by Jaron McFall
He first tried the simple solution and tried to push it open, but no luck. Then, he slammed his pipe hard on the glass and the window shattered. It was easily ten times louder than when he was slamming against the door and Cedric wondered if that would bring something running at him. He cautiously looked over each shoulder, decided he was safe enough and started to climb through the window. He threw his pipe in first and it clattered on the floor. Then he grabbed the sides of the window frame and began to pull himself up.
A small piece of glass was left on the sill that Cedric hadn’t seen in the dark. When Cedric heaved his midsection through, it caught his stomach and sank in, slicing the flesh. Cedric clenched his jaw tight but a noise that sounded like a bobcat still made its way up his throat.
He started to push his way back out of the window, but when he glanced back, one lone infected was running straight at him. With a great heave, Cedric pushed himself all the way through the window and the glass continued to slice through his stomach. It didn’t stop until it got to his armor.
Cedric immediately pulled out his gun while rolling onto his back. He could feel the blood from his stomach sinking into every article of clothing. He aimed his gun right at the window. As soon as the infected started to climb through after him, Cedric began to fire. It took four bullets, each one in the head, to get the infected human to die. At that moment, Cedric decided he needed a pistol larger than his small twenty-two caliber.
Cedric pushed himself onto his hands and knees, but his limbs were weak from the loss of blood. His arms gave way to his weight. Cedric collapsed into unconsciousness as his blood continued to pour out.
Chapter Eleven:
A CUT TOO DEEP
Charlie paced the rooftop with his rifle gripped tightly. He never took his eyes off the road. He had spent the entire night looking through the garage for the keys to his truck. He even attempted to hotwire it, but only managed to set off the alarm and ended up removing the battery cables to quiet it.
“Charlie!” a voice shouted from the other side of the roof.
When Charlie heard his name he immediately ran toward the voice that shouted. He wasn’t even sure who else had come onto the roof with him. When he got to the other side, he found Ross pointing to the road where a truck was approaching from the distance.
Charlie snapped from his daze as he realized it wasn’t Cedric. He ran for the hatch that led back down. As soon as he was on ground level again he began shouting, “Everyone get into the sleeping room.” He repeated this a few times as he ran toward the room himself. When he got to the door of the room, he found nearly everyone else was already there. The only person not accounted for was Jack, who came running from the shop holding a shotgun up, ready to fire.
“There is a truck coming. It’s not Ced,” Charlie said turning to his mother. He pointed at Jack, “Get up on the roof. Everyone else stays in here; lock the doors.”
Charlie traded guns with Jack: shotgun for rifle. He then turned on his heel and ran to the only door not welded shut. He waited with his hand on the doorknob.
“Charlie,” Ross said through the CB, “There’s one man inside the truck. He’s pulling in the parking lot. I think he spotted me up here.”
Charlie pulled the CB off his belt and pressed the talk button, “are there any infected in the lot? Over.”
“No,” Ross replied.
He turned the knob and swung the door open raising his shotgun to his shoulder. He quickly glanced around the lot and saw it was empty except for the small truck with a man in the driver’s seat. Charlie lowered his shotgun and smiled.
Cedric slowly regained consciousness. He could feel the sunlight on his face, but the cold morning air sent a chill down his spine. He had laid in the same spot on the ground for what felt like ages slipping in and out of consciousness. This time felt different, though. Now, with the light, he felt more awake.
He attempted to roll over, but it was like he was glued to the floor. He had to use all his strength to pry himself free.
When he did, his shirt made a wet, squelching sound on the linoleum. The sound reminded Cedric of the sound of an orange being peeled, only magnified. When Cedric was finally on his hands and knees, he looked at himself to find he was covered in a combination of dried blood and a greenish-hued gel.
The smell in the room was horrible. It smelled sulfurous and meaty; almost like rotting ham and eggs. The thought of that made him sick and he had to clamp his mouth tightly shut so he wouldn’t vomit.
He could tell he was dehydrated already. He assumed it was from loss of blood. Even though his mind was fuzzy, he still made the connection that a wound like his shouldn’t have closed on its own. Cedric peeled his shirt from his skin and saw a greenish scab completely covering the wound. He ran his fingers across it but it didn’t even hurt. He wondered if the nerves were damaged.
Cedric tried to stand up but was unable. He may not have been able to feel the injury, but he felt the after effects of it. Every time he tried to stand or he moved to quick, he got extremely dizzy.
Staying on his hands and knees, Cedric crawled to where he knew the employee’s fridge was. He hadn’t been an avid visitor of this library, but he had been a few times. It’s a long shot, he thought, but any shot is better than none. Anyone who had been to the library even once could tell you where the staff break room was since you saw it when you first walked in.
He opened the door to the fridge and another new smell hit him: molded food. Somebody’s lunch had turned green inside the refrigerator without power. This time, there was no helping it; Cedric vomited.
A few minutes after he had gotten sick, he managed to pull himself back together. Cedric saw what he was looking for. It may have already been half drained, but a bottle of water was right there. He pulled it from the refrigerator and drank the remainder. It was warm and tasted like plastic.
