by Gary Chesla
“My Pa sent us out to pick some berries.” The boy said. “There is a patch of black berries down the road a ways. But the old Dodge just died. We’ve been trying to keep it running as long as we could. Pa said we can’t afford a new one since he got laid off from the mines. I guess the timing chain finally just broke.”
“I’m glad you two are OK.” Mike said. He felt calmer as he looked at the two kids in front of him. The girl wasn’t much older than a child. He felt some sense of relief that he had been able to save them from a horrible fate.
Mike had started to become cynical after the last few days of surviving among the dead, but he hadn’t lost all of his compassion for his fellow human beings yet. Especially ones so young and innocent as these two. Their lives would be a total hell soon enough. He was happy that because of him, maybe they would still have a few more days of hope before their lives turned to shit.
“Mister?” The boy asked as he hugged his sobbing younger sister.
“Yes?” Mike replied.
“Could I ask you for a ride home?” The boy asked looking at the ground and not meeting Mike’s eyes. “I don’t want to impose or take advantage of your kindness. It’s OK if you don’t want to. After all you just saved our lives. You have already done more than we can ever repay you for. We don’t live far away. Just a few miles down the road. If you don’t have room for us both, could you at least take Liz?”
The boy’s humility and unselfishness was touching. Young people today usually weren’t so humble.
“I would be happy to take you home but I have a little problem.” Mike replied. “It looks like one of the dead damaged my car when I ran it over.”
The boy looked at the car. “I don’t know much about them foreign cars, but I help my Pa work on cars all the time. If you pop the hood and let me take a look, maybe I can help. I can’t promise anything. I know a little, hopefully it will be enough.”
“OK Son.” Mike answered. Mike didn’t know shit about this hybrid car. It couldn’t hurt. He would be happy for any help he could get right now before anymore of the dead showed up. “Let’s go take a look.”
“My name is Billy and this is my sister Liz.” The boy said holding out his hand.
Mike shook his hand. “I’m Mike.”
“Thank You kindly again Sir.” Billy said.
“You’re welcome Billy.” Mike said. “Nice to meet you Liz.” Mike tried to smile.
Liz was too shook up to return the smile.
“She usually has better manners than this.” Billy said. “You’ll have to excuse her. I’m afraid she is still too scared to be polite.”
“I understand.” Mike said. “No offense taken. You have much trouble like this around here lately?”
“Yes Sir!” Billy replied as they walked towards the Prius. “A few days ago people started to go crazy. I don’t know what it is, but it’s like everybody is crazy and something has taken over their minds. They started to attack people. Pa had to get out his gun to protect us. He said it don’t do no good to shoot them anywhere but in the head. He told me if any of them came around me and I didn’t have my gun, that I should hit them in the head with something or they won’t stop. He said he hated to do that, half of the crazy people are our neighbors, but he said we don’t have a choice. They just won’t stop. It’s getting creepy as hell.”
“Tell me about it.” Mike said.
“Pa went to find the doc to see if he knew what was going on.” Billy said. “But when he got to the doc’s office he found he was dead. It looked like he had been mauled by a mountain lion.”
“Did you see anything on the TV about this?” Mike asked.
“We ain’t got no TV.” Billy said. “Pa said it was a waste of money. They don’t work up here in the mountains. Besides Pa said it would just keep us from doing our chores.”
Mike nodded, then tapped on the driver’s window.
Kelly unlocked the door.
Mike opened the door and pulled the hood release as he smiled at Kelly. “They are OK. Billy here says he might know how to fix the car.”
Kelly hugged Kimmy. “I hope so. It’s scary around here. I don’t want to stay here any longer than we have to.”
Mike felt around the partially opened hood and found the final release lever and opened the hood.
He propped the hood open and stepped aside so Billy could look under the hood.
“Wow look at all that stuff!” Billy said astonished about all the strange looking gizmos under the hood. “I don’t have any idea what all that stuff is.”
Mike nodded. He didn’t think the kid had seen anything newer than the old Dodge. But he thought it was worth a try. He didn’t know what else to do.
“But I can see you have a hole in your radiator!” Billy said. “If that is what’s wrong, it won’t be any problem to fix that.”
“Is there a radiator shop around here?” Mike aske hopefully.
“Nothing like that around here.” Billy replied. “But my Pa could put some gunk in the radiator, gunk will fix that.”
“Put what in the radiator?” Mike asked.
“Gunk!” Billy said. “Radiator sealant. It will block that hole right up.”
“It will plug up this hole?” Mike asked.
“Sure.” Billy answered. “That old Dodge there has half dozen holes five times that big. That Gunk sealed them right up. If it wasn’t for that darn timing chain it would still be running fine.”
“How long will it take?” Mike asked.
“Only a few minutes.” Billy replied. “Once Pa puts that gunk in, you should be fine to go in a few minutes.”
“OK.” Mike smiled. “Let’s go.”
Mike walked back to the car and opened the door.
