by Mark Clodi
Before she stepped in Katie moved to the far right side of the door, the angle gave her a better view of the rest of the room as she approached. She knew she had to go in, if the couple had car keys they would be in here, not someplace sensible, like the kitchen. 'That is how my luck runs. I kinda hope I am right, otherwise I am going through a whole lotta gross for nothing!'
It was a family of five, the wife and children were tucked into the king sized bed, the man lay on the floor beside them. Katie's eyes were drawn to the rifle the man had, a thirty ought six. 'Respectable, maybe he was a hunter.'
She reached down and picked up the rifle, which had fallen beside the man and was out of the bloated rot of his remains, as she was bent over she heard a faint sound, as if someone were continuously squeezing water out of a sponge. 'Maggots.'
Even as sealed up as the house was, flies had gotten in. 'I don't even see any flies around, but I can hear their babies in the bodies.' Standing with the gun, she looked around for any ammunition and spotted a case on the desk, next to a set of keys. 'Bingo!' Katie grabbed the ammo and the keys and run out of the room.
In the loft room she let out a breath she hadn't realized she had been holding and pulled the door shut behind her, it didn't stay closed, but only crept open a few inches. 'Fuck it, I am not staying here anyway.'
She turned off her light and tucked it and the rifle ammunition into her pack. The keys went into her front pocket. By the time Katie was downstairs Kent had dragged Robert up the sidewalk to the door. Jess hesitantly swung the front door open, using the barrel of her gun instead of her hand. Katie paused on the stairs to wait for them to come in.
"It's okay, there aren't any zombies in here, just dead people." she said.
"Okay. It's dark. And smells bad."
"I didn't say the house was empty. The family committed suicide, it's a mess, you'll want to stay out of the master bedroom."
Robert and Kent continued to bicker, but at least the wounded man was walking, albeit with one arm around his spouse's shoulders. The boy, Bobby, brought up the rear, pointing the gun he had taken off of his dead sister behind him as he came in.
"Did you draw their attention?"
"Yeah." Bobby said.
"That's what got those two moving huh?" asked Katie as Kent dragged Robert into the bathroom on the ground level against his wishes.
"Uh-huh." Bobby hesitated, then asked, "Is my dad really going to die."
Katie held his gaze for a moment, then Bobby flushed and she asked, "How many zombies are out there?"
"I saw eight." said Jess quietly.
"Or nine." Bobby added, "More were coming."
"Yeah, noise seems to draw them. It's not the only thing though. I had good luck sleeping below ground once, which seemed to throw them off. What is the plan?" as soon as she asked Katie silently cursed herself, the kids would not know. True to expectation they shrugged.
"Get my dad to a hospital." Bobby said.
Katie shook her head, "No. Every brother and his dad brought their relatives who got bitten to the hospital; they are probably Zed central now. Not worth the risk. Besides there aren't any doctors there now."
"We can't just let him die!"
"We aren't letting him do anything. We didn't do this. I want to have some compassion for you, but I just…can't. I just can't. I'm sorry." Katie pointed to the kitchen, "Go see if they have any food we want. You, Jess, find a bowl and try to pour water into it from the tap, but find the bowl first. If the water is off a little might drain out and I bet your dads will want it to help get cleaned up."
Their dads did want it and more water too. Katie eventually had to go upstairs and raid the toilet bowl tank for more, but not before she and Bobby moved a heavy leather couch in front of the broken front door. As the men cleaned up Robert's bitten arm Katie eyed the glass patio doors nervously. So far no zombies had appeared in the back yard and only a couple were banging on the front door, but zombies doing something interesting tended to draw more zombies, like some sort of weird zombie herd mentality.
"Kent, we need to leave or I need to do something about those zeds out front. They will draw more of a crowd."
"We aren't ready. He is still bleeding badly." Kent said, pouring a bottle of hydrogen peroxide he had found in the linen closet over Robert's still bleeding avulsion.
