by Steven Pajak
“We’re going to set up camp on the other side of the building. Even if whatever was in there is still kicking, which I doubt, and gets out, it’s going to have to go through a lot of other doors to get to us.”
Shaking my head again, I replied, “I don’t like it.”
Lara took my hand and started to put her arm around my waist but stopped short when she remembered the blood. Instead, she put her hand on my neck. “Let’s not take any unnecessary risks. We had a close call back there; we don’t need another one.”
“Listen to the lady,” Chandra spoke up. “Let’s get those folks in out of the cold and call it a night.”
Brian said, “Chandra’s right. We need to get everyone inside. We don’t want to risk someone dying of exposure.”
With a deep sigh, I relented. “Fine. Show me where we’re making camp tonight.”
Brian took point, followed by Chandra. Lara was at my side, holding my hand again. Just as Brian reached the glass doors, something thudded behind us. The sound came again and we all turned, trying to get a fix on the noise. Suddenly, the thud was followed by a quick rattle.
“Damn it,” Brian said. He strode forward, brushing my shoulder as he passed. “Looks like you get your way after all.”
We crowded around the double doors to the chapel and watched as the half-inch gap opened and closed, opened and closed as whatever was inside pushed and pulled, trying to free itself. More likely trying to get at our tender flesh.
Brian reached out and removed the hammer. He almost tossed it aside but then realized it could make a useful weapon. Stepping back slightly, he drew the machete from its sheath on his right hip. He looked at me and said, “You ready, brother? Chandra? Lara?”
We all nodded our heads getting our weapons at the ready. “Spread out,” I told the women. “Give yourself room to swing without taking one of us out.”
“Get to the sides,” Brian admonished. “Don’t stand in front of the door. Get ready now.”
He took a deep breath and then swung the machete, severing the tape that still bound the doors together. No sooner had the tape split when the doors flew open and the thing behind it came sprawling out. The crazy wore a doctor’s coat, the white front stained with blood. His face and hair were covered in dried blood, as though he’d been bathing in it. As it hit the carpeted floor in front of us, I heard Chandra gasp.
“It has my foot!” Chandra shouted. She kicked away from the thing, breaking its grasp on her boot. The force of the kick made her lose her balance and she fell awkwardly onto her left side.
Even as Chandra was skittering away from the fallen crazy, I was stepping forward into the fray. Pumping my leg back and letting loose, I kicked the former doctor in the ribcage hard enough to hurt my ankle. The blow pushed its body onto its back where it struggled immediately to get its feet under it.
“Move back!” Brian shouted, trying to clear the way so that we could effectively engage and dispatch the undead.
Lara moved to aid Chandra, helping her to her feet, they both took up their weapons, ready to jump in. The doctor got to his knees and looked upon us with wild eyes. Each time his head whipped from side to side, spittle flew from his gaping maw. The thing seemed confused, unable to settle on which one of us it wanted to attack first. Before it could decide, Brain swung the machete, decapitating the former doctor.
Chandra yelped and Lara jumped back as the head hit the ground and rolled in their general direction. Totally disgusted, Chandra squinched her face up tightly and used the toe of her boot to push the head away so that the dead eyes were not looking in her direction. “So gross! He was looking right at me.”
The chapel was small, just four rows of pews, each about six feet long. At the front of the room, a large crucifixion statue hung on the wall. A table with rows of red-glassed candles sat below Christ. Seated in the first pew was a woman, her blonde hair hanging over the back of the wood.
She remained still, as though Brian’s flashlight beam held her paralyzed. From this distance I could not tell if she was dead or undead.
“What do you think?” Brian whispered.
“Go check it out.”
“You check it out. I took care of doctor McDreamy back there.”
“Is there another one in there?” Lara asked.
“What’s going on?” Chandra said.
I waved my hand at them, indicating they should just stay where they were. To Brian I said, “You suck.”
