by Elle Klass
“When we were outside waiting, one walked by us, we stayed quiet and it never knew we were there,” offered Katrina as she pushed her hair behind her ears.
She was right. It didn’t notice us. So maybe it didn’t see or smell. The one I chopped the fingers off of never cried out in pain. None of them did as they went down. Maybe the only sense they had was sound. I’d looked into many of their eyes but never had one actually acknowledged they saw me. Their eyes stared dead ahead “They can’t see or smell or feel pain. They can only hear sound.”
“We don’t know that,” said Jack with narrowed eyes.
“Sure we do. Think about every encounter you’ve had with one of them. They look through us with hollow eyes, they feel no pain when we kill them, but sounds always capture their attention,” I said proudly.
“So we just walk past them. We don’t run,” offered his mother with a smile.
I smiled back. Leave it to the women to figure it out.
“Is everyone forgetting Mt. Vesuvius is revving to blow?” said a disgruntled Jack with his hands and eyebrows raised. “Even if what you say is true of the zombies, can we outrun an unpredictable volcano?”
We all shrugged. There was nothing to say. If the zombies didn’t eat us, we’d be barbecued right along with them. It was night now. There was no electricity to run street lights and plenty of flesh-eaters. We were doomed.
Katrina snuggled beside her daughter, Jack on the other couch, and Bryce and I settled on the floor. We were younger and more agile, so we gave the older folks the more comfortable spots. Really, it was forced seniority. That didn’t make the floor any less hard, but Bryce’s shoulder was soft when I rested my head on it. In turn, he rested his head on mine and eventually we dozed off.
In my dream I was riding a roller coaster that fell off the tracks. The car with me in it flew high into the air and I screamed at the top of my lungs as it suddenly plummeted to Earth. I popped my eyes open, the floor rolled around me, Bryce was holding me tight while Katrina held onto her daughter with one hand and the edge of the couch they were on with the other. Jack was balled under the table.
“We need to get back to the boat. That volcano is going to blow anytime. I’d rather take my chances with the zombies than become human toast,” I said, rising and grabbing my ax. I kicked the rifle at Jack, tossed the shovel at Bryce and threw nothing at Katrina and Melissa. There was nothing left to toss; we’d even left their luggage in the SUV. Then I remembered the knife in my pocket. The stiff object pressing against my butt almost felt normal.
I walked up to Katrina as she pulled herself off the couch. “Take this,” I said, handing her the knife.
Her eyes widened and she stuttered.
“We need every able bodied person.” I lowered my voice and whispered in her ear, “Shove it in their head or brainstem at the base of their neck.”
She wrinkled up her face but took the knife. Bryce and Jack waited by the door. Opening it slowly, Bryce ventured into the hallway and walked towards the light streaming in from the windows. There were no other doorways in the hall so we were relatively safe.
Katrina leaned down and whispered, “Stay very quiet,” to Melissa, who put a finger to her lips.
Once we got into the main room, we moved through the aisles toward the door. The windows were large enough to see nothing waited for us outside. I stepped in front of Bryce, leaving him in the middle with his family and Jack in the back with the rifle.
Particles of smoke and ash fell around us in a light dusting. Bryce ripped the bottom of his shirt. I grabbed it from behind, taking it out of his hands and tearing it at the seam, then handed him the new rag. He wrapped it around his sister’s face and tied it in the back to keep as much volcanic debris as possible out of her airways. The rest of us pulled our shirts over our faces and stepped quietly away from the building and towards the sea.
We walked through alleyways, staying off the main road, dodging trash, careful not to make a sound. Mixed with the ash, I smelled the salty air, knowing we were close. My heart thumped as I couldn’t wait to get back on the ship. I wondered how my family fared the night and how Sarah’s bite was healing. It was a good thing we found Heather, as she was a doctor. That gave me a little solace that they were OK.
I halted at the edge of the alleyway as I had been doing since we started our trek. I peeked around the corners, making sure the area was clear. So far we’d only come across one deader who was wandering down the street. We waited a few minutes then carefully walked across the street to the next alley. It never noticed us so maybe my quick-thought hypothesis about them only hearing sound was true -- a heck of a way to prove it.
