by Ricky Sides
“I like you a lot. In fact, I was talking to Herb about that earlier. It confuses me that I am falling for you so fast, but he says that happens in times like these. He said it was common in war times, and this is similar.”
“You don’t want to like me?” Amy asked.
“No. That’s not what I meant at all. I mean I’m surprised it happened so fast.”
“I’m not so surprised. I’ve been waiting for a handsome man to come and take me away from the farm since I was thirteen.”
“And you got stuck with me. I’m sorry about that,” Randy joked.
“I’m not. I think you were worth waiting for,” Amy said.
Randy was about to reply when Ox began barking and snarling on the porch. He turned and moved out of the bedroom and back into the living room. He saw Henry with his shotgun trained on the door as something struck it hard, rattling it in its frame.
“You better get Martha up to the tower,” Randy instructed the old man.
“What about Amy?”
“I doubt she can make the climb, besides, she has a fever now. If it gets in, I’ll retreat to her room and protect her. You need to get Martha to safety.”
Ox barked again. His barks turned to snarls. It sounded as if the dog was charging, and then backing off the attacker.
Randy heard the huffing sound that he had once heard coming from the nearby woods, only now it sounded as if it were at his door. He considered firing through the door, but had always heard that a wounded bear was more dangerous than any other was. He was in a dilemma. He couldn’t open the door to get a clear shot at the animal because it was at the door. Nor could he use the boarded up windows to attempt a shot. That left going up to the bell tower and attempting a shot from the roof, but he couldn’t leave Amy unprotected. The bear might break down the door while he was up there, and if that happened, Amy wouldn’t last two minutes.
The bear’s attack was cracking sections of the door. With every blow, the damaged area seemed to grow in size, and Randy knew that in only a matter of seconds, the door would no longer be a barrier. He raised his rifle to his shoulder and prepared to fire. Then, inexplicably, the pounding on the door stopped for several seconds, causing Randy to wonder what was happening, but then the attack resumed.
Outside, Ox ran forward and attacked the bear as she battered at the door. He bit her hind leg, but then turned her loose and ran off the porch. The enraged animal turned from the door and swatted at the dog with her heavy forepaw. Her five inch long claws missed the canine by mere inches.
The sow turned her attention back to the door, but Ox would have none of that. Again, he ran to her and clamped his fangs into her leg. This time, he moved too slowly to escape her claws. They dug multiple shallow trenches through the hide of his hip. Ox yelped in pain and limped away slowly. The bear, seeing its hated rival in an apparent weakened state, followed her instincts and moved off the porch to attack him.
Ox moved out of the way of the bear’s charge, snarling in anger as he prepared to battle his foe to the death.
Neither the bear nor the dog noticed when Randy opened the door and stepped out onto the porch. Light from the open door spilled out into the yard, illuminating the combatants. Randy targeted the bear’s kill zone and squeezed the trigger on his M4, sending a three round burst into the animal.
The bear heard the weapon fire and turned its attention back toward the cabin. It saw the man standing there and moved toward him on its hind legs. Randy fired two additional three round bursts into the wounded bear that was coming closer and closer to the porch. Then he heard Henry’s shotgun fire and saw the head of the bear shredded by the shotgun blast. One more three round burst took the animal down. It lay on the ground huffing until Randy targeted its head and fired a final three round burst.
“Is it dead?” Henry yelled down a moment later as Randy waited and watched the animal.
“I think so, but who knows for sure. I’ve never seen an animal take so many bullets.”
“Well, if you’re not sure, shoot it again!” Henry advised. Then he said, “Damn. It looks as if it got your dog.”
“Shit!” Randy said. “Herb isn’t going to like this.” Then he said, “Come here, Ox. Let me take a look at you.”
The dog walked over toward the porch but stopped near the bear growling. “It’s okay, you silly dog. She’s dead.”
Ox apparently didn’t think the bear was dead. He refused to approach Randy. Instead, he stayed near the bear, growling and snarling.
