by Weeks, TJ
“Jackpot!” Justin called out.
“What is it?” I questioned.
“Everything is still stocked.” He replied.
“Fuck yeah! Let’s grab what we can, but save room for food and other supplies as well.” I stated.
“Bingo-Bango, Wheew!” Gizmo and Justin stated at the same time.
“Y’all are fucking stupid.” I stated while shaking my head.
Under the bar was a box of rags, I pulled the rags from its box and to save room in my bag, I pushed them into the front zip up pouch under my camelback.
I could hear a scraping sound coming from outside. I quickly shot my eyes to Gizmo to see him giving hand signals to let us know something was approaching. The sound was faint, yet it seemed it should be obvious.
I edged quietly out of the door to see a Rotter herd coming our way and noticed that the sound heard was a police officer Rotter that was pulling himself toward us with his baton dragging the ground.
The moans picked up as soon as its bloodshot lifeless eyes made contact with me. I stepped back in quickly.
“Let’s move!” I called out loud since our location was already made.
We rushed to the back of the bar and ran out the rear emergency exit. I heard Steven call out, and as I looked back there was a bum rotter with her back stuck to the red brick wall that had grabbed his leg. As he pulled for his freedom, parts of her meat started pulling out from the wall like hot bubblegum being ripped from a shoe. Justin pierced his knife into her temple and pulled her hand free from Steven’s leg and we started making our way down the narrow alley. The rotters were already at the end of our escape. We all headed to anywhere that we might have been able to save ourselves at this point. I started shimmying up a gas line that ran up the side of the building. I made my way onto the rooftop and instantly threw my pack to the side and started helping my team by pulling them over the edge as they made it to the top. The herd was moving in quick and I still had Steven and Justin on the ground. I pulled away for a moment and started sniping as many headshots as I could lay out. I saw Steven flop over the side as I continued to shoot, feeling every hot expensed casing flying from the right side of my weapon. It all seemed like it happened so fast that I don’t remember any recoil cramming back into my shoulder blade that I had it so well seated into.
“We’re good.” I could hear so faint that it went unnoticed.
“We’re good!” Gizmo repeated in a holler that hovered my ear.
I stopped pulling the trigger, but still had my eyes locked onto the rotters that were now coming in like a tidal wave of sharks that left you wanting to stay clear of even the comfort of a splash zone.
Justin patted my shoulder to somewhat announce that things were alright. All I could think of is, I’ve seen this movie, this is JAWS and we’re stuck on the damn sinking boat while this mindless eating machine circles us and awaits for one of us to abandon ship. Only difference I could see is that JAWS invited his friends for dinner and we may as well have rang the dinner bell. I finally unshouldered my weapon and started looking around the area to take my mind off of the rotters below just shitting themselves trying to make room for the buffet we just presented them.
The rooftops weren’t too far apart, so jumping from roof to roof wouldn’t be a big deal. What we would do once we ran out of rooftops was still up in the air, but I didn’t want to lead the flesh eating bastards to that point yet.
“Well guys, it looks like we’re camping out right here.” I announced.
“At least things can’t get any worse.” Gizmo stated as a single drop of rain plowed into my face.
I wiped it from my cheek and looked up to see we were about to get a flood.
“Good call.” I told him with a disgusted look upon my face.
“Why the fuck does someone always have to say that when things get bad?” Justin questioned.
“Okay, I stand corrected.” Gizmo added.
“Glad we could be part of your correction.” Steven stated.
I walked to the edge looking toward the row of buildings. They were all gathering puddles at the top and most didn’t look like they’ve been maintained in quite a while.
Steven walked over to join me. “So what’s the plan? Are we roof jumping now?”
“Don’t you have a grappling hook in your bag?” I asked.
“Yeah…So your plan is to swing out of here, because we can’t climb any higher.” He sarcastically asked.
“I don’t know just yet.” I answered.
“Can I ask you a question?” He asked.
“Sure…” I replied.
“Out of all the years you spent writing horror books, did you ever think you would see the day that the world came to this?” He asked.
I paused for a moment and ran that question through my head many times.
“That’s it! Go grab your grappling hook.” I answered.
“Whoa! What is it...Wait, what is it?” He asked further.
I walked off and came to the center of the roof.
“Dump your bags of anything useful such as machetes, axes, long knives, anymore grappling hooks, rope or anything else that would help out.” I announced to everyone.
Gizmo looked over with a strange look plastered all over his face.
“What is he up to? Justin asked him.
“I think the man has just come up with a plan.” Gizmo answered as he caught his feet and started pulling equipment from his bag.
“Look, I know that everyone thinks we’re fucked and this is it for us, but I’m not ready to die and I’m certain that none of you are ready to call it quits either. I’ve written horror books my whole life and if there’s one thing that I know for certain…the killer is usually the last person standing. Just like a book, you can expect a twist and we’re that twist. You want to get off this roof? Then let’s show these motherfuckers the horror that we grew up with!” I stated.
I grabbed Steven’s grappling hook and walked back over to the edge of the roof. I slung it down right in the center of the herd and jerked up. I hooked one and started heaving it up the wall. I had it almost on the roof when Howard ran over and buried a machete into its head.
