by Morris, SJ
“No, and please call me Lynn. Dr. Madison is too formal nowadays,” Lynn responded, smiling at me.
I smiled back. “Sorry. Lynn, it is. So, Lynn, what kind of doctor are you exactly?”
“I am... or I was a Captain in the Air Force as an orthopedic surgeon. I specialized in the cervical spine, but when you’re in the Air Force, you have to be a jack of all trades, so I’ve done it all. When you’ve treated soldiers with bullet holes in the abdomen that split their bowels, pouring waste into the abdominal cavity, smells seem to not matter that much anymore. I had to focus on stopping the bleeding and saving that person’s life. I think that’s why the smell of the ghouls doesn’t get to me that much,” she said casually. “Let’s focus on the task at hand, though, shall we?” Lynn said, pointing towards the house surrounded by the undead.
“Right, sorry.”
Every few seconds, I’d watch a cat dash out of an open upstairs window to sun itself on the roof. If I were Kamil, that’s where I would have gone.
The open window was hopefully how he had gotten in, and we were going to find him inside, waiting for the infected to clear enough for him to be able to leave this broken-down hovel.
It was not going to be an easy task because there were so many infected outside and only the two of us to fight them. I took out a mirror from my tactical vest and tried shining it into the window, hopefully catching Kamil’s attention if he was inside.
There was no response other than a few cats jumping out of the window and trying to attack the light. It was quite comical. I hadn’t watched a funny cat video in over a year thanks to this stupid plague, but now I could at least find a little bit of amusement in real life.
Lynn didn’t find it so funny, though. She wanted to get in and out as quickly as possible, avoiding the infected and head back to her group as soon as we could with Kamil in tow. I didn’t blame her.
We were downwind, and the smell from the house and the infected was almost more than I could take. I wanted to be out of here as soon as possible too. Hopefully, Kamil was actually inside, and we weren’t risking our lives to go after a few stray cats.
We made a plan to create a diversion. Lynn had some metal cups in her pack that she was stringing together to hang on a branch. Fortunately, the storm hadn’t completely lifted, and the wind was still blowing hard enough every now and then. When the wind blew, it would shake the branch with the cups on it to hopefully make enough noise to have the undead heading in that direction, away from the house. Once they were all focused on the cups clinking, we were going to make a run for it.
Lynn and I separated as she went to tie the cups to a branch at the other end of the property. I stood watching, making sure the infected ignored her presence for at least the time being.
Lynn was back quickly, and I could already hear the metallic clanking noises from across the yard. The infected seemed to hear it also as they began moaning and shuffling towards the sounds. We waited a few more minutes until the coast was pretty much clear, and we ran as quietly as possible through the dense grass up to a staircase made of rubbish that led to an overhang. We climbed up to the roof, and dozens of cats scattered immediately.
I peeked my head over the side of the roof, confirming the undead were still moving in the direction of the cups instead of us. It appeared the infected were none the wiser to our movements, and Lynn crawled through the open window. I heard her gasp and cough. “Oh my God, I’d rather smell the undead any day over the cat piss that’s in here!”
I didn’t want to, but I peeked my head inside the window. Even the handkerchief over my nose was no help against the blast of the strong ammonia smell that hit me like a sock full of butter in the face. I reluctantly climbed through the window to stand inside next to Lynn. She now had her shirt over her mouth and nose. The smell of cat pee had nothing on split bowels, I guess.
We both looked around the messy room and were utterly shocked by the sheer number of cats in the small space. The door to the bedroom we were in was open, so we crept as quietly as possible to the doorway and listened.
I heard a scraping sound, metal on metal. I hoped it was Kamil, but I needed to check it out first. I told Lynn to stay here as I slowly crept through the hallway and down the stairs peeking my head over the railing seeing an older woman plating food for two. She looked to be in her seventies, so I wasn’t too worried except for the fact that there were two plates. Where was this other person?
I looked around further and saw no evidence of anyone else other than the old woman and a large number of cats living here. One of the floorboards underneath my foot creaked, and the old woman looked up at me, our eyes meeting.
