by A. L. White
“Alive and on the run…or did someone or something get them?” Lori asked as Zeus caught a slight scent of Virginia toward the river. He Darted off at full speed, following the trail the best he could through the snow.
“Where is he going?” Charlie asked.
“I think he picked up their scent.” Jermaine replied. “Should we follow?”
“In this mess? I think we should take the truck and drive back up the road slower. Maybe we will see them or they will see us.” Charlie replied.
“Maybe take the RV? There is more room once you do find them.” Lori said.
Jermaine looked back up at the RV and truck and shook his head. “May be a little harder to get her turned around but it could be doable.”
“I think the two of you could manage it.” Lori replied.
“Let’s get going then.” Jermaine said as he glanced over to Charlie who nodded in agreement.
“What about us?” Walter asked.
“You and I are going to have a little talk about our…new found abilities.” Lori replied as her eyes watched Jermaine and Charlie make their way back to the RV.
“What about him?” Walter asked pointing at Boo.
“Walter, what do you feel about the others?” Lori asked.
“I like all of you. You have been very good to me since I met you."
“Where did we meet you at Walter?” Lori asked.
Walter looked to the sky for the answer and then to the river. “I don’t remember, Lori. Alongside the road I think.” Walter replied.
“Let’s come back to that one, OK? For right now run up and see if there is a blanket or something in the truck behind the seat.” Lori stated.
“Are you cold?” Walter asked amused.
“No, I want to cover Boo up.” Lori said looking at Walter cross.
“Cover him up!?”
“Yes, that is what you do to show respect.” Lori replied.
“I liked this one more than the others but he is dead now. Dead and still very fresh!”
“What do you mean still very fresh?” Lori asked.
Walter shuffled his feet around a little bit and then replied. “You have to smell it too right? Those people aren’t like us.”
“Those people are my friends and family, Our friends and family.” Lori replied.
“Nothing is the same now, Lori. People have changed. You and I have changed to be part of the new.”
“New?”
“Before everyone was like everyone else. Now there is new and we are new.” Walter stated growing annoyed with Lori.
“You mean…”
“Yes, I mean that. To us they are food and that is all they can ever be.” Walter replied.
“I can’t except that, Wally.” She said it knowing that being called by that name would bother Walter. Surprisingly, it didn’t bother Walter in the slightest bit. The part of his brain that would have been set off by the nick name wasn’t functioning anymore. He no longer remembered anything long term. Lori doubted that Walter could remember very much anymore. She had noticed that on occasion Walter wasn’t even sure where he had met her or if she was his mother or not. Other times he seemed to recall clearly. Being in constant danger seemed to stay with him. Finding food, and remembering where he had seen food, stayed with him always. Sometimes he would try to remember what the face of his mother had looked like before all of this had started. There were blurred visions of a kind looking female but he couldn’t be certain that was her. It could have been Lori or Virginia as far as Walter knew.
“You see everyone as food?” Lori asked.
“You do too, Lori. I see how your eyes gloss over and go grey like mine do.” Walter replied growing impatient with her. “Look at your skin and then look at their skin. They are soft and kind of tasty while ours is growing grey and kind of hard.”
Lori couldn’t deny anything that Walter was saying. Her skin was starting to grow hard to the touch and the shade did seem to change every day to a grayer color. Did that make it absolute that she would one day turn on her friends, turn on Virginia and try to eat them? There had to be a middle ground that she could cling to that would keep everyone safe. Still, she too could smell Boo’s flesh turning to a state that she suddenly found to be unappealing. The urge to take a small bite was growing stronger in Lori the longer that they stood by. She knew the same urge was growing in Walter too, that they should retreat back up to the truck before things went too far to explain to the others.
Walter stepped closer to Boo and knelt down beside him. “Stop! Let’s go back up by the truck for now.” Lori ordered. Walter looked over at Lori and a low growl escaped him. She narrowed her face and stared into his eyes until Walter relented and headed back toward the truck, sulking.
