by Frater, Lara
I could see the dog on the floor, it didn’t even look like a dog, it was emaciated mutt and besides the bullet holes, it was covered in cuts and old lacerations. The creature whimpered in pain. It was still alive.
“Put it out of its misery,” I said.
Tanya had to hit it because she emptied the clip. She smashed her crowbar against the head of the poor thing until it was dead.
“Jesus, Jim,” Tanya said. The world around me blurred.
“Maybe we shouldn’t move him,” Dave said.
“And what? Wait for the ambulance?”
Dave didn’t say anything.
“Help me lift him.” Dave grabbed my left arm and Tanya took my right. When the lifted me up, the pain turned to agony and I would have slid to the floor if they hadn’t held on.
They carried me to the car. My back hurt with every step. “Sit towards the window,” Tanya said, “so I can look at the wound.”
I did what she said as they loaded me in the back. Tanya moved in behind me. Dave got into the driver’s seat and was out of the parking lot immediately.
“Shit,” he said and began driving.
Tanya handed me a napkin. “For your head.”
I placed the napkin where I felt pain and it came away with blood.
I felt her pull my jacket off and I whimpered like the dog she killed. When she pulled it all the way off, I screamed. I felt like my skin was being ripped off. Instead of trying to pull off my shirt, she cut it open with tiny scissors from the first aid kit.
“Shirt and jacket are goners,” she said. I got that.
“Doesn’t look like you got bit,” she said. “Lots of bad scratches. I don’t think those were pets. Probably dog fighting which I hope means they don’t have rabies and it explains why they’re vicious. This is gonna hurt.”
I tried not to clench when Tanya poured peroxide on my wounds.
“Christ,” I screamed.
“Fuck,” Dave said. I didn’t need him freaking out.
“Keep drivin’,” Tanya said. “Jim, you got some deep scratches, and one looks pretty bad. You’re lucky you were wearing a jacket.”
I wore one if I went outside, anything that the zombies could latch on to that I could flee from. I never thought it would stop dogs from killing me.
“Is it really bad?” I said, between whimpers. It hurt like fucking hell.
“Take this,” she said, handing me a pill. I didn’t ask what it was just dry swallowed it. “You need to be stitched up, I can’t do it. I’m gonna use liquid skin instead. Sorry, it’s gonna hurt like a mother, but I gotta clean out the wound. Infection will be worse.”
“Just do it,” I said.
I wish I hadn’t said that. As soon as the brush hit my skin it was like every pain center went off. I screamed out.
“Don’t be a baby. Birth was much worse even with drugs.”
“You have a kid?” Dave said.
“Had,” she said and didn’t elaborate.
“Oh,” Dave said and didn’t ask anything else.
I wasn’t paying attention. All I felt was pain and then thankfully blackness.
When I woke up my head was on someone’s lap. I felt something near my eye.
“Cam,” I said.
“No,” it was Tanya’s voice. I hoped this was a nightmare and that I would wake up with Cam’s arms around me.
I opened my eyes. We were still in the car but it had stopped. My back still felt sore but at least it was better than before. The pain killer was working. Something covered part of my eye.
“Where are we?”
“In front of Mike’s place. You passed out. I finished cleaning your wounds, put ointment on it and bandaged you.”
I touched my head. The thing I felt near my eye was a bandage.
Mike waited in the entrance. He opened the door and gate for us before we even got to the door.
“Jesus.” He said. Tanya and Dave had to carry me. The large bandage near my eye and the fact I wasn’t wearing a shirt, probably gave away I wasn’t alright.
“Just a little dog problem—“ I said.
“You didn’t get bit did you?”
“Neither by zombie or dog.”
“He’s got some deep cuts, and he hit his head,” Tanya explained, handing Mike the bag. “We got your stuff but didn’t get jumper cables.”
“I’m sorry.”
“You don’t have to be,” I said.
“Yes, he does,” Dave said. “Jim was attacked by dogs and Tanya was molested.”
