Cage The Dead

by Gary F. Vanucci

  “Sure, but….”

  “But what?” Nick asked, kneeling in front of him.

  “Am I ever gonna see my mom and dad again?” Gaia almost burst into tears as those innocent words tugged at her heartstrings with tremendous effect. His words hit her like a punch in the face as Gaia too thought of her own family and friends—people she might never see ever again!—and placed a hand over her mouth to stifle any forthcoming sounds of sorrow that might result from the devastating sentiments she felt in that moment.

  “Maybe someday, son,” Nick interjected quickly, seeing Gaia’s reaction. “Right now, we need to get you and Gaia here safe inside the house.”

  “Okay,” agreed the boy with a nod. “But I need a weapon. I wanna be able to protect myself.”

  This time, it was Nick’s turn to agree. “Yes. Yes you do. Let’s see what we can find for you.”

  “What about a gun?” he asked.

  “Right now, guns are out of the question,” Gaia said immediately.

  “She’s right. You need to learn how to use them first.”

  “Will you teach me?”

  “Let’s get to the house first and then we can discuss it. Sound good?” Nick asked, looking up at Gaia and shrugging.

  “Yep. I’m ready.” Justin moved to stand by the door of the bus. Nick grabbed a grocery bag in one hand and held his rifle in the other and stood behind him. Gaia carefully removed her machete and looked to Maye in the window.

  “Are you coming?” Maye hopped around and then vanished, resurfacing at the front of the bus as if she were answering Gaia, waiting for her to exit the vehicle.

  Nick and Justin carefully exited the bus and peered around the parking lot, seeing nothing and no one around. Gaia waited on the bottom step as Maye climbed up and onto her shoulder.

  “Why don’t you take that,” Nick said, gesturing to the rounded edge shovel that leaned against the grill of the center bus. Justin did that, gripping it uneasily in both hands. A moment later, the pair watched him as he adjusted his grip on it a few times and swung it in the open space around him, testing the weight of it.

  “Good?” Gaia asked, finally stepping out onto the pavement.

  “I guess,” Justin said skeptically, shrugging and staring at the steel edge that was stained with dried blood and gore.

  “I’d give you my machete, but…I don’t want you to hurt yourself.”

  “How about we get you something else along the way, maybe something a little more your size?” Nick asked him, holding the rifle in both hands and tipping his hat to block the sun from getting in his eyes.

  “Like what?” Justin asked, crinkling his face.

  “Well…I'm not sure yet. But I'm sure we’ll come up with somethin’,”

  Nick added with a smile, which seemed to make Justin more at ease as he smiled back. “He seemed to do just fine with a fence post,” Nick added surreptitiously to Gaia, who smiled at that strangely true statement. The boy had saved her life with that very item just last evening.

  “Nick, I never asked you. Why don’t you live on the grounds? How come you never asked your mother to live here?” Gaia asked.

  “Long story.”

  Gaia stared at him with a frowning expression, which prompted a sigh from Nick.

  “I will tell you later, all right? How about we get you guys to the house first?” Nick said through a grimace as he tested his wounded shoulder. Nick slipped his jacket down and craned his neck around to stare at the bandaged area, which now seemed to be moist with…something. Gaia thought about it as Nick pulled on his jacket sleeve again and realized that it might be an infection seeping. She unwillingly blanched at that thought and then shook it away, staring at Nick.

  He wouldn’t last much longer. And then it would be her and Justin alone in here with the zombies. She had to get to Solomon and the primates to check on them, too. If she was going to stay here, she had to at least care for the animals that she loved so much.

  “Well,” Gaia began, strengthening her resolve with a deep breath, wanting to get this plan moving. She began to walk toward the steps that led up and into the zoo, as Maye held on tightly, her tail coiled loosely around Gaia’s neck.

  “Let’s go.”

  Chapter 8

  Gaia paused finally and allowed Nick to take the lead. They had gotten past the petting zoo and stood behind the restrooms once again.

  Nick had found a discarded crowbar along the way, which he’d given to Justin, who leaned the shovel against the rear wall of the washrooms. They had not encountered any of the living dead along the way.

