by Brown, TW
Looking around, she was on a roof. She had no food, no water, and a knife with a broken blade that would be next to useless. Looking down, she realized that she had one more problem.
Blood was pooling around her left foot. Sean had gotten her. Deanna dropped to her knees and cried. It was over.
It was nearing dark when the figure rose. With slow unsteady steps, it wandered about for a few seconds with no apparent sense of direction. Sensations thrummed and the small creature cocked its head in jerky fits. Orienting on the source of sound, it started forward.
The creature had no sense of fear as it approached the ledge. It paid no heed when its feet tripped over the small six-inch lip at the edge of the roof. It plummeted to earth…unaware that a pair of eyes was watching.
Catie wiped away a tear. At least she would not have to wonder. Deanna was dead. She could care less about Sean, but she doubted that he made it. Turning, she gritted her teeth. She felt lousy and now her heart ached, but she needed to find Kevin. The hard thing would be whether or not she would tell him. One thing was for certain, she did not think she could tell the girl Rose. That girl was far too emotional. She would probably do something stupid.
13
Geeks Making Tracks
Jose Reyes, Manuel Rodriguez, Jane Mendel and Kevin slipped through the gap in the wall. Of course, calling it a wall was perhaps giving it a bit more credit than it deserved. This construction had obviously been done post-zombie uprising. It was a ramshackle bit of work done by people who apparently had little to no experience with a hammer.
Chicago was finally becoming a distant memory. There had been more than a few close calls, and Kevin was surprised on a couple of fronts. First was the fact that the small group from that immune compound had voted unanimously to join him and his group. Second, they had not lost a soul during the remainder of the exodus from the Windy City. Not that there hadn’t been close scrapes…but everybody was still alive and mobile.
They had slipped out using Highway 38 headed west. Things had been hairy until they passed a small development called Elburn. Kevin had not missed the graffiti on the lone water tower near the middle of town.
“GET OUT NOW!”, “NONE ALIVE”, and “R-I-P ELBURN” were the messages painted with the biggest letters. There were other similar things scrawled on the tower, but they all said the same thing. Judging by what they could see of some of the houses closest to the main highway, these people had tried to flee way too late and as a whole. There were numerous multi-car wrecks clogging many of the streets. He could only suppose how it had gone down, but he found he simply did not care.
After almost a week on the road where they had only been able to average around ten miles a day due to an unusually high number of roaming herds sweeping through, the group was forced to seek places to hide sometimes for up to four or five hours at a time, they had spied the community of Maple Park—or what was left of it.
A large farmhouse just to the east had provided a place to spend the night and allow everybody else to rest while Maple Park was investigated. There had been a small fuss over who was being allowed to make the run, but Kevin solved that by drawing straws. Originally he had only planned on it being a trio, but when both Jose and Manuel drew the short straws, Jane was added so that they could all communicate.
After it was made clear that the rest of the group needed to scour what had obviously been a road side produce stand run by the owners of the big house, Kevin and his team set out for the town of Maple Park. If he had known the wall was in such bad shape, he might have simply brought the entire group along. His concern was that this might be a community of survivors. Obviously that was not the case.
Jane was the last one through, and her scowl was evident as she took in their immediate surroundings. Already there were at least a dozen zombies headed their way.
“How long you think these people lasted?” Jane asked Kevin as she drew her field machete from its leather sheath.
“Maybe until winter,” Kevin replied as he pulled the sturdy three foot blade that he’d liberated from a zombie biker a few days prior.
Without another word, the foursome waded in and dropped the zombies that had drawn near. They kept silent, not wanting to draw the attention of the entire place—however many that might be was anybody’s guess. Jose killed the last with his fisherman’s spike. Kevin marveled at how adept and agile the man was for his size. He looked like he should barely be able to move, much less spin and whirl the way he did in combat.
“From the looks of it, they moved everybody into this section and walled it off. The development just across that field to the northeast looks almost identical to this one,” Jane observed as they moved to the first house.
In less than an hour, they had discovered a wide variety of supplies including one house that looked to have been used solely as storage for canned goods. Shelves packed with Mason jars lined every wall and were set in rows filling each room.
“Wonder how it went bad?” Jane said, translating for Jose who was twisting the lid off a jar of pickles.
“Besides the piss poor fence?” Kevin emerged from a large room that had probably been a family room before it had been converted to storage. “If I had to guess, I would say they just got sloppy. All it takes is one person to come back from a run with a bite or scratch…” His voice trailed off as he remembered how Mike died and came back. “I don’t see any signs that these people were using protection like goggles or face shields. There are more ways to become infected than just the bite.”
“I guess it just sort of slips your mind,” Jane admitted. “Being immune, I stopped worrying about the small stuff. As long as I didn’t get torn apart and eaten, I guess I figured I was okay.”
“Yeah, and these people could have had a few that were immune.” He sighed and shook his head. “Who knows…and really…who cares. It is what it is.”
“Pessimistic much?” Jane quipped.
