“Kyle,” she said. “I thought that was your truck.”
She looked at Kyle and he stared back. The woman looked like hell. Her once bleached blond hair was now a dirty blond color, and nestled with knots. She had dark circles under her tired red eyes. The gray sweats she was wearing were in desperate need of washing.
“What happened to you? You look like shit,” Kyle said.
Victor laughed.
“You’re an asshole,” she said then looked beyond them to the street. “Look out,” she yelled.
Victor and Kyle turned quickly. Staggering up the driveway were three Existing Dead. They walked with the same slow-motion movements of all the others they’d seen. The guys raised their weapons.
“Get the one on the far right,” Kyle told Victor. “Make sure you aim this time. We don’t have many rounds left for your Snubby.”
“Okay,” Victor answered.
Before they could fire, Kyle heard something like a sparkler being lit. “What’s that noise?”
Kyle twisted his head and looked up toward Susie. She yelled a small war cry and launched an ignited dynamite stick toward the Existing Dead. The explosive bounced in front of the dead then rolled a few feet behind them.
“Holy shit,” Kyle said as he noticed what it was. “Victor, run and get down!”
Victor didn’t move. He just turned around and curled down into a ball. Kyle stood next to the boy and cuddled him. They waited for what seemed like an eternity, but it was only a few seconds.
The dynamite exploded. The blast obliterated one of the bodies, sending limbs, sprays of blood, and concrete bits into the air. The other two Existing Dead flew upward, bodies still intact. One landed several yards away in the middle of the street, while the other landed on the edge of the roof, teeter-tottering. A decent-sized crater formed at ground zero. Kyle and Victor stayed still for several seconds. Finally, Kyle let go of Victor.
“Are you okay?” he asked.
Victor looked around, dazed. He stared at Kyle and said, “Don’t take this the wrong way, but you stink like fish that’s been sitting out in the sun.”
Kyle felt like popping the kid in the face for being rude, but he let it roll off his back. Kyle smiled and held Victor’s head in a headlock.
“Are you guys okay?” Susie called from the roof.
“What the hell was that?” Kyle said, letting Victor go. “Where did you get dynamite from?”
“I found it,” Susie answered, not wanting to say any more.
“You could have fucking killed us. We could have taken care of them without making a huge explosion,” Kyle said, finally feeling some anger for Susie’s recklessness. He turned and walked a few paces to the hole. He looked around the area to make sure no more dead were sneaking up behind them.
Susie walked up to the Existing Dead that had its legs teetering off the roof and gave it a huge kick. Below, Victor didn’t notice the body tipping from the roof like a car that had just driven over an embankment. He was completely unaware of the danger above. Kyle turned just in time to see the creature come crashing down on top of Victor.
The body made contact with Victor’s head, instantly knocking him unconscious. The boy fell onto his back, the zombie swamping him. His gun discharged in his grip, nearly striking Kyle in the head. He heard the bullet shoot by his ear like a fly.
“Victor!” Kyle yelled. He hustled back to the boy, dropped his shotgun and yanked the dead body off of him. “Victor,” he said again. Victor lay motionless on the ground, his clothing covered in dirt and muck from the Existing Dead’s tethered clothes.
“What the fuck did you do?” Kyle yelled up at Susie. Kyle put his fingers on Victor’s neck to check for a pulse. It was faint.
“I’m sorry! I didn’t see him,” she said in a panic. “Bring him into the house; I’ll open the garage door.”
Kyle thought twice about accepting Susie’s invitation. He didn’t want to be around someone so irresponsible. But then he remembered that before the Existing Dead, Susie had been a nurse. She had worked at the hospital nearby. Victor needed help, and Kyle had no idea what to do. He had taken a job site safety course because of his construction jobs, but that was many years ago. The only thing he remembered was how to give CPR and check for a pulse, and even those details were a bit hazy.
