New DEAD series (Book 2): DEAD (Alone)

by TW Brown

  “You said something about getting supplies for your dog?” she said in a whisper. “So, you guys have a dog there, too?”

  Now we were getting someplace. She wasn’t crying anymore, and even better, she wasn’t pointing a gun at my head. I was actually starting to feel bad about punching her in the face. Then my brain would replay that moment that I was literally staring down the barrel of her pistol, and the guilt would ease up.

  “Yeah, a Newfoundland named Chewie.”

  “Like from Star Wars?”

  Wow, this was a girl after my own heart if I still had any of mine left—which I very seriously doubted. Still, it was a plus in my book about her that she got the reference. I’d honestly believed when I chose that name for my girl that everybody would get it. The first time I met somebody who didn’t, I think I was in a bit of shock.

  “Yeah…just like that. Besides how big and furry she is, she makes a lot of the same noises.”

  That earned me a tiny giggle. “And you’re out here all by yourself?” she asked, a hint of disbelief creeping back into her voice.

  This felt like a moment of truth. I could tell her about my condition and then let her out if she didn’t feel safe, or I could just make something up. It only took me a few seconds to make the choice. I pulled over and stopped the truck once I was certain we had nothing close by that could pose a threat.

  “Sort of my last gasp…one final act and a chance to do something good,” I said. I hiked my sleeve up to reveal my scratch. The redness and inflammation made it very visible on my skin. “Chewie is all I have left. I figure if I grab a few things for her, the group will have an easier time taking care of her and then maybe she’ll be allowed to hang around.”

  “Holy Jesus,” the woman breathed. I noticed that she inched just a little further away from me despite the fact that we were in the front seat of a Jeep Cherokee and there really wasn’t very far she could go.

  “I want to make this run and drop it off at their gates before I go off to die,” I said hastily.

  “Y-y-you’re infected.”

  “Yeah, thanks for stating the obvious. Like I said, I want to make this run before I reach a point where I swallow the business end of my pistol and end it. You don’t have to come along if you don’t want to. I get that it might not seem safe.”

  “Not safe?” she barked a cold laugh. “I’m in an SUV with a man who punched me in the face, choked me, and then tells me that he is going to become a zombie sometime in the near future.”

  “You left out the part where you pulled a gun on me after I risked my ass to save you.”

  “You’re dying anyway,” she retorted. “What risk did you take exactly?”

  “Whether you know it, or even realize it, I still could’ve been grabbed, ripped apart, and eaten alive. Just because I am infected and about to die any day now doesn’t mean I relish the idea of being chowed down on by a mob of zombies.”

  There was a moment of silence, and I put my hand on the lever to shift the vehicle into drive. If she was going to take her time to think it over, then I was going to get just a bit closer to my destination.

  “Listen,” she said hesitantly, “I’m sorry. I think I just sort of dumped all the fear and tension I’ve been experiencing these past several days right on you. You have enough problems. And I owe you a thanks for saving my butt back there.”

  “You’re welcome,” I replied, keeping my eyes on the road.

  “And you’re really doing this for your dog?” she asked, sounding more curious than doubtful.

  “I love her more than any person walking the face of the earth,” I said. The thing was, I could make that claim and be certain that it was the God’s honest truth. The only other being that I’d really loved was now one of the living dead.

  “And everything that you said about the people?” I heard the hope seeping into that question.

  Her reaction was also something that was resonating with me. Despite how things would eventually play out, I was realizing that I missed the company of living human beings. It might seem all macho to strike out on your own and be some sort of solitary warrior, but normal humans were not meant to be isolated and by themselves. It isn’t part of our makeup.

  “Every last word.”

  We drove in silence for another moment. I was feeling fairly confident that she would come along and want to at least try to make a go of it with Carl and the others.

  “My name is Ariel,” she finally said. “Ariel Mannheim.”

  “Evan Berry.” I looked over and gave her what I hoped looked like a friendly smile.

  “And I’m really sorry about your situation, Evan.” She sounded like she truly meant it.

  That almost brought a tear to my eye. Seriously, how often can you go from having a gun pulled on you, punching somebody in the face, to exchanging names and pleasantries in under five minutes?

  I zoomed through a residential neighborhood and heard Ariel gasp. Several of the houses were nothing more than charred, skeletal remains. A nasty fire had wiped out well over what I would guess to be a hundred or more homes. The one bonus was that it created an open line of sight where we could see the few zombies in the area as they staggered and stumbled around.

  At last, I made the right turn on Southeast Blackstone Avenue. The Happy Valley City Hall building was on the corner to my left as I turned and I felt my heart skip a few beats as I realized where it was exactly that I was headed.

  “The Happy Valley Outdoor Mall?” Ariel breathed. “I thought you were going to a vet’s office? This mall thing seems a bit cliché,” she snorted.

  “Excuse me?” I said through clenched teeth as I saw a parking lot with countless zombies roaming and shambling about amidst all the abandoned vehicles.

  “Just seems like you’re heading into a bad remake of a Romero movie.” She sounded simultaneously skeptical and amused.

