by R. W. Ridley
"Hey," I shouted. But she never looked back. I looked down at Nate. His eyes were open wider now than when I first saw him on the floor of the attic in his house. He seemed to be more aware. I looked at his belly and the little brown crusty knob had disappeared. He had a normal pink belly button. His tiny hand reached out for me and grabbed my Titans sweatshirt. "You like the Titans?" I asked, not expecting an answer. "Of course you do, we're from the same neighborhood." I looked at his ears. "You know, your ears do look kind of funny, but I wouldn't let that get you down, kid." I looked around to see if anybody could hear me talking to the baby. I didn't want to look foolish. I was in the clear so I continued my conversation. "I don't think it's fair, Nate. I'm only 13. I can't protect you. Have you seen those things that are after you? They're huge and ugly and… hungry. What's a kid like me supposed to do against something like that?" Nate looked up at me and smiled. "Hey, that's the first time I've seen you smile." I reached in my back pocket and pulled out the picture of Nate with his parents. I looked at it and then showed it to the baby. "I wonder if they knew what you were." I laughed. "Listen to me, I'm starting to buy into this whole nonsense." I looked at the picture again. "They sure did love you, kid."
Lou suddenly appeared in front of me. "I'll take him back."
"Hmm? Oh, okay," I said. I lifted the baby up to her and she took him. She bounced him up and down as she walked away. I stared at the picture of the Chalmers. "We all have our cross to bear," I said to myself. "I guess it's time to bear mine."
***
That night we ate well. I pulled out the propane grill, a pot, and some instant Ramen noodles. Not a gourmet meal by any stretch of the imagination, but it was our first hot meal since the corn-on-the-cob. Kimball enjoyed a double helping of dog food and Ajax feasted on a bucket of fruits and vegetables.
The conversation never veered toward the horror we witnessed at the hospital. We talked about our lives before the end of the world. Tyrone had eight brothers and sisters. He was the youngest. Valerie was an only child being raised by a single mother. Lou was home schooled. We all had different backgrounds and now we were all headed for the same future.
We relaxed by playing a game of hide and seek. I wasn't too keen on the idea at first, but I agreed hoping to give Tyrone and Valerie a sense of normalcy. I have to admit I had a pretty good time. Even Ajax got in on the game, although there weren't many places for a 400-pound gorilla to hide.
By nine o'clock that night, I encouraged everyone to get some sleep because we had something important to do the next day. I didn't tell them what, because I wanted them all to get a good night's rest. They protested at first, but eventually they gave in and settled down for the night.
I laid in my sleeping bag next to the wagon. Lou and Nate were close by. The baby was being unusually quiet. As I lay there staring at the ceiling of the warehouse, I asked Lou, "I wonder why he liked me?"
"Who?"
"Stevie Dayton. I mean I was a real jerk to him."
"Maybe he saw the magic in you," she said.
I turned to her. "You better get some sleep. We've got a big day tomorrow."
"You might as well tell me what you've got planned. I'm going to know soon enough anyway."
I smiled and closed my eyes. "You'll see." I didn't know how to tell her tomorrow was the day we would read the comic book.
SIX
I woke up the next morning trying to convince myself I was a warrior, but it never really sunk in. Warriors were big muscled grown men who could defeat entire armies with nothing more than their fists. I was a puny kid who had trouble making a fist let alone defeating an army with one.
I woke everybody up and treated them all to a hearty breakfast of honey and chunky peanut butter sandwiches. Ajax ate three and got peanut butter all over his face.
After they were well fed, I sat them in a circle and began my speech. "I know this is kind of sudden, but we have to do something that's not going to be too pleasant today. If you don't want to do it, I'll understand."
"We're going to do it, aren't we?" Lou said with excitement in her voice.
"Do what?" Tyrone asked.
"It's time," I said. "We're going to war today."
"War?" Valerie said apprehensively.
"We're going to read the comic book." Lou stood and started for the wagon.
"Hold on," I said. "We've got to get prepared first."
"What comic book?" Tyrone asked.
"The one that brings the Greasywhoppers," Lou said.
Tyrone and Valerie looked at each other. They were certain we had lost our minds.
"Why would we want to do that?" Valerie asked.
