Both men were too far for Quentin to attack even if he’d wanted to, but he didn’t. “I’m new in town. My friend Vic told me about this place.”
“There’s no one here anymore. Everyone left,” said Rob, not dropping the gun. But Thomas lowered his.
Quentin holstered his bat. “I’m sorry if I scared you with the banging. But I haven’t seen anybody since Vic died. Don’t you think it’s better if we’re together?”
“Not really.”
“I’m a superb zombie killer,” smiled Quentin. “You know how many I’ve killed with my bat? Too many to count, obviously. But like, just one hit, guess how many I’ve killed. With just one blow.”
“I don’t know.”
“Twelve. Vic used to call me Babe Ruth cuz I’d just BAM! One swing and the Dead would drop. That’s all I’ve done. Me and Billy took to it since it happened. He had a sword and I had a bat.”
“Look,” said Rob. “I don’t have any problem with you. But me and Thomas are good on our own. You can respect that, right? I’m not saying you can’t live here in town but you don’t need to live with us.”
“That’s fine,” said Quentin. “I just wanted to meet the neighbors.”
“And you’ve met them.”
Suddenly the door opened. Quentin jumped back and put his hands on the handle of his bat.
A girl at the door, dusty blonde and tall and thin and, Quentin thought, very pretty, said, “Leave it alone, Rob. What’d you say your name was?”
“Quentin.”
“Elizabeth.”
Rob said, “Get back in the house, Betty.”
She ignored him. “Come in and have something to eat with us.”
“Goddammit, Betty, what the fuck?”
“Put down your gun,” she said, glaring at Rob. She asked Quentin, “Are you good? Or bad?”
“I’m good. I’m useful.”
She scrutinized him, as if evaluating his soul. “Come on.”
“Goddammit! Betty! I swear to God!”
“What? What, Rob? You gonna shoot? Pull the trigger. Do it.”
Rob fumed.
“Go ahead. Shoot him.”
Quentin didn’t know what to make of it.
Rob swore and threw the gun at the wall, stormed off toward the back of the house.
Elizabeth glanced down at the pistol holstered at Quentin’s hip. “That thing loaded?”
“It’s got two bullets.”
“Then there’s two bullets in this whole town, now. Every other gun’s been empty for months. Come inside. It’s ok.”
Thomas brushed by him without speaking. He joined Elizabeth and they went into the house.
Inside he was surprised to find two more young women, one blonde and thin, nervous, and the other with nut brown hair and eyes, with crooked teeth and a pretty smile.
“This is Kelly and Cassandra,” Elizabeth said. “This is Quentin. He’s our zombie killer.”
“We could use one of those,” said Kelly, but Cassandra didn’t speak. She looked strong, and for that matter so did Elizabeth.
They were all well-fed. It was as strange as it would have been to see people near starvation back in the days before the End. These were the times of hunger. But they didn’t resemble the cannibals, who were sickly pallid.
“Where did you come from?” asked Elizabeth. She pointed to a seat, and the girls made some fuss over ensuring there was a plate for him. The table was set like a real dinner, fancier even than anything his mom would have set for him and Billy when they were kids.
“Me and Billy grew up in San Bernadino. After the End, we went up to Sacramento. We were there for like a year, but it started gettin’ overrun by cannibals.”
They were horrified to hear this.
“So then we came up north a few months ago. I just met with Vic at the beach when he was burying his dog, and he told me about this place.”
“So,” said Kelly, looking frightened, “where are they?”
“They’re dead.”
Thomas sat at the table. “You’re just in time for dinner, kid. What’s your name again?”
“Quentin. How come Rob was so mad I was here?”
“Everybody down south super welcoming?”
“No…”
“We gotta protect ourselves.”
Elizabeth said, “Don’t worry about Rob. He’s… paranoid. We haven’t seen anyone in a while. But we’re happy to have a new neighbor.”
“How long you been here?” asked Kelly.
“A week or so.”
