About a Woman, a Zombie Chronicles Novel

by Mark Clodi

  "I feel so secure. Remind me to be really, extra nice at the next town meeting." Dora said.

  "Why?" asked Paige.

  "Well in our new democracy everyone has a gun and takes turns pointing it at people from a rooftop. I wouldn't want there to be any mistakes."

  "Everyone loves you, Dora. You got nothing to worry about."

  Dora shrugged her shoulders and said nothing in reply. She was getting angry however, as the coffee went down her desire to puke it back up had grown stronger. Finally she could not hold it in anymore and took two quick steps off of the sidewalk to vomit on the grass where it would not be noticed.

  "You okay? You better see Mary about this, it's been two days already."

  Dora waved her hand, shooing Paige away as she stood up and wiped her mouth on her sleeve. "It'll pass, it always does. I wonder how many people the flu is going to kill this year with no vaccinations?"

  "God, why would you say such a thing?"

  Shrugging again Dora stood up straight and started walking. "We will have to think about it eventually, we are lucky half of us are not down at once, what would we do for the perimeter guards then?" Tapping the side of her head, Dora continued, "See? Your beloved leader thinks of these things so you peasants can just play and have fun all day long. I am lucky my hair isn't gray yet."

  They turned right at the end of the block and headed towards the inner fence. There was one kid on guard there and he was dozing in his seat. Dora thought he looked about eight years old.

  "Wakey-wakey and open the gatey-gatey." she said to him poking his chest with her rifle barrel. The boy barely moved at first, and then groggily stood up and started turning a crank that slid the gates open about three feet.

  "This the best use for our kids?" Dora asked Paige after they had passed through and the chain link gate clanged shut behind them.

  "Like Mike is much more than zombie walking right now." Paige said.

  Dora looked over and it was true, Mike looked like he was asleep on his feet, just shuffling forward slowly beside them.

  "Mike? You awake?"

  He turned his face towards her and winked, "Not sleeping. Just thinking."

  "You? A hidden talent! Tell us what you are thinking about!"

  Mike gestured towards the next gate, which was only about half a block out from the first one. "I am thinking there should be a guard there. And there isn't, so I am wondering why not."

  The little group scattered, going to ground in the uncut grass next to the sidewalk. Scanning the rooftops Dora could not see the sniper who was also supposed to be watching the gate as backup.

  "Fuck. Where are they? It looks like the gate is closed to me."

  "It is. I will go on point and see what I can see, cover me.", Mike hunched over and ran a zig-zag pattern towards the guard house.

  He gestured Dora and Paige up a few minutes later. They crept up at a slower pace and saw nothing amiss, other than the guard was gone.

  "Who is on outer ring tonight Paige?"

  "Leroy, with Susan Bower on sniper."

  "You put them together?" Dora asked, Paige shook her head, "Well I know where they are."

  Dora set off for the closest house, the door was no longer on the front and she walked through, carefully avoiding broken glass and the few fall leaves that had blown in. Paige and Mike followed behind her, with a gesture Dora set Mike to watching out the front door while Paige and Dora worked their way into the house. Creeping up the carpeted stairs like ghosts the two made their way to the former master bedroom, there was still a bed there and there was a dim glow of LED light in the room. This house was used as a sort of rest and relaxation area for the second ring guards, so the windows had all been painted black on the second story to prevent any light from getting outside. From inside the room came some animal grunting noises and the quiet slapping of flesh against flesh.

  This was not the first time Leroy had been caught away from his post, it was not even the second. The man liked to fuck, pair him up with a female and the odds were good he would make a play for her before his shift ended. How he managed to flirt the distance from the rooftop to the guard station, Dora couldn't figure out.

  No one had ever heard the man on the walkie-talkies, and the women he hooked up with never discussed what happened either. The last time Dora had come down on Leroy hard, or rather Leon had, at Dora's request. The guy didn't listen to women well, apparently he didn't listen to his elders much either. Susan was Leroy's latest conquest, a Caucasian woman about forty years old, she would not have been much to look at six weeks ago, but the available choices had dwindled Leroy's options down quite a bit. She didn't seem to mind the attention either. It was almost love, or so the gossips speculated.

