Great, another roof, I thought, as I flipped it open. Lowering it slowly, as to not make any sound, I crept outside.
The air was cool, and there was a slight breeze. The trees flowed back and fourth, dancing in the moonlight, playing tricks with my mind. I could see hundreds of the dead, and then there would be nothing.
I decided to pull my shit together. I had my fun drinking, but refused to be left vulnerable. Taking a deep breath to steady myself, I moved to the side of the building and started to survey the surrounding area.
If I could just see one lamppost or stoplight. Just one bit of light sitting out there, I’d have a beacon of hope for us to travel to. A place where there just might be enough power for a cell tower to work.
That’s when I saw it. In the distance, a tiny flicker. Struggling to focus my eyes, I realized there was more than just the one light. I could see a house fully illuminated, and a whole series of streets with what looked like lampposts lit, set on a hillside.
That’s where we’d head tomorrow, I thought decisively. That’s where we’d have the best chance of connecting with Jenn.
I stood there for a moment, my senses coming back into full function. The breeze felt nice, but something felt wrong. Things were quiet.
Quiet is a funny thing. Before this whole thing happened, there was always noise. Most of us zoned it out. We were used to it. Whether it was a car driving by or the steady hum of an overhead power line, there always used to be something making noise around us. Hell, I remember backpacking with some buddies before I met Jenn, and being pissed when an airplane flew overhead, taking us out of the wilderness feel. Noise was everywhere. There was no escaping it.
After everything fell apart, it took me a while to be comfortable with no noise at all. On the flip side, it heightened the noises that were still around. You could hear things from miles away. Nothing would drown out a gunshot or a scream. At first, people had trouble telling how far away things were. The old rules were gone. If you heard someone screaming, they could be in the next building over or four blocks away.
Between the swaying trees, I noticed another light in the same direction. It was much smaller than the streetlights on the hill, and closer to the ground. It was pretty far off, but the glow told me that it was a bonfire of some sort, and appeared much bigger than I’d ever be comfortable making. I hoped we wouldn’t have to pass directly by it.
It had occurred to me earlier that day, that the dead zombies weren’t the only things to be afraid of. When there was no law, there would be nobody to stop the crazy people from doing even crazier things. I thought of all the end of the world movies I’d seen. From biker gangs, to crazy rednecks, to cannibals, there was always some group of crazies out there ready to steal your shit, rape the women, and kill the men.
Man always seemed to be as dangerous, if not more, than the creatures running around outside.
Captured by the glowing light of the bonfire, I listened intently for any hint of what was out there.
Nothing. Just silence.
Chapter 12
The most dangerous enemy against mankind is man himself.
Kyle was the first to wake up the next morning. Day four, I thought, as I pushed the sleeping bag down. Nobody had noticed that I took my midnight stroll. I felt like a moron when I mentioned it, knowing that I should not have gone off alone.
In the beginning, following the herd probably got you killed. Not now, though; now, you never stray from the herd. That’s how you get picked off. I should have known better. Kyle let me know it with an eat shit and die look as I explained what I had seen that night.
Regardless, he acknowledged that it was a good idea to look for what was out there, even if I was fucking stupid enough to do it on my own; leaving me with that same adolescent feeling of guilt I’d get while playing hooky from work.
We packed up our camping gear, and loaded up the Hummer.
Michael was still laid up in the back seat, trying to keep his head up. We knew we’d be nursing him back to health for a while.
After opening the door to the warehouse, Kyle jumped back up in the passenger seat throwing his metal rod in the back. He mentioned that he’d feel way more comfortable with a real weapon as we pulled out of the door.
I agreed, but knew my hammer would be staying by my side for some time to come.
Heading west of the warehouse, we began making our way towards the hill with the streetlamps that were still lit. We didn’t have the luxury of taking wide detours, as there were only a few roads that the navigation system showed going up to the area.
With a little finesse, I was able to push cars out of the way with the Hummer, and continue on the road that led to the secluded hillside. We didn’t see any creatures in the area. It was strange to not see anything at all, but we didn’t question the good fortune. Still, I couldn’t shake that uneasy feeling.
We hit an intersection on the outskirts of the town, where a stoplight was blinking red. It was the first one we’d seen working in days.
The intersection created a crossroad surrounded by a series of small broken down storefronts on each corner. Aside from the rhythmic blinking of the light above, the shops were devoid of any movement or noise. There was a blue post office box on one corner of the intersection and a yellow “Pedestrian Crossing” sign on a black metal post.
My eyes were drawn beyond the yellow sign, and focused on a liquor store which simply said, ‘Bottle Shop,’ painted on the window above a still illuminated and brightly glowing OPEN sign. Next door was a small deli, which was missing the front door.
Kyle nudged my shoulder and pointed my attention over to my right and through his window, and said, “Looks like a pharmacy.”
“Or what’s left of one.” I nervously shrugged looking over and noticing the front window had been completely blown out.
“We should check it out anyway. Might be some medicine for our friend in the back seat,” Kyle suggested.
