Revelations - 02

by T. W. Brown

  She hurried towards him, stepping over a large, jagged piece of metal that had landed like a spear, plunging into the earth. She whispered a quick ‘thanks’ to whatever had allowed that piece of flying death to miss Kevin. She reached him and put her hand on his back. She allowed tears to fill her eyes only once she’d felt the rise and fall of his breathing.

  She struggled to her feet and made it to the end of the row. She saw Cary to her left on his hands and knees, crawling along the rows away from her. Picking up a dirt clod, she threw it, wincing at the new explosion of pain. Cary turned, and nodded when she motioned frantically. She didn’t wait any longer and rushed back to Kevin’s side.

  Being as careful as possible, she slid him down and rolled him over. She had to stifle a gasp. Blood was trickling from one cheek, but it was the nasty gash on his forehead that bled freely, forming a mask made even more unpleasant as the dirt on his face had turned to a bloody paste.

  “Is he alive?” Cary crawled up beside Heather, his breath labored.

  “Yes,” Heather fought back the urge to cry, making her voice sound hoarse, “but look at his face.”

  Cary leaned in, then, after looking around, he simply tore off a piece of his shirt sleeve and wrapped it around Kevin’s head. He pulled it tight and did his best to situate the knot right above the wound. “There,” he nodded. “Now let’s get him up and moving.”

  “Kevin.” Heather shook the man’s shoulders.

  “C’mon.” Cary nudged her aside and slapped the man hard across the cheek. “Kev! Yo, Kevin, wake the hell up!”

  The man mumbled something and his eyes fluttered. Cary slapped him again and reached behind his head, sitting the man upright as best he could.

  “Help me get him up,” Cary urged. “I can’t do this alone…and as it is, you’ll be supporting most of his weight. We gotta move, now.”

  “Kevin,” Heather whispered in the man’s ear, “you have to help us, baby.”

  The man stirred, but it still took all of Cary’s and Heather’s efforts to get him up on his feet. Once they did, Heather led the way, taking them deeper into the cornfield. Kevin moved like a sleepwalker, and twice, they tripped and fell to the ground in a heap. Both times, all three cried out in pain.

  Eventually, they were clear of the smoke. However, they could still smell it. Sometimes Kevin would mutter a string of unintelligible words, and once, Heather clearly heard him say Mike’s name.

  After twenty minutes or so, Cary couldn’t go on any further. For the last five minutes, Heather had been struggling under Kevin’s weight, trying her best to quietly urge him to keep moving. The rest came at a perfect time, her left knee was starting to buckle about every ten steps or so. Easing Kevin down, she sat on the small mound between a pair of cornstalks and tried to catch her breath.

  “I can’t go on,” Cary whispered.

  “Yes you can.” Heather leaned forward with a look of concern. Cary was flat on his back, eyes closed. “I can’t do this by myself. I need you to help me keep Kevin moving.”

  “Kevin can’t move either,” Cary said with a sigh. “He’s done, and so am I.”

  “What?” Heather asked, slipping past Kevin and squeezing in beside Cary on her knees.

  “I can’t move,” Cary gasped, chest rising and falling as he struggled to breathe. Those zombies were roaming the field and it was just a matter of time before they came stumbling this way. “You have to run. Save yourself.”

  Heather looked down at the man who still had his eyes squeezed shut in obvious pain. She felt her chest tighten from sorrow, but strangely her eyes remained dry. Then she realized it wasn’t sadness that had her heart crushed in its grip. It was anger. “Bullshit.”

  “What?” The man’s eyes flickered open and looked up at her.

  “You shut up and listen to me for a change,” Heather snapped. “I sat quietly while you two planned out everything. I cooked, cleaned, and played maid to you, Kevin, and Mike. I’ve learned how to kill zombies and wield weapons all because you guys have told me that I need to learn how to survive. Well, I’ve learned. And the first thing I learned is that you don’t quit. Ever.”