“Kelly, Billy says they have some stuff they can put in the radiator that will plug the hole so we can keep going.” Mike said. “So we are going to give them a ride home. If you could hold Kimmy on your lap, Liz can sit on Billy’s lap in the back.”
Kelly pulled Kimmy into the front and onto her lap.
Mike opened the back door for Billy and Liz to get in the small space on the back seat where Kimmy had been sitting.
Once they were all in the car, Mike hit the EV button and pushed the accelerator. The car began to move quietly.
“This engine is sure quiet!” Billy said.
“The car is running on batteries right now.” Mike replied. “It will run on battery power for a few miles if I drive slow. This way the car won’t overheat and cause any more damage until we put that stuff in to plug the hole in the radiator.”
“I never heard of a car like this!” Billy replied. “What will they ever think of next?”
Mike smiled. “Where do you live Billy? How far away is it?”
“I live just down the road about two miles in Webville.” Billy answered.
“How many people live in Webville?” Kelly asked.
“About ten people.” Billy said.
“Only ten people.” Mike said. “That’s not a very big town.”
“It’s not really a town.” Billy said. “Just a few houses along the road. It is so far out that it was too far for the mailman from Huntington to drive that far to deliver our mail every day. So they made old man’s Jones house a post office. Well, not really his house. They put some trays on his porch and bring the mail out once a week. Old man Jones puts the mail in the trays on his porch and we have to go there to get our mail. They said they had to call us something since we had a post office, so they called us Webville.”
“How did they come up with the name Webville?” Mike asked.
“Mr. Jones’ house had so many cobwebs on the porch, the man from Huntington said we should be called Webville. I guess the name stuck. When we started to get mail, all our addresses on the envelopes said Webville.” Billy said.
Mike grinned as he looked at Kelly.
They drove slowly down the road. The terrain was level here and the little car’s electric motor didn’t have a
ny trouble moving along at eight miles an hour.
“I live right around this bend.” Billy said. “It will be the third house on the right side of the road.”
Mike was feeling hopeful that a solution to his problem would be right around the bend.
When they rounded the bend, his feeling of hope turned to panic.
Up ahead were two cars parked sideways, nose to nose to block the road.
Six mountain men, it looked like members from the Hatfield of the McCoy’s clan, leaning over the cars. Their rifles fired one after another at the fifty or so dead that were pouring down the road at the men.
Another three men with rifles came running to help the men at the cars.
Mike looked at the scene playing out in front of him. The men looked hopelessly outnumbered. The dead started to crawl over the cars and around the sides to get at the men.
Mike didn’t know what to do. The car wouldn’t go much further before the batteries ran out of power. If he kicked it into regular engine mode, the car would overheat and stop, stranding them.
It didn’t look like he would be getting his car fixed here.
Mike felt like his options had just run out.
“Quick, pull over.” Billy yelled. “I’ve got to get my gun and help Pa!”
Not feeling he had any other choice he asked. “Billy, you have an extra gun, maybe I can help?”
“Pa has an extra gun.” Billy answered hurriedly.
Mike stopped the car.
Billy jumped out leaving his sister sobbing in the back seat.
“Kelly!” Mike yelled. “Lock the doors. If we are going to get out of here, I have to help.”
Kelly looked stunned as she saw the dead crawl over the cars and attack the men.
“Kelly?” Mike added. “If this doesn’t go well, put the car in EV mode and go back the way we came as far as you can until you can find someplace that looks safe.”
“But Mike!” Kelly said staring at Mike with tears in her eyes.
“I love you both!” Mike said, closed the door and ran after Billy.
Mike ran towards the house where Billy had gone inside as he closed his car door.
It looked like all the other houses. One story constructed of rough wood that must have come from the local saw mill. All the houses had a large porch, probably where everyone spent most of their time doing whatever it was they did around here. Probably drinking moonshine and waiting for a groundhog to wander into their yard so they could add it to their evening stew.
Mike arrived at the house as Billy was coming out carrying two rifles, one in each hand.
Billy pushed one of the guns at Mike. “Here Mister, take this one.”
The sounds of rifle fire and screams coming from behind them made Mike want to hurry up to go and help the outnumbered men, but when he saw the gun Billy handed him he stopped.
“What kind of gun is this?” Mike asked as he looked over the gun with an over under long barrel and glossy polished wood trim.
Billy yelled. “It’s my Pa’s. It’s a shotgun and a thirty caliber rifle. It’s a real monster.”
Mike looked at the twenty-two caliber rifle Billy had. “Would you want to trade guns?”
“This is a little peashooter compared to that one.” Billy replied.
“I can shoot the peashooter.” Mike said. “But I have no idea what to do with this thing.”
Billy grabbed the over under and pushed the twenty-two into Mike’s hands. “Come on we have to hurry!”
“Remember to shoot them in the head!” Mike yelled as they got closer to the cars.
Four men where shooting at the oncoming mob while three men were engaged in hand to hand combat with the dead that had reached the cars and were crawling over the vehicles to get at the men.
