by Russ Watts
“You ever think Janey might have left home, tried to make her way to you?” asked Julie.
“No, absolutely not. She has three young children. There’s no way she would try anything so stupid. No, she promised me she would stay put, and she wouldn’t change her mind. No, she’s there all right.”
“Cool. Just wanted to make sure I wasn’t riding with someone who hadn’t at least considered all the possibilities. Good to know. This whole thing can make you blinkered. Carlton couldn’t see that things had changed. It cost him his life. I just need to know you and Dakota are on the level.”
“We’re good,” replied Jonas. He knew that Julie was worried about where they were going. It was only fair she question him. “Lukas too. He’s solid. I can tell he has a soft spot for you.”
“Lukas? Please, I hardly think so. I don’t think he’d know what to do with me if he got hold of me. Which, by the way, isn’t happening. I have no intention of hooking up with anyone. There’s far too much to do before I start thinking about that shit.”
As they approached the barrier that had been left across the road they paused. There was a large dark tarpaulin spread out over the road, and it crunched as they walked across it. Jonas noticed it was anchored down in two corners by some rubble, and in another by a tire. It flapped very gently as the wind began to pick up. There was some bad weather coming in, and Jonas wanted to be safely in Thunder Bay before it hit.
“Come on, Julie, cut him some slack. Why shouldn’t he be interested in you? You’re a good-looking woman. He’s a good guy. Never say never.” Jonas looked at Julie, and he could tell she was flattered. He could also tell from her face that she was serious about not getting involved with anyone. Her military training hadn’t left her yet, and she was still planning, thinking ahead.
“Let’s just get this thing moved, shall we? I think my love life can wait for another day,” said Julie, smiling.
“You grab hold of the barrier, I’ll get the other end. We can move it together,” said Jonas. “Let’s just get out of here.”
They began walking over the tarpaulin, and Jonas wondered why it had been spread out over the road like that. Perhaps to cover a fatality? Perhaps in their haste to get away, someone had died here, run over or crushed by the cars. There was no sign of the police, nor any ambulance or fire trucks.
From the other side of the barrier, suddenly a zombie approached. It came running from behind a parked car, and the very ground seemed to tremble as it ran toward them. An obese man, rolls of fat still clinging to his dead body and jiggling around like jelly, thundered toward them. Pudgy fingers extended from huge arms where swathes of fat like wings swung, making it look like the man was trying to take off as he ran. Sores and boils ran down the man’s legs, and stretch marks coursed his belly. Jonas assumed that somewhere underneath the man’s belly fat was a pair of boxers, but either they had perished or were just hidden well.
“Jesus Christ,” said Julie. “You’d think being dead you’d lose a few pounds.”
Jonas knew it was dangerous to take on such a formidable zombie. One blow might not be enough to take it down, and if it landed on top of him, it would be a struggle to get out from underneath. He also didn’t want Julie to go shooting the place up in case it alerted others to their presence. Where there was one, there was usually more.
“Hold up,” said Julie taking aim, “I’ll get it.” She wanted to make sure she got a clean head shot, and walked forward over the tarp, letting the obese dead man get closer, waiting for the perfect moment to kill him.
“Okay, but hurry up. I don’t like this.” Jonas walked across to the barrier, and as he did so, he thought he felt the tarpaulin slide under his feet. It just slipped a couple of inches, but it was enough to make him concerned. He didn’t want Julie falling on her ass just as she was about to shoot.
Julie watched the zombie come at her, bouncing off the vehicles, until it was finally in view, and she was staring straight down the barrel at it.
Jonas grabbed one end of the barrier, and when he put his hands on it, they came away wet. It hadn’t been raining, and the ground was still dry, so why was the barrier wet? Jonas looked at his hands. They were covered in blood. The tarpaulin abruptly shifted beneath his feet again, slipping another couple of inches. Something strange was happening. It couldn’t be moving of its own accord. He and Julie were standing still, so what was dragging it, and to where? Jonas took a step back and looked at the barrier. In bright red blood, words were painted on the rear. The writing wasn’t visible from the truck, and it had obviously been put there on purpose. When he read those three simple words, Jonas felt like a sledgehammer hit him in the side of the head.
