by Daniel Smith
“No problem,” he said placing the cap of the bottle on the edge of the metal table and yanking down quickly.
Placing the now open bottle in front of Dan, he repeated the procedure for himself. Holding up the bottle in front of him looking at Dan and made a motion for cheers. He took his bottle to clink it against Manny’s following him by taking a drink. Dan stopping pulling a face at the taste.
“What is this,” he asked looking at the brown bottle.
“Beer,” Manny said taking another pull.
Dan looked stunned and took another sip before placing the bottle down reaching for a slice of pizza. The pizza was gone just crumbs and oils stain in the open box. Dan was on his third beer the crowd and noise no longer bothering him as he sat in the chair feeling good. The first sounds of music reached them then the roar of the crowd as the parade started coming down the street. He watched the colorful floats with their brightly costumed people on them throwing strands of beads to the crowds. Several landed on the patio table as one float passed by. The people were dancing as a marching band came by playing a jazz tune. Dan stopped looking in confusion he could have sworn a woman pulled her top up showing off her breasts. Shaking his head yawning as he tried to shake the tired feeling creeping over him. Manny looked at him and smiled.
“Go to bed. We will go out tomorrow and have fun,” Manny said smiling saluting him with the beer bottle.
He got up and walked inside. It was still morning when Dan got up surprised he had slept the night through to see Manny still sleeping soundly. Going out to the patio he sat down with his book and started reading. Occasionally distracted by the sights and sounds of the city as people started walking by some stumbling as Dan panicked thinking they were the infected. Noon was fast approaching when Manny finally walked out onto the patio looking still tired.
“That’s what I like about a vacation,” he started. “Get to enjoy sleeping late. Let me shower and change and we will start our day.” Dan nodded and kept reading the book.
They walked along the narrow street lit by a few streetlights that where still working. Causing shadows on both sides of them from the large two and three story buildings rising up around them. The almost pastel colors of whites blues and yellows mixing in with the red bricks of some buildings. Some of the buildings sporting white columns supporting the balconies on the second and third floors all of their railings where a bright white or ornamental metal. A decorative white horse drawn carriage passed by through the milling crowd, as Dan held the glass of beer to him trying to keep it from spilling. Dan kept close to Manny he was no longer used to so many people.
“Take it easy and just sip the beer.” Manny told him calmly. “The show should be starting soon” he continued taking a sip from his own beer.
Dan sip at the golden liquid again the taste was something that took getting used to. The cold drink started out a little bitter tasting but after a few sips he started liking it starting to relax. Manny had told him now would be a good time to try a beer or two to see how it would affect him, after all Manny said he would keep watch for them. Manny stop pointing to a small crowd of people with colorful beads in their hands standing around a woman with long black hair. The crowd shook the beads at her; Manny leaned closer to Dan.
“Now watch” was all he said. Dan barely had time to register the comment when the woman pulled her shirt up flashing her large bare breasts to the roar of the group. Watching as she shook her chest as people gave her some of the colorful beads as she put her shirt back down. Dan stood their staring he had never seen anything like that before, Manny was just smiling.
“Close your mouth. Now you know why I wanted to come for Marti Graw. Let’s go see if we can get some beads,” he said. Putting his hand on Dan’s back and steering him up the street among the partygoers.
As they walked up the crowded street. Dan started to forget about the uneasy feeling he had earlier. Replaced with a warm feeling as he watched several other women showing off their breasts to a cheering crowd handing them colorful strings of beads. Manny stopped them at a small portable canopy with a table filled with bags of different color beads and sizes. Dan was not paying attention to Manny as he talked to the woman behind the table and did not know how much time had passed before Manny spoke to him.
“Close your mouth, you can stare but do it with your mouth closed,” Manny said smiling holding a clear bag of large colorful beads. Manny stared into Dan’s eyes for a moment before asking him.
“How are you feeling?”
“Good” Dan said smiling while looking around. Manny had a big smile now .