"We don't want to," I said. "We have to." I looked at Ajax. "We're warriors." He stood and pounded his chest. Valerie and Tyrone were unsure. I could imagine they were now sorry they had left the bicycle bandits to join us. "You don't have to be part of this," I said.
"What choice to do we have?" Tyrone asked.
"I'll hitch the horses to the wagon," I said. "You can take off."
"We'll stay," Valerie said.
"We will?" Tyrone didn't look too thrilled.
"We're warriors," she said putting her arm around him.
He looked at me and said, "Better than being a bandit, I guess."
Our first order of business was to load up on weapons of some kind. We had plenty of fireworks and J.J., but beyond that we weren't prepared for a battle. I exited the front of the warehouse and scanned the street to see if there was a store that might have what we needed. To the left, beyond the interstate overpass, was a series of shopping centers. I called for Tyrone to bring Ryder around, and I mounted the gentle old mare.
"Get all the candles together," I told Tyrone. "And start unloading the fireworks. I'll be back." He smiled and saluted me like he was a soldier taking orders. I gave Ryder's ribs a tap with my heels and he trotted off towards the shopping centers.
There were plenty of fast food places and clothing stores among the shopping centers, but nothing that could help us in our impending battle. I was just about to give up when I spotted what looked like a giant pair of deer antlers poking up over the hill beyond the last shopping center. I guided Ryder in that direction. When we reached the peak of the hill, I saw the giant antlers were part of a sign that stood above Rankin's Outdoor Outfitters. Their slogan bragged that they were the outdoorsman's best friend. I hoped they were the warrior's best friend, too.
The store was locked so I threw a heavy rock through the glass front door. The inside was in pristine condition. It was wall-to-wall camouflage. They had every outdoor item known to man. I made a mental note to bring the wagon by the store before we left Dalton to restock on some survival essentials. I briefly thought of the possibility that we may not be leaving Dalton depending on how our face-off with the Takers went.
The place was replete with guns and ammo, but they didn't do me any good. Past the row of guns, I saw something that caught my eye. It was a crossbow. It was a thing of beauty. I moved around the counter and took it from the wall. Like virtually everything else in the store, it was decorated in camouflage. It had what looked to be a highly complicated pulley system and strong, durable cable. It was even fashioned with a scope that placed a red dot on your target. I held it to my shoulder. It weighed about nine pounds. It felt surprisingly natural in my hands. The price tag said $1,000. I smiled like a kid waking up on Christmas morning. I had to have it. In fact, I had to have four.
I found a large canvas bag and filled it with four crossbows, as many arrows as I could find, a half dozen quivers that could hold up to ten arrows, a variety of hunting knives, a dozen lighters called pocket blow torches, and some hunting vests with pockets everywhere.
Mounting Ryder with such a heavy load wasn't easy. I set the bag on the roof of a nearby car and jumped on Ryder's back. From there it was just a matter of leaning over and snatching the bag of goodies from the car roof.
I was back at the warehouse in less than fifteen minutes, anxious t
o show off my new toys. Tyrone was as enthusiastic as I was, but Lou and Valerie were a little reticent. Realistically they knew that it would come to this, that we would have to arm ourselves in order to successfully fend off the Takers. But seeing the crossbows with their almost sadistic looking arrows was another thing all together. It brought the point home to them that this was for real. We would have to kill in order to avoid being killed. They didn't like the idea even though all we'd be killing were uncaring monsters that saw us as food.
Reluctantly they joined Tyrone and me in a crossbow shooting practice session behind the outlet warehouse. We took turns cranking the cocking mechanism and firing out arrows at a basketball backboard the outlet employees must have made full use of during lunch. Tyrone, Lou, and I got fairly efficient, but Valerie never quite got the hang of it.
We continued preparations for the battle inside the warehouse. I gave the others the pocket blowtorches. They lit with an easy push of a lever, and the flame was big. It was perfect for lighting a firecracker and throwing it at an assailant quickly. As a backup, I lit all the candles Tyrone had placed throughout the warehouse. If we got in a spot and our pocket blowtorches wouldn't work, we wouldn't be far from a lit candle.