“What the fuck are you doing?” He angrily questioned.
“Exactly what you just did. Why should we worry about being butchered when we’re the butcher?” I answered as I shook the rotter off my hook like a catch and release while fishing.
Justin smiled and grabbed a rope and turning it into a lasso. He started throwing it down like he was roping cattle around the neck. Gizmo joined him with his hatchet. Steven and Donald teamed up as well.
Some didn’t have to be pulled all the way up to the top, some of their heads would pop off from the pressure of their bodies dangling and would drop while their heads would roll as they hit the ground.
“We’re the horror squad!” Howard yelled down to the rotters as the corpses fell by three’s.
I smiled at the thought. “You’re right, we’re the horror squad.”
The herd was just about wiped out with the last seven climbing the pile we had put down. Most would climb about halfway up before falling backwards and tumbling back to the bottom. A couple even saved us the trouble as they fell and bashed their heads on the pavement splattering their own brains.
“So guys, you want to camp here or do you want to find a dry spot?” I asked as the last son of a bitch hit the ground.
“Let’s go.” Justin stated.
“Yeah, let’s go. I have enough adrenalin to kill off all of these bastards.” Gizmo stated.
“Grab your shit and let’s get out of this hell hole.” I suggested as I made my way to my own bag.
I threw it over my shoulders and slid about six feet down the gas pipe before I was able to step off onto the pile of bloody vile rotten corpses. For once I left my rifle attached to my bag and only armed myself with a machete. I did my best surf job getting down the pile and waiting for the rest of my team. After we were all ba
ck in the alley, I pulled one of the bottles of liquor from my bag along with one of the rags. I shoved the rag down in the bottle and had Gizmo light it before throwing it on the pile of rotters.
“That’s a waste!” Justin stated.
“Na, it was well worth it.” I replied with the flames dancing over the glassy haze of my eyes and started walking off to lead us to somewhere dry.
Again back in line formation that covered the width of the street, we all moved silently watching each other’s backs as we looked for anything that moved that wasn’t us. Every so often a noise would catch our attention and we would all spin in a three sixty and whoever spotted the dragging rotter would head toward it and pierce its brain with whatever our chosen weapon was. I led us to a huge library and started walking up the wide set of cement steps.
“Wow, the author finally makes his way home.” Steven stated with a laugh.
“I’ve done book signings for years and the library is somewhere people didn’t go even before they died. I think we’ll be okay.” I stated, laughing as well.
There was some ripped out and torn pages stuck to the steps by the rain.
“There goes someone’s legacy.” I stated as I stepped over them and pulled at the door.
As I thought, it was like walking into a ghost town with the shelves being the buildings. The tightness of the books made a disturbing whistling sound with the door open and the wind blowing through them. We made our way up the stairs so we could keep watch from the over casting level that had a view of the whole bottom floor of the library.
We each pulled out a sleeping bag which we had laid out with our heads towards the center of the library. Before laying down, we passed around one of the bottles of liquor and devoured an MRE.
TJ AND KRIS
I RAN my finger across Kris’ nose a few times and then pushed my finger in it.
“I swear you have a demented way of saying, I love you.” She stated as she swatted my hand away.
I started laughing. “I figured you were awake. You usually beat me out of the bed.”
“Yes, I’m awake. I was about to get up and smoke a cigarette before I jump in the shower.” She responded.
“Sounds good, I’m about to make some coffee and get everything ready for Steven to be here.” I stated.
“That’s right, your boyfriend is coming today.” She said in a joking manner.
“Yep, he better hope he brought his butt plug or I might just have to take that ass.” I laughed back.
“You two are fucking insane.” She stated as she lit her cigarette.
“Na, I just like fucking with him. We’ve known each other for the better part of a decade. Hell, we went to war with each other, but I haven’t seen him in years. It’s always just facebook or phone calls.” I added.
“So what’s the big plan?” She asked.
“We’re going to Gizmo and Tina’s tonight. They’re barbequing. He asked me to bring my rifles, so I imagine we’ll be doing some shooting and of course we’ll be doing some drinking.” I answered.
“I guess I need to get up and go grab some beer then?” She asked.
“Yep, unless it self-delivers these days and I didn’t know about it.” I stated with a smile.
“You’re such a smartass, I’m not sure that I like you at the moment.” She stated.
“It’s not mandatory.” I said with a wink.
“I think it is mandatory that I like my husband.” She added.
“Guess it’s settled then.” I stated while walking over and filling my coffee pot with water to make my morning glory.
WHILE WE’RE AWAY
THE SMALL table rocked a bit as Milissa sat Tina’s cup of coffee in front of her.
“Thank you Milissa, I need it before Kris shows up with her bubbly fucking morning bullshit.” Tina stated as she stirred her sugar and creamer in.
“GOOD MORNING EVERYBODY!!” Kris belted as she walked into the cafeteria.
Kris sat down in front of Tina and smiled at her. Tina reluctantly raised her eyes to Kris waiting for something happy to come out of her mouth. Kris just sat with her hands folded on the table and looked around knowing that Tina was not the morning person that she was.
