The Rising of the Dead

by Lindsey Rivers

  CHAPTER FIVE

  City of Dead

  ~March 19th~

  Sunrise once again found Mike seated on the small pile of bricks at the cave entrance watching the sky. Kate sat quietly beside him. They both sipped at their coffee as the new sun colored the sky a light pink on the far horizon behind them.

  A low fog hung over the river. There was a distinct chill in the air, and both of them were wearing jackets.

  “So, about twenty nine hours sunrise to sunrise is pretty good, or at least better than we’ve seen in awhile,” Mike said softly. He sipped at his coffee.

  “Might be the new norm,” Kate elaborated.

  Mike nodded. “Could be,” he agreed.

  The rising sun finally touched the cliffs across the river and turned the fog into a glowing yellow-red mist which began to drift apart with the early sun's heat. They sat in silence, leaning against one another, and watched the colors paint the cliffs.

  Off to their left, Janet and Sandy watched the fire and sipped at their own coffee, talking quietly with each other. Closer by the river Patty stood watching the road and bridges that serviced the North Side. She had given a half wave as Kate and Mike had come from the cave. Kate had waved back; Mike had nodded.

  The smoke from the fires rose slowly into the air. The smell of the smoked meat was on the air and most likely drifting for miles. Several times during the night whines, growls, scuffling and the clicking of nails on asphalt had come from the darkness. As the sun rose further, it outlined a small, mixed breed dog lying about thirty feet from the fire, nose on paws, looking forlornly at the fire.

  “So, there you are,” Sandy said.

  The dog lifted its head and vigorously wagged its tail but remained where it was.

  “Got an admirer I think,” Mike called over.

  The dog focused on Mike and Kate and wagged its tail even harder.

  Sandy reached for a piece of meat that was already tough and stringy and tossed it to the dog. The dog was up and after the meat before it hit the ground near where it had lain. Kate put two fingers in her mouth and whistled loudly. The dog stopped just short of grabbing the meat, spun around and sat down staring from the piece of meat to Kate.

  “Go on, Boy. You can have it,” Janet encouraged. The dog seemed to think about it, glancing from Janet to Kate, but he only hesitated for a few moments, hunger won out and he lunged for the chunk of meat, snatched it up, then retreated down the road where he sat holding the meat between his paws, gnawing hungrily at it.

  Everyone fell silent watching the skinny, yellow dog gnawing at the piece of meat. The sun continued to creep into the sky

  behind them, burning off the fog and painting the cliffs on the other side of the river with brilliant yellow-red light.

  The small dog finished the piece of meat and looked back over at Sandy hopefully. Sandy took another piece of meat off the drying rack. This time, the little dog’s eyes stayed on Sandy and the meat, paying attention. She threw it, and the dog caught it in mid-air, spun around a few times, causing everyone to laugh, then lay down once again, holding the chunk of meat between his paws and chewing with great delight.

  “Probably been pretty tough for you, huh, Boy?“ Jan asked. The dogs ears pricked up and its tail thumped against the asphalt, but it continued to worry at the meat it held between its paws.

  “Well,” Kate said, “we’re going to use the vehicles to run for supplies today. Looks like we better pick up some dog food also.”

  “Already have some,” Mike said. He jumped to his feet and disappeared inside the cave. He reappeared a few minutes later with a can of chunky beef dog food and a small can opener. He opened up the can, dumped the contents onto a disposable plastic plate, poured some bottled water into a disposable Styrofoam bowl and carried them over towards the dog.

  The dog stopped chewing, its ears flattened back, but it didn’t run. Mike stopped about five feet away, set the plate and the bowl down on the asphalt and then returned to the brick pile with Kate.

  “Did you have a dog before we came,” Kate asked?

  “No, but I saw a few tracks, and I heard them too. I could hear them at night. I was hoping one would come by. I spent a lot of time alone. I didn’t like it at all, and truthfully, I thought, well, if a dog could eat it…” He trailed off.

  “You were going to eat it?” Sandy asked.

  “Lots of seniors ate it all the time,” Janet said. “It’s meat.”