She smiled and calmly said, “You must be one of Kamil’s friends. He’s been waiting for you, and so have I.”
“You know where Kamil is? He’s here?” I asked, letting my guard down briefly.
“Yes, dear, he’s in the basement taking care of some of my kitties for me. He’s a wonderfully helpful young man and so fantastic to have around. I’m sure he’ll be up soon. Would you like a cup of tea and something to eat? I’m Tabitha, by the way.”
“Nice to meet you, Tabitha. I’m Jimmy, and no, thank you, ma’am. I really should get Kamil, and we should get going. We have the infected distracted for the time being, but I don’t know how long that’s going to last, so we should head out as quickly as possible. Where is Kamil exactly?”
“Like I said, he’s in the basement taking care of some things for me. Are you sure you have to go? It’s not very often that I get visitors, and I’d love to have you stay. Even if it’s just for the night.”
“I’m genuinely sorry, ma’am, but yes, we do have to go. We have other people that are waiting on us, and if we don’t show up soon, they’re going to come looking for us as well. If you’d like, you can go with us. We have two different communities working together, and I’m sure you’d be welcome in either one or both.”
“Oh, thank you very much for the offer, young man, but me and my kitties quite like it here. Why don’t you come on downstairs and have some tea? I’ll see if I can get Kamil up here for you,” the old woman said, putting the plate she was holding down, grabbing a teacup from the cupboard. “You said ‘we’ have the rotters distracted. Is there someone else up there with you, dear? Kamil mentioned a doctor might be looking for him, and you are clearly not a doctor.”
There was something off about this old woman. I couldn’t quite put my finger on it, but I felt the need to conceal Lynn’s presence in the house. “No, ma’am. I’m not a doctor and It’s just me, for now anyway. Like I said, if Kamil and I don’t show up at camp soon, another group is going to come looking for us. I’d rather we get going, so they don’t worry,” I partially lied.
“Aren’t you a darling? Worrying about other people. It was quite nice of you to come looking for Kamil,” she said, pouring water into the cup and dunking one of those loose tea infusers. “Drink up, and I’ll just get him for you. I’ll leave the sugar on the table here. Take as much as you need.”
Tabitha turned and walked out of the kitchen. I couldn’t see her anymore, so I ran upstairs quietly. I practically ran into Lynn as she was peering out of the bedroom door.
“What’s going on down there?” she asked. “I heard you talking to someone. Is Kamil here?”
“There’s an old woman down there who says Kamil is here, but he’s in the basement helping her with something. This doesn’t feel right. Please just stay here and be as quiet as possible. We may need to leave quickly, so be ready,” I whispered, closing the bedroom door behind me.
I rested my hand on my holstered 9mm handgun at my waist and made my way back down the stairs quickly, hoping Tabitha didn’t realize I had gone.
I made my way into the kitchen, and Tabitha was nowhere to be found. I looked around for any clues as to what might be going on, and I came up empty. There were cats everywhere and two plates of rice and beans on the counter. I peeked my head around the corner of the
doorway to the kitchen, and the hall was empty. I turned back to the kitchen and quietly opened the kitchen cabinets and drawers looking for any indication as to what this woman might have been up to.
One of the cupboards was full of prescription bottles, and I looked at each of them. One read, Procardia, which I knew to be a blood pressure medication, and a few others were known arthritis or pain medications, but one in a red bottle with Chinese characters on it caught my eye. The only thing written in English in the bottle was flunitrazepam... holy shit. That’s Rohypnol or as it’s more commonly known - the date rape drug.
I heard a soft meow from behind me as I turned, the red bottle still in my hand.
Tabitha looked at me with a frying pan raised above her head. “You weren’t supposed to find that,” she whispered as she brought the pot down hard on top of my head.
For an older woman, she was pretty powerful, I’ll give her that, but she wasn’t strong enough to knock me out like she planned. I quickly grabbed the frying pan away from her, tossing it to the floor. I grabbed for her wrists, but she was quick to reach for the gun in my holster.
