Zombie Waltz (Bool 1)
Page 14
-sliding open the side door- as he hops inside.
Patrick pulls away as he jerks it shut, and as the others focus on the road ahead, Nick allows himself a peek over his shoulder at the mortuary. They speed past the destroyed van Dead Boy and Faith arrived in. Nick turns back and watches the ruined city go by. Just hoping Kim and the boys will be safe until…
Clean Socks My head is pounding. I open my eyes and look around. I'm naked and so is Faith. We threw our clothes off in a whirlwind and now there is not enough light for me to find my pants or underwear, plus Faith is on top of me. It’s not pitch black but close. The metal against my skin is hot though. It’s probably late in the morning. I worry in the quiet dark what will become of us. At some point we will have to get out of this dumpster and then it will be back into that soup of madness that Sarasota has become.
I wonder if I will ever find a good safe place for Faith, and I worry that in a calm and civil world she will no longer need me the way she does now. I could probably think about that forever, but forever is a long time to worry. So I shake it out of my head and finally decide to whisper, “Faith, are you awake?”
“Yes, I have been for a while. I didn't want to move yet; didn’t want to wake my Dead Boy.” She says.
“Did I talk…um…in my sleep?” I ask. “Not one peep” She says. There is a crack where the metal of the heavy lid had warped and rays of sunshine start to flow through. She is staring at me in the ray of light. At first I can only see her eyes and it’s somewhat disturbing how intensely she’s staring. But as the light spreads, it’s the intensity of a wicked grin and it’s beautiful.
“Let’s get dressed and out of the dumpster.” Faith says and moves in the dim light of the single crack to the green suitcase, and produces another glow stick. After she cracks it and shakes it, that ugly neon light pours all over us and both of us cover our eyes.
There’ s a pool of fresh blood in the center of the dumpster, probably from my hand and of course it had never been cleaned before...I am almost certain. The smell of the thing is much worse heated in the morning sun, and I swear the air is thinner in here now. I find my shirt, but there isn't much left. It’s torn on both sleeves and there is a gash in the center of it too.
I put my pants back on but decide my boxers are not worth saving. While I am trying to decide if I put my tennis shoes on with or without my socks, I watch Faith pulling her dress on. She is turned away from me. I really wonder about this girl.
After she dresses, Faith sits next to the wall, pulls on exceptionally clean socks and then notices me staring at her. “What?” she asks.
“Where did you get those? They look like they haven't even been worn.” I say, screwing up my face in mock annoyance. “Look in that suitcase you have been lugging around, I found a package that was unopened. We may not have much but at least we have clean socks!” She says smirking.
Nick Nick sighs, watching the crowd of mindless ghouls shuffle by. He looks past the bushes and across the street at the mortuary. He scans across the balcony then the roof. Kim’s not anywhere. He sighs again.
“Ah, quit your whining. It will be a while before they pass and we can go on. You might as well catch a nap.” Patrick says. The big man takes a hand off the paperback he is holding up to his face and jerks his thumb at the back seat.
Mr. Petrova’ s lying on the bench seat behind them. He has produced a wet handkerchief and has it folded over, lying on his forehead and covering his eyes. He could be asleep but Nick doubts it.
Nick looks back up at Patrick who has his elbows resting on the van’s steering wheel and his nose stuck in the paperback. Nick’s eyes drift to the revolver that Patrick sat casually on the console between them. Patrick had bitched when he slammed on the brakes that his gun jabbed him in the belly. He backed the van down the street quickly and then pulled into this parking lot and up to the row of bushes facing the mortuary, right next to a furniture manufacturing company. When they had left, not a zombie was in sight. Now there are at least a hundred in between them and the funeral home.
When he jerked the van into park, Patrick sat his revolver on the console and there it sits. Nick has snuck several peeks at it. It’s fully loaded. Nick can see the brassy slugs in the tips of the bullets. He tried to avoid the fantasy of grabbing it at first by doing what he has always done when given a chance to watch the zombies.
