by Stevie Kopas
“I’m tired of walking.”
“Juliette, it’s gonna be fine. We’re almost done.” He kissed her on her forehead and then turned to Ben.” Look man, I don’t think you want to go down to that high school. Last time I was there that place was crawlin’ with those motherfuckers.”
“You said it yourself, they move on when there’s no people. Sure we see some stragglers here and there but they’re probably just too slow to keep up with the fast ones. I want to check the high school, we’re already here, and we’ve already wasted our time. Plus she was in high school right? Maybe she might have felt safe there or something, maybe try and find some kids her age? I don’t know. But I’m not going to head back after searching all day and finding nothing.”
“Ben, dude, she’s probably down by the bay already.” Clyde joined in on an attempt to talk Ben out of going to the high school. He hadn’t seen what Andrew had that day, but he had no intention of finding out for himself.
“We already came this far into town, what could it hurt to go down to the school? And besides, if she did go down to the bay, where would she be hiding out? What would she consider safe there?” Ben had both hands clasped behind his head, his blonde hair drenched in sweat. He shook his head and his irritation showed. They didn’t notice Juliette slip away from the group and begin walking down the road toward the high school off in the distance.
“I don’t know man, maybe she’s in a boat? There are a ton of boats down there. Oh, and a restaurant. Now that I think of it, the restaurant owners even got their own boat, maybe she found the keys and took off man. I mean, I hope not. But, we don’t know anything. You said it yourself you weren’t sure if you’d even find her man.” Clyde had taken his own pack of cigarettes from Ben’s stash and lit two up as his brother spoke.
“I know.” Ben took the cigarette Clyde offered him and exhaled loudly. “I know, I just don’t want to lose anyone else. I feel like I should have found her already.”
“Veronica! Veronica!!” The three men were stunned as they heard Juliette screaming from down the street. “Veronica! It’s time to come out now, Veronica!”
“Holy fuckin’ shit!” Andrew raced off in her direction followed by Clyde and Ben. “Stop it Jules, stop screamin’!” Andrew called out to her but she either didn’t hear him or was ignoring him. Her persistent yelling at the top of her lungs was met with a loud cry from up ahead.
Ben and Clyde stopped dead in their tracks. More wild cries echoed in response to the first. “Oh no, oh shit no. Drew, let’s go man! Grab that bitch and let’s haul ass!”
Andrew reached Juliette and shook her wildly. “What are you doing? Baby, stop yellin’ like this, you’re gonna get us all killed!” Juliette laughed hysterically.
“I was doing my part.” She giggled uncontrollably.
“Yeah you sure helped us out!” Clyde yelled at her. “I’m gone man, I’m outta here.”
The cries persisted in the distance and Ben’s hair stood up on the back of his neck. “I’m not doin’ this shit twice in one week. Let’s go, head to the police station before they see us.”
They ran for the station and got inside without incident. Andrew bolted the door and they ducked down as they ran for one of the offices. “Stay in here, I’m gonna have a look.” Juliette still giggled to herself. “Please, baby, please stop laughin’, this shit ain’t funny.”
“Ok.” She still had the smile on her face but her laughter stopped.
Clyde stared Juliette down. “You know I could kill you right? You keep up your crazy ass shit and you’ll end up dead.”
“Clyde, I don’t-“ Ben came to her defense for the first time.
“No, you keep out of this. This is between me and her. You hear me you crazy bitch? You will end up dead, whether my brother likes it or not. Somebody or something is gonna kill your ass.” Clyde left the room to look for Andrew. Ben looked over at Juliette and she just sat expressionless on the floor like a lump of clay.
He joined the other two in the lobby, crouched on the floor trying to get a good view over the desk in front of them. The dead’s chilling screams could be heard and their feet slammed against pavement as they frantically ran around the streets in front of the station, searching for the living.
“Too dumb to chew through a bag right?”
“I can only hope I’m right Andrew.”
