Dead or Alive

by William Harms

  “Think he’s listening?”

  “He’s always listening.”

  Ed nodded and walked back toward the front of the fort so he could grab some of the jars.

  #

  Seth leaned against the Gatling gun and looked out into the night. The gun was mounted on a tripod, which would let him turn the gun a full 360 degrees. The Gatling didn’t have a long range, but up close it could really chew through bodies. Seth looked at Joseph.

  “If something happens to me, take over the gun. Fire slow and steady so it doesn’t jam.”

  “Yessir,” Joseph said. Seth looked at the young man and could see that he was scared. Seth looked away. Truth be told, he was scared too. But he had lived a pretty decent life. Joseph, on the other hand, was still a boy, nothing more than a child. He had his whole life in front of him.

  Lightning streaked across the black sky and thunder rumbled overhead.

  #

  John stood with his rifle at the ready, eyes scanning the darkness. A large bolt of lightning shot across the night sky and for a moment John saw a dead woman slogging through the mud. He could see her hungry red eyes gleaming in the darkness. The light faded from the sky and the woman disappeared.

  “Here they come!” John yelled.

  “Which direction?” Seth yelled back.

  A series of lightning bolts ripped across the sky, casting a pale blue glow over the ground below, and for that brief moment John saw a mass of dead flesh slowly moving forward, a mass that had completely encircled the fort. “They’re all around us!”

  John saw several zombies clearly now and he fired, striking one in the head. John fired again and again, hitting the dead in quick succession.

  #

  Esperanza and Ed stood at the rear of the fort. They looked toward John when he started to fire and then back down at the ground in front of them. There was nothing but darkness for a few moments, and then a gray and bloody face shot up out of the darkness directly below them. Esperanza screamed and fired wildly over the zombie’s head. The zombie clawed at the exterior of the fort, its mouth opening and closing in steady repetition, its tongue snaking around the edges of its mouth. Esperanza fired again, this time striking it in the shoulder. The zombie tumbled away into the darkness.

  Ed stood next to her, firing down at the encroaching horde, his heart beating wildly. It was a mistake to come out here; they should have fled into the desert. They were all going to die for sure. Zombies peeled away from the darkness and it seemed to Ed that all of their eyes were trained on him, hungry eyes that would never be satiated.

  “Throw one of the jars!” Esperanza yelled.

  Ed grabbed one of the jars, lit the cloth with a torch, and threw it out into the night. The kerosene spiraled out of the lid in a fiery arc and the light revealed a huge mass of shuffling dead. The jar hit a zombie on the back and exploded, showering the surrounding area with burning kerosene. Several zombies caught fire immediately, but despite the flames they continued moving forward. The air filled with the stench of burning flesh and still the dead marched onward, toward the wall of the fort.

  #

  Thomas looked over the side of the fort. The dead swarmed all around, their faces painted in the soft light of the lightning. He raised his rifle and blindly squeezed off two shots, his heart pounding. Fear spread through his chest like a sheet of ice. This was too much for him to handle. He’d seen this all before--seen the hollow eyes, smelled the stench of rotting flesh, sensed the never-ending hunger.

  Thomas lowered his rifle and stared at the zombies milling below him. There was no point in fighting them anymore. He’d hidden himself here for all these years, and still the dead had pursued him across the wastes of the desert. He’d never be free of them, never.

  #

  “Here they come,” Joseph said. “Shoot them!”

  “Not yet,” Seth said. “They’re still not close enough and I don’t want to waste any ammunition.”

  Lightning flared overhead and Seth saw the mass of dead humanity slogging its way toward the fort. He turned to Joseph. “Keep those ammo boxes dry, okay?”

  Joseph nodded.

  Seth looked out in front of the fort again, one hand on the gun’s hand crank, the other on the rear steering yoke. He looked down at the gun’s tripod and hoped that the slick wood wouldn’t make the gun slide around. If they lost the Gatling, they were done for.