The garage door began to roll up. Kyle grabbed the body that had fallen onto Victor and threw it as far as he could toward the street. In mid-air, the creature’s eyes opened. It landed face first onto the ground, scraping some of its skin. Kyle turned. The garage door was almost open. He slid the shotgun through the opening and carefully lifted Victor’s body with both hands. The door was almost fully open, revealing Susie pulling on a double chain to open the garage.
She looked at Kyle and yelled, “Look out!”
Kyle heard a moan behind him. He quickly turned and saw the Existing Dead he had just thrown shambling toward them. He turned toward Susie and yelled, “Don’t throw another fucking stick of dynamite!” Kyle tossed Victor’s body over his shoulder in the fireman’s carry. He drew his Glock and fired at the monster that continually moaned. The first shot went through the zombie’s neck. It stopped moaning. He fired again, hitting it in the chest. Kyle was finding it hard to aim with Victor’s weight on his shoulder. He fired four shots rapidly. One caught the monster in the center of its forehead. The bullet went through its head, exiting the back with a popping noise. The creature fell to the ground. He holstered the gun and walked into the garage.
Susie began pulling the other chain to make the garage door close. Kyle walked straight into the house and searched for a couch to lay Victor down. He found the living area and laid the boy down gently. He ran back to the garage to help Susie. She was almost done closing the door. Kyle knelt down to pick up his shotgun and looked outside. Before the door completely closed he saw several pairs of legs walking up the driveway.
Susie turned and said, “Where is he?”
“I put him in the living room,” he answered.
“Good, go elevate his head and get me some water out of the tub,” she replied and walked to a cabinet against the wall. She took out a first aid kit and some paper towels.
“The tub?” he asked.
“Yes, I filled it up with water when the pumps were working. Grab that bucket over there and fill it half way.”
Kyle turned and saw the bucket. He picked it up and said, “Where’s the tub?”
“Go in. Make a left up the hall, second door on the right.”
Kyle walked through the door and headed for the restroom. He leaned the gun next to the restroom door and walked in. The window was completely boarded up. He got some water and walked back to the garage. Susie was already heading to the living room. Banging erupted on the aluminum garage door. Kyle reached for his gun.
“Don’t worry, they can’t get in,” Susie said calmly. “They’ll bang on the door, walk around the house a few times, then go back into their hiding spot.”
Susie seemed so knowledgeable about the Existing Dead. There were so many questions Kyle wanted to ask her, but his mind was only thinking about Victor. And besides, she could just be saying things out of experience.
“Can you help Victor?” he asked.
Susie ignored his question and walked to Victor. She checked the top of his head. She put cream on the appearing bump. It was nothing to worry about. Susie had seen this type of injury many times before.
“Is he going to be okay?” Kyle asked again.
“He’ll be fine. It just looks like he has a bump on the head. I won’t know for sure what the damage is until he wakes up. We’ll have to watch his behavior to make sure he’s alright.” She looked him over again, but there wasn’t much she could see without the proper equipment. “The only thing we can do is wait a few minutes for him to wake up. If he doesn’t wake up in twenty minutes, I’ll use a smelling salt on him. If he doesn’t wake up from that we might have a problem.”
“What do you mean
? You said he’s going to be fine, right? Why would we have a problem?” Kyle asked rapidly.
“He got hit in the head and was knocked out. Think of his brain as a computer, when something impacts the computer it crashes and needs to reboot. Sometimes the computer reboots on its own and sometimes you have to restart it. The body I pushed off the roof hit him in the head causing his brain to crash. It needs time to reboot. If it doesn’t do it on it’s own I’ll try restarting his brain with the smelling salt. If that doesn’t do it then we’ll …” Susie’s voice trailed off.
“We’ll what?” Kyle asked.
Susie sighed. “We’ll have to take the computer in for repair. The only thing we can do now is wait.”
Kyle lifted the bucket and took a large drink of water. He sat down on the couch next to Victor.
“This might not be the best time to say anything but …” Susie’s voice trailed off.
“But what?”
“This kid isn’t Eddie.”
Kyle looked down to the ground. “Yeah, I know that. Eddie’s dead.”
