by Kirk Allmond
Tookes left him there in bed. He needed to get someone to sit with him for a few minutes while he grabbed some breakfast. Stopping by Leo's room was the obvious choice. Tookes peered into her room and saw that she was sound asleep. Checking his watch, he noted that it was only 5:20 in the morning - still early. Leo was laying on her right side with one of her hands up by her face. She is so beautiful, he thought. He crawled into the bed beside her and kissed her on the forehead. A small smile spread across Leo’s face as she snuggled up against him.
"Morning, Leo,” he whispered. “I need a favor. Can you go sit with Max for a few minutes while I go get some food, some coffee, and a new book?"
"Sure, Vic,” she said. Sleep was heavy in her voice. Vic rolled over on his side and laid his arm over her. Leo suddenly realized how much she missed his touch. He kissed her forehead before she got up, pulled on some clothes, and walked out of the room towards Max. Tookes felt his eyes growing heavy, but he resisted the urge to crawl back under the warm covers and go back to sleep. Before the urge became undeniable, he climbed out of the bed and walked downstairs.
On the kitchen table there was a brown paper bag with his name on it. Inside the bag was a note from his mom that just said:
‘Vic,
You are a great Dad. You make me proud.
I love you,
Mom’
He cringed slightly and thought, I feel like a shitty dad. I let my not-even-four year old son sneak out of the house and be bitten by a zombie. A zombie that he told me was his friend and I believed him. Why did I believe him? He is a baby. He's three years old.
Sharon had left a butter and cheese sandwich and an apple sitting on the table for her son. Victor ate hungrily and then went outside for a quick smoke. Either they would need to start growing tobacco or he would need to kick the smoking habit again. The cigarette supply wouldn’t last forever. He walked down the three hundred-year-old brick sidewalk, around the edge of the old summer kitchen building, and up towards the parking lot.
He walked past his cherished 4Runner. The wrecked truck reminded him of the trip down here almost half a year ago. He thought about life before all this. Working every day in an office, thinking he felt fulfilled, being satisfied with his life. These days, people fought, worked, and bled for everything they had. The four of them had nearly died on several occasions defending this place. Many people had died defending this place, just a few nights ago. Victor had several of their funerals to attend today.
He thought about his friends back in Pennsylvania and wondered if any of them were still alive. He hoped that Ben and Melissa were still alive. Ben was a U.S. Marine who’d gotten out of the ‘corps after ten years and worked as a recruiter for the company Tookes worked for. His wife, Melissa, worked from home and kept their three kids. If anyone could survive this, Ben could. Tookes had made the mistake of going on a hiking trip with Ben once. They walked twenty-two miles in one day. Tookes stumbled into camp on the verge of death; Ben went for a run after the hike. At least he took his pack off first, thought Tookes.
He hoped Angie was alive. Tookes, Angie, and Candi had been best friends for years. Angie had the cutest little daughter, who was born on the same day as Max. Angie and her daughter Sarah had accompanied the Tookes family to Florida on vacation the year before. One of Victor’s favorite memories was lying on the beach with Candi and Angie, watching the two children play in the surf. That had been the trip of a lifetime for both families. These days those memories were to be cherished; there weren’t going to be any more carefree trips to Florida.
He was tired. He wondered if superheroes ever got tired. The four of them hadn’t stopped fighting the “forces of evil” for months. Real people had died; he had gotten himself shot once and beaten up countless times. Only his freakish immunity to zombies had kept him alive. I am ZedMan, he thought. Bumbling his way through a post-apocalyptic world, ZedMan is sworn to kill every zombie on the planet! Victor thought about his ridiculous promise to kill every zombie in the world. It sounded absurd. He considered the futility of that, and for the first time, he formed the thought of giving up. It really was an insane proposition. Victor Tookes, mild mannered corporate middle manager, on a quest to save the world. Maybe I should just stay here. Maybe I should just keep Max alive, build a huge wall around this place, and start a new life. Maybe saving the world isn't my job, he thought.
There were other humans with super powers out there. The four of them had run into people with their exact powers not fifty miles from here. Why was it his responsibility and not one of theirs?