  Another bolt of lightning shot across the sky and Seth saw that the zombies were now directly below him; some had already reached the door. He aimed the Gatling down and started to the turn the hand crank. The gun roared to life as hundreds of shells bombarded the zombies. The force of the shells tore some of the zombies in half, their upper bodies still struggling forward in the mud, trailing intestines behind them. The rain hit the gun’s red hot barrel and steam rolled off in waves.

  “They’re moving away from the gate!” Joseph yelled.

  “The gun is scaring them off.” Seth turned the gun a little to the right and cranked hard, the barrel spitting out molten metal. More of the dead crumpled under the relentless fire, but others managed to escape. Seth trained the gun into the clusters of zombies to increase his chances of hitting as many as possible. Hundreds of spent shells bounced over the side of the catwalk and the force of the gun shook the wood around them.

  The muddy ground around the front gate was covered with bodies, limbs, heads, and shredded organs, but many of the zombies had moved out of reach of the Gatling. Seth released the gun and grabbed a rifle. He fired rapidly and nearly every shot dropped one of the zombies. He was worried though, worried that if they were smart enough to avoid the Gatling, they’d be smart enough to find another way into the fort. He had counted on them charging blindly toward the main gate; now that that wasn’t happening, he wondered if they had made a mistake holing up here.

  #

  The situation at the rear of the fort was growing desperate. Esperanza and Ed fired as fast as they could, but the dead swarmed in faster than they could fire. The rain-soaked ground outside the fort was littered with burning body parts. Several of the zombies, some of them still burning, grabbed a rotted piece of wood and began to tear at it. Ed concentrated his fire straight down on the zombies trying create the breach, but it seemed that for every zombie he shot, two took its place.

  “Shoot straight down, at the ones tearing at the wood,” Ed said.

  Esperanza joined Ed and fired down. The hole was getting bigger and the entire side of the fort was shaking from the force. Chunks of wood broke free and one zombie started to crawl through the hole. Ed shot the zombie several times in the back, and for a moment it stopped moving, its hind legs twitching in the night air. The other zombies continued to tear at the wood, and then a large dead man began to ram into the side of the fort. The zombie that had been stuck was knocked free and fell inside. Several zombies attacked the hole, and within moments the opening was large enough for two or three zombies to squeeze through at the same time.

  Thomas ran toward them, his face frozen in terror.

  “There are so many of them!” Thomas looked over the side. The dead were everywhere, their faces gleaming with hunger. He turned and ran toward the front of the fort.

  Ed lifted another jar and for a moment lost his grip on the slick glass; the jar overturned and kerosene spilled out and ran down the outside wall of the fort. Ed righted the jar, lit it, and dropped it straight down. The jar blew up on impact and flames shot out from the epicenter of the blast. The zombies caught in the heart of the explosion burned brightly in the night, and yet they pressed on, trying to squeeze through the crack in the wall. The fire leapt from their bodies to the side of the fort, igniting the spilled kerosene. Flames roared up the side of the fort.

  “Shit,” Ed said. He ran over to the boxes of ammunition, picked them up, and yelled at Esperanza. “They’re inside. Fall back!”

  Esperanza continued to fire at the swarming zombies.

  Ed looked down at the
interior of the fort; all he could see were the roofs of the three small buildings and light from the fires emanating from the cracks in the wood. He heard the zombies smashing around inside of one of the buildings, trying to find their way out. “Esperanza, c’mon!”

  She looked at Ed, tears rolling down her face. “We’re going to die.”

  “We’re not dead yet.” Ed grabbed Esperanza by the arm and pulled her toward the front of the fort. He looked back at the fire and hoped to God that it wasn’t going to doom them all.

  #

  The zombies moved past the east side of the fort and Paul fired at them as quickly as he could. From above, the mass of zombies looked like a stream, flesh and blood-colored water spreading around the fort in waves. Paul heard a scream and turned around. The young fella and Mexican woman were running toward the front of the fort. Paul looked toward the back of the fort. Even over the thunder and the gunfire, he heard the smashing of wood and shattering glass. Flames licked the rear of the fort. A zombie, its left arm ablaze, stumbled out of one of the buildings and fell down in the mud. It slowly pulled itself upright and looked around. A moment later two more zombies, a woman and an old man, came out of the same building. The woman was naked, her bare skin glistening with mud and blood and charred flesh.

