“Jack!” I said to the big man. “What are you doing here?”
“You guys sounded like you were having too much fun without me,” he said between labored breaths.
Terry climbed over the Jeeps and sat down beside me with a dejected look on his face.
“I’m out of grenades.”
“Terry, what did you do before the zombies?” I asked still astonished at his last amazing feat.
“I worked at Starbucks.”
“Nt shit…” my jaw was touching the floor.
“Me too!” Jack exclaimed with a sudden burst of energy.
Who knew that insane killing machines were making coffee for assholes on a regular basis before the zombies. Maybe the monotony of pouring cup after cup of coffee turns damaged people into death machines.
I suddenly became aware that Rex was no longer beside me. I looked around and didn’t see him in the immediate area. I looked out towards the twenty or so slow zombies that were still approaching and remembered that we still had this to take care of.
“Are you okay to keep shooting?” I asked Jack who was still very pale from blood loss.
“We got this,” he said, propping his gun on the hood of a Jeep and taking aim. I stepped back and started looking around for Rex, and then I saw him standing solemnly next to young Jimmy. The teen was on his back, and his body was trembling. I ran over to see what had happened, and he had a large hole in his chest that was making a deep sucking sound with each painful breath he took. He said he would die to protect the people of this camp, and he was fulfilling that promise.
As I approached, I saw that Rex was standing watch over him. Jimmy’s eyes were locked onto Rex’s, and the two were saying so much to each other through that one simple look. Rex raised his paw and placed it on Jimmy’s shoulder in what looked like a comforting gesture. Jimmy brought a trembling hand up to Rex’s face and stroked his fur one time before his eyes rolled closed, and his breathing stopped.
Rex pawed at his lifeless body several times before laying down next to the fallen boy. I approached slowly and squatted down next to the two.
“We can’t do anything for him, bud,” I said to Rex. He looked up at me with a sadness in his eyes that caused an unusual pain in my chest.
The sound of screeching tires just outside the barricade caused me to look up quickly. Two pickup trucks swerved around the approaching zombies and were headed straight towards us. Our row of ragtag guards fired at the first truck, destroying the front window and filling the driver with enough bullets to end his miserable existence. Only that didn’t stop the truck from speeding towards us. In fact, the newly deceased driver slumped over the wheel, and his foot pressed harder on the gas, turning his truck into a screaming, speeding missile headed right towards us. The men on the front line dove out of the way as the truck slammed into the barricade, knocking our Jeeps cleanly out of the way of the opening like some giant game of shuffle board. The dead man’s truck continued to roll until it stopped well inside the zoo, leaving us open for the second truck to come flying through. I looked at the truck and clearly saw Axel firing out the window as he passed by. Two of our men were hit as he kept speeding into the heart of the zoo.
“Fuck!” I shouted, slamming another magazine into my gun and firing rounds into the back of Axel’s truck. Then, we heard more gunfire as more of Axel’s army came charging up behind the zombies ready to over take the zoo. This was quickly going from a clusterfuck to a cluster quagmire. I heard Terry laughing manically as he tried desperately to rip a propane tank off of a cart that looked like it once sold giant turkey legs. He wasn’t going to be of any use in this fight anymore, and our numbers were down to about six.
“Jack!” I said. “I have to go after Axel!”
“We got this,” he said gesturing for me to go chase down the unwanted gate crasher.
I ran down the street as fast as I could, and heard the clickety-clack of Rex’s paws on the street behind me.
“Get out of here!” I yelled uselessly, knowing full well this dog wouldn’t listen. So we ran side by side after a truck we could no longer see. Axel was further into the zoo, and I was completely unaware of where he was heading.
Chapter 46
We came to a stop at the center of the zoo. It was an open marketplace that was surrounded by shops and restaurants. Now, the streets were clear and it was just a large empty lot with four streets that Axel could have gone down. If I chose the wrong one to follow, there’s no telling if I could ever catch up to him.
Rex barked and hopped up and down like he was yelling at me for stopping our pursuit. I could hear tires screeching in the distance, but there was no way to pinpoint the direction it was coming from. A gunshot rang out, and I felt a burning pain in my left thigh. I looked down to see what happened, and found that my jeans were quickly soaking up blood from a fresh gunshot wound. As I looked on in shock at my injury, I was suddenly illuminated by high beams that were just switched on. Axel’s truck was entering the marketplace when he took his shot and then switched on his lights.
I looked up like a proverbial deer in headlights as the truck came speeding towards me. Then I became aware that the dark spot running away from the truck and towards me was Rex.
no.
He ran his awkward but effectively fast run towards me, and he seemed to be completely unaware of the truck behind him.
No.
