by Poe, S. B.
“I can’t get off the horse. I don’t have a knife and I don’t have the strength in my fingers to untie the knots. Please.” The man became more alert as he spoke.
“Buddy, you don’t look too good.” Vernon said. “You sure something ain’t wrong with you?”
“Brother, everything is wrong with me. Shit I can’t even explain. Help me out. I can barely see, I ain’t got no feeling in my fingers. My toes are numb and I can barely walk.”
“Sounds a lot like a deadun to me.” Ed said.
“Yeah, except they don’t talk.”
“Maybe this is one of the smart ones.” Ed said.
“Maybe you’re one of the dumb ones. Jesus man, just cut me loose and I’ll walk away.” The man said.
“Making friends fast there, Ed.” Cody said as he stepped around the little honeysuckle bush. He pulled the knife from the scabbard on his hip and lay the blade against the rope. He tilted his head up towards the man in the saddle as he sliced through the rope.
“The other side, please.”
Cody walked around the back of the horse and cut the other rope free. The man gingerly leaned forward before cautiously throwing his leg over and stepping out of the stirrup. He wobbled briefly before steadying himself. The horse stepped a few feet closer to Cameron and lowered its head. Cameron stroked the horse’s ear.
“You friends?” The man asked.
“We were. It’s been quite a while. How did she find you, I mean how did you find her?”
“Yeah, you had it right the first time. She found me. You obviously know this horse.” The man said.
“Okay, hold the hell on. Stop right there. Are y’all just gonna stand there and act like you ain’t having a damn conversation with a talking deadun. What the hell is wrong with you man? You know what the hell you look like right?” Ed raised his voice above the others.
The man knelt down on one knee. He looked up at Ed.
“I feel like I died. Maybe I did. Maybe I’m about to.” The man stammered.
“Look, we have a doctor. I can lead you and the horse out of here. She’ll follow my lead.” Cameron said.
“No, no. I can’t ride anymore. Just let me rest here.” The man said.
“Then I shall ride forth and retrieve the doctor.”
“It’s not a woman doctor is it?” The man asked.
“I can’t possibly see how that would matter but no, Raj is not female.” Cameron said.
“Nothing against women. Just a certain woman doctor.” The man said.
“Never the less. I shall return post haste with our doctor. Gentlemen, I trust you shall attend to his needs.” Cameron looked over the others.
“Yeah, we’ll keep an eye on him.” Ed said.
“He’ll be okay.” Vernon added.
Cameron grabbed the reins and walked around to the side of the horse. He patted her on the side and stepped into the same stirrup that almost broke his ankle not long ago. “I know someone who will be excited to see you.” He whispered as he climbed into the saddle. He turned west.
The New Day
4
Bridger slid the filing cabinet in front of the narrow door. Josh and Lori waited in the larger office with Raj.
“So it’s different? How?” Lori asked.
“Physically it appears desiccated. Completely dried out.”
“Like a piece of jerky.” Bridger added as he came through the door.
“An apt description because much like jerky it is still somewhat soft on the inside.” Raj added.
“Eww.” Lori said. “Can y’all quit comparing it to what I ate for breakfast?”
“Yeah, sorry. The point is that for some reason these things are changing their outward appearance.”
“You think it’s on purpose?” Bridger asked.
“No. Not the way you think. But maybe genetically, it’s like a phase. A metamorphosis.”
“Like a butterfly, or a moth?” Josh asked.
“Or a snake shedding its skin?” Bridger asked.
“Maybe a little of both.” Raj said. “But whatever it is, for whatever reason, there’s no doubt, some of them are changing.”
“I guess that needs to go on the list of shit I worry about now, huh?” Bridger said as they stepped into the street.
“Not really sure. Look around. We got a good place here. It’s solid. And we have done a good job of keeping things safe. You’ve done a good job of it.” Raj said.
“It took all of us to get here.” Bridger said. “All of us.”
“Well, I think Lori and I will start making rounds. Charlie was going try to teach Scott and Ham to drive a little before they took watch on the gate. I kinda wanna see that.” Josh said.
“Ham?” Bridger asked.
“Yeah, Charlie said Jahda asked him if Ham could sit in the back while he helped Scott and it just kinda went from there.”
“How long they been practicing?” Bridger asked.
“A few days now.” Raj added.
“You knew too?” Bridger asked.
“Yeah. You didn’t?”
“I guess the last few days, with all the activity outside the gates, I haven’t paid attention to the inside.” Bridger said.
“Don’t worry about it, we all got jobs to do.” Josh said as he and Lori headed towards the bridge.
