Existing Dead

by Lyle Perez-Tinics

  “Not really.”

  Kyle shook the memories of Susie and Angel from his head. This scenario was different. This was Victor’s mother they were dealing with.

  “Are you all right?”

  “Fuck, everyone stop asking me that,” Kyle said, agitated. “I’m fine. I’m just tired and I want to know what the fuck is going on with the dead.”

  “And get to Jasmine, right?” Victor said, repeatedly raising his eyebrows up and down like a little pervert.

  Kyle couldn’t help but laugh.

  “Yes, son. That too.”

  Victor opened a door that was directly under the staircase. It led into a dark but large room. Kyle walked inside, paused and took a deep breath. “Do you smell that?”

  Victor took in a deep drag as well. “I don’t smell anything.”

  Again Kyle inhaled a good gust of air, but the smell he thought he’d noticed was gone. He so desperately wanted something to be wrong with the place. Something that would make Victor want to leave with him. That’s all he wanted. He wanted to find Jasmine safe, and all three of them could live happily ever after. But there were so many goddamn things getting in the way. The most recent problem being a mother by the name of Morgan Cross.

  “Is this the garage?” Kyle asked.

  “Yeah. There are two doors in here. One leads to the back yard and one over here near the front. I’ll check this one, you check that one.”

  “I can’t see shit.”

  “Just feel around, that’s what I’m doing.”

  The two of them parted ways as they made their journey to the doors. Kyle made it to his with little to no trouble, while Victor struggled.

  “Need help?” Kyle asked. He didn’t wait for Victor to answer. Unlocking the door, Kyle pushed it open, letting in some sunlight.

  “I can see,” Victor said as he reached the door and made sure the deadbolt was secured. He walked back to the door that led into the living area.

  Kyle surveyed the outside. The backyard to the house was pretty big, about an acre. A tall brown wooden fence stood on the property lines, which made it almost impossible to see anything that might be going on in the backyard. There were a few trees scattered about the enclosure. All of them looked to have some sort of fruit on them.

  “Apples,” Victor said as he snuck up next to Kyle.

  “Any good?”

  “I dunno. Wanna go get one?”

  “Can we?”

  “Sure,” Victor said, stepping outside. “I don’t see why not.”

  The air was crisp and fresh. The recent rainfall was the cause of such fresh air. The sun beamed a bright yellow that would sometimes poke itself from between fast-moving clouds.

  Victor was the first to reach one of the trees. He put the icepack down and began to jump into the air, trying to catch a branch. Kyle walked to the tree trunk and began shaking it violently, as though he was trying to rip the tree from its roots. The wet leaves and apples began to quiver as the loose apples fell to the ground. They poured down on Victor like red oversized raindrops. One of the stray fruits hit the boy on top of his head. Kyle began to laugh hysterically as he stopped shaking the tree. Victor rubbed the top of his head and glared at Kyle, who was now leaning back laughing.

  “Don’t laugh,” Victor said, crouching down and picking up one of the fallen apples. He hurled it at the uncontrollable Kyle. It bounced off his chest like he was made of rubber.

  Kyle instantly stopped laughing. They stared at each other like two men in the old west about to draw. Victor bent down to grab another apple and flung it to Kyle. This time, Kyle was able to react. He caught the apple with his right hand and stared at Victor as if saying what next? Kyle raised the apple to his mouth and took a large bite. He chewed on the piece of fruit and let the rest of it fall to the ground.

  Without warning, Victor sprinted toward Kyle and jumped in the air. Kyle braced himself for the impact and caught him in mid-air, but he didn’t realize how heavy Victor really was. He felt himself slipping and after a millisecond, Kyle fell on his back. He rolled Victor off of him and popped up like a spring. So did Victor. They grappled, each one trying to make the other one fall, but they were holding their ground well.

  Kyle knew that at any second he could drop the kid on the ground, but they were just horsing around. He wanted to let Victor think that he actually had a chance of pinning him; something that any good father would do.

