“And she had to shoot you,” Abe said.
“I'm going to see what's in the kitchen,” Susan told Abe. “You keep an eye on those zombies.”
“Yes, ma'am!” Abe responded sarcastically.
I didn't want to be caught in here, so I made a break for it.
I sprinted from a crouch, knowing when I hit the hallway, they'd see me. I flipped the backpack on; I really should have just left it. The weight of it might slow me down. But I needed the food. Just have to take a chance.
About halfway down was when I heard the shouting.
“Hey! Someone's here!” Susan yelled.
Footsteps went into immediate motion. I looked back in time to see Susan enter the kitchen, with Abe close behind.
“Is that...?” Abe started to ask.
“I think it's the guy from the house. Dave or Dale or something.” They couldn't even remember my name.
Without stopping, I pushed through the fire exit. I skirted to the left and rounded the diner and sprinted my heart out to the opposite side of the street. A large house - almost a mansion - was my target.
“We don't want to hurt you!” one of my pursuers screamed.
Yeah, right. I ran alongside the house, vaulted the fence with ease - to my non-athletic surprise - and wound up in the center of the back yard. I heard the steady chase of Abe and Susan's feet.
Choose quickly: a shed with a closed door that might or might not be locked, inside the house that might or might not be locked, or - I saw it at the last second - underneath the patio, behind latticework.
With apprehension, I slung the backpack off, removed a package of meat, and tossed it over the far fence into the neighbor's back yard. Then I backpedaled to the patio, unlatched the small square, and crawled in. I pulled the flimsy square back into place just as Abe and Susan entered the backyard. They struggled over the fence, with Abe almost falling on his face when his foot caught the top of the chain-link.
“Dammit!” he mumbled.
Susan helped Abe steady himself, and they casually strolled deeper in the backyard as if they were going to play catch for the thousandth time.
“Where did you go? We saw you come back here,” Abe said, singing the words. “We just want to talk.”
I looked left and right. On both sides, I had about twenty feet before the patio ended. The only way out was the way I came. And the way I came was blocked by two psychopaths. I hoped my meat trick would work.
“Now don't get all scared about what happened back at the restaurant,” Susan said. “We had to shoot them. It was self-defense. They were going to hurt us.”
Abe walked over to the patio steps and ascended. The thumps of his footsteps seemed like cement blocks dropping from the sky. “Come out, come out.” Abe's shadow fell on top of me, broken up by the slats in the porch. “I'm not in the mood for games.”
“Abe, we got company,” Susan said. She went to the gate in the fence and ensured it was shut. “There's about fifty of them coming.”
“From all that noise from the restaurant, I bet.” Abe went to the back door, peeked inside, and grunted in disappointment. “I don't think anyone's in there. Well, no one alive.”
Susan shook the doors on the shed. They were secured. “I don't think he's in here. He wouldn't have had time to get in there.”
“Well, he had to go somewhere,” Abe said, trotting down the steps back into the yard.
“Maybe this way.” Susan pointed to the meat I threw in the yard. “He must have lost it while running from us.”
“And he's getting away!” Abe yelled as he leapt the fence. “Let's go!”
Susan hopped over the fence and followed Abe through the yard and past the house.
They were out of sight for at least a minute, but I counted to one hundred to be safe. Satisfied they wouldn't return, I dislodged the lattice gate and crawled out. Not to leave anything behind, I lifted myself over the fence and retrieved the one-pound package of hamburger.
Metal shook behind me. The zombies that had followed us here crashed through the fence, knocking it over like a bulldozer. They ambled towards me, flesh-lust driving their speed faster than I had seen so far. I wondered, as they reached halfway across the yard, if I'd be able to outrun this group.
Maybe...
I whipped off the plastic on the meat and catapulted chunks over the heads of the zombies to their left and right. One sniff of the air and they caught the scent of raw hamburger. That's all it took. Like one collective conscience, the zombies changed direction and made beelines towards the small piles of meat. I had to admit it fascinated me to watch them dive to the ground and gobble the stringy meat, as if it were their only purpose.
A few of them ignored the meat. My psychological observations on the zombies could wait another time. I followed the same path Abe and Susan took around the house. When I hit the street, I turned left. Either they went right or they went left; I'd catch up to them if I choose the wrong direction. The number of zombies lightened the further I went. Which was good since I no longer had the gun. Just a knife to get me through.
And then the zombies thickened ahead after half a block. I couldn't really explain why they did. I thought I'd get home without incident. But I wouldn't be able to get through the zombies ahead and to the left of me without endangering my life. I needed to go in one of those directions to get home.
Thank you, Nadine. With my mind past the events at the restaurant - but not forgotten - and distance between Abe and Susan, I focused on home. Where Nadine was. I missed her terribly, no matter how angry I had been.
But how to get past them?
I turned in a circle, weighing my options. No immediate choices presented themselves.
Then I stopped and stared at a familiar house: Ed's.
I jogged to the back door like before. But this time, the door was wide open. I hoped no zombies had gotten in. He didn't deserve that. No one really deserved it - the exception being Abe and Susan. After how nice he was to me, a total stranger. Even though we lived less than two blocks away.
