by Brown, TW
Entering the country club he found Matt putting the final touches on a set of lined gloves. A stack of finished ones sat on the table beside him.
“Sounded like things were getting a bit testy out there,” Matt said, setting the newly finished pair with the others.
“Everybody seems to be at each other’s throats,” Kevin sighed and sat down across from the young man.
“You have to admit, it’s been a pretty intense few weeks.”
“And it isn’t going to get better.”
“Sure,” Matt drew the word out.
“Go ahead,” Kevin urged. “Tell me what you’re thinking.”
“You obviously are the man with the plan,” Matt began. “Nobody is questioning the things you say; it’s just that they could use a break.”
“And when we get this place secure—”
“Is there really such a thing?” Matt interrupted. “I mean we might be fairly safe from the undead, but what about people…you know better than most that there are some bad guys out there that are taking advantage of things.”
Kevin and his friends had run afoul of just such a band of men early on. The men had killed one of his friends and abducted Shari, her two sisters, and her mother for their own purposes.
Oddly enough, it was while he was searching for those men when he encountered another individual who’d taken Heather and several other girls prisoner to use for his own deviant desires. Even more twisted, the man had intentionally turned the girls by exposing them to a single bite on the arm or leg. That was how he had discovered that the bite didn’t guarantee a person would turn. Heather was immune. Near her ankle was a healed bite.
“I just don’t want the weather to do what zombies and crazed mad men haven’t been able to do as of yet,” Kevin said as he shuffled through the completed sets of gloves.
“But it is going to drive everybody crazy,” Matt pressed. “The gang needs something to take their minds off of the last few months.”
“So what?” Kevin set the gloves down. “You suggesting that we throw a party?”
“Not exactly,” Matt replied. “Maybe just take a day, dig through our stores for some of the delicacies you have managed to bring in like candy bars and stuff, and roast one or two of the chickens we have running around from that trip you and Aleah made last week. Seriously, dude, how do you keep finding this stuff?”
Kevin reached in his pack and pulled out a big, black notebook. “Found this at an abandoned military post. It has Google map images of the surrounding area for miles in every direction.”
Matt took the book and thumbed through it. He paused on a page and tapped it. Kevin looked at the unremarkable section of the image.
“There is a huge farm here,” Matt said. “I used to go out there with my girlfriend. She was into all that natural crap. They had all kinds of farming stuff. I bet if you hit that place, you’ll find everything that you need for us to start that garden you are so hot about. Plus, you might even find some food. They had a big produce stand that had crap all year round. I think they might’ve even had greenhouses.”
“Why didn’t you bother telling me this before?”
“Honestly?” Matt shrugged. “I really didn’t give it much thought until I saw the map. See the legend?” Matt tapped the image with a pencil.
Kevin leaned in and read. “Sage Farms?”
“That was the family that owned the place.”
“So much for house crawling,” Kevin said absently as he leaned in close to study the page more intently. By his best guess, the location was at least fifteen miles away. That would mean being gone for a few days. He immediately regretted making the decision to bring Shari. He would feel much better having Heather or Aleah with him. At least he was confident that they could handle themselves in a serious crisis.
Oh well, Kevin thought as he began to trace a route with his finger, it was time the Pop Princess got her hands dirty.
4
Death and a Birthday
“We have a problem,” Dr. Zahn’s voice cut through the chaos of six people checking gear and preparing to venture out into the dark.
We’d brought in the two women, Nickie and Christina, just under an hour ago. We’d run into a few lone shamblers during the recovery mission, and while the doctor began working in earnest on her patient, we’d held a quick conference and decided it was best if we made certain there were no more stragglers. It proved to be a wise choice. A few dozen of the things had made it past our traps and were stumbling out into the open field. There wasn’t much ambient light, but there was no mistaking them for the undead.