"I'll take care of it then." Katie looked around the kitchen; she found what she wanted in the pantry closet, a box of recyclables, which included some empty two liter bottles.
"Watch that door Jess! I'll be back in a couple of minutes. Bobby you keep an eye on the back door. If either of you sees anything, yell. I am going into the garage, but will keep the door to the house open."
Katie took her flashlight with her and after a few minutes searching she found a healthy roll of duct tape, barely used. Nothing had gone super nova in the few minutes she was gone, but both kids seemed glad to see her. 'That's me, Katie; Idol to the disgruntled youth of the mid-west.'
She set the duct tape and empty bottle on the counter then picked up her new rifle. She had already checked it over while Kent was cleaning up Robert. It was not an heirloom; the thing was new, brand new; if it had been fired more than fifty times Katie would cut off her right tit. However, there was no one she cared to make that bet with now. She placed the rifle on the island counter top and fitted the empty bottle over the barrel. Using the duct tape she bound the bottle to the rifle barrel, then taped a spiral along the sides of the bottle and over its bottom. By the time she was done the bottle was pointed as straight out from the barrel as she could make it and though it sagged slightly.
"What are you doing?" asked Jess.
'Inquisitive youth, maybe she could learn to be worth something.' Katie answered her as if she were a younger soldier asking her for information, "I am taping this bottle to the barrel of the rifle, then I am going to shoot a couple of those persistent zombies in the head. The bottle will help deaden the noise when I fire the rifle by capturing the escaping gas from the bullet. It is not perfect, it won't be totally silent, but I doubt anything will hear it from even a block away."
"Oh, so others won't hear it. That looks simple."
"It is, and effective, but not perfect. After about three shots it is even less effective, and you either need to duct tape up the holes in the bottom." Katie pointed to the bottom of the bottle where the bullets would go through it, "Or get a new bottle. If you tape over the bottom like this it should prevent the plastic from shattering, but it could tear the bottle off the gun barrel too."
"Are you really are a sniper?"
"A markswoman, I have the same training, use the same equipment and test against the same targets as snipers."
"Why aren't you called a sniper?"
"Sexism. It's better than it was, but the army still tends to regulate women to support roles. You can get around anything if you try hard enough. Or have the skills."
"When did you go to the army?"
"Jess, now isn't the time. You and Bobby, get your guns, set them on the couch, then move the couch back about six inches, that should be enough for me to get this through the crack and cap a few of them. As soon as you put the couch down pick up your guns, but do not fire unless I tell you to or things really get out of hand."
"Out of hand?" asked Bobby, "What does that mean?"
"You'll know it when you see it."
Chapter 15 — Max
"Where the fuck is the old man going?" yelled Stewart as she took cover in the ditch.
"Huh?" grunted Max, landing beside her.
"Ruben, he's running for the truck! Oh gawd damn it, he's going for the nuke!" Stewart raised her voice and yelled out at Ruben, who was taking fire from an upper story of the hotel, "Leave it old man! We'll get it after we clean up this mess!" She started to rise out of the ditch, but several tuffs of grass flew up in front of her. Max realized it was from bullets striking the turf around them.
"Fire! Get some bullets back at them! Max locat
e that shooter!" yelled Bill as his friend sunk lower in the ditch. Even Stewart, no coward had fallen back from the barrage.
Max raised his shotgun and fired blindly, hitting nothing but air. He fired again without raising his body above the level of the ditch. Stewart looked at him, and shook her head, "What is that? Blind firing? You think you will hit anything with that?"
Max shrugged as more bullets threw up debris in the parking lot. Bill cautiously rose up and let off a three bullet burst with his rifle, "Max! I need you! Javier, c'mon and get up guys, if we don't we are gonna get mobbed!"
"This was a bad idea. We should have moved on to the next exit." Max muttered, rising above the edge of the ditch.
"Too late now, we gonna save Ruben's wrinkly old ass or not?" Stewart asked.
