Cage The Dead

by Gary F. Vanucci

  We really need to get you sewn up back there, Nick. It’s not pretty. And the more you move, the more likely you’re gonna undo what I just did back there,” she advised, lowering herself into an adjacent seat.

  “Well, what’s the plan then?”

  “We need to get back into the zoo and into the veterinary facility to get you some proper meds. And I can do the stitching on your shoulder. Besides, I need to check up on Solomon, Luna and the rest to see if they are all right.”

  “You know that they can take care of themselves, Gee,” Nick said with a half-smile. “The cats will tear anything up that gets inside their pens, and so will Solomon. Need to worry about the chickens and the lessers that can’t defend themselves.”

  “But I wanna see for myself. Besides, I gotta get inside that medical facility as the closest hospital isn’t close at all, and we don’t know what’s out there,” Gaia said, starting to get up and then dropping right back into the seat.

  “Better the devil you know then the one you don’t, eh? Right on.” Gaia smiled meekly and nodded. “You're exhausted and wounded yourself, though. You better watch it kid,” Nick advised and then stared up into her eyes. “Listen, I can take the walk with you to—“

  “I don’t think so. You’d only slow me down.”

  “You get a look at that gash on your head?” Gaia stood and looked into the mirror, maneuvering until she could get a sliver of light in the right spot. She saw a line once she parted the hair around the caked blood.

  “It’s not that bad. I can do this.”

  “Gaia, you already got us some things tonight, so get some rest. We’ll go in the mornin’,” Nick protested, which seemed to ring with wisdom to her as she reluctantly frowned and eventually nodded. Gaia stood again and was about to argue for going to get the medicine immediately and then caught sight of a few more zombies wandering around the parking lot and resigned to do as Nick suggested.

  She stood from her seat near the front of the bus and wandered wearily back to the seat in front of Adam and lay quietly down. She found another bag on the floor and recalled that she found a bag with food in it not all that long ago for Adam. Then it finally dawned on her that the kids must have left their lunches behind. So, she opened the bag quietly and found, to her delight, a peanut butter and jelly sandwich, an apple, a bag of chips, and a juice box.

  She was about to nudge Adam awake and realized that he wouldn’t want to eat and that she should leave him sleep to help rid himself of that fever. He could eat something in the morning when he felt better.

  She had a bottle of water in her jacket pocket from Adam’s car and decided to bring the apple to Nick. She tapped his shoulder slightly and he stared up at her and smiled. She silently offered it to him along with half her sandwich. “There’s more where that came from,” Gaia whispered, having seen more bags and lunch pails along the floors and seats of the bus.

  Nick nodded and took the offering, taking a bite of the fruit and smiling back at Gaia. “Now get some sleep, kid.”

  Gaia did just that, finding her seat again and nodding off quickly.

  ***

  The distinct sound of something sharp scraping against steel woke Gaia as she sat up a little too hastily. Her head ached something fierce from the blow she took on her head yesterday evening. As she felt the wounded area, it was still hard with dried blood, but she did not feel anything wet or warm.

  At least the wound closed, she thought, peeking up over the seat and seeing Nick grinning. “What’s up?” Gaia asked, rubbing away the sleep from her eyes.

  “Oscar and Grace are outside,” Nick said, pointing to the opposite side of the bus.

  Gaia stood, again too faster than she should have again, and winced against the throbbing in her head. She pushed past the pain and made her away across the aisle to see two huge bears outside. One was scraping against the side of the bus.

  “Holy shit,” she muttered.

  “Yep. They tore up some zombies too, it looks like,” Nick said. “There’s zombie guts all over the place.” Gaia laughed and then her smile began to fade as she saw the side of one of the pair. There was matted blood in Grace’s coat and front legs.

  “She’s bleeding there on her side,” Gaia said to Nick. “She needs some help.”