VIII
Two hours had passed and the dead seemed to retreat back to whatever place they came from. Andrew was convinced they all came from the high school. He was more than sure that he’d seen the faces of the local kids on the creatures. It was dark now and they had left Juliette by herself, not wanting her to hear them speak, they went into another office and shut the door. Andrew didn’t want to leave but Clyde was dead set on getting back to Franklin Woods that night.
“I’m not spending the night out here with her. No way.”
“Clyde, it’s not safe to head out there. Who knows if they’re all gone?” Andrew pleaded with his brother.
“No, no fucking way. We could have been a goddamn snack out there today and you want to camp out on a silver platter with the pale horse dinner bell in there? No fuckin’ thank you.”
“Ben, please help me talk some sense into him.”
“I’m sorry. I think Clyde’s right.” Ben had been thinking about the way Clyde had talked to her back at the apartment and how she would fire right back at him. He compared that with the way he talked to her today and she didn’t even have a response. “You said we would stop and get some medication for her and she would get her shit together. Well dude, I don’t know that she grabbed the right ones. Did you check to make sure? She’s gotten worse since we left man.”
“Thank you, see? White boy’s got sense. Your girl is bat shit insane and we are leavin’ tonight. She tried to kill me so she don’t get a vote. You’re outnumbered, it’s time to go.”
“Oh my god, c’mon. You can’t be serious?”
“Andrew, it might not be such a bad idea. It’s dark. They wouldn’t notice us if we were quiet. If you can keep her quiet man, we can do this.”
“I say we leave her here. Knock her ass out and come back for her in the morning.”
“Clyde, that’s takin’ it a little too far don’t you think?”
“Oh, you gonna take his side now?” He thrust a finger in his brother’s direction. “Just a second ago I was right.”
“I’m not taking sides dude, relax. I just don’t think we should be leaving anyone behind.”
“Whatever man. You know what? Drew, I love you, you’re blood. But I will take off and leave your ass in a second if she fucks up again. Go get her, let’s go. Now.” Clyde opened the door and left the office to go grab his bag.
Ben could hear Andrew talking softly to Juliette, coaxing her out of the room, making her promise she would be quiet. He had asked her several times if she’d started taking the medication they had taken from CVS yet. He couldn’t get a straight answer out of her but he was finally able to get her to leave the room and follow them out. Clyde glared at her and Ben expected that at any moment he would snap. Andrew unlocked the door and waited for a response to the sound. Nothing. “Ok, quick, quiet, no talking, no guns, no nothing. Just walking. Back to Franklin Woods. Got it?”
Everyone nodded, including Juliette which Ben thought was a good sign, or at least an improvement from her most recent behavior. They moved as fast as they could without running, the running would be too loud and they needed as much silence as possible. They cleared the edge of town and made it to the main road leading back to Franklin Woods. “Ok just a couple miles, we got this.” They continued in silence and it seemed like an eternity before they finally saw a clearing in the trees and the community appeared on their left. Ben jogged up to the gate and couldn’t believe what he saw.
Andrew noticed he had stopped short of the gate and caught up with him. “What is it?” Ben raised his hand and pointed.
There, where the pin had once
been that was holding the gate closed, was now a chain and a padlock. “What the fuck…”
Clyde joined them at the gate and his jaw dropped open. “Who the fuck did this?”
“I told you I saw a light in that house. I told you.” They all looked at Juliette.
Ben hated to admit it but maybe she was right. Did someone know they were in there? Did someone want to keep them out? “Of all the times for someone to pull this shit. Not only can we not get in, but all our stuff’s in there. We’re fucked.”
“Goddamnit!” Clyde kicked the gate.
“There were people in there, I told you I saw a light in the house.” She repeated herself when no one responded to her.
“Yes, baby, you saw a light. I get it now. I get it.” Andrew put his arm around her and rubbed her arm. Suddenly from the direction of town came a long, low wail.
“Oh come on!” Ben couldn’t help but yell.
“We should have never left.” Juliette began shaking in Andrew’s arms. “We should have never left the apartment. We should have never left the station. We should have never left. Now we’re just sitting outside waiting to die.”
