by Damon Novak
Liam told Terry his last name was Murphy, and he’d been out on the rental boat with his brother, Finn, his sister, Fiona, his mother, Grace, and his stepfather, Declan. His mother had married Declan when Liam was just two years old, taking on his four and six-year old kids as her own. Liam said his real father had passed away in an accident.
They’d been visiting Key West from Vermont, just sightseein’ and doin’ fishing charters and stuff. The whole family’d been out on some rented golf carts, drivin’ around town when the black rain started.
Bein’ in open carts, they all got soaked. He said it was just hours later when his brother, who was fourteen years old, and his sister, sixteen, started to get sick.
“How did you get the boat then?” asked Lilly.
“Dad rented it and picked up the keys from the rental place the morning we got the carts to ride around in. We were going to leave the next day for Cuba. Dad always wanted to go to Havana and buy cigars. It’s all he talked about from the time we got there.”
I figured his dad must’ve had decent boating experience to take that trip. With the hope of givin’ the kid an out so he wouldn’t have to say what happened to his brother and sister, I asked, “How’d you guys manage to get to the boat with everything goin’ on?”
He didn’t take the bait. Maybe he needed to get it out.
“It was so weird. When that weird rain was pouring down, we just drove the carts back to our Airbnb house and parked them in the driveway, even though we were supposed to return the carts in a couple of hours. When we got inside, mom made us all take showers. It was really stinky, so we wanted to.”
“Did your parents get sick?” asked Georgie.
“My mom was fine for the longest time. She got sick later,” said Liam. “After dad kinda … I don’t know ….” He didn’t finish, but let his words just disappear.
Terry leaned forward and touched the kid’s hand. He didn’t pull away. I wondered if he even realized it had happened.
Terry said, “Liam, you don’t need to talk about it now. Later, if you want. The important part is, you’re safe. And you aren’t showing any signs of the sickness.”
He raised his eyes and looked around. “None of you are sick. Do you have medicine?”
I shook my head, but Georgina said, “No, which either points to some immunity within us, or different gestation periods for the disease. If anyone – and I mean anyone – begins to feel out of the ordinary, you must let one of us know. For the good of everyone. Understood?”
Everyone, including Liam, nodded.
“Fiona and Finn both got really weird,” said Liam, his voice almost reflective. “Like monsters. I saw a movie once where people came back from the dead and turned into zombies. They growled and bit people and then those people –”
“Liam, you don’t need to go through –” started Terry.
“I tried to kill her!” he shouted. “She was always so skinny I could wrestle her and always win, but she was strong then! She was scaring everyone, and I thought I could … I tried to smother her with a pillow, but daddy came in and pulled me off her!”
Liam was hyperventilating, and Georgie had moved in next to him and had an arm over his tremblin’ shoulder. “Sweetheart, you don’t have to go on,” she whispered.
He pulled away and looked between us all. “It’s all I thought about the whole time I was on that boat!” he blubbered through his tears. “She was too strong! If I’d have done it right, she wouldn’t have bit daddy, and she wouldn’t have bit mommy! I let it happen!”
He broke down into tears, the kind of sobs that shake your whole body. We let him cry. He needed it. I figured when he was all done, he’d collapse and sleep for a few hours. I didn’t envy him his nightmares.
The German Shepherd must’ve sensed his fear. Nokosi got up, walked over to where he sat and put a paw on the boy’s knee.
“It’s okay, Liam,” I said. “She’s a good girl. A police dog.” He tentatively reached out and scratched her head between the ears.
Roxy found a cold Coke in the galley refrigerator and gave it to the kid. He drank a quarter of the can before he settled in, and once he got started – either from the caffeine in the pop or just unable to stop – he told us the whole story, right up until we found him.
Liam Murphy shared how his daddy, pale and beginning to stumble, had carried Fiona from the small bedroom with this hand over her mouth, pressin’ her body to his chest, her head restin’ – by force – on his shoulder. At least it looked to Liam as though he held her there by force, because she wasn’t relaxing.