“Three, two, one…” Julie breathed in and lined up the zombie. It planted one foot on the tarpaulin, and she squeezed the trigger.
“Julie, wait!”
The tarpaulin was whipped out from beneath his feet, and Jonas was thrown forward. He tried to grab the barrier for support, but it fell with him, and he was pulled back with the moving ground. He heard the gun go off, but as he fell, he had no idea if Julie had hit her target. She screamed, and then Jonas found himself falling. Somehow the tarp had been set up over another hole, concealing it from view, and they had walked right on top of it. He saw the sky above him as he twisted and turned, and he caught a glimpse of Julie a few feet behind him. He thought he saw the body of the obese zombie fall, too, but he wasn’t sure. It was all so quick.
It was only a short drop, but the impact knocked the wind out of him. With a thud, he crashed into the ground, and managed to look up just in time to see the barrier falling on top of him. Jonas knew that on any normal day it would’ve been just an unfortunate accident, but this was different. It was a trap. Those three simple words appeared in huge lettering above him as the barrier fell toward him.
‘Sweetness and light.’
He caught sight of a crudely drawn smiley face on the tarpaulin as it gathered around him, and then the corner of the wooden barrier smacked into Jonas’s head, sending him spiraling into unconsciousness. His last thought before he passed out was how odd the ground felt. It moved, as if it were alive; almost as if they had landed not on the ground, but in a pit filled with people.
CHAPTER TWELVE
“Get up, Hamsikker,” shouted Julie. “Get the fuck up, now!” She fired at the approaching zombie, its fat arms dragging its immense weight over the tarpaulin toward her. She put two bullets in its skull, and the obese man finally stopped moving.
She had been as surprised as Hamsikker when she found the ground beneath her feet give way. One minute she was about to blow away a zombie, the next she was being sucked down into a hole, and her shot went wildly amiss. She reckoned the pit they had fallen into was maybe twelve feet long, and six feet wide. It had just appeared out of nowhere, and there had been no time to react. She was lucky she landed as she did and hadn’t broken anything. The zombie that had been coming after her was dead, but it was quite obvious they weren’t in the clear yet. The tarpaulin beneath her was moving as something or someone beneath it writhed around. Trying to stand was impossible.
She watched the edge of the tarp fall into the pit, and realized she was standing in another trench, probably dug by the workmen. A tearing sound ripped through the air, and then an arm appeared from the ground beneath her, forcing its way through the tarpaulin. The skin was pale, clammy, and the arm encrusted with dirt. Another arm swiftly followed it, and then a head appeared.
Julie fired at it, obliterating the head, only to see it replaced by another. A second zombie appeared in the opening, its face covered in sludge, its rotten mouth agape. It groaned as dirt and blood spilled from its mouth.
“What the fuck is this?” Julie fell to her knees, unable to stand as the tarpaulin bucked under her. It was being pulled apart, and she heard more tearing sounds behind her. Horrible clawing sounds came from below as more hands scratched at it, trying to find a way through.
Turning to
Hamsikker, she screamed at him to get up, but he was out cold. Blood poured profusely from the wound on his head, and she knew she had to get him out of there quickly.
Cold fingers wrapped themselves around her ankle, and she whirled around to see a zombie about to sink its teeth into her flesh. Julie fired, sinking a succession of bullets into its head. The zombie fell back, and she recoiled from it, pulling the trigger until the chamber ran empty.
At the end of the trench, more zombies were rising. From the pit they rose up, one by one, clambering over one another, their ghastly faces caked with dirt. A girl emerged from the slime, clumps of mud falling from her body as she climbed faster than any of the others. Her once blonde hair was a tangled mess of filth, and her slim pale arms looked like they might snap at any moment. Her fingers splayed out before her as she pulled herself over another slow-moving zombie, and her eyes bore into Julie’s. The once sparkling blue irises were dull and dark now, and as the girl got closer, Julie saw maggots pore from the girl’s chest. It looked as if she had been blown apart, and her ribcage stuck out from her chest with flaps of pungent meat clinging to the bones.