  But then, Gaia saw them. There were dozens of the zombies gathered before them in the distance. She stared at him as if to ask, ‘where did they come from?’, but he simply shrugged and shook his head as if guessing her question.

  Nick removed his binoculars, held them up to his eyes and looked about. After a good couple of minutes passed, he tapped Gaia with the binoculars and pointed to something in the distance. Gaia stared through the lenses and saw a break in the fence directly behind the smoked cinders of the barn.

  “Dammit. We attracted more of ‘em with the fire?”

  “Sounds about right,” Nick confirmed with a scowl.

  “So, if we let the cats loose?”

  “They will still hunt the zombies, but it might turn into a blood bath,” Nick explained.

  “I don’t want the cats to die!” Gaia said emphatically, placing her hands on her hips as Maye climbed down her and then climbed onto the restroom’s rooftop. “Can’t we maybe thin them out first?”

  “We might be able to do that, yeah,” Nick replied. “After we clear the house.”

  “All right, then,” Gaia said, as if she had won an argument. “What now?”

  “Well, we can draw then over a few at a time, away from the herd, and cut them down in small numbers,” Nick said, unbuttoning the leather cover of his sheath as he removed the rather large knife and stared at it. Gaia looked to Justin and he nodded.

  “We do this smart. Take out the stragglers first, then if we can, we will sneak past the rest,” Gaia suggested. Nick and Justin nodded and they slowly and quietly positioned themselves on the opposite side of the restrooms, putting the building between them and the zombie horde.

  Gaia picked up a stone, one of many surrounding the facility, and tossed it at the nearest zombie, hitting it squarely in the head. The undead thing spun and saw Gaia for a brief instant, and ran at breakneck speed toward her as she backed against the wall. The creature came around the corner, tripping as it did and sprawling to the ground where Nick jumped onto its back. After pinning it beneath him, he jammed the blade of his knife through its skull.

  “That worked nicely,” he said as Gaia smirked at him. She swallowed hard an instant later however, as when she made her way to peek around the corner, three more zombies entered her line of sight and they were quickly closing.

  “Nick!” Gaia whispered excitedly. “More!”

  The first one appeared from around the corner and it found the edge of Gaia’s machete as it became wedged between its lifeless eyes, stopping and falling to the ground.

  A second came around the corner as Gaia was bent over the creature, attempting to liberate the wedged blade and it, too, tripped over her and the other zombie, landing on its face. Again, Nick jammed his blade into the thing’s skull. The third one came into view just as Gaia removed the blade and she stood, driving the tip of the blade up and through the zombie’s jaw, and right out the top of its head as it slammed into him, knocking him over.

  “Quick, drag the bodies back a bit,” Nick said, shoving the zombie corpse off him and looking from Gaia to Justin, the boy seeming frozen in place, holding the crowbar by his side. Nick slapped Justin on the shoulder and smiled. “You okay, buddy?”

  That seemed to bring him back from whatever scenario was playing in the child’s head and, taking the opposite arm of the zombie, began to help Nick drag the body. They quickly hauled the bodi
es off to the side and then Gaia had an idea.

  “Pile them up here. Make them run around the bodies to get to us.”

  “Funnel ‘em, yeah,” Nick agreed, nodding and grinning at her. “Brains and beauty eh?”

  “But, you already knew that,” Gaia replied, hands on hips to exaggerate the sarcasm.

  The group quickly repositioned the bodies and when finished, Gaia flung another stone. Two more of the living dead came to investigate and they both met with similar fates.

  The trio continued the procedure over and over again, for what had to be an hour or more, Maye sitting in a tree bough above them, looking down upon them quietly. Justin stood by and observed, as per Nick’s instructions, until they had thinned out the zombie horde. Now, the group could easily sneak past the remaining mob on the far side of the zoo and get to the house.

  “Nick, do you think we could build a pen attached to the house?” Gaia asked out of nowhere, thinking about Solomon, Molly and her extended family of primates.

  “What?!” Nick asked incredulously.

  “An enclosure. Could we build one onto the back of the house?”

