I repeated the process over and over until Dudley walked into the room.
“We can’t stay here.” He said. “They are going to get inside the house soon. We gotta leave man.”
“And go where?” I asked.
“I dunno…let’s go to Georgie’s.”
It was a good idea, but first I had to see how bad the neighborhood was. How many of those things were out there.
“I’m going to check the view from upstairs,” I said. “I wanna know how bad it is.”
“I’ll go with you.”
My bedroom has yet another sliding glass door. This one led to the backyard balcony, which stood over the kitchen.
From here, we could see over our back wall and across the open field behind it. They were there unfortunately. Crossing the field, four of them at the moment…easy to identify since their clothes were torn and bloody and they walked in a sluggish sort of shamble.
“Oh fuck,” said Dudley.
“Relax; they’re not headed this way. They’re going to end up farther down the street.”
I climbed up from the balcony to the roof. From here I could see my entire street. I didn’t like the view.
“Oh hell,” I grumbled.
Dudley cursed and climbed up to join me. The previously empty street was now in a state of utter chaos. I had neighbors packing up cars. I had neighbors running from other bloody neighbors. I had neighbors fighting neighbors and last, but by far not the least, I had neighbors eating neighbors.
The screams, both human and inhuman were loud. For a brief moment I thought that I could actually smell the metallic scent of blood in the air.
“They’re dead aren’t they?” asked Dudley.
“I don’t know.”
“That woman out front, with her throat all torn up…there’s no way she could have been alive. Did you see how cloudy her eyes were?”
“Yeah, I saw.”
“We need to go. We need to get out of here.”
I agreed with him. I didn’t voice it, but I most certainly agreed. I climbed back down to the balcony and glanced over to the field behind my house. There were more of them in the field now.
One of them saw me watching and let out one of those gut wrenching screams. The others looked over from him to me almost in unison and began to scream as well.
Lovely.
Dudley was next to me. Merrick had both her front paws on the top of the balcony wall and was watching as well.
“The backyard is all windows,” said Dudley. “We gotta move.”
“Go to your room and grab your backpack,” I ordered in a voice that was much too shrill for my tastes. “Fill it with as much water and food as you can.”
‘Georgie, here we come,’ I thought. I hope your home.
I had a little military backpack that fit quite comfortably on the small of my back. It contained various survival items from the different camping trips I’d taken over the years. I tossed it on the bed and began filling it up with anything I thought I might need.
One thing about me that is not very well known is that I have always had a fondness for weapons. Ever since I was a little boy, I collected various types of knives, swords and axes. I was far from being defenseless. In fact, I was pretty much locked and loaded for anything that came my way. The only things I never spent a lot of time on were guns. In my immediate possession, I had two shotguns and no shells for either of them.
I had everything else in abundance. I grabbed my favorite knife, it’s called a Seal Pup and it’s made by a company called SOG. Probably the best fixed blade I have ever owned and it was definitely coming with me. The nylon sheath has an extra pocket and inside that I kept a Victorinox Swiss Army Ranger knife (my preferred Swiss Army knife). I threw the ensemble on the bed next to the backpack.
I ignored the swords. I didn’t think any of them were for more than show. Instead, I grabbed a small tomahawk and a machete from the closet and threw them on the bed as well.
I was only wearing a white t-shirt and boxers. I threw on some socks and a pair of jeans. I yanked on my boots, my watch, my belt and for whatever reason a pair of nylon gloves that I used for riding.
I threw my day to day pocket knife which was a Special Forces folding tanto made by BokerPlus into my right front pocket, strapped my Seal Pup to my belt on the right hand side, slung the backpack over my shoulder and grabbed the machete in one hand and the tomahawk in the other.
“I notice that you give a lot of description to the tools and weapons that you used.”
Hell yeah, these things were a part of not only my survival, but the survival of many others. I guess I kind of have a bit of fondness and pride for them.
“I get you. It makes perfect sense. What happened next?”
I ran down the stairs as quick as I could. Dudley met me at the bottom. I handed him the machete and he looked, if only slightly, somewhat relieved to have a weapon.
The first slam on the glass doors on the side of the house sounded out loudly, even over the pounding noises still coming from the front door. The sound was unmistakable. I looked over Dudley’s shoulder and stared through the glass into a cloudy eyed face that was filled with rage.
It screamed at me and was soon joined by another and another. All three of them rammed and slammed against the glass. To my immense relief and great surprise, the glass door actually held, but it also began to crack in the middle.
Dudley, Merrick and I immediately ran to the garage. A flimsy wooden door was all that separated the garage from the house. On the way there I heard the unmistakable sound of the sliding glass door bursting inward with an explosion of glass shards as another one of our unwanted visitors once again slammed into it.
Those things, whatever they were, ran right for us the minute they were inside the house. We barely had enough time to slam shut the weak, wooden door to the garage behind us. It was close. It was way, way too close.
I love my Harley, but sometimes you just need a four wheeled vehicle. I have nothing against sports cars, they just aren’t my thing. I never wanted a truck because anytime someone has to move, they call you. I preferred one vehicle above all others.
