by TW Brown
I looked back over at Todd to see he was still kneeling in the flower bed in front of the window where he’d confirmed for himself what Alex and I already knew. In the relative silence of this dead world, I could hear his soft sobs.
I turned to see that Alex was still observing Todd. She’d drawn a handgun and her finger kept darting into the trigger area.
“You are just going to shoot him in the head?” I tried to whisper, but my tightening throat made it difficult.
“Would you rather I use my machete? That seems a bit harsh.”
She was missing my point. I shook my head and tried to swallow. I didn’t really want Todd to overhear this conversation.
“I don’t want you to kill him at all,” I managed to say.
“So you want him to suffer?”
I opened my mouth, but then snapped it shut. I mean, she had a point. Of course I didn’t want him to suffer. However, having been a person who thought he was infected, I felt I had a touch more sympathy for the young man’s situation than Alex might.
“Perhaps this is a decision that we leave to him,” I said with as much calm as I could muster.
I realized that, despite my issues with his behavior, the hours and minutes of this young man’s life were now very limited. His fate was sealed, and it was now a matter of when versus if.
“Do I get a say in this?” a soft voice interrupted the stare down between me and Alex.
I turned to see that Todd had gotten to his feet. His knees were black from the garden soil and his face was a slurry of mud, tears, and a few ruby pinpricks of blood that caught the light just right. His eyes were laced with those black tracers and his face already had a waxy hue to it that made it look like he was going to fall over at any moment.
“Jesus,” I gushed, “I’m sorry. I mean, yeah…sure.”
“I don’t want my sister to see me like this,” he whispered. “But…” His voice hitched and a sob tore from him as his shoulders shook. “I’m afraid. I don’t want to die. I don’t want to be killed. It’ll hurt…and…” His face flushed and he dropped his gaze to the ground, his feet shifting weight from one to the other.
It struck me then just how real this experience had become for the young man. He’d had no real idea until this moment. Maybe it was the ‘video game’ mindset. Perhaps this hadn’t felt entirely real to him until now.
I thought back to my younger days and remembered that feeling that I would live practically forever. In my youth, a year seemed like an eternity. Certainly not like the last five years…until the undead screwed everything up. Those had gone by in a blink. I never seemed to have enough time to do half the stuff I’d wanted.
Funny, but now, time slowed to a crawl again. Maybe it was the lack of constant input. Maybe it was the endless sense of fear everybody lived in. Hell, it might even be the hours of tedious boredom.
“I really don’t want to die,” Todd whimpered. “It’ll hurt.”
I looked at him again, and I made myself believe that I could see the sickness coursing through him. He just stared back at me with those creepy eyes that had regular tears leaking from them. That set me back a step as I considered why that fact stood out so much. I decided that I guess I figured his tears to be black like the tracers.
“So what should we do?” I asked. “You don’t want your sister to see you like this. You don’t want to be put down.” He started to speak, but I raised my hands to stop him. “And I understand that. I doubt I’d willingly offer myself over to a relative stranger to be killed.”
Murdered? I thought. Isn’t that the truth of it? Calling it a mercy killing or whatever was solely to make ourselves feel better about the situation. I glanced at Alex and amended that thought to merely cover my own feelings on the matter. She appeared to want to get on with the killing.
“Maybe…” Todd paused and glanced from me to Alex before continuing. “Maybe you could wait until I fell asleep?”
“That would have us out here and away from the group until tomorrow,” I said. “The group is expecting us to return today. If we stay gone, they might get worried and come looking. That leads to the possibilities of any of them running a greater chance of being bitten.”
“I’ll stay with him,” Alex said after a long pause that grew exponentially more uncomfortable with each beat of my heart.”
Todd looked over at her and his expression instantly became suspicious. His eyes flicked from her weapon to her face that held no expression. “Could Evan be the one to stay?” he finally asked.
Alex shot me a look that I couldn’t read. I thought it might be skepticism or some form of doubt. Whatever it was, she shoved it back down and her expression returned to a blank and neutral one.
“I can do that,” I said.
“What about supplies? Are we calling this a bust?” Alex asked.
I was considering the options when Todd spoke up. “I think we should still see what we can find. After all…can’t catch this infection twice. If there is a situation, I guess I am better to use if things look risky.”
That statement flew in the face of all the young man’s actions the past few hours, but I wasn’t going to argue. I also was not about to reveal to him my own situation.
I caught something out of the corner of my eye and glanced in Alex’s direction to see her face flushing just a bit as she spun away from us. “Then I guess we should get moving,” she said as she started back up the driveway from this nightmarish house.
I motioned for Todd to follow and the three of us headed back to the main road. When we reached it, I looked up and down as far as my eyes could see in each direction. I’d been seeking out the nearest zombies; what I hadn’t been prepared for was the gray-primer painted panel van that was prowling towards us from the opposite direction that McIver Park was located.
“Everybody back,” I hissed.
Without any questions, something that surprised me if I was being honest, my two companions dove back the way we’d come without a single question or comment. There were plenty of trees to take cover behind, and each of us found one in a hurry.