  Cary stared up at the girl who was now scolding him like his mother used to when he wouldn’t eat his green beans. He hurt so bad, she just didn’t understand. Then his eyes really took her in. She was dirty, tears had made muddy streaks down her cheeks and then dried. She had nicks and cuts and bruises all over. There was a dark smudge down one side of her face that he’d initially mistaken for dirt. That girl’s tore up from the floor up, Cary mused.

  “Rip up some of those stalks.” Cary sat up. “It won’t be much, but it’ll keep me on my feet. Can you get Kevin up?”

  “Yeah.” Heather scooted back over to Kevin’s poor body. “Wake up, sweetie.”

  Once again his eyes fluttered, but he didn’t wake. Cary sat up and scootched on his butt beside his friend. “You get me those stalks and rip off all the leaves, I’ll get Kevin up.”

  Heather went to work, having a bit of an idea as to what Cary would need. She felt the leaves cutting her hand as she tore them off. Kevin had been insistent about gloves, but she didn’t need to worry about a little nip turning her, and she didn’t like how stinky her hands got after wearing gloves for hours at a time. Now she wished she’d listened.

  “Umm…I don’t want to be the one to make things just a bit worse,” Cary said, tugging on her pant leg.

  Heather looked down at him. His eyes were wide and staring at the end of the corn row. She didn’t actually need to look to know what was coming. Still, she did anyways, needing to know how much time they had. Several of the Heath zombies were indeed coming. There wasn’t a need to peek down any of the adjacent rows to know.

  They were coming.

  12

  Digging In

  “How do you think we’ll keep this from caving in?” Aaron asked.

  “I am going on blind faith.” I shrugged.

  “How’s that been workin’ out for you so far?” Barry snickered.

  “Look,” I planted the tip of my spade in the ground, “I’m not the master ditch digger of the universe. But, if we dig this trench about five or so feet deep and make the sides as vertical as possible, we might have a safe place for the winter.”

  “Like Serenity Base?” Jamie quipped.

  “Don’t be a jerk.” Teresa elbowed Jamie in the ribs. “You say something like that around Emily…”

  I nodded in agreement with the sentiment. But all this talking was burning daylight. I set my foot and used it to plunge the spade into the ground. “I’m gonna get started. If any of you plan on staying here, I’d grab one of those manually-operated-earth-removal devices and get busy.”

  “Huh?” Aaron scratched his head.

  “A shovel, idiot.” Jamie took his frustration over being elbowed by Teresa out on his friend with a not-too-gentle slap on the back of his head.

  “Hey!” Aaron yelped.

  I continued to dig, ignoring all the grab-assing. My grandfather had used that trick on me. After a little guilt-tripping about the lack of work ethic in the ‘younger generation’ he’d set to whatever task needed doing and ignore me. Eventually, I would be right there with him doing whatever needed doing. He was like the Pied Piper of unpleasant jobs. He’d died of a heart attack about seven months before all this madness…in his back yard splitting wood

  “Steve?” Randi tapped me on the shoulder.

  “Yeah?”

  “How wide are we looking to make this ditch or moat or whatever you wanna call it?”

  “I’m thinking about four feet ought to do nicely.”

  “Perhaps I can wrangle the girls to help me and Chloe to mark off a route. I saw some stakes and string in the tool shed,” Dr. Zahn offered.

  “That’d be great, Francis,” I said, catching that slight narrowing of her eyes, letting me know how much that really bugged her. So far, I was the only person bold enough to call her by her name and not her
title.

  “Yes, Doctor,” Randi emphasized the word and shot me a look of disapproval, “that is a great idea, plus, I know that the girls want to feel like they’re helping.”

  I went back to work, and within about twenty minutes, everybody was busy. It was actually kinda nice. Things hadn’t—nor would they—felt normal, but this was as close as it gets. We’d had that sense back at Serenity. Still, no matter how nice things got, there was still that nagging threat in the back of your mind. As if to illustrate the point, Jack, who was currently on watch at the moment walked past me, drawing the big sturdy blade he kept at his hip in a leather sheath.

