by Mark Clodi
Xavier directed three zombies to investigate, he sent one to try and climb up the front of the vehicle, one to climb the ladder on the back and one to go inside, just in case the man had fallen through the roof entirely.
Jed made the third jump as Bubba screamed and started thrashing on the roof of the rv. He almost missed the bar he was reaching for, but recovered in time so that he didn't drop to the concrete below. “I'm coming Bubba! You just hold on!” he yelled as he made the final leap to the roof support that would get him to the front of Bubba's vehicle.
Bubba's mind was racing, when the cold hand touched his leg and started pulling him down his body when into overdrive, struggling to get free. The hands below on his leg were pulling on him, pinning him to the roof. So far the thing hadn't bit him; it was only holding him in place. The rough metal of the roof was starting to cut through the tough material of his pants as he struggled to land a solid kick on the thing below him.
I must look like some sort of zombie piñata, he thought. Focusing, Bubba took a deep breath and pulled his rifle off of his back. He was unable to brace it against his shoulder as he fired; instead he held it with both hands and pointed it to where he hoped the zombie was at below him. Now if I can only not shoot myself in the leg I will be fine.
He took the shot, wincing as he did so, nothing changed below him, if anything the hands gripped him more tightly. Firing twice more had the same effect and Bubba saw the zombie scrambling across the roof at him from the back of the rv. Raising the gun to his shoulder he put a bullet through the things head despite its attempt to dodge.
Then Bubba was hit from behind as the zombie that had climbed the front of the vehicle tackled him. He was wrenched onto his stomach by the zombie's momentum and felt a momentary sharp pain in his trapped leg as it was cut open from the edges of the metal it was trapped in. His leg was, however, pulled from whoever had grabbed it below him.
Seeing the zombie on the roof tackle the man, Xavier decided it was time to enter the fight himself. The second man dropped from the roof the same time Xavier jumped for the rv, both landed on the top without the problems Bubba experienced. Xavier came to land between Bubba and Jed and he charged for the man when he went for his pistol. Despite the zombies speed Jed managed to get off two shots before he was knocked over. The first went through the zombie’s stomach and hit the other one on top of Bubba in the right arm, shattering it, but doing little damage to Xavier. The second bullet hit Xavier in the right hand, nearly severing the zombie’s smallest two fingers.
Hon slowly tilted the piece of metal he had cut out sideways and lowered it to the ground. He caught sight of someone in the building across the alley from him, it looked like a zombie woman, but she was not coming towards him, just staring at the building. She probably can't see me in the dark.
Bubba's scream behind him made him jump. “Bubba?” Hon whispered, he turned and tried not to think about Jed talking about 'Jim', who always served as an example of what not to do when a situation was hopeless.
With the pain in his arm almost forgotten, Hon crawled frantically though the tunnel back to his inner nest, where his rifle and pack were still sitting, he pulled the Contender up and pushed it ahead of him back to the main chamber and the tunnel there. As he made his way forward he saw a zombie standing with his back to him, just outside the pallet pile. Hon raised his rifle and was just starting to squeeze the trigger when the thing jumped up and out of the way. “Dang.” the boy whispered and set off to crawl through his tunnel to the main warehouse.
When he reached the tunnel entrance he again braced himself and tried to find a target. The noise was all coming from the camper that he and Bubba shared. He could only see one pair struggling on the roof near the front of the vehicle, he recognized Xavier, even in the dim light. The zombie was moving too quickly for Hon to get a good shot and there were other zombies gathering around the rv now. 'Never fire into a crowd', Bubba had told him. Hon knew why, his rifle only fired a single shot at a time, it was accurate, but fired too slow to take on groups of zombies. Still he braced the gun on the pallet that he used as a door took aim at the fight, hoping to get a shot off.
Bubba was handicapped with one leg pinned down to the roof of the rv. His opponent was pummeling him with fists that felt like cold pieces of cord wood, each blow drawing more and more breathe out of the already struggling man. When the shot rang out the zombie paused, one of its arms dangled limply by his side. Bubba, still face down had gotten his leg under him and twisted, throwing the zombie down to one side. Bracing his foot against the sunroof edge Bubba pushed with all his might and pulled his leg free from the hole in the roof. He felt his leg get torn open in the process, but he needed mobility. The zombie leaned over and punched Bubba in the face, but the blow was mild as both of them were prone on the roof of the rv.