Jeep.
Possibly the most functional vehicle ever made. The one I had in the garage was a gift from my father. It was a black 4 cylinder Jeep Wrangler. It currently had the full canvas top on due to the rain, yet the three back windows were off due to the heat.
Dudley and I tossed our backpacks and weapons in the backseat. Merrick hopped inside with Dudley. I jumped into the driver’s seat and hit the button to open the garage door while I turned the ignition.
The flimsy wooden door burst apart, just as I was peeling out of the garage. Those things that were once human ran for us once again and as soon as they grabbed a hold of the vehicle, Merrick began to ravage their hands and fingers. I don’t think they let go due to pain. It seemed like they had no choice in the matter due to the damage done to their hands and fingers.
Before I came to the stop sign at the end of my road, we had ten of them chasing after us.
“Run the stop sign,” shouted Dudley in a voice even shriller than mine was earlier. “Run the fucking stop sign!”
I slowed down enough just to make sure we wouldn’t be hit by another car and then took off again when I was sure the way was clear. Only to come smack dab in the middle of a fucking traffic jam the second I came to a major street.
We had to stop. We had no choice. There were too many abandoned cars littering the street and the cars that were still occupied were now moving at a snail’s pace just trying to weave their way around the empty ones. Horns were blazing and curses were being shouted from windows. Yet, the pace wasn’t about to pick up anytime soon.
Oh hell. I slowly looked into the rearview mirror. The ten pursuing us had gained in number and they weren’t very far behind to boot.
I began to honk my horn furiously. Dudley had his head out the window and was shouting for people to get out of the way.
Our pursuers were getting closer and closer, running furiously towards us. Dudley panicked and grabbed for his machete. He was pulling it out of its nylon sheath when I slapped the Jeep into reverse and peeled out.
I had no idea what I was going to do. I only knew that we couldn’t stay where we were. I guess I was going to ram through them in reverse when I noticed the canal on my left hand side.
There are a lot of farms in the Upper Valley, and these farms are irrigated by the canals coming off of the Rio Grande. These canals litter the entire area and all of them have trails running on top of them that people use for walking, motorcycles, ATV’s and now…Jeeps.
I was still moving backwards when I hit the brakes. The bloody man or thing that was leading our pursuers was only four feet away from the back of the Jeep. He let out a scream just as I jammed the stick in first gear, hit the gas and aimed for the trail on top of the canal.
Thank God for off road vehicles. Thank God for my Jeep. The way ahead was clear.
I stopped when we were a safe distance away and I noticed that the shouting and blazing horns had gone quiet.
Dudley and I watched the group that had been chasing us swarm around the vehicles that were caught in the traffic jam. We saw some of the drivers make a run for it with their wives and children in tow. A few of them may have made it. Many of them didn’t.
We didn’t watch for long. We just wanted to know.
I drove along the trail as fast as I could, which wasn’t very fast at all. It was littered with weeds, bumps and potholes. On one side of the trail was a drop off and on the other was the actual water of the canal.
It took us about ten or fifteen minutes before we reached the Rio Grande. The river was full due to the recent rains and the water was moving fast. I reversed until the back of the Jeep was about two feet from the river. That way I could see if anything was coming our way.
I would have preferred not to stop at all, but we needed to figure out which direction we wanted to take to as we made our way to Georgie’s.
The rains had also made the weeds and grasses grow as well and they climbed high on either side of the Jeep. It didn’t seem like we were in El Paso anymore. It felt more like Africa. It was hot like Africa as well and I realized for the first time that I was drenched in sweat.
Dudley handed me a large water bottle that he had intelligently enough, brought with him. I drank greedily and just sat quietly while my heart settled itself down. I tried to relax by listening to the soft insect noises coming from all around us.
In the far off distance we could hear the occasional scream coming from both humans and…well…whatever those things were.
“All those people,” said Dudley in a soft voice. “We led them to all those people.”
I was feeling just as guilty as he was, but I couldn’t let him know.
“We couldn’t have known that there would be a traffic jam there.” I told him. “We couldn’t have known.”
He was quiet for awhile. Probably trying to see if his mind could accept what I just told him. Personally, mine couldn’t. I felt very much responsible. Those things were chasing us, we escaped and most of those people stuck in that traffic jam weren’t so lucky. Words couldn’t begin to describe how terrible I felt, but it sure as hell wasn’t Dudley’s fault. He wasn’t the one driving the damn Jeep.
“I was right earlier, when I said what I said.”
I didn’t know what he was talking about. This of course wasn’t anything unusual. He often said the oddest and most random things that made no sense whatsoever.
Another thing that isn’t unusual is the way Jaxon picks on everybody. I’ve been told that it’s something he’s always done with his very close friends.
“Those things,” he continued. “They aren’t alive. They can’t be. Not with those wounds and all that blood…and those screams. They’re dead. They can’t be alive.”
I agreed with him. I didn’t need to say anything, I just nodded my head.