As he watched his mom on the phone trying to call 911, and his dad pacing back and forth with his stepsister, a screech came from the bedroom again.
Liam said he knew right away it was Finn. He stayed in his chair, a throw pillow clutched to his chest. His mother looked more worried than ever, and she and his father, whose eyes were dark and sunken by then, hurried with Fiona still in his arms back to the bedroom.
By this time, Liam’s curiosity had gotten the better of him, scared or not, and he got up and followed. Just as his parents were ready to turn into the bedroom, his father screamed and practically threw Fiona to the ground.
Blood poured down his father’s shoulder, and when Fiona sat up, her face finally looked excited. Thick blood ran down her chin and neck, dripping onto the floor.
At that point, Liam explained that his father looked into the bedroom, yelled something, and slammed that door. He ran into another one of the bedrooms and grabbed a blanket off the bed. He spread it on the floor of the living room, and when Fiona came staggering down the hall toward all of them, he scooped her up.
She tried to bite him again, but he held her away and put her in the middle of the blanket. Then he folded it over her, and tied the corners together, pulling it so tight that his sister couldn’t move inside.
Finn was no different from his sister. Liam said his father did the same with his brother, explaining it was the only way to immobilize them and keep them from attacking them more.
Afterward, Liam’s mother cleaned and bandaged up his shoulder as best she could, and he carried both the bundled kids down to the car.
When they were on their way to the hospital, there were crashed cars everywhere, doors open and people staggerin’ around like they were drunk. They’d wander, as if with no direction, then all of a sudden, they’d take off stumblin’ after someone and attack ‘em.
I listened to the kid, amazed at his power of recall, especially after a nightmare like that. It reminded me of bad things that happened to me as a kid; they were the most detailed memories I had.
The bad stuff sticks, is the point I’m gettin’ at. That stuff leaves a mark, and you don’t forget it.
Liam said he knew his stepdad wasn’t goin’ where he really wanted to; he was drivin’ to keep away from all the bad people everywhere, turnin’ when he found an open piece of road. He kept askin’ him where they were goin’, but after a while, he just screamed at him, tellin’ him to shut up and let him concentrate.
“I wasn’t sure how, but next thing we knew, we were down at the place where dad had rented the boat you found me on. He said he already had the key, and then he pointed to it and told us he was goin’ over to get it started. He said he’d come back for us once he was ready to … cast off, I think he said.”
“Liam, you can stop, baby,” said Lilly. “I mean, if this makes you feel bad, you don’t have to go through it.”
The kid looked at Lilly, his brows furrowed over green eyes. “I don’t wanna forget,” he said. “I need to remember it, so I learn from it. My dad always told me that. He said I need to learn from everything that happens, and he said history is important. Like him not being my real dad, but still really being my dad in his heart and in my heart. So, I wanna tell you before I forget, so in case I do, you’ll remember.”
He looked between all of us; Terry had his knees pulled up to his chest, his arms wrapped around ‘em. Roxy
was beside him, her arms folded, and her brows nearly as furrowed as the boy’s.
I’m sure hers and Terry’s minds were runnin’ over what they’d gone through at the Hemmingway place. There were no easy stories in the apocalypse.
“Go on then, sweetheart,” said Lilly. “Stop when you feel like it.”
Liam nodded, absentmindedly petting Nokosi, whose eyes were closed, her tongue lolling from her mouth. “After a few minutes, he ran back to the car and jumped in. We had a case of water in the car and some other snacks and stuff. Like cheese crackers and Twizzlers and candy and junk. He said grab everything, and I got all the candy. Mom got the water, but before she did, she … I don’t know, I guess she forgot! She opened the door to see Fiona, and she bit mommy on the hand!
“Dad didn’t see it, but I did. He was checking for other people outside, then he told us to run down to the boat and stay inside while he got Finn and Fiona.”
“So he brought them in the boat with you?” asked Roxy, her eyes fixed on the kid.