I peered from behind mine from my position lying flat on my stomach. I could feel the cold dampness of the grass as it soaked into my clothes, promising me that I would be miserable later. After a brief mental debate, I decided that worrying about drawing the attention of the undead placed a distant second to wanting to survive an encounter with possible raiders.
I briefly considered the possibility that just maybe these people were like me and my group. After making sure I accepted the possibility, I vowed not to attack unless I felt that I had good reason.
As the sound of the approaching vehicle grew louder, so did the beating of my heart as its thudding in my ears started to sound like the intro to a Metallica song. When it came into view, I could barely make out a driver. The person had a wide-brimmed hat on that cast enough shadow to make it impossible to see a face.
I could hear something tinny in the background and realized that there was music being played inside that van. They didn’t have their windows rolled all the way up, so the noise was drifting out, but whether it was due to their having the volume low or some other reason, I could only determine that it was indeed music being played.
The van finally reached the entry to the driveway and rolled to a stop. I watched, holding my breath as if that might be enough to magically convince them to just keep moving on. When they did, I let out a long breath and collapsed face down in the damp grass for just a moment.
I listened as the sound of the engine and the tinny music became faint and slowly faded. The relief only lasted as long as it took for me to realize that now they would be rolling towards the entrance to McIver!
I got to my feet and saw Alex doing the same. Todd, for whatever reason, was still sprawled on the wet grass. I started toward him, my hand going to the hilt of a machete on my hip. Just as I reached him, he began to stir. That caused my grip to tighten.
When he looked up
at me, I breathed a sigh of relief that I almost regretted. The boy was still alive.
“We have to go watch and see where that van goes,” I said, turning on my heel and walking away.
I heard him get to his feet. A moment later, he’d fallen into step beside me.
“What are we going to do if they head in towards our camp?” he asked, obvious concern in his tone.
“Follow them.” I didn’t think I was being flippant, but I did feel that my tone came out a little harsher than I would have liked. But seriously, what did he think we would do?
By the time we were back to the street, the van was almost to the turn-in that would lead to the park. As it approached, it rolled to a stop. For the second time in just a few minutes, I was holding my breath as I waited to see what the driver would do.
When the turn signal came on, I almost laughed just due to the absurdity of it. Seriously, who would take the time to do such a thing? The days of traffic law enforcement were long gone.
The van made the turn, and I stood there watching as it began to roll slowly along the long entrance road that would bring it to the main area of the campground. I was about to give the word when Alex took off at a jog.
I followed on her heels. As we reached the road, I glanced back and saw that Todd could only manage a very slow walk. A small part of me wanted to pull up and wait for him, but the reality was that he was literally a dead man walking. Chewie, Michael, and the others were still alive, and I needed to get to them in case this was an attack.
There was still the possibility that they might get to the big park area and simply move on since we’d already done a good job of stripping the place of anything useful as we began work on our own stronghold. The problem was that we had to jog in for almost a mile before we would know if we would then be running another mile or so to reach our area.
As I reached the first curve in the road, I glanced back one more time. I didn’t see any sign of Todd. It couldn’t be helped. I had to see to those who were still alive. Not that he was dead yet, but he was as good as dead.
“Welcome to our harsh new reality,” I panted as I jogged and did my best to keep up with Alex’s pace which was a shade faster than I was comfortable with.
Running and I had never been friends. I briefly considered adding some kind of running workout to my daily routine. I hadn’t gone that far when that thought was wadded up and tossed in the mental trash can.
As the opening ahead grew, I could not see any sign of the van. This was jacking up my already rapid heartbeat as I found the distance between me and Alex starting to decrease.
At first I thought that just maybe she was tiring. When she brought the rifle from her shoulder into her hands and jacked a round into the chamber, I realized she was simply getting ready for a fight and didn’t want to rush headlong into an ambush.
I did the same, but really did not want to have to resort to firing a gun. That would undoubtedly bring the undead this direction.
We reached the fork. I knew that my people were to the right, but there was a huge and open field to the left and I could see the taillights of the van through some of the branches that bordered it.
Then I heard something that made my heart jump into my throat: Chewie’s deep bark.
A moment later, she came into view bounding across the open field. That was one of the things about a Newfie…they love everybody for the most part. These were just new friends she hadn’t met yet as far as my big, lovable dog was concerned.
A voice called out, and while I couldn’t make out the words, it sounded a lot like Michael. What I didn’t understand was why he and the dog were this far from our camp.
“Evan?” a voice to my right called in a whispered hiss.
I turned to see Tracy climbing a fence that bordered the burnt remains of what looked to have once been a pretty nice house. Now it was a blackened husk which was why we hadn’t bothered with it on this supply run.
“What the hell are Michael and Chewie doing out here?” I snapped, only giving her a glare as I started for the parked van and still unknown number of occupants.
“Marshawn was watching them,” Tracy grunted as she threw her leg over the fence and landed on the ground, hurrying to catch up
That only made me quicken my pace since I saw no sign of him. The sound of the van opening up registered as the music being played inside wafted on the dampness of what was the start of a band of rain sweeping in.
