by David Achord
“The next thing we know, he pulls his own member out and proceeds to urinate,” Marc finished.
“You mean it hasn’t rotted off?” Julie asked. Both men tittered gleefully and shook their heads.
“I hope you guys aren’t forgetting that thing will sink his teeth in you and rip you apart if he gets a chance,” I cautioned. The two men looked at each other and grinned.
“I think we’re fine, Mister Zach,” Marc replied. “Oh, and per your instructions, we’ve been keeping meticulous notes.” The two men continued grinning warmly, and I had to admit it was infectious.
I smiled back. “Okay, I just hope you guys are careful. Now, to the mission at hand, those assault rifles you two are holding are mine.”
“And mine,” Julie admonished with a nudge. I nodded.
“They’re clean, functional, and loaded. Keep your fingers off the triggers unless you have to shoot at something. Make sure you aim for the head and please don’t accidentally shoot someone. If you do, I can’t be responsible for what the Corporal does to you.”
Marc gasped at the implications. I looked over at Julie and winked. She hid a smile.
“Zach, are we going to encounter any zombies?” Kelly suddenly asked. Marc and Ward leaned forward, wanting to hear my answer.
“It is very possible. Last March, Rowdy and Cindy came here to shop...”
“Who is Cindy?” Marc interrupted.
“She was Wanda’s daughter. Anyway, they went to the mall to shop for clothes. They didn’t realize the place was infested. They were quickly surrounded and attacked. Rowdy got the two of them locked in a bathroom and we rescued them. Sadly, Cindy was bitten. She became infected,” I looked at the two men somberly. “We killed over a hundred and sixty of them that day. We may or may not have killed them all.”
The three of them went pale and suddenly looked very anxious. I thought back to that day and remembered how we attempted to cauterize Cindy’s bite wounds with cigarette lighters. I had a better method now. Stored in the truck was a plumber’s propane torch. I hoped I didn’t have to use it on anyone, especially myself.
“Was there anything else y’all have questions about?”
The three of them looked nervously at each other before Marc cleared his throat. I looked at him expectantly.
“Uh, well, during his briefing, Terry mentioned a running password and a duress password. What does he mean?” Kelly and Ward quickly nodded. I groaned inwardly. These people weren’t ready to do any missions with us. Their survival skills were virtually nonexistent. I patiently explained the purpose and proper usage of the running and duress passwords, and the rest of the trip explaining simple things, like fields of fire, covering fire, room entry; as many things that I could. We had arrived at our destination all too soon. I looked them over. All of them, with the exception of Andie and Julie, appeared very nervous.
“We’ll schedule some practical training as soon as possible. For now, you’re just going to have to wing it.”
Fred drove the truck into the parking lot first. The two men, along with Tommy and Joe, jumped out and took up tactical positions. After a moment, Terry gave us the okay signal. I stood and shouted out.
“Alright everyone, out of the bus and form up on your team leader. Move!” Andie Julie jumped up, prodding everyone else into action. They jumped to their feet simultaneously and there was a dash to be the first person off the bus, which led to a miniature cluster fuck. After a minute, everyone un-assed from the bus without shooting anyone and formed up in their respective teams.
It went from bad to worse. When Terry gave the signal to move into the mall, Ward and Marc froze.
“Hold up a minute, Corporal,” I said and turned my attention to the two men.
“What’s wrong, guys?” I asked. They were even more nervous than when they were on the bus, and even though it was downright cold out, there were beads of perspiration on their foreheads.
“Zach, we’ve never done anything like this before. In fact, the only gun I’ve ever fired was a small pistol,” Ward lamented.
I gritted my teeth a moment and looked over at Kelly, my third team member. “You’ve been trained how to shoot, do you feel comfortable with it?”
“I think so,” she replied nervously. “I was just going to follow your lead and do everything you do.”