Liam shook his head, and his eyes started to well up. I figured we were gettin’ to the next bad part of his story.
Through his tears, he said, “Daddy watched us to make sure we got there okay. There were some of the crazy people coming toward the car from the street, but it wasn’t far, so I knew my dad could make it.
“Me and mom got to the boat, and she told me to follow her down a little ladder into a room, and that’s where we dumped the stuff we carried. When we got back outside, we saw my dad. He had the blanket with Finn in his arms, and just as he was about to run to us, two people just jumped on him. One of them grabbed him by the head and yanked him back, and he fell down, dropping Finn.
“My mom started screaming, but it got worse, because when Finn hit the ground, his blanket came open. I could see from all the way at the boat that he was just like he was at the house, just like Fiona was. He grabbed my dad by the leg and started biting him. My mom was just screaming and screaming, and I was so scared I didn’t know what to do.
“By the time my dad fell down, there were so many people on top of him I couldn’t even see him anymore. I didn’t see Finn, either. I don’t know what happened to Fiona.”
“Your mom know how to drive a boat?” I asked. “Is that how you ended up on the water?”
He nodded. “We used to go out all the time, and mom drove a lot. Our boat was kinda like the one he rented.”
I nodded and got down on a knee in front of the kid, who was drainin’ the last of his Coke. “Liam, I don’t know if you need to hear this, but we both know what became of your mom, and I’m sure you’re about to tell us that part. Before you do, let me tell you somethin’ you might not know.”
He nodded, so I went on. “The sickness out there. It changes people, so they don’t know what you are anymore. So they don’t know who you are. Your mama didn’t know you were her boy on that boat. Not after she got sick.”
“Did she have rabies? Dad told me bats and stuff with rabies will bite people, even if they don’t normally do that.”
I supposed rabies was enough to tell the kid for now, but at the same time, I didn’t want to lie to him. I fudged somewhere in the middle.
“Somethin’ like rabies, yeah. There was a book I read when I was a kid called Ol’ Yeller. There was a good dog that loved his family. Then he was bit by a rabid animal, and he turned mean. That’s basically what happened. Not only to your mom, but to your brother and sister.”
“I never saw a bat,” said the boy.
“My point is, they never meant to hurt one another, and they never meant to hurt you.”
He nodded. “You want me to tell you the rest?”
I nodded back. “If you want to, yeah. I can wait if you don’t feel like it.”
“I’m not tired,” he said. “I can finish.”
He nodded and went on. Liam told us how his mother waited on the stern of the boat with him for another few minutes, a paper towel wrapped around her bleedin’ hand, until Finn and the crazy people saw them. Once they noticed them, they left his dad lyin’ there and started headin’ for the two of them down the dock ramp.
“Mom told me to untie the dock lines, and I’m really good at that because they’re only wrapped around those metal thingies like the number eight. When I jumped back in the boat, mom just took off, crying the whole time.”
“Where were you planning to go?” asked Roxy.
“Honey, I imagine they were just getting away,” said Georgina.
“Mom didn’t say,” said Liam. “She was starting to look funny, too.”
He suddenly turned to me. “Fiona changed my mom, right? Was it just the rain that changed everyone else?”
“Seems so, sweetheart,” said Georgina. “Something in it made a lot of those people sick. It’s what caused them to bite people.”
His confused eyes told us all that he had zero concept of immunity. If it happened to one, it should – or would – happen to all. I’m sure it wasn’t comforting to believe that, especially after what he’d seen.
He took in Georgina’s explanation without further questions and continued with his story.
“Anyway, we were on the water for a long time and it got dark. Mom was still talking then, and she told me to go find the anchor and throw it out. I ran out and found it on the back of the boat, and I threw it into the water, but I guess I messed up, because the motor started making weird noises, then it just stopped all of a sudden.”
“I’m guessin’ it got tangled in the prop,” I said.
“I don’t know, but mom was yelling at me and crying and talking to herself, too. She finally quit yelling and went inside and laid down. I sat in the driver’s chair and I guess I fell asleep, too.”