Max nodded, reloaded his shotgun and rose when Stewart did above the lip of the ditch. Unlike Stewart, he had a good idea where the zombies were, though he didn't know which of them had guns. Max fired at the closest zombie and hit it just above the knee. He watched as the creature rolled into a somersault along the parking lot before coming to a rest up against the back of a dust covered Ford Escape. The 'jenner' quickly scurried around the car and Max had to switch targets as more zombies appeared. Stewart fired and brought down a zombie shooting at them through a hotel window on the second floor.
Ruben was in the back of the truck and lifted the back pack up out of the bed, however he was surrounded by shamblers. Dropping the pack at his feet he brought his shotgun up and gut shot two of the zeds as others grabbed him from behind.
"Ruben!" screamed Javier, who was up on one knee firing as close to the other man as he dared. The old man paused for a second, looking back at them, for a brief, calm moment the world stopped. Then the dead engulfed him in a wave and pulled him through the shattered doors of the hotel.
"Damn it! After him!" Bill yelled climbing out of the ditch. Bill made it up to the top when he jerked backwards, like a dog running full tilt that comes to the end of his leash. He fell onto his back on the grass and slid down to the bottom of the ditch, with his head coming to rest in the murky, standing water left over from the last rainfall.
"Bill!" Max yelled stepping behind Stewart to go to his friend. More bullets splattered the pavement around Stewart and Javier, who were forced to duck behind the few cars in the hotel parking lot. Max could hear them returning fire and yelling his name as he skidded down the grassy bank to Bill's side.
His friend was dead. Max saw a lifetime of events leading up to this moment; the trouble they had gotten into as teenagers, but somehow survived. Images flashed through Max's head in seconds: Bill at Max's wedding; Max at Bill's. Playing football with the kids on the lawn in their tuxedos. Playing 'hot lava' in the park as boys themselves, making their way from one side of the playground to the other while avoiding touching the ground. Teaching the same game to their own children when they were parents. It was all coming to an end, here in some shitty little zombie infested town because Max had let it happen. Tears sprang to his eyes as he reached for his friend.
Meanwhile Stewart looked over at Javier who was pinned behind a red convertible a couple of parking spaces over. She grinned and asked, "You okay?"
The young man nodded and said, "They took Ruben, he was still alive. We gotta go get 'em"
"Max! Goddamnit Max!" Stewart pivoted back to Javier, "I don't know if we can do this alone."
The gunfire stopped abruptly. Stewart and Javier looked at each other, both had enough experience with the zombies to know what such a coordinated action meant; there was a super zombie close by sending his troops orders.
"Max!" hissed Stewart, "We need you!"
In the ditch Max grabbed Bill by the shoulders and pulled his body around until his head was higher up on the slope and out of the water. His friend's face was pale and he didn't appear to be breathing. Max concentrated and shifted his vision to see if Bill were still alive. Relief flooded through him as he saw the colorful pattern he associated with living humans settle over Bill's frame.
"Bill! Talk to me buddy!" Max said, looking him over. There was a huge divot out of Bill's army helmet a few inches above the man's left eye. The furrow torn into the kelvar went deep into the helmet and Max released the straps under Bill's chin to check and see if the bullet had penetrated. Bill's skin was already turning a faint bluish color where he was bruised. The helmet had done its job and the bullet had not passed through it.
Bill's eyes fluttered and he looked up at Max, "What happened?"
"You got shot buddy."
"How bad? Don't lie to me Max."
"You got lucky. It hit the top of your helmet at an angle and didn't go through."
"Then why are you crying?"
"Tears of joy my friend, tears of joy." Max leaned over and hugged the man awkwardly on the ground where he lay. The gunfire suddenly stopped and both men became aware of the silence as Max pulled himself up. They heard Stewart's sharp hiss as she called Max's name and he responded to her, "I'm here, what?"
"Get your ass up here, we need to know where the super is, all the zeds stopped firing at once!"
"You okay?" Max asked Bill.
"Go on, let me clear my head a bit."
