Stay Dead (Book 2): The Dead and The Dying

by Steve Wands

“Not lately, I guess.”

  30 END OF THE ROAD

  (back to top)

  As they drove along the New York State Thruway on 287 the road began to clog up. The southbound side was the equivalent of a parking lot. Scott slowed down and continued forward.

  “It’s already getting really congested,” Scott said.

  “Getting pretty creepy. The slower we drive through it the more I expect to see someone in one of the cars,” Judy said.

  “Do you know how much further it is?”

  “It’s not that much further. I think it’s only a few more miles. We should be able to see it any minute.”

  “I doubt we--”

  “Shit!”

  “What? What is it?”

  “End of the road. This is as far as we can drive.”

  “Fuck, man.”

  “What are we going to do Scott?”

  “Turn around, or walk it.”

  “How far of a walk?”

  “Might be only 10 or so miles to the bridge.”

  “So that would take us how long to walk?” Dawn said, trying to figure out the math in her head.

  “If it were just us adults I’d say only a few hours. But there’s no way the kids could keep up with us.”

  “What if we were to carry them, or have them sit on our shoulders?”

  “At best we’d have to take turns, it would be quicker than having them walk it, but I remember taking my niece to the mall a few years ago when she was a toddler, I had her sit on my shoulders. We walked around like that for maybe 40 minutes. My neck was soar and my lower back was killing me.”

  “Well, we’ve got to do something. We also need to make up our minds.”

  “That’s right. Eddie wanted us all to know if we would stick to the bridge or try for Palisades Park. This may be scary. It’s dangerous as hell, but there’s no promise that going for the Palisades will be any better. I say we try for the bridge.”

  “Yeah, fuck it, let’s go for the bridge,” Jon-Jon said.

  “I’m in.” Dawn said.

  “I’m in too. Janice, we understand if you want to talk it over with your sons.”

  “Thanks Judy. I’ll vote for the bridge as well, though. And if I know my sons they’ll be thinking the same thing. My husband always used to say ‘no guts, no glory’.”

  “Good motto, don’t know if the old me would’ve agreed though.”

  Inside the next vehicle a very similar discussion was going on.

  “We should just go for the boats. Get out on the water. We’re not going to see any deaders yachting it up.”

  “I agree with flip-flops. The bridge is too fucking dangerous.”

  “Fuck that. It’ll be more dangerous getting to a marina than getting to the bridge.”

  “Okay, assholes, listen. It looks like one way or the other, we’re walking to the bridge. From there we can scope out the marinas or the docks, or whatever. We’ll be able to see what we’re getting into and we can course correct then. The decision might be made for us when we get there.”

  “What if we can’t agree? Do you think we might split off?”

  “I don’t know Chuck. Let’s go find out,” Eddie said as he opened the car door.

  “This should be fucking great.”

  Carrie folded her arms and shook her head, “No. No freakin’ way am I walking to a goddamned bridge! Have you all lost your mind?”

  “Look, everyone is getting out of their vehicles. We are all going, if you want to stay here by yourself that’s your decision.”

  “What about the kids? You think they’ll be able to keep up with you? You’ll get them all killed.”

  “Now you care about what happens to them?”

  “You take them out there like this and you might as well put a gun to their heads now!”

  “That’s enough. I’m taking them out now. You want to help keep them safe then step up and come out with us.”

  “You’re insane. You’re all nuts.”

  Abdul handed her the keys, “Good luck.”

  She then went on a tirade, screaming about how stupid they were and how dead they would be.

  Abdul moved to the back of the truck. He rummaged through the supplies they had and started organizing a pack to take with him. Alexis lead the kids out of the truck and joined him, doing the same. The kids started running around and acting up. Carrie sat in the passenger seat staring out the window with a look of contempt smeared across her plump face. Her cheeks were red from yelling.