We battled against each other, her reaching for my waist, and me fighting against her arms, trying to subdue her. I knocked her into the table, spilling the plates of food at our feet as dozens of cats swarmed the floor and the counters hissing and batting their claws at me.
I was able to pin Tabitha against the wall and force her hands above her head, but she pushed her face forward, biting at me. She sunk her teeth into my tactical vest just below my neck. Unsatisfied, she chomped her teeth open and closed over and over, trying to get at my throat.
I didn’t like the idea of fighting with an old woman, but elderly or not, this lady was trying to kill me. She brought her knee up, connecting with my genitals, and I saw stars. I bent over unconsciously into the pain, and she took the opportunity to bite again, this time digging her teeth into my shoulder.
The pain instantly snapped me into survival mode as I threw a punch connecting with Tabitha’s jaw releasing her teeth from my body. She sunk backward but quickly came back at me, screeching loudly, flailing her balled up fists at me in a frenzy of punches. I put my forearms up, blocking her blows and swiftly kneed her in the gut, forcing her to drop to the ground.
Tabitha gasped for air while she rolled on the floor. I was on top of her in one sharp movement. I put my knee in her back, grabbing both of her wrists behind her, effectively subduing her. Now with us on the floor, the cats took the opportunity to rush at me, clawing and hissing angrily that I had their keeper pinned.
“Lynn!” I yelled. “I could really use your help down here. Like now, please!”
I heard the upstairs door burst open and Lynn running down the stairs.
“I’m in here,” I hollered. “Get some rope or a cord. Something to tie her up with. This lady is nuts,” I said, doing my best to push the attacking cats away with one hand as I held Tabitha down with the other. “And get these fucking cats away from me!” I growled.
“My kitties are going to eat you alive! Do you hear me? Alive, I tell you!” Tabitha barked out from underneath me.
Lynn ran into the kitchen, shooing the cats as she got closer to me. “What the hell happened?” Lynn asked, detaching a cat from my back as it hissed and swatted at her. “Fuck, these little bastards hurt!” she cried as the cat in her hands scratched and bit at her.
Lynn tossed the cat into the other room, but it was quickly back clawing at me, and more cats joined in. “You have to do something about these cats, damn it!”
Lynn grabbed a pot from the stove, dumped the contents onto the floor, and filled it with water from the sink as she struggled with the felines clawing at her legs. She splashed the water on the cats at her feet, and they instantly ran away. She filled the pot again and tossed the water at the cats that were attacking me, and they scattered.
Tabitha yelled from the floor, “How dare you? You filthy tramp! Leave my kitties alone!”
I pulled my handkerchief from my neck and shoved it in Tabitha’s mouth. “Shut up, would you?”
Lynn went into the hallway and grabbed a lamp from a table, ripping the cord from the bottom and returning to tie Tabitha’s hands for me.
I got off of the old woman as she wiggled on the aged linoleum, grunting against the cloth in her mouth. I stood up, wiping the sweat and blood from my face. I had to sit down. The pain from my throbbing nuts was too much to take standing up. I clutched my groin and breathed heavily through the extreme discomfort.
Lynn laughed, “Did that little old lady kick you in the balls, Jimmy?”
I looked at Lynn sideways. “Yes, yes, she did. And it freaking hurts, thank you very much. She’s a feisty old bird. She frickin’ bit me too. Look at my shoulder, did she break the skin?”
Lynn pulled my tactical vest and my shirt to the side. “No. It looks like you got lucky. Grandma here bit hard enough to leave a mark, but there’s no blood or broken skin. You’ll have a bruise, but other than that, a few cat scratches and some beaten balls, I think you’ll be okay, Casanova,” she laughed.
“I’m glad you’re having fun. Ugh, what I wouldn’t give for some ice right about now,” I groaned.
Lynn froze. “Shh... did you hear that?”
“Hear what?” I asked, listening hard.
“I thought I heard someone yelling.”
I jumped up from my chair. “Kamil, it has to be him. He’s alive in this house somewhere. Stay here with Mrs. Doubtfire, and I’ll find him,” I replied, drawing my gun, not knowing what other threats might be in this funhouse of horrors.