As the foul stench of the dead reached Julie, she picked up the barrier and tried to position it in front of herself, trying to give herself and Hamsikker some kind of protection.
“Wake up,” she shouted, and she slapped Hamsikker.
He murmured quietly, and she slapped him again, leaving a red mark across his cheek.
“Fucking wake up!” she screamed at Hamsikker.
“Reach up to me, Julie. Give me your hands, now!”
Julie looked up and saw Dakota leaning over the pit. Dakota’s voice trembled as she spoke, and her eyes were wide with shock.
“Reach up, and I’ll pull you out,” said Dakota again, as calmly as she could. She stretched a hand out toward Julie. Though she tried to mask her fear, she knew she wasn’t doing a very good job. There was a host of zombies ready to tear Julie and Jonas apart, and Dakota didn’t know how to stop them.
“No,” said Julie. “He’s hurt. Take Hamsikker.” There was still some part of her that wanted to protect first and foremost. These people were civilians, and it was her job to help them. Whilst she accepted the army was no longer in action, and in all likelihood gone forever, she still wore the uniform, and that meant something to her. There was no way she would leave anyone in harm’s way.
Julie put her arms underneath Jonas and lifted him to his feet. He was stirring, and his eyes flickered briefly as she picked him up. She propped him up against the wall of the trench, and raised his arms so Dakota could reach him.
“Go!”
As Dakota began to pull Jonas up the smooth slide of the pit, Julie continued to lift him. She felt Jonas’s weight lessen as he rose above her, and Dakota swept him up and over the edge onto the road. Looking up, Julie saw Dakota frantically pull her husband to safety.
Julie felt the wooden barrier crash into her back, and the moaning sounds of the dead right behind her. Whipping her body around, she propelled the barrier back, but the weight of the encroaching zombies was too much. She began to fall back with the barrier on her midriff, and the first of the zombies snapping at her arms as she fought them off. The little girl was first, clawing at Julie who batted the zombie away as best she could. Julie was pinned under the wooden barrier, and though she tried to wiggle free, she knew it was impossible. She was stuck fast.
“Get their heads up!” shouted Lukas.
Julie glanced upward, and she saw Lukas silhouetted against the blue-grey sky. He was holding a gun, pointing right at her.
“No, wait,” cried Julie, fearing that Lukas would miss and shoot her by accident.
The little girl threw her head forward to bite Julie, and then her face exploded into a mist of gore and bone. Lukas blew the girl away, and then took aim at the next zombie.
“Can you get free?” he shouted as he shot another.
Julie tried to answer, but her face was covered by what was left of the little girl, and she knew if she opened her mouth she would get a mouthful of brain and rotten flesh. The weight on her legs increased as the zombies swarmed forward. She bit down on her lip to stop from crying out, but her feet were being crushed.
“Julie, reach up for me,” said Dakota.
Dakota was leaning over the edge of the pit, stretching both arms down over the mud, and Julie reached an arm up. It was too far. There was at least two feet between them.
Julie screamed as the barrier began to punch its way into her stomach, and another zombie fell on top of her. It had been dead a long time, and its skin was rubbery and spongy to touch. Julie tried to push it away, but her fingers got lost in its spongy flesh, and she couldn’t find purchase.
“Julie, get its head up,” shouted Lukas.
Sweat poured down Julie’s face, and she tried to force it up, but it was too much. The thing was pressing down on her, getting closer and closer to her face.
“Julie”! Jonas peered over the edge, and leant an arm down to her. “Reach up.”
Julie screamed as a zombie began to rip out chunks of flesh from her leg. Another sank its teeth into her soft thigh, and another buried somewhere beneath the pile of zombies began to cut and dig its way through her leg. When its teeth hit her shinbone, she could take no more.
Julie held a zombie above her, and tears fell down her face. The pain was excruciating as the flesh was ripped from her body. Unable to hold the zombie above her anymore, and with her arms weakening every second, the zombie’s face came closer to hers. Its bloody eyes stared at her, and its teeth nipped at her flesh. Screaming, Julie stuck her thumbs into its eyes, and gripped its skull. Her fingers sliced through its putrid flesh, and vile black liquid oozed from its eyes as she ground her thumbs around. The zombie was filthy, and though she kept its head from biting her, she could feel its sharp fingernails clawing at her arms. Green and brown fluid trickled from the zombie’s mouth into hers as she screamed, choking her and drowning out her cries. More of the zombies in the pit began feasting on her legs and body, and she could take no more. Forcing the zombie’s head to the side, she looked up into Lukas’s face.