It only reaffirmed what I was thinking earlier, we should have made sure they were fully trained before doing something like this. We were going to have a debriefing afterward, I’d point out the error then. Until then, I was going to have to make do with what we had.
“Alright, the first thing to do is obey every command immediately, and without complaint,” I stared at them pointedly. “Kelly, you stand to my left. Ward, stand behind her, and Marc, you stand behind me,” they obeyed instantly. “Good. Now, I want all of you to reach out and get an arm’s length of space between each of you.” They did so and shuffled around until they were at the proper distance. I nodded encouragingly.
“That is the distance I want you to maintain. Don’t get any closer, and don’t get any farther away, and keep your weapons pointed in a safe direction. Okay?” They all nodded nervously. I smiled at them.
“Don’t worry, do exactly as I say and we’ll be fine. I’ll take care of you.”
The mall was pretty much the same way we had left it. Due to our haste to get Cindy home, we didn’t take the time to burn the corpses. As a result, they were slowly decomposing and even in the freezing cold, the place reeked of putrescence. I was used to the smell by now, more or less. Gus was the only one who hurled chunks, but he wiped his face off without complaint and continued with the mission.
I checked my team and then looked over the other ones. I noticed Terry’s team had Anthony and Carla on it. He seemed to be paying closer attention to Carla than the rest of his team, which made me wonder if he had more than a professional interest in her. Kelly and the docs stuck close to me, perhaps even a little too close. I constantly had to remind them about the proper spacing.
We had killed multiple zombies the last time we were here, but somehow more of them had found their way inside. Twelve of them had banded together and were standing, huddled in a group beside a kiosk. It almost looked as though they were huddling together to stay warm. They either didn’t hear us or were simply ignoring us until Andie shot one of them. Only then did they turn and acknowledge our presence.
We made quick work of them. None of my team fired a single round, which I guess was a positive aspect; they didn’t accidentally shoot anyone, so I was thankful. We moved along the mall for less than fifty feet when Kelly gasped and pointed. It was a Bath and Bodyworks store.
“Please say we can go in there,” she begged. Marc and Ward readily nodded in agreement.
“Okay, but remember, we have to clear the store of any threats before we start grabbing stuff. Marc, you stand by at the door. Ward, you and Kelly are with me,” I said and grabbed my walkie-talkie. “Team three is going in the Bath and Bodyworks store.”
“You better get me something good!” Julie responded. I grinned as Terry admonished her to maintain good radio discipline.
And so it went. The stores had been heavily ransacked and vandalized, plus the effects of time and Mother Nature had taken its toll. Nevertheless, we soon had a large pile of various items stacked up beside the bus. We could have spent days in the mall, but instead, stopped at fourteen hundred hours and conducted an inventory.
“Wow!” Rowdy exclaimed. “We’ve scored big time!”
Everyone voiced his or her agreement. We had found some clothing for everyone, hygiene products, soap, candles, and eight sets of beds.
“You don’t know how badly we need these,” Benny exclaimed, pointing at the pile of mattresses and box springs, “but it’s going to be a tight fit in the bus.”
I shook my head. “I’ve got rope and bungee cords. We’ll strap them down on top. As long as you drive carefully, there won’t be any problems.”
“Report,” Terry barked.
“There are some people sitting in a car on the other side of the mall!” Joe proclaimed.
Chapter 13 – The Thompson Family
We quickly loaded up the bus with our goods while the security team kept watch. Once it was loaded, I jumped in the truck with them and drove to the far side of the mall.
There were three of them, two females and a male. Fred drove until we were approximately thirty yards away and stopped. I gave a wave. After a moment, they waved back. They seemed harmless, maybe even a little frightened. I looked over at my two friends, shrugged a shoulder, and opened the door.
“Cover me, guys,” I said, and walked toward the car. The three of them got out and walked up tentatively. None of them appeared armed.
