, “I know you want it,” she said putting a hand on my chest and sliding it downward.
Anger flooded through me, and I put a stop to what she was doing right away. My anger coupled with the knowledge of who this girl used to be acquainted with caused me to overreact a little. I could have grabbed her arm, pushed her away, stepped to the side or any number of things but I wanted to scare her, stop her from trying this shit again. I raised my hand slowly and placed it on her shoulder, she laughed a little probably thinking that I was giving in, but that laughed was quickly silenced as my hand moved from her shoulder to her slender throat and I squeezed. Her hands flew from me and up to my wrist. She grabbed at my arm, but I tightened my grip as she struggled more. I could imagine that her eyes were wide and panic filled by my reaction. “I don’t know who you think you are but you’re way off,” I growled. “Now you have two choices, either I squeeze until you pass out and I leave you here lying on the ground,” She shook her head as violently as she could with my hand around her neck, “or I let go and you leave me the fuck alone.” She nodded, and I let go.
She gasped and massaged her neck, “Are you fucking crazy?” she whispered harshly.
“No, just pissed off.”
“What are you going to do?” she asked in a scared voice as I turned my back to her and made my way towards my room.
“Me?” I said pausing and looking back to where she stood in the dark. I laughed darkly, “It’s not me you have to worry about. It’s Sarah you should look out for,” I said before walking into my room and locking the door. I climbed into bed with Sarah and thought about what I was going to say, how I was going to say it. Hey, I thought, Just so you know Jasmine kissed me. No big deal right? I sighed and ran a hand down my face. So first we find out that the Walkers are still up and kicking, then a dog ‘attacks’ Michelle and now I’ve got a crazy chick after me. Talk about your complicated week. I almost laughed out loud at the ridiculousness of the situation. Nothing could just be simple. I mean I could handle the Walkers, they were just part of life now. Can you believe I was one of those guys that actually wanted something like this to happen? But now that it was a reality it wasn’t so cool anymore. What really got me wasn’t the end of the world, wasn’t the killer dog that had suddenly become protective of Michelle. No, it was the fact that I finally had the girl of my dreams and then a crazy chick has to show up and try to fuck everything up. It was just inconceivable. I shook my head slowly and pushed the ridiculous thoughts out of my head and smiled. It felt good to be in my bed next to Sarah. I kept some distance from her, though, it felt odd to be too close to her after that little encounter. I didn’t want to kiss her so soon after being kissed by Jasmine. I finally fell asleep to the sound of Sarah’s soft breathing.
Survivors Series (Book 2): Heroes Never Die Page 25