The Reawakening (The Living Dead Trilogy, Book 1)

by Joseph Souza

  “You’re bullshitting me, city slicker,” the man said, looking over at my eighty thousand dollar BMW. “If you could bring back the dead, then you wouldn’t find yourself in this situation.”

  “What do you have to lose? If I’m wrong, then you can kill me.”

  “If you’re wrong, I’m going to make you watch every last man here have his way with that pretty little girl of yours. Then we’ll torture her for hours on end before we slit her throat. God says an eye for an eye, but I take that biblical shit two steps further.”

  “Give me a chance, and I promise you won’t regret it.”

  “Go on then. Work your black magic.”

  “Thanks. You won’t regret it.”

  “You won’t be thanking me when you’re watching that girl pleasure us.”

  I walked over to where the dead man lay. Thick, mineral-rich blood continued to ooze from the gaping neck wound. The crows flew up and away. I knelt down next to him and raised my arms up over his body. Hopefully this ploy would succeed and Dar would not be harmed. Never in my wildest dreams would I have wished for someone to reawaken from the dead. I leaned over the man’s body and prayed that he would rise up. I shouted out a few crazy phrases and made some random, theatrical gestures with my hands. All the men circled around, watching with great interest as I performed this crazy act. A few were so drunk they could barely stand. After a few minutes of mumbo-jumbo, the dead man had still not awakened. The men started to grumble angrily and throw beer cans at my head.

  “He’s messing with you, Buzz,” someone shouted. “Waste this pussy right now.”

  “Give me more time. Sometimes it takes a little longer than others.”

  “I’ve had just about enough of your new-age bullshit,” Buzz said. He turned to the men and said, “We’re going to have some serious fun with that sweet young thing tonight. Let’s go take that hot bitch. And bring the beer, too.”

  “No, please! Just another minute.” Tears fell from my eyes.

  They grabbed my arms and started to drag me to where Dar had been taken. A trail cut through the woods. Some of the men started to cheer as we approached it. I could hear Dar screaming in agony off in the distance. Her cries were followed by slapping flesh sounds and the grunts of a man moaning pleasurably.

  “No!” I screamed, tears streaming from my eyes. I could not fathom what he was doing to my daughter. The sounds of her agony made me want to kill them all. They directed me onto the narrow path that led into the dense woods. We were maybe ten steps into the patch of trees when I heard a boy’s voice shouting from the parking lot. It sounded like the voice of the young kid picking up the dead animals.

  “Hey, everyone, come back! He did it!” the kid shouted. “Butch is alive. Come and see for yourselves!”

  The men stopped in their tracks and looked back through the small opening in the woods. My plan had worked, though it had been too late to help Dar. The men stared at each other in confusion before staggering back out towards the parking lot. Dar suddenly came running up to my side, doing up her jeans and pulling her shirt down over her bare stomach. Her left eye appeared bruised, and her upper lip was swelled and bleeding. I wanted to kill the bastard who did this to her. I debated taking her hand and running away deep into the woods and never coming back, but I had no idea about the terrain or where we would go. We would be lost, cold and hungry in no time. No, we had no choice but to turn back and get in the car. It was our only hope of surviving this ordeal. I took Dar’s hand and led her out of the trail.

  “We only have a few minutes if we’re going to make it out of here alive,” I said. “Just follow my lead.”

  “A few minutes to do what?”

  “I’ll explain it to you once we’re back in the car.”

  “Dad, they’re going to kill us when they realize you turned that guy into a freak.”

  “That’s why we need to act quickly. I’ll explain it to you once we’re safely back on the road.” I looked at her as we hustled along. “I’m so sorry, Dar.”

  She looked up at me, pain in her eyes and hyperventilating. “I swear on my life that I’ll never let anyone do that to me again.”

