I stripped down to my bare ass and held my clothes and machete over my head. I was shivering before I even got in the water. The shock of the cold water was unbelievable. I got under as quickly as I could, praying my bare feet would not step on a broken bottle or rusty piece of metal.
Once I was out of the creek, I dried off with my T-shirt. I was shaking almost uncontrollably. I put my clothes on and headed for the nearest house right across the street from the fairgrounds. I didn’t plan to stay long; I just needed to get some shelter from the zombies, some extra clothes or a coat, and hopefully a bite to eat. I hoped to be on my way to Blaine’s within an hour.
CHAPTER 6
The door was unlocked, and it was dark inside. I’d learned something in the past few weeks about entering houses: if they were unlocked there was a good chance they’d be occupied. I knew this place was occupied as soon as I stepped in the door because of the heavy stench of death. I lit the Zippo so I could see. It wasn’t much help.
I was so cold, and I just wanted to take care of the resident zombies so I could get myself a coat, some supplies, and be on my way. They didn’t make themselves known right away. I lucked out that the house had an actual coat closet right by the front door. I opened it and pulled out the one that looked the warmest and put it on. I checked through the window to see how many had followed me. There were only four of them out there, so I wasn’t too worried. There was a decorative candle on the coffee table, so I lit it, and took it into the kitchen.
I found a set of keys on the kitchen counter and took them. I needed something I could eat on the run. I didn’t have the time or the means to cook a meal, but I sure needed a hot meal right then. That dip in the drainage ditch really took a lot out of me. I just couldn’t quit shivering. The kitchen didn’t offer very much in terms of fast food. There were a lot of canned goods, and if it had been another time, I would have cleaned them out. I got a small bag of corn chips and three cans of potted meat and put them in the pocket of my new coat. I opened the refrigerator, but everything in there was perishable and had perished long before.
When I shut the refrigerator door, they were right there. It was an elderly couple, and like the contents of the fridge, they were well past their use-by date. They startled me, and I reacted by swinging the machete. I reacted a little slower than I might have, had I been warmer, but it didn’t matter. I took off the head of the first one with one swing. The second one took a bit more work, but it wasn’t anything I couldn’t handle. It didn’t bother me. I was past that. I didn’t feel any worse than I would have had I stepped on a bug. The decapitated head continued to snap its jaws, but it couldn’t hurt me.
I looked in some of the drawers in the kitchen for a flashlight, but I never found one. I got out a spoon then popped the top on one of those cans of potted meat. They smelled pretty bad, too, but I was hungry enough not to care. I ate the whole can in three scoops, and then took a swig of rum.
Okay. Time to go.
I went outside through the back door then crept around the side of the house. I was able to avoid the creatures that had followed me. There was a Crown Victoria parked beside the house. The keys fit. It was slow to start, and I attracted an audience before I finally got it cranked.
I turned the heat on and backed out of there. I headed over to Lockridge Street then east until I connected to 8th Street. I was out of the city limits before the interior of the car started to get warm.
When I pulled into Blaine’s, my headlights shown on the little car Brian Davies had left there weeks before. There was also a gray pickup parked there, too. I didn’t see the church van in which Sara had escaped, but I figured she had traded it for the truck.
I got out and stumbled toward the workshop. The door opened and a flashlight beam hit me in the face. I squinted and held my hand up to shield my eyes.
“Stop right there,” said a man’s voice.
“Who are you?” I said.
“I’ve got the gun, so I ask the questions,” he said. “What are you doing here?”
“I’m looking for my friend,” I said. “Has she been here?”
“Put your hand down so I can see your face.”
I dropped my hand.
“Well, I’ll be damned,” he said.
The flashlight beam dropped.
“How the hell are ya?” he said.
“Not too good,” I said, trying to figure out who it was.
He pointed the beam at his own face.
“It’s me–Nicholas.”
“Mr. Somerville?” I said, relieved. “What are you doing here?”
“Judy and I have been here for about a week,” he said. “We’ve been wondering where y’all were.”
“Has Sara been here?” I asked.
“No,” he said. “We haven’t seen her. I heard a vehicle go by this morning, but I was out back splitting wood, and I didn’t get around in time to see who it was. Is everything alright?”
“No,” I said. “We had some trouble this morning and got separated.”
“Come on in and tell us all about it. I’ll have Judy start some coffee.”
I entered the building with Nicholas. Judy Somerville lifted her .357 magnum and pointed it at us.
“Jesus, Judy!” Nicholas said, “I swear you’re planning to accidently kill me on purpose. Put that thing away.”
“Nick, if I decided to kill you, it will be on purpose on purpose.”
“Let’s get a pot of coffee going,” Nicholas said.
The workshop had not changed much since the last time I was there. The mattresses were still in the floor on either side of the room where Jen and I had put them our first night together. The Somervilles had a few of their things scatter around, and there was a makeshift clothes line strung up over the woodstove.
“I don’t really want any coffee,” I said. “I just want to find Sara.”
“What about that other girl?” Somerville asked. “Was it Jess?”
