by Lanza, Marie
Mayhem barked at the infected.
“Leave it Mayhem.” I tugged at his leash. There was no use thinking we were going to hide. They had their eyes locked on us.
“No guns.” Dan looked behind us towards the town and back to the three just ahead. “We’ll bring every infected in town this way if we shoot these things.” He pulled out his machete.
The infected moved at different paces, and as the closest one approached, I could make out that it was a young man. The second was not too far behind him and also looked like a male but was a little harder to make out. Both appeared as if they had been infected since the beginning of the outbreak; even at this distance I could see that their skin was barely clinging to their bones, and that goopy clumps of blood was dripping from their wounds. The third was getting farther behind, barely moving as it was being slowed down from dragging a limp leg.
The infected lurched and twitched as they moved. It was hard not to get distracted and just watch them. They were gaunt in the face, with swelling around their eyes. Anything alive, or at least sentient, had left their body, leaving only dead cells holding them together.
I wasn’t sure how I was going to hold Mayhem and cut this thing’s head off. Dan took a few steps ahead of me and confronted the first man holding his machete up, ready to take a swing. The infected man lunged at him, and Dan sliced open its neck sending it crashing to the ground. The second wasn’t far behind. I held my machete out like a spear keeping a firm grip while holding Mayhem with my other hand.
The saving grace for a stand-off with the infected was that they couldn’t think beyond biting and eating. The second infected man impaled itself onto my machete almost like he didn’t even see it. He was heavier than he looked. I braced myself but couldn’t hold his weight. I could feel him continuing to push forward and knew that he would topple us. Before we could both collapse, Dan kicked it in the mid-section, sending it reeling to the ground at our feet. I plunged my weapon through its skull without hesitation, completely caught in the moment. Then time seemed to slow as I pulled my machete from its head and cursed at the sloshing sound their bodies made. The sound made my skin crawl.
Mayhem barked at the third infected.
“Leave it, Mayhem!” I jerked his leash.
Mayhem was frustrated
“He’s gonna bring the entire neighborhood to us.” Dan approached the infected.
As it got closer, we could make out it was a woman. He didn’t think twice; he lifted his machete and swung downward until the blade bit into her skull.
Dan turned back to me but looked over my shoulder. “We gotta go.”
I looked behind us to find infected coming around the street corner from the town.
We ran south down Highway 59 with the infected following behind. We knew the farm house where we had parked the truck couldn’t be that far.
It was only about a half mile to where the open field with oil pumps and abandoned farm house came into our view. It was such a relief, and it gave us the push we needed to move faster.
There was always something eerie about the central coast. Most of the morning it was covered in fog, then a few hours of beautiful sunshine, and by 3pm the fog would roll in again. My sister and I loved to say we found ourselves in Stephen King's “The Mist” and would endlessly reference all the end-of-the-world horror movies we watched throughout our lives. It was our silly way of whistling in the dark and letting our imaginations run wild without letting it get the best of us. We would make up scenarios about the world ending with everyone turned in to flesh eating monsters, and with that came a forever-gloom over the world. Then it was silly. Now, it was all too real.
Something was wrong here. I couldn’t quite put my finger on it, but everything felt off. Mayhem wasn’t growling or expressing agitation, just more of an uneasy cower. His ears were down, tail not wagging. Dan must have been feeling the same way, as he began to move a little closer to me and we slowed down.
I hadn’t noticed when we first arrived just how creepy this property was. It made the hair on the back of my neck stand straight up. The field was dry, and the house looked like it would eventually fall in on itself. Years of abandonment had taken its toll on the property.
We approached the house with caution, anticipating there could be infected around the corner. Dan stopped us. We paused.
“Do you see that?” Dan asked directing my attention ahead of us.
Through the fog, a dark lump lay in the driveway beyond the house and close to the garage. It looked like a body, but it was hard to tell.
I nodded.
We continued forward. I watched Mayhem for any sign or warning. He sniffed the air, still tense in his walk.
We were finally close enough where we could tell that it was, in fact, a body. It wasn’t moving. Mayhem grumbled.
All of a sudden, running footsteps came up from behind. I didn’t have time to turn around. A sharp pain slammed the back of my skull and my vision went black.
* * *
I woke up with a horrible headache, finding myself lying on the ground. My body wouldn’t function. My vision was blurry, and I couldn’t quite focus enough to get a view of where I was.
Am I paralyzed? I thought to myself.
I couldn’t really feel anything except the relentless pounding in the back of my head.
Where’s Dan? Mayhem?
I then felt my hands were tied behind my back. My vision started to clear up. I was in a room that looked like an attic with large windows. The floor was wood with gaping holes and missing boards. The paint was coming off the walls, and most of the drywall was gone leaving the studs exposed. I wasn’t in an attic; I was in the main floor of a house.
I’m in the abandoned house.
We saw a body in the road.
Where’s Dan? Mayhem?
The body in the road was a trap!
Footsteps. With each step the wood floor creaked. They were slow and steady.
Should I pretend to still be out?
It was too late for that. The steps stopped behind me, and a stranger leaned over me.