Bridger and Raj walked towards the other side of the town. Inside the barricade they had about a mile in each direction away from the big house. The creek which formed one part of the barricade where it passed under the bridge, sat fifty yards or so behind the big house. Barbed wire and pieces of chain-link wrapped almost the entire perimeter now. They had spent the last few weeks shoring up any weak spots Bridger or Tilly found. It was already more secure than anywhere they had been when they got here. Now it felt like a fortress to them. For the first time in almost a year, there was a real sense of being safe.
“You didn’t really answer me earlier?” Bridger asked as he and Raj approached Raj’s house.
“Answer what?” Raj asked.
“How worried should I be about the deaduns changing?” Bridger asked.
“I mean we know they’re getting faster, at least a little. We have to assume that means they’re getting a little stronger. The obvious worry is they’ll be harder to kill. Or harder to get away from. But that’s it, really. Maybe if they keep, I don’t know, evolving, they may evolve to something worse. Knowing that they’re changing is the biggest worry right now. But we still don’t know what that means.”
“That helps. So file this under low key shit to pay attention to all the time.” Bridger smiled.
“Yeah, that sounds about right. See ya this evening. If Tilly’s feeling better.”
“What’s wrong with Tilly?” Bridger paused.
“Probably nothing. Upset stomach. Said it was probably something she ate. I’ll check her out where I get home.”
“Well, if you need something from out there,” Bridger nodded at the horizon. “Just let me know.”
“I’m sure she’ll be fine.” Raj turned and walked down the street.
Bridger watched him for a few steps and turned just as Evelyn walked down the steps of the big house a few yards ahead of him. He broke into a trot to catch up with her. She heard his footsteps and turned to wait.
“Perfect timing.” Evelyn said. “Y’all see what you wanted to see.”
“Did you know that Charlie is teaching Ham to drive?” Bridger asked.
“I did. You need to get out more. Or get in more.” Evelyn said.
“You wanna try that again?” Bridger smiled at her.
“No, not really.” She winked and walked back into the street. “Did you know that Ed and a few others went cow hunting this morning?”
“Excuse me? Cow hunting? Like moo, cow?” Bridger fell in beside her.
“Apparently. Emma Grace said they had cows before all this and that her brother took Ed and Cameron and the big fella,”
“Vernon.” Bridger added.
“Vernon. Took them out to their farm? You know where that is?”
“I do. Out past the co-op. It’s almost all the way out to the roadblock.”
“They went looking for cows.”
“For the meat I assume, or the milk?”
“Meat I’m sure, although I didn’t ask.”
“Well, I kinda wish I had gone with them. That sounds fun.”
“Hunting a cow sounds fun?”
“No, watching Ed hunt a cow sounds fun.” Bridger said.
“Yeah, that actually does sound fun.” Evelyn elbowed his ribs as they turned down the walk to the house they called home.
Ed shifted his weight under him and leaned back against the tree. The sun warmed the ground and the morning mist burned away. The sounds of the forest ebbed and flowed as the wind carried falling leaves to the ground. The stranger shifted from the crook in the fallen log he had settled against. Vernon lifted his head.
“How you feeling buddy?” Vernon asked.
“Okay, I guess.” The stranger said. “My name’s Ramey.”
“Vernon. This here’s Cody and that’s Ed. The fella that rode off for help was Cameron.”
“Nice to meet y’all.” Ramey said.
“What the hell happened to you dude?” Ed spoke up from his seat.
“Seriously. You look like one of the dead.” Cody said.
“I feel like one.”
“So what the fuck?” Cody seemed more insistent.
“Well, it kinda gets all muddled up. I ain’t sure how long ago it all started, I mean I don’t really know how long I been like this. I remember being out on the interstate. I remember it was the first really hot day of the summer and I saw a sign that said lake. It sounded like an excellent idea. It wasn’t.”
“It’s basically fall.” Vernon said.
“So a few months.” Cody added.
“That seems about right. They held me for a long time. Made me work for them. Had to keep the rotters tied up. Hung em up in the trees. Hung em up on poles. Hung the dead up everywhere.”
“What the hell are you talking about dude?”
“Shit. Like I said it all gets kinda muddled up.”
“You said it started on the interstate. At a lake. Spring Lake? Is that it?”
“Maybe, I don’t know for sure. There was a camp. It had fences. There was a girl. She was different. She was with the dead sometimes.”
“He’s fucking losing it.” Ed said.
“Give him a chance.” Vernon scolded.
“Look man, just start with what you know. You said you left the interstate.” Vernon said. “Looking for a lake.”
“Yeah, looking for the lake. I remember it was hot. And the lake sounded cool.” He started.