Mike didn’t look happy. “Come upstairs. My wife can clean out those wounds. She's an EMT.”
Mike disappeared into the store while Tanya and Dave helped me up the stairs. I didn’t want to climb them but I did it anyway. Each step caused more agony in my back.
Ashley was sitting on the love seat reading an old magazine with a smiling thin blond woman on the cover. She stood up when we came in.
“Jim? Oh my god. What happened?”
Tanya and Dave dropped me off on the bed and explained to Ashley what happened. A moment later, Mike came with a woman about his age. She had glasses, and curly brown hair tied up in a ponytail.
“I’m Hannah. Lie on your stomach,” she said, sternly. “So I can look at the wound.”
“Wow,” she said, she pulled Tanya’s bandage off. “That’s some scratch. You’re going need to clean it every day for the next few days.”
“I’ll do what I can.”
“No, I mean it. You should stay here for a few days—“
I interrupted by screaming. She had flushed the wound with water.
“She’s ripping my back off,” I yelled. I wasn’t sure I was kidding.
“Don’t be a baby, Jim,” Tanya said. “She’s trying to help you.”
“I’m going have to stitch you up, okay. I have some antiseptic but it will still hurt a lot.”
I passed out again and when I woke I still was lying on the bed. I smelled pipe tobacco.
“There’s a vent here,” a voice said. It was coming from above me.
“Who’s there?”
“It’s me, Cameron.”
“Cam,” I said, but I couldn’t move. Couldn’t reach up to kiss him.
“I just want to eat you up, Jim.”
I opened my eyes. An old man with a pipe in his mouth was looking at me. His was thin, bald with wisps of white hair strands.
“You okay, son?” he asked.
My back was sore and I felt nausous. So no, not okay.
“Who are you?”
“I’m Mike’s father, Jason. My turn to be on watch. You been asleep for a while.”
“How long?”
“Most of the night.”
The sun was out, but I had no concept of time. “What time is it?”
“About 12 pm.”
“Jeez,” I had been unconscious all night. “We need to get on the road,” I tried to get out of bed but my back hurt too much.
“Your friends plan to wait until tomorrow. Give you a chance to heal. My daughter in law wants you all to stay here for a few days. The wound was ugly, son.”
“I’m okay,” I said, although bed was rather comfy. “We have a schedule.”
“It’s not a problem. My son feels terrible about what happened. If you don’t want to stay for a few days, we’ll make sure you leave bright and early tomorrow. At least my daughter in law can look over the wound before you leave.”
I didn’t respond.
“Let me tell her you’re awake.”
I watched him leave the room. Tanya replaced him. She took a chair next to the bed. “Hey sleepy head.”
“We can’t leave them that long in Oyster Bay.”
She shrugged. “We shouldn’t leave the others back at the house but we should be home before the week is up. Dave thinks we can get to Albany and back in three days. I mean the roads shouldn’t be as bad once we get out of the city. We should be back a day before the deadline.”
She paused
. “We were thinking of leaving you here when we go to Albany, then dropping you off back at CostKing. Mike’s okay with you staying here. Not in this apartment, with them next door.”
“No,” I said, lying. “My back’s already feeling better. I’ll be okay.”
Tanya seemed to accept my answer. The truth was I felt like shit. Dead husband and attacked by dogs but the last thing I want to do was leave the others alone.
“Are you hungry?”
“Famished.”
“Let’s get you some food—Oh, and Mike gave us four rifles and a shotgun and two duffle bags filled with ammo. He makes his own. Dave and I’ve been talking. We want to invite them, even his old man to CostKing. That good with you?”
“I think that would be a good idea. Mike has the guns, and Hannah is an EMT. Dave was pretty mad before, do you think he’ll raise hell?”
“I doubt it, Mike ain't so bad and you should fucking see his storage room. He’s got guns stacked to the ceiling. Enough ammo to kill all the zombies in India.”