“That’s good, you’re buzzed from the beer anymore and you will become drunk and hate life tomorrow. So finish what you have and no more,” he said as the smile dimmed on Dan’s face a little.
“The good news” Manny said shaking the bag of beads. “The businesses here let the women exchange these beads for items they need, the bigger the beads the more they are worth. So let’s go see where the night leads us,” he told Dan as he handed him a bag of the largest sized beads. Dan opened the bag to remove a few strands to examine them.
As they wandered the streets with no real destination in mind. Dan slowly lost the warm fuzzy feeling he had from the beer but still felt dazed still not caring at all the people around him. His attention focused on the women showing themselves off for the beads. Dan and Manny had to stop quick as a large woman with massive breasts appeared in front of them lifting her shirt just inches away from where they had stopped. Dan stared at the massive breast for a moment before he felt a nudge from Manny. Looking up he saw the woman eyeing the large set of beads in his hand. Slowly he raised it up to give to the woman who took them smiling before lowering her tee shirt to disappear into the crowd.
“Like I have always told you. You can catch anything with the right bait,” Manny said smiling. Dan was watching the woman disappear as Manny gently pushed on his shoulder to start moving again.
They had gone a little further up the narrow street before Manny pulled on Dan’s arm towards a building. It was a pale white three story building with green metal columns holding up the balconies a fading sign in front of it read.
“Internet café, Email, computer services.”
Manny leaned in close to Dan so he could hear him without having to shout.
“Stay here, I want to check our email,” he said.
Dan nodded as a group of three women pulled their shirts up to a cheering crowd. Manny shook his head.
“I have created a monster,” he said under his breath as he saw Dan was not paying attention to him.
Dan was not aware of how much time had passed or how long Manny had been gone, when two women approached him.
“We like your beads,” Dan’s attention snapped back to reality from the street. The woman that had spoken was in her late twenties or early thirties with shoulder length brown hair. However, what caught his attention was what she was wearing. A pair of red high heels, matching red bikini bottoms with a short white partial tee shirt that left the bottom of her breasts showing with a black cape. The second woman was may be ten years older than the first wearing an almost identical outfit except it was a yellow bikini and green cape.
“UH” was all he could muster as he stared at the two women as he started to raise his hand that held some of the large colorful beads. Both women smiled as they lifted their white tops to exposed their breasts to him who handed them a beaded neckless each. The younger woman spoke to Dan.
“Are you here alone,” she asked sweetly as she looked around.
“Uh,” was all he could muster before a familiar voice spoke.
"I leave you alone for five minutes and you start getting in to trouble,” a smiling Manny said as the women turned to look at him. The older of the two spoke this time.
“We were going to see if you two wanted to come to a private party,” she said with a smile. Manny grinned.
“If I were five years younger, oh hell yes,�
� Manny said humorously bringing a smile from the women. “But I am not and have done too much parting already,” he started. Dan saw the women smiles start to fade.
“But,” Manny said moving over to Dan and pulling the autoloader and belt holder from behind Dan’s back to tuck into his belt.
“My young friend here is more than capable to handle any party,” Manny finished transferring the rest of his large beaded necklaces into a puzzled Dan’s hand.
Manny stepped away as the smiling women stepped to either side of Dan as they put their arms around his. All he heard when Manny left was.
“He knows his way home.”
A grinning Dan entered the room after nine the next morning only to find he woke Manny from sleep. Manny smiled at the grin on his face.
“Good night,” Manny asked getting up. Dan was sure he blushed as he spoke.
“Yes but they took all the beads and the silver coin I had in my pocket,” he said sheepishly. Manny nodded at that.
“Now you know why I took the gun,” he said.
“Yes but they missed the gold coin hidden in my shoe; Dan said grinning as Manny moved towards the bathroom. After a couple of minutes he came out.
“Go ahead and clean up. We need to head back to Hope,” Manny said moving to start packing. Dan stood stunned for a moment.