  “That was my reasoning. I couldn’t... hadn’t found a whole lot of meat at that point. I was thinking about protein,” he shrugged.

  “Yuck,” Sandy said.

  “Double yuck,” Kate agreed.

  “Well, I didn’t. It was just a sort of an emergency thing,” Mike said defensively.

  “It’s okay,” Kate said. “I love you anyway.”

  Mike looked at her and smiled.

  “Yeah, I know. I said the L word.”

  Mike continued to smile. He kissed her back as she kissed his lips.

  “I love you too,” He said and kissed her once more.

  “Get a room,” Sandy said. Everyone laughed, Mike and Kate included.

  The dog, having finished the venison, had discovered the chunky beef and was now busily wolfing down the plate of food.

  Kate leaned close and sniffed at Mike’s breath. ‘Nope. I guess you never did eat it,” She said seriously. Mike smiled and smacked her shoulder lightly.

  “Anyway,” he said, “I only got one case of it, so I suppose I better get a few more.” Everyone agreed. The dog looked up guiltily, wagged his tail, slurped some water from the bowl and then went back to eating.

  ~

  An hour after dawn the entire cave was up and getting ready for the day. Sandy and Janet would stay to continue curing the meat, but everyone else would be going to collect food and other items they might need. They were all armed, and no one would be going anywhere alone. One team of four would go over to State Street and the grocery store that Mike had been bringing food from, the same one Lilly had brought the ears of corn from. The other group of five would head out Arsenal Street searching for food items, as well as anything else that might be useful to them.

  “More flashlights,” Nell reminded.

  “The Ham radio you guys had talked about, and a few C.B. radios too. We can put those right in the trucks,” Ronnie contributed.

  “Uh,” Lilly said. She bent and whispered to Patty. Patty nodded.

  “We need to find a drug store too… for some personal things,” Patty said. Lilly turned red but smiled through her embarrassment.

  “More dog food,” Janet reminded. The stray had moved over to the fire where it had curled up close to Sandy and had fallen asleep.

  “Battery powered radios and a T.V., just in case,” Mike added.

  “I thought you tried that,” Tom asked.

  “Only the radio,” Mike agreed. “But the batteries are dead.”

  “Do you really think there will be anything on the T.V.?” Nell asked.

  “Honestly? No,” Mike said, ”But we should make sure.”

  “Do you think,” Tim asked, every bit as embarrassed looking as Lilly had been, “That a little battery powered C.D. player and some music would be okay?”

  Kate and Patty both laughed. Tim instantly looked worried, as if he wished he hadn’t said anything.

  “No, Tim,” Patty said, waving her hands at him. “It’s a good idea. There’s nothing wrong with it. It just surprised me that none of us had thought about it. It’s okay to need or want things for ourselves.”

  “We need to get some good footwear… good socks. Like that,” Bob said. “Our feet are important.”

  “We need sizes,” Mike said nodding.

  “Got it,” Kate said. A pen and a small note pad appeared in her hand. She’d been writing down other suggestions as they were made. Now she copied down the shoe sizes as they told her. “Babe,” she looked at Mike.

  “Eleven,” Mike said.
/>
  “More first aid stuff,” Janet said.

  The suggestions went on for a few minutes and then began to taper off. Kate folded the cover on her small notebook and slipped it into her shirt pocket. “We’ll think of more stuff I’m sure. Just write it down when you do, or if you’re somewhere where you can get what you thought of, get it.”

  The two groups split up, climbed into their vehicles and headed out; splitting off where the broken and twisted River Road ended, one road heading towards outer Coffeen Street, where they could cut over to Arsenal Street, the other turning abruptly up a small rise and back towards the public square where they could access State Street. Two of the trucks headed in that direction, Mike, Kate, Patty and Ronnie in those vehicles. The other three headed for Arsenal Street, carrying Tom, Lilly, Bob and Tim as well.

  ~ State Street ~

  “This was all me,” Mike said as they stood just inside the shattered front windows of the supermarket. The large piles of debris he had pulled out of his way as he searched through the rubble seemed to frame the dark opening that led into the interior of the store, piled high on either side of the twisted

  steel frames. They formed a dark, forbidding tunnel.

