Zombie Island

by Samantha Hoffman

  “Nah, I wouldn’t do that. I’m sexy and I know it. Believe me; I’m used to being seen as a stud.”

  I laugh. While Ryder definitely has a sort of rugged, manly charm that makes him incredibly attractive to me, I don’t know if I’d consider him as actually handsome. Of course, in this day and age you’re not attractive unless you wear super-tight skinny jeans, sing annoying songs about love, and talk like an idiot.

  But I’ve never understood girls’ fascination with those sissy types of guys. I’ve always preferred the kind of guy like Ryder, or Reese. Reese is a lot like his brother, just nice all the time, instead of every once in a while.

  Stop thinking about both of them like that. You’re trying to survive day-to-day life, not repopulate the world.

  Neither of us speaks again, and Ryder slowly opens the door to a small store at the marina. The second the door is open, the stench hits us so violently it causes me to retch. I pull my shirt up over my nose and back away from the open door. Ryder is leaning against the side of the building taking deep, even breaths.

  He looks at me. “Breathe through your moth. It’ll help.”

  He turns and ducks into the building. I don’t want to go, but I can’t stay out here exposed, while letting him do all the work. So I take a deep breath and run into the building after him. Even though the room is mostly dark, the cause of the stench quickly becomes apparent.

  I can see the shadows of several bodies littering the floor of the building. They’re bloated beyond recognition, and they look like they’ve been decomposing for a while now. Parts of them are missing or scattered around the floor, and I try not to look at their faces. Instead, I focus on drowning out the sounds of flies buzzing everywhere, and the slippery surface I’m standing on right now.

  Breathing though my mouth like Ryder suggested doesn’t help, and I find myself gasping for air. It’s so hot and stuffy in this small room that for the first time in my life, I start to feel claustrophobic. The flies swarm our faces as we pass by, and I have to stop and swat them away. Oh, god. They feast on death, and now they’re touching me!

  I close my eyes, plug my nose, and cover my mouth with my free hand. I can feel the flies crawling over my head and through my hair, and I try not to scream. I free my nose and mouth and run my hands angrily through my hair. Watching the flies fall from my hair is repulsive, and I consider racing for the entrance and waiting for Ryder outside.

  But he isn’t freaking out, and I can’t abandon him. So, once I’m sure the flies are all out of my hair, I take a deep breath, and jog after Ryder, who’s already at the far side of the room. He’s checking underneath some counters for anything of use, and comes away with a flashlight. He clicks it on, and part of the room instantly brightens.

  I wish it hadn’t.

  The bodies are now more visible, and the degree of composition is amazing. It isn’t just blood that I’ve slipped in; it’s a mixture of blood and bodily juices. The bodies have been decomposing into a soup mixture, and it sticks to my boots.

  He hands me the flashlight. “Hold this, and shine it in front of me. And stay close. I don’t wanna lose you in here.”

  I step closer and shine the light around the room. There are more bodies on the floor that were hidden in the darkness of the room, and I try not to look at them. Instead, I focus on the closed door a few yards away. It probably leads to a storage room or something, and we could use the supplies.

  Ryder moves closer. “Step back. There’s something moving in there.”

  He puts his hand on the doorknob, and I shrink back behind him. He throws open the door, brings his rifle up, and takes aim at one of the two zombies in the storage room. They’re both kneeling on the ground, ripping strips of flesh from a recently dead body. They look up at us, but quickly return to their meal.

  Ryder pulls the trigger twice, and both zombies collapse to the ground, missing the backs of their heads. I wince, and have to focus on my breathing to keep from throwing up. The smell is still terrible, and now there are fresh zombie brains splattered against the wall. I’m not sure which smells worse.

  Ryder nudges my arm. “Let’s go. Just step over them, and keep the flashlight steady. The sooner we get in there, the sooner we can leave this place.”

  I follow Ryder closely, and step over the dead zombies on the floor. The storage room is about the size of my school’s small gym, and it’s filled with shelf after metal shelf of materials. There are boxes of supplies strewn all over the floor, and I swing the flashlight around to look closer.