  Paige looked at Dora's face and the older woman flashed her a keen smile and gestured for them to go forward. The made it to the doorway and silently stood watching as Leroy pounded into Susan in a classic missionary position. He was a noisy love maker, while Susan just clawed his back and threw her head back on the pillows until she was almost facing the head board. Both were completely nude, their clothing was piled on the floor at the foot of the bed. Dora almost giggled, but managed to stop herself, looking at Paige she saw the other woman staring curiously at the couple on the bed.

  Dora leaned over, "Never saw an African American naked before in real life?"

  "Just the kids, when we bath them. I saw some porn on the internet. I thought, well…I don't know…that he would…."

  "He'd be hung like a horse? Me too! I am glad that myth got cleared up."

  The two on the bed were not finished yet, in fact they hadn't noticed their audience. Leroy was talking dirty to her now, which caused Paige to blush fiercely.

  "I really hate to stop them before they finish, but it looks like it might be awhile and we need to get out the gate." shrugging her shoulders Dora straightened and cleared her throat loudly.

  Leroy looked back over his shoulder at her, reaching over for his rifle while balancing on one hand. The fact that he kept grinding into Susan at the same time amazed Dora, if only Roger had displayed such dexterity!

  "Oh, it's you."

  "Yeah Leroy, me. Are you on gate duty tonight? Oh, hi Susan! I didn't notice you there!"

  Susan looked like she wanted to shrink into herself and clawed frantically at the bed covers trying to pull them up over herself. Leroy didn't get up off of her and indeed, kept making moving up and down on her as she struggled.

  "Oh don't stop fucking on my account, Leroy! We just needed to get through the gate. The one you are supposed to be guarding. If you want to give Susan a lift down there hanging off the front of you while you open it up, that'd be fine."

  Finally the man gave one last thrust and then rolled off of Susan, who wrapped the blanket around her. "Shit, Dora, I am sorry. You know? I, we didn't mean anything by it, but there isn't anything going on tonight and we were bored."

  "Yeah, yeah, lunch break, okay. Look I don't mind you two going at it like rabbits, but in the future could you do it on the roof or in the guard house? At least then you might see the zombies coming." Susan pulled the covers more firmly over her as Leroy disengaged causing Dora to giggle, "Don't bother, Susan I've seen you naked already, and nothing will ever take that away from me now. Get dressed and let us through, then get back to your positions, I mean back to your posts. We are plan on heading back through here within fifteen minutes."

  "Thanks Dora! Thanks! In the guard shack? Okay, okay, we can do that." Leroy said as he quickly pulled on his clothing. In a moment he was done except for his shoes and socks, which he picked up and carried with him back downstairs and outside. They left Susan wrapped in her blanket and followed Leroy out to the guard house.

  "Nothing happening out here. Glad you found them okay." Mike said as they came out.

  Leroy stopped and propped his gun against the plywood shack that served as the outer guard station. They waited while he pulled on his footwear and then waited a little l
onger until Susan appeared on the roof of the house overlooking the shack. Waving to her they moved through the gates.

  "Leroy, we are coming back through here in a few. Do not disappear on us, there is something going on tonight. You got it?" Dora tried to sound stern.

  "Yes, Dora. Thanks again for being so cool about the lunch break."

  The three of them walked towards the final fence where the trench was dug in along one side of the wasteland. The 'outer fence' was really not much more than a loosely strung together set of chain link running from building to building. There were holes in it, it did not run all the way to the ground in some places and it was not very good at keeping out slinkers or the wonder twins, as the little girl super zombies were called.

  Fortunately the girls had not been seen for about four days and there had been a noticeable lack of slinkers in the past week as well. Dora suspected most of the tougher zombies were fighting it out with the Iowan National Guard further to the east.

  As they approached the trench a voice cried out ahead of them, it sound to Dora like it was Peter.