I poked my head around the corner, spotting four zombies milling about -- two women, a man, and a child. My heart sank as I saw the little girl, no bigger than Melissa, walking aimlessly. Her skirt dirty with blood and a string of flesh hanging from her closed mouth. Her hair was matted with more blood. I quickly pulled my head back and sank against the wall.
Bryce mouthed, “Zombies,” without making a sound.
I nodded and mouthed, “Little girl.”
He crunched his face in dismay and shot a glance at Jack. I don’t know what he mouthed, but within the next minute he was at my side. He winked at me, held out three fingers, then two, then one. We ran out into the open and slayed the adults easily. We both glanced at the girl who snarled at us as she staggered our direction. I cringed, it was my turn. He’d killed the teen zombie we found in Spain, now I had to kill the baby. I threw my ax into her neck and she toppled backwards, the ax ripping her flesh as she fell. My breath caught in my chest and I tried not to think about what I did. There wasn’t an option.
We walked back to the alley and saw another zombie moving towards the alleyway. It must have heard us. Bryce jumped into action, running toward it with his shovel and clopping it on the head. A set of arms reached for him, then another. I grabbed his sister’s hand and looked at his mom, “We need to go now!”
“What about Bryce?” his mother said through tears as his shovel came down on another and Jack ran to assist him.
We didn’t have time for this. His sister was small and I wasn’t killing another zombie baby, not today anyways. I could see the port ahead and feel the sea’s breeze whipping my ponytail. Without a second thought, I picked up Melissa with my free hand, holding my handy dandy ax in the other, and ran. She wrapped her little arms around my neck and her legs around my waist. I didn’t look back. Bryce wouldn’t want anything to happen to the precious little girl who plastered herself against me.
When we reached the marina, I set her down and swung my arms above my head to alert my dad. The sun shone directly in my eyes and I couldn’t see the boat, but I heard the motor catch as little Melissa clung to my leg.
“Mattie, Mattie,” she said. I glanced down at her and followed her pointer finger. Staggering towards us were three zombies. I covered her eyes as I prayed for my dad to hurry. The zombies moved closer and I didn’t want to kill them in front of Melissa’s innocent eyes.
Spray washed up the side of my body. I turned my head and my mom held out her arms within a foot or so of me.
There wasn’t time for words as I lifted Melissa. “Grab onto my mom,” I shouted, using all my strength to toss the girl to my mother who caught her in the middle. She stumbled backwards, Melissa falling on top of her. I nearly lost my balance and dropped into the sea. Catching my balance, I saw my mother stand, Melissa buried in her shoulder.
The earth rumbled beneath my feet and groaned in dismay, so I braced my hands on the ground beneath me. When it stopped, I used the advantage of agility and ran towards the zombies wobbling on their unsteady feet. A shot rang out and brain matter and blood sprayed from a zombie’s head, the sound echoing in my ears. When the zombie dropped, I saw Jack behind it with Katrina and Bryce on his tail and a whole bunch of zombies.
The boat sputtered as my dad pulled into a dock and called for me.
“Not
yet, not until everyone is onboard!” I screamed. He narrowed his eyes in dismay. I knew that look. Now that his health was back, I was his little girl not Zombie Girl, killer of the dead.
Heather appeared on the deck and one by one helped everyone onto the boat. I slashed at bloodied zombies, watching as they dropped and moving to the next until I felt my body being pulled back and a familiar voice in my ear, “Stop, Maddie, everyone is safe.”
He dragged my body onto the boat and I turned, wrapping my arms around my father’s neck. Zombies dropped off the dock and fell into the water, instantly sinking.
“I love you, Daddy,” I whispered as he pulled me even closer.
“I love you too, Maddie.” I felt his warm breath on my head and it was a good feeling.
Chapter Sixteen
The boat coasted toward the Strait of Gibraltar, the sun setting once again as Bryce leaned against the side of the boat next to me. “It’s really pretty,” he said. His fresh clean scent moved through my nose with the gentle breeze. At some point I’d stopped worrying about being covered in blood, but at the moment it felt good to be clean and even better to be standing next to a clean hunk.