  “Maybe it’s a little worse for wear and tear from the rain and the last earthquake.” He looked around and shook his head. “Maybe not though. It doesn’t look any worse at all. Doesn’t look like the rain got in.”

  The smell was strong though. It made Mike wish he had removed the bodies the last time he had been there. Patty, Kate and Ronnie all had faces on, wrinkled noses, squinting eyes, partially turned away from the darkened tunnel and the aisles that were barely visible in the gloom.

  “It’s pretty bad,” Ronnie said.

  Mike simply nodded.

  “I shopped here a few times,” Kate said. “I know the basic layout.” She looked to the left then to the right. “Mostly canned vegetables, canned soups, stews, that sort of thing?” She pointed to an area Mike had cleared out.

  “Yeah,” Mike agreed, impressed. “I was trying to remember which way to go.” All three of the others were nodding in understanding.

  “Patty, did you and Ronnie come here? I think we want to go to the left. I think the next aisle is paper goods, utensils stuff like that.” Kate said.

  ”A few times,” Ronnie elaborated.

  “All the time,” Patty added. “He doesn’t like to shop if I remember correctly.”

  Ronnie laughed. “Pizza delivery for Two C,” he said and laughed. Then, “yeah, it was easier to get something on the way home, have a pizza delivered. I think my refrigerator had two or three boxes with leftover pizza, and a couple of six packs… maybe an old jar of Mayo.” He looked apologetic.

  “Stuff’ll kill you,” Mike said.

  “Yeah. Yeah, but it tastes good,” Ronnie laughed.

  Patty rolled her eyes. “Yeah… Paper stuff… Toilet tissue. Some medications, gadgets, you know, like little can openers, oven timers.”

  They all looked at each other.

  “Good a place as any to start,” Ronnie said. They all nodded and started to work clearing the debris from the front of the aisle, piling it outside the shattered front windows.

  Everyone wore heavy gloves to protect themselves from all the broken glass and brick, so the work went quickly. They had pulled the trucks as close to the front of the building as they could, so once they reached the aisle it was easy to retrieve and load what they chose to keep right into the trucks.

  Moving the debris that blocked the aisles went much faster with three extra pairs of hands. In no time at all they had progressed down the aisles and were nearing the back wall of the supermarket.

  “The end,” Patty said, thinking out loud, “Breads, Cakes, fresh produce…”

  “I think so,” Kate agreed.

  The closer they got to the back of the store the stronger the odor of corruption became.

  “Bad,” Patty said.

  “Yeah... I think that’s lunch meat… Produce…”

  “The butcher shop is back there also,” Ronnie said.

  “Storage?” Kate asked.

  “Probably where Lilly got the corn. She probably used the back door though,” Mike said.

  They had already come across two bodies as they had dug their way through the aisles. Rather than leave them there as Mike had done, they had dragged them out of the market and covered them with a tarp at the front of the store. Despite that, the store didn’t smell any better than it had. Rats, mice, and bugs had infested the market.

  “Both the Suburbans are packed. The pickup nearly is,” Ronnie said.

  “Yeah,” Mike said. “I’m thinking, what else is there here that we could need?”

  “Duh,” Patty said and smacked her forehead with an open palm. “Hang on. Follow me,” she turned and walked down to the destroyed front window area and stepped out into the bright sunlight. The others followed, stopping to blink their eyes rapidly in the overly bright sunlight. Slowly adjusting after so long inside the dark interior.

  Patty made her way along the front of the store, in the same direction they had been walking inside. Just about twenty feet from the end of the store a single steel door rested.

  “The back door,” Patty said. “It used to be a drug store, but when it was closed the supermarket snapped up the lease on that space. They took out the front windows and bricked it all up, put in this steel door unit. We can get into the back storage area from here. That’s what they used it for, more storage. I remember reading about it in the paper. One of those days when I was so bored I read every story in the paper.” She laughed. “You know, in a small town, everything’s a big story.”

