by S. B. Poe
The Potter’s Field
Book 6
The Marionette Zombie Series
SB Poe
Copyright
© 2019 SB Poe
All rights reserved.
For all of you on this journey with me, thank you.
For all of you who cheer me on, thank you.
To my wife and kids. Love you
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.
The Potter’s Field
Evan and Amber
3
1
And Then it Rained
13
2
Finders Keepers
34
3
A Helluva Plan
54
4
The Old World
81
5
In the Light of Day
91
6
The Sound of Darkness
101
7
Hiding in Plain Sight
114
8
From the Inside Out
130
9
A Faint Reflection
141
10
By the Side of the Road
153
“Forgive me, I’ve created a monster.”
Standing at the Threshold-Deer Tick
Prologue
Evan and Amber
“What the hell is that?” Evan leaned forward in the passenger seat.
“Looks like a dog. Maybe a coyote?” Amber said.
“What is it eating?” He asked turning to watch it pass by the open window.
“Why, making ya hungry?” Amber laughed.
“I’ll pass.” He turned back towards her. “For now.”
During the winter they had shared a meal in front of a fireplace in an abandoned house and over a burn barrel inside a warehouse. When there was no place for a fire and no food they had huddled together on the floor of some musty church. The last place they stayed smelled like horseshit but it was out of the wind. The past few days of warm weather was a welcome change. Driving along a country road with the windows down was the closest thing to normal they had felt in months.
Evan Ellis and Amber Wilcox worked in non-adjacent cubicles in a medium sized mortgage firm in Huntsville. They didn’t know each other when they started but after working in the same building for a few years they could probably pick the other one out of a lineup if they had too. Evan had been a jock from some hick town in Tennessee, as he constantly would tell the revolving door of receptionists. Amber had interned at a very prestigious investment bank during her junior year. When they, and everyone else she ever dreamed of working for, told her they weren’t hiring she took the first job she was offered that made enough money to cover her rent and student loans. Eating would be optional.
The jockstrap hadn’t interned anywhere except the country club where her boss and the jockstrap’s daddy had a standing golf game every Thursday, rain or shine. She told herself she didn’t resent that. She also told herself that he wasn’t that cute and that processing mortgages was only temporary. Two years later, while trying to close the Anderson mortgage, the world fell apart. Amber had reluctantly offered Evan a ride back to his house. The roadblocks prevented them from getting there so they drove to her house to figure out what to do. They watched the news together in her kitchen. They viewed in horror the things that had just been internet rumors a day ago. Every shot the same except for the location. Panic, fire, smoke and the dead. Lots of the dead. She looked at Evan and saw the shock in his eyes too. At that moment she was glad that she wasn’t alone. They were still together when the National Guard knocked on the door the next night to tell them to leave.
The road flares gave everything a pinkish glow. They would flicker as the soldiers walked between them. She could see a bunch of soldiers. Most were watching the drivers of the line of cars stopped at the checkpoint but there were some that weren’t. They were watching the darkness. Amber was watching them. Evan reached down and fumbled with the radio but every station was basically replaying the VP’s speech from the day before. Most of the dial was just static. He reached up and put the shifter into park and looked over at Amber.
“It’s going to be morning soon. It’ll be better when the sun comes up.” He said.
“Why?” She said without turning her head towards him.
“I don’t know. It can’t be worse.”
“Don’t say that.” Amber said.
“What?”
“It can’t be worse. Because it can. You saw those videos. Those things are out there.” She said, her breath fogging the window.
The flash to her right was followed almost instantly by the crack of the rifle. Another flash and crack. Then several more. She twisted her head around to look out the back but the glow of the flares obscured her view. She turned to the side as one of the soldiers backed into the car. He slid around to the front and kept backing away. She looked into the darkness. The dead came from the shadows. She started to scream. Evan wrapped his hand around her mouth and pulled her down. He reached back and fumbled for the switch to roll up the windows and lock the doors. He heard other screams and engines starting. He turned back towards her as he heard the crunch of metal and chaos fill the night. They ducked down as low as they could, their heads towards each other in the space between the seats. Soon the sounds of screams and engines died away to be replaced by the sound of the dead. The car rocked as the infected bumped against it and each time it did he could hear a little whimper escape from her clenched lips, the glow flickering as they passed by.
They stayed that way until the flickering stopped and the glow died away. When the sun climbed into the sky they raised their heads to see. The smoke from the flares still lingered, wrapping around the figure standing in front of the car. Amber could see the ashen skin and the tiny blue veins of its cheeks as it slowly walked down the side of the car. Her eyes followed it as it passed by. She was afraid to turn her head. A minute passed and Evan reached down and started the car. He crossed over the median. There was no one to stop him. The first place he could get off the interstate he did. They saw more of the dead. He tried to drive until they didn’t.