Chapter 16
“So that’s it,” I said, explaining the situation of CostKing, while we ate the dinner Mike bought. “Rachel is our leader and we all work to survive. We farm on the roof, we have a sharpshooter, and we could use your entire family.” Mike bought all of them to the apartment: his father, Jason, wife, Hannah and daughter Dena. Dena looked about 15, pretty, and despite the zombie apocalypse, seemed like the typical sullen teenage. He never mentioned again the son he lost.
“But what about this deal with the old folks? Are you driving Ashley away?” Mike asked.
“I choose to leave,” she explained. “To find my son. Trust me, everyone tried to talk me out of it.”
“Your dad can come with you. We won’t turn him away. I’ll write a letter to Rachel tonight about your situation and that she should let your dad in. We need people like you. No more dealing with slimeballs like that the leech man.”
“Leech man?”
“The one at Shop Smart.”
“Yeah, he’s kind of a leech. He’s propositioned my wife and my daughter more than once but they really need my bullets.” He looked at Tanya. “Sorry about what happened.”
“Not a problem, happened before.”
“And this woman, Rachel, is she a good leader?”
“As good as we can get. No one’s committed suicide on her watch. The guy before did off himself.”
“He was still a good man,” Dave added. “I can’t say Rachel is perfect but we’ve only had one bad incident since she took over.”
“What happened?”
“A vindictive mental woman who didn’t get in deliberately infected a little girl--“ I didn’t want to think of that day. “We take in all kids. We didn’t know she had been infected. When she changed, she killed two of our people.” I paused. “Mike, CostKing isn’t perfect but I think it might be better than living here.”
“Dad,” Dena said. I can hear the excitement in her voice. “That sounds cool. We’ll have some room. We could have more time outside. We could run instead of using the treadmill.”
“Sweetie, we can’t take this decision lightly,” But he didn’t look convinced. “I’ll have to sleep on it, okay.”
“Sure,” I said. I ate my food.
“This is very good,” I said to Hannah.
“Talk to my father in law,” she said.
“My wife is awesome in every way,” Mike said and laughed, “except for cooking.”
I couldn’t sleep. Tanya was lying next to me on the bed while Dave slept on the loveseat and Ashley on the couch. The night was quiet and I could see first light in the distance. I decided to write my letter to Rachel. I turned on my flashlight, careful not to wake Tanya and got some paper and a pen out of my bag.
Dear Rachel,
I hope that everything is well and that this isn’t the last time you’re hearing from me. I am writing this letter because I’ve invited the McDonalds into the CostKing. There are four of them, all good with guns. The wife Hannah was an EMT and her husband Mike knows guns better than Princess, although he may not be a better shot. They have a teenager named Dena. Jason is Mike’s father. I told Mike we wouldn’t have a problem with his age.
He has a lot of guns and ammo plus he knows how to make his own. Even so, not only are they useful, they are good people. They are survivors but not monsters. They gave us food and shelter, and only asked to run errands for them.
I miss you, and hope you are doing well.
Love, Jim.
I didn’t mention what happened with the dogs or Ashley. I heard the sound of footsteps on the alcove then the window opening. I folded the paper into thirds. I knew it wasn’t a zombie because the sound wasn’t chaotic and zombies don’t open windows. I looked out of the room and saw Mike coming in. I got out of the bed and greeted him in the living room.
“Hey,” he said. “I thought about it.”
We walked into the other bedroom. It was the master bedroom and it overlooked the Avenue. When I had looked closer at it, I noticed several binoculars. This was a surveillance area. That’s how Mike knew we were coming.
“Here you go,” I said, handing him the letter. “Give this to Rachel.”
Mike smiled but he didn’t take it. “I appreciate the invitation,” he said. “I know Dena’s getting a bit of a cabin fever, but my wife and I discussed it. We aren’t leaving. We feel safe and secure here.”
“If it’s trust—“ I knew Mike had been paranoid when we first met.