“How did you get locked in the cabin by yourself?” asked Terry.
I held up a hand to Terry, but when he looked at me, his expression told me he already knew he’d been wrong to interrupt the kid. I figured it was good to let Liam tell it in his own way and time, mainly because I was so surprised he had the composure to tell it at all.
“Like I said, I guess I fell asleep. Something woke me up – a noise or something – and I went into where the bed was. My mom wasn’t there, so I thought she must be feeling better.”
Liam went on with his story, and I could pinpoint the moment it transformed from just a very scary story to a terrifyin’ one.
He told us how he climbed those steps up to the deck, hopin’ to see his mom sittin’ in a chair, takin’ in the sunshine, feelin’ better. How he saw her standin’ against the rail, facin’ the water, and how he called her.
He said he was just about a yard behind her when she turned around. He looked into her eyes.
“They were dead-like, and they were twitching all funny. They didn’t move like normal eyes do. And they were all cloudy. She started coming at me right away, but she couldn’t walk very good and she wouldn’t answer me, no matter how much I called her. Then she started growling, and it didn’t sound anything like my mom.”
Liam was starin’ off into space now, as he told the story. It was like he was relivin’ everything. I fully expected either Roxy, Lilly, or Georgie to try to stop him, but none did. I kinda wish they woulda, but maybe they knew somethin’ I didn’t about psychology.
“I ran back to the cabin and climbed down the steps, and she came after me. Once I got in I turned around to see where she was. She was coming to get me! I know it was my mom, you know? I didn’t think she’d hurt me, but I’d never seen her like that, and I saw what those other people who were sick did to my dad.”
“Honey –” started Georgina, but he charged on, full speed ahead.
“When I saw she was coming after me, I got scared, and I ran up and grabbed the door and slammed it in her face! I barely got it closed, because her hand was on it, and her fingers got caught. I was holding the door closed and trying to pull her fingers off it, and finally I got it closed.”
“I’m so sorry, Liam,” whi
spered Terry.[RM1]
“She kept scratching on the door the rest of the day, and then all night,” the boy explained. “She would go around the sides and scratch and just when I’d think she was done, maybe sleeping or something, she’d start again.”
“How long were you on the boat?” asked Lilly. “Do you know?”
“No,” he said. “I don’t even know what the date was when we got to Key West. Kids aren’t supposed to worry about stuff like that.”
“That’s right, Liam,” I said. “Leave the schedulin’ to the big folks. I have a question, though.”
“Yeah?”
“Water. I take it there was a head in the bedroom down there?”
“A head? Like a … human head?”
I laughed out loud, but it surprised me as much as everyone else. I think everyone jumped. “No, man. A bathroom.”
Just as I said the words, a gust of wind turned my bow west, and I fought it as I got it straight again, then pushed the throttle forward to crest another swell.
“Hold on!” I shouted, and I assumed everyone braced. The bow came splashin’ back down and popped back up.
I just wanted to get my ass back to the mainland. We’d figure out which mode of transportation was best once we scoped out the number of dead there.
The kid must’ve been numb to the roilin’ waves, because he just continued with his story. “Yeah, that’s where I got the water. In the bathroom. There was a shower in there, and you pumped this thing and it came out. I drank that. It never ran out. There were the Twizzlers and cookies and stuff, too. That’s what I ate.”
My mind was runnin’ over and over what we’d done to the kid’s mother. Georgie’d lined that zombie babe’s head up in her scope and shot her dead. Not once did Liam ever ask us why or accuse us of killin’ her.
I didn’t think I could let that go without some kind of explanation. Maybe I’m a dumbass, but I wanted to address it before he had a chance to really think about it, maybe start to hold a grudge.
“Hey, Liam. How’s that Coke?”
He nodded. “Good. It’s cold.”
“Good,” I said. “I need to tell you somethin’. It’s stuff you’re gonna need to know, and it’s kinda hard to hear. You want it now, or you wanna sleep on it tonight?”