Agreeing, I put the Hummer into park right outside the Pharmacy. Kyle and I eased out, leaving Michael in the back seat. I had my hammer in my left hand, and opened the broken door to the pharmacy with my right. I kept glancing around, looking for any signs of life, or worse, the dead.
We stepped in to find much of the stuff on the shelves gone. Even the condom rack was completely empty. There was still a stack of newspapers sitting nicely piled by the cash register, frozen in time. The front story featured some politicians debating over some shit that nobody really cared about. There was no mention of the dead rising. The whole thing had happened so fast, the newspapers never had a chance to print.
Kyle and I moved to the rear of the store. We hopped the counter, and rummaged through a bunch of tipped over boxes and pill containers. Neither of us were educated enough to know what we were looking for, so we just grabbed everything that had a child safety lock on it and filled up a plastic bag that was sitting behind the register. There wasn’t much left that had -cillin or -biotic on the labels.
We were heading back towards the front door when we heard the gunshot, then another.
We both ducked and hid by a magazine rack at the front of the store. No telling which direction it came from or how close it was. I looked beyond the D-cup boobs in the Hustler sitting next to my head, and towards where the Hummer was parked. I had pulled the keys out of the ignition, not wanting Michael to drive off with it. There was no movement.
We sat there for several minutes; listening to the silence. Finally, I ventured to whisper, “Can you tell what kind of gun that is?”
He gave a slight shake of his head and then motioned towards the Hummer. Remaining in a crouch, we started to make our way toward it. Nothing was in sight. No movement. No sound. No nothing. It was a little unnerving to know that the vehicle was bright yellow. It was like a giant blinking sign giving away our position. We slipped back into it and closed the doors as quietly as possible. The sound still seemed to echo between the buildings in the dead silence.
“This will work,” he muttered while downing a couple pills and laying back down. His face and arms were pale. In his daze, he didn’t even hear the gun fire. Kyle shot me a look that said he hoped that the pills worked. This was probably his last chance.
I started the Hummer, wincing at the noise, and guided it up the hilltop.
I pulled my cell phone off the dashboard, and felt my stomach drop, noticing that there were still no bars as we topped the hill.
The neighborhood was filled with multi-million dollar mansions. I only caught part of what Kyle was saying, something about the top one percent of the one percent living here, when he stopped in mid-sentence.
“Get the fuck out of here!” Kyle said, shifting his body down and over to get a better view of the side view mirror.
I spun around to see a police car behind us. We were getting the full flashing lights treatment. I kept driving.
“Pull over!” came over a loud speaker.
“Is it possible that this community still has people?” I asked, feeling my heart thudding.
“I guess if there is still power. I don’t know...maybe,” Kyle replied. Michael popped his head up, and looked back.
“There is no way these guys are on the level,” he panted.
“Pull over!” We heard it once again from the cop car. We didn’t know quite what to do.
“Cops or not, they’re probably calling every zombie in the area towards us,” I said, hearing my own voice raise noticeably. Kyle held up his hands; he wasn’t sure what the hell to do either.
I pulled into the driveway of one of the mansions on our right. It circled around, and I drove all the way through to face the cop car blocking the exit. With a clear line of sight on the car, we could still get by on the grass if we needed to.
Two men stepped out. They were both clean shaven, and dressed in blue officer uniforms. Handguns drawn, they approached the Hummer. Kyle and I had opened the doors but wouldn’t step down. No way were we just sitting there waiting for them to walk up with guns blazing.
“Put your hands up where we can see them and throw any weapons down to the grass!” one of the cops screamed.
“Is there a problem officer?” Kyle asked, as nonchalant as possible.
“This town is in lock down. No outside visitors. We’re here to escort you out,” the officer replied.
“Lock –down? What do you mean lock –down?” I questioned in bewilderment.
“It means you need to leave immediately, before we’re forced to take more drastic action,” the other officer said. He coughed, and spit on the ground.
Turning my head toward Kyle while keeping my eye on the uniform, I asked, “I’m not married to this place, are you?”
He shook his head no.
“Okay,” I said trying to sound calm, “we’ll leave. We don’t want any trouble. Besides, we were just passing through trying to catch a cell tower signal anyway.”
The cops eased up a bit, still not dropping their weapons.
“Listen, we don’t want to overstay our welcome, but I have to ask; does anybody have reception?”
“No sir. The cell towers are all dead.”
The two officers glanced at each other, as if deciding what to do next. One nodded and then they looked back at us.
“The land lines work though.” My heart suddenly lurched.
With all the technology our modern world had created, it was the one developed in the 1800’s that wound up being the only thing still working when everything else failed. As it turned out, landline telephones plugged directly into a phone outlet that required very little power. Most of the telephone companies had huge generators and battery backups that ran for weeks before going down.
I was pissed at myself for not thinking of it.