“It has nothing to do with being pessimistic. But it does no good to suppose any more. I am sure that we will encounter plenty of things along the way. We might think we can figure out what happened, but it serves no purpose. Our sole focus needs to be on getting to our destination and setting up a home. We have gardens to plant, and every day we spend on the road puts us just that much further behind.”
Jane translated as Kevin headed for the front door. Already another wave of undead had somehow discovered the presence of living beings and moved in. Kevin paused and held his hand up to stop the rest of the group from attacking.
“Head for the fence…NOW!” Kevin insisted.
“It’s just a few—” Jane began, but Kevin shut her down.
“Move! Don’t stop until you are through that damn wall!” To emphasize his point, he gave her a none-too-gentle shove. Jose and Manuel glanced from Jane to Kevin with confused expressions. Jane said something and everybody took off at a sprint. Kevin reached the wall first, but he stopped and helped everybody get through, holding the loose section out to make it easier. The entire time, his eyes were looking back.
The cross street about a half of a block from the house they’d been searching was the focus of his stare. Standing in a cluster were at least twenty zombies.
Children.
He had caught sight of them when a few had emerged from behind some shrubs that ran the length of one house’s front yard as a divider between the house and the street. That had set off his alarm, but when several more emerged from across the street, and then even more from the house sitting kitty corner, he knew. They were waiting.
Quoting his favorite line by Admiral Akbar, Kevin uttered, “It’s a trap!”
“What are you talking about?” Jane asked as the foursome jogged back up the highway to where the group was waiting.
He explained some of his observations involving the child zombies. Jane actually made him tell her in small amounts so that she could relate what he was saying to Jose and Manuel. When he finished, both men suddenly began
speaking rapidly and making lots of exaggerated gestures; so much so that they had stopped running and were now simply walking down the middle of the highway towards the roadside farmhouse. At one point he swore he heard the words Jurassic Park spoken by both men.
“What’s the deal?” Kevin asked once the pair had gone silent and were now staring at Kevin expectantly.
“They say that they have seen what you are talking about,” Jane translated. “Even worse, they say that these child zombies tend to act like a hunting pack. They said it reminded them of the velociraptors from the movie—”
“Jurassic Park!” Kevin interrupted.
By the time they reached the farmhouse where the rest of the group was now standing out front waiting, Kevin had been told a few tales that matched his own. Jane gave him a curious look.
“Are you saying these men are not just spinning some exaggerated tale?” she asked in a whisper that conveyed her fear.
“I can’t really vouch for the pack hunting thing, but I know they are different, and what I saw back there looked like an ambush was in place. Somebody sprung it too soon or we might have been in big trouble.”
The groups converged in the middle of the highway and Kevin related what he had seen before he told about the potential haul. Of course then he was forced to give his pieced together theories involving the child zombies. He was receiving a lot of skeptical looks until Jane followed with sharing all that Jose and Manuel had said about their own experiences.
“So do we go in or just blow by this place?” Bill Sten asked after it was clear that nobody else was going to.
“My honest opinion is that there will be other places to find supplies,” Kevin answered.
“You can’t be so sure about that.” Rose nudged her way to the middle of the circle. “Aleah and I came up with nothing not too long ago. It was frustrating and made us do things that were more dangerous than we probably should have tried. We were getting desperate. It is easy now while we still have a couple of days’ worth of food, but if we hit a stretch of nothing…we are screwed.”
The debate began, and Kevin sat back, listening to all sides, as the cases were being made both for and against going in after some of that food. Twice he noticed Dr. Miriam Reno staring at him with just a slight arch to her eyebrow like she expected him to just step in and make the call. The thing was, he already had his mind made up.
“Bill, Jose, Manuel, Jane, and Jill are going to join me and Catie,” Kevin said above the debate that was starting to grow between Rose, Heather, and David as the youngest members of the group seemed to have the most to say on the subject.
“Wait!” David spun on Kevin. “Why can’t I go?”
“Truth?” Kevin challenged. “You are a big mouth and a know-it-all. And while I don’t begrudge a person who has some smarts, most of the crap that comes out of your mouth reminds me of the old days when people would spew crap on Facebook that they knew nothing about. Also, I am certain that this run is going to be a challenge and I don’t trust you to have my back.”
The young man stood there with a look etched on his face like he’d just been slapped. His mouth opened and closed a few times, but Kevin had already dismissed him and moved on. His next statement was to prevent any other possible arguments in regards to his choice of companions.
“Aleah, you need to stay back with Heather and continue to catalog everything at this farmhouse we can use. Doc, nothing personal, but you won’t ever be going on a run. I learned that lesson the hard way. As for the rest of you, it is simple…I haven’t talked to you that much and don’t really know you well enough. I believe that we are walking into a trap.”
Another round of voices rose in opposition, but Kevin silenced them. “This is not up for debate. The only people at this point that have a say are the ones that I named to join me. Other than that, this is no longer a discussion. So…if you are with me, step forward.”
Each person did so. Jose and Manuel gave him a grim squeeze of the shoulder after Jane had translated it all. They took a place on either side of Kevin and folded their arms across their chests like sentinels.