  “Shit,” Paul said. He fired down at the three zombies, striking them in quick succession. At the rear of the fort, the dead swarmed over the top of the wall as the flames burned all around them, like cockroaches fleeing from the light. Paul squeezed off a couple more shots, grabbed his extra weapon and ammunition, and ran for the front of the fort.

  #

  Ed and Esperanza ran past John. “They’re inside!” Ed yelled.

  John looked toward the rear of the fort. The flames had spread, and now the entire rear half of the fort was on fire. Despite the rain, the wood was old and dry and burned very fast. The dead, some of them on fire, tumbled over the top of the wall. John looked across the fort at his brother; Paul shot three zombies that were already inside.

  John lifted his rifle and fired at the zombies on the rear section of the catwalk. Flames licked the wall and in the light John saw the faces of the dead, their empty eyes, their bloodstained teeth. John looked over at Paul, who was running toward the front of the fort. He knew he had to keep an eye on his brother, make sure he didn’t hurt anyone else, but that was going to be next to impossible with all those things out there, swarming around the fort.

  The rear of the fort was crawling with the dead; they were coming out of the buildings and snaking their way down the catwalk. John grabbed his stuff and ran toward the Gatling gun.

  #

  “Oh my god,” Joseph said, his eyes wide with fear. “They’re inside!”

  Seth tracked a dead man wandering in front of the fort, shot him in the head, and turned around. Flames roared across the rear of the fort and he saw the zombies breaking their way in and everyone running toward him.

  Seth dropped his rifle and grabbed the Gatling’s tripod. “Help me turn this around. Watch out for the barrel.”

  Joseph grabbed the other side of the Gatling and they turned the gun around. The wood was as slick as ice and Seth struggled to keep his footing as he positioned the gun.

  Thomas ran up to Seth, his face white with terror. “They’re everywhere!”

  “Watch the front of the fort,” Seth said. “Make sure none of them get through the gate.” He stepped to the rear of the gun and watched the zombies slowly fill the rear of the fort. After waiting for a few of them to get within range, Seth began to fire the Gatling. The bullets hit the dead and the ground with terrific force and the air filled with mud and flesh and blood and bone.

  #

  Ed and Esperanza reached the front of the fort. “We did everything we could,” Ed said.

  “I know,” Seth said over the roar of the Gatling. “Cover the catwalk as best you can. Let me know if any of them get close.”

  Ed nodded and started to reload his rifle.

  Thomas looked around and slowly sat down. It was no use. He wanted to be brave in the face of this, but it wasn’t in him. He was a coward, plain and simple. He just didn’t have the energy to fight anymore.

  A moment later, Paul and John joined the rest of the group at the front of the fort and took up positions in the corners on opposite sides, their fire trained down either side of the catwalk. More zombies flooded the rear of the fort and the air filled with the sounds and smells of gunfire and burning wood. Two of the horses were on fire and the third ran around the rear of the fort. Two dead men jumped at the horse, caught hold, and dragged it to the ground.

  Outside, a large group of zombies turned away from the rear of the fort and worked their back to the front. A few moments later, they reached the main gate and started to beat against it, the wood shaking from the impact. A steady stream of zombies began to join them.

  The Gatling ground to halt. Seth tossed aside the spent cartridge and struggled through the pouring rain to reload the gun. Joseph held the gun steady but the metal was slick and Seth forced himself to go slowly, to get it right the first time. Every round of ammunition was precious and the last thing he wanted to do was drop some over the side.