Mike began to shoot at the dead that were coming around the sides of the cars.
He didn’t know why half the men crawled up on the cars to try and knock the dead back down off the cars as they slowly climbed the vehicles to get at them.
The cars slowed the dead’s progress. It would have been easier and safer to shoot the slow moving dead as they struggled to climb up on the cars.
They dead were terrible at climbing. It would have been like shooting fish in a barrel as they crowded and pushed against the cars.
The dead didn’t think or look like they were trying to execute any complex strategy. They just moved directly at where the men were standing.
It had been a good idea to park the cars as a barricade or an obstacle to slow the dead.
If the men would have just stood on top of the cars, they could have easily picked off the stumbling dead.
Apparently the dead weren’t the only ones around here that didn’t think.
Maybe it was just some kind of mountain macho thing to fight with them with their bare hands.
It could be that these people had no idea what they were fighting against. If they knew, they would have stayed as far away from the dead as they could.
Mike moved to the side of the cars. As the dead came at Mike, he shot them in the head. He gave ground when he had to reload and then started to shoot again.
The mountain men wouldn’t give up any ground. When they ran out of ammo, they would punch and swing their rifle butts at the dead. Then they would reload.
The men that stood their ground to fight off the dead probably felt like they were bravely defending their ground against the sick looking infected, but what they were doing was signing their own death certificates.
Maybe this was why the infection had spread so fast. People didn’t know what they were up against as they fought off their attackers. They thought they were fighting off the attackers, but in reality they were getting themselves infected. They were unwittingly helping the dead.
Mike went through an entire box of shells. He was nervous and his hands shook as he shot.
The mountain men where all steady shots, but they didn’t always aim for the head.
Mike was not about to tell them what they were doing wrong.
He would have probably been shot or received a rifle butt to the head for his efforts.
These people didn’t know him and would probably not take too kindly to an outsider telling them what to do.
Ten minutes later the dead had all been eliminated.
The men were walking back from the cars, laughing about their battle with the infected.
Mike froze as he saw the men. Six of them had blood running down their arms. Large scratches and bite marks covered their arms.
As mike stared at the wounds on the men, Billy ran over and grabbed his arm.
“Come on, I’ll introduce you to my Pa.”
Mike followed Billy but he couldn’t take his eyes off the bleeding wounds.
“Pa, this is Mike!” Billy said. “He saved me and Liz. We were in the old Dodge when it gave out. Before we could get out to walk home, we were surrounded. If Mike wouldn’t have come along when he did, we would have been goners!”
“Thanks for saving my kids. I’m Merle!” Billy’s Dad said. “I must admit, I was watching you and you don’t seem like much of a fighter.”
“I do what I can!” Mike replied.
“What are you doing around these parts? Merle asked.
“My family and I are just passing through trying to get home.” Mike answered. “When I stopped to help Billy, I hit one of those infected creatures and poked a hole in my radiator. Billy said you might be willing to put some gunk in it to plug up the hole.”
“I’d be happy to help for what you did for my kids.” Merle said. “Billy, go run and fetch me that can of gunk from back of the house!”
“Sure Pa!” Billy said then turned and ran off.
“You look like one of them city slickers.” Merle said. “Where you from?”
“I live by New Stanton, Pennsylvania.” Mike replied. “Not quite a city slicker but close.”
Merle laughed.
Mike’s face turned serious. �
�Merle. Why did all these men let themselves get bitten and scratched? They are all going to die and turn into one of those things.” Mike said pointing to all the dead that were lying around the barricade.
“What are you talking about Mister?” Merle said looking warily at Mike. “Those poor folks probably just went and got themselves into a bad batch of moonshine. Moonshine poisoning destroys a man’s brain. When that happens there just isn’t anything you can do for them. They go crazy and then die. It happens up here in the hills from time to time. It’s sad but it’s just a fact of life in the mountains.”
“No this is something else. There is a virus spreading around the country that is killing everyone who comes into contact with it.” Mike protested. “When someone gets infected, they die and come back to attack anyone still alive. They spread the virus by biting the living. Your men there should be locked up before they turn and attack you and your families.”
“Mister, you’re talking crazy. I don’t want you spreading this crazy talk around here. I appreciate what you did for my kids, but I think you should be moving on.” Merle said looking angry. “We’ve had problems with your kind before. We don’t need people like you around here talking crazy.”
Billy came running back holding an old blue and yellow can. It was so heavily covered in grease you couldn’t read what was written on the can.
“Billy!” Merle said sternly. “You put some gunk in this man’s car and send him on his way.” Merle glared at Mike then walked away.
Billy watched his Pa walk away. “What’s got Pa so all worked up?”
“I was just trying to tell him what I know about this sickness and he got real upset with me.” Mike replied. “I was just trying to help.”
“Folks around here don’t take kindly to outsiders telling them anything.” Billy smiled.
Mike led Billy over to the Prius and opened the hood. He watched Billy pour half the bottle into his radiator. Billy then filled the radiator with water from the pump in the yard near the road.