“Jen,” I said. “Jen didn’t make it.”
“Aw, hell,” he said, sitting down. “I’m sorry, man.”
“She and Brian Davies both…um…well, actually, Brian—“
“Brian Davies…” Nicholas said, looking over at Judy. “Where do I know that name?”
“He was Michael Jackson,” Judy said. “You had your picture made with him at the telethon.”
“Aw, him too?”
I nodded.
Judy stood and hugged me.
“It’s getting to be that we’re losing all the good folks. Before long, all that’ll be left is the riffraff and monsters. Are you hungry, hon?”
“Yes, ma’am,” I said. “I could eat.”
She went over to the work bench and opened a can of condensed chicken noodle soup.
“Just give me a bit.”
I pulled out the potted meat from my coat pocket.
“I’ll trade you that,” I said. “I don’t really like it.”
Judy snorted, “Yeah, well, Nick loves that stuff.”
“You look kind of banged up,” Somerville said. “What kind of trouble did y’all have?”
I told them about everything that had happened since I’d last seen them, but I focused on the night before--Corndog, the walkie-talkies, and Wheeler. By the time I was finished, my soup was ready. Judy gave me a spoon and I ate it right out of the pan.
“I thought it might have been that bunch that attacked us,” Somerville said. “But then you said they were passing through.”
“We wondered what happened at your place,” I said.
“The group that came in on us was locals,” he said. “It was that damn Willy Rupe. He’d been looking for an opportunity to get me for years, and he saw his chance.”
“Willy used to be a cop,” Judy said. “He and Nick didn’t get along.”
“Hell,” Somerville said, “I got that jackass fired a few years ago. Him and his bunch came into the house looking for food and didn’t expect to find anybody home. When he sa
w it was me, well….”
“It was awful,” Judy said. “But I tased him. You should have seen him jerking around on the floor.”
Nicholas laughed, “Yeah, he pissed himself.”
“Well,” I said, “this group had a church van from Tennessee. It doesn’t mean they were from there, but they were from south of here anyway.”
“Unless that church happened to be taking a trip through Clayfield on D-Day,” Judy said.
“I know they didn’t get Sara, because they came back asking about where this place was. I guess she went out to the Lassiters’ stables.”
“Where’s that?” Nicholas asked.
“About two miles south east of here,” I said.
“Well, hell, let’s go,” Somerville said.
“No, Nick,” Judy said. “We’d scare the poor girl to death. We’ll wait until daylight. It’s about three now, so we have a couple of hours.”
None of us slept. Judy went ahead and put a campfire percolator on the woodstove and made coffee. Nicholas talked more about taking the town back, and I told him that Sara and I had planned to work on that as well. He was very interested in the group at Grace County High School, particularly when I told him they had a doctor and nurse in their group.
“It looks like we’re going to have to deal with three different fronts,” he said. “We need to eliminate the sick, establish law and order among the locals, and then do our best to fortify against outsiders.”
“The second one sounds doable,” I said, “But the other two—“
“Then we’ll do the second one first,” he said. “I think a victory would do us all some good.”
We left at dawn. I drove the Crown Victoria and the Somervilles followed me over in their pickup. The church van was parked near the front porch of the Lassiter house. I pulled in behind the van and got out. I saw some movement through the front window. Then the front door opened and Sara stepped out with her rifle. She wasn’t fully awake yet. She looked over at me then back to the pickup.
“It’s okay,” I said. “It’s the Somervilles.”
She propped her rifle against the door frame then ran across the porch. She didn’t slow. When she got to the end of the porch she jumped. It took me by surprise, but I caught her. She wrapped herself around me like a monkey and kissed my face. I stumbled back until I rested against the church van.
“You’re safe,” she whispered in my ear.
I heard Nicholas Somerville laughing, but I didn’t care. I just pulled her in closer and kissed her neck. I could have stayed right there forever. It sure beat the hell out of Corndog and cold, muddy ditch water.
.
After we all went inside, Sara and I sat in the living room while the Somervilles gave themselves a tour of the house.
“It took me a while to lose them,” Sara said. “But I knew where I was and they didn’t. I led them out toward Wal-mart, and I managed to get away from them in all the cars out there, then I drove around the back roads to make sure. I’ve been so worried about you. I’m sorry you had to go through all that.”
“Yeah,” I said. “I’m just glad you’re safe.”
“When I drove out to Blaine’s place, I saw the truck and car there and smoke coming out of the chimney, and I didn’t want to risk it. That’s why I came out here.”
“You did great,” I said. “In fact, when we start putting out our supply caches and placing escape vehicles, we need to designate a few places to go in case we get separated again–Blaine’s, this place, and a few others. That way we’ll find each other.”
“A meeting place,” she said.
“Exactly.”
She’d been sitting in the chair opposite me, but she got up and moved next to me on the couch.
“It was a rough night for me,” she said. “I know you had it rougher, but I was so scared I’d left you to die.”
“You did exactly what you should have done. I wouldn’t be able to live with myself if I knew they’d got you because you stopped to help me.”