“Hello,” I said in a friendly tone. The woman appeared to be in her forties. The other two, a boy and a girl, were in their teens. All three looked similar, drawn, pale complexions, but otherwise, fairly well groomed, given the circumstances. The boy had a scruff of a beard and shaggy ash blond hair. The two women, who in fact had no beards whatsoever, had their shoulder length blonde hair pulled tightly back in pony tails. They could have been twins, except one was distinctly older.
“Hey, man!” the teen boy responded as he walked up quickly and shook my hand vigorously. “Y’all are the people at the radio tower!”
“We are at that,” I responded, “my name’s Zach.”
When I mentioned my name, his eyes lit up in recognition.
“Holy shit, Mom! This is Zach! He’s the one who’s been writing the rules,” he pumped my hand even faster and impulsively grabbed me in a hug.
The two of them stepped forward tentatively and I extended my hand. The older woman spoke then.
“My overly excited son’s name is Geoffrey, this is my daughter, Jessica, and I’m Janine. We’re the Thompson family.”
I shook their hands, and then casually waved my hands behind my back. The hand signal indicating all was well.
“Janine, if you don’t mind, I’ll have my friends get out of the truck and introduce y’all,” I said politely. She looked at our truck a moment and nodded in agreement. I gave them a wave. Fred and Terry walked up casually. Joe and Tommy jumped out, ran passed us, and cleared their car before taking up security positions while I introduced everyone.
Fred tipped his hat when I introduced him to Janine. “I’m very pleased to meet you, ma’am,” he drawled with his southern hospitality. Janine appraised him with kind hazel eyes and smiled.
“Do you guys live around here?” Terry asked as he looked Jessica over. She looked like she was eighteen or nineteen. She was wearing a down jacket, so it was hard to get an idea of what the rest of her looked like, but her face was very pretty, much like her mother.
“Yeah, well, not really,” Geoffrey replied, “we live down the road from the radio tower.”
I snapped my fingers in understanding. “Y’all live in the Governor’s Club,” Janine looked at me warily. “I’m the one who left the note on the gate,” I added, which caused her eyes to widen in understanding.
Suddenly, Tommy shouted. “We got zeds!”
We had left our rifles in the truck so as not to frighten our new acquaintances, but we still had our handguns. They watched anxiously as we quickly went into combat mode. Terry ran up to Joe as Fred and I flanked him.
“There’re four of them, a hundred yards south of us and moving in,” Joe added as he pointed. We saw them then. These were moving extremely slow. The cold weather and their physical condition were slowing them down considerably.
“I’d guess those have been outside in the elements for quite a while. Alright, we’re going to take care of them, and then we’re going to get the heck out of here,” I said and motioned to Terry. He nodded, and ran back to the truck. He retrieved his rifle, used the hood of the truck as a shooting platform, and started working on slow deep breaths as he aimed. Everyone followed my lead as I stuck my fingers in my ears. Terry made quick work of them. From the look on the women’s faces, I guessed they never killed a single zombie. I caught a look from Fred. He was thinking the same thing.
I called Benny on the radio and brought him up to speed before turning back to Janine.
“We’ve got to get back. Why don’t y’all follow us? We’ve got a big meal planned and I’ll introduce you to everyone.”
Janine followed us closely in their car, a Toyota Land Cruiser, which was probably brand new at the time of the outbreak, and were back at the church fifteen minutes later. Everyone gathered in the parking lot where introductions were made. Benny excused himself, went over to the bus, and began untying the mattresses. I helped him out and we made short work of getting them moved inside. Benny was breathing heavily when we were finished.
“Thanks, Zach. I sometimes can’t get anyone to help with the heavy work,” he said.
“It’s simple, Benny, quit being the nice guy and tell them to pull their weight or get out,” I responded. “I’ll put them out if you want.”
Benny shook his head quickly. “No, they’re my family now. I’ve got to take care of them.”
I chuckled. It sounded familiar. By the time we went back to the bus, everyone was there unloading the property. Benny looked at me and grinned broadly.
