Born In The Apocalypse

by Joseph Talluto

  I stood up to find Trey staring at me. His mouth was open, and his knife hung loosely in his hand.

  “What?” I was a little put off by his face which seemed to be a mixture of shock and awe.

  “Dude, where the…I mean, damn! How the…okay, that was pretty cool. God, are you nuts?” Trey managed to get out.

  “What? My dad and I trained for a while; he taught me a few things.”

  “Where the hell was I?” Trey asked. “How come you didn’t invite me?”

  “You were on punishment, remember?”

  Trey’s cheeks flamed. “Right. Remember that.”

  We walked around the road, keeping out of the deep grass that grew on the side of the road. We didn’t have our bows with us, although I would have taken my Colt had I finished the holster I was making for it. I was copying a picture from a Western book, and it was taking time for the leather to cure and harden. I knew how to tan hides, having learned from my dad, but that made the skins soft, and I wanted the holster to be stiffer. I had told Trey about the gun already, but I was wanting to show it later. I knew he‘d go nuts, and I wanted to enjoy that as much as possible.

  As we walked, Trey and I talked about the weapons we possessed. I had my knife, and he had his, and we each had our bows, but we really didn’t have anything that would work in a close fight.

  “We need something that would kill them out of arm’s reach from us,” Trey said. “Something that would be quick, and I’m not talking about our bows,” he added quickly as I opened my mouth.

  “Not sure what would work,” I said, stepping around a large stone. There was a long branch in the way, and I picked it up. For no other reason than the fact I was holding it, I threw it across the yard in an attempt to hit a small hanging sign by the house.

  “Me either,” Trey said. We stepped past the small brick ranch house on the corner, and neither of us tried to look to hard at the small pile of bodies huddled around the front door. There didn’t seem to be any wounds on the people, so it wasn’t easy to see if they were Trippers or squatters. Either way, it was creepy.

  The road turned slightly, curving between two large trees, and we saw the Simpson’s house. Right away we knew something was wrong. There were about a dozen dead Trippers in the yard, their blotchy faces marking them as clear as day. Nearly all of them had a crossbow bolt in their heads. That would have been the work of Lucy’s brother. He was pretty good with his bow and was able to reload much faster than Trey ever could.

  Trey and I shared a look, and we approached the house very carefully. The front door had been broken and was hanging off of one hinge. I stepped very carefully around a dead Tripper, trying to be as silent as possible.

  Once both of us were in, I picked up a long pole that was one the ground. It was about four feet long and looked like it might have been the bar from a closet. Either way, it was a little comforting to have something other than my knife.

  The kitchen was a disaster, with cabinets open and items thrown all over the place. The sink was piled high with old food and trash and covered with ants. Trey and I looked at each other again.

  “You ever been in here before?” Trey whispered.

  “No.” I replied. “You?”

  “Nope. Kind of messy.”

  “Yeah.”

  We moved towards the center hallway, and there was a body on the floor. It was a woman, and her face was pressed into the corner. Her right hand was up against the wall, and there was blood all over the place. Her back had been torn apart, and her neck was one shredded wound. It looked like someone had just torn chunks out with their teeth. Her legs were at weird angles, and one of her calves showed bite marks, too. She must have been bitten in the leg and fell here when she tried to get away. They sure finished her here.

  “Josh, that’s Lucy’s mother,” Trey said quietly.

  “Damn,” I said. I didn’t say it, but I was pretty sure Lucy was not alive in here.

  We stepped further back and looked into one of the bedrooms. Lucy’s brother was lying on the bed, and it was pretty obvious how he died. He must have retreated here and tried to hold them off by shooting them with arrows, but he couldn’t reload in time. The Trippers got hold of him and his remaining arrows and used them to kill him with. He had four arrows sticking out of his head and about ten more coming out of his body. I had never seen Trippers use a weapon before, so I was kind of fascinated with what they had done. But there was nothing left here, so we moved on to the next room.