  “You said matches, right?”

  Ryder bends down and grabs a few boxes of matches. I can’t see how many are in each box, but it looks like quite a few. He tosses them into the duffel bag and looks at the shelves again. I give him enough light to see, and he picks something else up.

  It looks like rolls of packaged bandaging. He grabs yards of it, and tosses it into the duffel bag. Next are adhesive tape, antiseptic wipes, antibiotic cream, hydrogen peroxide, bottles of Tylenol, and burn ointment. He finds a case of antibacterial soap, and takes a few bars that are individually wrapped, and tosses them into the bag. There’s room for plenty more stuff, but there isn’t anything else we need that I see.

  Nothing that we need, but something that I want. I’m not even sure why I grab them, but I do. My earlier encounter with Ryder and the ditch made me more than a little self-conscious, and I grab a couple packages of disposable razors and toss them into the bag when Ryder isn’t looking. It’s stupid to be worrying about such things in the middle of the apocalypse, but I can’t leave without them.

  “Hey, what did Tobe whisper to you out by the jeep?”

  That reminds me of another thing that we can’t leave without. Ryder waits patiently for an answer, and in response, I grab a couple boxes of feminine products. He rolls his eyes and, incredibly enough, he blushes. “Oh.”

  “She’s happy she still needs them.”

  “Why wouldn’t she?”

  I look up at him, surprised he hasn’t figured it out. “She was held captive and raped by strange men. It’s a miracle she’s not pregnant.”

  “Oh, I hadn’t even thought about that.”

  “Can you imagine how horrible it would be to have a baby in this world? Those creatures aren’t just attracted to blood, right? They hear movement and come running. And babies do nothing but sleep, eat, poop, and cry. It would be impossible to hide with one in our group.”

  “Not to mention the pain of eventually losing your child.” I look at him, and he shrugs. “Sooner or later, I think we’re all gonna lose. If these things don’t die from starvation or disease, they might live forever. I mean, who knows? These things were supposed to be restricted to cheesy horror films.”

  “I know. I never would have thought this could actually happen. And I never thought I’d be the one to survive this long. I always figured I’d go down in the first wave in this kind of situation. But I didn’t. I was careful, and I fortified my home, and gathered as many supplies as I could. Then I just planned to wait the whole thing out. Of course, you and the Warriors had to go and screw that plan up.”

  He smiles. “Admit it; you’re glad we found you. You would have gotten lonely sooner or later.”

  “Yes, I’m glad you two found me. If you hadn’t, I probably wouldn’t have survived this journey.”

  “So, how many times have I saved your life?” he asks with a smile.

  “A couple,” I admit grudgingly.

  He laughs. “I’d say it’s more than that. I saved you from the Warriors on that roof. I saved you from that killer dog. I saved you at the shootout with the Warriors. I saved your life at the gas station, and then again at the SUV when those thugs showed up.”

  “Alright, yeah, it’s more than a couple of times. Try not to be so cocky about it next time,” I say, elbowing him in the side. His side is about the only thing I can reach considering the vast height difference between us.

  “Come on. We should probab
ly get back to the jeep and see if the others found a usable boat.”

  Chapter Ten

  It took Reese and Tobe about fifteen minutes to find a working boat and the keys that went with it. They spent the rest of their time gathering new supplies that our store didn’t have. Tobe had two bags full of new clothes, and she couldn’t wait to show them to me.

  I go through the bags, surprised to find that I don’t hate the stuff she picked for me. Her clothes aren’t entirely practical. She’s got a skirt and some nice boots, but as long as she can run safely in them, I don’t think it’ll be a problem.

  My new clothes are similar to what I’m wearing now: jeans, a pair of black boots, a new belt, a couple of white camisoles, and a new black sweater for when it gets colder. Which should be anytime, I think to myself. It’s getting cooler at night, and the days are getting shorter. It should only be a few weeks before the first snows get here. I hope we’re someplace safe before then.