  Ronnie looked over the handle with its inset lock. “This can’t be the way Lilly got in,” he said.

  “No,” Kate agreed. “There’s a whole different warehouse area at the absolute back of the store. Different area.”

  Ronnie nodded. “I don’t know if it wouldn’t still be easier to go through from the inside though.” He looked over the door. “That’s a steel jamb. And that,” He pointed down at the inset lock, “Is probably a deadbolt. It’s going to be tough to get opened easily.”

  Mike left, walked to the Suburban and came back a few seconds later with a massive sledge hammer and a long heavy crow bar. He set the end of the crowbar into the steel jamb at the place were the lock-set was. He tapped it lightly a few times to wedge it into the door. After the easy taps he swung hard twice, driving the heavy bar into the door. The door

  easily dented inward, the lock-set pieces flying out onto the concrete of the sidewalk as he drove the end of the heavy crowbar home.

  The door itself bent out of the frame with a soft squeal of metal.

  Mike started forward into the small circle of light when the odor from inside the space suddenly leapt out to assault him. At the same time, a distinct sound reached his ears, the sound of dozens of buzzing flies. Mike moved back quicker than he had thought to and nearly tripped over the others as he did.

  Ronnie stepped forward, snagged what was left of the door and pushed it shut. The broken lock mechanism jammed in the steel door unit and held it closed.

  Ronnie’s face was gray. Sweat popped out along his brow. He had seen dozens of bodies inside, just within the small perimeter of light that had come through the open doorway, and what looked to be dozens more just beyond in the shadows.

  “Jesus,” he managed as he quickly made his way past the others, around the side of the building, away from the odor. He almost kept his breakfast down, but as the picture of the devastation inside replayed in his head, he lost the brief struggle. He came back after a few minutes.

  Everyone had walked further down what was left of the sidewalk, away from the door. His face was still pale, but he felt marginally better.

  “All right,” Patty asked as she rested the back of her wrist against his forehead. Her eyes were worried.

  “Better,” Ronnie said. “I just wasn’t prepared f
or that. I’ve never seen anything like that.”

  “Looked like they were stuck in there,” Kate said.

  “Except they could’ve just knocked the lock off like we did.” Mike's eyes met Ronnie’s. They had both been close to the door as it opened and they had both seen the same things. Weapons scattered everywhere. There had been some sort of battle in there.

  “What?” Kate asked. She looked at Ronnie.

  “Looked like a lot of weapons just lying around by the bodies…like maybe a gunfight took place and then the ceiling caved in. But they were dead before that… shot for some reason. Shot each other?” He looked over at Mike.

  “Maybe,” Mike allowed. “Or shot and then whoever did it just shut and locked the door and walked away.” He shrugged helplessly.

  “Well, they must have killed each other,” Patty said.

  “Maybe,” Ronnie said. “But like Mike said…” He shrugged too. “Some of the weapons looked like they might have been thrown in on top of them… It doesn’t fit.”

  Mike nodded.

  Kate looked from Mike to Ronnie, a look of disbelief on her face. She glanced back down at the door, back at Mike once more, then spun and walked back down to the door.

  “Kate,” Mike called. He started after her, but she reached the door and tugged it open before he reached her. “You don’t,” he started.

  She drew in a short breath; her hands came up and cupped her nose and mouth. Her legs were planted firmly, her posture rigid. “It’s true,” she mumbled through her hands. Mike leaned past her shoulder and took a closer look at the room.

  There were many more bodies than his first quick look had shown him. The weapons were lying on top of the bodies, as though they had been shot and then someone had tossed the weapons into the room, shut the door and walked away. Just as it had seemed to both he and Ronnie in their first short view.

  What hadn’t appeared in their first short view were the other things that were, at first, not readily seen.

  They had, every one, been shot in the head. But that was not the only thing. It was the way some of the people’s hands weren’t showing. That in itself didn’t actually register for a few seconds until he realized no one's hands were showing. Then his eyes took in the bodies in more detail than his eyes had wanted to provide, and he realized the reason their hands were not showing was because they were behind their backs.