“Welcome back!” It was a man’s voice, sounding sarcastically joyous.
He took his boot, and stepped down on my shoulder, forcing my body to roll on my back. He was an older man, about mid-fifties, and wasn’t aging well from the deep lines in his face. He leaned down to take my arm and pulled me to my feet.
I was still so groggy I could barely stand.
“What’s happening?” were the only words I could get out.
“What’s happening is you and your boyfriend have something I want,” the voice said.
“Where’s Dan?”
“Oh, don’t you worry about him. He’s just fine in the other room. And your dog, well we might have some fun teaching it a lesson about biting.”
With those words, the man pushed me over to the edge of one of the larger holes in the floor. With my head held over the ragged hardwood, I could see into the basement an infected woman stood below us, looking up, hissing. She looked newly turned, still holding very human features. She cocked her head like she was actually thinking and planning about her attack.
“What do you want?” I kept my eyes on the infected below us.
“I want to know how to get in that underground military base. I’m assuming that’s where you kids came from.”
“What are you talking about? They let all survivors in!” I was fully awake and aware I was in the hands of a crazy man.
“No darlin’, I don’t need the fucking military running my ass. This is a whole new world. Haven’t you noticed? I want their guns, supplies. So you’re gonna tell me everything I need to know about this underground base.” He squeezed the back of my neck as he spoke with his lips so close to my ear I could feel his heated breath.
“Where’s Dan?”
“He’s about to be in that hole with her if you don’t start talking.”
“You’ll be disappointed to find out that the base was
overrun with infected,” I managed to say spitefully.
There was an uncomfortable pause. I couldn’t hear anything around us, and my fear was beginning to get the best of me. Could Dan and Mayhem already be dead?
“That is downright disappointing.” The man pulled me away from the hole and walked me over to the corner of the room. He drug me so forcefully that I was tripping over every step. He sat me in the corner of the room and left without saying another word.
I couldn’t see much out of the windows while sitting on the floor. The clear skies outside told me it was still mid-day. The fog wouldn’t roll back into this area until the later part of the afternoon. It wasn’t even 5 minutes later when I heard footsteps coming back my way from the other room.
The older man was the first man through the door, followed by Dan, and then two guys that looked close to our age. The first looked older than his years. He dressed like a farmer; he wore dirty overalls and an equally dirty t-shirt, and had leathery skin from too much sun exposure. The other appeared more backwoods with an overgrown mullet haircut, wearing jeans and what was once a white t-shirt. Dan’s face was bruised, and there was dried blood on his shirt. Mayhem wasn’t with him. As soon as he saw me his steps quickened, and he dropped to the ground next to me. With our hands bound behind us we couldn’t hold each other, but seeing him was such a relief.
“Are you ok?” Dan asked.
I just nodded, and tears began falling down my face. I had thought I lost him. Of course, being in the hands of these lunatics, it seemed likely that I would.
“Now this is how it’s gonna work. You tell me what I want to know, and I don’t throw you in the hole with Dawn of the Dead.” The older man pointed in the direction of the hole.
“Where’s my dog, you fucking asshole?” If I was going to die, it wasn’t going to be while begging for my life.
The man’s sarcastic smile faded, and his expression turned angry. He moved aggressively towards me, took my arms, and lifted me to my feet. I was sure he was going to throw me down the hole.
“Get your hands off her!” Dan screamed helplessly from the floor.
The two younger guys snickered.
“We tied your beast to that…..” The old man spun me around to face out the back window and pointed to a tree.
Mayhem wasn’t anywhere to be found. His leash was still tied to the tree.
“Well looks like something ate our bait boys. Guess we’ll be using the two of you for a lure.”
I collapsed to the floor back next to Dan. Mayhem was gone. I hoped he pulled out of his collar. I couldn’t think about him being ripped apart and eaten by infected.
“So here’s the deal. You take us to the entrance that gets us closest to the weapons room, we all go in and find what we want. If you survive, you’re free to go.”
“That’s death for us.” I looked at Dan.
The farmer boy pulled Dan to his feet and walked him to the hole.
“It’s death for you right here, right now, if you don’t show us.” The old man was getting agitated.
“No, no, no!” I screamed.
“OK! OK!” Dan shouted out. “You’re already here.”
Everyone quieted.
Dan was either buying us time, or he had an actual plan. Whatever his thought process was, I wasn’t going to fight him.
“What do you mean we’re already here?” The old man asked.
“You’re practically standing over what you’re looking for. Leave her here. You don’t need both of us.” Dan looked down at me and back to the old man.
“Radio the boys, tell ‘em we’re going in.” The old man looked at the other two.
Farmer boy kept hold of Dan while the backwoods guy left the room.
The old man walked slowly to Dan until he was right in his face. “I think we’ll take your pretty girlfriend as insurance.”
I was happy to hear that. I didn’t want to be left behind. If we were going to die, I wanted to die together.
Dan didn’t respond. He kept his eyes locked in on the old man, both sizing the other up.
I could only hope Dan had anticipated that.
The old man got me to my feet, and we all left the room and made our way into what looked like was once the living room and kitchen area.