“We’re going to have to bury that thing if we want to get any rest tonight,” Henry said in disgust.
“Yes, and the ground and porch needs decontaminating,” Randy agreed. It took the men two hours to get the bear buried and go through their decontamination process. They used the tractor and a rope to drag the body away. Then they dug a deep hole, pushed the animal in it, and covered it with several feet of dirt. Next, they turned their attention to the decontamination. After that, they were able to coax Ox into coming to them so that they could tend to his wounds. They were deep, and needed stitches, but there was no way they could perform that task with the dog awake and ready to tear them apart.
“We should just shoot him,” Henry said. “You know that bear probably had the parasites and her claws are used when feeding, so they’d be exposed to the parasites.”
“No, we’re not going to shoot him. He’s Herb’s dog. He’ll make a decision about Ox’s fate. We owe him that respect, and he’ll be here tomorrow. This is what we’re going to do,” Randy said, and then he explained his plan.
***
Herb drove along a back road as he sought to get around a massive traffic jam near Little Rock. He was tired and sleepy. He wanted nothing more than to just pull over and sleep for a couple of hours, but he couldn’t do that. Amy was depending upon him to deliver the medicine she needed to survive. Randy was depending on him to save the woman he felt he was growing to love. Herb had entertained doubts that what Randy felt was really love, but then he checked that attitude against how he felt about Erma. If he could meet and fall in love with Erma, then it was certainly possible that his friend had done the same with Amy.
As he drove along the road, he saw few signs of people. That was to be expected at half past one in the morning. What wasn’t expected was the notable absence of vehicles parked beside the residences. Most of the occupants of the houses should be at home in their beds at that time of the night. Yet, very few of the homes he was passing had autos in their driveways.
Herb sat up straight in the seat and stared at the road ahead, He saw a desert tan Humvee on the side of the road with its hood up. He slowed his truck to see if the soldiers needed assistance, but then he saw their bodies beside the vehicle. He decided to stop to investigate.
He exited his truck with his rifle in his hand. It took only a few minutes for him to determine what had happened to the three unlucky National Guardsmen. They had been stranded when they developed a problem with their Humvee and been attacked by zombies. Their bodies were torn to pieces. He knew that soon they would rise and join the ranks of the undead. He wondered why there were no zombie bodies in evidence, but then he saw that only one of the men had been armed with a pistol. It lay beside the road in the grass. The slide of the M9 was locked back. The shooter had run out of bullets. In his haste to fire, he must have targeted the chest area instead of making headshots. The other two men were unarmed. Herb looked inside the Humvee and shook his head. He saw the three M4s locked in a rack.
Herb pulled his head out of the Humvee and stood still as he listened to the night for any indication that more zombies were in the area, but he heard nothing. Glancing back inside, he saw that the key to the vehicle was still in the ignition on a ring with other keys. He pulled the key out of the switch and tried the one he thought would unlock the weapon’s rack. It worked and he pulled the rifles out and carried them to his truck.
He glanced at the bodies nervously, wishing he could shoot them
to ensure that they wouldn’t turn, but whatever had happened here had happened so rapidly that they hadn’t even had time to get their rifles out of the rack. This caused him to believe that a large number of zombies had attacked, which meant they were probably still nearby. He couldn’t shoot for fear of attracting them before he left. Taking care of that detail would be the last thing he did before he got inside his truck to leave.
Watching the bodies warily, Herb again approached the Humvee. They would need the magazines and ammunition that went with the rifles. He got those supplies and returned them to his truck. Then he remembered the pistol. He was reaching down to grab it when he heard a moan beside him.
Herb spun around and saw one of the bodies moving. He backed off a step as he brought his rifle to bear on the target, but felt something grab his right ankle. Herb’s eyes opened wide in surprise that turned to shock when he felt a bite on his calf muscle. Turning his body to face the threat, he saw a German Shepherd and a pup. The younger animal was gnawing at his ankle, but lacked the power to penetrate his boot. The adult was a different matter. He shot the dog in the back, but it refused to let go. That confirmed that it was a zombie dog, so he shot it in the head. Then he kicked his leg, dislodging the zombie pup and shot it.
