by M. E. Betts
"Let me guess...is it a four-letter word?" Fauna teased.
"No, besides that!" Shari said with a laugh. "I miss iced mochas. It's one of those things, the little things that will never be around again...I mean, I guess if you made it yourself...but it's not the same, you know? And a lot of those little things added up together--" She sighed. "That's what made up the world as we knew it. And now we're left with just...what's left."
"What's left," Fauna said, opening the front door, "is life."
Shari stared off dreamily toward the horizon before entering the house. "Yeah," she said quietly. "I'm glad to still be alive." She shrugged. "I don't know what to make of life anymore, but I'm grateful for it all the same. I don't mean to sound like I'm not."
Fauna led the way through the foyer, up the staircase, and down the upstairs hallway. She opened the door at the end of the hall, and they climbed another, narrower set of stairs and found themselves in the attic. She removed a panel from the wall and stepped into a small room, motioning for Shari to follow. "I was savin' these for a rainy day," Fauna said with a grin. Shari glanced around. There were about a half dozen assault rifles, but the majority of the shelves were filled with ammunition. "Half of these are regular AK47s, the rest are modified into sniper rifles. Now, as much ammo as there is in here, I wouldn't call it quite 'infinite'. Still, I can teach you how to aim, get comfortable loadin' the clip and such, get some practice for when some zombies show up...and you'll be prepared for 'em. You ready?"
"Fuck, yeah," Shari said, picking up a rifle and examining it. "All the zombies we've seen from the balcony lately, I'm sure they'll make some good targets, especially those slow-milling, deteriorating bastards we've had lately."
"Let's get to it, then," Fauna said, picking up a modified rifle for herself and stepping back into the attic. They made their way out of the house, over to the garage, back up to the loft, and out to the balcony. Fauna instructed her on how to load the clip, how to hold it, and how to aim.
"This is a regular one. We'll get into snipin' later." She took out the clip and handed the gun to Shari. "Now you watch out when this thing's loaded, that trigger's real sensitive. You want to blow off their heads, not some living bystander." She pointed to the sight on the end of the barrel. "You just look through this here...line it up...pull the trigger. Simple as that."
"Simple enough," Shari said, studying the anatomy of the gun, soaking it up. Survival will mean learning to use this thing like it's an extension of me, she thought. "Man, I can't wait for some rotting assholes to wander their way over here, so I can fix my sight on them..." she raised the gun and aimed at an invisible foe. "And blow them into the afterlife, where they rightfully belong."
Fauna smirked, pivoting around to return to the loft. "Atta girl."
Over the next few days, Shari spent much of her waking time holding a gun, getting used to the feel of it in her hand. She had also spent some time practicing with one of the modified sniper rifles, gazing through the scope into the distant hills. While she still preferred her bow, the AK was beginning to grow on her. She gazed at her reflection in the glass of the balcony door as she held the gun...she kind of liked the image. She couldn't help but feel a little bit bad-ass. From a librarian to this, all in a few short months. She had taken out a couple of zombies wandering down the driveway, aiming and pulling the trigger with a natural flair. Even though Fauna had warned her, she was still a bit surprised by how easily the trigger could be pulled, and by the ensuing kickback. "It'll just take some gettin' used to," Fauna had told her. "I got faith in you. Whether you realize it or not, all the readin' you've done in your lifetime has prepared you for a whole world of possibilities. Sure, it was theoretical knowledge at the time...but it's theoretical knowledge that's now bein' put to good use. You're a sponge, girl, just ready to soak up all kinds of stuff. I don't think most people would adapt to an apocalypse as readily as you have."
As Shari stood on the balcony a couple of days later, aiming at another zombie ambling up the driveway, she reflected on what Fauna had said. She wondered about the people they were getting ready to shack up with...maybe they were sponges, too. But a sponge could soak up useful information and skills, or it could just soak up all the resources around it. Would they prove to be useful, or a hinderance? She supposed that if they had survived this long, there was a good chance that they weren't likely to be helpless leeches. On the other hand, neither she nor Fauna had any real way of knowing their exact circumstances. Shari supposed some people might survive due to the skill of somebody else who helped them, or through sheer luck, or even by stepping on the backs of others. They wouldn't know for sure what types of people they were until they had gotten a chance to live with them.