My front door.
And my back felt lighter. I no longer had the backpack.
The crowd of zombies were as thick here as they were on the next street over. Zombies almost shoulder to shoulder. Someone could never safely make it through there without getting caught. I couldn't even recall how I had gotten from that street to this street and to my front door.
I went inside and immediately checked myself over. No ripped clothes, no cuts, no bites: I apparently had made it safely. But how? Must have been the grief, I thought. No way I'd force myself through the dense throng of undead without paying attention to my path.
“David? That you?” Nadine leaned forward on the stairs into view. “Wasn't sure it was you.”
“You're here?”
“Where else would I be?”
I shrugged and said, “You know.” I sat down on the couch and leaned back and sighed.
“Where'd you go?”
“Benny's.”
“Oh.”
“Didn't find anything except Abe and Susan.” I figured it would do no good to tell her I had a backpack full of bread and pickles and lost it on the way back.
“They came by here,” Nadine said. “They tried to get in. I don't think they came back to be friendly.”
I sat up, alert now. “I doubt it. They didn't get in at all?”
“I saw them coming from the bedroom window, and they had these looks on their faces. Not like before. When they seemed grateful for your help. Their faces were - I can't even describe them. All I know is I didn't have a good feeling about it.”
“Your instincts were right.”
Nadine nodded. “I locked the door before they could get here. They pounded and banged on the door. I hid behind the chair...I thought they'd never go away. They finally did. I think the noise they made drew some of the zombies near.”
“The only time the zombies did something good,” I said. I stood and hugged N
adine. “I'm glad you're okay.”
“I'm glad you're okay too.” For the first time since Nadine told me she wanted to die, her caring sentiment felt sincere to me.
I pulled back and stared directly into her eyes. “You know we have to leave now. It's not safe here anymore. There are more zombies out there than I've seen in days. I don't know how that happened - maybe I just hadn't been paying attention - but soon they're going to overwhelm the town. And there's Abe and Susan and who knows who else out there that could be dangerous. Please tell me you see that now?”
“A little.” Nadine disappeared into the kitchen. I followed. She checked the food, the first time I'd seen her do that. “But there's hardly anything here. They took almost everything, didn't they?”
“Yes. And that's why I went out. Benny's didn't really have anything. Some spoiled meat. And -” I found no need to tell her what had happened there. “I went by Ed's house - the old man - but I found him dead.”
“Oh my God!”
“Abe and Susan shot him. Just shot him in his own home.” I felt anger and sadness welling up inside me. Telling her about Ed was better than telling her about two strangers they shot. I collapsed in Nadine's chair. “I tried to save him. I tried to stop him from dying, but I couldn't.”
Nadine sat next to me and put an arm around my shoulders. “This world...” she said, trailing off. I put my head on her chest and cried. Each tear a lost minute with Ed as his life slipped away. In any other world Ed probably would have lived. I didn't know that for sure, but the chance was much greater than in a world with these damned zombies. I understood I hadn't known him, like really known him, but he was gracious and trusting and a beacon of hope in a world where the dark seas of Hell try to pull you under.
After an unknown amount of time - time that dragged on - I took in one large breath to drive away everything bad from the last hour. I eased back.
“Ed said we should still try for Rend City. He said it was still operating,” I said.
“And he's sure?”
“I don't think anyone can be sure of anything these days. But he was monitoring his ham radio and had all kinds of information in this room of his. He seemed confident about Rend City. It's worth a shot.”
Nadine picked at a frayed thread on her jeans. She worked it loose until it came free. Nadine said, “Okay, we'll go.”
I was already preparing another short speech to talk her into going, but her words Okay, we'll go really threw me for a loop. “You're sure?”
She nodded. “We can't stay here any longer. No matter how much I want to stay, no matter how much I resisted you before, we have to go.”
“I'm glad to hear you say that.”
“But we can't leave until we have more food. We won't last two hours on the road with what we have.”
“I know. But there aren't many places left to check. I don't want to stray too far from here.” I ran through nearby locations. “The only place I haven't looked is the school.”
“Yes! The cafeteria!” Nadine said loudly. Her sudden enthusiasm provided me with hope. “You must go there.”
“I don't know... I think it'd be gone through by now.”
“I only suggest it because it's close.”
“It is pretty close.” The school was less than a block away if I took the field behind the townhouse and cut across the baseball diamond. I could get there in about five minutes. “Not sure what I'll find, but I'll go.”
“While you're gone, I'll get some things packed.”
I went upstairs and found a medium-sized duffel bag. I wanted something a little bigger than the backpack in case I hit the jackpot. Didn't expect to, but it didn't hurt to be prepared. When I returned to the living room, Nadine handed me a small kitchen knife.
“See if you can find something else besides these useless things. A butcher knife or something larger.”
“I'll find what I can.”
I cracked opened the door to a few zombies. I swung open the door wider, which revealed even more. And they saw me. I booked it to the right and ran through the yard and hit the open area. Directly ahead, the baseball field, encased completely in a fence, teemed with zombies. If I didn't know any better, I'd think two very slow and terrible teams were playing baseball. I'd have to go around.