“Yes, it is.”
“Thank you for what you did today.” Our eyes met and he leaned down, his nose touching mine, his warm minty breath against my face. Our lips touched and a loud, low grumble surrounded us on all sides -- the spell of the moment broken. Our heightened senses kicked in. “The volcano,” we said in unison.
Rushing onto the top deck, we joined my father and together watched a huge gray plume of smoke, several miles wide and high, billow into the atmosphere. It hung there several seconds or several minutes, I don’t recall how long, until it finally dropped. Volcanic bombs splashed into the water, some within a football field of us, and smoke and ash snowed around us. Through the blackening sky a flow of brilliant red lava shone through, oozing down the mountain towards Naples. No doubt covering it as it flowed into the sea.
We watched, mouths agape, before I realized Jack, Heather, my mom, and Sarah had joined us. Their eyes wide and mouths hung open as we watched in horror, completely helpless.
My dad suddenly spun into action and cranked the motor; moving at full throttle wasn’t enough. The strait wasn’t getting any closer. The Rock of Gibraltar seemed to mock us as our boat was sucked backwards, never getting any closer. The motor worked to keep us stationary for several minutes.
As quickly as the entire scenario began, our boat was lifted possibly fifty to sixty feet into the air, wobbling on top of the tsunami wave as it dropped and lunged us headlong. Water rushed forward, covering us and running off the top deck. A popping sound crashed in my ear as one of the masts broke off, dropping onto Jack and rushing off the boat with the receding water. My heart dropped as the wave let us go and we fell downward. We grabbed onto anything within a hand’s reach. Our screams were loud enough to wake the sleeping dead and energize the living dead. Earnest Earl rode the wave that sent us spiraling towards a landmass.
Once the sea retreated, it deposited us on the top of a cliff where we skidded over the rocky area. Popping and cracking noises filled my ears. I imagined chunks of boat ripping off the side and holes in the bottom with the thrashing Earnest Earl received. We were all going to die as the boat careened, bumped, and jumped down the cliff.
We clung for life as our bodies were tossed around like rag dolls. My grip around the rail tight as a bump tossed my body sideways and threw me over the edge, my legs dangling over the cabin. I dropped, landing on my butt onto the deck and rolled over lying flat on my stomach until the boat came to a sudden stop with a crash that sounded as if the boat was breaking into pieces. I opened my eyes, not realizing I’d closed them, and uncringed my face. The deck was still in one piece beneath me.
Carefully I picked myself up, sure the boat wasn’t moving anymore, and went down into the cabin to a teary eyed Melissa and a freaked out Katrina. Both seemed OK, other than scared and horrified. I didn’t see any obvious wounds or broken bones, but was sure they were bruised, same as me. At the moment I felt no pain as adrenaline pumped through my veins like a car on the Autobahn.
Within minutes, I heard voices around us, outside on the deck, and the cabin door opened. A frantic Bryce rushed down the steps past me and to his mother and sister. The three held each other in a long hug before they asked about broken bones and bruises.
I left the cabin and went outside. Ash and dust hung in the air. The boat was wedged between two huge natural rock structures. I jumped off and my mother rushed to me with a hobble. She wrapped her arms tight around me.
“Are you OK, honey?” she asked, eyeing me up and down.
“I’m fine, Mom, but your leg…”
“I think it’s a sprain. It’ll be fine.”
“Let me take a look,” I said as I helped her down and knelt beside her, rolling up her pants leg. It was already swelling. “Can you wiggle your toes, move your ankle?”
“Yes,” she cringed from the pain.
I looked for Heather and spotted her with Bryce, helping Katrina and Melissa off the boat. I called for my father. “Dad, Dad.”
“He’s looking at the damage to the boat,” my mother responded, holding her leg.
I walked towards Heather who was tickling Melissa. Her tears were dry as she giggled. “When you’re done, can you look at my mom’s leg?”
“Certainly. I’ll be right there.”