Because they’re dead. You killed them because they were bad people. The thought entered Victor’s mind. It didn’t sound like one of his thoughts. It sounded more like Max.
He flicked his cigarette into the tall grass as the sun began to peek up over the horizon. He then turned back towards the house. Victor had already been gone about twenty minutes and was feeling himself drawn back to Max's side. The sun was moving quickly; it was half-up over the horizon already. There was some rustling up by the garden, and Tookes felt compelled to check it out. He changed his direction to walk up towards it.
About five feet later, he identified the cause the rustling. There was a man lying in the tall grass around the garden, inching towards Tookes on his belly. The man wore a red flannel shirt and the remnants of a green John Deer baseball cap. After a few more steps, Victor was certain it was a zombie. Reflecting back, Victor realized that he hadn't seen one this close to the house in a very long time.
He didn’t have anything on him that even remotely resembled a weapon. Another stupid mistake, Tookes, he said to himself and walked towards the ghoul. It was pulling itself along by the arms. The sunlight grew brighter with every step he took, and every step brought him closer to the pitiful creature. Eventually, Tookes stopped and watched it struggle across the grass.
Its legs trailed behind it, broken and useless. One of its arms ended in a stump with a bit of crushed bone sticking out. The bone was worn to a sharp point. It flopped the dead arm up over its head and down in front of it, moving the corpse forward about an inch before the arm bone slipped, digging a semi-circle furrow in the grass.
Victor walked past the zombie and towards the old carriage house where all the gardening tools were kept. The heavy wooden door scraped the concrete of the driveway as he slid it open. Inside in the dim light, he made his way to the back of the shed and hefted a mattock. The slightly rusty tool had a pick on one end and a flat, slightly curved blade on the other. He thought about all the times he swung this thing digging out tree stumps. With the mattock, he could get the flat blade under a root and then pry back on the handle, popping them like matchsticks. It was a backbreaking device to use all day long. It was a heavy, rough duty-digging tool. He walked back out of the carriage house and took a practice swing with the mattock. Rudimentary, but it would do the trick.
He walked back to the slithering corpse and knelt down a couple of feet in front of it.
"Morning, old timer. I'm sorry that your life came down to this. I'm sorry that these fucking creatures came here and did this to you, and...I'm sorry that I now am the one that has to end this torment." He stood up, heaved the heavy iron blade up over his head, and said, "I'm sorry for what's happened to you," and he brought the pick end down into the creature’s skull. As the long pointed iron pick pierced his skull, he felt the zombie’s body go limp. The creature struggled briefly before finally giving up. Tookes finally felt it rest. “Rest in peace,” he said softly.
If not you, who? Every great accomplishment in the history of mankind was started by one man. It was a job, and someone had to do it. If everyone asked, “Why me?” who would do it? Tookes had always considered himself a “do-er.” He could hear his father say, “Son, there’s two kinds of people in this world, big-picture people and ‘do-ers.’ The world is full of big-picture people, and what it needs are more ‘do-ers.’” This was my life now. This was what I was made to do.
Victor trotted back to the house, feeling a renewed sense of purpose. He dropped the mattock off by the back door and stepped into the kitchen. Sharon and two other people were busy preparing breakfast for all of the people of their little settlement.
"Mom,” Victor said, leaning against one of the kitchen counters, “I killed a zombie up by the garden. I'm anxious to get back to Max, but the corpse is still there. Do you think you can find someone to get rid of it?"
"At the garden? That's a little worrisome. We haven't seen anything that close to the house in a long time," she said, glancing at her son before returning her attention to the potatoes she was cutting.
"I know,” he responded. “It was just a dragger. It probably took it four months to make it from the old Vaughn riding ring to the garden. But still..."
"Ok, I'll have Ron take care of it,” Sharon said. “Give Max a kiss for me."
On the way up to Max's room, Tookes grabbed one of the re-filled bottles of water and trotted up the stairs. As he entered the room, Leo looked in his direction. She was lying on the bed next to Max.
“Any change?” Tookes asked her.
“None,” she replied softly. “But at least we know he’s not getting worse.”