*****
Megan moved through the river of rotting flesh, unsteady and wobbling, toward the truck. She was wincing a little with every step feeling as though a knife was buried inside of her skull. Skin hung from the faces, eyes sunken, glossy, grey and lifeless. The smell no longer caused the burning sensation inside her nose. Either she was growing used to it or she now smelled like them. It didn’t really matter. The man in black had told her to take the truck and meet him up the road with the others. That had been three weeks ago. She wanted to go alone, having begged for the Man in Black to let her come to him by herself, and lost. Megan looked over the travel companions before her. There were no signs of the change becoming permanent that she could see. Having been the Man in Black’s favorite since nearly the beginning, she was feeling it slip away. It wasn’t helping her headache. The one called Liza was taking the honor away with perfect blue eyes and cascading blonde hair. The world was moving on from the time of humans, becoming their time. Here again she felt like an outsider.
“Get in the truck.” Megan said as she opened the driver’s door.
Liza went around to the passenger side door with a guy Megan thought was called Peter. “You ride in the back with the others.”
“Why do I have to ride in the back? It’s cold out here, I will freeze back there.” Liza replied.
Megan looked Liza in the eyes and tried to calm herself. Rage was boiling up from deep within to the point that Megan knew there would be no return. It wasn’t so much that she hated Liza. She wasn’t even jealous of her when she really thought about it. There was something with becoming. This new being that was transforming her. The shy loser that hung out on the outside of her circle of acquaintances cursed by a shyness that knew no boundaries was changing. “Maybe you can bring that up to Man in Black if you make it there.” Megan replied
Liza knew what that meant and she wasn’t ready to push things with Megan. In a child’s attempt to get the upper hand before retreating to the cold truck bed she said, “That’s fine by me, you stink something horrible anyway. I would have to hang my head out the window the whole way just to breathe.”
Mega turned the key and forced the old Dodge into gear and started through the herd. She gave them a chance to move out of her way, if they didn’t, the truck plowed over or through them.
“It’s amazing that we can just walk among them.” Peter said
Megan didn’t want to talk to him or the others. Why do they always feel the need to talk and question all of this? She wondered to herself.
“A few months ago if I would have seen a herd this size, I would have thought I was screwed royal.” Peter added. “Do you control them?”
Megan stopped worrying about hitting zombies and looked toward Peter. “How do you control something that is dead?”
“You can’t, but then how do we move among them without being attacked?” Peter asked.
“I don’t know, maybe they think we are them, maybe they like us? I really don’t know. We just do is all I can say about it.” Megan replied
“Does the Man in Black control them?”
Megan thought for a few minutes before answering Peter. It was a good question that she had wondered about herself more than once. “I
don’t think so.” She replied.
“Peter, do I stink?” Megan asked.
Peter started to laugh and then replied. “Is this a trick question? If I answer wrong will I get banished to the back of the truck?”
Megan smiled. “No, I was just curious is all. Never mind.”
“Oh, you’re asking because Ms. Snooty said that you stink. I don’t think you smell any more than the rest of us do. Liza doesn’t really seem to be getting it.” Peter replied.
“The sky is really black up ahead of us.” Megan said wanting to change the subject.
“Looks like one heck of a storm is coming. I bet we get a foot of snow or more.” Peter replied.
“I hope it holds off until we get to Clarksville and meet up with the Man in Black.”
Chapter 9
Tressa didn’t know if twenty minutes had passed or if it had been two hours. The clock didn’t work in the beat up, old truck and she didn’t own a watch. She listened as hard as she could for sounds of movement outside but could only hear the deep breathing of Todd in the back seat. At least he was staying still like she had asked him to, she thought.
“Tressa.” Todd said in a hushed tone.
She thought if she stayed quiet and acted like she couldn’t hear him he would go back to being silent. But she knew that would never work with Todd and it didn’t.
“Tressa, are you still up there?” Todd asked a little louder. “Tressa, I am really cold and I think I need to go.”
