by Brown, TW
Tough has nothing to do with it, Ronni thought. She pulled the blanket covering him aside so that she could get a look at his leg. It took all she had not to gag and vomit at the smell. The lower leg was still swollen beyond what had to be twice its normal size to the point that she could not tell where his thigh met the knee and became the calf. The skin looked like it would split if somebody so much as touched it.
One of the medical people had put some sort of thing in his leg so that they could just screw on a syringe and use it to withdraw fluid. Also, they had the actual wound coated with this thick gel.
She let the blanket drop and her dad moaned in his sleep. The sound made her wince and she was quickly on her feet, towel in hand to dab at his forehead.
“I’m so sorry, Dad.” She had probably repeated that apology a hundred times, and she did not care if she said it a hundred more. She felt like this was all her fault.
She glanced down at her own bandaged arms and then back at her dad who just looked so frail. This was not the guy who had killed the people who had tried to attack her back in Yosemite. This man looked like he could not fight his way out of a wet paper bag.
“Any change?” a voice said from the door.
Ronni turned to discover the other person who seemed to come by every twenty minutes to check on her dad. Dustin Miller was a big man and took up most of the doorframe.
“Not yet, Mr. Miller,” Ronni answered. She was about to turn back to her dad when the man pulled off his ball cap and stepped into the room. Obviously he had more to say. He looked upset, and Ronni’s first worry was that they were going to make her and her dad leave.
“Look…” the big man was twisting his baseball cap in his hands like he was trying to strangle it. “I just want you to know that I am sorry.”
Here it comes, Ronni thought angrily. She felt her temper surge and was getting ready to rip into Mr. Miller when he continued.
“Your dad is a hero…you too for that matter. You were one of the first to volunteer to go looking for those missing children. They told us how you kept drawing the zombies away by cutting yourself and getting their attention. You mind telling me what made you think of such a thing?”
“We were running…” Ronni’s mind drifted back to that awful scene. “One of the kids, I think it was Devon, he had tripped and cut his arm really bad. From that moment, it was like the zombies forgot that the rest of us were even there. They wanted Devon. The only thing I could think of that was any different was that he was bleeding pretty bad.”
“Yeah, well you saved some lives, little missy.”
Ronni felt her heart flutter. She might have saved some of those kids, but certainly not all. She remembered well the screams—
“And your dad…he not only charged that mob that had you guys trapped in that house, but he sent the rest of us away and stayed behind to save you. I thought you were as good as dead, I think he did too,” Dustin explained. “But I’ll be damned if he didn’t send us on our way and stay with you. He said that he wanted to stop the bleeding, but with all the blood that you had lost…I am pretty sure that he did not expect you to make it. He wasn’t going to leave you behind to become one of those things.”
Ronni listened to everything that Dustin said. Here was yet another reason that her dad had to pull through. Even as crappy as she had been treating him, he had not given up on her. She was pretty sure that she had been trying to see if she could drive him off. If she did, then she would be correct; he hadn’t really cared. Yet at every turn, he was there for her. And when it meant that he was probably going to die, he had apparently not even given it a thought.
“Thanks, Mr. Miller,” Ronni finally said when a lengthy silence had started to feel just a bit uncomfortable.
“I think you can call me Dustin. You ain’t one of the little ones. Hell…you’re practically a grown woman.”
She sure didn’t feel like it at the moment. All she wanted right now was for her dad to wake up, hug her, and tell her that everything was going to be alright.
“You send for me if there is any change,” Dustin Miller said, and then exited.
Ronni scooted her seat closer to the bed and laid her head on his chest. She liked this because she could hear and feel his steady heartbeat. As long as that steady rhythm pulsed, she knew he was still with her.
Every so often a nurse or some member of the community would come in to check up on her dad. It made her feel good, like these folks actually cared one way or the other what happened.
She had dozed off when a hand touched her lightly on the shoulder. Ronni opened her eyes and was surprised to see a woman standing there. The woman looked like she had probably been pretty before. Now she just looked tired. Dark circles made large smudges under each eye and her brow was crinkled from her frowning expression. Her hair was almost blond, but it was just close enough to brown to seem kind of dirty.
“You named Ronni?” the woman asked with a bit of a slur to her voice that almost sounded like she was drunk.
For some reason, Ronni was almost scared of this woman. There just seemed something…off. Still, she did not see the problem with answering a simple question.
“Yeah.”
“You were one of the ones that went out looking for those missing children.”
“Yeah.” Again, Ronni saw no harm in answering a question that she was sure most people—this woman included—knew the answer.
“I just wanted to say thank you,” the woman whispered. “My little girl…Kaja? She didn’t make it back. Dustin said he knew for certain that she was dead. I just wanted you to know that I am grateful. And let your daddy know that I said so, too. I know that he went out after you, but he made sure that the rest of them children come back okay.” The woman turned and headed for the door.
“I will…and…” Ronni paused when the woman turned to face her. She could see so much pain in this woman’s eyes. It actually hurt her heart. “I’m sorry about your daughter.” What bothered Ronni was that she didn’t actually know which one of the children that didn’t make it was Kaja.