“Kill me, Lukas,” she coughed. “Kill me.”
“No way.” Lukas shook his head, and fired randomly into the crowd.
“Kill the dead!” Jonas had grabbed another gun from the back of the truck, and was now trying to shoot them too. It seemed as though every time he took one down, another came crawling out of the pit, emerging from the depths of hell.
“Please,” whispered Julie. She spewed a fountain of blood up over her face, and blinked it out of her eyes, desperately trying to get Lukas’s attention.
The agony was unbearable. The skin was being flayed from her body as she lay there, unable to escape. Teeth sunk into her muscles, ripping her nerves and veins apart, and she could feel the wetness of her own warm blood begin to soak into the ground beneath her. An unseen hand raked across her left breast, and then began ripping it apart, pulling at the soft tissue and clawing inside of her.
Julie wailed, crying for release as she was eaten alive. She remembered summer vacations with her friends, she remembered Carlton and how close they had become, and she remembered thinking that they were supposed to be heading to Canada to find a safe place to live. Most of all, though, she felt the pain: white searing pain sweeping constantly through her body. It felt like the hands digging into her were sharp razors, slicing their way through her fragile body. Her pelvis was shattered, and she felt greedy hands pulling at her hips, threatening to pull her apart. She felt her left femur snap, and then her left foot was separated from her body, sheared off at the ankle where teeth had gnawed their way through to the bone. A rib cracked under her left breast and another popped as it was torn from her body.
“I’m so sorry,” wept Lukas, and he put a bullet in Julie’s brain.
The very second that Julie stopped struggling she was gone. It was like an invitation to the horde of zombies, and they s
warmed over her, submerging her forever beneath their ravenous, disgusting bodies.
Lukas fell to his knees and turned away, unable to watch as Julie was devoured. He couldn’t hold back the tears, and he cried out loud for her, frustrated that he couldn’t save her. He was scared, too, scared that something like that could just have easily happened to him. His hands quivered as he looked at the gun in his hands. It wasn’t enough. He had killed a few of them, but it wasn’t enough. He could still hear the cracking of bones as the dead gorged on Julie’s dead body. He could hear wet slurping sounds as they swallowed her piece by piece.
It wasn’t enough.
Dakota pulled up her arms, rolled over onto her back away from the pit, and stared at the clouds hovering above her. She didn’t cry. She couldn’t. There were no tears left. How had it happened? She and Lukas were watching them, waiting for Jonas and Julie to move the barrier, when they suddenly disappeared into the ground. It was as if a sinkhole had opened up right beneath them. By the time they had realized what was happening, they were too late. Dakota rubbed her stomach. She felt sick. Her child was growing in side of her, waiting patiently until the day it would be born, and yet she felt nothing. Would motherhood kick in when she finally held it? Would she finally rediscover those maternal feelings when her daughter or son looked her in the eyes? Wasn’t this supposed to come naturally? Why was it that she could only feel pain and death? She knew the answer, but hated herself for thinking it. She was glad it was Julie and not her.
Jonas crawled over the road, and took Dakota’s hand. “Are you okay?”
Dakota shrugged. “We need to leave.” She rolled over to look at him. Blood was clotting around the wound on his head, and the skin was already discolored from where a nasty bruise was forming.
Jonas nodded. “Now.” He pulled Dakota up to her feet. The sound of Julie being consumed was more than he could take. He had led her to her death. He needed to get far away from here; far away from those noises. The zombies were louder now, their grunting and moaning only increasing as they fed. He knew he was partly responsible for her death. It could so easily have been him, and yet he was still alive. Julie had saved him; he was sure of that. He also knew that this was no accident. He was surer of that than anything. Rain was beginning to fall steadily, and they couldn’t sit around grieving for Julie. It wasn’t safe.