  “Alright,” Reese says, bringing my attention back to the marina. “Let’s start transferring all of our supplies to the boat. Then we’ll find some extra gas, and get going. I’d like to be at the island before it gets dark out.”

  We all start grabbing supplies from the back of the jeep. I sling a duffel bag of ammunition over my shoulder, grab two cases of water, and follow Reese to the boat. It’s white, small, but relatively clean. There are no bloodstains, no body parts, and it doesn’t smell like someone died in it, which makes it like a yacht to me.

  I drop the cases of water and the bag of ammo in the back, and head to the jeep for more stuff. It takes us almost twenty minutes to get everything from the jeep to the boat and, when we’re done, it looks like we’ve got a ton of stuff. Unfortunately, with four of us, it won’t last forever.

  Reese sets the last of the stuff in the back, and I recognize the bow case and the arrows. That’ll help us get some extra food once we reach the island, but I’m sure we’ll all still be eating as little as possible to conserve food.

  Ryder hops into the boat and starts it. I’m not sure I trust him to steer the boat, but he’ll probably be better at it than me, so I don’t complain. Instead, I take a seat next to Tobe on the floor of the boat, and we both try to relax as we pull away from the end of the dock.

  Ryder seems at ease behind the wheel, and I wonder just how much practical experience he has with survival. He knows how to use tactical weapons, he knows how to survive a dangerous standoff, and he knows how to drive a boat. Those aren’t things everybody knows how to do.

  “Hey Ryder? How do you know so much?” I ask from the back.

  He doesn’t look over his shoulder. “Before all of this started, I was a marine.”

  I almost laugh, but he sounds so serious that I don’t. Is he serious? He was a marine? Somehow, I see him having a problem with authority.

  He slips off his leather jacket, sets it down beside him, and sticks his left arm back. The tattoo I noticed when first meeting him is now clearly visible this close up. It’s a golden eagle with wide-spread wings standing on top of an anchor, with the words Semper Fidelis above it, and US Marines beneath it in the same flowing script.

  “You were seriously a marine?” Tobe asks, staring at his tattoo in awe. “That’s so…hot.”

  We all stare at her in surprise. Tobe rarely offers her own opinion, and she certainly doesn’t call a man hot. She usually just sits in quiet thought, waiting for the shots to be made without her. She’s a follower, but that’s not bad, because I am too.

  “Um,” Ryder says, turning away. “Yeah, I was. That was a long time ago, though. I enlisted a few years after high school, and spent a few years in the service. I was home on inactive reserve when the infection started, and at first I was called in to try to help contain the situation. But after a few weeks, it was every man for himself. I grabbed Reese, packed up our food, and we left.”

  “So the military tried to fight these things and lost?” I ask uneasily. “If the military lost, how are we supposed to survive? What chance do we actually have?”

  “Don’t think about it like that,” Reese says. “Of the few remaining people left in the world, you’re one of them. You survived the first six months, which will be the worst. Things can only get better at this point, Sam. Our future isn’t totally hopelessly right now. We have this island, and we’ll survive for as long as we can, because we won’t give up. Ever.”

  “Thanks, Reese,” I say, leaning back against the side of the boat. “I don’t mean to feel sorry for myself or anything. I just wasn’t thinking clearly right now.”

  “Sam, everyone’s entitled to a little mini-freak out every now and then,” Tobe says. “Look at me. I have them all the time. When someone touches me, when I see a zombie, when a bee lands on me, and even when the wind messes up my hair. People can’t be calm and collected all the time or they’ll snap eventually.”

  I glance at Ryder, and his shoulders tense, almost like he knows we’re looking at him. Tobe’s smiling and she doesn’t seem to mind making fun of herself for overreacting and having those mini-freak outs. And I’m not going to criticize her for doing it, especially because she’s starting to slowly but surely come out of her shell a little.

  I doubt she’ll let Reese or Ryder touch her anytime soon, but she’s getting better. She doesn’t flinch every time someone comes near her, and she doesn’t whimper to herself anymore.