  Eddie walked over to the kids, mussing up Yussef’s hair as he used to do to his own little siblings. He knelt down among the kids. “Hey, listen up guys. We’re going to be taking a long walk, okay? We need you all to listen and to be strong. Can you all be strong?”

  They nodded grimly.

  Stacey said, “We’ve been strong.”

  “I want chocolate milk,” Chris, the youngest of them, said.

  “Me too, kiddo. And hopefully when we are all done with this big adventure we can find some chocolate milk. Maybe even some cookies. How’s that sound?”

  “Mmmm.”

  “I want a cookie now,” Leela smiled.

  “I want cookie,” Chris said, looking around for one.

  Nick laughed at the small boy, “There aren’t any cookies yet.”

  “As soon as we find some. I promise. Maybe we’ll find some on our walk.”

  The kids were now excited about their walk. Though if experience had taught Eddie anything, that wouldn’t last.

  Janice had been watching her son talking to the children. It made her heart swell with pride to see the compassion he still had in him. On the surface she likened him to looking like a soldier—stone-faced and determined—but she knew that inside was still her warm-hearted son. Despite how much he had lost in terms of his own family, he was still willing to keep on going, and to help these kids find someplace to be safe.

  Maybe I’m just being selfish. Maybe I should be trying to help these kids and this group instead of giving up and waiting for death.

  Janice felt something stirring in her chest. She wanted to help these kids make it. If she had died instead of her youngest children, she’d have wanted someone to take care of them—someone to help them. There was that stirring again—the will to live—rising up in her chest.

  “Thanks,” Alexis said.

  “I should be thanking you. You’re the one keeping these kids alive right now.”

  She blushed. “Hey, you guys lost all your shit, right?”

  “Pretty much.”

  “Me and Abdul have taken everything we can carry. There’s still plenty of stuff in here. Grab what you want and I’ll let everyone else know to check it out before we head out.”

  “How about we eat some of these canned goods before we start moving. We’ll all need the energy.”

  “Yeah, the kids were getting hungry earlier. That’d be good. I’ll let everyone know.”

  Eddie held a can of Chef Boyardee in his hand, “Fucking cold raviolis.”

  “We have Spam, a can of corn, canned soups, it’ll be a feast.”

  Eddie looked up, and Abdul smiled back at him, “I didn’t think you had a sense of humor.”

  “I was being serious.” Abdul said, still smiling.

  31 STARTING TO PILE UP

  (back to top)

  Jeff was already awake when Walter painfully moved down the stairs. He was dressed and ready to go. Maria and the children were still asleep. Laura was getting dressed and Barbara was on watch till everyone woke up.

  “You’re finally up before me.”

  “Yeah, well, it happens every once and a while.”

  “It’s only because my back is killing me already.”

  “We got a long day pops.”

  “I know. I’ll take an Advil. Give me a few minutes will ya?”

  “Take your time. I’m going to head out and get started.”

  “Go ahead. Be sure to drag them well away from the house. That st
ink gets in here and we won’t ever get it out. And…be careful. Don’t get too close.”

  “Go take your Advil.”

  Walter walked to the kitchen, the inflammation in his back causing him to lean forward as opposed to his usual back-straight-chest-out posture.

  Jeff paused on the porch before descending the stairs. He could see at least two deaders on the horizon; they were little more than stark black silhouettes against a colorful morning sky, whether or not they were headed for him and his family he couldn’t tell. He surveyed the day’s work and didn’t see how it would only take a few hours. There were bodies everywhere. There had to be at least two-dozen of them.

  He descended the stairs, shovel in hand, and began to walk around the house making sure there wouldn’t be any surprises. As he rounded the house, which was surprise free, he walked over to the shed and undid the latch.

  He put down his shovel and swung open the double doors. He wheeled out the wheelbarrow, put his shovel in it, and began to toss a few other items in it as well; gloves, crowbar, rope, gas can—which was so heavy it almost tipped the wheelbarrow—and a dirty old painter’s tarp.