"I'm coming Stewart." said Max crawling up the hill on his hands and knees. No one fired at him as he crested the hill and he saw that Stewart and Javier were taking cover, while they peeped out trying to keep an eye on the receding mass of zombies.
"I thought you said there were only a few?" Stewart asked accusingly.
"I told you there were this many. They were just scattered about, I didn't spot the super…"
"Where is he?"
Max looked for the leader, it only took him a moment to find the almost human signature in the 'Best Value Inn', "He's over there." Max pointed. "I think he is on the second floor, near this end, probably looking out at us right now."
Stewart raised her middle finger above the level of the car's hood and waved it back and forth. A single gunshot broke the silence, striking the back door of the sedan she was hiding behind. Stewart quickly pulled her arm down.
"Yep, he's watching." said Max taking cover further down the ditch.
"Is it a 'he'?" she asked.
Max shrugged, "I don't really know, does it matter? Ruben is in the Day's Inn. I think I got a bead on the one that shot at you. He is over on the Best Value roof."
"You sure?"
"Pretty sure."
"You can see guns now?"
"No, but I saw a flash from that direction when it fired at you and I know there are zombies on the roof there."
"What about our hotel, is Ruben….alive?" asked Javier.
Max frowned, "Yeah, he is. I don't know if he is infected, but he is alive, they have him up on the second story there too, only at the east end of the hotel. There are a couple, uh, well if not supers, maybe 'Einsteins'? So those two are holding him and there are a few shambling types in the corridor outside the room they have him in. Plus, most of the shamblers are on the ground floor of the hotel now."
"Why aren't they mobbing us?" Stewart asked.
"How the hell would I know? I think they could have gotten us with that last rush."
"Pessimist, we could have held them off."
"Maybe…" Max said doubtfully.
"We could have." Stewart insisted.
Bill had climbed up from the ditch to lie beside Max, he had his helmet back on and was looking better, "What's the story?"
"They got Ruben inside on the second floor with a couple of Einsteins, there is a sniper on the roof of the Best Value and a super over there that we think is directing everyone. We don't know why they stopped rushing us. There are maybe fifteen shamblers and half a dozen Jenners inside the Day's Inn." Max said.
"Okay, we go after him, Javier, get back into the ditch, work your way back towards the highway until you are out of sight of the Best Value. Stewart you follow him after a count of ten. Once you two are in place wait for us to catch u
p. Go!" Bill's voice didn't leave much room for arguing, regardless Javier took off instantly, leaving Stewart the options of following or leaving him to fend for himself on the far end of the hotel. She counted to ten and followed.
"You ready Max?"
Max nodded, then Bill said, "I'll follow in a ten count. Go!"
Max skidded down into the bottom of the ditch and ran along it until he caught up to Javier, who was sitting near a culvert, where the hotel drive went over the ditch. Stewart had run up out of the ditch and was taking cover behind an old Subaru that screamed 'Hotel Employee', not 'Hotel Guest'. Bill caught up with them a moment later and looked the area over.
"Okay, the hotel has an entrance on the end of the wing. That is what we will go for. Max, what are the zombies doing?"
"The ones with Ruben haven't moved, the shambers are starting to head towards this side, but are staying inside. The super…I.." Max looked perplexed, "I've lost him. How did I lose him?"
"We gotta move now. Max you got point, get to the hotel door and break through it. There is bound to be a stairway at the end, shut any of the doors leading to the hallway on the first floor, if they are not already. I should be there by then. Javier, you follow me on ten. Stewart you bring up the rear. Got it? Go!"
Max scrambled up the ditch and ran towards the glass door on the side of the hotel building. When he was fifteen feet away he fired one shot into the door, it shattered, but did not fall out of the frame. Using the barrel of the shotgun he pushed through the safety glass, then used his hand to pull the door open from the inside. There was a fire door that blocked off the stairway from the first floor of the hotel, however it was open. Max saw a mob of slow shamblers coming towards him from the hallway, instead of firing he tried to pull the door shut, but it was caught on something and wouldn't budge.