The woman offered a very weak smile and then left. Ronni turned back to her dad and could not help but start to cry again. She would have been dead…should have been dead. Only, even though she had been bitten, she was fine. She had a bit of a headache that came and went, but she felt no need to go and eat somebody.
There was a sound out in the hallway; it was like somebody trying not to yelp. At that exact same moment, Ronni’s dad’s eyelids fluttered and then opened!
***
“Can somebody please tell me what in the blazes is going on?” George grumbled.
“You been selected as a stud,” Danny hooted from the tower. He was wiping tears from his eyes as he looked down on the scene below.
“He’s a happy sort,” one of the females stepped forward and pointed up. “I’ll have that one. I like a good laugh.”
The woman was just a shade over five feet tall with skin the color of hot chocolate. Her hair was in coiled braids and she was so top heavy that Jody was amazed that the woman did not fall flat on her face. She smiled and it made her face all the more beautiful.
Now it was George’s turn to chortle. He glanced up at Danny and gave a salacious wink. Danny had gone suddenly and uncharacteristically quiet. Jody was worried for a moment.
He had known Danny for quite a while. Still, some guys had “issues” when it came to mixing races. Was Danny one of those?
“You just won the lottery, sweetcakes!” Danny hooted as he slung his leg over the rail, gripped both sides of the ladder and basically did a fireman’s pole slide to the ground. He took a step forward and puckered his lips only to have the woman’s hand mash firmly, if not a bit roughly, into his face.
“I don’t know what you were thinkin’ there, Carrot Top,” the woman said firmly. “And maybe you wasn’t listening when Margarita was talkin’, but this ain’t no marriage or anything like that. You got a job…put a baby in me. On
ce the baby is born, I go home…you stay here. Understand me, Romeo?”
Danny scrunched up his face for a minute and crossed his arms over his chest. He looked around and then his gaze returned to the woman.
“Let me see if I got this right. We have sex until it is certain that you are pregnant. Then…we are done? And when the baby comes, you leave and I might never see you again?”
The woman nodded. Danny had a stern expression for all of about three seconds. He turned to Jody with a huge grin. “This is probably the coolest zombie apocalypse ever.”
He climbed back up into the tower whistling some tune that Jody thought might be “Oh What A Beautiful Morning” as he returned to his post.
Selina threw her hands up in disgust and walked away. Jody watched her go until the rest of the women crowded in around him and started asking when they would get to view the eligible men.
“Right this way, ladies,” he called out as he made a gesture of welcome with his hands and started off for the school.
The word had already been sent that every man between the ages of eighteen and fifty be present. Glancing at the females in tow, he could tell that Pitts had not been quite so choosy. Well Jody was not ready to travel that road. While he had sent Kat, who was obviously not yet eighteen, as well as one other girl that he was pretty sure could be no older than sixteen, he was not okay with it. And as far as he was concerned, he would be separating these females as well as his eligible men. While it would still make him very uncomfortable, he could at least mitigate that feeling by trying to prevent some sort of Hugh Hefner-Bimbo Bunny hook up.
They reached the school and Jody noticed a handful of the women who had been left behind staring with rapt scrutiny at these newcomers. He saw a few raised eyebrows and maybe even a hint of anger. He would need to keep a close eye on things for a while.
Once they entered the school, he turned and had the women stop. “Wait here a moment, I’ll be right back.”
Hurrying into the gym, he saw most of the men that fit his parameters present. He did notice a few missing. Hopefully that would not come back later to bite him in the ass.
“Okay, anybody under the age of twenty, I want you to go over to the other side of the partition.” He saw some confused looks. “Listen…Pitts sent some girls in this batch. And when I say “girls”, that means they are obviously not yet eighteen.”
He saw a few knowing nods, but he also saw what he was pretty sure were a few looks of disappointment. He would keep those few in mind for the next lousy detail that would take place outside the perimeter. As soon as the men had divided into the appropriate groups, Jody returned out to the ladies. He quickly explained what he had done and why. Oddly enough, it was one of the ladies who looked to be in her early thirties who voiced objection.
“That was never part of the deal back home,” the woman huffed. “Do you know how energetic those younger men can be?”
For the briefest of moments, Jody recalled an episode of South Park. In it, Kyle’s little brother’s kindergarten teacher has an affair with the young Ike. When Kyle discovers this and turns to the local police for help, he initially reports that a teacher was having a sexual relationship with a student. The officers all jump to their feet in anger, some pulling weapons as they demand to know who this despicable man is that could commit such an atrocity. When Kyle says that it is the kindergarten teacher and his brother, one of the cops asks, “You mean the hot one?” Kyle nods to which the officer holsters his gun and utters, “Nice.”
“Personally I could care less, ma’am,” Jody said, shaking his head to clear it and return his attention to the situation at hand. “As long as you are here, you will do things our way. Our younger men will be available to your young ladies, and the rest…well…I am sure you will find somebody to your liking. And if not, I will gladly see to it that you are escorted back to your compound. Perhaps Sergeant Pitts will send someone in your stead.”