  Victor pushed Kyle backward, but Kyle countered by twisting the boy’s arm, not to cause any pain, but some discomfort. Kyle threw his arms down and quickly grabbed him in a head lock. Victor dropped to the ground like a sack of bricks, his head slipping out of Kyle’s grip. Victor swung his arms at the back of Kyle’s knee. He fell off balance but didn’t fall to the ground. Victor repeated the attack again, but this time Kyle tripped and landed on his knees. Taking the opportunity of the fall, Victor pushed Kyle’s body forward and grabbed hold of his ankle. He twisted it as hard as he could.

  Kyle felt that Victor had hold of his ankle and was twisting, but he didn’t feel any pain. Victor didn’t have enough strength to actually cause him pain from doing his submission move. But again, like any good father would do, he tapped out and let Victor win the match.

  Victor jumped into the air in triumph while Kyle lay on his back, holding on to his ankle as if he was in a lot of pain.

  “You lose!” Victor taunted.

  Kyle reached for the back of Victor’s ankle and knocked him off his feet. He came crashing to the ground on his back. Kyle began to laugh, and so did Victor. They lay there, looking at the clouds in the sky, their clothes wet from the moist grass.

  “I love ya, bud,” Kyle said, between breaths.

  “Gay,” Victor said. “Thanks for bringing me home.”

  “I’m gonna miss you when I leave tomorrow.”

  “Me, too. Do you want to stay? I know we have the extra room.”

  “I don’t think your mom would like having me around. Besides, I got a hottie waiting for me in California.”

  “Will you come back after you find her?”

  “I’ll think about it.”

  They lay there for a few more minutes before standing and heading back into the house. The entire time they were outside, Morgan was watching them through a window above the sink. She scrutinized their antics worriedly.

  Chapter Twenty-One

  The three of them sat at the dinner table. The radiance of sunlight began to dim as twilight quickly approached. There were lit candles around the table, which made it a lot easier to see.

  “This is you guys’ first time in the neighborhood the way it is now,” Morgan began. “There are a few things that you need to know. When the sun goes down, the streets flood with them.”

  “Yeah, we’ve seen them at night,” Kyle added. He thought back to the night they spent at Susie’s house. “Have you seen any jets?”

  “Jets? You mean like fighter jets? No, I haven’t.”

  “That was crazy what they did,” Victor chimed in.

  “What happened?”

  “We were at my neighbor’s house. She survived the outbreak by just hiding out inside. It seems like everyone who just went into hiding survived. But anyway, we spent the night at her house and saw them just overtake the streets. I was hiding underground when it first started, so I’d never seen what the streets looked like at night. That was a shock to me.”

  “You’re rambling, dude,” Victor said.

  “Sorry,” Kyle replied as a sudden ding echoed within the dining room. “What was that?”

  “Dinner’s ready,” Morgan headed for the stove.

  “How’d you get it to work? Do you have some electricity in the house?” Kyle asked.

  “No, it’s connected to a propane tank and I used a match to turn it on.”

  The smell that escaped from the oven was wonderful. Kyle could smell chicken with potatoes and cream of mushroom. It was a very easy meal, as all of it was made from canned goods. All M
organ had to do was open the cans and empty them into a glass baking dish.

  Each of them had paper plates sitting in front of them. Morgan came around with the baking dish and gave them all a few scoops.

  “My favorite,” Victor said as he grabbed a plastic fork and began eating.

  “It does smell lovely, Morgan,” Kyle admitted. He reached for his fork and took a bite. The smell didn’t do the dish justice. It practically melted in Kyle’s mouth. “Really good.”

  “Thanks,” Morgan said taking her seat. “It’s the best I can do with what I have. Continue your story.”

  “Oh, right. So we were hiding in the house eating dinner, kind of like what we’re doing now. I wanted to get to the roof to check out the Existing Dead and when I did, I saw some lights in the sky. They were jets.” Kyle raised his hand into the air and mimed the jets. “One of them broke formation and came hurling down in our direction. They started blasting the dead on the streets with some heavy artillery. We ran back into the house and prayed that they wouldn’t hit us.”