  "Run! Run! They are coming!" The voice got closer and Mike and Paige had their rifles raised and aimed towards the trench. Gunfire erupted ahead of them; the flashes from the gunfire were oddly muted, except for one rifle, the M16, if Dora guessed right. Normally the three of them would have gone prone and started looking for targets, but when someone yells 'run' they tended to mean it. Risking a light Dora flashed one towards the trench.

  Directly in front of them, running down the street towards them was Peter, he was not carrying his weapon. Behind him all she could see were zombies, the trench was either overwhelmed or had been surrounded. Dora's light was not that powerful so the shapes moving around were more like shadows than definable people. That detail did not stop Paige and Mike from firing, even on the move they both scored hits.

  "Don't the fuck shoot our people!" yelled Dora.

  They are done for, no one can get out of that." Paige replied calmly.

  Dora flicked her light off and turned around to run for the inner gate, Paige and Mike kept up a steady rate of fire while walking backwards behind her. Peter ran past Dora and reached the second gate before she did. A shot rang out from the guard house and Peter fell over backward. A low voice called out from behind the shut gate, but Dora could not make out what it said. Veering to the side Dora worried less about Peter and more about why the gate was not opening.

  Reaching one side of guard shack where she could not be easily seen from inside of it, Dora peered up to see what was happening inside the inner gate. On the ground Peter was twisting around in pain, he did not cry out, in the dim light Dora saw he had one hand pressed to the top of his head, with the other he was trying to push himself up.

  Inside the guard shack Dora saw Leroy, his back was to the firing slot cut into the shack. The man was yelling up to the rooftop and raising his fist in the air.

  "I got her, the bitch is dead, a clean shot into the head baby!" Leroy yelled back at the house where Susan was.

  If Susan replied it was lost in the gunfire behind Dora. She had heard enough, there was no mistaking who the 'bitch' was.

  'That fucking bastard.' Dora thought, 'and here I was cutting him slack about the sex and all.' She dropped her coffee cup and brought her rifle up, aiming it through the gun slit she fired three shots into Leroy's back. The young man pitched forward and lay on the ground with his feet facing the door. Leroy was not moving and Dora could not see any sign of him breathing either.

  Bracing the rifle carefully she put a final shot through his head for good measure. From where she was at Dora could not get a shot off at Susan on the roof, in fact she could not even see the woman at all. Dora could hear the woman's long, loud scream pierce the night, and bullets started peppering the guard shack.

  Pulling back and ducking down to below the gun slit level, Dora let go of her rifle with one hand and grabbed Peter's ankle, she pulled the boy towards her and then off to one side of the guard house, making every effort to stay close to the wooden fence that made up most of the second layer of defenses. From where she was at Dora did not think that she could be seen by Susan. However, she could not get over the fence without being seen either, for the moment she didn't want to climb the fence. On the ground by her feet Peter started throwing up.

  "Fuck, not good." Dora said softly to herself.

  Looking back out towards Mike and Paige she saw they were slinging their guns and making a run for the gate. Dora dropped Peter's ankle and pulled out her flashlight, she turned it on and covered the end with her hand. Then she flashed the light at Paige and Mike as they ran towards the gate. Paige saw the light and veered towards Dora, grabbing Mike's arm to steer him that way as well. They arrived out of breath and Dora gestured them to silence. Behind them, in the trench a rapid series of shots rang out.

  No more shots came from Susan's roof, which was good, Dora knew that while Susan might not be able to see the group, she also knew that bullets could fly through the thin wood of the fence with relative ease. The group had concealment from Susan, but no actual cover.

  "Leroy shot Peter. He though it was me, told Susan he 'shot the bitch'." Dora told the other two.

  "Are you sure they were talking about you?" asked Mike.

  "Does someone else have the 'bitch' title too? I thought there were no competitors?"

  "Mary is a contender." Mike said, then he realized that Peter had stopped throwing up and was looking at him, "Well, no offense or anything, Peter. I like her like I like Dora, but you know…" Mike shrugged his shoulders.