Fauna was on the radio downstairs in the garage, working out the details with Jon of exactly where and when they'd meet. Today is the day, princess, the voice in her head remarked. Three months of safety and peace on this farm, virtually untouched by the horror of the outside world. You sure you're ready for it? In a way, she felt like she was actually itching for it. Maybe it was cabin fever, maybe it was the sense of guilt that accompanied her realization that she was safe while so many were not, and maybe it was the need for vengeance that she felt toward the undead...whatever it was, she felt more than ready to venture out. I can't stay here forever, she told herself.
Fauna joined her on the balcony. "Well, it's all settled," she said. We're gonna meet 'em in the next town over, outside of town near the billboard."
"What if something happens and we can't find them?"
"Jon's got a CB radio in his truck, and I've got my walkie-talkie. Told him to look for us on channel 9 if he needs us. I'll take my binoculars, too," Fauna said.
"So when do we leave?"
"I told him we'll meet around 3:00, so we should probably be on the road around two-thirty. That gives us about an hour, hour and a half. We should eat some lunch and get the horses saddled up, get ready to be on our way."
They headed back into the loft. "So you nervous about going out?" Fauna asked.
"Nah," Shari replied. "I guess I should be, but...I don't know. It's been a few months. I guess it's time we ventured out. Besides, we know how to handle ourselves." She took some lettuce and tomatoes out of the fridge and got to work preparing a salad. She grinned mischeviously. "And if anyone fucks with us...they'll have to contend with our AK's."
Fauna nodded, smirking. "You're damn right."
As Shari rode down the driveway, she felt the first pangs of apprehension. Hell lies outside of this treeline, she thought. She glanced at Fauna to her left, who was wearing her usual neutral expression. If she felt any of the nervousness Shari was feeling, her face didn't betray it. Before they turned to their right onto the road, she glanced nervously in both directions. There were no undead nearby, at least none she could see.
"Quarter horses can do what, about sixty miles an hour?" Shari asked with an element of phony non-chalance.
"Faster'n a zombie can run, for damn sure, if that's what you're gettin' at," Fauna replied.
"Yeah, that's what I'm getting at," Shari said quietly.
"Well, road seems pretty clear for a ways," Fauna said. "Let's pick up the speed a little."
They rode in silence until they reached the point where the road intersected with the highway. They sat for a moment, surveying the highway ahead.
"More crashes this way," Fauna said. "Worse comes to worst, we can always go off the road. Long as the ditches ain't too steep."
"Is the town on this same road?" Shari asked.
"Yeah, straight shot," Fauna said. "'Bout seven miles north. Shouldn't take more'n thirty minutes, max." They rode on, cautious and observant. Shari looked over her shoulder at one point. About two-hundred yards away, a small group of decaying zombies were moving in their direction in a fruitless effort to catch up. She chuckled. Good thing those halfwits aren't as fast as us.
Fauna stopped, eyeing a pileup of cars ahead, and took out her bin
oculars. "Road's jammed fulla cars up there," she muttered. "Might as well get off the road now." She motioned to her right. "Come on, this way." They descended down into the shallow ditch and rode into a field planted full of maturing soy plants, which seemed to stretch to the horizon. "Lotta food right here," Fauna noted. "Enough soybeans for the two of us to eat for years."
"Mmm, soybeans," Shari said sarcastically. "We could make...let's see...soybeans, soybeans, and...soybean surprise. The surprise is soybeans. Although I have to admit, it beats starving."
"Come the end of the season, we might need these," Fauna said.
A saddled horse was running in the opposite direction to their left, minus its rider. As it got closer, Shari saw part of a rotted human leg stuck in the stirrup, a running shoe and calf on one side and lower thigh on the other. It was a thin leg, that of a petite woman or a young girl. Judging from the way the flesh was shredded and the veins were torn, Shari was guessing the owner of that leg must have had it eaten off. She shivered and looked away.