  Morgan stared intrigued. It was easy to see that this was the first time she had ever heard anything like this. “That’s interesting.” She took a forkful of food.

  “Yeah, then the following morning she tried to kill Victor, but I took care of her,” Kyle said instantly regretting it. “I mean, she tried to kill me, not Victor.”

  “Where the hell have you been taking my boy?” Morgan asked, her tone of voice bordering on anger.

  “Sorry,” Kyle said, in an equal tone. “I misspoke.”

  “Sure you did.”

  “Mom, please,” Victor pleaded. “I’m fine.”

  “No you’re not. Look at your face. You were almost killed by someone and it’s all this man’s fault. He’s not fit to take care of you.”

  The last bit of sunlight fell beyond the wooden fence of the backyard. Twilight had finally settled, and the Existing Dead would be coming out of their hiding spots.

  “I’m sorry I’m not the ideal person you wanted looking after your boy, but the fact of the matter is that I brought him home. He wanted to come here and I brought him. I could have easily left him back at the gas station, but I didn’t.”

  “You just wanted him because you couldn’t have your son. You needed a replacement.”

  Kyle didn’t understand how Morgan could know all of this. There had to have been something he was doing that made her aware of the situation.

  Victor continued eating his food as though arguments didn’t faze him. He took one bite after another and just stared at them going back and forth. After he was done with his meal, he stood and said, “I’m going to my room,” then left.

  “I’m leaving tomorrow, so you can stop worrying that I’m going to steal Victor in the middle of the night. And besides, where the fuck can I go?”

  “Just stay out of sight ’til morning.”

  “And where am I supposed to do that?”

  “Go upstairs and sit in the room with the supplies. Find something to keep you busy or just fall asleep. I don’t care, just stay out of sight. We don’t need them knowing we’re in here.” Morgan left the room leaving Kyle with his thoughts.

  There was nothing he could do. Victor was going to stay with his mom and he was going to California.

  Kyle remained in the kitchen eating his dinner. Having to eat dinner alone after a fight had happened a lot between him and Mary.

  After he finished his dinner, he looked around for a trash bin. He wondered where all of Morgan’s trash was going. The house was clean and tidy as if no one had been living there, but people had been here. Maybe she takes her trash somewhere every day in the cart, he thought. Kyle stacked the three paper plates into one pile and left the kitchen.

  He walked into the living room where Morgan was quickly trying to put the drape back up. She turned and glanced at Kyle. “They’re starting to come outside,” she whispered. “We need to get this back up.”

  Kyle reached for the other end of the drape and lifted it to the hook above the door. Morgan did the same with her end.

  “Great,” Morgan said, “Now stay out of sight ’til morning. A big part of our safety is that we don’t let them know we’re in here.”

  Kyle nodded. Morgan began walking upstairs, taking the steps as slowly as possible so not to make too much noise. Kyle remained in the living room, looking through the window. He could see many of the Existing Dead shambling into view from all different directions. Their moans and shuffles could be heard through the window. That’s how thin their barricade between them and the dead was. A female Existing Dead looked in Kyle’s direction. He couldn’t tell if it was intentional or random. Letting go of the drapes, Kyle’s heart began to race. He needed to learn to stop playing with fire.

  Moments passed and nothing happened. The Existing Dead didn’t start banging on the door or window. He didn’t want to take any more chances and decided to just go upstairs.

  He walked up the stairs as carefully and slowly as Morgan. It was a lot harder than she made it seem. When he reached the top, he heard whispering voices coming from somewhere. He paused to eavesdrop on Victor and Morgan talking. From what he could make out, they were talking about him.

  “I like him. He’s fun,” Victor said.

  “Fun doesn’t mean safety, Victory. He’s not all there and he seems dangerous,” Morgan replied.

  “Who doesn’t seem dangerous out here? You’ve been in safety this entire time while me and Kyle were out in the middle of it. We met real dangerous people; Kyle is one of the good people as far as I’m concerned.”