I gotta get up. Bubba thought, trying to block the punches from the zombie. The hole in the roof was between him and the zombie and a pallid arm reached out of it, giving Bubba an idea. When the next blow from the zombie came at his face Bubba jerked his head sideways, letting the things good fist hit the roof, then he clasped his hand over the things arm and rolled over, dragging the zombie over the hole. The arm momentarily latched onto the zombie's leg. The creature below quickly realized that it didn't have a human leg, but the brief clutch was enough to distract the zombie Bubba was fighting. He used the interruption to let go of the zombie's arm and get to his hands and knees.
For the first time he got a good look at the zombie he had been fighting. Goddamn, that looks like my sister's husband!
The man was stocky and sported a short cut crop of unruly yellow hair. Either the darkness cast it in shadow or it was as dirty as it looked. The man had on a torn worn shirt, the kind mechanics wore with heavy duty pockets and a pair of khaki shorts that ended in knobby kneed legs with running shoes on the end.
That is so fucking Lyle! Bubba thought, he called out, “Lyle, it's me! Bubba!” The zombie was lying next to him, also face down and had only just begun to climb upright, Bubba beat him to a standing position.
The rifle was still on the roof of the rv, but Bubba opted to kick instead of reaching for it right away. His heavy, steel toed boot caught the zombie in the hip as it got to its knees, forcing it sideways. “Stop! I don't wanna kill you again!” Another kick followed the first, and a third followed the second, each one forcing the zombie closer to the edge of the roof. The zombie would not stop trying to get up so with a final kick, appropriately to the zombie's ass, Bubba booted it off of the roof. Then he turned and picked up his rifle.
Up near the front of the vehicle Jed and Zavier’s fight was still raging.
“That hurt you red necked son of a bitch!” yelled Xavier, throwing himself into the fight with Jed. His blows were wild, but when they hit he felt bones give away beneath them. Jed withstood the pummeling, but each hit forced him to step back towards the front of the camper where he would be forced to jump down or fall off. He saw the zombie come to the same conclusion and jumped when it tried to sweep his feet out from underneath him. Jed fell on Xavier’s leg and pinned the zombie to the top of the trailer.
Normally this would be an excellent move for a wrestler, which Jed was. However Xavier’s brute strength made most of Jed’s knowledge obsolete. Jed didn’t want to wrestle, he was well aware of his strength, but then he saw Bubba rising up with a rifle at the end of the trailer and dove on top of the zombie, pulling the captured leg with him and hoping to give Bubba a clear shot as he twirled Xavier around. For all of Xavier’s strength, mass was on Jed’s side. He rolled and Xavier followed, trying to get a grip on the roof of the van but failing as his mutilated hand couldn’t get a grip.
“Gotcha, you son of a bitch!” Jed yelled. He pulled Xavier up into an arch that Bubba couldn’t miss and was satisfied when a grunt from the zombie followed the bark of the rifle. Twisting sideways Bubba tossed the corpse off of the top of the trailer and rolled to his hands and knees. Something
was broken inside of him. He spit and saw that what came out of his mouth was more blood than saliva.
“Bubba! I need you, Bubba!”
“I’m here, Jed. I’m here.” Then Bubba’s arms circled around Jed’s shoulders and pulled him to a standing position.
“Did you get that son of a bitch?” Jed asked, spitting again. The blood seemed to keep pouring into his mouth.
“I don’t think so. I mean, I hit him, but I think he let you toss him over the side.”
“Fuckcakes.” Jed said.
“Yeah.”
“How much ammo you got left, Bubba?”
Bubba pulled his arm off of Jed’s shoulder and held up three fingers, but out loud he said, “I’m fully loaded and have another thirty or forty bullets, you?”