Tookes sighed as he sat back down on the floor beside Max. He slid his arm under Max’s neck and kissed him on the forehead. In minutes, Leo was fast asleep again with Max on the bed. Victor sat on the floor and went to sleep with his head laying against the mattress.
Chapter 3
Sean
"Hi, Daddy. I'm hungry," Max said with a smile.
Tookes woke up with a start as a huge grin spread across his face. "Good morning, Max!" he exclaimed. "I'm happy you're awake! How do you feel?"
"I'm fine. My leg hurts, and these bugs are noisy. They talk and talk. Steve says sorry he scared you. He told me you were here all night watching me."
Victor looked Max over and said, "I wouldn't leave you when you were sick. I love you buddy, but what you did was very naughty! You should never leave the house without telling a grown up."
"But I had to go. My bugs were dying, and I needed Steve's bugs to make mine better. Jason gave all his to Steve, and then I told Steve to bring them all and give them to me." Max held out his hand to his father, who took it in his own.
"You told Steve to bite you? Why would you do that?"
"That’s the only way to get his bugs into me, Dad. The bad men that took me from here gave me a shot. My bugs took the medicine they gave me to make me sleep. They said that because they did that, it was hurting them, but they needed me to be awake to escape."
"Max, never do that again without talking to me," Victor said, filing that bit of information away. "If you told me they were sick, I would understand. I would try to help, but I was so afraid you were sick. I was very scared."
"I'm sorry, Dad. Can I have some food?"
"Sure, buddy, I'll go get you a cheese sandwich. Gramma made cheese last week; I bet she saved some for you."
"Ok. Thanks, you're the best Dad ever. Can you send Mr. John in here while you get my sandwich?"
"Sure thing, Max-monster. You're the best little boy ever."
Victor walked out of the room and down the stairs towards the kitchen. In the small dining room, John was sitting at the table surrounded by guns and gun parts, meticulously cleaning every speck of carbon and dirt off every part. He looked up at Victor when he entered the room. "How's the boy, mate?"
"He's awake finally, said that he told Steve to bite him because he needed their bugs. He said that his bugs were dying because of something Frye gave him. Seemed like something we might be able to use, if it can make the parasites sick. Anyways, he asked for you while I go make him a sandwich."
John wiped the film off his hands with a towel and stood up. "I'll go see to him. Glad he's awake and feeling right." John walked towards Victor to head upstairs as Victor turned right to go down into the kitchen.
At the top of the stairs, John turned left into Max's room and said, "Heya, Maximillion, how ya feeling, bucko?" as he sat on the end of the bed. He kicked off his boots and stretched his toes.
"I am hungry, Mr. John. It is important that you talk to your family. The bugs can feel how sad I am for you." Max made a sad face to mimic the feeling.
"Just call me John when no-one else is around, mate. Tell 'em I said that they have no idea how sad." John laid down along the bottom of the bed on his side, facing Max.
"They can hear you, John, and they feel as we do now. Not like the bad bugs. The bugs say I have enough strength now to talk to Sean. Would you like to talk to Mr. Sean?"
"Mate, there is nothing more I would like than to talk to him, except maybe deck him."
Max sat up and held John's hand, and the heat built up, causing John's palm to sweat.
"Mr. Sean, are you awake?" Talking through Max was so much more than when Tookes talked to him. Not only were the words more clear but he could see the thoughts, the path of the connection, and feel the emotion between minds. John was amazed that Max could handle the intensity of the connection.
"I am now, kiddo. Are you okay? I lost ya there for a while. Is your father okay? He is no longer on my grid, mate. Where is that dic... err, brother of mine?"
"Sean?" John said out aloud.
"Bloody hell, John, don't yell! You're as bad as Victor. Talk in your head, mate. How you doing?"
"Yeah good, mate. Holiday got extended; I think I've gone over my visa. Yaself?"
"Ya idiot. Good, Jo and the kids are here sleeping. We are safe here, well a lot safer now." As Sean looked over to John's family, John could see his wife, his kids, sleeping peacefully through waves of light blue. Then the vision disappeared.