  “I don’t think we’d have that kind of time, Gaia. Why?”

  “I want to get Solomon, Molly and the babies and bring them here.” Nick again looked at her crossly as a few minutes passed in silence.

  “There’s a screened in porch on the back of the house. It was a kind of greenhouse not all that long ago, and it’s got a sunroof. Got plenty of potted plants for them to eat,” he offered as a possible solution. Gaia was about to ask if he was kidding and then realized that at least he was trying to help. And why not? It made sense, but not having the gorillas behind a true enclosure might be bad in other ways.

  “Seriously. The gorillas are pretty docile from what I’ve seen.”

  “I was more worried about things getting in,” Gaia remarked.

  “Okay, so we’ll circle back to that one later, right?” Nick asked. “Let’s get to the house, and on the way, we let the big cats out. They haven’t eaten in over forty-eight hours except for the fool zombies that put their hands through the bars. They’ll be hungry.”

  “Hungry enough to eat us?” Gaia asked under her breath.

  With that, Nick took the lead, running through the open area, Gaia and Justin following right after him. They headed toward the tiger and lion enclosures, only encountering one zombie along the way, which madly charged them. It tackled Nick, bringing him to the ground, but Justin was right there to help, driving the tip of the crowbar through the undead creature’s head.

  “Careful, bud,” Nick said, staring up at the tip of the crowbar, which was less than six inches from his face. Justin nodded ever so slightly and yanked the weapon free. The boy looked meekly at Nick who smiled and winked at him.

  Nick shoved the body off, got to his feet and slapped the boy on his back. “It’s all good, kid. You save my life.” Justin grinned at that praise and they continued along their journey, but, when they arrived, they were collectively shocked to find that the tigers, lions, and jaguars were already out of their pens.

  “What the fu—?”

  “Who the hell let them out?” Gaia interjected, cutting Nick off in midsentence.

  They made their way to the first pen, checked the lock on the door and saw that it was still intact, but unlocked. Nick and Gaia looked to one another.

  “Someone did this,” Nick affirmed what they were both thinking.

  “Who?” Gaia asked, shrugging her shoulders.

  “No idea. The lock is in one piece. It wasn’t cut or broken. Someone used a key,” he said, accentuating the fact.

  “Great. Another mystery.” Gaia looked to Justin who appeared worried. “Let’s get inside the house then,” Gaia said, tending to agree with the emotion behind the boy’s expression.

  The trio turned about and headed back in the opposite direction, sticking to the thickets whenever possible and seeing the façade of Sal’s Safari further along the walkway in the distance.

  “Wonder if anyone is still alive in there?” Gaia asked, thinking that whoever set the cats free might still be nearby.

  Suddenly, Gaia’s heart skipped a beat and a scream got caught in her throat. She caught a fleeting glimpse of a jaguar racing toward them—and judging by its speed and direction, Nick was to be its prey. She could not even blink before it arrived, not having seen it until the last possible second. Despite what was happening, she could not help but give respect to the pure hunting abilities of these predators.

  But, as it bounded toward what she assumed would be Nick, it instead pounced upon a zombie—a zombie that Gaia hadn’t even seen!—that approached them from behind. The jaguar pounced, clamping its jaws down on the back of the zombie’s neck.

  Gaia did not want to watch what happened next as she grasped both Nick and Justin’s hands, pulling them along as they ran toward the house together.

  As they got to the front door, Nick threw it open wide and they all but dove inside, slamming it shut and locking the door behind them.

  Gaia saw the lights in the foyer go on and then off again quickly. She recognized that the boy must have flipped on the lights, as Nick stood over him shaking his head.

  “Don’t turn on any lights or make a lot of noise, son. I don’t know if there are any zombies inside the house, okay?” Justin nodded, his expression full of unease as his eyes darted back and forth. Gaia was quickly by his side, giving him a reassuring hug.

  “It’s okay, buddy. You didn’t know. We just need to be really careful in here, got it?”

  Again, Justin nodded in silence as they made their way slowly into the kitchen. Natural light filtered in from the row of windows over the sink and countertop, making it easier to navigate that space. They entered the kitchen and Justin plopped heavily into a chair, placing the crowbar down on the table.