“Oh my God. I’m so sorry, Kyle. I had no idea.”
“It’s fine.”
“And Mary, is she …?”
“She’s dead too,” Kyle answered.
“Jesus Christ,” she said walking toward Kyle and putting her arms around him.
“She killed Eddie,” Kyle blurted out.
“Excuse me?” Susie asked, letting go of Kyle.
“Mary, she killed Eddie. She put the gun in the back of his head and pulled the trigger. Then she put it under her chin and did the same.”
“Oh my God, Kyle.”
“I should have stayed with them. If I wasn’t selfish he would still be here.”
“It’s not your fault, Kyle.”
“Yes it is. I left them, I left them to go find my ex-girlfriend.”
Susie backed away. “You did what?”
Before Kyle could answer, Victor began to roll around on the couch. Kyle snapped his head toward him. “Victor! Are you alright, buddy?”
Victor groaned, still half asleep. “My head hurts.”
“Here, take these,” Susie said, handing Victor two pills. “Kyle, give him some water to wash those down.”
Kyle brought the bucket to Victor’s lips. He took the pills and lay back down.
“Thanks,” he said. He fully opened his eyes and began to panic. “Who are you people? What’s going on? Where am I?” he said, trying to back away from them.
“What’s happening?” Kyle asked.
“He may have a little bit of amnesia.”
“How did that happen?”
“Sometimes when a computer boots up from a crash, it goes into safe mode.”
“Stop with the computer talk!” Kyle yelled.
Victor started laughing. “I got you fools,” he said leaning back on the couch. “But my head really does hurt.”
Kyle stopped panicking. He was surprised how defensive he got when the boy was threatened. He tried to imagine what he would have done if Victor really did have memory loss. A part of him wanted Victor to have amnesia; it would have been so easy for Kyle to convince the kid that he was Victor’s father. He could have told Victor that his name was Eddie and he would have his son back. “I’m glad you’re okay, even though you are a little shit,” Kyle said, laughing.
Victor laughed. “So do you know this lady?”
“This is Susie. She was one of my ex-wife’s friends.” He pointed to her, then he pointed to Victor. “Susie, this is Victor. I found him hiding at a Shell gas station. He’s my friend.”
“Nice to meet you, Victor, sorry about dropping the zombie on you,” she said with a smile.
“I’m so tired,” Victor said, “can I go to sleep?”
“No,” Kyle said quickly, “it’s not safe for you to go to sleep right after a head injury.”
“That is actually false,” Susie said. “That’s just one of those myths that gets started and spreads.”
“Still,” Kyle said, “I want him to be awake.”
“Fine,” Victor said slowly, “I’ll stay up. And it’s okay, I know you didn’t mean to drop it on me.”
“Where’s your car?” Kyle asked, finally realizing that he hadn’t seen it in the driveway or the garage.
“Franklin took it a few days ago to get help.”
“Franklin?” Kyle asked.
“You never met him. He’s my boyfriend. I’m worried that something’s happened to him. We heard on the news that most of the state is infected, but there was a safe zone nearby. That’s where he went to find help.”
“Why didn’t you two go together?” Kyle asked.
“Someone had to stay here to look after Angel.”
“Who’s Angel?”
“She’s my daughter.”
“I didn’t know you had a daughter. Where is she?”
She’s taking a nap right now. She’ll come out here when she’s done.”
“Shhh,” Kyle said putting a finger on his lips. “Do you hear that?”
“What?” Victor said holding still.
“The banging on the garage door stopped.”
“I told you it was going to stop once they lost interest,” Susie said. “They’ll walk around the house a few times then go into their hiding spots until dark.”
Kyle finally found the time to ask more questions. “How do you know so much about them?”
“I’ve been in here since it started. Franklin reinforced the doors and altered the garage door. We made a hole in the roof so we can go onto the roof in case they get in somehow. All we did was watch them for a few days. They’re very strange beings.”
“You got that right. I saw them eat someone whole,” Victor chimed in.