  The last room on the house was Lucy’s, and we found her there. She was curled up in a little ball in the corner, and by the amount of blood around her body, she must have died relatively quick. Her back looked caved in on one side, and Trey took a closer look.

  “They just kept hitting her. They crushed her ribs and just kept going. Chances are they beat her until they reached her heart. They just kept hitting her.” Treys voice shook as he stepped away from Lucy.

  I just shook my head. Another life gone. Another life wasted to these useless animals. I felt so helpless. There was nothing I could have done even had I been here to help. They just don’t stop unless you put them down the first time.

  “Come on, let’s get out of here. This place is full of infection. If we don’t wash, we’re gonna turn,” I said, stepping out the bedroom door and getting out of the house. I tried to sound tough, but I just wanted to leave. There was nothing here. It was such a waste. They had survived twelve years, lived through a bunch of waves, outlasted the looters and would-be warlords, and went down like this. It made as much sense to me as my father’s death.

  We walked out of the house, and Trey closed the door. It didn’t matter if he left it open or not. Eventually it would fall to the elements or some wandering people would take what they could use. It was the way things were now.

  Chapter 25

  Trey and I didn’t talk much as we walked back to our houses. We just kept our thoughts to ourselves. When we got to my fence, we split, and Trey looked back at me one last time. “Think I have an idea for a weapon. I’ll work on it and let you know.”

  I shrugged. “Take your time. I’m going to head out to the trap lines day after tomorrow and start things over again.”

  “See you.”

  “See you.”

  I went into my house and hollered to my mom I was home. She came out of the back room and wiped her hand over her forehead.

  “Hi, Josh. How’s your lines?” she said.

  I was a little taken aback. Mom never asked about the lines. “About what I had expected. We had to clear the carcasses and reset the lines, and with any luck they’ll start producing again like before.”

  “How did Trey’s family handle the wave?”

  I shrugged. “’Bout the same. They’re all okay over there.”

  Mom looked at me funny. “What’s wrong, Joshua? You look upset.”

  I looked down. I tried to hide the tears coming down my face, but I couldn’t. When I spoke I barely made a sound.

  “The Simpsons are dead, Mom.”

  My mother came over and put her arms around me. I threw my arms around her and cried for what might have been a long time. I cried for Lucy, I cried for her family, and I cried for my dad. I just couldn’t help myself. It just came in waves. “They beat them to death; just hit them till they died,” I said.

  Mom never said a word, she just held on to me, rocking slightly from side to side, and whispering ‘It’s all right Josh. It’s not your fault. It’s not your fault.”

  She held me for a long time, and when I finally cried myself out, she sent me up to my room to rest. She promised we would talk later, but for right now, I needed to sort it out for myself.

  I went upstairs and lay down for a while. I must have fallen asleep, because when I opened my eyes again it was close to late evening. I went back downstairs and looked for my mom, but she wasn’t in the house. I scanned the outside from the second floor, since I hadn’t taken down the window covers yet. It was
good practice to leave them up for a while, since Tripper waves never seemed to be limited to just one.

  I didn’t see my mother, and it was becoming a worry. She was never one for venturing too far away from the house, and she certainly wouldn’t be wandering around the woods. I went back downstairs and went out to the small stable to look in on the horse. I let her out of the stall, and let her wander about the yard a bit. I was going to have to figure out what I was going to do with her since I wasn’t a very good rider, and she was another mouth to feed. I would probably give her to Trey’s family or just let her go. Eventually she’d find other horses and become someone else’s ride.

  I went back into the house and worked on my holster. It was going to be a cross draw job; pretty simple, but effective. I had read all about the gunfighters in my books, and while I would love to have a rig like theirs, low on the hip and ready to go, my world was a little more realistic. I needed to be able to sit and ride my horse and the cross draw made more sense.