“No Jim, we trust you. You are good people. You aren’t the first group that I’ve offered trade for errands, but you were one of the few groups to come back. Most people take the bullets. The reason we can’t go is my dad. He’s not young and he wasn’t healthy before this happened. I don’t want him to take a trip. It’s hard to believe but Westbury sounds like it’s across the country.”
I still held the letter to Mike.
“Take it, maybe one day you’ll use it. You should leave all your options open.”
“We appreciate your visit Jim. We get lonely around here. I’m sorry you got hurt.”
“Whatever doesn’t kill me makes me stronger.”
Mike laughed. “And I’m sorry about your —your husband. It look me a while to learn but love is love, isn’t it. It still weirds me out, but I can tolerate it. We have to stick together to destroy the zombs.”
“Thank you.”
Mike put his hand out and I shook it.
It took two hours to get to Bell Blvd which we would take north to the Throgs Neck. We took Jamaica Avenue most of the way, although several times we had to drive down side streets to get around wrecks and traffic jams. Now we were seeing more evidence that people tried to flee.
We were on the way to the Bronx, where I would see the New York City skyline and think about Cameron, trapped in the city, dead or a zombie.
“Looking good,” Dave said when he got to the Bell. With the exception of several houses and stores that burnt down, a few piles ups and abandoned cars and small bands of zombies, the road appeared clear. Bell opened up to a more residential area, but still houses were gutted either from fire and wear. It was pretty here, quiet and it didn’t seem like we were part of New York City. The air had become clear and fresh. The population of animals had grown. I saw lots of rabbits and small critters regularly and of course wild hungry dogs. The zombies didn’t seem to like them as much as they liked us. Although I’m sure they would eat anything if they were hungry enough. I wished for it all back, the cars, the traffic, the pollution.
Ashley stared out of her window. I wondered what she was thinking. Dave had to drive on a sidewalk to get around two crashed cars.
“Ashley, are you all right?”
“Yes, just wondering when I get to drive?”
“When we’re out of the city,” Dave said. “The roads will be easier to navigate. We might even be able to go on a highway.”
“It’s going to be difficult to drive all
the way to California, right?”
“Right.”
“So maybe I should drive now.”
“Later,” I said. “You have to practice on something easy first, then we’ll work on the hard stuff.”
“Never really drove before. Always relied on the bus, train or my kids. Drove a bit in my twenties until I got married. Never had enough money to pick it up again. I know gas means go, brake means stop.”
“A car goes forward, back and park,” I explained. “Idiots can learn it and you aren’t.”
“I’m going to miss you.”
“I am going to miss you too. You’re a great lady. Are you sure you want to go? We are your family, you know. Even Dave.”
Dave didn’t say anything.
“I owe it to my son to find him, if I can. He needs to know mommy loves him.”
“I bet he does. Even if you decide to stay with us.”
“You’re sweet, Jim, you know that. You’ll find someone else and they’ll love you.”
I didn’t reply. I went back to looking out the window.
“There’s the bridge,” Dave said, pointing. It was the Throgs Neck and it looked still intact.
Cars packed the entrance ramp, not giving us any way on. “Hold up,” Dave said. He made a u-turn on Bell and drove the wrong way until he found an exit ramp. When we were about to get on, another car came off.
The other car, an old Ford Escort with painted windows, kept honking and did not look like it planned to stop.
Dave slammed on the brakes and we all jerked forward. The other driver went around us without stopping or slowing down and kept on the horn the entire way around.
“Fucker,” Tanya said.
Dave started hitting the horn as well.
“Dave, come on,” I said. “He’s an asshole.” And we didn’t want to bring zombies.
Dave looked pissed but he stopped. He moved on to the exit ramp. Fewer cars littered the ramp and Dave made his way on to the bridge.
We weren’t the only ones with this idea, one or two cars were facing the wrong way, but we were able to maneuver around them to get on.
On this clear day, I could see the Whitestone, the huge gap in the center and half of the bridges suspensions were broken. Not to mention, it leaned over like it was going to fall.