  We emerged into the clearing and saw the men surrounding the dead man. I pushed through the crowd, and by the time I reached him, he was sitting up and smiling. He appeared dazed, confused, and unsure of his whereabouts. His brother knelt next to him, tears flowing down his ruddy cheeks. His left hand rested on his brother’s shoulder, just below the disfiguring neck wound, which was still dripping with thick, clotted blood.

  “How you feeling, Butch?”

  “Never better. I feel so lucky to be back here.”

  “You want a lick of whiskey or something?”

  “Oh no, I feel too good for that.” He turned and stared into his brother’s eyes, cupping his cheeks in his hands. His brother looked slightly uncomfortable, but he didn’t move.

  “This fella over here shot you in cold blood. Then somehow he brought you back to life. I don’t know how he did it, Butch, but it’s a goddamn miracle is what it is.”

  “It’s no miracle, brother. It happened for a reason, and I forgive him.”

  He helped his brother up and then embraced him. The men circling around watched on in confusion.

  “I totally forgive you, brother, for the way you done me wrong all those years when we were growing up. It’s all good now. I forgive you, too. We’re going to make everything right in the world now.”

  “Those beatings I gave you when you was a tyke was for your own good, boy, seeing as how you was always such a smartass growing up,” he said. “And what the hell are you going to make right?”

  I started to back away, pulling Dar along with me.

  “Everything.”

  “And what the hell you going to forgive me for, boy?” Buzz said.

  “The beatings, and not helping me when Dad came into my room at night. Stealing all that money I earned selling newspapers and then sleeping with my girl. But it’s all good now. I forgive you.”

  Buzz glanced around at the men staring at him suspiciously. “That’s a load of crap. I never slept with your girl.”

  “You can’t lie, brother. I know it happened. I’m aware of everything now and part of something bigger.”

  “How the hell did you ever find out about that? That stupid bitch tell you I slept with her?”

  “Don’t matter how I found out. I just know things now. I woke up and realized that everything is okay.”

  “You’re a goddamn liar.”

  “I love you, brother. My goal is to find them.”

  “Find who?”

  “The good and pure in this world.”

  Dar had already gotten behind the wheel and started the engine. The men were so engrossed in the man’s resurrection that no one seemed to notice that the two of us were attempting to escape. I opened the passenger door and slipped gently into the bucket seat. Dar stepped on the gas, and the car lurched into reverse, crashing into a tree. She’d earned her learner’s permit last month, though she wasn’t yet proficient enough to drive on her own. But we didn’t have time for formalities. We needed to get out of the parking lot as soon as possible.

  “Put it in drive!” I shouted.

  “I’m trying!”

  The men suddenly began to back away from the brothers. Dar shifted the gear into drive and stepped on the gas. The car jerked forward but didn’t move. Unbuckled, I slammed my head against the windshield. The impact of the collision nearly knocked me unconscious.

  “We’re not moving!” she shouted.

  “That’s because the emergency brake is on.”

  “What’s that?”

  I looked over and saw the group of men begin to sprint in our direction.

  Dazed, I glanced over and saw the two brothers locked in an embrace. The older brother dropped his shotgun to the pavement, and his knees buckled as he looked up in horror. When the dead man removed his head from the crook of his brother’s neck, I
noticed that he’d taken a bite out of his throat. Blood shot into the air, and the man’s carotid artery flapped about like a loose water hose. The transformation had begun. The men backing away shouted out in fear and staggered drunkenly back to their trucks.

  “Release the goddamn emergency brake!” I repeated, my head pounding.

  “Where the hell is it?”

  “Right here.” I pointed at it.

  She released the emergency brake and accelerated towards the truck in front of us, crashing into it. She backed up and then shifted into drive again and steered around the other vehicles. Deftly, she navigated the BMW until she reached the main road. I reached up to my forehead and wiped away the blood trickling into my eyes. A bulbous knot grew near my hairline. When I reached back to grab a towel, I noticed the dead man on his hands and knees, tearing into his brother’s face.

  “Shit! Shit! Shit! Go!”