  I glanced up quickly spotting the pair of zombies wandering out from the trees on the far side of the now overgrown picnic area. One of them was no bigger than Thalia. That made me immediately seek her out with my eyes.

  She was kneeling beside Chloe, holding a small wooden stake with an intense look on her face. She watched as Chloe picked up a nearby hatchet and used the blunt end to tap the stake into the ground. I expected her to flinch or move her hands, but she never did. They moved several feet, and this time Chloe helped steady Thalia’s hand, then gave her the hatchet. I felt that old, pre-zombie apocalypse objection race the fear that was blooming in my stomach.

  “Don’t you say a word,” Teresa nudged me.

  “I wasn’t gonna,” I grumbled.

  “Liar.”

  “Can’t I be a little protective?”

  “Sure,” Teresa shrugged and tossed another spadefull of dirt, “but she isn’t gonna get to grow up like kids her age used to.”

  “Yeah,” I sighed. I resumed digging. Teresa was right. Thalia would grow up sort of like the pioneer children. I remembered seeing pictures in history class in school and feeling sorry for them. Granted, they were in dingy black and white. And everybody always looked so grim. But didn’t they have to stand still for a few seconds back then?

  By late afternoon, we’d actually made some good progress. Of course, once everybody climbed out of the moat and looked at how much we still had to do, shoulders slumped.

  “Papi!” Thalia ran up to me with a huge grin on her face.

  “What is it, sweetie?” I knelt to catch her.

  “Pew!” She coughed and waved her hand in front of her nose, stopping short of jumping in to my arms. “You’re stinky!” A ripple of titters rolled through the group. I glanced up in time to see Melissa sign something to Chloe who immediately joined in on the laughter.

  “Yeah,” I agreed, trying unsuccessfully not to blush. “I’ve been working hard.”

  Like a light coming on, Thalia’s grin returned and she thrust a hand in my face. “So have I!”

  At first I wasn’t sure what was happening. Then I noticed the blisters. A couple had already popped and were little white skin flaps. One, in the soft part between the index finger and thumb looked kinda nasty. The skin was stretched tight and the bubble was full of fluid.

  “Uh…good?” I said, rising to my feet since there was obviously not gonna be any hugs at the moment.

  “Silly, Papi.” Thalia rolled her eyes and shook her head like I absolutely did not get it.

  “Everybody down to the river,” Dr. Zahn called, waving a red plastic basket of soap and shampoo.

  Like obedient children we all trudged down the easily discernable path that led to the river and cut through the camp-ground behind the big picnic area. Other than the drag marks, there was no sign of the pair of zombies Jack had taken down earlier.

  The peaceful sound of rushing water grew louder once we crested the rise. Down the slope, crystal clear water rushed by. Large rocks smoothed by ages of being hydro-blasted, dotted the surface in places. The stream or creek—whatever it qualified as—rushed past, oblivious to the changes in the world.

  “Holy crap!” Melissa yelped as she waded in to where the water was almost knee deep.

  That’s one thing about rivers and streams in the Pacific Northwest. All that water comes from the snow-melt in the beautiful mountains that make it such a special place to live. It doesn’t matter one bit that it is the height of summer. That water is ballsack-shriveling cold!

  It didn’t take long for a good-natured water fight to break out. Pretty soon everybody was laughing and splashing. Even Dr. Francis Zahn. I had Thalia under one arm and Emily under the other as I waded out to where the water came just above my waist.

  “One…” I bounced up to squeals from the two little girls. “Two…”

  “No, Papi!” Thalia pleaded unconvincingly as she giggled.

  “Please!” Emily joined in.

  “THREE!” I leaped up and forward, plunging all three of us underwater. I came up, both girls spluttering and spitting.

  “Again!” they yelled in unison.

  I took a breath and plunged under. This time, I paused a couple of seconds before erupting through the surface.

  “You didn’t go one, two, three!” Emily managed between coughs.

  “I didn’t?” I pretended to be confused. “Well—”

  “Steve!” Barry’s voice cut me off, but it was his tone that made everybody—including Thalia and Emily—go silent.