“I thought we were staying longer, is there something wrong,” he started to say at once. Manny shook his head.
“No Sandra sent us an email the other day asking us to come back urgently. No one is injured or in danger,” Manny said reassuring him.
Nodding in understanding Dan went into the bathroom to clean up. The time to pack up, check out, find food to eat and leave out the gates of New Orleans. Took until noon as they started peddling their bikes down the highway. Dan looked at Manny who was going slower than normal he seemed tired he thought. After two days of travel they had not made the distance he thought they should have. As Dan looked through the dense wood and swamp leading to lake Maurepas. Riding on the side road of the fifty-five highway they approached the edge of the waterway on one side of them. The small two-lane bridge spanning the waterway a head of them to the right the railroad crossing. Stopping straddling their bikes Dan looked at Manny as he looked at the buildings beside the road he seemed tired.
“We can camp here for the night,” Manny said wearily as he looked to the buildings.
Dan looked at him then at the building looking confused Manny seemed tired but they could go further before camping for the night, he nodded his head agreeing as he looked at the building.
“Sure that’s fine,” Dan said shrugging the feeling off.
Dan got off is bike and surveyed the building the front door sat broken open but the windows of the gas station where intact. He looked at Manny who was still on his bike as he nodded to the building.
“Is everything all right,” he asked concerned as he looked at Manny.
“Yes just too much partying. Still just a little tired,” he said tiredly.
Dan shook his head in amusement as he pulled the flashlight from his pack. Holding it in his left hand as he pulled the forty-five auto loader with his right and placed it in a hand overhand fashion. Allowing the autoloader to point where the flashlight beam was pointing. Dan entered sweeping it for any undead. Only finding the remains of an old campsite he went to the door motioning Manny over before recovering his bike. After dinner, Dan sat looking out the window at the bridges and waterway watching the moonlight playing on the water.
The night passed uneventful when he reached down to wake Manny started to see he was up and watching him. Dan could only describe the look on his face as tired.
“You caught me at a good time I just woke up and will take over,” Manny told him as he rose warily.
Dan looked at him as he settled in for his watch thinking Manny was looking old and tired as he drifted off to sleep. He tossed and turned in his sleep the moaning of the emaciated man with the milky white eyes reaching for him became more real. He awoke startled realizing it was not a dream. Grabbing the flashlight turning it on. At the same time pulling the autoloader from his shoulder holster as he thumbed the hammer back as he jumped up wondering how the undead had entered the room with Manny watching.
He played the white light of the beam of the flashlight around the room. Stopping at seeing the man with the pale gray face and those milky white eyes his arms where outstretch as he tried grabbing at him.
“No,” Dan’s mind screamed at seeing the pale grayish face of Manny.
Now Manny had joined the list of people he loved to become the undead. Conflicting emotions raced through him as he wondered why it had to end this way. The tension he was feeling in the pit of his stomach emptied into nothing as a calm voice spoke in his mind.
“Time you man up now.”
Dan watched as the figure grabbed at him restrained by the rope his foot tied to a water pipe for a fire sprinkler. He felt empty as he holstered the autoloader to pull the black blade of the katana from the sheath from where it lay on the ground ignoring the metallic hiss that it made.
“Sorry,’ Dan said as he brought the black blade crashing down into Manny’s skull with a gut churning crunch.
He watched in slow motion as Manny fell to the floor yellowish sap mixing with red blood started oozing from the wound. Dan stood staring at what was once was Manny as his eyes locked onto the gold pendant around his neck holding the caved in skull. Slowly he reached down removing the gold pendant Manny’s words ringing in his head.
“It belonged to my wife,” he had said as Dan started covering Manny with his sleeping bag. He sat watching the sunrise before removing a folding metal shovel from Manny's bike trailer. He walked out behind the gas station and looked at the grass growing near the river. He stared down at it before slowly putting the shovel to the ground and started digging.