  By the time Jeff brought the wheelbarrow around his father was tying a bandana around his face like an old-timey bank robber.

  “Took you long enough.”

  “If you’re going to hassle me I’ll call up my union rep.”

  “You leave your mother out of this.”

  “Only for her sake.”

  “What are you doing with that painter’s tarp?”

  “Well I figured it might be easier to roll them onto it and drop ‘em in the barrow that way.”

  “Good thinkin’.”

  They went to work immediately on the task at hand. Jeff kicked the nearest deader to make sure it was really dead and all it did was twitch.

  “Why do you think they twitch like that?”

  “I dunno…maybe they’re trying to get back up.”

  Jeff put down the tarp right next to the dead thing. Walter grabbed its legs and Jeff hesitantly grabbed it from its shoulders, rolling it onto the tarp. Once on the tarp they hefted it up and dropped it into the wheelbarrow.

  “You really think they are going to get back up—even after we put ‘em down again?”

  “Why not?”

  Walter walked behind Jeff as he pushed the wheelbarrow forward, the dead thing’s arm dangling off the side and its feet nearly scraping the ground, bouncing with each step Jeff took.

  “I don’t know, I just figured once you shoot them in the head—that’s it, they’re dead again, you know?”

  “If that’s it, then fine, you won’t hear me complain. But I’ve been watching them a lot. I didn’t want to say anything around the others, but sometimes I see them raising up their arms again, grabbing at the air.”

  “Are you serious?”

  “I wouldn’t yank ya on this. What if destroying their brain only kept them down for a while—long enough for whatever is making ‘em come back to figure out another way of making the body get up and attack us? Here’s good enough. Dump that thing.”

  Jeff emptied the wheelbarrow, the dead thing tumbling out and falling like a rag doll to the earth. Walter pulled the tarp from the dead thing and followed Jeff back for the next one.

  “I guess it’s possible. Maybe we should strike the heart too?”

  “I dunno. Might work. Might not. My thinking is that however these dead things are getting upright again it’s affecting the whole body so I think the only way to really get rid of them is to burn them up. Just look at them, it’s like they want to get back up. Like whatever is in there is looking for a way to get the whole body up and running.”

  Jeff didn’t know what else to say, in truth he didn’t want to think about it anymore. He just wanted to get today’s tasks finished so he could make his family a touch safer.

  “Let’s get this sad sack.”

  They hefted the twitching deader onto the wheelbarrow, walked it back to its friend and dumped it out. One body became two, and after a few more trips the pile was starting to grow. After an hour or so Barbara came out to join them and by then they were halfway done piling up the bodies.

  The two deaders that Jeff had noticed in the distance were now close enough to be of concern. Jeff and Barbara walked over to them, each drawing one in the opposite direction. Jeff went for the knees with the shovel and dropped it instantly. Barbara went for the temple with the crowbar, puncturing the side of its head with one vicious blow. As the dead thing dropped Jeff brought the shovel down onto the deaders neck and then applied his weight atop the shovel till he could hear the spinal column crack. Barbara pulled out her crowbar and kicked the deader to the ground. She punctured its head several more times till it stopped trying to get up.

  “Someone’s getting good at this.”

  “It’s still friggin’ gross.”

  “If you two are done playing, maybe we could get back to work?”

  32 LIKE A GRAVEYARD

  (back to top)

  Everyone huddled around in a circle near the back of the SUV. They were scooping out the last bites of food in their respective cans. Eddie tilted back a can of creamed corn and let the cool salty sweet food glide down his gullet. He was trying not to gag on it as he swallowed. Though he knew he needed the food in his gut to keep him going strong it was still a challenge to eat anything right out of the can. He detested it, as did the others, and wished that cars had microwave ovens instead of glove boxes, but they didn’t so he tilted the can back and finished it off.

  He let the can clang to the ground where it bounced and rolled over to the rest of the discarded cans.

  “Everyone ready?” Scott called out.

  More cans clanged to the ground.