  “We got four people coming,” Barry said from where he’d been standing watch with a shotgun on his hip.

  “You mean zombies?” Sunshine asked.

  “No,” Barry’s voice dropped to a whisper. “I mean people.”

  “Teresa, Jamie, Aaron, slip around the backside of the hill and haul ass up to the house,” I ordered. “Stay out of sight, but pick a target and be ready to start shooting if it goes bad.” The trio didn’t wait to hear anything else and took off at a run. “Doc, Chloe and Sunshine…stay here with the girls. If you hear shooting head up that trail on the far side of the river. There’s a spot a few hundred yards up where you can get a look. Randi, Barry, Jack, and Melissa…come with me.”

  I set both girls down when I reached the bank and kissed them both on the forehead. “You two stay quiet and do what Dr. Zahn says.” I received obedient nods. “I love you, girls.”

  I heard their replies as I scrambled up the hill with my welcoming committee. We were all fastening and checking our belts and doing cursory self assurances that our weapons were loaded. That was one thing about this new world; you never went anyplace without a weapon.

  I reached the top and saw them. There were four—that we could see—and they’d come to a sudden stop in the middle of the road that led up to our new home. They’d seen us. Five people drawing handguns from holsters and heading their way. One of their group turned and said something to the others, then handed off the rifle he or she was carrying. From this distance—all of them were wearing hats, sunglasses, and bandanas around their faces—it was hard to tell if they were men or women.

  “Everybody stay close and calm,” I said as we began walking towards the new arrivals. “When we get across the picnic grounds, you all hang back.”

  “Why?” Melissa asked, the worry clear in her voice.

  “Because…” I paused. “Because that’s how I’ve seen it done in the movies.”

  “You’ve got to be kidding,” Barry whispered.

  “Look,” I kept my voice low, not wanting it to be obvious that we were choosing this moment to have a disagreement, “if we go as a group and everybody tries to talk, nothing gets done. If it is just me, and I’m assuming nobody disagrees that I have our best interests in mind, then I can deal with these people easier.”

  Nobody argued, so I assumed it was settled. I knew that there would be some people with issues regarding my decisions, but I’d gone past caring after the last fiasco. Like it or not, this is my show to run. My primary objective is to keep Thalia—and now Emily—alive and as safe as possible. Everybody, with the exception of the two little girls, is welcome to leave anytime they want.

  We reached the edge of the picnic grounds, marked by the dirt road which was no more than two semi-clear tracks made from countless sets of tires driving through. The mi
ddle was overgrown, spreading into the two strips. Also, there was a chain painted brown that ran the length of the area connected to three-foot high, brown posts, some still with reflector tape strips at the top.

  Unlike their emissary I wasn’t about to take my weapon off. Motioning for everybody to stop, I continued across the open field that had hosted plenty of family reunions, and company-picnic softball games.

  “Be careful, Steve,” I heard Melissa whisper.

  As I crossed the open ground, I kept an eye on the trio standing clustered in the distance, but started to appraise the person approaching me. It was a woman. That became evident only after she removed the hat, glasses, and bandana. She was tall, taller than me by a few inches, and had her curves hidden by the leather apron and a get-up that reminded me of what welders wore minus the visored helmet. I did notice that the heavy-duty glove on the right hand was modified; the fingers had been cut off the glove, most likely to allow her to operate her rifle.

  I chose a spot that I knew could be seen from the windows up where Teresa, Aaron, and Jamie would be and stopped. This was our turf and this stranger could come to me. Suddenly I was unsure of where to put my hands. After a few seconds of deliberation, I clasped them in front of me.

  Now that I could really watch this person approach me, I didn’t know how I couldn’t have realized instantly that she was absolutely a woman. She had shoulder length auburn hair, and a very delicate face. Her walk was very feminine and her hips swayed easily with what seemed to be a natural effortlessness. I also noticed a confidence. She showed no indication of being nervous or afraid.

  When she was a few feet away, she stopped. Her eyes were a beautiful shade of green that I thought might even be contacts. She smiled pleasantly and extended her hand after removing the glove.