They reached the end of the soy field and approached a treeline. "Almost there," Fauna said. "We're gonna try and make our way back onto the road. Should only be about a half mile from there." They galloped along, keeping a safe distance from the treeline, not knowing what could be lurking in its depths. When they came to the road, Shari looked toward the town up ahead. She saw no sign of movement.
"Isn't the dead silence eerie?" she murmured. "All the ambient noise from the old world...the electric hum, everything...it's all gone. Unreal." She shielded her eyes, staring down the road. "Is that the billboard?"
"That's the one," Fauna confirmed, scanning the area through her binoculars. They rode along with a healthy level of paranoia. Fauna took out her CB walkie.
"Man, that thing's huge," Shari said, giggling. "And I thought my dad's cell phone back in the eighties was bulky."
"This one's fairly old, a vintage model," Fauna conceded. "They make 'em smaller now, but this one gets the job done. If it ain't broke, why the hell fix it?" She fumbled with a dial, pushed the button on the side, and spoke into the mouthpiece. "Jon, are you there? We're comin' up to the billboard now, and I don't see a truck over there. You read me?" She let go of the button and waited.
After about twenty seconds, they heard Jon's voice in response. "Yeah, we're here. Listen, there are a lot of undead here in town. We got to that billboard about ten minutes ago, and we could see them walking around. We didn't feel comfortable just sitting there in the truck, waiting for them to discover us, so I drove around a little." He paused and laughed. "I ran a few of 'em over, figured what the hell? The fewer, the better. Anyway, I don't think we should meet at the spot we planned, too close to town. I don't know how many more of them are here. I figure up the road might be a little safer, so if you girls want to head that way, we'll catch up, talk later when it's safe." He stopped, waiting for a response.
"Roger that," Fauna responded, turning her horse around to go back south. Shari stroked the AK47 slung over her shoulder, and also her bow. It comforted her, reminded her that she wasn't defenseless. My booming, lead-spewing phallus, and my silent, stealthy phallus, she thought, referring to her AK and her bow. Now all I need is a melee phallus to smack people and zombies in the face with. She followed Fauna down the road.
They had ridden about 1/4 mile when they heard a rustling in the narrow band of woods lining the road, and the crackling of twigs under a human stride. Shari grabbed her bow and nocked an arrow in the space of a few seconds, and Fauna did the same. A voice came from the woods.
"We got our sights trained on you girls." A sinister laugh. "And you may as well know, we got you outnumbered. You might wanna lower those bows."
"And why would we do that?" Fauna ventured calmly.
"'Cause if you do, you might luck out. We might let you live. We could use some females. It's been a long while since me or my buddies have had any pussy. And if you don't...." He laughed again. "We'll kill you, and some of my boys might still have their way with you. So what's it gonna be?"
Shari was getting ready to suggest they run when they heard one of the mystery assailants shriek like a teenage girl. "What the fuck?! Danny's dead, man! One of those bitches put a goddam wooden spike through his head!" Shari and Fauna started to move away.
"The fuck you talkin' about?!" The voice of the first man. "Me and Bobby both had our eyes glued to 'em! Neither one of those girls--" His voice was cut off abruptly. And then a moment later they heard...
"Shit, they got Roger too! Roger's dead! Who the fuck is out there?"
They heard the rumble of a motor approaching, close by...Jon.
Shari and Fauna took off running, and Fauna motioned to Jon to follow them. They cut back through the soy field as they had earlier, with Jon right behind them.
Shari sighed. Thank God for Jon's good timing. I guess they'll be useful, after all.
Shari nearly wept with relief as they turned into Fauna's driveway. The rest of the trip had, thankfully, been uneventful. Jon drove down the driveway, parking near Shari's Nissan. Shari gazed into the truck. Jon was a large, handsome twenty-something black man. His wife sat next to him, arm around him (possessively, Shari thought) and her sister in the back seat with the couple's young son. The four of them got out of the truck, and Fauna and Shari rode closer to greet them.
"Jon! I'm glad we all made it safely," Fauna said warmly.