  One of the children burped, causing the others to giggle.

  “Let’s roll. Hopefully we’ll still have daylight by the time we get there,” Eddie said, slinging a backpack over his shoulder and picking up a tire-iron.

  Frankie and Joseph followed behind them.

  “Abdul, Chuck, Chung-Hee, you guys want to take the rear and make sure no one falls behind?”

  Chung-Hee looked to the others. They nodded in acceptance and Chung-Hee spoke for them all, “You got it.”

  “Everyone else keep up. Eyes open and mouths shut, please.”

  “Kids, if any of you get tired let one of us know. You can sit on someone’s shoulders for a bit, okay?”

  “Okay,” Yussef said. “We’re going to be strong, okay.”

  “Sounds good, kiddo. Keep up that attitude,” Scott said as he and Judy started moving forward.

  Alexis allowed the kids to move forward first and then she stuck right behind them, already looking around wearily.

  Janice watched her as the children moved closer to them and then she grabbed Alexis’ shoulder. She stared her in the eyes, “I’ll do what I can to help you with the children. You’re doing so good with them.”

  She smiled, “Thanks. I…could use the help.” Alexis couldn’t recall hearing Janice’s voice before, if she had she knew it couldn’t have been with the strength her tone conveyed. Even the woman looking her in the eyes didn’t seem like the same person she’d been traveling with. This was the first time she looked alive and not just breathing.

  Carrie still clutched the keys in her hand. She didn’t want to get out and join them, but she didn’t want to be alone. Begrudgingly she had joined them while they were eating, all the while voicing her opinion on how stupid everyone was for going along with this. After not gaining any traction with her complaints she filled her mouth with a can of cool Clam Chowder. She complained about the soup too, but kept eating it anyway.

  Eddie led the way up the road through the lines of traffic. Each car held the potential for danger and there were a lot of cars on the road. Many of them were smeared with blood—handprints and blood spatters as common as mud flaps and spoilers. Glass shards and dried pools of blood that were now no more than washed ou
t stains on the roadway became mile markers.

  After only a few minutes of walking up the road the fear of a deader being in them was replaced by the fear of nothing being in them. Eddie was struck by the realization that he was essentially walking through a graveyard. Aside from their footfalls and the gentle breeze it was as quiet as a graveyard too.

  “I wonder what happened to all these people,” Joseph said.

  “They either survived or didn’t.”

  “No shit, Frank.”

  “Some of them probably got away.”

  “I hope so.”

  “Let’s not worry about them. Let’s worry about ourselves,” Eddie said, hoping to steer their minds off of the very same things he was thinking. It was a dark train of thought. He could picture in his mind’s eye how these people met their ends.

  Eddie figured they were just sitting in traffic. The first few days no one really knew what was happening. The media was as confused as the people listening and by the time anyone knew how serious a situation they were in, it was too late.

  He could see a family trying to get home. A wife trying to get to her husband. A young man going for a job interview. Eddie passed a shattered window and pictured a woman being dragged out by her hair, kicking and screaming while someone rushed to help her only to be bitten or scratched and end up the same way. Eddie could see it happening like a domino effect. He thought about what he would’ve done had he not known all he knew now. He’d probably try helping someone in the same scenario he played out in his head only to meet the same fate.

  “I’m tired,” Stacey called out.

  “And now it starts,” Scott said, turning to his wife.

  “Scott, can I sit on your shoulders?”

  “Okay, but only for a few minutes.”

  “Okay,” Stacey smiled.

  After Scott lifted her onto his shoulders the other kids instantly became just as tired of walking. Jon-Jon, Abdul, and Joseph joined Scott in sacrificing their shoulders.

  For a moment they all had smiles on their faces. For a moment they forgot that they weren’t parentless. They were high in the air smiling as the last hours of daylight made the sky look like a melted Popsicle. They forgot about never seeing their mommies. They forgot about daddy never coming home. They forgot about home entirely.