I hitched up the horses, loaded the wagon with all our supplies, and moved it outdoors. "Valerie," I said, "You stay with the horses and Nate." I pulled a bottle rocket from my pocket and showed it to her. "You see this? It shoots off red and blue sparkles." She nodded. "I'll shoot this off for only one reason."
"What?" she asked.
"To tell you to get out of here. If you see red and blue sparkles, you slap Phil and Ryder with the reins as hard as you can and go. Don't look back just keep going until you get to Atlanta. You understand?"
"But I want to help," she protested.
"You are." I took Nate who was lying in his sling around my neck and placed him across Valerie's shoulder. "You're making sure the monsters don't get Nate. We can't let them get him."
She reluctantly agreed.
I reached in the back of the wagon and pulled out the rolled up comic book. I gave one last reassuring look to Valerie and went into the warehouse.
Lou and Tyrone were nervously standing by. We were all armed with our crossbows and wearing two quivers filled with ten arrows each. Our first shot was cocked and ready to go. In addition, we all had on hunting vests with each pocket filled with firecrackers. We had knives strapped to our waists. We were armed to the teeth.
I handed Lou the comic book. "You read," I said, "How many pages do you think you can get through before they show up?"
"Five, maybe six," she said.
"Make it four and then hide it in that roll of carpet." I pointed to a large roll of carpet to my right. "There's answers in that comic book. Things those Greasywhoppers don't want us to know. If they get their hands on it, we may never know what we need to know."
"What do we need to know?" She looked at me hoping I had some clue.
"I don't know," I said.
"What do you want me to do?" Tyrone asked.
"You and I are going to keep a close eye out. We have no idea which direction these things are going to come from. Aim for the chest. Give yourself a big target." He looked at me nervously. "You up for this?"
"I guess so."
"Yeah, me too," I said. I turned to Ajax. "You ready, warrior." He grunted. I didn't have to ask Kimball. He was already pacing pack and forth ready for action.
"Lou," I said. "You're the only one who's going to know what you read."
"So?"
"So, you have to survive. If we lose you, this whole thing will have been for nothing."
She smiled anxiously, and sat down in a folding chair we placed in the middle of the warehouse. Tyrone and I put our backs to her and stood three feet away. We both readied our crossbows and kept a guarded eye out for any signs of the creatures. Kimball and Ajax took positions close by.
"Ready?" I said.
"Ready," Tyrone answered.
"Okay, Lou, do your stuff," I said.
I heard her take a deep breath and then I heard her open the comic book. It was eerily quiet as she read. We were too scared to even breathe. Lou flipped a page and then another. She was reading fast.
"Lou, what are you doing?"
"This is stuff that already happened," she said. "South Pittsburg, the rest area, Chattanooga, he wrote about it all."
"Get to the part we don't know about."
"I'm trying."
A noise came from the far corner of the warehouse. Tyrone and I both turned towards it, our crossbows ready to fire. "Time's up, Lou."
"I just need a few more minutes."
A roll of carpet tumbled to the floor from the same direction the noise had come from. "Time's up, now!" I tried to shout like a commander, but it came out as a plea.
Tyrone slowly started moving toward the noise. "Stay put, Tyrone," I said. He hesitated, but then continued to move forward. "Tyrone!"
"I need to get closer to get a better shot," he said.
"Trust me, it will come to us."
He stopped. "Yeah, I guess you're right." He was now standing at the end of the largest roll of carpet in the entire building.
I turned to Lou, "I said that's enough." She didn't respond. "Lou…"
Suddenly she stood and shouted, "Tyrone get away from there!"
Stunned by Lou's tone, Tyrone was about to comply when he was jerked to the ground. I could see a Taker's hand wrap around his ankle and pull him behind the roll of carpet. Kimball was the first to run to Tyrone's aid. I followed. Ajax grabbed Lou and pulled her to the other end of the warehouse.
By the time I reached the other side of the roll of carpet, Tyrone was gone. Kimball was growling and barking down a large hole in the concrete floor. I could hear Tyrone screaming, "Help!" from below the floor.
From the other end of the warehouse where we first heard the noise, two more Takers appeared, their teeth chattering, their claws extended. They were fifteen footers easy. Ajax raced past us and barreled towards the two monsters. Kimball charged after him.