  “Don’t put that there, honey.” Justin picked up the crowbar and began to place it on the floor beside him. Gaia nodded and grinned as he looked to her for permission.

  “We need to eat something, quickly and quietly. Then we clear the house. Got it?” Nick said to Gaia. She suddenly wondered, as Nick scooped peanut butter from a jar, if he was in a hurry simply because he wanted to get settled and rested, or because he knew that his time was limited, or even if the place reminded him of his grandfather. Suddenly, she realized that she didn’t know him all that well to make that assessment about his grandfather. She had no idea what kind of relationship they’d had.

  She shrugged, studied him carefully, and noted he stole more than a few glances at his wounded shoulder. He knew what was festering beneath the jacket’s sleeve and was most likely reflecting in the knowledge that he was working on borrowed time. But he never complained, nor did Gaia see an ounce of fear in his eyes. Not once. Gaia knew that if they wanted anything out of Nick, it would have to be done quickly.

  As she gave this some thought, she heard the sound of snoring and saw Justin slumped uncomfortably in his chair, sound asleep.

  “Sleep is not a bad idea,” Gaia quipped, before hearing an abrupt rapping on the window.

  She nearly fell out of her seat.

  It was Maye. She quickly made her way to the window, threw back the curtains, slid it open, released the screen on the outside, and allowed the capuchin in. Then she quickly slammed it shut and pulled the drapes closed once more.

  “We need to get to the gun safe,” Nick interrupted, dropping the spoon loudly to the tabletop and resting his head on his folded arms atop the table. Gaia made her way to him slowly and felt his head. He was burning up.

  Is he finally dying from the infection?

  She had no idea what to do, but she knew she couldn’t bring him along.

  “Nick, the gun safe is in the basement?” she asked. He looked up at her, the whites of his eyes clouding over, mixed with red. His breathing was becoming labored.

  “The key…it’s in the stairwell hanging on a nail. He was…old school.”
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  “You okay?”

  “Not really,” he said, shifting himself into a more comfortable position in the chair.

  “Hey, Nick…we’ve known each other a long time, and I really don’t even know you that well. You know?”

  “I guess,” he shrugged, seemingly indifferent toward that fact.

  “Well, I’d like to get to know you better.”

  “We’ve got better things—“

  “Humor me,” she interrupted, nodding toward the slumbering child. “We’ve got some time”

  “Not a lot,” Nick corrected.

  “Humor me,” she repeated. “Please”

  “Fine.” Nick took a deep breath and stared at the child.

  “Let the kid sleep, he’s been through a lot.”

  “Yeah, I’d say,” he said, throwing his feet up onto an adjacent chair and crossing his feet over one another. Gaia stared at his boots that were dangling over the table and almost corrected him, but instead said nothing. “There’s a few bottles of goodies over there in that cabinet. Fetch us one and some glasses and I’ll oblige.”

  “Wine okay?”

  “I don’t care. Sure.”

  Gaia retrieved two spotty wine glasses from the cupboard and rinsed them off. She then rifled through the cabinet and found a bottle of red wine. She placed a glass down on the table in front of Nick and the other was in her hand. Then she carefully poured them each a brimming glass full.

  “Who knows when we’ll ever get to do this again,” Nick said cryptically, raising his glass in a toasting motion. Gaia repeated the motion and nodded, taking a long drink.

  “Seems strange to be drinking wine with all of…well…all of that going on out there, right?” Nick nodded his agreement, held the galls up in a salute, and took a long swallow of the wine, draining half the glass.

  “So, whaddaya wanna know?” he asked, running a hand through his beard.

  “Well, let me lay something on you first,” she said sharply, sipping a bit of the wine. Nick nodded and she continued. “When I first met Adam, we talked about getting married and raising a family, you know, stupid kid stuff. But, within the first month on the job here, well into a long-standing commitment with the man I love, I found out that my chances of having a child were slim to none. And I found this out because Adam and I were having unprotected sex for over a month straight, wanting to have a child together; the ultimate culmination of a man and a woman’s love, right?”