I could see the realization on his tiny brown and white face that something was close behind him. He stopped and turned his body to see what was behind him, and the bright lights from the truck swallowed him whole. Rex raised his head high, and all I could make out was the silhouette of his small frame folding in half as the truck slammed into him head on.
“NOOOO!!” I shouted as a wave of heat washed over my entire body. My vision blurred, and my stomach was roiling with the sensation that I had to vomit. The pressure of something pushing on the inside of my chest changed as whatever was being pushed finally gave way.
For the first time in my life as a monster something moved inside me. Something hurt deeply. The pain was unlike anything I had ever imagined. I thought it was going to kill me. The entire world moved in slow motion, and yet I was powerless to do anything to save the small dog.
His body crumpled and thrashed under the body of the truck, and I could see him bounce a few times before coming to an abrupt and motionless stop.
“My dog is dead,” came out in a tiny weak voice that sounded vaguely like a younger version of me.
The lights from the truck lit my features and woke me from the nightmarish moment I was frozen in. I dove out of the way of the truck and rolled on the ground, dropping my gun in the process. Hitting the ground hurt more than any other physical pain I had ever felt thus far. However, the pain from my shattered femur paled in comparison to the excruciating suffering I was feeling from watching my Rex die.
As I lay on the ground, I looked over at the lifeless pup. His body was just a pile of fur and memories. Everything that dog had done since the day he forced his way into my life was done for me. Every action he took was for me. He was selfless, and now I was going to die, and his body would be a stain on the ground next to mine.
The truck came back, and he rolled it to a stop just inches from my head. I never took my eyes off of Rex’s body. My head tried desperately to remember a happier time with the dog. Even thoughts of when he was shitting in my house and making me angry caused pain. I heard the driver’s door open and close, and the scuff of boots on concrete drawing closer. My eyes became blurry, and I couldn’t understand what was happening. I brought my hands to my face and felt a warm wetness like when I have feigned sorrow in the past. I knew they were tears, only I hadn’t instructed my eyes to make them.
“You cryn’ over yer doggy, faggit?” Axel said, sneering down at me.
I gave him only the briefest of looks before looking back at Rex.
“I’m talkin’ to you, motherfucker!” he added.
I turned back at him and looked down the barrel of his gun. He was going to shoot me, and I would never be able to inflict all of the pain I wanted so desperately to take out on him. I needed to get him closer.
“Your brother cried like a bitch when I strapped him to that lawnmower,” I said, bringing my voice back to the icy, unfeeling quality I loved so much. Axel’s smile dropped, and he squinted his eyes looking at me.
“You?” he asked.
“You should have seen his tears when I told him what I was going to do.”
“You killed Jackson?!” he said, lowering his gun.
“Well…the zombies did all of the killing. All I did was make them run for their food.”
“You motherfucker!” Axel screamed while kicking me hard in the ribs.
He kicked me in the ribs over and over until I was fairly sure I heard one of them crack. I caught a glimpse of Axel’s red face as he kicked me. His eyes were tearing up, and his skin was bright red with rage. I started to laugh a long and hearty laugh that must have caught Axel off guard because he stopped kicking me.
“You cryn’ over yer brother, faggit?” I said in the most mocking tone I could muster up. He bent down and lifted me to my feet and started punching me everywhere he could make contact. I tried laughing again, but just as I started, he swung low and hard and punched me in my broken femur.
“That hurt, bitch?” he asked, sucking in air.
“Probably not nearly as much as the first time your daddy put it in your ass,” I said, laughing hysterically at Axel. It was easy to see homophobic remarks and his dead brother were hot-button issues with him. If I had more time to analyze him, I might just peg him as a real closet case.
He swung hard at my face and rocked my head to one side before planting his knee into my solar plexus. All of my air escaped me, but I managed to make it sound as much like a laugh as I could. Before I know it, Axel threw me in front of his truck and straddled me like a prize pig. He struck me over and over, screaming obscenities with each powerful strike. He finally stopped swinging at me when I stopped laughing.
“Oh! It’s not funny anymore, is it?” He said, completely out of breath.
I spit up about as much blood as you would expect from taking a royal beating and then smiled at Axel. “It’s not, but do you want to know what is funny?” I asked. He tilted his head with a confused expression.
“What’s funny?” He asked.
“Your knife,” I answered.
Axel quickly grabbed at his belt for his knife, but it was already gone. I took it while he was busy going all Ike Turner on my face. Before he could react, I sliced a nice deep gash right through his Achilles tendon. The serrated blades made it cut through his skin like butter. I could hear a satisfying snap once the tendon was separated, and the tension ripped it half way up his calf.
Axel opened his mouth to scream, and before a sound could escape, I stabbed the knife up into his hamstrings and gave the knife a real good twist once it was in there. He tried to slide off of me, but I kept the knife firmly in place.