There was an uneasy stillness, and Jody saw what he could only decipher as fear on a few of the faces. Had he said something wrong? Slowly, a thought began to ferment. Pitts had never really spoken of the women like they were people; it was more like they were possessions.
“Okay,” Jody said after a moment where he took close stock of these women and their obvious reaction to his suggesting that he send them back, “I think we should make something clear. You are considered citizens of our little town until the day that you leave. You are free to go and do as you please. We have a list posted up by what I guess used to be the principal’s office. It has some of the community’s needs. If you can perform any of those tasks, feel free to volunteer. You are under no compulsion to do so if you do not wish.”
“And if we decide we don’t want to do anything…you gonna send us back?” one of the women asked.
“Nope.” Jody gave an exaggerated shake of the head. “Obviously that would create a problem for you judging by your reactions. So please feel free to head into the gym and take a look. If anybody suits your tastes, then I guess you know what to do.”
With that, Jody turned to leave. He was not surprised to discover Selina waiting for him outside. He put his arm around her and pulled her to his side, kissing her on the temple.
“Would you have done it?” she asked.
“Done what?”
“Don’t play games with me, Jody.”
“Oh…you mean Margarita? Hell…I don’t know. It would seem kinda bad if I did not allow myself to be treated in basically the same manner that our women are being treated.” Jody rubbed his eyes, suddenly he was very tired. “I mean, if our girls are being sent to a strange place where they have to select a man with the sole intention of getting pregnant, then it would seem pretty hypocritical if I removed myself from the pool of selectees for the women from Pitts’ compound.”
“And what about when my turn comes up? What about when I have to go over there?”
“You’re pregnant right now, so we have time to figure something out.” Jody laughed and rubbed Selina’s belly. “Maybe I’ll just knock you up again and keep you out of the pool.”
Selina’s expression darkened. Tears brimmed in her eyes and she spun on her heel, storming away. Jody watched in utter confusion as she left, her shoulders shaking as she obviously had started to cry.
“What the hell did I say?” Jody muttered.
***
Sean looked into the first apartment. The filthy room was worse than a slaughterhouse. It looked like maybe a handful of people had tried to fight with a hundred zombies. There were bits and pieces everywhere. The walls were a Rorschach pattern that would confuse Jackson Pollok. Bits of bone and brain had dried to a sinister form of stucco, held in place by generous amounts of dried blood.
One man stood out from the rest. Of course the only reason that Sean could tell that it was a man was because his shirt had been torn almost completely off. He had bites on him and a few chunks missing from his shoulders as well as a rip where the flesh had been torn away to reveal the ribs beneath. He had dropped into a corner and put a double-barrel shotgun in his mouth and blown the entirety of his head off in a volcanic eruption of gore.
The smell made him want to vomit. He had only peeked in for a second, but he was not sure he would ever be able to erase the image of so much violent death that had burned its imprint onto the memory slate of his mind.
He wanted to find someplace for them to be able to hold up for a while. Outside, the screams of the children and the shouts of those people from the hospital had dwindled. If he went into one of the apartments on the left he would be able to see.
Moving to the next apartment, he opened it to find the unit empty. Other than dust, cobwebs, something that scurried away as soon as he opened the door (probably rats), and a long dead bird that was on the floor just inside the busted window, the place was vacant. Sean went in and crept to the window. He doubted that anybody would be looking up, but he was still not going to take any chances.
Pe
ering out, he saw the streets crowded with swarms of the undead. He could not swear to it, but he thought that a couple of the faces might be familiar. What he did not see was any sign of that bitch Rose or the bigger bitch, Catie. A small voice in his head tried to tell him that he was scared of them both, but he silenced it.
From where he was, he could just make out the roof of the hospital. It looked like several people were out there looking down at the nightmare swirling below. If he looked down, the zombies that were passing were so bunched in that he could not actually see any of the street.
Sean pulled the door shut and went to the next one. He was turning the knob when Deanna’s hand touched his shoulder. He spun, ready to vent more of his anger at this ungrateful bitch who could not see that he had saved her life…she owed him.
“I’m sorry, Sean,” Deanna said in a hitching voice that still struggled to fight back the sobs. “It is just that I will miss those people. I loved them, and I think some of them loved me.”
“Not like I do.” Sean had thought that those words had only passed through his mind. It took him a moment before he realized that they had, in fact, come from his mouth.
“I know you do, Sean.” Deanna placed her hands on his face now. She pulled him close and kissed him. It was not meant as a romantic kiss at all. Just the briefest of touching between their lips as an acknowledgement of appreciation; sadly, it meant completely different things to each of them.
Sean pulled Deanna close. At first, she yielded, wanting to be held. But when his hands began to wander and explore, she tried to pull away.
“What are you doing?” she managed around his mouth that was starting to press hard to the point of painful.
Sean drew back and looked at Deanna with confusion. “But…you kissed me. I thought…”