They moved south for a while. They found some places with the living and some places with the dead. Most places had a little of both. They managed to find a warehouse complex just outside of South Springs. Other people were there too but they left. Others came and left. At some point, Amber and Evan left too. Trusting people became harder so the living drifted apart. Finding a new place to stay dry and only having to deal with the dead became easier. They trusted each other. But no one else. They were survivors.
“I think we should turn around.” Evan said.
“Why?”
“I don’t know. That dog was bad mojo, I guess.”
“Really?” Amber said.
“Really.”
“Ok.” She said.
She reached down and grabbed the handbrake and whipped the wheel hard to the left. The car screeched about halfway around and stopped.
“What the hell?” Evan said as his hands reached for the roof to steady himself.
“Always wanted to try that.” Amber said. “I guess you have to be going faster.”
“Let’s not find out.” Evan said.
“Don’t be a little girl.” Amber said smiling. She touched the gas pedal and completed the reversal. They rode by the dog again and then by the little post office they had called home for a few weeks.
; “This way ok?” Amber asked, as she turned west.
“Fine. But if you see a another dog eating someone’s leg, all bets are off.” Evan said.
During the winter the little cracks in the pavement sprouted small patches of clover when the sun warmed the dark asphalt. Now that the first mornings of spring had arrived the road was full of green. Every crack exploded with life denied by those traversing their way to work or home. No more work and no more home Evan thought as he watched the setting sun play hide and seek behind the trees dotting the side of the road.
Twisting and turning deeper into nothingness, they followed the black ribbon towards nowhere. This was the way it was now. The world had fallen apart and every little piece seemed odd and unfamiliar. The shadows of what was loomed over the cityscapes they visited and the reality of what is shuffled in the darkness below. They avoided cities now.
Evan held his arm out of the open window and felt the raindrops hit his skin. He tilted his head skyward. Amber was watching Evan as they rounded the curve. She looked just in time to see the road ahead full of the dead. She swerved hard trying to avoid it but there were too many. She plowed into the horde before she had time to move her foot the inch and half to the left and tap the brake. The car careened into the crowd, rotting bodies slamming into the windshield like bugs. The glass shattered and Amber finally screamed. The car spun around and hit the guardrail, pinning one of the rotters against Evan’s door. As it flipped over the guardrail, the rotter trapped between the railing and Evan’s still open window was ripped apart, covering Evan and Amber in guts and blood. The car landed on its roof and stopped.
Evan opened his eyes and looked over at Amber. The steering wheel had taken half her face off and the bloody tongue lolled through the hole in the front of her jaw. Startled, he drew a sharp breath. The pain raced through his ribs and he winced as the seatbelt dug deeper into his shoulder. He didn’t know if Amber was alive or dead. Her eyes were closed and she wasn’t moving. Blood ran up her face and dripped from the tip of her nose. Evan followed it as it landed on the roof. He was trying to figure out why everything was upside down when he heard hundreds of shuffling footsteps closing in. He shut his eyes against what came next.
1
And Then it Rained
The fog hung low across the ground, filling the voids with cottony vapor. Limbs and branches jutted skyward through the mist. Stumps of all sizes stood sentinel in every direction. Tilly leaned on the fence watching as the hazy orange ball in the distance slowly climbed through the mist on the other side of the tree line. She heard the low rumble behind her. She turned to see the outline of the clouds in the distance, coming to turn the brightening sky dark again. She walked to the saloon. She stood at the door for just a second, letting the night end. As she stepped inside she heard Martin talking.
“So you don’t mind?” Martin asked.
“Not at all. There’s plenty.” Cameron said.
She leaned the shotgun against the wall and took off her coat.
“Plenty?” Martin asked.
“Surprisingly I found coffee everywhere. Houses, schools, businesses. Coffee and those little bottles of hand sanitizer. Not really worried about keeping my hands too clean now but it does come in handy to start a fire.” Cameron said.
Tilly walked over to the bar. Evelyn and Scott were listening to the conversation too. The door swung open as Raj came in and sat down at the table next to Martin. Tilly joined him.
“Any problems last night?” Raj asked as she sat down.
“Not a peep.” Tilly said smiling.
“Do you have many of the dead?” Cameron asked.
“At times a few but not a lot. We just get the wanderers. The woods walkers.” Tilly said.
“Nothing like the early days. They were everywhere back then.” Scott said.
“They’re still out there. Somewhere I’m sure.” Evelyn added.
“They are indeed.” Cameron said.
“Seen a lot of them out there?” Tilly asked.
“At times.” Cameron said. “Some places are worse than others.”
“Like where?” Scott asked.