Jed leaned over precariously and picked up his rifle, he checked the chamber and sank to his knees as he pulled out the clip, shaking his head, “Three clips. Enough to blast whoever comes after us out of the water, that’s for sure. Did you see how I shot that one in the head from up top? In the dark even?”
“Yeah, I did. You see me clear off the roof here even when my leg was through it. That was a hard shot.”
“It was a doozy, but not too difficult for someone who won state marksman three years in a row.
The men fell silent, hoping to hear the sounds of retreating zombies. They were disappointed to hear only whisperings and then felt the vehicle shudder as several zombies went inside it below them. Bubba looked over to the mountain of pallets and thought he saw a glint of light reflected off of something at the edge of the pile. He nudged Jed, who glanced over, then looked up at Bubba, giving him a grim look.
“You remember Jim, Bubba?” Jed said loudly.
“Yeah. I do.”
“Shame to lose him like that, for no reason at all. I mean if I were in that situation I would just run. Just get out and start over again.”
“Yeah, some people don’t know when they’re beat. I sure hope no one else makes that mistake. Even if they see people they care about in trouble.”
Jed leaned in, in a whisper he said, “I can distract them, while you make a break for it. You can get around to the back and cut through the siding and get him. You know he won’t go without you.”
“Look at my leg, Jed.”
Uncomprehending, Bubba stared at his friend.
“Look at my goddamned leg. If you tell me I ain’t bit, I’ll give it a shot.”
Jed softly said, “Aw no. No.” As he pawed Bubba’s leg, pulling heavy denim away from the bloody gashes on his friend’s leg.
“Tell me I didn’t get bit.”
“I can’t.” Jed said simply.
Bubba felt a wave of weakness flood into him.
“Then you gotta go.” Bubba said.
Jed looked up at his friend, more blood rolled from his mouth and he smiled ruefully, “Bubba, old buddy, I don’t think I can go anywhere.” Silently Jed slumped over onto the top of the camper.
“Fuck. Goddamn it Jed, get the fuck up!” Bubba yelled. He leaned over and grabbed the other man, but instead of pulling him up, Bubba ended up sitting down with his back towards the front of the vehicle.
‘I must be cut worse than I thought.’ Bubba thought casting a glance at the blood pouring out of his leg. It took all of his strength to pull Jed next to him and when he did there was a bloody streak left on the top of the thin metal roof.
Looking his friend over with a critical eye Bubba nodded and said, “Yeah, you look like you got hit by a bus.”
“That half naked guy punches like a mule. You should go.” Jed said softly.
“What? Afraid I’ll turn and eat you?”
“Nah, I always could kick your ass. Even zombie you.”
Behind him Bubba heard someone climbing up the front of the camper. Looking towards the wood pile he yelled out, “Get the hell out of here Hon!” There wasn’t any movement from the pile that he could see. “Please. Please Hon, just go, don’t watch this.”
“Wha-tch, what?” said the hate filled voice behind him. “And who is there to watch anything? There ain’t no one there you stupid red neck.”
Bubba didn’t turn or try to see the man behind him. “Just go.” He said softly as Xavier stepped up to him.
“There ain’t anyone there!” Xavier shouted, “Maybe this will help your stupid human eyes!” A scratching sound was followed by a flare of light from behind him. Then an emergency flare was tossed over Bubba’s head into the pile of pallets. It landed almost dead center and rolled deep down into the pile. The white light clearly back lit Hon crouched near the front of his tunnel.
“All we taught him and he ‘Jims out’ in the end. Damn. I guess he wasn’t a zombie after all.” Jed slumped over.
“See? Nothing!” said Xavier.
Bubba grinned down at Jed as Xavier’s hand grabbed him by the shoulder. “Sh. Jed. Sh. You just rest. I think Hon’ll be alright.” He brushed a hand over Jed’s unseeing eyes, closing them.