“How’d you get in?”
“I climbed the fence.”
The answer seemed somehow insufficient to them but they dropped it. They served food and chattered. Quentin felt out of place but was relieved to be with people, and couldn’t believe the food they had. He didn’t dare ask where it came from, knowing they must have a vast hidden stock.
Eventually Rob joined them, and as he ate he stared coldly at the visitor.
“So, zombie killer. What’s on your mind?” he asked.
“I’m grateful. I don’t know.” He felt interrogated, and spoke quickly, as though Rob knew he wanted to ask about the food. “I’m just happy to see others like me.”
“Well, we’re not like you. We’re just normal people. We’re not hardened zombie slayers. How many zombies you killed? Thousands?”
“No. Probably hundreds though. It’s easier with a partner. Me and Billy…and me and Vic, when we joined up. We had it down, natural. Just like…tag team, you know?”
“No zombies around here to kill,” said Thomas.
“Yeah huh. Sure there are.”
Everyone stopped eating.
“Not in this town,” said Kelly.
“Well, yeah. I’ve killed I think three since I got here.”
Rob narrowed his eyes. “How’d you get through the gate?”
“I climbed the fence, like I said. There were some bodies, old shriveled up Eaters. I used ’em as a bridge.”
“And you think there’s some inside?”
“I’ve seen ’em, but I killed ’em. I’m sure there’s a slow leak. A zombie might get through the border now and then.”
“They hadn’t before you came.”
“Well, I didn’t hurt the fence…”
“Don’t worry about it,” said Elizabeth, tension behind her soothing manner. “Maybe you let us know if you see more?”
“Yeah. Of course. I didn’t hurt the fence, though.” After a while he asked, “Where is everyone?”
The group eyed one another. Elizabeth said, “We don’t know. The town’s been empty since we arrived.”
“How’d you get in?”
“We had a key to the North Gate.”
“A key?”
There was a long pause. “Yeah. My cousin left me a key, a long time ago. Just in case.”
No one said anything.
Conversation resumed, stilted at first, then light and easy, especially when Rob left the table. Afterwards they cleaned their plates. The shy one, Cassandra, led him to a well out back where he filled his canteen.
“Come back when you need water, please.”
“If you think it’s ok,” he said. They were about to walk back to the house when he grabbed her arm. She looked scared.
“No, I’m not gonna hurt you,” he said.
“Ok…”
“I just…I don’t have anybody…I just thought we could be friends.”
“Of course.”
“If you let me come here and eat, I’ll make sure no zombies come this way.”
“Ok.”
“Would you ask Elizabeth?”
“Yes,” she said, not averting her eyes. “Just come. It’ll be fine.”
He let go. “Then I’ll see you tomorrow again? And I’ll look for any Eaters, first, and I’ll kill ’em before I come.”
“Sounds good,” she said.
The next day he found two more, creeping around downtown. One was fast and darted
after him as soon as it caught his scent. Strong as it was, it was uncoordinated, and with a few taps of the bat it went down and he finished it with two hard blows that opened up its skull, brains tumbling out.
He finished the second without a hitch, then went to his new friends’ house by late afternoon. He told them about the Eaters, and then he stayed and ate dinner.
This routine continued for another few weeks. Some days he didn’t meet any Eaters, and some days he found one, or several. He reported things back almost exactly as they happened, never exaggerating numbers but boasting of his ability to kill.
He became more assured of his role as scout and slaughterer. He was an integral part of the group, he thought, an extension of the family. Elizabeth was kind to him. Kelly ceased to be nervous. Thomas joked with him and slapped him on the shoulder when he saw him. Even Rob would acknowledge him with a nod, though nothing more. And Cassandra spoke gently to him, asking him about his brother, his childhood, which he was more than happy to talk about.
One night during dinner, he pressed the case that there was a slow leak through the fence.
Elizabeth asked, “Have you walked around the perimeter? Maybe there’s a gap somewhere?”