I chose to go right, since the other way led to houses, the parking lot of the school, and a large group of undead blocking my way at the left field foul pole.
As I ran along the fence at the warning track and turned the corner to go along the right field fencing, the zombies began collecting on the fence, the weight of them threatening to push the fence over. So, I ran faster, and they increased their speed as much as zombies could with their spastic limbs. I passed the dugouts and more zombies emerged nonchalantly, as if they were trotting out to take their positions on the field.
Once I went past the backstop behind home plate, the school's wall greeted me. I scanned it to find three fire exits. None of them had outside handles - as I expected them not to - and not one of them happened to be open. This trip had no luck for me.
The zombies from the field found an open gate and filtered through faster than I hoped they would. I wasn't paying attention to my surroundings; I should have seen and closed the gate. Might have given me the extra minutes needed to pry open one of the fire exits. Instead, I jogged around the far side of the school. Looked like I'd be entering through the main door.
The street at the front of the school was packed with zombies, almost as dense as the blockade when I left Ed's house. I was committed to this direction. I sure as hell didn't want to make my way back around to the other side. Benny's was over there, and the small chance Abe and Susan were there frightened me.
What else frightened me were the increasing number of zombies appearing from nowhere. Where were they coming from? Many people left this town early on. Or, maybe I assumed they did, and instead, they didn't make it out of town at all. But was it possible there could be this many people from town still here? Those being undead, of course.
I sprinted to the front doors. All of them locked. I tugged on them and noticed they had been chained from the inside. All four sets of doors were this way.
“Dammit!” I screamed, slamming my fist against the glass. Both the scream and the hit were a mistake. I turned, and a line of zombies, like a foot soldier battering ram, headed toward me. The lead zombie's head bobbed unnaturally, but the eyes remained focused on me.
On the last set of doors, a hastily-hung paper dangled from a piece of tape. I ran to it and read 'LADDER. YELL FOR RUSS.' An arrow pointed to the right. Towards Benny's. But I went that way regardless. The devil was in either bowl of chocolate pudding, my mother used to say when faced with two terrible choices knowing one had to be made. No matter what I decided - try for the ladder or face the zombies - I was screwed.
I made it to the next corner of the school, saw Benny's on the other side of the parking lot, and wished to the core of my soul Abe and Susan weren't there. I turned the corner and immediately saw 'LADDER' and a spray-painted black arrow pointing to the roof.
“RUSS!” I hated yelling any more. It seemed to be drawing the zombies quicker. “RUSS!” I yelled again. Come on, answer me, Russ.
About ten seconds later, at the last possible moment that could be the last possible moment before zombies approached within spitting distance, an aluminum ladder eased over the edge of the roof and angled down. The ladder scrapped against the brick and clicked its feet onto the asphalt parking lot. I jostled the ladder to ensure the rubber feet remained gripped to the ground.
I shimmied up the ladder as fast as I could, feeling a hand grab my pant leg as I took the first rungs. The ladder buckled and bent with each rung I took. Granted, I climbed the ladder carelessly, my body surging with adrenaline from almost being caught at the bottom. I hoped the ladder would hold until I reached the roof. When I was within reach of the ledge, a head popped over the side. Eyes stared down at me.
�
�Hurry!” the man said. “They'll bunch up against the ladder and send it tumbling!”
If only I had rocket boosters! I thought loudly at the man. I grasped the ledge and plodded up the last few rungs. The man latched onto my arms and hoisted me up and onto the roof. I spilled to my side.
The man lifted the ladder and then backed up, sliding it until it was completely on the building.
I stood. “Thanks. They almost had me.”
“What the hell were you doing down there anyway?” He dropped the ladder. It bounced and clanged on the pebbles.
“You Russ?” I asked.
“The one and only. I ask again: 'What the hell were you doing down there anyway?'“
“Was coming to the school to see if I can find some food and water. Or other supplies.”
“And you thought there'd be stuff left over?”
I shrugged. “I live close by. Thought it was worth a shot.”
Russ stood there, staring at me like a piano was about to fall on my head. After a few moments, he grunted and headed to the roof door. “Follow me.”
We went from the bright sun into the dark enclosure of a stairwell. I followed Russ down two flights of stairs. Before he opened the door to the first floor, he paused. “There are three others in the school besides me. Don't be surprised if they aren't as welcoming as I was.”
“You guys been here since the beginning?” I asked.
“I was here at the start. Got stuck here. The others trickled in over the next few days after.”
Russ swung open the door, and we stepped into a hallway not much brighter than the stairwell. Lockers ran up and down the hallway - some open, some closed - and the floors were littered with loose-leaf papers, textbooks, and pens and pencils. A rotten food smell made walking through the hall nearly unbearable: ripped lunch sacks revealed moldy fruit and vegetables. A banner half-hung from the ceiling: SPRING BALL! TICKETS AVAILABLE!
“Got a date for the Spring Ball?” I asked. Really to test the guy's mood, to see what demeanor Russ had. I suspected most people these days had slightly less humor than a few weeks ago, but sometimes you could tell a lot about a person by how they react to humor in extremely tense situations.
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