Stuffing my own flashlight into my pocket so that I could take a two-handed grip on my splitting maul, I moved forward, closing the distance between myself and Blondie. Brian’s light did not waver, but continued to pin the woman. I stopped at the second pew, just to her right. No more than three feet separated us.
“Hello?” I asked in a whisper. I expected the woman to react by jumping up and attacking. My mind was on overdrive. Every horror movie I’d ever seen was running through my mind right now.
The woman didn’t respond. She was probably dead. No one could remain that still. Certainly she’d have heard my voice. I was as close as I wanted to get. Using the splitting maul, I put the head of the axe against her shoulder and nudged her slightly. Her body shifted slightly in the pew, canting a few inches to the left. She was dead.
Turning to Brian, I signed to him that the woman was dead. When she grabbed my arm and sunk her teeth into my coat I almost shit my pants. I let out a startled sound and instinctively pulled back, wanting to create distance between myself and the threat. Blondie managed to hold on with her teeth and I merely succeeded in pulling her off the pew and onto the ground.
The axe was in my right hand, which Blondie was currently trying to gnaw on. She’d gotten a grip on one of my legs, as well. Acting out of instinct, I cocked my left fist and swung at her face, connecting squarely with her right jaw. It was a solid blow and I felt bone crunch beneath my knuckles. Yet she still clung to me. I struck her again and then a third time, this time with enough force that her jaw was dislocated, causing her to lose her grip.
Now that I had a little more room, I kicked her away with my left foot, but almost fell. She still held on to my right leg and her momentum when she fell almost carried me to the floor with her. I kicked her again to no avail, but now my arm was free and I swung the axe. With very little arc, there was not enough force behind the blow to sever the arm, but her shoulder was knocked askew and finally I was free from her claw-like grip as well.
Fueled by anger as much as fear, I drew back and landed a series of stomping kicks at Blondie’s head, each blow knocking her skull against the blue carpeted floor. The skin on her forehead split open above the eyebrow and her cheek tore open as the sharp tread of my boot ripped against her skin. When I was winded, I stepped back a few feet and bent forward slightly, elbows resting against my thighs. The woman writhed on the floor, but she really made no attempt to get up.
“That was…I don’t know what that was, dude. But it was fucking funny. You screamed like a bitch.”
“I didn’t scream,” I said between breaths. “Why didn’t you help me?”
Brian shook his head and couldn’t keep from laughing. “Dude, you just did the scene from Goodfellas when DeNiro stomps Billy Batts in the bar!”
Usually, I cherished my brother’s sense of humor, but right now I wasn’t feeling it. My hands were shaking and I still couldn’t catch my breath. For all I knew I was having a heart attack.
“Something is seriously wrong with you, man. Grow up.” I turned my back on him and made for the door. I needed to get out of this damn tomb and catch my breath.
“You’re just going to leave her here? Finish this shit.”
“You fucking finish it, asshole.” I shot him a middle finger over my shoulder.
Lara immediately hugged me. Chandra put a hand on my shoulder. “I’m going to be seeing that in my nightmares.”
The sound of Brian’s machete cutting through Blondie’s neck and slamming against the carpeted floor made Lara
twitch in my arms. In my ear, so only I could hear, she whispered, “I love you.”
* * *
We set up “camp” in the emergency room. The room was large enough to accommodate our entire group. With minimal rearranging of furniture, everyone was able to lay out their sleeping bags or blankets and hunker down for the night. Although there were four operating tables, no one wanted to use one as a bed. Instead, we flipped the metal tables onto their sides, stacking one atop the other, and used them to block the glass doors on each side of the room. Using overturned medical equipment, we shored up the tables. The makeshift barricades would never stand up to a horde of crazies, but would at least provide cover from prying eyes.
After hearing about our adventures, Justin was salty, feeling left out of the action. Those of us who had been there felt differently. To make him feel better, I sent him with Al Sanchez and a few others to scrounge around and collect whatever they felt would be useful and that we could carry. Lara reminded them to get the toilet paper and hand towels. I added that they should get as many bandages, gaze and medications as they could carry.
