Generation Dead - 07

by Joseph Talluto

  We moved into Macy’s and immediately we were sweating. There were dozens of places for a zombie to hide, so many corners that I was nervous as hell. I tried to steer wide of most of them, but there were so many it was almost a wasted effort. I took to holding my axe out in front of me, figuring that a zombie might grab it first, giving me some kind of warning before it attacked. It didn’t help that it was really dark in the store, with glow coming from the back that caused freaky shadows.

  Jake sidled up next to me. “Can’t say this is an improvement, brother,” he said as he peered over a cosmetics counter. “What’s this stuff?”

  Julia glanced over. “Mom said it was for looking pretty. You want to look pretty?”

  Jake shrugged. “Thought already I did.”

  I moved away, since there was nothing I could add to that conversation. At the center of the store, there were some funny-looking stairs that led to a black hole. I couldn’t see anything past the first fifteen stairs and it was all blackness.

  I looked at Jake and he just shook his head. “No goddamn way. Uh, uh.”

  Julia peered in and suddenly she sucked in her breath. “Oh God.”

  I looked down and saw what had to be a hundred pair of glowing eyes staring up at us, several moving towards the stairs and a couple already on the way up.

  Suddenly, I was mad. I had been chased from one end of this mall to the other, with literally nothing to show for it. Down in that pit was a mess I could do something about, and do it right now.

  I pointed towards the door. “Get over there and make sure nothing gets in my way.”

  “What are you going to do?” Jake asked. “Come on. Let’s all just get the hell out of here.”

  “Aaron, what are you going to do?” Julia tugged at my arm. “Let’s get out of here, come on!”

  “Cover the door,” I said, drawing my sword. “I’ll be there in a minute. Trust me.”

  “Aaron, you’re fucking nuts! You can’t go down there!” Jake was nearly frantic as the first zombies were just a few steps away.”

  “Move it!” I snarled at the two of them. They both looked at me as if I was about to commit suicide, and I can’t blame them, considering what I must have looked like.

  They ran to the door, and stood inside the foyer, keeping a barrier between themselves and any surprises that might be wandering around. I could see Julia biting her lip as she does when she’s nervous. I would have winked if I thought she could see me, but it was too dark where I was.

  The first zombie reached the top of the stairs and I promptly kicked it in the chest, crashing it into the one behind it and causing a domino effect on the stairs. In just a few seconds, I had managed to halt the progress on the stairs. The zombies struggled to regain their footing, and the ones pushing from behind didn’t help the ones trying to get to their feet on an uneven surface. Many of the zombies fell down again, and some of them didn’t get back up.

  I didn’t wait to see if they’d make it to the top again. I knew there were other zombies in this place and causing a ruckus here would just attract them. So I went over to a rack that had a lot of strange pieces of clothing. Long strips of brightly colored cloth in various patterns and shapes. They tapered from one end to the other and had little points on either end. I could not imagine what the heck they were for, but it didn’t matter because they were perfect for what I had in mind.

  I took out my small bottle of kerosene and squirted a good amount over the fat ends of the strips. Taking the small ends in my right hand while my left flicked as lighter, I made a blazing torch in a couple of seconds. The store was lit up from one end to the other from the flames and a quick glance around showed me I wasn’t alone and would have company very soon.

  I swung the strips wide and flung the flaming brands out over the black hole, and the orange flames illuminated the walls as they floated down. The fifteen or so strips landed on the head and shoulders of several zombies, and I could see our original estimate was way off. There had to be at least two hundred of the nasty things down there in the basement.

  The flames caught the clothing and hair of the zombies they touched, and set off additional fires. In a short while, there was a lot of fire coming out of the pit, and we were in serious danger of suffocating if we weren’t able to get out.

  One zombie from the main floor came at me and I used my blade to hack off the heads of a couple more zombies that clearly needed a lesson in physics. The meeting between flesh and sharpened steel always favored the steel. I walked away from the burning pit, and I was happy to see that the walls were catching fire. This place would be free of zombies if the whole thing went up. As it was, I would be happy if that pit of gross was eliminated.

  Another zombie was clawing at the glass that separated it from my brother and Julia, and a second was working its way around a perfume counter to join the fun. I waited a second for the perfumed one to get closer; a female wearing what looked to be a very decayed fur coat. Her hair was completely gone, but for some reason her lipstick was perfect. Go figure. I backhanded her with the sword in the neck and watched her bald head bounce away and into a rack of pants. She managed to get a bite into the pants and swung there like a small dog hanging on a rope toy.

  My activity caught the attention of the zombie at the glass, and it came at me faster than I thought it would. It was a teenager, which meant it was going to be faster than your normal zombie was. I didn’t have enough time to do anything other than bring my blade to bear and the stupid dead thing impaled itself on my sword.

  Stuck, its arms flung around in an attempt to grab me. I used the sword like a throwing stick and flung the zombie away from me. It slammed into the glass, causing a crack near the floor. The zombie got up, but this time I was ready, and in the mood to show off a little.