“Todd, we have to be really quiet, remember?”
“I know we have to be really quiet and not make any noise. I remember you said that, Tressa, yes you did. But I have to go and I am so cold my teeth are chattering.” Todd replied. The window above Todd’s head cracked loudly when the creature smacked into it. Tressa swore she could hear each path the cracks took as they traveling through the glass.
“Tressa! They are getting in. They are getting in!” Todd screamed, attracting the rest of the creatures back to the truck. Claws scratched against every window except the windshield, leaving long scores in the glass. As the wails began announcing that Todd was about to let loose of a very loud and prolonged crying fit, the front of the truck felt like it dropped. With a loud bang of metal, something gave way beneath a greater force. Tressa slowly sat up cradling the pistol tight against her chest. There, separated from her only by the windshield, was a creature. Its eyes were locked onto her like a cat’s eyes locked onto a mouse just before pouncing. Tressa felt like the creature could see inside of her and was sucking out her soul. The skin around its muzzle barely fit over the teeth protruding from its gaping maw. Saliva dripped from the largest set of fangs that Tressa had ever seen. She didn’t know if the windshield would stop the beast if it charged or if she could take it down with a bullet. Would the others then charge as well? She wondered.
“Todd honey, you really need to help me and try to be quiet.” Tressa begged.
“Tressa, they are going to eat us! Can’t you make them go away please.” Todd replied, crying even louder than before.
Raising the gun slowly up with both hands until it was aimed at the creature’s head, Tressa tried to swallow but couldn’t, as she slowly pulled the hammer back. The creature moved a little closer and took one massive claw, tapping it on the window as it looked into her eyes. Without warning it slid the claw down to the bottom of the windshield and pulled the wiper off with a slight flick.
Pain was beginning to sting in Tressa’s forearms from the weight of the pistol and her fingers were growing numb from squeezing the grip tighter than she had ever gripped anything before. Beads of sweat from just below her hairline slid their way down into Tressa’s eyes, causing her vision to blur. Tap, tap, tap. The sound from the left side of the truck caused her to momentarily shift to her eyes only to find another creature standing on its hind legs with front paws up against the window tapping at her with equally massive claws. Coal black, lifeless eyes seemed to beckon to Tressa to give it up, open the door and accept her fate. Drawing its mouth open, the creature roared with such intensity that it felt like the truck shook in fear. Returning to look at the creature perched on the hood, she found it laying, its eyes glued to her. Tressa thought they may catch a break even with Todd crying. If they could just keep still, if Todd would just stay still, the creatures were getting used to his cries and starting to settle down, seemingly content to wait for their dinner to come out. Buying time would allow them to freeze to death rather than be torn apart like Doc was. Daring to feel the slightest bit of hope, she thought the time might provide a chance for someone to find them and save the day. Tressa knew there wasn’t much chance of that happening but it never hurt to hope.
By some miracle that Tressa couldn’t see, a noise or movement someplace in the woods along the river caught the creature’s attention. It leapt down from the hood and stood sniffing the air then howling like a wolf. The other creatures left their looming positions around the truck and joined what Tressa could only guess had to be the leader of their pack. Todd stopped crying when he finally heard the howls over his sobbing.
“Tressa, did they go away?” Todd asked but Tressa didn’t answer because her mind was trying to figure out what was happening and calculate if she could sneak out of the truck, make it over to what was left of Doc’s body, and find the keys in his pants, in the bloody pile of what was left of him. Her head darted around, attempting to form a mental picture of where the creatures were. She noted that two were still behind the truck and one was chewing on Doc’s remains. Tressa could see the bloody muzzle as it took doc’s femur and snapped it in two with one powerful chomp.
“Tressa, I really have to pee.” Todd fussed from the back of the truck, sitting up in the seat. “Do you think they will stay here very much longer? I really need to pee bad, Tressa.”
“Todd, dump one of the water bottles out and pee in that.” Tressa replied.