  “And what are you gonna do if you can’t tranq her? She’s not just gonna sit still and let you treat her wounds. Anyway, you’ve got more pressing worries,” Nick added with a grim look as Gaia heard Adam shifting violently in his seat and rolled off and onto the floor. He moaned in a way that crushed Gaia’s’ very soul.

  She knelt beside him and wrapped him in her arms and he grimaced, as if her touch had hurt him. Finally, he opened his eyes and realized whom it was, as an expression of tranquility washed over his features. He hugged her and licked his dry lips. Gaia removed the bottle of water from her jacket and helped him get the rest of the liquid down.

  His eyes were red and his fever had not diminished overnight. “I need to get to the medical facility. They’ve got meds there that can help, and IV bags, and more,” Gaia said to him in an attempt to comfort him. He smiled back at her, clearly forcing the muscles to do so, but there was true love and admiration in his blue orbs, though the red surrounding his pupils was almost overtaking that icy hue. Gaia was very concerned for him and knew that if she didn’t treat the fever soon, it would not end well for Adam. He would not survive the night.

  “I gotta get inside the facility,” Gaia said, standing up. “Adam needs an IV, meds, and so do you.”

  “All right. I ain’t one to argue with you here. Let’s figure out a way to get that done. And I’m coming with you.”

  Then Gaia heard the familiar sound of the capuchin and she smiled at Maye, who made her way over to a specific bag of food on the floor, disappeared from behind the seat and reappeared with a banana in her diminutive hand.

  “Need help with that?” Gaia asked as she tried to peel the skin from the fruit for the monkey. Maye grabbed the banana and began to peel it herself and proceeded to devour the sweet fruit happily. Gaia could not help but smile at the simplicity and ignorant bliss of the capuchin. “So much for enjoying these moments.”

  “You can still enjoy them, Gaia,” Nick corrected. “As a matter of fact, you really oughta’ savor them.” Nick advised as he stood and held up a roll of masking tape to Gaia and handed it to her, and then began removing his jacket. “I’d like to tape that fabric to hold it in place.” Gaia did exactly that.

  A few moments later, as Nick began to prepare for their excursion, Gaia made her way back to Adam and stood over offering the last of her water. “Take this and try to eat something while I’m gone. Maye will watch over you for me,” Gaia said, drawing another forced smile from Adam in exchange. “Maye, you watch over Adam, okay?” she asked the capuchin, and Maye uttered a series of trilling noises, as she was prone to do when in agreement with Gaia. “All right, let’s get moving,” she said to Nick, making her way to the door and peering out of the bus and onto the gore-stained pavement.

  After a moment of listening at the threshold, she slid the lock back and pushed open the door, watching it bend like an accordion as it slid to the right. She could not see or hear the bears, or anything else for that matter, as she kicked out some of the broken glass. It was quiet—uncharacteristically so—she believed.

  She stepped out of the bus and onto the pavement, hopeful to gain entry into the veterinary facility at the far end of the zoo without much of a fuss. She knew it wouldn’t be that easy, however, but she could still hope. Nick followed her out, his rifle in hand and ready to be fired if need be. Gaia held her crowbar in hand and patted the sheath of the knife Nick had given her for a second before turning to Nick.

  “Do you want this back…just in case?”

  “No, you hold onto that. I can use the butt of this rifle if need be,” he whispered to her. “I’ll follow.”

  She took a few steps out from in between the busses and into the vast
ly open parking lot. It had a few vehicles in it, including a taxicab at the far end of the lot that was not there last evening. The door was open and one of the living dead, seemingly the taxi cab driver or passenger, was wandering around nearby.

  “I’m going to try conserving ammo. I’ve only got a few rounds left here.”

  “First we need to get past them,” Gaia said, seeing no other path to get by the cab. Nick simply nodded.

  The zombie sniffed the air as they neared and spun on them and ran toward them like, Gaia imagined, a bat out of hell.

  “Get behind me,” Nick said, leveling the barrel of the weapon at the zombie, but not pulling the trigger. Gaia looked at him pleadingly as he glanced back at her. As it got to within a few paces, he pulled the trigger, and the zombie’s head jerked backward under the impact and the rest of its body hit the pavement, stopping just short of Nick.