  The kid came again and from the middle ready position, I thrust the blade forward and up, catching him in the chin and shoving the blade through his skull to where the point stuck out from the top of his head. He was dead instantly, but as I withdrew the blade, I swung quickly and managed to sever his head as he fell to the floor.

  I wiped my blade off on his hoodie and stepped through the door, grateful for some air that wasn’t filling with smoke. I coughed my hello to the two of them, and we all went out the door to the sunshine and fresh air. I had to remember to burn off any residue on my blade, so I didn’t sheath it.

  Julia looked at me like I was crazy, and Jake just stood there watching the smoke fill the store, while burning silhouettes stumbled around causing more fires.

  “Aaron?” Jake asked.

  “Yes?”

  “Nice work. That last kill was pretty cool.”

  “Thanks.”

  “Let’s get the heck out of here.”

  I looked over at the horde of zombies that was hanging out by one of the entrances. They were the reason we had run into the mall in the first place. They had cut us off from out ride and we had nowhere else to go.

  “Good plan.” We ran over to the truck and hopped inside. I secured my big blade in the rear. I didn’t want to put it in its sheath because any virus on it could transfer to the sheath, and I would just be putting it on the sword every time I sheathed it. God help me if I ever scratched myself or someone else and I thought that blade was clean.

  We drove away from the mall, and we could see smoke rising from a hole in the roof. Maybe the rest would go, who knew. However, on the upside, we’d managed to kill quite a few zombies, which always favored the living

  In the truck, we were silent. We hadn’t yet picked up the object we had been hired for, and we’d already wasted a day. Not a good start. We’d spent the morning getting up to this point, and the noon hours running around a mall, evening was coming on and we were going to have to spend the night somewhere.

  “Remind me why we were near that mall?” I asked. I had thought about it and couldn’t come up with a decent answer.

  “Julia’s idea,” Jake said, stealing a glance at our
silent partner.

  “I’m sorry! I just wanted to get some new clothes! Mine are getting faded, and we don’t live near enough to a big community to find something for me.” Julia pouted and crossed her arms.

  “No harm done. We’re just another day out. It’s not like we had any pressing matters at home.” I tried to play mediator, but I don’t think it was going well.

  “Fine. I’ll just let my clothes fall off of me. Happy?” Julia threw that out there as a challenge.

  I didn’t expect myself to say anything, but I did. “I’d be happy.”

  Julia started slightly and stared at me for a second before locking her eyes on the road ahead. A slight pinkish color worked its way up her neck and settled on her cheeks.

  Jake laughed. “Good lord! You’re going to get yourself killed, Aaron. You must have learned your sense of humor from Uncle Duncan.”

  I didn’t say anything, as that wasn’t such a bad compliment, all things considered.

  Chapter 29

  We pulled into the capital just as the sun was going down. There was still a decent amount of activity, but a lot of people had been getting up at dawn and hitting the sack at dusk for so long it was a habit hard to break. Dad always joked that it took a zombie apocalypse to get a full night’s sleep finally.

  Jake and Julia delivered the collected items, this time it was a set of china and some strange glassware that I found out later was called Depression glass. It didn’t make me feel any different, so I didn’t understand that at all.

  We met up back at the truck and Jake was in kind of a foul mood. I didn’t want to get into it with him, so I asked him what was wrong.

  “Nothing. Everything. I don’t know.” Jake was in rare form tonight.

  I turned to Julia and she answered for Jake. “Jake informed the man who paid us that it wasn’t a tough trip, and there wasn’t any activity in the area at all. The man said he knew that, he just felt like having someone else go get his stuff for him. It was worth the money to not have to go, he said,” Julia explained.

  That made Jake’s mood clearer. I knew he was looking for something, anything else, and this would contribute to the feeling. I didn’t know what else to tell him.

  “I’m sorry, Jake,” I said.

  That seemed to have an effect. “Not your fault, Aaron. It’s just a sign of the times. Maybe this was the signal we needed to get out of this collection business and get into something more permanent. Something that actually makes a contribution to the country,” Jake said, looking out over the river.

  I shook my head. This was really out there, even for Jake. Everything I thought I knew about him was going sideways. Contribution? Not my brother. Permanent? Yeah, sure.

  “Any ideas?” Truth be known, I was a little scared. I didn’t know what else to do, and I didn’t have any skills that would make any kind of contribution he was talking about.

  “Not yet. But it’s not like we don’t’ have time and we certainly don’t need the money.”

  That was very true. With what we had from all of our collecting lately, and the money my father left me, we were very comfortable right where we were. If we were to move to town, we’d be one of the richest people here. The thought of it was kind of enticing.

  “Tell you what. Let’s get a drink to celebrate and we’ll head home in the morning. We won’t even look at messages for a week, just take a break and enjoy the summer days for a change,” I said, hoping to sidetrack Jake’s mental process and delay any action that might have me looking for another line of work.

  Jake laughed. “Deal.”

  We walked together across the street, and down the hill towards the riverfront, where there were a number of establishments serving decent home-brewed beer and found liquor. People had been making the stuff for years, but a bottle of pre-zombie booze was a luxury several people were willing to pay big coin, even for a glass. Something to do with helping their memories or something.