Cedric crawled a few feet away and rolled onto his back again. He knew he’d probably felt worse in his life at some point but couldn’t remember when. He thought about his plan again and laughed at how stupid it seemed now. It wasn’t until he ran through his plan a few times in his mind until he remembered why he thought people would be at the library.
Bolstered by this new memory, he managed to climb to his feet. When he got dizzy he grabbed the nearest chair. It took Cedric a few minutes but he managed to get to the back of the break room. There he turned the knob on the sink and fresh, cold water came bursting out. The library was an emergency shelter for the town. He knew there would be running well water, a generator, and the huge radio tower out back. He drank straight from the faucet until he couldn’t hold any more water.
An hour later, Cedric had managed to wash his clothes and himself from the faucet. He wasn’t getting dizzy anymore, now that he had at least had some water and had been moving around. His unusually green scab still worried him, though. He had seen discoloration in wounds before but never a green this dark: except for… He ignored that train of thought as soon as it started. His scab seemed to be getting darker by the hour.
His clothes dripping wet, Cedric peered through a window toward his vehicle. He couldn’t make out any infected humans in his path. He gripped his pistol in his hand, knowing that if he was attacked this time, he was dead.
He had already checked the entire building and found nobody there. Cedric returned to where he had shot the infected man and saw he was still dripping blood onto the floor right next to where Cedric had lain. He grabbed his pipe and left the building. He walked toward the Jeep as fast as he was able to move without getting sick again.
As soon as he was back in the Jeep he noticed smoke nearby. He started up the car and began driving toward the smoke. It wasn’t long until he found the source of the smoke. “Signal fire,” Cedric said to himself as he looked up at the chimney where the smoke was coming from.
As he got closer he noticed a swarm of infected humans on the porch clawing at the door. Cedric slowed the Jeep to a stop and cracke
d the window.
He grasped the rifle from the back seat and took aim. Cedric fired at the infected. His aim was steadied by the door frame. Every few shots, Cedric checked his surroundings for any new infected that would be coming after him. After ten minutes, and three reloads, Cedric shot the last one in the back of the head. He put the Jeep back into drive and sped into the yard. Leaving the car running, he stumbled out and beat on the door while yelling, “Is there anyone inside? I can help you. Quick!”
Cedric pulled the pistol from its holster and shot the door handle twice before pushing the door open. He slowly stepped inside with his gun raised, ready to shoot again. He glanced back over his shoulder before going into the next room.
Cedric’s pulse was racing as he turned every corner. Even stupider, he thought to himself, if I don’t die this time I’ll know the man upstairs is watching out for me.
Just as he turned into the last room on the first floor a loud shattering noise came from upstairs. He immediately pointed his gun in the direction of the stairway. As soon as he did, though, a force struck him from behind.
Cedric felt the impact, but couldn’t figure out why he didn’t hit the ground. Then he noticed that his arms were pinned to his sides and someone else’s arms were restraining him.
Cedric slung his head back into his attacker's face. He felt it make contact and as soon as it did, Cedric’s eyes lit up with the kind dizziness you feel when you’ve been in a car crash.
The other man let go of Cedric and they both fell to the ground. Cedric rolled onto his back and pointed the gun at his assailant.
A man slightly taller and half as big as Cedric was standing right where he had been just the moment before. The man was half turned in the direction of the table where a baseball bat laid. He froze when he saw the gun.
“What the hell do you want?” The man barked out.
“I came to try to help you. Why attack me?” Cedric replied.
“You mean you came to help yourself to my food. Maybe to shoot us even.”
“No,” Cedric said flatly. “I came to help. If you don’t want it, I’ll leave. Either way, I’m walking out that door in the next sixty seconds before more infected come. I think the smoke from your fire is drawing them in. Get anything you absolutely have to have and come with me if you want.”
“Why? Either I am shut up here or shut up at your house. How do I know you won’t kill me and my family?” The man asked in return.
“If I wanted to kill you I would shoot you now. But I’m leaving.” Cedric got to his feet never taking the gun’s aim off the man.
As soon as he was standing again, he heard a girl scream, “Dad!”
Cedric turned to see a girl at the stairs looking straight in their direction. Cedric immediately recognized the girl. He had gone to school with her, although he didn’t know her name. He thought she may have been a year or two younger than he was. Once he saw her, though, he lowered his gun and put it in its holster again.
He then turned back to the man, “Are you coming with me or not? We have food, water, and shelter.”
“I have all of that for my family. Why do I need your…” The man started to say but was interrupted as an infected came through the front door.
The man raised his bat but Cedric had already pulled his pistol from its holster and fired three rounds into the infected. When the gun fired, the girl on the steps screamed again.
Cedric continued to hold his gun up as he went through the room toward the door. When he was at the spot where the infected man laid on the floor, Cedric fired one more round into his head before going to the open door. He peered outside. Knowing he only had one shot left in his pistol; he slid it in its holster and pulled his metal pipe out.
He stood in the doorway facing outside but spoke to the people inside, “Are you coming with me or not. I’ll make it simple, come with me and live. Stay here and die.”