  Right before it got dark and we would be in for the night, I heard the back door open. I took my Colt with me and slipped down the stairs careful to make as little noise as possible. I didn’t have to worry; it was my mom. She was taking off her shoes when I spoke.

  “Hey, Mom. Where’d you go?” I slipped the Colt into my belt behind my back, keeping it out of sight.

  “Oh! Josh! You scared me. Goodness.” She ran a hand over her face, and waved the other one dismissively. “I was over to see Trey’s mom. She and I hadn’t talked in a while.”

  “Oh, okay. I walked the horse a bit. I’m thinking of letting her go,” I said, wondering what Mom’s reaction was going to be. I shouldn’t have worried.

  “Sounds good, Josh. Your dad would have wanted you to do that if you weren’t going to keep her,” Mom said.

  I nodded. “All right, well, I’m going up to bed. It’s dark and I’m tired for some reason.”

  “You’ve had a tough few days,” My mother said. “Things will look better tomorrow.”

  I wanted to believe her, but something wasn’t right about this whole situation. My gut told me something was wrong. But I had nothing but a feeling to go on.

  Chapter 26

  In the morning, I woke up, and the sun was decently high in the sky. I felt much better, having slept for so long, and the sunlight was a welcome change from the gloom that had been over us for days. I felt like today was going to be a good day, and I felt like that all the way until I looked out the window.

  We were completely surrounded by Trippers, and there was enough to cover the distance between our house and Trey’s.

  I looked down at the sea of infected humanity and summed it all up in one word.

  “Crap.”

  I had some serious concerns. There were enough of them to start climbing over each other and getting a leg up on our wall. That would be bad enough. Secondly, this many Trippers meant something seriously bad had happened up north, and this wave was more than just a random event. One of the communities must have had an outbreak, and they couldn’t contain it. We were going to have to be extremely careful and hope they pass on soon.

  I was worried about the horse. She was going to need to be fed and watered, and she was a long way away from the house. I wish I had put her in her stall in the garage, but that couldn’t happen now.

  Thinking about that horse gave me an idea. It was dangerous, stupid, and crazy, but I liked it immensely. If it worked, I wouldn’t have to clean up bodies, and we wouldn’t have to hide away much longer than a day. If it didn’t work, I’d likely die a hideous death at the hands of the Trippers.

  My mother would never go for it, so I’d have to work this one out on my own. I started packing a backpack and made sure I had everything I would need. I was going to have to leave the bow behind since there wasn’t any way to ride a horse and hold on to it at the same time. Believe me, I’ve tried.

  I slid the holster onto my belt and tried out the Colt. The heavy six-gun pulled my belt down in the front and threatened to pull my pants down. I tried walking with it, but it banged around my leg and hip, feeling extremely awkward. I pulled the gun out and took the holster off. Guess I was going to be taking my bow after all. The Colt wasn’t going to be on my hip for a while, I guessed.

  I went downstairs and saw my mom was already up. She smiled and asked me if I wanted any breakfast.

  “No thanks. Did you see the Trippers?” I said, trying to sound casual.

  “Yes, Josh. Thank you. I’ll be careful down here,” Mom said.

  I tried to figure out what was going on. My mother was never this calm around a sea of Trippers. I had a bad feeling, but I couldn’t pin down what it was about. As long as we were careful we were safe. Considering what I was about to do, though, I had no room to talk.

  “I’m going to be checking on the horse, Mom, so be careful,” I said, stepping towards the back door.

  “I will. You too,” she replied. She was humming to herself, seemingly completely at ease, and completely freaking me out.

  I slipped out the back door as quietly as I could. This involved opening the door, crawling out, and closing it again. I moved carefully around the house, staying to the shadows, and getting into the garage. I needed my stuff from there, and I couldn’t get it through the house without my mom figuring out what I was going to do.