As I drew near, I could now hear the sounds of adults having a conversation. As I emerged from under the still mostly bare canopy of branches, I spotted Marshawn standing about ten feet or so from the van. Chewie had moved to his side and was sitting. Her head tilted from one side to the other as she looked to be following what was being said.
“…really don’t want trouble. We just need someplace to recover and regroup,” a man’s voice said.
Even without seeing him, I could hear fatigue. This guy was dead on his feet—in a manner of speaking. There was a breathy tremor to his voice that had me wondering if perhaps he was infected.
I was still jogging when Chewie spotted me and broke away from Marshawn to come at me in her loping run. Something felt odd and it took me a second to realize that I was smiling as I watched her come to me with her jowls flapping. Anybody that doesn’t think a dog smiles simply doesn’t pay attention. I could see the curve of her mouth as she bounded up, what was left of her tail swishing back and forth. Her injuries didn’t seem to be bothering her in the least and I had to wonder if the worst of her damage had been the dehydration. My only concern was for the stitches, but when she reached me and my hands ran over her, they came back damp only from the rain gathering on her thick double coat.
“Evan!” I heard Tracy calling from behind me.
I didn’t want to talk to her at the moment. As far as I was concerned, she was on my shit list. Why would she think it a good idea to come out here and scavenge? Why would Marshawn not only be okay with it, but apparently come along? The whole point of them staying behind was for them to just get a bit of rest and recovery time.
Okay, I was perhaps a shade hypocritical, but I quickly pushed those thoughts aside. Also, my focus needed to be on the here and now.
I saw the driver’s side door of the van open and I brought my pistol up. I advanced like a bad impersonation of some cop show detective approaching an armed and dangerous suspect. I had my weapon clutched in a two-handed grip, my head tilted to the side and trying to use my good eye to sight in on my potential target.
The back door to the van swung open in that moment and I froze as two figures emerged with powerful looking hunting rifles in their hands. The weapons were impressive, and an inappropriate thought flashed through my head, You can’t hunt wabbits with an elephant gun, Doc!
“Easy, fella,” a deep voice warned.
I noticed that neither of the people who’d exited the back of the van made an attempt to raise their weapons at my own cautious, if not a shade aggressive, approach. I eased my arm down, but my finger remained wrapped around the trigger.
I heard more than saw Alex come up beside me. When I glanced over at her, I discovered that she was cradling her shotgun in her arms. I returned all my attention to the van and watched with a mix of amusement and a shade of concern as it disgorged its occupants like a clown car. By the time the last person emerged, I counted a dozen men and women.
A man stepped forward and made a calming gesture with his hands as he edged away from his group and stepped out so that he was practically right between me and Marshawn.
“Afternoon, folks,” the man said as he glanced back and forth between me and Marshawn who now had Michael at his side. “We weren’t looking for any trouble. Honest to God, we wouldn’t have even stopped if not for seeing the boy and the dog. Figured we had to roll the dice. Ain’t seen any kids running around chasing dogs in a while, if you know what I mean. At least…not in a good way.”
“I think I can relate.” I stepped
forward. Alex made a move to stick beside me, but I put out a hand to stop her before taking a few more steps toward the man.
“I guess it might sound stupid, but our thinking was along the lines of…” His voice trailed, and I could see his cheeks flush a bit in genuine embarrassment.
“If they got kids and dogs, maybe they won’t be awful?” I finished what I thought his sentiment might be.
“Yeah,” the man said with a nod and a nervous laugh. “Stupid. Right?”
“Not really,” Alex spoke up from behind me. “Actually, it was perhaps the one thing that saved their lives when I met them.”
I looked back at her and she returned the gaze, adding what might’ve been a wink. I was so confused. Was she implying that she could’ve killed our group when we first encountered her as we ran from Don and his people, or was she referring to the time she might’ve been the sniper that saved my butt from some zombies back when we were dealing with Brandon Cook? Either way, I needed to make it a point to perhaps get to know her better. She might be overly brazen, but she had certainly factored into my situation more than perhaps I was giving credit.
“Name’s Drew Carter, by the way,” the man said as an introduction. He approached me, hand extended for a handshake.
“Evan Berry.” I shook his hand and then introduced the rest of my group currently present.
Drew rattled off a bunch of names as well, but I had forgotten the first one by the time he’d reached the last person. I was awful with remembering names. I just figured I would learn them as we went if these people decided to stick around. That thought hit me with something that I hadn’t been thinking about…at least not until just this moment.
“Are you folks looking for someplace to settle down? Or are you planning on staying mobile?” I asked.
“Well…” Drew’s face flushed once more, and I had a feeling that he was probably not used to being a spokesman. He struck me suddenly as being very shy on the verge of timid. That made me wonder why he was acting as the speaker for this group. “We are trying to find someplace we can stay in for longer than a few days. I did some work on a few of the high-end residences along this road. Houses seem to attract more trouble than they’re worth. I used to fish here, and on Memorial Day…” He paused and I saw a wistful expression pass across his face, “This place was often my family’s go-to spot for camping until the kids got older and we could hit the more remote locations.”