Nick watches them pass with the same nervous anticipation that he normally has when he scans the crowds. He searches as always from face to face looking for his sister, or his mom, or dad; anyone he knew. But as always, half of them are unrecognizable. Even if he knew them before, he wouldn’t now.
His eyes shift from th e gun to the top of Patrick’s head. Nick doesn’t hate Patrick, but he does want away from him. Not an hour has passed since the three of them had left the mortuary to look up and down Osprey Ave. but to Nick the wait to get back and find out if Kim made it away safely has seemed agonizingly long.
Nick look s up to the roof again. No one’s up there. He had hoped that Kim hadn’t left yet. But now that the three of them are within a stone’s throw of the mortuary, he hopes that she had. His guts are twisting inside him and it’s hard to concentrate on looking relaxed. “Something wrong with you kid?” Patrick asks, not taking the book away from his face.
“I have to use the bathroom.” “So you think there might be one available up on that roof over there or what? What is it? Do you see something?” Patrick asks, still not even looking. Nick stares over at him.
“No, I don’t see anything. This is just boring and I really have to go pee.”
“Well you might as well relax. Because we aren’t moving an inch until these freaks are clear.”
“What if I can’t wait?” “You know I would prefer to have blood on that seat cushion over piss, don’t you?” Patrick asks, finally looking over at Nick and away from his book. Patrick reads all the time. In fact, Nick is pretty certain he saw him finish the same book last week. He is an intimidating man. He apparently worked for Mr. Petrova before all of this. Nick had never really heard so much. It just seems like he did because of the casual way he calls the man boss.
Mr. Petrova would be a lot less intimidating if Patrick wasn’t around to make people do what he wanted, and now for some insane reason the man is hell bent on getting Dead Boy back. Nick waits for Patrick to become engrossed in his book again and then turns slightly to look at Mr. Petrova. He’s lying perfectly still. It’s hard to tell if he’s even breathing.
Most of the zombies have finally meandered by the mortuary at this point, but Patrick will not move until they are out of sight completely, unless Mr. Petrova tells him too. Nick turns back and looks up at the balcony. Kim wouldn’t be up there anyway but it gives him something to do. If she had seen the van coming, maybe Kim just went back to their room with the boys. The worst Nick can imagine is that Kim is still in the mortuary and will soon stroll right out the doors in front of them.
Kim might not have been brave enough to take the boys and leave without Nick. He can’t put too much hope in that though. Before this outbreak, Kim Tran was one of the smartest, funniest and most outgoing girls he had ever met. She was at times very dramatic and would do bold things just to prove she wasn’t scared.
Theirs had been a rocky relationship from the beginning. Kim’s father had taken one look at Nick in his driveway and turned his back on him. He forbid Kim to ever see him again. She came out of the house a minute later laughing and got in his car to leave. That was the first and last time Nick had seen Kim’s father, but he saw plenty of Kim.
Back then Kim did exactly what she wanted. No one ever told her she couldn’t because by the end of it she would have them convinced they were to blame. Apologizing to her, and giving her extra money and time on her curfew. She never did anything wrong. So when her parents put undue restrictions on her, she argued out of them calmly but with a determination Nick had never seen in anyone else, especially himself.
&n
bsp; Since Nick pulled her out of her house he has only seen a few glimpses of that unstoppable girl. The first time was when she protested to Mr. Petrova about opening the doors to the mortuary, despite his own rules. That was when they let the Dead Boy and the doctor in. The other time was when she came back into their room and told him that they were going to leave with Dead Boy. She had latched onto Levi and Nick knew there was no arguing with his wisdom. Since he was shot, she has been meek and shy.
Nick’s fear now is that she will listen to him. Since they’ ve arrived at the mortuary she has done everything Nick has told her to do without complaint. This is the first thing that might put her in danger, and she has to know that. She’s way too smart not to know that. Nick hopes that she decided to stay…at least until he comes back. He had been in a moment of panic when he told her to go.
Mr. Petrova had scared him. He thought maybe Levi was right after all, and so he told her to leave and she’s probably gone. If anything happens to her it would be his fault. Although it was Levi who put the bug of leaving in her head, Nick could have easily squashed it; especially after Levi was shot.