  Kyle smiled. It was nice to know that Victor thought so highly of him. He opened the door to the storage room and walked inside. There was no bed or covers in the room, only boxes with food and supplies. He broke down a few of the boxes and laid them down to make a bed. He then used all the medical gauze he could find to make a pillow. It wasn’t big, but resembled the pillows airlines handed out to their passengers.

  Darkness quickly swallowed the neighborhood. It was a new moon, so not even the light reflecting from the moon was visible. Kyle lay on his improvised bed with the moans from the dead howling outside and thoughts running through his head. He was tired and in desperate need of a good night’s rest. But how could he rest knowing that Jasmine was still out there? In the past few hours, Kyle had gotten antsy, and wanted to do nothing more than to leave with Victor and find Jasmine.

  A ticking in the room began breaking the endless drone of moans. At first he thought it was someone knocking on his door, possibly Victor. “Yeah?” Kyle whispered, sitting up in the makeshift bed looking toward the door. There was no reply. He heard the tapping again, but this time it was louder. He felt a chill run down the back of his neck, which made the hair on his arms stand on end. In what seemed as a quick blink, Kyle opened his eyes and through the darkness he could see Mary standing in front of the closed door. She held the hand of a faceless Eddie.

  Chapter Twenty-Two

  Kyle jumped back until he was pressed up against the wall. His eyes opened as wide as saucers and his breathing became more erratic. Was he dreaming?

  “Kyle,” she said as both of them took one step closer.

  “Stay away, Mary,” he replied.

  “What are you doing, Kyle? Why haven’t you reached Jasmine’s house? Wasn’t she the reason you left us?”

  A disgusting hiss began to exude from the hole in Eddie’s face. It was as if he were trying to speak, but since he was nothing more than a throat, speaking was impossible. Blood began to squirt out of the opening like the splatter of a paint spray can.

  Mary put her hand on Eddie’s head and said, “Yes, I know. Daddy has found a new son. He doesn’t love you anymore.”

  “Don’t say that!” Kyle yelled. “I love Eddie. Even after death, you’re still trying to get to me, you fucking heartless bitch!” Kyle stood, enraged. “Get the fuck out of my head!”

  “That’s just like you, Kyle. Getting angry when yo
u’re faced with the truth.”

  More blood began to spray from Eddie.

  “Shut up,” Kyle said.

  “You’re the most heartless person out of all of us, Kyle.”

  The figure of Susie walked through the door and entered the room. Her chest was mangled by the slug that had killed her. She was being followed by Angel, who was wrapped in a blanket. Chet entered the same way, his face beaten beyond recognition.

  “You had no problem killing us,” Susie said, pointing to herself and then to Chet, “when we threatened Victor.”

  “It felt real good …” Chet mocked in a slurred voice.

  “Shut up!” Kyle yelled, tightening his jaw.

  “Why is Morgan so different? She’s taking away your boy.”

  “She’s different because she’s his mother.”

  “Oh, Kyle,” Mary said. “That doesn’t bother you. You’re just afraid that he’ll hate you if you kill his mother.”

  Kyle silently agreed with that statement.

  “If only you can find a way to kill her without Victor blaming you …”

  *

  Kyle’s eyes opened. His shirt was drenched in sweat. He sat up and looked toward the door. There was nothing. No Mary, no Eddie, No Susie or Angel, no Chet. He took in one large breath and stood.

  The symphony of moans coming from outside seemed to triple in volume. There was nothing Kyle could do. Stuffing gauze in his ears helped, but it was uncomfortable. He stared out of the window. There was a small ledge directly outside the second-storey window. It was large enough for someone to stand on. He didn’t know how far up to the roof it was, but if he had to make an escape, he could do it from there.

  He thought about the dream he’d just had. This wasn’t the first time Mary and Eddie had came to him while he slept. The first time they had warned him about Victor being raped, but this time, their message was confusing. Did they want him to kill Morgan?

  There was only one way Victor wouldn’t blame Kyle for his mother’s death, and that was if an Existing Dead got her. No, he had to stop thinking like that. He didn’t want to kill anyone else to stay with Victor. All he wanted was to go find Jasmine.