Hon held his gaze on the men on top of the trailer, trying to get the zombie’s head in his sights. The angle was bad, he was near the floor and the men were on top of a rather large recreational vehicle. Hon could barely see Bubba’s head and the top of Jed’s stocking cap. Abruptly Bubba was pulled out of his sight, the sounds of a brief scuffle reached him and then zombies poured out of the camper and started leaping or climbing up the sides to the roof. Briefly Bubba’s head rose into sight. He mouthed ‘Go’ clearly in Hon’s direction, but Hon didn’t leave. Bubba fell towards one edge of the roof, putting his head over the edge where Hon could clearly see it. Then he started to scream.
An odor made Hon crinkle his nose; there were already chemicals in the air from the explosions and smoke from the many small fires that had sputtered out after the blast. This smell was new. Burning wood. The pallets had caught fire. Hon glanced back as Bubba screamed to see the extent of the blaze. If he didn’t leave soon he wouldn’t be able to, the fire had started right over his central nest. ‘What would Bubba do?’ Hon wiped the tears away from his eyes and then looked down the scope of his rifle once more. Deliberately he aimed. A single shot rang out and Bubba stopped screaming.
Quickly Hon crawled through his tunnel. The fire was hot enough to start melting the survival blankets he had lined his nest with. Reaching the opening in his wall Hon pointed his rifle outside, and then reloaded it with a deliberate motion. At the window ahead of him he saw the scruffy looking man staring out at him intently. Behind him the zombie woman was reaching towards the man. Without thinking Hon shot her, the bullet cut a small hole into the window and smashed through the woman’s left eye, a substantially larger hole in the back of her head sprayed out bits and pieces of her brain into the room behind her.
A look of surprise passed over the man’s face, but then he smiled and quickly nodded. The man pointed towards one side of the window and Hon saw a door in that direction. Squeezing through the hole he had cut Hon got to his feet and pulled his back pack through after him. The heat from the fire was growing; the dry pallets were going up like they had been soaked in gasoline. Hon ran across the alleyway to the door, it was unlocked and he let himself in. The scruffy man was the same guy Hon had seen in the woods and he thought he knew who it was.
“Jaye?”
The other man stopped, another look of surprise crossed his face. He nodded and shoved the notebook with his name on it back into his jacket pocket. He pointed towards the other side of the building, the side away from where Hon and the men had been living.
“You have somewhere for us to go?”
Jaye nodded.
“It’s not the gypsy’s house is it?”
Jaye’s head snapped back and he looked at Hon, staring at him. Finally he remembered to nod and pulled on the boy’s sleeve, tugging him along while he cast fearful glances behind them. The boy moaned softly at Jaye pulled him along, finally at the door out he looked at the boy and saw his face was pale and drawn with pain.
“It’s my arm, it hurts and you’re dragging me along so fast.” Hon said.
Jaye immediately let go of the boy’s arm, causing him to gasp in pain.
“It didn’t hurt so much when I was running away. Now it hurts really bad again.”
Nodding Jaye opened the door and peeked outside. Seeing nothing he darted across the next throughway and into the building across from them. Hon followed close behind him and minutes later they were both eyeing the gap between the building they were in and the fence behind the industrial park. With one hand Jaye pointed at the fence and the woods beyond, then to Hon.
Hon nodded, “I can make it.”
The two set off at a run with Jaye following behind Hon, who kept to the path that had been well trod on his sled trips. It was the first time Hon had been outside after dark in a long time, the cold night air left his exposed skin stinging. Not knowing where to stop Hon just kept jogging towards his sled hill, every step sent a sharp pain through his arm. By the time they were halfway up the hill it was almost completely dark. Hon lost his footing and stumbled into an old dead pine near the top. Reaching out to steady himself with his hurt arm he let out a whimper of pain as his limb gave away and he tumbled to the ground. The world shrank to the barest pinpoint of light and then faded away entirely.
Jaye picked the boy up off of the ground. Although Hon didn’t weight much, carrying him made things more difficult. Grimacing Jaye slung the boy’s limp body over his shoulder and started off to the only sanctuary he knew. For some reason the old gypsy wanted this kid and everything she had told Jaye had come to pass, although never like he had imagined it. Broad, white flakes of snow started to drift down around him in the wood, perfect for hiding his tracks. Without even a look back Jaye trudged through the wilderness while darkness and snow hid his departure.