“I’ve looked. I think they’re just making their way over.”
“I doubt it,” said Thomas. “Why would they? They can’t smell us or hear us from beyond the fence. They can’t see us. They’re a path-of-least-resistance animal until it comes to food. But they don’t know we’re in here.”
“Do they know you’re in here?” asked Rob.
“No…” But he had seen thousands of zombies and knew that Thomas was right. They wouldn’t try to climb the fence unless they sensed food. And not just a crow or a field mouse. It’d have to be something big, and there wasn’t anything big except them.
Later, gathering up water with Cassandra at the well, he pressed, “Cass, are we friends?”
“I think so.”
“I’m honest with you guys. But I know there’s something up. I wanna find out how the zombies are gettin’ in but maybe if you told me how you guys really got here…”
“We used a key.”
“I know there’s some secret. I’ll act like I don’t know. Please?”
“I’m not lying. But…” She spoke quietly. “We were walking, probably gonna starve if another few weeks passed. And there was this guy in a car, sick. You know how they get, when they’ve been bit. But he offered us the key. He said there was food, told us about this house. It’s got an underground food shelter.”
“What else did he say?”
“He said things fell apart here and people were fleeing, but that there was food at this one house. He said he left it because of being bit. He was delirious. He said people didn’t kill off their dead and the town was overtaken. We were starving so after another week we risked it, and when we got here, there was no one. No zombies, no people.”
“But the gates were closed or open?”
“Closed and locked. But our key worked.”
When he was alone he discussed it with Billy but couldn’t figure it out. He’d never been much of a thinker, Billy reminded him.
A month went by, and then it happened. He was riding through town when he spotted at least twelve Eaters all sniffing around the shops. He was too far for them to smell or hear, but he spied on them with his binocs.
He considered fighting them now but there were too many and a few looked fresh. Instead, he turned and fled for his friends’ house. In ten minutes he was there, ditching the bike on the lawn, looking around to make sure nothing followed him. He hurried across the high grass and then stopped before he went into the house, hearing raised voices within. He crouched down, stepped with stealth to the window, peeked and listened.
The five friends were in the living room: Kelly and Cassandra quiet on the couch, backs straight as Catholic school girls; Thomas lounging, apathetic, in a recliner, head tilted and resting on his fist; Rob and Elizabeth posturing in the center of the room. Clearly, the fight was between them.
“He’s not right in the head. Even you admit it,” Rob said.
“Who would be? He’s been alone out there, surviving…”
“Doing we don’t know what the fuck. The kid’s a manipulator. And he’s using us. For almost three months we’ve been here and never seen a single zombie or a person, and then he comes in, and says zombies are leaking in.”
“We never go downtown, so we can’t say he’s lying…”
“Either he’s lying, or he’s letting them in.”
“Why would he do either?”
“I don’t know. I don’t understand his mind,” he said, tapping his head. “You’ve heard him, walking around outside, talking to imaginary people. He’s schizophrenic. I know that’s really fuckin’ sad but it’s also dangerous and my caution outweighs my sympathy. I’m sorry he’s got brain damage but he’s a liability. He’s eating our food, which isn’t an infinite supply despite what you all think, and there’s something about him…if you guys can’t see it…”
“I see it,” said Thomas.
“He comes one meal a day, never more,” argued Elizabeth.
“You can’t deny what I’m saying,” countered Rob.
Cassandra chewed on her lips.
Kelly said, “He’s definitely strange…”
Elizabeth sighed. “Then what do we do?”
Rob raged. “What the fuck? What d’we do? You invited him in. You created this problem. I don’t know what to do. He knows where we live. He’s a fuckin’ psychopath with a bloody baseball bat…”
“Exactly. That is dented and bloodied every day. He’s a little bit of a tall-tale-teller but I wouldn’t call him a liar.”
“So again, say he’s really killing zombies. Where are they coming from? How are they getting in?”
“We’ll have to go downtown and see for ourselves.”
“Fuck that. That’s all you.”