Cameron sat up a little straighter in his chair. The morning sun came through the windows and lit the room. He quickly cast his eye about and realized everyone had leaned a little closer to hear his response. His eyes met Tilly’s. She smiled.
“Most of us have been here, in these woods, the whole time. The people that went out were the first group to leave in months, really since we all got here. We don’t know what the world is like out there anymore. We don’t know what’s left.” She said.
“The buildings remain. Skeletons of what was. But the places have been forgotten.” Cameron started.
“Forgotten?” Scott asked.
“All the things that make a place a place. The stories and the people that told them have been forgotten, their memories moved aside to make room for the dead.”
“HONEY! DO YOU HEAR ME?” Jahda asked a little louder.
Emma Grace had stumbled out of the door, barely holding onto Bridger’s arm and collapsed on the ground against the HVAC unit. Jahda tried again. She didn’t respond.
Bridger looked down at the girl and then scanned the ground in front of the building. The whole night before they had not encountered a single deadun and here in this little patch of ground he counted fourteen. He caught movement from the side of the church and raised his rifle as he stepped towards it. A young woman and an even younger boy appeared from around the corner. They both had baseball bats in their hands.
“Stop.” Bridger called. They did.
“Are you bit?” Jahda asked as she stood.
“No.” The woman responded.
“How about him?” Bridger asked, nodding at the boy.
“I’m ok.” The boy said. He looked to be about ten or eleven years old.
“Who are you?” The woman asked.
“We’re here to help.” Jahda said.
“Why?” The boy asked.
“Because we can.” Bridger said as he lowered the rifle.
“You need to come with us.” Jahda said.
“Where?” The woman asked.
“Cotton’s house.” Bridger said.
Emma Grace sat looking at the dirt on her shoe. She didn’t want to raise her head because she knew she would see him. She didn’t want to see him any more. When she heard his name she couldn’t help but look up.
“Cotton? How do you know Cotton?” She said.
“Just repeating what the guy said.” Jahda said.
“What guy?”
“I didn’t get his name. Kinda big guy.” Jahda said as she held her hand a few inches beyond her belly.
“Vernon.” She said.
“Ok?”
“Was anyone else with him?”
“There was a woman but she was in shock or something. And another guy.” Jahda said.
“Cody?”
“Maybe.” She said. “He was knocked out but ok.”
For the first time since the bell started ringing she managed a smiled. They might have found Cody. And she was going home. Jahda reached out her hand. She took it and stood.
“What’s your name?” Bridger asked.
“Emma Grace.” She said.
“And you?” Bridger turned to the woman and boy.
“Violet Parnell. This is my nephew, Peter.”
“Bridger, Jahda.” He said motioning.
“Are you ok?” Jahda said as she turned Emma Grace around to check her for bites.
“I think so.”
Violet had known Emma Grace her whole life. She walked over and hugged her. Peter looked around at the bodies on the ground.
“Let’s go.” Bridger said as he stepped over one of the dead.
Vernon walked around the corner from the hallway to the living room. He looked in and saw Cody trying to sit up.
“Whoa boy. Hang on.” Vernon said as he hurried around the coffee table and placed his hand on C
ody’s shoulder to help steady him.
“What the hell?” Cody said as he knocked Vernon’s hand away. “I don’t need your damned help.”
“Sorry.” Vernon said.
“Sorry for what? Hitting me upside the head? Sorry for that?” Cody said in a raised voice.
“Yeah, sorry for that.” Vernon said.
“Tell me why I shouldn’t kick your ass.”
“They ain’t here to hurt no one. They are just trying to help.” Vernon said.
“Is that what they told you?”
“It’s the truth. They helped get you and Mrs. Hardy into the house and then two of em went looking for others. They’re still out there.”
“Who else is here?”
“You, Mrs. Hardy, me, and one of their people.”
“Cotton? Emma Grace?” Cody asked. Vernon just shook his head.
Cody leaned back on the couch. He could remember the first time he heard about the outbreak. It didn’t seem real. It seemed far off. Five days later it was at the Derbing farm. He could remember the confusion and fear he felt then. He felt the almost same way now. Everything they had done. Everything they saved and everything they lost, it was all for nothing. He felt it slipping away last night as that damned bell started ringing and now he knew it was gone. Anger joined the confusion and fear. He closed his eyes and wondered how much worse it was going to get.
Josh sat on the ground with his back against the tire. He held the walkie in his hand while Ed snored away in the bed of the truck. Lori used the toe of her boot to kick at a few leaves and walked back from the other side of the tree, zipping her pants.
“Anything yet?” She asked as she sat down by him.
“Nope.”
“So what now?” She asked.
“We wait.” He said. “The sun hasn’t been up that long and we haven’t heard any more shots.”