“Oh I am sick of her-“ Clyde started to berate Juliette again but Ben cut him off.
“Enough, we are not sitting out here waiting to die. We can’t do anything about the lock tonight. We shoot it, we die. It’s not like the city. All of a sudden this seems to me like this shit is worse than the city. But what we can do is keep moving. We need to get to the water. Andrew you said there are boats and a restaurant there.”
“Oh, so that’s the whole situation huh?” Clyde was fuming. “We get out of the station, all of a sudden there’s a fuckin’ lock on the gate and we’re conveniently headed to the bay tonight?”
“Clyde it’s not like that. You know that. This has nothing to do with Veronica right now. It’s about getting the hell out of here and finding someplace safe.” Another wail, this one sounded like it came from the highway. It was almost as if they were calling out to each other in the darkness.
“Let’s get moving. Get your bags on tight, we need to be fast.” Andrew leaned in to his brother, “Get it together man.”
The four of them started off in a fast paced walk toward the bay, like they did when they left the station but it seemed like the wails and moans were coming from all over the woods now. They were echoing so it was harder to tell which direction they were coming from. They picked up their pace to a jog and off to the right Andrew heard the snapping of twigs and dead leaves. It was followed immediately by a low growl and an eater leaping from the tree line. Juliette screamed and Andrew dodged out of its way. It clumsily fell over its feet and landed on the ground but was back up in a flash. Its face caved in with the force from Andrew’s golf club. He brought it down onto its head one more time for good measure and soon more howls were heard.
“Keep it movin’ people, let’s go.” Andrew didn’t stop to wipe the club off or attach it back to his waist band. They were running now, out of breath and panting, but running full speed toward a completely vulnerable destination. “Oh thank god, there it is, up ahead! There’s the restaurant.” They gave it their all as they sped toward the Dockside Bar & Grill but as fate would have it, eaters burst from the woods ahead of them, screaming wildly.
They stopped in their tracks, ready for a fight. “Shit Drew, what do we do man?” Clyde had pulled his gun, ready to fire into any of them that came his way.
“No guns! Don’t go to the front, too much glass, head to the back! I don’t think they’ve seen us yet. Go right, get into the woods, get passed them and get to the back of the building.”
The group split up once they hit the woods, following Andrew’s orders. The cries of the dead seemed like they were everywhere. Ben smashed the dirt beneath his feet as he ran; it was so loud he felt like bombs were exploding with each step. He was the first to clear the eaters in the road. The dead could hear the group running through the trees but couldn’t see them. They howled and more joined them from the direction of Franklin Woods. Ben flew out of the woods and headed toward the back door of the restaurant. It was an emergency exit door, no way to open it from the outside. Andrew, followed by Juliette and Clyde soon came frantically running and Ben heard Andrew yell out the word Ladder. He looked toward the roof and saw the metal ladder, he jumped up but couldn’t reach it. “Fuck.”
Juliette was coming straight toward him “Lift me up! I can grab it!” Without hesitation she jumped into his arms and he threw her almost weightless frame up at the bottom rung. She brought it down with a loud bang and fell to the ground. He pulled her back up and she was up the ladder in no time followed by Ben. Andrew pushed his brother forward to get up and Ben grabbed Clyde’s hand, pulling him onto the roof with them. Andrew almost didn’t make it up in time as two eaters made it to his feet just as he was hoisting himself up. One of them grabbed hold of his left foot and chomped down but his boot was too thick. Andrew cried out and Ben and Clyde grabbed hold of him tightly as he kicked with his other foot, smashing it into the eater’s face. He finally made it to the roof and Ben pulled the ladder back up. They all collapsed in a heap, breathing heavily.
The eaters circled the building. Howling and hissing, growling and moaning. They could hear the heavy footsteps of the runners and the shuffling of the slow ones, like a pack of wolves they were waiting. They could still hear the four of them breathing, could smell their sweat, they would not be leaving them alone any time soon.