“It’s like a horror movie. The dead are attacking us. They’re eating us, just like a fucking movie.”
He didn’t say what kind of movie. We both knew of course, but it just seemed easier to refrain from using the one word that summed up exactly what those things were.
And that was fine by me.
The humidity was horrendous. I looked up at the sky and saw some seriously dark rain clouds gathering in the distance. We were in for a storm. It would probably begin sometime after sunset, that’s how El Paso weather usually works.
I reached into the console and removed a couple of dark blue bandanas. I gave one to Dudley and we both tied them around our necks cowboy style. Maybe it would help with the sweat.
I was getting drowsy twenty minutes later. We should have already been on the move, but after narrowly escaping what we had just been through, neither one of us was in a big hurry to jump back into the maelstrom again.
“We won’t be safe here forever.” I told Dudley. “We still need to get to Georgie’s.”
“I agree.” He replied.
“Well, if Redd Road is blocked,” I said, referring to the road where the traffic jam was. “We can go the longer way around through the access road. They’ve opened it up a few months ago. It’s really wide, about four lanes and there aren’t a lot of stores around the area yet, so there hopefully won’t be a lot of traffic…we should be able to get through.”
“Alright,” said Dudley. “Just give me a few more…”
The scream interrupted him. One of the dead had found us. It was a young man, whose left arm was mangled. He wasn’t a danger to Dudley and me at the moment; he was on the opposite side of the river.
“Let’s go,” said Dudley.
“Hold on a second. I wanna see what he’s gonna do.”
We watched as the dead man made a bee line right for us despite the fast moving water. He also didn’t hesitate for even a second at the water’s edge, he just waded right in.
With both of his arms reaching out for us, we watched as he stumbled against the strong current of the river. His screams meanwhile, had attracted more company on the opposite shore. It was a woman in a white sun dress. She also made that bee line right for us.
“We should leave,” warned Dudley.
“Wait up.” I replied. “There’s no way they can cross, the waters moving too fast.”
I was right fortunately. Less than halfway across the man lost his footing and was unable to get back up. We watched him flounder in the water for a brief moment before the current carried him well away from us.
The woman came next. It was the same thing. She lost her footing, fell and floated away downstream.
After that, there were others. They weren’t far behind the first two, just a few minutes if I remember correctly.
I don’t know why I stayed there and kept watching. It was like being unable to turn your head when you pass by the scene of some traffic accident. I was mesmerized.
I began to shake. I guess it was my nerves finally reacting to what we had been through.
What I didn’t realize, is that I was learning about my enemy.
My mind was taking in the things that would come in handy later.
I learned that their screams attracted others. I don’t know if this was a purposeful call or not, but the end result was the same. When one of the dead screams out, more of them come to investigate.
I learned that they were stupid. It was evident that they couldn’t cross the river. The ones in the back saw the ones in front wash away. Yet, they still waded in right behind their friends.
I also learned that they had no concept of pain. They weren’t only stupid about wading into the water to get at us; they also didn’t seem to care if they drowned. Which they couldn’t drown being that they were already dead and I had no doubt that they were indeed dead. Still, all that water rushing into their lungs couldn’t feel good and it made me remember back to when Merrick was savaging the arms of my neighbors at t
he front gate of my patio. They didn’t even react to the bites. They didn’t care if they were injured. They didn’t seem to even notice that they were being injured.
I was measuring my enemy without even realizing that I was doing so.
We sat there for a long time watching at least thirty of them wash away down the river. It was getting late in the day and I began to worry that Georgie may not even be home. There was every chance in the world that he could have tried his luck and attempted to get out of town.
Then I began to wonder if this was happening anywhere else?
It must be. What could possibly be containing everything inside of El Paso? We could hold up at Georgie’s for awhile, but eventually we had to go somewhere. Was there any place in the country that was still safe? Had the government come in to help us yet? Would the government come in to help us?
I started the Jeep and slowly drove away from the river. I took the trail to an exit ramp that came off the freeway to Doniphan, which was a pretty major road in my neck of the woods. At the moment, it was deserted, nothing but empty cars, lifeless bodies, and bloodstains on the street. We crossed the road slowly and carefully, on the lookout for the living dead.
We only saw one of them. She looked to be half eaten as she reached out for us. She couldn’t pursue us, there wasn’t enough left of her body. She could only reach out and growl. I was thankful that she didn’t scream.
I’d heard about roads like this from other survivors…empty except for the dead. It seems to leave a mark on people, more so than a lot of other terrifying situations. I always wondered if it had something to do with the emptiness.
We were fortunate that Doniphan was so empty. There were enough deserted cars to cause serious problems if anything began to chase after us. The weaving in and out would have slowed us down almost to a standstill.
When we hit the access road, we were able to speed up a bit. I still kept it at a slower pace. I didn’t want to go charging through and run into anything that would damage the Jeep. It was our only safe way of travel. The four lanes were spread out nice and wide, so it was easy to go around any deserted cars we came across. I saw some wet bloodstains, but never any bodies either dead or undead.
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