Le Cavalier du Cheval
5
The pine trees that lined the path provided comforting shade over the road. He could feel the gentle slope downward under his feet at knew that at the bottom of the winding road, somewhere just out of sight, was the lake. He hoped the dead weren’t around. He really wanted to strip naked and go running into the water. It had been several weeks since he had a chance to get clean. He had saved that bar of soap for right now he thought as he stepped a little faster. The road curved slightly to the right and disappeared from his view but what he could see, through the trees flickering in the morning sun, was the lake. Just a glimpse. It held his gaze as he rounded the corner.
“Well, well. Someone out for a stroll this morning?” A voice came from the road ahead. He snapped his head around. Two soldiers. At least they were dressed kind of like soldiers were standing in the road ahead. The one talking had his weapon on his shoulder. The silent one had his weapon on Ramey.
There were two others in the cabin. Two old women. They stood in the corner when the soldiers drug Ramey through the door. He hadn’t fought much but he paid for it with a swift blow to the forehead from the butt of the silent soldiers rifle. He just started to wake up when they tossed him onto the squeaky metal cot. The mattress was slightly thicker than the blanket that covered it.
“He’ll be fine. Y’all clean him up. He’s got work to do.” The formerly silent soldier said as he exited the cabin.
The two old women moved as soon as the door shut. One jumped to the window to watch and the other went to the cabinet and grabbed a rag. She dunked it in the pot sitting on the table and knelt down beside the cot. She dabbed at the bump on his head.
“Didn’t break the skin. Gonna swell up good though. Sorry. Nothing cooler than water to put on it.” She said.
“Where the hell am I?” He asked.
“Hard to explain. The world kinda got messed up and this little part of it seems messed up a little more.”
“What the hell are you talking about?”
“Rest, I’ll show you. But you need to rest, just a little while.”
“Screw that. What the hell is going on? Where the hell am I?” He sat up in the bed. The world swam in his head but he managed to stay up.
“Alright. Come on.” The old woman opened the door. He stood and walked towards the bright light of the sun. He shielded his eyes but the sound made him pause. As his eyes focused, he could see the shapes of the dead on the other side of the fence. He stepped back into the cabin and sat down.
“Where am I?”
“It takes a little getting used to.”
“Getting used to?” He looked up. “I don’t want to get used to it. I want to leave. I need to leave.”
The two old woman shared a glance and a smile. The one beside him snorted a small laugh.
“Don’t we all. Best to stay alive a little longer. Even working for the devil has its perks.” The old woman opened the cabinet again and pulled out a soft drink can.
“It’s just a coke. What’s the big deal?”
“The big deal is I didn’t have to fight no one, living or dead, to get it. I didn’t have to do anything but open this cabinet. And clean up after the others. And not ask questions.” She handed him the can. “It’s a fair trade. If you got the stomach for it.”
“Stomach for what?”
“That’s one of them question things I was talking about.” She pulled the can back a little.
He looked around the room. The other woman was nodding her head. He looked back at the one standing over him. He reached for the can.
“Sure, why not? How bad can it be?” He took the can. She laughed.
He stayed in the cabin for another few days but soon the old women, Agnes and Julia, coaxed him out to help them. The camp was some kind of medical set up. Ramey wasn’t sure what the soldiers were doing but the one they called Gideon seemed to be in charge. The soldiers kept to themselves. The old women cooked and cleaned their clothes. He didn’t see the old women interact with Gideon that much. The camp seemed to be divided into three parts. The soldier’s cabins, Ramey and the old women’s cabin sat among this group. The medical wing seemed to be the main lodge house. And the fenced area that held the dead. His first thought was that the fence kept the dead out, it did, but it also kept the dead in. The dead were trapped against the fence on three sides and the lake on the other. The cabins and medical lodge had its own fence to keep the other dead away but the dead to the east, the ones that never went away, were part of the camp.
The first time the soldiers came for him he didn’t know what to expect. They whisked him by his collar through the fence into the medical area while the two old women stood and stared. The rotter on the dolly had shocked him when he turned into the doorway. The two soldiers got a good laugh as he tried to duck out of the way.
“Roll his ass out.” The soldier said.
“What?” Ramey breathlessly said.
“Roll…his…ass…out.” The soldier enunciated.
“Where?” Ramey looked at the rotter and stepped behind it. He grabbed the handles on the dolly and slightly leaned it back. The rotter jerked its head and Ramey let go of the handles. The dolly rocked forward and the rotte
r tilted towards the soldier. The butt stock smashed the rotter’s teeth before driving the dolly back into Ramey’s hands.
“Watch what the fuck you’re doing.” The soldier said. “Roll his ass out now or we’ll put your ass with him.”
Ramey leaned the dolly back, ignoring the head thrashing ghoul, and wheeled it through the open door. He turned when the soldier said turned and stopped when the soldier said stop.
“That’s good. Here.” The soldier said. Ramey turned and the soldier had an axe in his hand.