Cautiously stepping down into the grass with my arms raised, I dropped my hammer onto the grass. Pleading my case, I explained that we just needed to make a few phone calls, and that we’d get the hell out of there right away. Just a few phone calls, one being to my pregnant wife.
The officers looked at each other, then back toward us once again. They let me squirm there on the grass for a moment, before one of them finally spoke up with a slight edge in his voice. “We’ll take you to a phone. Head back down the hill and stop just before the streetlight. We’ll be right behind you, so drive slowly and don’t veer from that destination.”
Before I could thank them, they stepped back into their cruiser. I reached down to retrieve my hammer and then jumped back up into the Hummer. Kyle and I closed our doors with sequential thuds, and waited as the cops backed up their car. They pulled forward and completed a three-point turn before motioning to us to drive out in front of them.
They escorted us down the winding road past all of the houses, and back towards the small town. I slowed the Hummer to a crawl at the stoplight until they drove up next to us, motioning for me to stop. The cop in the passenger side, signaled to me to roll down my window.
Hitting the automatic down button on the interior of the door, the window slid down as I watched the cop casually stick a finger out in the direction of the pharmacy.
“Last I checked, pharmacies have telephones,” he said with a straight face, looking through his aviator sunglasses. He rolled up his window as the car pulled forward, blocking the Hummer from advancing.
Both cops stepped out of their car, weapons drawn once again, but at the ground. Kyle and I cautiously stepped out as well, and started to the pharmacy.
Just as we reached the entrance, we both stopped dead in our tracks as an ear piercing siren suddenly turned on from beyond the tree line. It was absolutely deafening, and coming from a large tower that we could see sticking up through the trees a couple of hundred yards away. Unable to move, like a deer caught in headlights, my first instinct was that we’d set it off somehow, and that moving would only make it worse.
The cops were momentarily frozen as well. Looks of horror and panic filled their faces, as they quickly started back to their car.
“They weren't supposed to start for another hour!” one screamed.
“What the hell is going on?” Kyle’s voice could hardly be heard.
“You guys better get the hell out of here,” one bellowed as they slammed their car doors shut. We stood there speechless as they sped away, staring back and forth between the retreating police cruiser and the siren tower.
The noise ran for almost two full minutes and then stopped as suddenly as it had started.
“What the hell?” Michael said out loud as Kyle and I just stood there, expecting the worse.
Eyes wide open; my senses were at full alert. At first, it sounded like a distant squirrel rustling through the leaves on the forest ground. However, the single small movement began to multiply, getting louder as it headed in our direction. My hands were shaking with anticipation as we drew our weapons and started stepping back towards the Hummer. We all knew what was out there.
The first creatures came stumbling out from the darkness of the forest one or two at a time, and they all seemed to be converging towards where the siren stood. Small packs and larger swarms followed from every direction, they were all over the place, being pulled in like moths to a light.
“Get in the Hummer!” Kyle screamed.
Slamming the doors shut, I gunned it backward and then headed in the same direction as the cop car. There was no going back down the road we came from.
At the top of the hill, I stopped the Hummer and swung open the door.
We heard a few screams and some gunshots coming back from behind the tree line.
“Do we check it out?” I asked.
“I’m thinking we go down to that house overlooking the trees, and see what we can see from there. Let’s just make sure nobody knows we’re still hanging around.”
I nodded in agreement and then we headed down to the h
ouse.
Smarter men would have taken off and not looked back. Our curiosity was what got the best of us.
We made sure that Michael was comfortable in the Hummer, which I had concealed around the side of the house. Kyle and I made our way around the rear of the home, passing through well trimmed bushes, a fountain that looked like it cost more than my car back home, and a swimming pool that still had the automatic cleaning unit attached to a large hose, which was buzzing around through the water.
We came to the overlook, and had a clear view all the way to the siren. To our amazement, there was a group of what looked like live people standing in a circle around the siren. They were all holding various farming tools, which included shovels, pitchforks, and axes. There was even one guy that was walking around wearing a black apron and a clear plastic face plated helmet while wielding a chainsaw. The people had used the CAT backhoe parked nearby, to dig a deep ditch around the siren, giving them a sizable perimeter to which they were all standing in the middle of.
We watched in fascination as the dead slowly but surely dropped into the circular ditch, getting stuck. Those alive would simply walk over to each zombie as they fell, and swing their weapon of choice down, killing each trapped creature as it desperately tried to climb back out.
“That’s why this place is so devoid of creatures,” I spoke out loud. “This group is thinning them out. Pulling them in with the siren, and then killing them all.”
I caught Kyle’s attention, pointing beyond the group, as they were finishing off the last of the zombies. We saw the bonfire that I noticed the night before. It was clear now; these people were burning the bodies of the dead.
A brilliant plan, I thought to myself. Thin out the problem, keeping the area relatively safe.
In that moment, we watched as a car drove up to the outside perimeter of the circle. The creatures had all been taken care of in one massive onslaught. There was someone from inside the circle laying down a plank to create a bridge across the gap.
900 Miles: A Zombie Novel Page 8