I entered the hallway and stopped to listen. I was rewarded with banging and moaning from the infected outside against one of the windows. Shit, the commotion must have brought the dead back.
Over the clawing and other noise from the walking corpses outside, I heard a faint yell at the end of the hall. I found a door with a padlock on it. I ran back to the kitchen and patted Tabitha down, finding the keys in the pocket of her dirty nightgown.
I unlocked the door and nearly threw up instantly from the smell. I was half expecting the infected to greet me, the stench of death was so strong. I covered my nose as best as I could and flicked the light switch on the wall revealing wooden steps down to a dirt-floored basement.
I whispered, “Kamil... are you down here?”
“Jimmy! I’m over here. Help me,” Kamil gasped.
I turned the corner at the end of the stairs and saw Kamil tied to a rusty metal cot. I rushed to his side, pulling out my knife to free him from his restraints.
“Holy shit, Jimmy. I thought I was going to die down here. Where’s Tabitha?” he asked, sitting up and rubbing the blood back into his hands.
“Lynn and I have got her tied up. What the hell happened down here, and what is that godforsaken smell?” I gagged.
“Tabitha’s husband is in that closet, I think,” Kamil pointed to a half-rotten wooden door. “She’s been drugging and killing people to feed to him and her cats. The bones are over there in that corner.” Kamil pointed at the other end of the basement which was thankfully shrouded in darkness.
“Jesus, that woman is crazier than I thought.”
“Yeah, I know. Tabitha thinks her husband isn’t one of the infected. She thinks he’s just sick, and if she keeps him fed and protected, that someone will find a cure one day.”
“I’ll fix that right now,” I said, walking over to the door.
There was another padlock on this door as well, so I took out the keys I had taken from the old woman and found the one that fit. I drew my gun, and Kamil stood behind me, holding my knife, ready to attack. I removed the lock as quietly as I could, tossing it to the floor. I grabbed the handle, took a deep breath, and opened the door in one fast movement. The arms of an incredibly deteriorated old man reached for me. I backed away, and he fell face-first to the dirt.
I took aim and squeezed the trigger. One loud shot rang out, and its black brains splash
ed all over the already blood-stained floor.
I heard a muffled scream from upstairs and furniture being tossed around. Kamil and I ran, leaving the rotting body.
I yelled as I climbed the stairs, “Lynn! Are you okay? What’s going on?”
I rushed to the kitchen, and Lynn was on top of Tabitha, holding her on the ground. “Nothing. I’m fine. Tabitha heard the shot and tried to get up. She knocked over the chair is all.”
Tabitha squirmed underneath the weight of Lynn’s body as she spit out the rag. “You killed him, didn’t you? You monster! You killed my Harry!” Tabitha cried out through her tears. “There’s nothing left for me now. You might as well kill me too.”
Surprisingly, Kamil knelt down next to Tabitha and spoke softly to her. “I’m sorry, Tabitha. Harry wasn’t just sick. There is no cure for what he had. Just like there is no cure for what the others have. This virus kills every part of the person it infects that made them who they were. Their soul is gone as soon as they turn.” He brushed her wispy white hair from the side of her face, tenderly. “There was nothing left of the man you once knew. I’m sorry, but that’s the harsh reality of it. I told you I lost someone close to me too. She was the love of my life, and I would have done anything to save her, but once she was bitten, I knew there was nothing I could have done. She died in my arms, and I was the one to put an end to her before she came back as one of those monsters. It’s difficult, but it’s how things are now, and I think you know that.”
Tabitha just sobbed on the floor as Kamil spoke. I never heard what actually happened the Kamil’s girlfriend. I only knew that she died the night Abby was kidnapped by Brigantine when they stormed the cabin months ago. Knowing that he was the one to end it for her made my heart ache for him.
Chapter 11
Kamil Dunbar
My tender moment with Tabitha was shattered by the sound of cracking wood and the cries of the infected breaching one of the windows in another room.
“Guys, I think it’s time for us to go. The infected are almost inside,” I said.