  "Stop while you're ahead. We gotta move in case Susan decides to shoot up the fence, unless you guys can think of a better idea?"

  "Move around the wall a quarter mile then up and over. And hope we don't get shot by a sniper." suggested Mike.

  "No." Paige said, "I have a better idea."

  Chapter 29

  "Get a couple guys and get over to the North gate." Paige said into her radio, "Leroy shot Peter, so we need Mary. Yeah, it's bad. He's still alive right now, so hurry. Leon?"

  "Yes Paige?" Leon asked.

  "Susan is shooting at us, and there are zombies between the trench and the second fence. So hurry."

  "I am on my way."

  "Watch out for Susan, last we saw her she was on the roof overlooking the guard tower."

  "We will take care of her, Paige. One way or the other. What about Leroy?"

  Paige looked at Dora, who shook her head slightly in the starlight. "He didn't make it Leon."

  "Got it, one less thing to worry about. I'm headed your way now, I will be there in about two minutes, tops."

  Mike asked, "Are we going to move? Paige and I shot a half dozen slow zeds around the trench, more were headed this way."

  "When they show up, we move. Or if Susan starts firing through the fence. I don't think we should move Peter unless we have to."

  From the other side of the fence they heard rapid footsteps and then a woman started sobbing and screaming, it was Susan by the sound of it.

  "Well shit." whispered Dora.

  "Three of us with guns to one of her." Paige said quietly.

  Mike raised his gun, pantomiming firing through the fence. Dora pressed her hand against the barrel, pushing it downward while she shook her head.

  "Go by the shack, try and get a bead on her, if she tries to shoot us we shoot first." Dora said by way of planning.

  "I go first." said Mike, taking point.

  Dora moved to move into second place, but Paige strong armed her to the last position, whispering, "Sick people and head shot kids stay behind." Peter was not standing or moving, he was conscious and his eyes were as big as saucers, with small pinpoints for pupils. Dora had been taught by Mary to recognize shock and had seen it all too often over the past month and a half from the wounded the guard brought in. Not paying attention to Paige, she followed the woman a few steps to the side of the guard shack, readying her rifle.
>
  "Drop your gun, Susan!" Mike shouted as he leaned around the guard house and pointed his rifle at the woman, who was sobbing over Leroy's body. "Drop it!"

  Paige was aiming through the rifle slot, pointed her rifle in the same manner that Dora had when she shot Leroy. Dora stood up enough to peer through the window of the shed and look at Susan. The other woman's tear streaked face was staring at Mike's rifle, her hand was still on the handle of her rifle, her finger on the trigger. Slowly Susan's eyes slid over to take in Paige and finally Dora. When their eyes finally locked into place Susan started shaking, the trembles went down her face to her neck, then to her shoulder and arm.

  "Don't do it!" Paige shouted. Susan's finger tightened on the trigger, she nudged her rifle sideways with her knee and fired off a shot towards Mike, then tried to roll sideways. Mike let out a yell, but got a shot off and Paige fired three times, all of the shots hit Susan. Dora could not tell who had hit Susan in the head, but someone had, the woman simply slumped over her lover's body.

  "Fuck. I don't…" Dora started, before realizing that Mike was down. He was clutching his lower leg and softly swearing. Dora and Paige went to him to see how badly he was hurt.

  "Fucking hurts."

  "You got shot, of course it hurts." said Dora, trying to maintain her usual bravado.

  "Move your hand and let us look." Paige said.

  Mike took pressure off of his leg and Paige slowly pulled up the pant leg over the wound to expose the damage. Upon viewing it Dora leaned sideways and vomited. Bone shards were sticking out of the back of Mike's leg, his calf looked like a bowl full of extra red sauce spaghetti, complete with meatballs. Mike took one look at Dora, asked "That bad?" and then fainted onto his back. Dora reached forward to catch his head and keep it from hitting the pavement; she vomited on her arm in the process filling the air with an acidic coffee smell.

  "— Uck! This night jes' keeps getting better!" she mumbled trying to spit and hold Mike's head.