“Go ahead.” Tina stated after lighting her cigarette.
“I hate that they are gone, I miss him.” Kris told her with tears welling up.
“Don’t start that shit Kris!” Tina almost shouted as the tears became contagious.
Milissa sat a glass of chocolate milk down in front of Kris and stood next to them for a moment. “Y’all okay?” She asked.
Both of the girls laughed as they wiped away the tears.
“Just being babies, missing the assholes.” Tina stated.
Tina took the last gulp of her coffee and pushed her cup to the edge silently asking for a refill.
Kris sat up straight as she peered out of the rectangle windows that lined the wall around the room at the kids playing outside in the grass filled courtyard.
“Will you get them all some cereal, I’ll call them in?” She asked Milissa.
Milissa headed back to gather up the kid’s breakfast as Kris knocked on the window and gave a come here motion for the four that were outside. They raced through the double steel doors and let them slam shut and over to the table. They all sat down and loudly continued whatever conversation they were having outside.
“Hudson, when we are done with breakfast we can get those big sticks and we can play swords!” Daltin expressed.
Hudson’s dimples shown on his cheeks as he smiled at his friend and nodded his head. Sidnie and Cloie sat next to each other whispering and giggling to each other as their breakfast was sat in front of them.
Tina and Kris watched as their children dug in and were both thankful that their children were able to fill their stomachs with actual food and that they were there safe with them.
“I wish we knew where they were.” Tina stated looking outside.
The kids all knew what they were talking about and chimed in with their opinions.
“Maybe they found so much stuff to bring back for us that they gotta go really slow.” The five year old Hudson said with a mouthful.
“Maybe so son.” Tina laughed at the milk flowing down his chin.
“No, they are out there fighting stupid zombies!” Cloie stated in her pissed off attitude.
Apparently being ten years old during the zombie apocalypse and your dad not being there made her very moody. Cloie had been making comments about Gizmo leaving them there and not being there to keep things safe ever since the guys had left.
“Cloie, we are fine here and Dad is fine out there. He will be home soon.” Tina told her daughter.
“All of them can fight and have to go so that they can take care of us.” Sidnie told Cloie.
Being the oldest of the four, Sidnie tried to keep the others calm about the amount of the situation she knew about and the little of the situation that they knew about.
Tina and Kris tried to not talk about what was on the outside of the walls or what their husbands did while they were gone on missions. They tried to provide normalcy for them all and keep things as calm as possible; even though they knew what was going on for the most part. Hudson, as young as he was, just knew that there were bad people outside that would hurt him and was scared enough that he stayed fairly close to his mom.
Daltin was twelve and knew a bit more. He knew that there were zombies out there and that his dad was going out there to gather things to bring back for them.
Sidnie was sixteen and knew everything and being a girl explained most of it to Cloie who became very resentful towards her mother and father apparently thinking that they had created the zombies or something.
“My dad is awesome and he will HI-YAH those stupid….” Daltin started before Kris covered her son’s mouth.
Tina laughed as Cloie belted out that it wasn’t funny that her dad was out there. Sidnie reached for Cloie’s hand. “They will be fi
ne. Both of our dads are awesome and will be home soon.”
Kris looked at her daughter and half smiled at her as a thank you for trying to keep Cloie calm as she had asked her to do.
The four finished their cereal and looked at their mothers for the okay to leave.
Both Tina and Kris waved them off and they hurried out of the cafeteria; the boys back to their pile of sticks and the girls back under the small tree to sit and draw in their spirals that had been found in the classrooms of the school.
“I wish Cloie understood a little more about Gizmo being gone.” Tina watched her daughter.
“She is a little young and just misses her dad, she will be fine.” Kris told her friend. “This is the first time they have gone out without us and she is a bit of a daddy’s girl. While we were gone, they were watched by everyone and knew that we were out there taking care of her dad. Now we are here and she might be a little confused on why we aren’t out with him.”
Both knew that they needed to get their day started and take care of the ‘wifely duties’.
They gathered the kids and led them back into the school and started them on the chore of gathering their clothes to be washed.
The few things that they were able to gather before coming to their new home was stashed into filing cabinets and cupboards of the different classrooms that Kris and Tina had made into their own little homes for the time being. They made tubs that they had found in one of the science labs as their dirty laundry basket and were able to wash clothes in the old field house. The dryers had worked at one time, but they were down to two out of four which made it hard for everyone to get their belongings dried. Tina and Kris decided that hanging their wash on rope that they had found in one of the warehouses that must have been used for shop class, was what they would do to save the dryers that were left. They had made the best of what they were given.
There had been enough refrigerators in the cafeteria to spare a few for the groups to have one in their make shift homes. They were able to get some food from Karen to put in their own rooms. Tina and Kris would usually get a loaf of bread and things for sandwiches and split the food between the two rooms. Lunch time was usually sandwiches or sometimes they were lucky to get some of the microwave dinners that they were able to heat up in their shared microwave if the plant workers didn’t get to them first. Karen only put out so many a day to save on what they had.