“We still have plenty of daylight.” Kevin cast a glance skyward. It was barely midday by his guess. “Let’s move.”
***
Kevin scaled the fence and landed in the back yard of the third house. Two more and they would be at the point where the T-intersection sat. They would be across the street from the house with the line of shrubs where the first of the child zombies had appeared. It would also put them behind the second group. Jose, Manuel and Jane were with him. Bill, Catie, and Jill would be in the middle of the street. (Fadia Street according to the one sign that sat tilted on the corner where the actual target house was located.)
At each house, Kevin made visual contact with the other group and would wave them to advance to the next. There was not a lot of space between the houses, but at least it was not too deep into spring yet, so many of the trees and bushes were just starting to bud or bloom and did not hinder the ability to see out to the street.
“Okay,” Kevin turned to the others, “the next house is where things will get hairy. We have to move fast and take these things out as quickly as we can. They are still zombies. And while they may be showing some rudimentary signs of planning, that does not change things.”
Jose said something and Jane looked up at Kevin with a tight-lipped smile. “He says that they are worse…they are demons. He and Manuel are certain that it is demons from Hell trying to use the children as a way into our world.”
“Whatever helps him do his job.”
Kevin looked over into the next yard. It was no different than the one he was currently standing in except for the fact that this one had an above ground pool. One side had collapsed at some point, and with the cover still partially intact, it was almost like a bit of a cave. He felt the hairs on his arms and on the back of his neck stand up.
Turning to the others, he put a finger to his lips and then pointed. He signaled to Manuel to move down to the back end of the yard and climb at that point. Jose went up closer to the house while he and Jane took the middle.
No sooner had his feet touched ground when something moved from inside the dark recess of the four foot high pool. Memories immediately flooded his mind of that horrific sight involving the dog and the still animated head of that little girl that he, Heather, and Aleah had come across.
A low growl issued from the darkness and Kevin raised his hands indicating that everybody freeze. Blade already in hand, Kevin took a few cautious steps towards the opening. He heard something shift and move. Cocking his arm back, Kevin was prepared to step in and strike.
A triangular head emerged and Kevin took an involuntary step back as the brindle pit-bull curled its lip to reveal a mouthful of sharp teeth. A heartbeat later, five pups waddled out to stand under the protective shadow of their mother.
“Easy, girl,” Kevin whispered. “We don’t want any trouble.”
The female pit-bull lowered its head just a little, but its eyes remained fixed on the human standing before it. Kevin was not sure if he was relieved that the dog was not a zombie. A zombie dog suffered from the same lack of coordination and speed as its human counterpart. This dog looked surprisingly healthy. He wondered briefly what its diet must consist of. If it was surviving by eating zombies…then perhaps dogs had the same possibility of immunity as humans.
Kevin took a step back and started to angle towards the house and away from the pool. The entire time, the pit-bull kept her eyes fixed on him as well as the others. Manuel had to retreat almost to the fence before the dog seemed to relax and cease her growling.
“I miss having a dog,” Jane said wistfully as they slipped through the gate that was only barely hanging on by a single rusty hinge.
“Yeah, well considering that one of our concerns is feeding ourselves…I don’t think pets are a viable option at the moment. Besides…” Kevin glanced over his shoulder one last time. The pit-bull
and her pups were nowhere to be seen. “I think she is doing just fine on her own.”
With that, the four crept alongside the house to the corner and peered out to the driveway. Kevin felt his mouth go dry. Beyond the hedges that ran along the front of this particular house, he could see Catie and her group where they had come to a stop in the middle of the street. He could also see the two dozen or more child zombies on his side of the hedge. A few were just sort of milling about or shifting back and forth from foot to foot; but he could swear that a handful were making periodic checks through the hedges.
One of them gave a soft moan. Seconds later, it was answered from across the street. It was as if that had been the cue because every single one of the child zombies shifted position and began to move for the end of the hedges. They would pour out from the driveway. What happened next removed any doubt that these child zombies were capable of some form of thought process. One of the children stopped beside the derelict vehicle still in the drive way and began to slap the hood with his palms. The sound was magnified by the silence that had preceded it.
Within moments, adult zombies began emerging from every direction. This went beyond anything he had imagined possible. He glanced at Jane and saw her horrified stare as she witnessed the event. He was not sure which one, but either Jose or Manuel whispered the word “Diablo!”
From their vantage point, it was clear that Catie and her group would be surrounded in mere seconds. There was no choice; this run would have to be cancelled.
“Catie, run!” Kevin bellowed.
He did not wait to ensure she complied, he felt he knew her well enough that she would do what he said. He shoved Jane back the way they’d come. He fell in behind her, but Jose and Manuel had other plans. The two men rushed the child zombies.
Kevin would not risk his life. Whatever these men had in mind, they were on their own. He and Jane sprinted across the back yard. Kevin was only mildly surprised when the pit-bull did not emerge. Obviously it knew better as the first of the child zombies pushed through the gate, finally breaking it free of its last hinge.