"Me, too," Jon said, shaking Fauna's and Shari's hands. "I want to thank you again, you have no idea how much this means to me. Anything we can do to help you two, anything at all, just let us know. You didn't have to let us stay here, and you damn sure didn't have to put yourselves at risk to escort us here. I only hope I can repay you." He locked gazes with Shari for a moment. "And you must be Shari."
"I am," she responded. "Are you going to introduce us to your family?"
"Oh, of course," he said. His wife walked up and grabbed his hand.
"I'm Cindy," she said.
"Nice to meet you, Cindy," Fauna replied.
"And this is our son, Timothy, and my sister, Stephanie."
"Good to meet you all," Fauna said. She grinned widely. "So which one of you was it that threw those spikes into those assholes heads from a moving car? That takes skill!"
Jon, Cindy, and Stephanie looked at one another, confused.
"What assholes?" Cindy asked, puzzled. "We don't have any spikes."
Daphne trugded through the mud, taking back what was hers....the spears from the skulls of the men she had killed. Five in all. They never saw it coming, she thought, a satisfied smile creeping over her youthful, freckled face.
She checked the pockets, taking their weapons, ammo, cigarettes, lighters...anything that could be deemed useful. She didn't use guns herself, but she had been stockpiling what she found anyway. She figured she might need it to barter at some point, if nothing else. She took a gut hook from one man's front pocket. She unsheathed it and smiled, watching the blade gleam in the dappled sunlight. That's nice, she thought, but not as nice as mine.
"You guys like venison?" Fauna asked her new guests.
Jon shrugged. "We never tried it, but I think we'll like it just fine. It's been months since we've had real food. Just that convenience store garbage."
"So I take it you don't hunt?" Shari inquired.
"No, but I'm sure I can learn. I fish a lot, though. Any ponds or streams close by?"
"Yeah, on the far end of the property," Fauna replied, grinning. "We can definitely put you to work catchin' some fish. I mean, I been doin' it myself, but to be honest, it's always bored the hell outta me. I'll leave the guttin' up to you, too."
"Yeah, no problem," Jon said. "Anything to help out."
"So how big is this property?" Cindy asked.
"Quarter section," Fauna said. "Hundred-sixty acres. But to be honest, I don't know how many of my neighbors are left, so...I guess property boundaries may not mean much anymore."
"And you don't see too many zo
mbies out here?" Stephanie asked.
"Not really," Fauna said. "Probably...I don't know, less than fifty since this whole thing started. We drag 'em up to the north end of the property, burn 'em. We're safe from up here in the loft, and we generally see 'em from the balcony, take 'em out. Even on the rare occasion that we're outside when they come wanderin' up, they're never in any kind of large group. Two or three, at most."
"It really is pretty safe up here," Stephanie said, looking around the loft. She was a small, timid young woman, always crossing her thin arms defensively in front of her chest. "I don't know what we would've done if we didn't come here. Nowhere's really secure, most buildings have too many windows on the first floor."
"Well, you don't have to worry about that anymore," Fauna assured her. "You can make yourselves at home. That sofa over there pulls out into a bed, I figure the three of you can sleep there," she said, gesturing to Jon, Cindy, and Timothy. "And I have an air mattress for you, Stephanie. We'll get you some blankets from the house. There's plenty of runnin' water, but I'll ask you to keep your showers brief. The hot water'll be stretched a little thin between the six of us. As far as food, there's still some left, but we need to use it sparingly so that, hopefully, it'll last us through the winter, combined with whatever venison and fish we can freeze and jerky."
"We also brought what was left from the store," Jon said. "It's not much, but I didn't want to just leave it behind."
"Good thinkin'," Fauna replied. She turned to Cindy and Stephanie. "You two wanna help me get some stuff from the house?"
"Yeah, sure," Cindy said.
"I want to come, too!" Timothy cried, grasping his mother's hand.
"You wanna keep on eye on your mommy, huh?" Fauna said, smiling. He nodded emphatically. "That's a good boy. You come too, we could use a man's help!" Timothy smiled, his face lighting up. The four of them climbed down into the garage. Cindy looked at Shari and Jon suspiciously on her way down. Damn, that girl is insecure, Shari thought, turning away as she rolled her eyes.