Chapter 14 – Caged
The four of us, Julie, Little Rick, Andie, and I, sat in our truck looking at the caged zombie. It was hard to tell his race, multiple episodes of frostbite had turned his exposed skin into a black leathery mass of scar tissue. He sat motionless, staring at us.
“He kind of looks familiar,” Julie remarked.
“Yep, he’s the one who was leading the group we encountered when we had the picnic on the golf course. When Terry and I started shooting his buddies, he hid and somehow escaped.”
“I think he’s the only one I’ve seen sitting down without falling first,” Andie observed.
“Definitely not normal zombie behavior,” Julie said. I agreed. “What is up with the blanket?” she asked. The thing had a thick wool blanket wrapped around him, like an old Indian chief in a cowboy movie.
“Marc or Ward probably gave it to him so he wouldn’t be so cold,” I replied. “Hell, they probably taught him how to sit and…” I didn’t finish. As soon as I said it, a spark in the brain matter made me realize I had made a mistake. Those two frumpy, yet cuddly gay men were starting to feel empathic toward this monster. They were actually worried about the thing being cold.
“I’m going to kill it,” I said suddenly.
Julie and Andie both looked questioningly at me. “We’ve learned enough from it, he’s definitely capable of learning, or relearning, but we’re not scientists and this isn’t a testing facility,” I gestured at Frederick. “It’s too dangerous to have this thing around with all of the kids.”
“The docs will throw a hissy fit,” Julie opined.
“They’ll be understandably upset,” I contended, “but it’s for the best.” I would have done it right then and there, but the little guy was getting fussy, so I put it on my mental to-do list.
“Let’s go visit before we go home,” I suggested, put the truck in gear and drove away from the cage. We met everyone in the front lobby and caught up on meaningless prattle.
Our conversation was interrupted by Carla emerging from a side room. She was ashen faced as she hurried up to Benny and whispered something in his ear. Benny followed her back into the side room without explaining. I followed.
“They’re dead, Mister Zach,” he said.
He was referring to his two sick friends who had sustained radiation poisoning. They were lying on plain matching twin beds, covered in blankets. A couple of trays of h
alf eaten food were sitting nearby.
“I guess the radiation poisoning did them in,” Gus commented and I looked at him. I was skeptical, the two of them dying at the same time? It didn’t seem logical.
We all looked at the two somberly before Benny covered them with a blanket and quietly motioned everyone out of the room. We moved back to the main room and a discussion began about conducting some type of funeral service. When they were engrossed in their conversation, I quietly walked toward the kitchen. When nobody was looking, I veered off, snuck back into the side room and quietly shut the door. I was going to do some investigating, even though I didn’t know quite what I was doing. Hell, I was no homicide detective, but something didn’t seem right about the both of them dying at the same time.
I moved to them hurriedly, pulled the blankets off, and started by searching for any telltale injury, any bite marks, anything indicating an act of violence by a zombie.
I saw nothing, at least, not at first. There were no overt physical signs of injury. They were simply dead. Still, my inner voice was shouting that something was not right. I stood there, staring at them in deep thought. I assumed they were married. Both had wedding rings on and they appeared to be close to the same age. They were quite emaciated, I assumed from being sick. Their faces were gaunt and sickly looking. As an afterthought, I opened the eyelids of the man. I inhaled sharply and hurriedly looked at the woman’s eyes. Same result.
No, they weren’t black zombie eyes, but there was something just as ominous.
The sun was setting as we passed by the Governor’s club, I saw Geoffrey locking the gate. He waved as we drove by.
“Did either of you get to talk with them at length?” I asked.
“Yeah, both of us did,” Julie replied. “There were two families, all the rest in the neighborhood either left, became infected, or were killed. Janine’s husband and another man killed off all of the zombies in the neighborhood and they’d been living off of food supplies gathered from all of the houses. About six months ago, Janine’s husband went out to hunt and never came back. They think he was attacked.”