Watching from the window, Quentin couldn’t understand why this fight was occurring, and was flabbergasted Cassandra wasn’t defending him. He felt deceived and betrayed, and walked to the front steps of the porch and sat down, head in his hands, staring into the high grass before him.
“What’re we supposed to do Billy? I know, but we like them. They could be our family. We’re doing what we’re supposed to do. What’s wrong with us? We’ll be alone again, eating grasshoppers and gophers…” And like that, an idea occurred to him.
“Quentin, my god,” said Elizabeth behind him.
He stood and spun to face her, stepping away from the porch.
“I didn’t even hear you…How long have you been here?”
“I think I know what’s happening. I have an idea.”
“All right…”
The others came out of the house, stood on the porch and looked at him.
“There’s more today. Lots more. At least twelve, some fresh ones, strong. I couldn’t kill them, I didn’t even try cuz there was so many. It hit me though—gophers. They’re always in the same place, downtown. Like they just appear there. And you guys said everything was shut up when you first got here.”
“Did we say that?” asked Rob.
“You think I’m a liar, Rob? You think I make shit up? You go out into town, you fuckin’ pussy. You never even leave the house and then you act like I’m lying. If I’m lying why don’t you leave the house?”
“Cuz I don’t wanna be out there with your nutty ass. I don’t know what you’d do to me.”
“Shut up, Rob,” commanded Elizabeth.
“What have I done that’s crazy?” he asked them all. “I talk to my twin brother. So what? He’s dead. He got his fuckin’ arm bit off…so I killed him. What the fuck am I supposed to do? What would you do? I don’t have to stop talking to him.” He looked at Cassandra tearfully. “How come you don’t stick up for me?”
She looked sorry, like she might cry. But said nothing.
“At least you did,” he
said to Elizabeth, with bitterness. “I was your guys’ scout. I was helping.”
“I know that,” said Elizabeth. “We’re all stressed out because of food and—if there really are zombies coming into town—we don’t know what to do.”
“That’s why you have me.”
“I appreciate you.”
He looked at Rob. “He doesn’t.”
“No, he doesn’t. But that’s how it goes sometimes,” she said. “Some people don’t get along.”
Thomas stepped down slowly from the porch, Quentin watching him. Quentin was shaking, his emotions overtaking him.
“I don’t understand what you guys want? I don’t understand why I’m not good enough for you.”
“Calm down, dude,” said Thomas, coming closer.
“No, fuck off.”
“Chill. Maybe you should go back home for a few days.”
“Did you hear me about the zombies?”
“We heard you,” said Rob.
“No sense getting riled up,” said Thomas. “Remember you’re just a visitor. You’re a guest here.”
The rage swelled up beyond control at that, making Quentin feel like he was garbage flung from a palace. He pulled Vic’s revolver out and aimed it at Thomas’s head.
“Put that fucking thing down, kid, now.”
“No. You guys aren’t listening.”
“He’s only got two bullets,” said Rob.
“One for you and one for him,” responded Quentin, and he could see the fear in Rob’s eyes.
“You’re bluffing, you little fucker. Gimme the goddamn gun.” Thomas closed the distance and he got a hand around Quentin’s wrist. Quentin squeezed the trigger. A blackish dot appeared on Thomas’s cheek and the back of his head puffed out. His head jerked back. The life left his eyes and he collapsed.
Kelly shouted in disbelief and covered her mouth and crouched.
Cassandra hollered, “No!”
Quentin marched up the steps toward Rob, who put his hands up, horrified. The gun came up, barrel aimed at his face.
“Quentin, stop!” implored Cassandra. “Please stop!”
Rob quivered before him.
Cassandra and Kelly were crying. Elizabeth approached slowly.
“Quentin,” she said, and held out her hand. “Quentin?”
His resolve vanished. He handed her the gun.
Apoc Series (Vol. 1): Whispers of the Apoc [Tales From The Zombie Apocalypse] Page 15