Night is a terrible thing. Since nobody is making batteries anymore, flashlights have become a thing of the past, and now we rely on handmade torches. Working in pairs, we would be going out in three groups: Jamie and Ian; Jon and Jake; and Fiona and Billy.
“More blood,” the doctor said. “As in I need some right now if we are going to have any chance of saving this girl.”
“Who can give?” Teresa asked as she pulled Jamie’s harness tight that held his assorted blades and bludgeons.
Dr. Zahn had tested and typed all of us and had the forethought to ask for testing strips during one of Jon’s runs when they were scavenging medical stuff to deal with my leg after I busted it up pretty good dealing with a small pack of zombies that had been intentionally lured to our camp by a man who had murdered a few of our group simply because he didn’t like the color of their skin.
“That’s the problem,” Dr. Zahn sighed. “The only matches that we have right now are Melissa…and Thalia.”
“So get Melissa hooked up, I’m sure she has no problem—” I didn’t see the problem.
“She can give some,” Dr. Zahn cut me off, “but with her being pregnant, we have to be very careful.”
“I can help, Papi,” Thalia’s voice came from right behind me as I finished helping Ian buckle his leather leggings.
I looked up at the doctor who seemed to be considering Thalia with a look that I was not exactly comfortable with seeing. I patted Ian on the side and he helped me to my feet.
“They have cleared the entry to the berms and are in The Killing Tunnel,” Billy announced.
The Killing Tunnel was what Jake had started calling the stretch of road that we’d bordered with all the dirt we dug up when we’d excavated the trench that circled the hill that our communal home sat atop. At some point, the name had stuck.
“And we got more coming through the trees,” he added seconds later. “Flares are being tripped all down the right side.”
“That’s east,” Jon said. “Usually we see them from the west or the north zones.”
In a flurry of activity, all three teams were out the door. I hated the fact that I still wasn’t deemed healthy enough to participate in these events, but the facts were the facts. I was still using a cane, and in no condition to outrun a zombie if it got dicey.
I returned my attention to Dr. Zahn. To her credit, even with a life on the line, she hadn’t just scooped Thalia up and taken her into the room to give blood.
“Isn’t she a bit young?”
“Absolutely,” Dr. Zahn confirmed. “In the old world it wouldn’t even be considered. We haven’t got that luxury anymore. I won’t put the child in danger, Steve.”
I knew that…deep down. It still didn’t make me feel any better about it. Still…
“We should get in there,” Melissa took Thalia’s hand and led her to the small closet that Dr. Zahn used to perform her miracles.
I watched the three of them leave. Just before the door shut, Thalia turned and gave me a little wave that ended with a blown kiss. I caught it and forced a smile on my face. There was no mistaking the look on hers. She was probably at least a little scared, but all that shown through was the pride. She was helping.
I grabbed a few torches and went out to the porch. I had my spiked bat and an assortment of blades as well as the 30.06 with its precious few rounds of ammunition. I brou
ght it to my shoulder and used the night scope to scan the scene.
At the very least I guessed there to be fifty undead making their way across the field and another twenty in the tunnel. It was easy to locate the pairs. Their heat signatures were blazing icons against the cold of the walking corpses. I dropped the weapon for a second to confirm something.
Snow.
It was coming down in large wet flakes that didn’t drift so much as plummet to earth. That was just great.
“You folks really have a system here,” a voice right behind me made me jump. It was the newcomer, Nickie.
“Still a work in progress,” I said, bringing the scope back up to my eye.
Ian and Jamie were up on one of the berms with crossbows. Fiona and Billy had come down the hill on the east side and were circling around the rear of the main body of the herd. Jon and Jake were busy making noise as they killed the leading edge of the pack. This would keep most of the zombies focused on them as Billy and Fiona came from behind and took the easy kills.
“Maybe so,” the woman’s voice held a hint of skepticism. “But none of the groups I’ve travelled with had it like this.”
“Groups?”