She put her hand on my cheek, but didn’t say anything.
Nicholas and Judy came down the stairs.
“We should use this place as our base of operations for a while,” he said. “I don’t like that it’s away from town, but at least there’s plenty of room, and with a little work, it could be secured.”
“We can’t stay here,” Sara said. “This was the place Jen liked. It’s too difficult for him–”
“It’s okay, Sara,” I said. “I could probably–”
“Hell, son,” Somerville said, “there are houses everywhere. We don’t have to live in the one that hurts you. We’ll find a new place.”
“First,” I said, “I’d like to get a bath and take a nap. I’m exhausted.”
CHAPTER 7
When I woke up it was dark. I was cold again, and shivering. The bed felt so good. I pulled the blankets up over my head. I ached all over. I became aware of someone standing over me, but it felt more like a dream.
“He’s burning up,” they said.
I thought about the elderly couple in that house. The machete sliced through the air, and that old, shriveled head fell away from the neck. It was getting warm under the blankets. It was like I was in a cave. The head had been dry and flaky like a big hornets’ nest or one of those dry cow pies. I imagined that I could peel away those flaky layers like turning the pages of a book. My breath was hot. I thought I could see it coming out of my mouth, filling my little cave and making it even warmer. I was my own heater. I was burning up.
“Do you think he’s got it?” a woman’s voice said.
Hell’s bells, he’s got the gol dern tetanus.
”I didn’t step on any rusty metal,” I said.
“What did he say? What is he talking about?”
What was so difficult to understand? Jen would have known….
“In the ditch,” I said. “In the ditch.”
“Nick, go out and soak this towel in some cold water.”
My breath was a warm, orange haze. It could heat the whole room. I hurt all over.
Someone pulled the covers away from my head, but I fought them to put it back in place. My breath was escaping.
“Feel that?” I said.
“Feel what, hon?” the woman asked.
“Feel warm yet?”
“What did he say?”
“We’ve got to get your fever down,” Sara said. “Can you sit up?”
“I’m cold,” I said.
“Hon, you need to listen to Sara. We need you to sit up and take some medicine.”
“Sara,” I said.
“Sit up and take this medicine.”
I sat up and my head was swimming. They pushed a pill into my mouth then put a glass to my lips. I sipped it and swallowed the pill. I thought I would throw up, so I put my head back into my pillow.
“I’m cold,” I said.
They pulled the covers up under my chin, and I tugged them up over my head. They were whispering out there. I was safe and warm in my cave where I could peel away the layers of my hornets’ nest. I became aware of a pleasant warmth on the inside of my nostrils. I lay there blowing breath out of my nostrils so I could feel it on my top lip. I was burning up, and my breath could heat the whole room.
They pulled the covers away again and placed a chilly, wet towel on my forehead. I pushed it off.
“I think he’s just sick,” a man said. “With all he’s been through, it was bound to catch up to him. I don’t think it’s the virus.”
“I’d feel better if we tied him down,” a woman said.
“Like Helen,” I said.
“Try to sleep,” Sara said, replacing the towel.
My fever broke the next day. I still felt like hell, but at least I had my sanity back. Sara walked past the bedroom, noticed me sitting up, and came in.
“You okay?” she said. I could tell she was trying to figure out if I’d turned. The mischievous side of me wanted to grunt at her as a joke,
but I was afraid she would shoot me.
“I’ve been better,” I said. “I’ve got a headache that is out of this world.”
“I’ll get you some ibuprofen,” she said. “Do you think you could eat something?”
I shook my head, “No.”
“You should drink some broth.”
“Where are the Somervilles?” I said.
“They left this morning to scout out a new place,” she said. “They said they’d be back before dark.”
“Go ahead and get me the pain medicine and warm me some broth.”
She left, and I sat down on the side of the bed and stared at my feet. I wondered if all the rest had done my ankle and arm any good.
She came back and offered me two white caplets and a glass of water.
“You’ll have to help me down the stairs,” I said. “I’m kind of wobbly.”
“Do you need to go to the bathroom or something?”
“No,” I said.
“Then get back in bed, and we’ll get some soup in you. You really need to eat.”
Gladly, I obeyed.
I stayed in bed all that day--except for a couple of trips to the bathroom--and Sara got as much food and drink in me as I could stand. The Somervilles didn’t return when they said they would. By the next morning, I was feeling better. I called out for Sara, but she didn’t answer, so I got up and made my way downstairs to the living room. I sat on the couch, surprised at how weak I still was.
Sara came in from outside with a single brown chicken egg in her hand. She stopped when she saw me.
“Hey,” she said. “How are you feeling?”
“Meh. What time is it?”
“Around ten, I think,” she replied.
“Still no Somervilles?”
She frowned and shook her head.
“Did they say where they were going?” I asked.
“They were going to check out a house south of town. Judy said she thought a house out that way had solar panels. It was on Tucker Road. They were also talking about going out to the high school to meet that group out there. Mr. Somerville was saying he knew a lot of the city firefighters and he thought he might have met Nathan before.”
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