  “I’m doing the best I can.”

  “You okay to drive?”

  “Hell yeah, I’m good to drive,” she said, turning onto the main road. “I’m going to gun it down this road until we get back to the farm.”

  “Good, because I can’t do anything right now, my head is killing me.” I pressed the towel against the growing knot.

  “That was so crazy.”

  “Just keep your eyes on the road, and slow the hell down!”

  “I’m driving, Dad, so I get to choose how fast we go.”

  “I’m very sorry about what happened back there, Dar,” I said, tears streaking down my face.

  “I heard you the first time.” She stared straight ahead. “Just promise me one thing.”

  “Of course.”

  “Promise me that no matter what happens, you’ll never mention that incident again. Swear! No matter what happens. Ever!”

  “I promise you I’ll never bring it up again.”

  “Good. Then it’s history. One life ends and another begins.” She spun the wheel on purpose and swerved across the road. The speedometer hit seventy.

  “Watch where you’re going.”

  “Take it easy, old man,” she said. “That was some quick thinking back there, making them believe you could bring back the dead.”

  “It was a long shot, but it worked.”

  “But how did he come back to life? He didn’t get bitten by anything.”

  “I took a chance after I saw some crows picking at his corpse.”

  “Well, your crazy plan worked.”

  “Please keep your eyes on the road.”

  I grabbed the steering wheel to keep the car from veering into the woods. The roads on this stretch were hilly and winding, and one false turn could catapult us over the shoulder and into a clump of trees.

  “I want to kill all these dead things for all the trouble they’ve caused us,” Dar said. “Damn fuckers!”

  “Is that what you’re calling them now?”

  “Got a better name for them?”

  “No, that’s as good as any.”

  “They’re fuckers who need a good ass-kicking.”

  “They need more than an ass-kicking, Dar. They need a bullet to their brains.”

  “I’m going to make it my mission in life to end their miserable existence.”

  I turned and watched her laugh. It was a strange laugh, sad and yet filled with a demonic determination. This was a side of her I’d never before seen. The trauma of what happened in those woods had triggered something dark inside her. When I looked out the windshield, I saw a moose standing in the middle of the road and directly in our path. I shouted for her to hit the brakes, throwing my arms up over my face at the last second.

  Chapter 7

  DAR HIT THE BRAKES, AND THE BMW skidded across the road, fishtailing from side to side until the front end struck the moose near its hind leg. The moose flew up in the air. It crashed onto the roof and cracked the windshield, glass shattering everywhere. My head snapped back from the impact of the air bags as the car lurched to a screeching halt. The full weight of the moose now rested above our heads. Metal twisted and creaked all around us; steam hissed from the ruined engine. I glanced above the bag’s fabric and noticed that the moose’s rack hung just over my head. Another inch and I would have been killed. I staggered out of the vehicle, my head and neck throbbing in pain, and limped around to the driver’s side. Dar’s face rested flat against the bag, and she appeared unconscious. I unbuckled her seat belt and dragged her out of the car, placing her down in the middle of the road.

  A car approached from the opposite side—the first vehicle I had seen since we started out. I ran over to flag it down, but it swerved around me and sped away. Shit! I went back to Dar and noticed the moose writhing on top of the car, blood pouring from a nasty wound on its head. Kicking and bleating, it tried to extricate itself from the wreckage. A large, continuous gash began at its mangled legs and continued up to its blood-soaked underbelly. It wouldn’t live long in this condition. Dar regained consciousness and managed to prop herself up on her elbows. She appeared groggy and dazed, but other than a deep gash across her forehead, she seemed fine. I lifted her to her feet.

  “What just happened?” she asked.

  “You hit a moose. I told you to keep your eyes on the road.”

  “Damn! Now they’ll never give me my driver’s license.”

  “I won’t say anything if you don’t.”

  “Cool.”

  I ran back to the car and retrieved the two rifles. I hooked one around my back and passed the other to her.