“I couldn’t do that, Tressa! I could never pee in a bottle with you sitting up there so close by with no door or nothing.”
“Then pee in your pants, Todd, or don’t pee, that is up to you. You can’t get out of this truck and I have no idea when or if these things are going to leave.” Tressa replied and was sorry for how she had put it to her uncle. Todd couldn’t comprehend the danger they were in; he only knew that he had to go. Tressa had taken care of him since her grandparents were consumed by the virus and now he depended on her just like he had depended on them for his whole life. He was forever a child trapped in a very large man’s body.
“They look almost like puppies don’t they” Todd said having, for a moment, forgotten that he really had to go.
“Yes, just like very big and very mean puppies.”
Todd shifted in the back seat so that his head was now looking over the front seat. “They better hope that Zeus doesn’t come by here. He won’t like them being mean to us at all.”
“They are a lot bigger than Zeus. I think Zeus would get hurt if he came by here right now.”
Todd howled with laughter causing the creatures to turn their heads toward the truck and Tressa to cringe. “That’s funny, Tressa, you’re a funny lady! Zeus isn’t afraid of anything, not with Perseus with him. They would take care of these bad puppies fast and how.”
“OK Todd, you’re right, they would handle these guys without a problem. Honey, they are not here so we need to stay quiet remember?” Tressa reminded him.
“I will stay quiet, Tressa.” Todd replied. “Tressa, I think I have to pee pretty bad now.”
Tressa closed her eyes in exhaustion. Between Todd and the creatures, it was just too hard to keep up with both. “You just need to hold it for a little longer. Can you do that for me? Can you hold it for a little longer when the creatures go away?”
“I can try, Tressa, but I ain’t making no promises.”
*****
Lori went to Boo’s truck and took a quick look inside. Anything worth taking would need to be loaded into the truck that Walter a
nd she would be driving. She looked at the door, stained with frozen blood that coated the handle down to the base. She couldn’t tell if that was from the gun shot or from when they were rammed. There was no blood on Virginia’s side or in the middle, reassuring her that Virginia and Zeus were not wounded while there. Flipping the seat up, she found a mess of supplies and rags cluttering the small open space. Old Boo always had his rags handy it seemed. “Never could tell when you would need one,” he would tell them back at Rivers Crossing, with a wide smile stretched across his wrinkled face. Pulling a few boxes of ammo, she turned to hand them to Walter. She did not find him where he had been. She looked up over the dashboard. Walter was crouched down above the attacker’s corpse sniffing his face.
“Walter, what are you doing over there?” Lori asked. Acting like he had not heard Lori, Walter went on with what he was doing. “Come on Walter, leave that body alone. We have work to do before the others come back.” Lori could see that he wasn’t going to move any time soon so she placed the boxes on the seat and walked over to him. The body’s clothes were loose and worn with gaping holes and rips. What had looked like a winter coat was just blankets cut and tied in a fashion as to work as a coat. On one hand there was a girl’s pink mitten and the other what could only be the remnants of a leather glove. The fingers were covered in a black dirt substance, much like the face.
The smell was the oddest part to Lori. Judging by his dress and obvious lack of a bath in the recent past she would have thought the odor would be hard to stand even from a few feet away. Instead Lori found his smell to be sweet and hypnotic. Blood rushed through her veins in a rampage, causing her heart to beat so fast she could barely hear anything else. Closing her eyes, Lori lifted her face to the sky and swept her head from left to right taking in the smells and growing drunk on them. The euphoria that was filling her body was too much to handle. Dropping to her knees next to Walter, Lori let out a roar that echoed through the surrounding field and woods. Walter jumped to his feet, backing away from Lori, and let out a growl because all at once he was excited about having a fresh meal and frightened of Lori and what he felt she could do. Snapping her head towards him, she transitioned into a crouching position. Grey lifeless eyes sized up Walter while fangs forced their way from between thin, colorless lips on a cracked, distressed field that made up her face.