"Max, I told you to warn me before looking through my eyes, mate. It hurts." John felt Max apologize to Sean, but no words were spoken. John wondered how long Max and Sean had been talking. They probably didn't know the connection, he thought.
"John, I can hear your thoughts when we're connected like this, mate. It took us a few months to register it; Max told me one day about two weeks ago that I sounded funny like his friend Mr. John. John, the locals are trying to claim back Australia with the help of some of us white fella's, but we have one hell of a super zombie team here at the moment. Three zombies wiped out forty humans with powers in Western Australia last week. They didn't stand a chance, mate. I heard everything.”
"Sean, settle down. I got a plan now that I can see into ya head. And stop swearing with Max here. How is Jo coping?" John imagined his plan as a computer file and then imagined sending it to Sean like an attachment to an email.
"Righto, that's a good plan, John. You learn too quick sometimes, for a drongo! Jo is great. She keeps quiet, but she is as much as a deviant as you are. She's sacrificed my life twice now. I woulda taken it to heart, except she'd have done the same to you, if it meant saving the kids. Apparently, we are tougher to kill than you bastards in yankland. That's why Laura is here at the moment. We killed off too many too quick, but after your last fight with all those supers, she may be going home sooner than expected."
"John, I need to eat," Max said aloud, and John nodded in response.
"Sean, get my family here. You are all welcome to come. Tell Frank I said thanks; tell the family I love them. And Sean, it kills me to say this, but I am proud of you, little brother. Thanks, mate. I love you."
"Ditto, bro. Now let the kid rest, and I'll talk to you in a week."
John sat up and put a hand on Max's shoulder. "Thanks, bucko."
"It's okay. Mr. John, did you like where I showed your wife and kids?"
"I did, very much." John sat back, and his eyes welled up with the happiness of seeing his family and the good chance that he would see them again in a few weeks, when Victor walked back in.
"Is Mr. John telling sad stories?"
"No, Daddy!! I was showing Mr. John a happy beginning!"
Tookes remembered Max eating an entire box of cereal bars after th
e first time he'd been bitten. This time, he brought Max two fresh mozzarella cheese sandwiches, an apple, a pear, and a glass of milk. They all watched in amazement as he ate every bite, including the cores of the fruit, before draining the glass of milk.
"I'm still hungry, Dad,” Max said, his belly distended.
"Let's let that settle a little bit, buddy. Then you can have anything you want in a few minutes. Your fever is still up. Do you need to rest some more?"
"I'm sleepy," said Max.
"Ya, mate, I'm sleepy too," said John with a grin.
Tookes kissed Max on the forehead and pulled his blanket up over him. "Have a good sleep, buddy. We'll be here when you wake up."
John and Vic walked out of the room and down to the kitchen, where they found the rest of the crew.
"Hey, Mom. He woke up for a little bit, appears to be okay. He ate two sandwiches, an apple, and a pear before downing a huge glass of milk. Last time he was bitten, he ate everything he could get his hands on for a day or two afterwards."
"Oh, thank God," Sharon said.
"Since we're all here," Victor continued, “I'd like to go into Charlottesville with Marshall today and see if we can work out getting a train running. We can scout around for tools and supplies that are already there. Maybe we can find the steel and welding equipment to armor it up."
"Vic, do you think you can really get to Renee?" Sharon had thought of nothing else since finding out her only daughter and two granddaughters were alive.
"I'll get her and the kids. I promise," Vic said, nodding his head slowly.
Marshall and Victor went into the kitchen, followed by John and Leo. "We don't like the idea of you two going in alone," said Leo as she closed the door.
"I'd rather have you two with me too,” Tookes said, "but I can't leave Max here alone. I need you two here in case Frye or the nut-jobs try to get him again. I have a pretty good idea of how to drive a train, and Marshall is the best welder of all of us. It makes the most sense for the two of us to go. Besides, the two of you are best equipped to fight humans. Your speed and John's guns will make quick work of any humans that come our way. I'm really only good at one-on-one fights, and Marshall is good at breaking things. If I left Marshall here, he'd probably throw the house at Frye," Tookes said with a big grin.