  “We might need these in case something else decides to attack us. The car’s not going anywhere, from the looks of it. We’re going to have to hoof it back to the farm.”

  “So much for German engineering.”

  “When nature meets German engineering, Dar, nature usually wins. I’m guessing that Rick’s place is probably a mile or two from here.” I examined the wound on her head. “That’s a nasty little cut you got there. Will you be able to make it?”

  “I’m fine. Come on, Dad, let’s get the hell out of here before something else happens.” She turned and stared at the moose still bucking up and down on the car. “We can’t leave it like this. We need to put it down.”

  “Yeah, I suppose you’re right. I’ll do it.”

  I took the rifle off my shoulder and walked around to the side of the car. Steam shot out of the moose’s nostrils, and he glared at me with his big black eyes. The odor of shit and gas emanating from his ripped entrails nearly made me vomit. Above us the birds circled in the sky. Birds of all types and shapes soared, weaving back and forth like some bizarre quilt pattern. I lifted the gun and prepared to shoot the wounded animal. I felt no sympathy for this moose, having just killed a human being. How hard would it be to kill a moose? The more I killed, the less troubled I felt by doing it. I felt like a soldier in the heat of battle, just trying to stay alive. The moose brayed and kicked as I aimed at its head. I pulled the trigger and shot a hole through its left eye. The echo reverberated in the air, ringing loudly in my ears.

  “Come on,” I said, limping off.

  Dar stared skyward and let out a frightening war cry that left me unhinged. She turned to me with a haunted look on her face. “I’ll never be the same after this is over.”

  “None of us will. But we don’t have time to discuss our feelings right now.”

  “Uncle Rick was right. You have to learn to be self-sufficient if you want to survive in this world. Forget about words, concepts and ideas. They mean nothing now.”

  “Words and ideas put food on our table and a roof over our heads.”

  “Maybe at one time they did, but what good is it doing us now?”

  Another car approached from the opposite side. I tried to flag it down, but like the other one, it swerved around us and sped down the road. I turned and glanced at Dar. Blood flowed from the sides of her face. She tried to wipe it away, but the wound wouldn’t stop bleeding. We needed to stop somewhere and bandage her head, but there was
nowhere on this long stretch of road where we could find help. We were on our own, and it appeared that none of the passing cars would stop to help us.

  “Over there,” Dar said, pointing to a small embankment, upon which stood an old country house. It was nearly hidden behind a clump of elms and maples. Next to it sat a pickup truck in the dirt driveway. “Maybe we can stop at that house and see if the people inside will help us.”

  “Might as well try.”

  I put my arm around Dar’s shoulder and helped her along the yellow median strip. Above us, the branches acted like an arcade, blocking the view of the birds circling above. The caws and screeches sounded like something out of a horror movie. Thirty yards from the dilapidated house I heard a rhythmic tapping along the pavement. The noise got louder as we staggered ahead. I turned and, to my horror, saw the moose making a mad dash towards us.

  I pushed Dar out of the way and aimed my rifle, but the moose clipped me before I could fire off a round. I flew through the air and landed in a clump of shrubbery near the shoulder of the road. My ribcage felt seared, and every breath felt like a dagger in my side. The moose pawed the ground and glared at me, steam hissing out of its flared nostrils. Its long legs were broken and twisted at an odd angle. How had it carried its massive weight on such mangled twigs? Blood and brain matter clung to its glistening fur. Its left eye was gone. It bared its yellow teeth and brayed. Then it lowered its massive rack and charged.

  I tried in vain to pull myself up, but the pain in my ribcage was so severe that I collapsed back onto the shoulder, barely able to move. It ran straight at me, and I knew if it reached me I was a dead man. Without warning, it collapsed at my feet. The odor of death and decomposition filled my nose as the gunshot echoed in the air. When I turned around, I saw Dar holding the rifle, a whorl of smoke wafting from the end of the barrel.