  As for me, I was now just more than a little impressed with Ariel. She got the Star Wars reference, and now she was hitting me with classic zombie lore. I bet I would’ve liked her if I’d gotten the opportunity to get to know her.

  “The vet hospital is supposed to be right here.” Just as I said the words, the building and the sign popped into view.

  The thing was, the complex was a damn gold mine. Not only was the vet hospital here, but there was a grocery store and a couple of restaurants, not to mention a walk-in emergency clinic for humans. I could really hook Carl and the group up if I played this right.

  “You aren’t seriously thinking about going out into that place,” Ariel squeaked when I pulled the Jeep around in a circle and rolled to a stop in front of the building that held the veterinary hospital. “There are hundreds of those things out there in the parking lot.”

  It was here where I would have to make my choice. Trust was something I didn’t have much of, but I would have to hope that this girl was as smart as she appeared. She obviously knew enough about zombie stuff to realize that she would have a better chance at survival with others.

  “If I jump out and then you race around the lot blaring the horn, you will lead them away. I can get in, get what I need, and then get out,” I said in a rush.

  As I told her this, I continued to prowl the parking lot. The zombies were all turning toward the Jeep as it rolled past. Add in the horn and I was willing to bet that they would be cleared out and lured away from the vet so that I could get inside.

  Despite how it might’ve looked to an outsider, I wasn’t being a total idiot. I was also searching the lot for an older model vehicle. The Volkswagen Bug in front of the New Seasons natural foods store was a prime candidate if I needed to make an attempt to hotwire a car and escape on my own. Ariel didn’t need to know that; all she needed to know was that it looked on the surface like I was trusting her. If she did take off, then I would simply make do.

  “Are you stupid?” she scoffed. “You are just gonna jump out of this car, leave it to me, and then trust that I’ll stick around to pic
k you up when you are done?”

  “Yeah, that’s about the size of it.” I gave her a shrug as I looped back around towards the entrance of the veterinary hospital.

  “You are either crazy, or you have a death wish.” As soon as those last two words came out of her mouth, she clamped her teeth shut with an audible click. “I’m sorry, Evan,” she blurted. “I didn’t mean it like that.”

  “I know.” I turned and flashed her a smile, trying to let her know that it really was okay. “So, will you do it?”

  “I guess.” She wasn’t very reassuring, but I doubted anything would give me even a shred of comfort at the moment. I also knew that, if I didn’t jump out of this car right now, I probably wasn’t ever going to.

  Without another word, I opened the driver’s side door and stepped out as the Jeep rolled along at a snail’s pace. I was smart enough to grab my bag just in case she took off, as well as have my axe drawn before both my feet even touched ground.

  I was two steps away when the door to the Jeep slammed shut and the vehicle sped off. I instantly felt a lump in my throat.

  “Yep,” I grunted as I chopped into the only zombie that had been close when I exited, “I’m an idiot.”

  A few seconds later, as the Jeep banked hard around one of the parking lot’s many light pole fixtures, the horn began to blare. A few of the zombies that were within less than twenty feet from me continued for me, but most of them stopped advancing and turned to this new stimulus.

  I took advantage of my window of opportunity and bolted for the doors of the veterinary hospital. I was moving so fast that I had to use my arms as a cushion to stop myself when I reached them. I gave them a tug and spit out a string of obscenities when I discovered the doors to be locked.

  I didn’t have time to mess around and used my axe to stave in the bottom half of the glass door. While it wasn’t foolproof, I hadn’t seen many zombies crawling around unless they were missing their legs.

  With a glance over my shoulder, I noticed that only a few had broken off from the Jeep and turned towards me. Seconds later, when the horn bleated again, they were already starting to turn back away from me.

  I crawled in, ignoring the pain in my hands and knees as I crawled over the busted cubes of safety glass. As soon as I was inside, I knew there was going to be trouble. I could smell it on the air.

  Coming to my feet, I drew my hand axe, but before I took a step, I made sure that the Glock was sporting a fully loaded magazine. I jammed it in the front of my pants and then pulled the headlamp from my bag out and put it on. Once I was past the ambient light of the lobby, it would be pitch black. There were no windows that I could see and that meant darkness.

  I started down the hall and paused at the first door. It had a tiny window and I peered inside. It looked to be some sort of exam room. There was a stainless-steel table and a counter with a few odds and ends along with walls plastered with posters that sang the praises of various flea medications.

  I edged further down the hall, stopping at each door and peeking inside to discover the same basic setup. I noticed that the smell was growing stronger as I ventured further into the building. By the time I reached the end of the hallway, the smell was almost gag-inducing. I gripped the metal doorknob and held my breath as I gave it a turn.

  The smell hit me even stronger and made me stagger back. I was fighting the urge to be sick when a woman stepped into the beam of my headlamp. She had shoulder-length brown hair and looked like she’d been athletic in life. Sadly, she also looked like she’d been the victim of a pack of wild dogs or wolves.

  The rips and tears in her skin were jagged and nasty looking. Also, her left cheek appeared to have been nibbled at, and the meaty flap was shredded at the ends.