“First bunch I hooked up with only lasted a day…but I still count ‘em.” Nickie’s voice changed, a bit and I could tell she was fighting back tears. “My husband and son and I were in one of those useless FEMA centers when a bunch of the people inside who’d been bitten all started to turn.”
I listened as she recounted her story and felt a bit guilty that I wasn’t giving her my full attention. However, I had six of my people out there taking down a large number of undead that had followed us after we’d gone and gathered up her friend Christina. I wasn’t blaming her for the situation, but the fact was that, at the moment, I had a job to do.
A child-sized zombie was scrambling up the berm behind Jamie. His focus was on the handful in front of him. He wouldn’t see the other until it was too late. Sighting in, I squeezed the trigger. The tiny figure jerked sideways and slid back down the dirt incline.
While not technically silenced, the suppressor helped muffle the sound greatly. Jamie never even knew how close he’d come. I sighted in on a pair that were going to be a problem for Fiona who was busy trying to pull her machete blade free of a skull. I put them both down before I realized that Nickie had stopped talking.
“Sorry about that.” I looked at her and saw the tears I’d heard in her voice.
“No,” she waved a dismissive hand. “I should probably be inside in case your doctor has news.” With that, she turned and ducked through the door.
I scanned the scene. The hardest part was deciding who was actually in enough danger for me to expend one of our precious rounds of ammunition. Up in the crow’s nest, DeAngelo would be doing the same thing. I sighted in on one that was slipping up behind Ian when Nickie came out onto the porch in a tizzy.
Great, was my initial thought, her friend didn’t make it. That was unfortunate.
“Steve?” Her voice was strange. I hadn’t known her for more than a few hours, but there was something off about it. “The doctor wants you inside right now.”
“Does she understand what is going on right now?” I said over my shoulder as I exhaled slowly and squeezed the trigger. Another zombie toppled.
“She said that no matter what you said, you needed to come in right now.”
Of all the things I could say about Dr. Zahn, there was one thing for absolute certain. She was not an individual prone to exaggeration. I handed the rifle to Nickie.
“Only shoot if somebody is in absolute danger of being grabbed by one they don’t see.” There wasn’t really any more instruction to give beyond that.
I went inside and felt the immediate wave of relative warmth on my face. Thalia was sitting in a chair with Emily holding her hand. I could see the ball of cotton held in place by a Band-Aid. They were both crying. That seemed a bit extreme for giving a little blood.
“Steve!” Sunshine stepped out of the kitchen where I could see what looked like everybody who was not outside standing around in a cluster. “It’s Teresa.”
I felt my stomach lurch and the room got all tilted before snapping back to normal. That was when I found myself on my knees. I didn’t need to see what was wrong. The tone of voice on the heels of Dr. Zahn’s urgent summons told me everything that I needed. It was bad.
“She collapsed.”
“And?” I was aware that Thalia’s and Emily’s crying had gotten louder.
“Just get in here.” Sunshine stepped aside and held the door open. I could see the expressions on everybody’s faces and knew it was not going to be something good.
I stepped past the woman and for some reason, it popped into my head that, if everybody was here, who was taking care of the new girl? Then I saw her. Teresa was sprawled on the floor looking every bit the sixteen-year-old that she had never been as long as I’d known her.
“Steve,” Brad moved aside so that I could kneel beside the girl, “she just fell out.”
“As much as that can be used to describe what happened,” Dr. Zahn’s head popped up, her eyes blazing, “I would ask that you leave any sort of diagnosis to me. And since I have just started examining the girl, there is nothing to say. Now, everybody get out of the kitchen except for Steve. There are two little girls in the other room that just watched every adult they know act like they have lost their minds.”
I wouldn’t say everybody rushed out of the room, but they certainly left in a hurry.
“Sunshine!” the doctor called. “Get in there with that other woman and keep an eye on her. She is stable for the most part, but if her pulse drops below forty, give me a yell.”
“Yes, Doctor.”
“What happened?” I asked after the door shut.