  The gunshot rang out in the open space, echoing in the distance.

  “One bullet left,” Nick mentioned, strapping the rifle back over his shoulder.

  Gaia began to make her way toward the zoo entrance, walking past the vehicle with little regard.

  “Check the cab,” Nick said as she stopped and doubled back. “He might have a gun for his own protection.”

  “Good call,” Gaia agreed, watching Nick as he rifled around inside the cab. Moments later, he returned, holding up his findings. Gaia saw a pistol in one hand, and what could only be described as a machete in the other, complete with leather sheath. It appeared to Gaia to be at least a foot long blade.

  “I found this in between the seats,” Nick said, handing her the machete. “Now gimme my knife back, I think that will more than make up for it.” He smiled at the absurdity of his claim and Gaia did exactly that, unstrapping the belted knife and handing it back to Nick, and replacing it with the leather sheath that held the machete. “You want this pistol?”

  “I suppose,” she said, trying to find a comfortable place on her waist to store the long blade and then taking the gun from him and inspecting it.

  “Looks like a 9 mm of some kind. Safety on the top there,” Nick said, pointing that out to her. “Just slide it on and off…and please be careful with it.”

  “Right. I shot the tranq gun, so…this is totally different.” She laughed as soon as she finished the sentence and the pair of them began to climb the lengthy steps back up toward the zoo’s interior.” But seriously, I’ve fired guns before…with Adam.” Nick said nothing, seemingly ignoring that statement.

  As soon as they passed the ticket booth, they found a zombie bent over the remains of something unidentifiable. Gaia could not tell if it was human remains or animal, but either way it infuriated her.

  Before the thing could even sense the two of them, she stealthily approached it and reared back to strike. She paused however as the thing turned to regard her, and Gaia could recognize immediately that it was only a young child. Or, until recently at least, it had been a child. Its face was reminiscent of a young female, one that could have even been her eight or ten years ago, with shoulder length blonde hair.

  That was when Nick, unbeknownst to her in her odd reverie, grasped the machete from her hand and drove the blade right through the undead creature’s eyes. Gaia recoiled at that, not even registering what was happening right away.

  “Gaia, these things aren’t fucking human anymore,” Nick said sharply. “You're gonna get yourself killed and we can’t afford that right now.” Nick grasped Gaia by the shoulders and spun her around to face him. “Adam needs you. And I need you. Stay focused.”

  “Right…sorry…shit.”

  “It’s okay. I get it. These things were human beings not all that long ago,” Nick said agreeably. “But we need to put all of that aside and concentrate on getting into that lab.”

  The pair of them heard a growl from behind and turned slowly to eventually stare back into the face of one of the grizzlies.

  “It’s Oscar,” Nick whispered. Gaia could see that the big bear was wounded, but couldn’t tell how badly.

  “Is he gonna be okay?”

  “Looks to be superficial, but I ain’t gonna get close enough to be sure,” Nick responded. “He won’t follow us, either. Just keep moving.”

  The pair backed away from the huge mammal and were about to make their way further into the zoo when Gaia noted something past Oscar in the distance. She completely panicked and stumbled backward, falling to the seat of her pants.

  “What?” Nick asked her. And then he fell silent as he saw it too.

  Behind them, gathering in the parking lot in which they had just left, stood a mob of the living dead.

  “Where did they come from?!”

  “Haven’t a God damn clue,” Nick spat. “But I do know that we need to get out of here. And quick. Looks like they haven’t seen us yet.”

  “But I need to go back to see if Adam—“ Nick reached out and grabbed her fast, holding her tightly as she squirmed. Then she stopped and stared at him.

  “The latch on the bus is locked, the zombies aren’t smart enough to open it, and he probably isn’t in any shape to even move, let alone make enough of a fuss to attract their attention,” Nick countered. “Besides, if you don’t get him the meds in the facility….”