  When the three dogs moved in behind her, I was getting my first up close look at a zombified dog. The eyes were filmed and tracer-riddled just like a human’s which made these nightmares an even more sinister visage to take in.

  I made out what I was almost certain had to be a Lab, a German Sheppard, and the most pathetic Pug in the world. The poor thing had obviously been savaged by one, if not both, of the two larger dogs and had lost both its eyes. Its head swung back and forth as it followed behind the other two dogs and the woman who I guessed to be a vet here.

  She was wearing the filthy remains of what had once been a white lab coat. Although, now, you would be hard pressed to find anything white about it. The zombie vet led the group towards me, her low moan almost echoed eerily by the dogs to a varying degree. I was stunned by the odd sounds that came from the three zombified dogs, but now was not the time for an in-depth study.

  I backed up the hallway I’d just travelled down to keep them all in front of me. If they flanked me, I knew that I wouldn’t last a minute. At the last second, I decided the knife would be best in such close quarters. I timed my attack, and as the vet staggered forward, I jammed the tip of the blade under her jaw like I’d seen Carl do countless times.

  She fell so fast that I almost lost the knife as her weight was suddenly entirely supported by my wrist. I managed to yank it out and kick her away from me as the German Sheppard stepped into range. I drove the blade into the top of its head and almost broke my already aching wrist as the handle wrenched free.

  I was all the way back to the lobby where I caught the sound of a horn honking over and over, coming closer, then moving away. I think I breathed a sigh of relief as I drew my hand axe. It hurt my heart to end the Labrador, but when that pathetic Pug wobbled out into the lobby and swung its head one way and then the other, two dark, empty holes where its buggy eyes had once been, I had to fight back the tears.

  My axe came down with a final thud, and I headed back up that hallway. When I first heard it, I wasn’t sure that it was not my imagination; but then the mewl of a cat came from somewhere in the darkness and I froze.

  “Cats too?” I moaned.

  My headlamp had a lone feline in the cone of light, its eyes shining a hideous green. It regarded me in that way that cats have. Basically, it was acting like I was intruding on its peace and quiet. I guess I sort of was when you got down to it. The thing that got my attention was that it did not seem like this creature was zombified. For one, when the headlamp hit the eyes of zombie humans (or dogs for that matter), there was no glow. It landed on lifeless eyes that you could see clearly. I don’t know why that stood out to me, but I somehow knew that this cat had not been turned. I knew because of the glowing green eyes.

  While I had no intentions of taking on a pet, I could at least let this little thing out. But that brought up a new series of questions. For one, how had this thing managed to avoid being eaten? Also, what had it eaten in all this time?

  The question of water was answered when I spotted several open cages, each with gravity-filled water dishes. A few were empty, but I also saw several of them with water still in their reservoirs. When it made another meowing sound and hopped from where it had been perched on top of a series of wall-mounted kennels, I jumped back out of reflexive fear.

  It landed with what seemed like normal cat-like grace—further advancing my theory that this cat was no zombie. I was happier and more satisfied with that assessment when it strolled past me and swished its tail. I promised myself that I would rip open a few bags of cat food on my way out and lead this animal to its freedom. Granted, I was letting it out into a world overrun by the walking dead, but it would at least have a shot at survival.

  With the sounds of the Jeep’s horn growing nearer and then farther, I headed into the back area knowing my ride was still close at hand. I still had to fight the desire to be sick as the smell lingered thickly in the air and seemed to coat my throat with its vile foulness. I didn’t know where to begin my search, but at last I found a room with all sorts of plastic boxes that had neat rows of packaged creams and ointments. Also, I found the pill dispensary. Since I didn’t know what to look for specifically, I just started grabbing things and filling my bag.

&n
bsp; Once I had my bag filled, I realized that I’d only made a dent in the medications available. I would need to bring everything to the front of this place and then have Ariel stop the Jeep and allow me to load it up. I knew it would be tricky, but I also knew it could be done if done right. I sprinted to the front and spied a display of decorative tote bags with the name of the veterinary hospital emblazoned on them. That would help, I decided, and quickly rushed into the back again with the collection of empty totes and the sounds of a blaring vehicle horn rising and falling in a Doppler symphony that was strangely comforting.

  I loaded up five of the totes to levels that had them bulging in the middle. I was now feeling like I’d done something significant. The added bonus came in the form of the stacks of dog food in a display against one wall of the lobby. I would toss all that in the back and feel good that I’d provided Chewie with as much of an opportunity to survive this madness as any of the people. Heck, maybe better.

  I stopped at the door and then remembered that I’d promised myself that I would do what I could for the cat. Looking around, I didn’t see him (or her) at first. When I did, I didn’t know whether to gag, scold it, or just add it in with all the other madness I’d witnessed since this terrible event began. The cat, an orange and white tabby, was hunched over the downed body of the zombie vet I’d ended. It was currently tugging at a piece of loose flesh on the side of the neck.

  “Shoo!” I finally barked, clapping my hands to try and spook the cat. It turned, looked at me for a moment, and then returned to its feast.