While Nick’s mind races with worry , he stares blankly at the mortuary front doors. He finds himself holding his breath every few minutes as if he is willing the doors not to open. Then –just as he thinks of how Levi was shot- a crack appears in between them. Nick lets out a tiny gasp. The crowd of zombies is still in sight but plenty clear of the mortuary’s front doors. No! Nick screams in his mind as the right door pushes outward and Kim and the two boys come creeping out.
She hurries down the steps and waits at the bottom holding both hands out for the little boys who take their time coming down them. She grabs their hands and looking one way then the other, starts running towards Orange Ave. and almost straight at the van Nick, Patrick and Mr. Petrova are waiting in. The van is behind bushes and though it looks like she’s staring at him, Nick realizes that Kim can’t see them sitting there at all.
Nick looks very slowly at P atrick, who’s still reading. Then he turns his body and looks at Mr. Petrova who still has the rag over his eyes. Trying to be as quiet as possible, Nick reaches down and picks up Patrick’s gun. He stares at Patrick while doing this, willing Patrick to just keep reading a few seconds longer.
“Awe that’s bullshit” Patrick swears and throws the book at the dash, with only about twenty pages left to read. He rubs his eyes with his right hand without looking at Nick. Nick can feel the sweat rolling off his head and down his temple. After massaging his eyes a moment, Patrick squints. Nick almost points the gun at him, but waits just a moment longer. “What the hell is this now? Nick, is that Kim?” He asks and looks over at Nick who is holding his gun up awkwardly between them, pointed at the console. Nick freezes. He wants to point the gun up at Patrick’s head and fire but he can’t move.
He finally wills himself to point the gun but out of nowhere Mr. Petrova’s hand appears, and he grabs Nick’s hand in an iron grip. It is shocking and painful. Nick’s hand spasms and Mr. Petrova easily squeezes the gun out of it. “Patrick I think we have found them.” Mr. Petrova says, staring at Nick.
He hands Patrick his gun and pulls the handle on the sliding door of the van. As he steps out he turns back to them. “Patrick, get some men and come with me. Nicholas, get your gun and the next time you go on a run bring it with you.” Then he turns and without closing the van door, pulls his own gun out of his chest holster and runs silently across the parking lot behind the bush line. He then creeps along the front of the building that Kim ran to.
Patrick gets out of the van and stuffs his gun back in his pants. “Get your ass up there and get some back up, Nick. You better hope they don’t slip away.” Then he turns and follows Mr. Petrova.
Nick gets out of the van in a daze. His hand is marked where Mr. Petrova grabbed it, but he doesn’t feel it…not now. He is numb. He crosses Orange Ave. and walks through the parking lot and up the steps of the mortuary without realizing he’s doing it. When he gets to the big door he walks through, without the fact that he didn’t even have to open it registering.
Inside he sees Jane running down stairs from the viewing room. “Nick?” She practically yells with an alarmed and confused look on her face. “Someone left the door open. Close it quick there may still be creepers out there.”
Nick ignores her and walks right by and starts to mount the stairs to go up to the viewing room. He had left his shotgun on one of the metal benches on the balcony. He has never felt so naked without it. “Nick! What the fuck?” Jane starts again.
“Mr. Petrova wants every gun out in the street now. He’s found the Dead Boy.” Nick says without turning, and continues up the stairs and soon is in the viewing room without remembering the steps it took him to get there. He crosses to the balcony and opens the doors. Chris is still out there. Nick sees his shotgun and moves toward it. Chris is standing in the center of the balcony, holding his pistol in front of himself awkwardly. Nick stops and turns his head but without meeting Chris’s eyes says, “Mr. Petrova wants everyone downstairs and out front…”
“Nick was that Kim that ran across the street? They went into an alley and Mr. Petrova’s already right behind them.” Chris says -smiling against all odds- when Nick finally looks at his face.
“…now!” Nick barks. Chris frowns, turns, and trots to the balcony doors with his head hung.
Nick picks up his shotgun and stares at it. He turns and shuffles back to the viewing room and then downstairs.