“She was carrying plates in and, according to Melinda, she staggered a step and shoved the entire stack onto the counter before passing out.”
Melinda Cribbs was DeAngelo’s wife. She’d been brought in after being shot by the same guy who’d been part of our group briefly before murdering at least two of our members directly and leading a herd of zombies to our site where he tallied a few indirect kills. Melinda and DeAngelo’s arrival had sent Jesus and Jake out in the hopes that the guy was still in the area. Much to his detriment, he had been.
“So what’s wrong with her?”
“That’s the problem, Steve,” Dr. Zahn said in a whisper. “It could be a million things related to the pregnancy. I don’t have anything that will tell me shit.”
I think that was the first time I could recall hearing Dr. Francis Zahn swear. I took Teresa’s hand in mine, not sure what to expect. It was warm and soft, but I could still feel the callouses.
“Let’s get her into bed,” the doctor suggested. “The last thing we need is Jamie coming in and finding her on the floor.”
I scooped her up, surprised at how light she was even being a few months pregnant. I let the doctor lead the way, and I carried Teresa to her bed and tucked her in. She stirred once. I don’t care what anybody else might say, I took that as a good sign. I kissed her on the forehead and after a dismissive nod from Dr. Zahn, I returned to the main area.
Thalia and Emily were still sitting huddled close, but now Buster the Border Collie was at their feet giving everybody a dog’s equivalent of a dirty look. I was just about to go over and check on the girls when the door slammed open.
“Ian’s down!” Fiona panted. “One of the creepers tripped him up and he hit his head on something, by the time Billy got to him, it had taken a chunk out of his shoulder.”
On cue, Billy and Jamie came in carrying the visibly injured Ian. The blood from the wound was making his leather coat look shiny. For some reason, that was all I could think about; how shiny his black leather jacket looked in the firelight.
Jon was on their heels. “Jake is walking the perimeter with the new girl,” he announced as he peeled out of his gear. “How bad is it?”
“It’s a bite,” Ian said through clenched teeth as Dr. Zahn knelt beside him while pulling on a new set of rubber gloves. “It doesn’t have to be bad to kill you.”
“You don’t know that!” Billy blurted. “Bites don’t mean you’re gonna die.”
“What are the odds that two of us are immune?” Ian sucked air between clenched teeth as Dr. Zahn cut away his bloody shirt.
“How did it bite you with you gear on?” the doctor asked.
“When I fell, my coat must’ve slipped down.”
“Why didn’t you have it fastened?”
“I must’ve missed it when I was heading out. We were in a hurry and I guess I got sloppy.”
“Get him in the back.” Dr. Zahn pointed to Billy and Jamie. “Put him on the cot and help him get out of his clothes. Gloves are in the box on the wall just inside the door. Get ‘em on first.”
“It’s my shoulder, my feet work fine.” Ian sat up, but then flopped back down.
“You’ve lost a lot of blood,” Dr. Zahn cautioned. “You are bound to experience dizziness.”
I knelt beside Ian. “I should’ve been out there.” The fact that I had handed off my responsibility of lookout to a new person who wasn’t familiar with the evolution crashed down on me with a wave of guilt.
“You wouldn’t have seen it either,” Ian said. “Don’t start beating yourself up. This creeper was barely a head and shoulders. It had to have been crawling here for days. We all missed it in the snow.”
“Let’s go, Ian,” Billy said, reaching past me from one side as Jamie came around to the other.
Holy crap! Jamie.
He had no idea about Teresa. She was in bed. Maybe I should help and let him go to her.
“Steve,” Melissa called. I looked over my shoulder and saw her sitting on the floor holding Emily who was crying her eyes out. Thalia was standing beside the two. She was no longer crying and was stroking Emily’s hair. Buster was sprawled out in front of the three, head perked up and tilted as he took it all in and seemed to be trying his hardest to figure out what the crazy humans were up to now.