  I gathered my bow and arrows and was about to leave when I noticed the locker was open. I looked inside and saw my dad’s collection of guns. He had three pistols, four rifles, and a shotgun. I pulled out a .22 rifle and decided to leave my bow behind. At the bottom of the locker was a stockpile of ammo, and I filled my coat pocket with .22 rounds. I hadn’t fired the other guns, so I didn’t really know how to use them, and they would have been useless to me.

  I led Judy out of the stall and walked her carefully towards the back gate. It was going to be touch and go for a minute, but I think it could be done. Our back gate locked automatically when it closed, so all I had to do was to close it after us once we got out. I tied a string to the top and held the end as I got on top of Judy. She was a good horse and tolerant of boys, so she didn’t try to bite me as I got on her bare back. I stayed low and covered myself with one of her blankets. I was trying to make myself part of the scenery, and as far as I knew, the Trippers never attacked animals. For some reason, they never considered them as threats.

  I reached out and pulled the gate open just enough to let Judy pass. As we slipped out, I pulled on the string, closing the gate behind us. The click of the latch was loud, and I could hear shuffling and grunting as the Trippers came to investigate. I nearly screamed as several of them touched the horse, and their hands slid along the blanket that was covering me. If any of them grabbed it and pulled it off, it was going to go very badly.

  I nudged Judy forward, guiding her mostly by instinct, and letting her pick her own way. She knew the terrain and the path we used to get over to the woods, so it wasn’t all that difficult. She bumped Trippers out of the way, and under my blanket I could see some of them as they stumbled and fell away from her.

  We kept moving, and I had to resist the urge to look back or try to see something. I knew they were all around me, and I knew they were going to go nuts once I activated the other part of my plan, but I had no other way to get so many Trippers away from the house. I couldn’t just try and kill them all, and I wasn’t tall enough to do what my dad had done, so this was the next best plan.

  Judy’s pace picked up as she crossed the old road and stepped into the ditch on the other side. I dared to look up a bit and guide her along. I nearly fell off as we climbed the steep side of the dam, and only by grabbing a double handful of mane did I stay where I was.

  Once we reached the top, I was sure it was safe to take the blanket off. I flipped it off and took a look around. From my vantage point, I could see hundreds of Trippers surrounding our house and the houses around ours. There were many over by Trey’s, and I could also see several dead ones, so I
knew Trey’s dad had been busy.

  I also saw some activity by my house. The back door opened, and my mother walked out. She was wearing just a tee-shirt and jeans, which was unusual since the weather was turning cold. She looked up at me, and I actually raised a hand to her. She raised one back, and then walked to the back gate. I had another really bad feeling, and I started to turn Judy when my feeling came true.

  My mom opened the gate, stepped through, and closed it behind her. It took about three seconds for the Trippers to notice her, and I could do nothing to save her.

  Chapter 27

  The first one to reach her jumped on her, bringing her to the ground. After that I couldn’t see anything but bloody fists rising and falling. I couldn’t breathe, I couldn’t yell. All I could do was watch my mother walk out to be beaten to death.

  Finally, after a minute, the Trippers stood up and milled about again. There was a broken shape on the ground completely covered in red.

  My voice returned in a few seconds, and Judy nearly reared in surprise as my yell echoed out across the trees and small valley.

  “Noooooo!” I screamed in anger and fear and frustration. I didn’t know what to do, but I was nothing but raw emotion. I couldn’t think; all I could do was grip Judy’s mane until my knuckles were white.

  If I had thought the Trippers were just going to be satisfied with helping my mother with her suicide, I was seriously mistaken. My outburst caused a couple of hundred infected heads to turn my way, and when they saw me sitting on my horse on top of a hill, they let out a collective yell and hurried my way.

  For my part, I was ready. I brought Judy over to a small bus which was located next to a fallen log. I picketed her and let her munch on the bush while I ran over to the edge of the hill and set up a spot to shoot Trippers. I stuck a forked stick in the ground, making a rest for the rifle. I figured to get as many as I could before they gained the top. I knew the steep hill would slow them down, although if they decided to go up the road a bit I was in for a long day.