  As we were walking, the sun finally slipped behind the trees of the hills to the west, and the valley began to darken quickly. Many homes were dark, yet several had lights still on as people finished daily chores or did their reading. I knew this, because I had a bad habit of looking into house windows as I went past. I guess it was just my curious nature. Jake and Julia always said I was just nosey.

  We went into a small place called The Letter after Z, which was some reference to the zombie wars. Jake knew the owner; he was a friend of our father’s back in the old days when people were fighting for their lives on a daily basis.

  The place was decently populated, and there was a fair mix of people inside. Several men at the bar looked like tradesmen, while a couple others looked like craftsmen. At a couple of tables in the corner, a group of merchants quietly argued over the price of something, and in another corner a very drunk man tried desperately to pick up a local prostitute and was failing miserably.

  At another table, several rough-looking individuals were speaking in low tones, and they all turned to stare at Julia as we walked in. I thought a couple of them looked familiar, but I wasn’t sure enough to bring it to the attention of the others.

  We moved to the bar and ordered drinks, and Jake exchanged pleasantries with Jason, the owner. Jason had been with our father when they had struck out on their own and made it here, and had stayed ever since. Jason was probably approaching his fifties now, but his eyes were still as sharp as ever. He leaned close to Jake and whispered something quick, then went off to tend to another customer.

  Jake leaned on the bar, his beer in one hand and the other near his belt. Julia smiled warmly as she worked on her glass of wine, and snuggled in between Jake and myself. I looked over her head at my brother, who looked at Julia and then shrugged at me.

  Worked on my own beer and let my thoughts drift. I was still wondering what I might do if I wasn’t collecting anymore and I tried to come up with some possibilities. I was still only twenty-one, so I had a lot of time to figure things out.

  In the middle of my thoughts, some low voices reached me, and I realized that I was overhearing parts of the conversation at the corner table.

  “That’s the guy that faced off Casey not too long ago…”

  “Big fella has some shoulders on him…”

  “…but that’s almost too fine an ass to waste on the boss.”

  “Forget the ass, did you check out her…”

  “How you want to play it?”

  “Let them drink, then we’ll take them.”

  I was fully alert at this point and wasn’t too sure what to do. I was getting angry, and knew Jake would probably lose it and kill someone, and we’d all be in trouble if he did that. I decided to let it go and see where they wanted to take this. Just to be on the safe side, though, I did unsnap the holster at my belt and on the knife at my waist.

  I drank a little more when I felt a touch on my shoulder. I looked over and down into Julia’s very blue eyes.

  “Hi,” She said.

  “Hey.” I replied.

  “What’s on your mind?”

  “Just wondering if I was going to have another,” I lied.

  Julia smiled very sweetly, and then got up on her tiptoes to whisper in my ear.

  “Bullshit. Why are you getting your weapons ready?”

  I smiled back and leaned over to whisper in her ear. I told her about what I had overheard, and when I finished, I gave her a kiss on the cheek to complete the ruse that we were a couple sharing an intimate moment.

  Julia smiled and put a small hand on her cheek, then put another one on the small of my back. On the surface, it was an affectionate gesture, but the hilt of one of my knives was back there and she’d be able to get it out faster than her own weapon.

  Jake looked over at me and cocked an eyebrow at Julia’s intimacy, but got serious when I winked at him and flashed my teeth. It was a signal we had worked out years ago in case we ever ran into trouble involving living people. On the surface, it looked like we were sharin
g an inside joke, but he knew something was up.

  We didn’t have long to wait. Jake decided to go to the bathroom, leaving an open space next to Julia. One of the men got up from the table and walked over, leaning on the bar and facing Julia and myself. He was a big man, easily my size, but with a much bigger gut. The fat didn’t fool me, though. He had heavy arms, and his forearms were corded with muscle. This was a guy, who could not only take punishment, but could also dish it out with equal enthusiasm.

  “Hey, little lady, you from around here?” The man asked while signaling Jason for service.

  Julia didn’t even glance at the man, she just ducked under my arm, coming up underneath my chin and leaning back into me. She ran a hand up and down my arm, and I was almost surprised enough to forget it was an act.

  The man seemed put out. “Huh. Some fuckers have all the luck.” The man looked me up and down, and then ordered a round of drinks for his table. While he waited, he leaned over and stared hard at Julia, trying to look down her shirt and sizing her up like a piece of meat. If she were my woman, I’d have cut his throat for his insulting gaze. As it was, we were just pretending to keep up the notion we were oblivious.

  Julia wasn’t helping at all. She brought her hands up, stretching as she did so, and put her hands behind my neck, turning her head into my chest and humming contentedly. She wiggled her butt against my legs, and it was hard to remember where the hell I was, let alone what I was doing there.

  Big man got his drinks and walked back to the table, sitting heavily and muttering to his friends. “Ain’t nothing. Won’t even face a challenge in his face.”

  “Largo will pay a lot for the hot blonde, I guarantee it. Least forty silver.”

  “You think? He’s never paid that much before…”