I continued towards the boat and found my dad on the other side, gawking at the massive hole in the bow. His gaze shifted when he saw me. “We’re lucky you know,” he held his arm out and wrapped it around me. Now that I stared at the boat, we were lucky. It seemed impossible to look at this pile of fiberglass and believe we all walked away. Most of it was still intact, but it would never be seaworthy again.
After Heather had the chance to check on everyone it seemed the only major wounds we incurred, besides the bruises I knew would be all over our bodies in the morning and the ache that would follow, was my mom’s sprained ankle and the deep cut across Jack’s head above his right ear. Heather fixed him up with the supplies we had and wrapped a covering over his head. I noted then she had a large, two to three inch gash on her arm. It was no longer bleeding, but someone had to care for the doctor.
Heather finished wrapping Jack’s head and took a long breath. She stretched out her legs, a solid rock structure beneath her, and gazed toward the sky. I sat next to her. She’d cared for and looked at everyone, but no one asked about her. I put my hand on hers and she turned her head and looked at me. “Would you like a water?”
“Oh, yes. Thank you.” She opened the bottle and took a long swallow. “That definitely tastes good.”
“You have a large gash on your arm,” I stated, grabbing the antiseptic and a cloth.
She twisted her arm and glanced over her shoulder. “So I do.”
I dumped the antiseptic onto the cloth and dabbed at her arm. The dried blood soaked into the cloth.
“Rub a bit of this on it,” she said, handing me a tube of something with Spanish writing on it. I knew popular words, not pharmaceutical names. They didn’t teach that in Spanish class. I gently rubbed the ointment in. When I finished, she put her arm around me and tilted her head against mine. “You’re a brave girl, Maddie.”
Chapter Seventeen
Shook up, in shock, dazed, but in relatively good health, we stared at each other through the ashy air as we surveyed our surroundings. Below us was the sea, only tiny waves hitting the shoreline now as I gazed downward. Around us on the other side was solid rock and mountains. Our plan, whatever it was, now vanished. We were beached like a whale and staying on the boat wasn’t an option.
Sadness clutched my gut as I glanced again at Earnest Earl. We wouldn’t be able to take extra clothes, just weapons and food supplies. We made a circle as we decided what to do next. My dad spoke first, “Earnie’s not taking us anywhere but we have enough food to last for a bit. I suggest we get dow
n the cliff, maybe we can find another boat.”
“We can’t head down that cliff, how do you suggest we get down there?” offered Jack.
“We’re not going anywhere tonight. It will be completely dark soon. The air is filled with volcanic ash and I’d rather fight flesh-eaters when I can see them. And that little girl needs a good night’s sleep,” voiced Heather. The little green monster had completely moved on and I loved Heather’s logic and medical prowess.
“You’re one hundred percent right. We’ll eat, get a good night’s sleep, and figure it out in the morning. Whatever we do, we do it as a group,” said my father, his eyes taking in the mountainous terrain.
The boat was lodged solid between rocks. It literally wasn’t going anywhere. Bryce started a fire with a few chunks of wood from somewhere on Earnest Earl. I was glad he remembered his Boy Scout skill, and we warmed up beans and wieners and had a cup of canned fruit each. It wasn’t gourmet, but it was food, and tasted great after eating wafers and candy for dinner last night.
Katrina tucked Melissa in for the night. She was a great little trooper who hadn’t complained once since we collected them in Naples. The only fear I’d seen in her was after the tsunami. Naples seemed like ages ago as I considered the path ahead of us. If we had climbing gear we could most likely reach the shoreline below, but it looked rocky not sandy so we’d have to take the high road through the mountains. I was far more worried about the treacheries of climbing around unknown plants and the possibility of wildlife such as leopards and bears than I was about zombies stuck on the mountain top.
Maybe we’d get lucky and find an abandoned vehicle somewhere. I hoped so for Melissa’s sake. She was too darn small to be mountain climbing. The boat was tipped a bit, but not much. I could snuggle onto my trundle for the night. The hole in the bow was large enough for something to climb through, so we wedged whatever we could into it. My parents slept in the bed above me; Katrina, Melissa, and Bryce in the other bedroom, and Jack and Heather in the living room. It was tight but we were out of the raining ash. Maybe this was nature’s way of telling us we needed a bigger boat.