“What did they do when you watched them?” Kyle asked, intrigued.
“Well, we made some noise and they started walking toward the house out of nowhere. It’s like they hide during the day until they hear a noise. Then they’ll come out. I tried to hide myself while staring at one and it seemed to just disappear. It walked behind a large tree and it was just gone. It doesn’t take long for them to get bored; if they can’t get you within ten minutes they’ll leave.”
“That makes sense,” Victor said. “I’ve seen them do it. When I was on the roof of the gas station I would stare at them and it seemed like they would just disappear.”
Hearing the word “disappear” made Kyle uneasy. How could something just disappear?
“It’s already getting late. Do you guys want to stay for dinner and we can discuss more about our plans?”
“Our plans?” Kyle asked.
“Yeah, now that you know about the safe zone, don’t you guys wanna go there?”
“No,” Kyle said sternly. “I told Victor I’d take him home and I’m on my way to California to find Jasmine.”
Susie sighed. “Just stay for dinner. It’s already getting dark and the streets will be filled with them. I have a ton of canned food. I’ll make us something real special.”
It has been a few days since Kyle or Victor had had anything decent to eat. Mary wasn’t much of a cook, and he knew for a fact that Susie was a wonderful cook. He had tasted her casseroles many times during neighborhood potluck parties. Kyle’s stomach grumbled. He turned to look at Victor who was half asleep, his mouth in a crooked smile position.
“Okay, we’ll stay,” Kyle said, “and we’ll talk about getting you and Angel to the safe zone.” Kyle had no idea why he was considering taking them. It might have been that he was starting to feel lonely without his real family and he wanted these people to fill in the void. There was only one problem. Angel, whoever she was, didn’t fit well in his family image. It was only supposed to be a father, a mother and a son. No daughter.
Chapter Six
The house was filled of a scent that could only be described as a wonderful Thanksgiving feast. Kyle was right: Susie was a phenomenal cook. She managed to cook canned spam in such a way that it smel
led like real honey baked ham. The mashed potatoes were straight out of an instant bag, but they smelled and looked like she picked the potatoes out of a garden and mashed them herself. The gravy was out of a can, but Susie added some extra flavors to make it her own. To top everything off, she cooked a nice pumpkin pie out of materials unknown.
It was an amazing sight to see Susie cooking dinner. Never in his life had he seen anyone cook such a magnificent meal with no oven or stove. She used a grill that was connected to a propane tank. Kyle took in a large breath in anticipation of the meal.
Victor was feeling much better. The pills Susie gave him were in full effect. The boy was up and moving like nothing had happened to him.
“Victor,” Kyle called out. “Go set up the dining room table. I’ll start taking the food.”
Victor nodded as Susie told him where to find the dishware. He grabbed what he needed and carefully walked to the candle-lit dining room.
“Is Angel still sleeping?” Kyle asked quietly.
“Ever since the dead have been rising, she spends a lot of time in her room sleeping.”
“Well, shouldn’t you go wake her? Isn’t it almost dinner time?”
“No, she’ll get up when she’s ready.”
Kyle decided to drop it and walked into the dining room. Victor was finishing up placing four settings.
“Hey,” Kyle said softly. “Susie wants you to go check on Angel. She’s in one of the rooms. I’m not sure which one.”
Victor looked at him skeptically. “Are you sure she said that?” he asked.
“Don’t argue with me,” Kyle said, “just go check on her quietly and then come back and let me know what she’s doing.”
Victor sighed.
“Okay, Susie didn’t tell me to tell you to check on Angel. Something’s not adding up. I don’t trust Susie as much as I’m letting her think. Just sneak around and go look. Let me know what you find.”
“Why don’t you do it?” Victor said.
“Because it’ll be easier if I keep Susie busy while you go look around.”
“Well, what am I supposed to tell her I’m doing?”
“Tell her that you need to go take a shit.”
“We’ll that’s true, I do need to go drop a duce.”
Existing Dead Page 5