While Brian and Chandra worked together to set up a security schedule for the evening, I sat in one of the corners with Lara. We piled both of our sleeping bags on top of each other for maximum comfort. Having changed out of my bloody jeans and coat, I felt fresh and clean. Finally letting my body rest, I soon became aware of all of the aches and pains.
With my head in Lara’s lap, I watched Brian and Chandra. Obviously, he was full of jokes today, because he had her laughing. By the way Chandra constantly touched his arm whenever she spoke I could tell that she was crushing on him. Perhaps she was attracted to stupid jokes; oh well, to each his own, I suppose.
Lara started to stroke my hair as I looked around at the rest of our group. Now that we were no longer required to stay in formation, the group naturally split into their own cliques; I was happy to see that no one was alone. The Sanchez’s had their makeshift bed set up near the center of the room. As I watched, Araceli extracted a brush from her bag and began brushing her daughter’s hair. I expected Belinda to protest, but instead the young woman closed her eyes and let her mother do her thing.
The Finnegans found their place next to Brian’s bundle. Ian and Liam were engaged in serious conversation and the two women, Jenna and Maureen, were busy getting chow together. Maureen had collected items from each person and was heating up some concoction. Jenna was heating up water to brew tea from her own stash. Stanley hung around Maureen, offering his assistance, although the woman was more than capable of handling the job herself. I think Stanley was smitten with the Irish woman. Maureen didn’t seem to mind him hovering.
I spotted Ray and Wesley next to Justin and his wife. Ray sat in his chair, his back slightly turned toward me. Wesley put a blanket over Mr. Ray’s legs. After attending to the man, Wesley sat down on his own blankets and called Cody over. The dog trotted to the boy, his tail wagging a mile a minute. Wesley threw his arms around the dog’s neck and pulled him down. Cody offered no resistance when Wesley rolled him over and started to scratch the golden fur on his belly.
“Food should be ready soon,” Lara said.
“Hmmm. Not really hungry.” Her fingers massaged my scalp and I felt my eyes suddenly heavy. “I could use a nap.”
“Okay, close your eyes. I’ll wake you in an hour.”
Her fingers continued to massage my head, and then she found my temples. All of the voices and chatter just faded into the background; unintelligible noise. In no time, I was asleep and didn’t wake until morning.
Chapter 13
The Longest Day
It was already morning when Lara woke me. Apparently, Brian had not scheduled me for watch duty. I’d been so exhausted I don’t remember even waking during the night. I sat up and scratched my head, then rubbed my hands across my eyes.
“Batteries recharged?” Lara knelt down next to me and was finishing packing a few odds and ends.
“Absolutely.” I stretched my arms out above my head and immediately regretted it. “I’m just a bit sore from last night, though. This old man is out of shape.”
“This old man is sexy,” she said and winked at me. She looked much refreshed herself this morning. I loved when she let her hair spill over her shoulders. That was sexy.
“Control yourself, lady. There are kids around.”
She chuckled and nudged me off the sleeping bag. “Brian is looking for you. Time to get up, old man. Duty calls.”
Getting my feet under me was a struggle; it seemed as though every muscle in my body ached all at once. Swinging the splitting maul like Conan and falling hard after slipping in dead dog blood were bound to take their toll. Luckily, Lara thought the grunts I made as I stood were just part of our shtick.
“Do me a favor, Lara. Can you check in on Wesley? You know, don’t be so obvious, but make sure he’s okay.”
She nodded and put on her serious face for the moment. Having rolled my sleeping bag, she paused in the process of attaching it to my back pack. “Was it a good idea to bring him with us?”
“It was his choice and it doesn’t matter what I think.” I was suddenly sensitive; this was not a topic I intended to discuss again. Probably because deep down I knew it had been a bad idea to let an eleven year old make such a tough decision. “Just see if he needs anything, okay?”
She nodded and went back to her task. As I wandered through the room trying to find my brother, I realized that Lara and I had just had our first fight. Well, not so much a fight, as an argument. Well, not really an argument…a moment of tension, I guess I’d call it. Already, I wanted to go back and apologize.