IX
It felt like an eternity had passed as the group caught their breath and tried to calm down on the roof of the Dockside Bar & Grill. “What do we do now?” Juliette seemed like she was back to normal again. It was dark but Ben could see that her eyes were focused and her expression was clear. Maybe the terror of the pursuit had snapped her out of her mania.
“I have no idea.” Ben looked over at Andrew, still lying on the roof. “You said you knew the owners, that they had a boat at this marina?”
“Yeah, but let’s hope they didn’t take off in it when the world went ass up.”
“It’s worth a shot man. Where did they keep the keys?”
“I’d assume in the office. I’ve seen ‘em before, got a stupid surfboard keychain on ‘em.” He mumbled to himself, “I never understood surfboards in Florida.”
“Is there access to the restaurant from the roof?” He looked around and spotted the large skylights. “What about these? Can I get down there through one of these?”
Andrew propped himself up on his elbows and looked over to where Ben was now standing. Clyde had also gotten up and was helping Ben scope it out. “Yeah. We could remove the cover if we had some tools.”
“What kind of tools do we need?” Ben crouched down and inspected the large screws. Thinking quickly he pulled the utility knife from his pocket. He popped the blade out, he might not have a flathead but the blade was would work just fine. He pulled his hunting knife out and handed it to Clyde, “Here, use this one to take the rest off.” The two of them went to work removing the top piece of the huge skylight. “So what the hell do we do once we remove this big ass thing? That glass isn’t like regular glass, what are we gonna use to break it?” Clyde grunted as he spoke, helping Ben carry the cover over to the far end of the roof.
“I’m gonna jump straight down and hope I make it to the floor?”
They had a laugh at Ben and shook their heads. Once it was finally out of the way Juliette shone her small flashlight down into the big opening now in the roof.
“Wish me luck.” He looked at each of their faces before dropping down.
***
Samson had been having a drunken fit when Veronica burst into the pantry, shutting him up and informing him that the restaurant had suddenly been surrounded by eaters. The two remained on the floor of the pantry, as quiet as could be, in complete darkness. He could hear them screaming outside as they circled the building. “How many shells do you have in the shotgun?” She asked him.
“I think maybe seven or eight. They’re in my bag.”
She was afraid to turn the flashlight on but had no choice, they needed to get his shotgun loaded incase those things made it in there. Suddenly there was loud banging coming from the roof.
“They’re on the roof?!” Samson briefly panicked, his drunken stupor getting the better of him. “When the hell did they learn to climb?”
“Ssh, shut up. Listen.” Veronica suddenly heard voices. Real people, talking; not the moans of the dead. “There are people on the roof? No wonder those things won’t go away.”
“How do we know what kind of people are on the roof?” Samson shielded his eyes when she turned the big flashlight on. “How do we know these people won’t just throw us to the dogs? Give me my bag, I need my shells.”
She slid the bag over to him. “Be easy now, it could be help. They could be here to help us.” She almost hated herself for saying it as soon as the words came out of her mouth. She remembered sitting in Ben’s bathroom and telling him she knew help would never come.
Her thoughts were interrupted as part of the ceiling collapsed. Glass smashed and shattered as one of the huge skylights that ran across almost the entire expanse of the kitchen came crashing to the floor. Amidst the rubble was the body of a man struggling to get up. Samson raised the shotgun as Veronica shined the flashlight on the stranger.
“Identify yourself!” Samson called out. Still drunk, he almost laughed out loud despite the dire situation, he felt like he was in a movie.
The man on the floor groaned and cried out, startled by the voice behind him. “There are people in here?!” He dusted himself off as he got up and slowly turned around, his hands in the air.
Veronica’s eyes went wide and her mouth dropped. She almost let go of the flashlight and let it fall to the floor but she kept it fixed on the man’s face because she couldn’t believe her eyes. “Ben?!”
“Well I’ll be damned.” Ben grinned from ear to ear as Veronica leapt from the floor and ran to him. She wrapped her arms around Ben and squeezed him in a hug. “Ah, ow! Ok, I just fell through the ceiling. It’s good to see you too.” She eased up on him a bit as he returned her embrace.