It took far longer than Dan thought to dig a grave for Manny but he finely pulled the body of his friend into it sleeping bag and all and pushed the dirt over it. He fashioned a wood cross out of some wood from a shelving unit from the gas station.
“Rest in peace,” Was all Dan managed to say before returning to the gas station.
How long he sat, he was unsure but he finally looked at Manny’s bike and trailer before he started looking threw it. Moving some items to his trailer and leaving others behind. Dan finally found an old cardboard box and wrote.
“Free, No longer needed,” on it in a black marker.
The marker started fading as he wrote placing it on the trailer of Manny’s bike with the supplies he could not take. Without looking back he started riding off in a rain that started to fall. He felt nothing, as he stared at the road peddling across the bridge he felt oddly empty as he looked up at the long road home.
13 END GAME
Dan stopped his narration as they walked down the road as he realized they were coming up on the gate that divided the used and unused sections of town. Straining his eyes, he could see there were fewer guards at the gate then when they left for the apartment building. This caused the unease in his stomach to tighten slightly. Dan looked to the black clad figures. They were gripping their guns a little tighter now. They seem tense as they approach the gate with their underwear clad prisoners. Dan watched as the older guard that talked to him earlier was opening the gate moving out to meet the group stopping to talk with their leader. He watched as the leader nodded his head walking along his people whispering instructions. Dan noticed the looks from the prisoners they seemed nervous and afraid. As he looked around his blue eyes locked on to Katrina's green eyes. She was looking at him expectantly.
“The rest you know. We met after that,” Dan said as he trailed off slowly, looking around. Katrina looked at him sadly.
“How do you deal with everything that's happened. All the bad memories,” she asked slowly in her southern drawl. Dan looked at her, thinking for a minute as he watched the prisoners start moving through the gate herded over to o
ne area. Before he turned to face her again.
“Day by day you take the good with the bad and live life the best you can,” he answered slowly as he watched a look of confusion cross over Katrina's face. “Look if none of this happened would we have met,” Dan asked her hesitantly. He watched her think for a moment and slowly, nodding her head. Before answering.
“Day by day.”
Dan interrupted by Sue her musical voice giving away nothing as she stopped before him.
“There is fighting going on at the bridge to the main road to town they need to send us as reinforcements. Commander Hudson is sending a truck for you and the prisoners to take you back to City Hall,” she said hurriedly.
“What do you need from us,” Dan asked oddly calm. He watched Sue start to break into a smile.
“Help guarding the prisoners and get them to City Hall,” she asked.
Dan pulled the autoloader from his shoulder holster walking over to the guards that were queuing up at a waiting truck. He watched as the truck sped off with the guards, leaving only him Katrina and a black clad uniformed woman and three gate guards behind. The black clad woman had the prisoners kneel down on the ground as they waited for the truck to take them to City Hall to arrive. Dan stood watching the group. Some muttering and talking between them in quiet tones looking up watching to see where the guards where. Dan kept his eyes moving as he scanned the group. He knew they were planning something he was just not sure what yet. When a woman's voice spoke up.
“You might as well give up now you cannot beat my husband,” the haunting voice said.
Dan looked down at the speaker to see a woman in her upper forties with pasty white skin making the pale sheer beige bra and panties she wore looked dark on her. Her graying brown hair and eyes to match staring at him. She had a smug look on her face as she eyed him.
“Just let us go and you will be safe,” she started to say again.
Dan did a quick look around the group and saw a couple the people squirming, trying to move. Dan smiled at the woman although his blue eyes showed no sign of friendliness as he shifted the autoloader to his left hand with his now free right hand. He reached up and pulled the Katana out. The metallic hiss it made seemed excessively loud on the quiet street as he straighten his arm to point the black blade at her. The angled tip of the blade pointed at the woman's throat and slowly started moving forward her brown eyes widened in fear as he moved the blade closer to her throat. She tried shifting from her kneeling position, but with her hands tied behind her back she only managed to inch back slightly. Before falling flat on her back onto the asphalt putting out a small cry of pain as she did so.