“What’s wrong?” I asked him through bloody teeth. “You don’t get it?”
I pulled the knife out and shoved his body off of mine. I stood up as quickly as I could which caused a tremendous amount of pain in my leg. Axel was trying to stand, but I had basically crippled both of his legs. He tried moving like a three legged spider towards the gun he had dropped on the ground before delivering me my beating. As he reached for the gun, I swung the knife down and sliced a very clean slice across the length of his entire back. His body seized, and he fell to the ground. I kicked his gun out of the way and then gave him some space to try and get away. Guess what? He kept trying to get away.
“Good for you,” I said as I followed him. “Most people would realize that they are pretty much dead by this point, but not you. You’re a fighter.” I brought the knife down between his shoulder blades and gave the knife a good twist.
“This knife is amazing,” I said, pulling it out from his back. “It really just cuts right in there.”
“Fuck you,” he spit out with copious amounts of blood. “I’ll kill you.”
I didn’t even acknowledge his threats.
“I mean it! I bet I can cut through your bone, and then slice a tomato just like that.” I snapped my fingers.
“You killed my brother!” he cried. I stomped on his back and drove his body into the ground hard. Then I walked in front of him and picked up his face.
“Your brother was a rapist piece of shit murderer just like you…He deserved to die.” Then I squeezed his cheeks harder and jerked his head towards Rex’s body. “That was MY dog. He was a good dog. He did nothing but change the lives of EVERYONE he came in contact with! HE deserves so much more than what you did to him!” I dragged Axel to his truck and opened the door.
“I’m sorry!” Axel cried.
“I’m not,” I said placing his head in the doorframe and slamming the door hard. His body jerked from the impact of the door, but I’ll say this for him, he was resilient. It took eight slams before his body stopped convulsing. Fifteen before I actually let his body fall to the ground. What remained of his head resembled strawberry oatmeal.
I left his body behind and limped towards Rex. Tears began streaming down my face again, and the pain of his loss was making it hard to stand. I just wanted to drop to my knees and scream. I wanted to punch the ground so hard it would split the world in half, killing everyone including myself. Death would be far better than the pain I was feeling.
When I made it to his body, I did drop to my knees. My head hung low, and I didn’t know what I was supposed to do any more. I just wanted to quit. I could feel an anxiousness inside me that I couldn’t get out, and so I punched the ground in front of Rex and screamed to let everything out.
As I roared, an explosion rocked the ground beneath me, and for a brief moment, I thought that maybe my premonition of splitting the world in two became true. Then I saw a fireball ascend into the air by the back of the zoo. I’m guessing Terry found a way to do something with that propane tank.
I looked up into the sky as the fire dissipated into the air, and then I felt the warmth of Rex’s blood on my hand. I didn’t want to look down at the pup, but the warm blood I was feeling seemed to be spreading across my hand. Then, I realized that blood doesn’t make a lapping sound.
I looked down, and to my amazement, it wasn’t the blood of my dog I was feeling. It was his tongue lightly coming from his mouth to taste my hand. His head and body were still motionless, but his eyes were partially open, and looking up at me.
“Rex!” I screamed with uncontrollable emotion erupting from me. Tears continued to stream down my face, but this time they were different. I’ve heard of happy tears, but never did I think I could experience them myself.
This has to be from blood loss and concussion, I thought.
The world around me was a foggy mess through my tear filled eyes. As I sat beside Rex and stroked his bloody fur, he placed one of his paws on my injured leg. I had almost forgotten about the damage I’d taken during the fight, and his tiny paw gently sat next to the bullet hole in my thigh.
I wasn’t sure who was comforting who.
I closed my eyes and felt a cool breeze blow across my face. I was still losing a fair amount of blood, and Rex was in pretty bad shape. If we didn’t get help soon, I was certain we wouldn’t last. Luckily, help arrived after about ten minutes later, easily enough time to wipe my tears and look like a man again.
Chapter 47
Terry, Jack, Joey, and two other men returned in various stages of injury. Terry was still naked as a jaybird and smiling like it was a day off at the beach. As they passed Axel’s truck, Joey hunched over and dry heaved at the sight. His glasses slid off his face and into his sick that piled up beneath him. That made me laugh, and at the tail end of that laughter, the adrenaline that was holding my pain at bay ended. Suddenly, my left l
eg felt like it was on fire and being stomped out by angry lesbian golfers.
Why lesbians?
Who cares, it’s my analogy.
The pain actually got so bad that I kept fading in and out of consciousness. Before consciousness escaped me completely, I remember looking at Terry and saying, “This is the second time in twenty-four hours that I’ve seen your penis.”
The Inhuman Chronicles (Book 1): Inhuman Page 31