"Oz!" I heard a screech rise up from the hole.
Lou ran towards me. She fired her crossbow at one of the Takers pursued by Kimball and Ajax, and hit it between the eyes. It wobbled to its knees, and placed both hands around the arrow jetting out from its forehead. Kimball leapt on it and sunk his teeth into its neck. "Go!" she said. "We can take care of these two."
I did not immediately jump into the hole. I thought about it first, which was a big mistake. Fear grabbed hold of me. I wrestled with myself, fighting to work up the courage to jump in the hole and save Tyrone. I looked to see Lou turning the crank on her crossbow to cock it and insert another arrow in the barrel. Ajax was tormenting the Taker. He had hold of its leg and was trying to pull it off its feet, but the monster swung wildly and caught Ajax on the head, sending him tumbling to the ground. Ajax quickly recovered.
"Oz!" Tyrone cried. His voice was distant and muffled. I couldn't wait any longer. I jumped into the hole.
It was pitch black. I couldn't see three feet in front of me. I searched through my pockets and pulled out a small penlight I had picked up at the outdoor shop. I turned the head of the light and it came on. I was astonished to see the Takers had dug a large tunnel that ended at the hole in the warehouse. I shined my light down the tunnel. The walls were dripping with the ooze from the Greasywhoppers. I walked forward, increasing my pace with each step. "Tyrone!" I called out.
"Oz!"
He was alive and just ahead. My beam of light caught some movement. I slowed my pace. It was the back of the Taker. In its left hand it held tightly to Tyrone, while it dug its way through the earth with the right. It was removing huge chunks as it frantically clawed at the rock and dirt in front of it.
I shot my crossbow and hit it in the shoulder. The creature stopped digging. It seemed to be unfazed by the arrow sticking out of its back. It turned slowly, its teeth chattering. I dropped the light
and furiously turned the crank on the crossbow to cock it. The bottom half of the Taker was the only thing illuminated now. I could see Tyrone struggling to free himself from the monster's grasp. The crossbow cocked, I reached back and pulled an arrow out of one of my quivers and loaded it in the barrel, but I couldn't fire without the light. I saw the monster take a step toward me. As I bent down to pick up the flashlight, it went dark. I ran my hand across the muddy tunnel floor, but I couldn't find it in the darkness. I stood and searched my pockets again, this time looking for my pocket blowtorch. I couldn't remember which pocket I put it in. I searched them all and didn't locate it. I could hear Tyrone whimpering. The Taker was dragging him along the ground as it walked toward me. I searched my pockets again. This time I found it on the first try. I pushed the lever and lost all feeling in my body when the light from the pocket torch flame revealed the creature's slimy snout just inches from my face. I screamed and my finger involuntarily twitched, pulling the trigger on the crossbow and striking it in the chest. The monster flinched, but that was it. It almost seemed to smile at me. Looking down I could see Tyrone's knife sticking out of the Taker's leg. Tyrone was wriggling like a worm on the end of the hook trying to break free from the creature's grip.
"Do something," Tyrone ordered.
I dropped the crossbow, reached in my pocket, pulled out an M-98 and lit it with the pocket torch. The Taker slapped the firecracker out of my hand and sent it flying behind me. It exploded, kicking up rocks and mud.
The Taker opened its oversized mouth and its teeth bent down. Looking inside the mucus-covered cavern, I couldn't help but think I had been in this situation before. It was going to swallow me. I reached down and pulled the knife from my waist and thrust it up into the Taker's chin. It reeled back and let go of Tyrone.
"Go, go, go," I said to Tyrone as I helped him to his feet. We ran toward the opening. The Taker screamed in agony.
When we got to the opening, we realized it was too high for us to reach. I lifted Tyrone up as high as I could, but that wasn't very high. A long hairy arm dropped down from the opening. It was Ajax. I lifted Tyrone up and he reached for Ajax. The gorilla grasped Tyrone by the wrist and pulled him up to safety. Ajax dropped his arm down the hole again to pull me up. I jumped and missed his hand. I jumped again. As I felt the leathery grip of Ajax latch on to my hand, I also felt the monstrous grip of the Taker grab me by the waist. Ajax roared trying to lift me against the strength of the Taker, but he couldn't do it.