Rearview After dressing, we stare at the crack letting the beam of light in under the lid. Faith speaks first, “We need to get out of here. This thing is disgusting. I don't hear anything, do you?”
“No...” I stand and push up with my left shoulder on the lid. It opens and light pours in the widening crack. I cover my face to shield it from the bright daylight and then slowly remove my hand. There they stand right in front of us, Kim and the two boys, in the alley. The little boys are smiling but the girl looks as if she is about to bolt. My eyes grow huge. Faith must see a look of horror because she goes for the shotgun.
“It’s going to be okay.” I try to say as fast as I can. I hold up my hands while Faith stands and points the shotgun out at them. The girl, Kim turns and takes a step and I shout, “Wait! Where is Nick, Kim? Levi said he would be coming too.” She stops and turns back to us, shakes, her head and lowers it slightly. Faith pulls the shotgun away as quickly as she held it up and smiles at Kim and the boys.
“Sorry. I didn't mean to scare you. Don’t be frightened. We’ll help you.” Faith says, sitting the shotgun next to the wall of the dumpster. She hoists herself out and jumps down in front of them landing lightly on her feet. She turns to me and holds her arms up and motions for me to pass her the suitcase. I do and then she sits it down and turns back again, with the same pose, waiting for her shotgun. I pass it out to her and without turning around to face the others, she sets it on the ground.
I press my hands against the lip of the dumpster, ignoring the screaming pain from my cut. I breathe in and out quickly and strain to pull myself up and over. Faith helps me and I crash down much louder and less gracefully than she did. I fall on my butt and she helps me to my feet.
“So where is he? Where’s Nick?” I say, looking at Kim standing as a statue next to the smiling boys. She shakes her head again, and I think she is going to start crying. She looks down and grimaces at the ground and looks back up, scowling at me. “What?” I say defensively.
“What happened to Levi? Did you shoot him? Why would you do that?” She asks with a heartbroken look on her face. “Look, I know you don’t have a reason to believe me. I’ve never even fired a gun before. I’ve only held them a couple times in my life. Levi was trying to help us get out. It was Mr. Petrova or one of the others that shot him. I don’t know. I promise you it wasn’t me.” She nods her head appreciatively with her eyes squeezed tight, trying to smile and cry at the same time.
“I knew he was lyin
g. Nick does too. Don’t be mad at Nick for the other night. He just wants to protect us. That’s the only reason he threatened you. Nick is a good person.”
“So where do we go from here?” I say, turning between Kim and Faith. “You need a tetanus shot, and we both probably need to start a penicillin regimen before we get Staph from staying in that dumpster all night.” Faith offers.
“Mr. Petrova left. He could be back any time though.” Kim replies. “We need to go now!” Kim moves to the fence, which is actually an alley gate. The car is sitting there facing us.
Kim goes to the pole and lifts the gate latch, and the two little boys push the gate wide open. It just narrowly misses the front bumper of the Cadillac before it crashes loudly against the wall. Kim runs through and waits by the rear driver's side door of the car. I grab the green suitcase and walk through the wide flung gate. I only stop momentarily to look at the top of the fence where there are spirals of razor wire. I see a brown patch along the shiny wire; that’s where I cut my hand. I look down at the mean stitched wound that crosses it and then at the gate and can’t help but chuckle.
Mr. Petrova stands there with his gun waving in the air as if saying hello. Patrick moves in quickly behind him but is further away. “Hi, Dead Boy” he shouts, “We were hoping to see you again.” He says, smiling ruthlessly, his former calm demeanor a ghost in my memory. His eyes are cruel now. His smile is twisted and his face totally different.
I press the unlock button on Levi’s key fob and walk towards the Cadillac. Faith helps the little boys into the car as soon as it’s unlocked while Kim runs around to the other side. I get to the driver’s door and Faith’s already in the passenger seat with her seat belt fastened. She instructs the children in the back to hold on and keep their heads down. I pass the green suitcase over the front seat, jump in, fasten my seatbelt, and turn the key in the ignition.