The moans were growing more frequent as Herb turned his attention to the reanimating National Guardsmen. Now he thought he knew more about what had happened to the men. He was guessing that several zombie dogs had attacked them. They had probably mistaken the animals for normal canines until the attack began. Herb dispatched the three human zombies before they could get to their feet, silencing their moans forever.
He grabbed the pistol that he had been attempting to retrieve when he was bitten. He wasn’t about to leave it behind after what it had cost him to acquire.
Herb got back inside his truck and locked the doors. He took a moment to cut away the pant leg, and then he injected himself with one of Erma’s syringes. It occurred to him that Agent Marx had been right. He could indeed feel a burning sensation as the parasites began their migration inside his body. He had also been right about how quickly the injection seemed to work.
Herb wrapped a makeshift bandage around his leg, and then he looked up as he prepared to get back on the road. He’d switched on the dome light while treating his bite. He turned that light off, and then sat frozen in his seat with his hand on the switch. Four more adult German Shepherds stood on the road before him.
Herb felt a visceral anger well up inside him as he stared back at the zombie dogs. Man’s best friend had become one of his worst enemies with the introduction of the Akins parasites into their bodies. He knew that these dogs had now become man-eaters. That made them a real threat to anyone they encountered. He unlocked the door, grabbed his rifle, and stepped out onto the asphalt as the first of the animals charged him. In the back of his mind, Herb noted that the animal seemed as mobile and agile as a healthy dog.
Herb slammed the door to the truck and brought the muzzle of his rifle up to bear on the charging animal as it sped toward him. His first shot hit low, striking the anizombie in the chest. It didn’t drop the animal, but the shot did stop it briefly. He corrected his aim, and the second shot terminated the canine.
He took a step toward the remaining anizombies, firing a round at the closest animal as it sprang into the air, lunging for his throat. He had aimed for the head, but the motion of the dog caused the bullet to pass through its stomach and exit its back. The bullet struck the dog’s spine and it fell to the ground with its rear legs paralyzed.
Herb was attempting to target the anizombie’s head when he detected some motion out of the corner of his eye. He spun in that direction as one of the remaining German Shepherds charged from the right. He fired his rifle in a desperate attempt to stop the canine, which was close enough to leap on him. The bullet hit the dog in the right shoulder as it went airborne in a leap. Herb shifted the rifle in an attempt to intercept the animal with the stock of the weapon, and bat it away from his body, but the dog managed to close its jaws on the hot barrel, just above the forearm and Herb’s fingers.
Herb instinctively shoved and then let go of the rifle. This propelled the canine away from him and he went for the pistol he carried on his side. He managed to draw the weapon as the anizombie shook its head and dropped the rifle. Firing twice, he struck the dog in the side of the neck and then in the head.
Herb turned his attention back to the animal he had wounded to see if it was crawling toward him, and it was a good thing that he did. Using only its front legs, the anizombie had pulled its body to within three feet of his position. As the canine lunged at his lower legs, he fired another two rounds. Both shots hit the dog in the top of the head.
Now he knew that only one of the anizombie’s remained. Herb scanned the road, but didn’t see the animal. He walked around his truck as he continued to search for the dog. Then, out in the darkness near the stalled Humvee, he detected motion. Herb spun to face the threat as the remaining anizombie charged him from fifteen feet away. He was attempting to bring his pistol to bear as the animal went airborne, heading straight for him.
Chapter 25
Homecoming
Randy sat beside Amy’s bed listening to her, as her breathing grew more labored. She had pleaded with him to leave her side when she first began coughing, but he refused. Instead, he had taken her hand in his and declared his love for her. “I love you, and I’m not going to let you die alone. I made promises to you. Promises that I intend to keep. But for now, I just want to hold you.”