Cedric paused for a moment. For that moment, time stood still. Cedric could feel the eyes of three people watching his every move. He could nearly feel the tension in the air as they took every word he said in. Cedric saw the man’s hands trembling on the bat. He saw the girl crouching on the stairs looking at him through the railing. He saw the woman, presumably her mother, pulling the girl’s wrist in earnest.
Cedric then spoke again. “Only two types of people survive the end of the world: those who are lucky, and those who are prepared. Nobody can control their luck. So, what should you do?”
Cedric stood and waited for the man to say something but the voice that he heard was soft and light, “Dad. We can’t stay here forever.”
Cedric half turned in the direction of the girl’s voice and then heard the man sigh. When he looked at the stairs that time, the man was going up. Cedric stayed where he was, not sure if the man was going to get his family or just going to lock himself in a room upstairs.
Cedric was about to close the front door, even though he knew it wouldn’t stay closed since he’d shot the handle. Just then, he heard someone crashing down the stairs. He swung the door back open and saw the man carrying a suitcase with his daughter and wife following behind him carrying more luggage.
Cedric ran with an awkward lope to the Jeep and opened the back hatch for the family to put their bags in. When they got outside and saw the Jeep covered in makeshift armor, they all stopped. Not sure what to say, the father just smiled at the obvious protection that was offered by the armor on the Jeep.
“Hurry up,” Cedric said as he went to grab the luggage from the man. But just as he grabbed at the bag, his vision went bright again and his wound shot with excruciating pain.
Cedric fell to the ground grasping at his stomach. The father set his luggage down and knelt at Cedric’s side to see what was wrong. Cedric’s attack only lasted a short moment before the pain subsided slightly. He rolled onto his knees gasping and pulled his shirt up to see the cut across his stomach. He grimaced as he realized part of the scab had slit open.
He stood saying, “It's fine. It's just a cut.”
The father didn’t look convinced that Cedric was fine but threw his family’s luggage in the back of the Jeep anyway. Cedric leaned against the Jeep door.
“Is that everyone?” he asked.
“Yeah, let me go grab the food though.” The father replied.
Cedric stayed leaned against the Jeep as the family made two more trips to gather supplies.
“Where are we going?” The mother asked when everyone was loaded into the vehicle.
“School,” Cedric said simply as he drove away.
Chapter Twelve:
CEDRIC INFECTED?
Ross was staring off the roof of the vocational building at the man below him. Jack had just climbed onto the roof to join him moments after Charlie had given the man a hug.
“I think it's okay,” Ross said turning to Jack as he ran toward him. “Charlie gave the man a hug, so I guess he knows him. I’m not sure more than that.”
Jack started to slow down when he heard Ross say okay, but still came to the edge anyway. As he leaned over the edge to see the two men below him, he heard snatches of their conversation; Charlie was asking questions and the older man answering.
“I’ll take this side if you want that one,” Ross finally said when he realized they couldn’t make out anything coherent from their height.
Jack nodded his head once and grunted, which Ross took as an affirmative. He’d found Jack was extremely easy to get along with, which probably had something to do with the fact they recognized each other from living and working in the same small city. At least, Ross recognized Jack as a regular customer, that is.
After a short moment, Ross saw Charlie go back into the building and moments later the man driving his truck into the now empty spot where the Jeep had been only hours before.
The door to the building had only just closed when Ross spotted a new vehicle coming in the distance. It took him only a moment to notice the armored Jeep.
&nb
sp; Ross pulled the CB radio from his belt and clicked the talk button, “Cedric’s back.”
Hank had only just put the truck in park when he noticed Charlie running for the exit. He immediately swung his door open and ran after his son.
Once Hank was outside with Charlie, he saw his ex-wife’s Jeep, now covered in makeshift armor, swing into the parking lot. He knew that Cedric should be driving it because Charlie had said that Cedric had taken it out for some reason. Only it wasn’t his youngest son driving, but a man around his own age.
The driver of the Jeep slammed on the brakes when it was near to the door and Charlie raised his gun. The man in the Jeep ignored the gun. He quickly jumped out and shouted, “The boy that got us needs help. He’s unconscious and I think he’s having a seizure.”
Charlie swung his rifle on its strap so that it was now on his back and ran to the passenger side of the Jeep where the man was pointing. As he neared the vehicle, he saw his brother passed out and jerking in the seat.
In a matter of seconds, he had snatched Cedric from the Jeep and was running back into the vocational building with his father right behind them. Unsure what to do, the family followed.
Charlie burst through the door of the living area with his brother passed out in his arms. He set him on a table nearby and for the first time noticed the blood caked on his clothes—despite Cedric’s attempts to wash them in the library sink.
Charlie could feel the press of bodies around him but was unsure who was who. He didn’t even care at the current moment. He pulled his brother’s shirt up and saw the jagged gash across Cedric’s flesh. His stomach churned with nausea as he looked closely at it and he heard his mother gasp from somewhere next to him.
“We need to clean this out,” Charlie heard Sue say from his other side, but he was frozen. He knew what the green scab reminded him of, and if that was the case…
Charlie turned to the family that was waiting in the hallway. “Was he bitten,” he yelled out to them.