Resisting the strong urge to turn around, I found Chandra and asked if she’d seen Brian. She told me he was in the lobby. I thanked her and made my way through the lobby, this time using the front entrance from the emergency room. I had no desire to pass the chapel and dead doggy room.
I passed through the glass doors and found Brian staring out of one of the windows that faced the front porch. Standing next to him, I followed his gaze. Outside, the ground was covered with snow. During the night, the snow had begun to stick.
“Any idea how deep it is?” I asked.
He shook his head but said nothing. After a moment he pulled out a pack of cigarettes and offered me one. I took it and accepted the lighter when he handed to me. After lighting my cigarette and dragging on it deeply, I exhaled smoke. Immediately I was lightheaded. At least I didn’t cough.
“The snow stopped about an hour ago.” Brian dragged on his own cigarette and sighed out a cloud of smoke. He turned to look at me finally and said, “We need to put down four more miles this morning. Are you up for it?”
“Of course.”
“Then why are you walking like an old man who just fell out of his favorite La-Z-Boy?”
I almost forgot that Brian had eyes in the back of his head. “Don’t worry about it. I’ll be fine.”
Brian smirked but said nothing. He resumed his post staring out at nothing while he finished up his cigarette. He crushed it beneath his boot, and then picked up his back pack from one of the lobby chairs. Placing the pack on the desk in the center of the room, he pulled out his map and spread it out in front of him.
“Take a look,” he said.
I crushed my smoke and went to him. He pointed at the map and said, “Here’s where we are now.” The traced his finger along Route 20 about four inches. “Here’s where we’re going.”
“Seems like a straight shot. Can’t be any harder than yesterday, except for the snow on the ground. Why do you look worried?”
“I don’t look worried.”
I rolled my eyes at him. “Well, whatever you call that look you have on your face right now, what’s the problem?”
“This place is like the Ritz, dude. The place we’re going next…it’s like a homeless guy’s cardboard box. It’s going to be cold and we’re going to be somewhat exposed. We can’t put up barri
cades like we did here.”
That was something I didn’t need to hear. “I thought you said there would be no problems with shelter.”
“It’s not a problem, I’m just telling you what to expect. Calm yourself down before you start acting like Mom.”
“If it’s not a problem, why bring it up?”
“I’m just saying we’re going to need to be more alert next time. We’ll need two people on watch and they’ll need to be outside. Be prepared for the whining; it’ll be just like the new boots joining the platoon.”
“Let’s just get everyone moving and we’ll deal with it when we get there.”
“Yes, sir!” Brian barked, snapping off a salute. His smile dropped when he saw I wasn’t laughing. He said, “Hey, I’ve been meaning to ask you, what do you think about Chandra?”
Talking about relationships in the middle of an apocalypse may seem like a crazy thing to most folks, but this was the world we lived in now, so this was as good a time as any.
“I think she’s a very nice girl. She’s got a good head on her shoulders, she’s loyal and I trust her.”
“Jesus Christ, dude, you make her sound like she’s your girlfriend’s ugly sister. Wait, let me guess, she has a nice personality, right?”
I shook my head. “Why do I even bother? Look, if you like her and she likes you, go for it. Now let’s blow this joint.”
* * *
The morning was mild with almost no wind. As it turned out, the ground was covered with about a half an inch of snow, but it was such a light dusting that it disintegrated beneath our feet as we continued our journey along Route 20. According to Brian, our next shelter was an abandoned farmhouse just four miles ahead. If we made time like yesterday, we expected to be there by midday.
Our group column spread out about an eighth of a mile in front of me, each team keeping good spacing between themselves and the next team. I resumed my position at the rear, enjoying the view that spread out in front of me. I was surprised by the beauty of some of the landscapes just miles from my own home. I must have driven this route several times in the past few years since buying my house, but I’d never really noticed the rolling hills or the stunning horizons.