  Without the Gatling holding them back, the zombies surged forward, flooding the interior of the fort and the catwalks. Fire from the rifles struck some of them down, but for every one that was shot, two took its place. After what seemed an eternity, Seth finally got the Gatling reloaded and started to fire again. He moved the gun in slow sweeping patterns, moving from one side to the other, concentrating his fire on the zombies in the courtyard. The bullets tore them to shreds, ripping off arms and legs and heads. Body parts, both internal and external, covered the courtyard, and still the dead streamed toward the front of the fort as the flames at the rear grew in intensity.

  #

  The zombies at the main gate beat ceaselessly on the front doors. The plank snapped in half and the door swung inward until it hit the barricade. Several zombies scrambled through the opening and worked their way in, smashing the barrels and debris out of their way as they passed through. The zombies outside pressed forward and the door swung open the rest of the way as the dead stormed their way through the remaining barricade. The zombies streamed into the fort.

  #

  Ed moved toward John in an effort to get a better angle on the zombies coming down the catwalk. After reaching the corner, he joined John’s rate of fire. The zombies had the rear of the catwalk covered, and the flames were moving forward. Ed took another shot and quickly realized that he and John weren’t going to be able to hold them off; they were simply coming too fast. He looked across to the other side of the fort and saw that the zombies were climbing up beneath.

  “Shoot the ones on top!” Ed yelled to Seth. “We can’t hold them!”

  Seth looked toward Ed and then down the catwalk. The dead moved forward slowly, their bodies choking up every inch of the narrow walkway. “Shit,” Seth said.

  He turned the Gatling toward the left catwalk and opened fire, turning the handle as fast as he could and moving the gun from the front of the encroaching horde to the rear of the fort. The bullets tore at the planks of the catwalk, ripping open a hole in the rotted wood. Seth stopped and swung the Gatling around to the right and opened fire.

  “Throw the jars,” Seth told Joseph. “Throw the jars into the middle of the fort.”

  Joseph grabbed a jar, lit the cloth, and heaved it out into the middle of the fort. It exploded on impact and flames rippled out in all directions. Several zombies caught fire and collapsed from the intense heat. Joseph lit another jar and threw it out as far as he could. It bounced to the rear of the fort and exploded in a bright orange ball, which sent liquid fire in all directions.

  The zombies in the courtyard moved to the sides of the fort in an effort to get up onto the catwalk. A dead man, dressed in a dirty pair of overalls, noticed the hole in the catwalk from the Gatling gun and saw several boards hanging down
from the opening. He walked over and jumped up at the boards, grabbing one of them with his right hand. He slowly pulled himself up the boards until his hands were dug into the slick wood of the catwalk. Several other zombies saw what he was trying to do and they walked over and joined him. Within seconds, six zombies hung from the end of the catwalk and the wood groaned from the pressure; the end of the catwalk, where Ed and John stood, started to rise in the air.

  “Shit,” John said. “Grab a hold of something.”

  “There isn’t anything.” Ed grabbed at the side of the fort and dropped his rifle, which clattered over the side of the catwalk.

  The zombies continued to work their way up onto the catwalk and several zombies from the rear jumped across the hole in the walkway. The catwalk jerked up again, and this time John lost his rifle as he scrambled to find something to hold onto.

  The wood a few feet in front of John and Ed suddenly snapped. The catwalk rose into the air and then landed hard, and in an instant Ed lost his grip and fell over the side. He hit the ground and struggled to get up, to free himself from the deep mud. He got to his knees before the first zombie reached him, a bald old man dressed in a suit. Ed looked at the old man for a moment before he realized that it was Richard Unger, the town’s telegraph operator.

  “Please,” Ed stammered. Unger stepped toward Ed, but before he could reach the young man, two zombies hit Ed from behind and forced him face-first into the mud.

  John looked down just as Ed fell forward. He pulled out his revolver and fired down at the zombies, striking them as fast as he could. Ed lifted his face from the mud and screamed, and even in the intermittent darkness John saw strips of flesh being torn from Ed’s body. He repositioned his revolver and shot Ed in the head.

  #

  Esperanza saw Ed fall and ran toward the edge of the catwalk. She looked down just as John shot him. She collapsed onto the catwalk and buried her face in her hands.