Backwoods guy, who had called whatever others they were waiting for, was in there. They had a bag of radios on the kitchen counter. “They’re on their way,” he said.
The man pushed us out the back door and onto the porch.
“After you,” the old man said, looking at Dan.
Dan gave me a side-glance and walked down the few steps ahead of everyone else. We were so vulnerable with our hands tied behind our backs, I couldn’t imagine what he could possibly be thinking.
The men had their guns down, but kept their eyes scanning the field for infected.
“The entrance is in the barn. The door is unlocked, and leads to a safe room, then another door and you’re in.” Dan left out the fact the door was locked.
“The guys should be here in about 10 minutes,” Backwoods guy called out.
Everyone came together about 20 feet from the barn door. I followed in the back without being monitored. I guess they weren’t too worried I was going to run off.
My stomach ached, still wondering what could have happened to Mayhem. If he was still in the area he would have shown himself as soon as we walked out of that house.
“Either you can untie me so I can open this door for you, or be my guest. It slides open.” Dan’s tone had arrogance in it as he spoke to the old man.
The creepy smile remained on the old man’s face. It was the focus of my hatred and my rage, and in that instant I hated it more than the hordes of monsters that have upturned the world. As he approached Dan, he held his gun out to the side. With his free hand, the old man took Dan’s bindings off and freed his hands. The thugs took a few steps back and collectively raised their guns, watching Dan and the space that would soon be open to whatever was inside the barn.
Dan pulled the chains, and the door began to slide open. It was halfway open when a gunshot rang out.
I instinctively hit the ground in a fetal position.
Then another shot.
There was no way to protect myself; I couldn’t hide, and I didn’t think to run back to the house.
They shot Dan in the back!
I couldn’t think of anything past that thought. The shots stopped, and I was being lifted from the ground to my feet. Farmer boy was holding me from behind with his arm wrapped around my neck, his gun pointed to the barn.
I was so confused. I couldn’t see Dan anywhere. The old man was lying on his belly groaning and backwoods guy wasn’t moving at all.
Dan came out of the barn with a gun pointed at us, and right behind him Jaxon stepped out of the darkness.
“Don’t come any closer, or I’ll blow her fucking brains out!” Farmer boy pressed the gun to my head. He cowered behind me, and I could feel his spit on my skin from his frantic scream.
Jaxon and Dan separated, forcing the maniac holding me to look back and forth.
“You don’t have to do that. You can just walk away from here. We all can,” Jaxon called out.
“My boys will be here any minute. Then we’ll see who’s walking away,” he called back.
I locked my eyes on Dan. If those guys made it here, none of us would get out alive. I threw my head back delivering a sharp blow to the guys face. His grip loosened, and I dropped to my knees, slipping through his arm.
Three shots fired.
My head was pounding.
The guy was lying behind me, moaning in pain. I knew I had to get to my feet and away from him. Before I stood, Dan was standing between us, and he fired two more times into the man’s chest. He was dead.
Dan helped me to my feet, untied me, and I threw my arms around his neck. I didn’t want to let go of him.
Another gun shot fired off.
When we turned, Jaxon w
as standing over the old man. “We should get out of here.”
The three of us ran back to the barn.
“I can’t believe you’re alive!” I gave Jaxon a side hug. “Where’s Ethan?”
“Inside with Mayhem.”
It was such a relief to hear his name.
When we entered the barn, Mayhem and Ethan popped out from behind the truck.
“Harmony!” Ethan’s little voice squealed, and he hugged my waist.
Mayhem’s tail wagged, and he jumped up and down until I pet his head.
“Let’s go!” Dan jumped in the truck.
Jaxon opened the barn door wider and jumped in the back seat with Ethan and Mayhem. I climbed into the front with Dan.
Dan tore out of the barn.
The infected had heard the gun battle and were already spilling onto the property.
“Head North on the 59,” Jaxon called out.
All of us were on high alert for the marauders on their way. It was bad enough we were constantly running from infected.
We drove off the property and headed north.
“How did you know?” I looked at Dan.
He gave me a quick double take, not quite sure what I was asking.
“How did you know Jaxon was in the barn?” I turned in my chair bringing my eyes to the back seat.
“He signaled me from the window.” Dan looked in the rear view mirror.
“I was just lucky one of you saw it,” Jaxon said.
“Where do we go now? Is there anything left?” I asked.
There was silence. Dan reached across and held my hand.
We drove past the main street to the town of Glen, and Dan slowed the truck. The hordes that had gathered were gone, with only a few random stragglers still roaming around. Most of the infected had begun to make their way to the farm property but had turned again to follow the truck. I thought about the other survivors from the base, and even though we couldn’t stop, I had hoped that the distraction we provided gave them some advantage over the stumbling creatures chasing them, however small.
I turned to look directly at Jaxon, a little surprised he hadn’t answered me. “Jaxon?”
“I don’t know of any other base that’s holding up. Frankly, Glen was our strongest in this area. Before it fell, we got word that no one had any status on the President, and the Vice President is dead. The Joint Chiefs are gone. There is no more government.” Jaxon’s words were uncomfortably defeated.