“I love you too, Randy. I wish we’d had more time. I never even got to kiss my Prince Charming.”
Before Amy knew what he was planning, Randy leaned over and kissed her. She responded briefly, but then pushed him away. “Don’t! You’ll catch this! She whispered urgently.
“I don’t care. I’m not going through the rest of my life wondering what it would have been like to kiss you,” he responded. “Besides, Herb will be here soon with your medicine. He’s bringing extra for all of us.”
“You know how dangerous it is out there, There’s no guarantee that he’ll make it.”
“I know,” Randy said with a nod of his head, “but you’re worth it.” Speaking quickly before he lost his nerve, Randy said, “I know this is moving fast, but if Herb gets here in time, when you get well, will you marry me?”
“You’re right. It’s moving fast, but I know what my heart wants. I’m just worried that you’re feeling this way because I’m so sick. You ask me again, if your friend gets here in time.”
“You’ll say yes then?” Randy asked hopefully. “Because I know how I feel. I felt this way about you before you were bitten.”
At first, it seemed Amy would refuse to answer him, but then she smiled and said yes, her answer at that time would be yes.
Ox’s barking on the front porch caused Randy to get to his feet. Then he heard the sound of an engine approaching. He grabbed his rifle. “I’ll be back soon,” he promised, and then he was out the bedroom door. He saw Henry with his shotgun. The two men went to the door and Randy led the way out to the front porch.
Herb stopped the truck in front of the cabin and got out. “Come lend a hand, guys,” he said.
“Welcome home,” Randy said as he stepped down off the porch. Then he noted Herb’s missing pant leg and the makeshift bandage wrapped around his calf. “What happened to you?”
“I got attacked by some anizombies. The dog variety, but never mind that now. Hurry up guys. I’m running on fumes here.”
Randy saw that his friend was leaning heavily on the truck to support his weight. “What do we need to do?” Randy asked when he reached his friend.
“Unload the cab, and be careful with the padded case on the passenger seat. Get that first. Henry, you get the rifles and the pistol and bring them inside. There’s a couple of sacks of accessories too. Three men died because those rifles were out of their reach when they needed them. Let’s not make th
at same damned mistake.”
“Amy is a lot worse. She’s coughing now, and complaining of burning in her chest and head. Her fever is high too.”
“Let me guess. You’ve stayed by her anyway, haven’t you?”
“Yes,” Randy said unapologetically.
“It’s a good thing I have enough of the injections to go around. I had to use one when the dog bit me. We’ll discuss that later. Bring the case, and let’s go cure Amy before she gets any worse.”
“Hey, Herb, you mind if I use one of these rifles?” Henry asked as the two men walked toward the cabin.
“That’s why I got them. Help yourself, but be careful. One of us will teach you how to operate it later today.”
“He knows how. I showed him with mine yesterday,” Randy explained.
Herb stopped and looked at Ox. The dog jumped up and was wagging its tail in greeting. “Hello, boy. It’s good to see you too.” He saw the wounds and turned to Randy for an explanation.
“He was fighting off a bear last night. That’s how he got those claw marks,” Randy explained.
“Another anizombie?” asked Herb.
“If you mean animal zombie, then I’d say yes. We’ve been throwing the feed to him, because Erma said the food intake will keep the parasites from killing him.”
“Let’s see to Amy, and then I’ll inject him. I also need to give you yours, and from the looks of this place, it might be wise to give Henry and Martha a shot as well.”
“None of us have any symptoms yet. We could wait and see if it’s necessary,” Randy said as he led Herb through the living room. “That way, if you get bitten again, then there will still be medicine to treat you.”
“You’re right. I’m not thinking clearly at the moment. I’ve been awake so long I’ve lost track of how long it has been.”
“Let’s see to Amy, then the dog, and then you can sleep as long as you like,” Randy responded.
Amy was surprised when she saw Herb. She said, “You look worse than I feel. Thank you for trying so hard to save me.”