  Nick let the inference resonate, Gaia easily accepting of its grim meaning and also appreciating the fact that Nick did not finish the sentence.

  “Yeah, they are too far away. All right. If we cut through the petting zoo, we can make it to the bathrooms and the vet house is right next to it,” Gaia suggested, making her way toward the intended destination.

  As they neared the petting zoo area, they noticed many more of the wandering dead. And it looked to Gaia as if they had just feasted on some of the animals within the enclosure there as many hunks of gore and flash lay strewn about. Hedgerows, a path, and a section of fencing separated them from the zombies. Gaia counted at least five of them, still feeding on the fleshy remains.

  “We have to double back and work our way around out into the bird enclosure,” Gaia said. Nick again, nodded and followed as she led her way back along the main path into the zoo and then crossed to the opposite side. Some birds and goats wandered around the area, grazing and otherwise completely unaware of the zombie threat that lay not far away.

  Gaia tried her best to shoo the animals toward the outer edges of the fencing, further away from the half dozen that feasted nearby. She also understood that they needed to get rid of the zombie threat somehow. That would be the only way for them and the animals to survive in even the short term.

  “How can we rid the grounds of these fuckers?” Gaia asked, frustrated at the events that had taken place and still barely able to come to grips with them. “They’re going to kill of our animals, Nick!” He simply sighed after drawing a long deep breath, knelt and looked skyward as if he were searching for an answer.

  Gaia knew very little about Nick personally, but what she did know, was that for the last few years, he had done a great deal to help the zoo. He’d done everything from help repair the enclosures, to caring for the grounds to the helping the staff feed and water the animals. It was an admirable endeavor to help keep things going around the zoo. But, Gaia admitted, that she did not know what this strange turn of events would do to him.

  “I wish I knew, Gee,” he said, calling her by the nickname that few used. “But I am thinking on it.” Gaia grasped one of the remaining goats, trying to force it to follow the others, but instead it remained behind, stubbornly retaliating with a unique series of bleats.

  It was then that the half dozen zombies that were only minutes ago in the petting zoo, began to make their way at breakneck speeds toward them.

  Chapter 4

  “Shit!” Gaia spat furiously, removing the gun from where she had it tucked inside the small of her back. She looked at it and switched off the safety, offering ti to Nick. “You do it…please.”

  He took the weapon from her and fired off three qui
ck and accurate shots, downing the first three quickly. Gaia removed her machete from its sheath as the remaining three continued along, one of them tripping over the fallen zombie. Nick fired again and another one fell just as the fifth one made it to them.

  Gaia swung her machete with surprising strength, of which she did not know she was capable. However, she erroneously connected with its neck instead of its head as she stepped backward, putting her plant foot in a divot, and changing her trajectory slightly. Then she fell backward altogether, as the thing’s head hung from the host at a ninety-degree angle, representing something so macabre, that she could not have imagined such a thing in even her wildest nightmares. The zombie’s head continued to chomp its teeth in anticipation of flesh, as the body fell over her, pinning her to the ground. Its detached head chomped away and discharged a stream of blood, but it faced away from her, missing her completely.

  Then a shot rang out in the open space. The jaw stopped chomping and the body went limp.

  Gaia struggled mightily, shifting and kicking the body off her. As she rolled to her side, she saw Nick, who was pinned to the ground beneath the remaining zombie, as it clawed and snapped its teeth at him. Gaia sprung to her feet, wanting to return the favor. She retrieved her fallen machete as Nick fought to keep the creature’s teeth from finding purchase in his flesh.

  She ran to his side and in one swipe severed the zombie’s head fully as it rolled away from them. Nick shoved the corpse off him and remained on the grass, breathing heavily and spitting something out of his mouth. When she looked down at him, he had a smattering of blood in his hair and on the right side of his face, which he was desperately wiping away with the sleeve of his jacket.

  “Shit!” he spat, as Gaia tore a piece of clothing from one of the zombies and handed it to Nick, who proceeded to wipe the remaining gore from his face.