  We pull farther away from the marina docks, and I look over at Reese. “How long will it take for us to get to the island?”

  “About two hours or so I think. It might not take that long, the way Ryder drives.”

  “This isn’t driving, it’s steering,” Ryder says, turning to glare at Reese. “And you’re more than welcome to take over. I could sure use a quick rest before we get there.”

  “You need a nap old man?” Reese asks, standing. He stretches out his back, and goes to take the controls from his older brother. Ryder grumbles something to him as he passes, and plops down next to me. Without another word, he closes his eyes, and falls asleep in moments.

  Tobe and I pass the time on the boat by playing cards. We don’t have anything to use for money, but we keep score in our heads with the promise that neither of us will cheat. Tobe comes a little farther out of her shell, enough to tell me about her previous life before the world ended.

  “I had one sister that I told you about, Rosalind. My parents lived in Oklahoma for all of their lives, and I came out here for school. I didn’t do very well on my own, and dropped out. I got a job as a waitress at a nasty bar, and I barely made the money needed for a cheap apartment. When this all happened, I thought about trying to head home, but I couldn’t reach my parents or sister, and I assumed they were already dead.

  “So I stayed low and hid for a while, only venturing out to check the surrounding apartments for available food. A few months after the infection first spread, three men found me while I was out scavenging. They offered to take care of me if I went with them, and I didn’t think anything about it. At least, not until I met Frank, and he told me that women were needed not only for entertainment, but also to begin repopulating the world.”

  I shiver and zip my sweater higher. Frank and his Warriors are terrible people, and probably were even before the infection. The end of the world only made them worse, and gave them the opportunity to reveal themselves as the vile men they are.

  “There were times I just wanted to give up and die. I was so disgusted with myself, and what they’d done to me, that I honestly considered ending my life. I wasn’t sure how I was going to do it, but I started to wonder if it was best for me.”

  “They won’t hurt you anymore,” I say. “We’re leaving them all far behind, and you’ll never see them again.”

  “I hope you’re right Sam. But, I don’t think you are. You guys killed several of his men. He’ll want revenge. Frank doesn’t think like a rational person; he’ll avenge any perceived wrongs, even if it costs him more of his men in the pro
cess. He’s crazy.”

  I think about what she’s saying. From my one encounter with Frank, I do know that he’s crazy. He’s not someone I would ever want to get on the bad side of, and that’s what I’ve done. I’ve gotten on his bad side, just by defending myself, and he won’t like that. I hope he’s not planning to come after us, or we’ll all be paying.

  “Don’t worry about it too much,” Reese says from the wheel. “We’re far enough away that I think we’ll be safe. Right now, focus on surviving the island, not someone that’s a couple of states away.”

  He’s right. We can’t worry about a threat that might never happen when there are real threats waiting for us everywhere we go. The Warriors are only in Louisville; the zombies are everywhere in the entire world, and nowhere is completely safe from them.

  “How much of the world is gone?” Tobe asks no one in particular.

  “Last time I heard a transmission, the US had just lost touch with France, Germany, Japan, and most of South America. I think that means most of the world is probably infected by now. But last I heard, England was still holding out, and were in the process of getting everything under control.”

  “Someone actually managed to get the infection under control? How did they do it? Did they burn the entire country to the ground, or did they round up all the uninfected people and ship them off to keep them safe?”

  “I think they had an emergency army response plan or something.”

  “They planned for a zombie attack?”

  “I don’t think it was a necessarily a zombie attack. I think they just planned for an airborne pathogen of some kind. They had emergency response vehicles, food stores, and safe centers all prepared ahead of time. They were the fastest to respond, and I think it helped them. Of course, that was like four and a half months ago. England could be wiped off the face of the planet by now.”

  Tobe sighs. “I wish this could all just be over. I mean, will it ever be over? Nobody’s been able to study these things, right? We don’t know if they keep aging or if they’re somehow immortal. We don’t know if they’ll decompose into nothing, or if they’ll ever starve to death. They could just keep going forever and forever. They might never stop.”