“Hey.” Kate holstered he gun and sat back on her heels. “I’m sorry, you scared me to death. I’m Kate. What’s your name?” The girl pulled her thumb out of her mouth just far enough to speak. “Angel.” She popped her thumb back in her mouth.
“Your name is Angel?” She nodded her head yes. “How old are you, Angel?”
“I’m six years old, I think.” Her two front teeth were missing and ‘think’ came out as ‘fink’.
“Why don’t you come downstairs with me?” Kate asked.
“Are you gonna bite me?” She asked, with a worried look.
“No, Honey. I’m not going to bite you. I’m not going to hurt you at all. I want to help you.” Kate stood and held out her hand. Angel smiled brightly and Kate thought that it was the most beautiful thing she’d seen in weeks. Angel took Kate’s hand and they went down the stairs together into the kitchen. Dave was finally sleeping and Kate didn’t want to wake him, he’d find out soon enough.
“Do you have any food? I haven’t eaten in decades!’ Angel said so seriously. Kate laughed and said “Of course. I have an orange, do you like oranges?” and held one out to her. “I love oranges!” She said excitedly but ‘love’ came out as ‘wub’, and she snatched it from Kate’s hand and bit into it. Her face scrunched at the tartness of the skin and she pushed it out of her mouth with her tongue.
“Here, Kate said as he took the orange back and started peeling it. “I should’ve peeled it for you in the first place. Forgive me; I don’t have much experience with children.” Angel giggled, placed her teddy bear in the empty chair next to her and said, “It’s okay. I forgive you. I don’t have to peel them at home. I thought I could just eat it.”
She was adorable. Little golden pigtails that were askew on her head, one still supported by a wrinkled purple ribbon and giant almond shaped eyes that one couldn’t be sure if they were green or blue. They sparkled like diamonds in the light. She was wearing a filthy purple dress, frilly socks and white Mary Janes on her feet. She looked like a precious porcelain doll someone had tossed aside. Kate had finished peeling the orange, found a saucer to place the slices on and gave her a bottle of water.
“Don’t you have Kool Aid or somefin?”
“No, I’m sorry, I don’t. All I have is water, and water is good for you. You need the hydration.”
“What’s hydr… um, I can’t say it. What is it?” Somehow Kate had forgotten that she was talking to a six year old. “Never mind, I’ll tell you some other time. Just trust me, you need it.”
“Okay.”
“Angel, do you live here?” Kate asked.
“No. Daddy brought me to here, it’s his Grammys’ house but she died. My Auntie Vibian lives here sometimes but she’s not home. Daddy said he should go look for her.”
Kate knew that it was unlikely but she asked any way, “Is your Daddy coming back?”
“No, he said he was prolly gonna die and that you would come for me. Even though I was scared and I cried but he said I would be okay and he left. He was gone a long, long time so I went outside to find him because I was hungry and the scary monster was trying to get me.” Angel made her hands into claws and raised her arms above her head when she said that, and then she began to cry.
Kate picked her up and put Angel in her lap and rocked her. She wrapped her little arms around Kate’s neck and laid her head on her shoulder. “He said that I would come for you?”
“He didn’t say a name, but he said someone would come and here you are.” She lifted her head to look at Kate, tears spilling from her eyes and sniffled. “It must be you. He said I was special and you were gonna take me where I am supposed to go.”
“Well, of course you’re special. And I’ll try my best to get you where you need to go. Where are you supposed to go, Angel?”
“I don’t know. He said you would know where to take me.” Kate didn’t know. She didn’t have a clue where Angel had to be, and she couldn’t guarantee that either one of them would make it to her mysterious destination alive. Kate continued to gently rock her and smooth her hair. Angel fell fast asleep. Kate had many questions she wanted to ask. She eased herself up out of the chair, so not to wake Angel when Dave strutted into the kitchen.
“Daaaamn. How long have I been asleep? I am not responsible for that.” He said rubbing his chest with one hand and pointing at Angel with the other. “I don’t even remember you, lady. I want DNA.” he joked. Kate put her index finger over her lips to let him know to be quiet and went into the living room and carefully laid Angel on the couch. Kate covered her with the afghan throw that was on the back of it. “Oh, only for about an hour. You feel better?”
“Yea, a little bit. I’m assuming you didn’t get any at all. Where’d you find the girl?”
“She was here all along; it’s her aunt’s house. Jillian mentioned hearing light footsteps, so it must’ve been her. Her Dad brought her here and left her alone. Told her someone would come and get her, and it looks like we’re it.”
“What are we going to do with a child? We can hardly survive ourselves.”
“We’ll figure something out, she’s pretty small. You can carry her in your pack.” Kate was too tired to try to sort it out at the moment, her eyes were stinging and she was having a hard time keeping them open, Dave noticed this. “Go lie down, Kate. If she wakes, I will watch her, until she starts acting like a nut anyway. Most kids that small do. How old is she anyway?”
“Six.” Kate left Dave in the kitchen and went to sit in the recliner. She kicked out the foot rest, quickly fell asleep and immediately began dreaming.
It was dark and she couldn’t see her hands in front of her face. She heard a clap of thunder but did not see a flash of light, the rain began to pound the roof and she put her hands out in front of her in search of a wall or a light switch and found none. She heard the voice of a preacher in mid sermon, in the distance, shouting out scripture with conviction in a powerful voice.
“But… the children of the kingdom… shall be CAST OUT... OUT into the outer darkness…There shall be weeping…and gnashing… of TEETH!! Can you say Amen, Brothers and sisters?” She pictured him leaning against the podium as he removed his handkerchief from his breast pocket, wiping the sweat from his brow, and looking out upon the people of his congregation with scorn. “AMEN!!” The congregation shouted in unison. It was getting louder and she tried to follow it to its source; she continued to feel her way around, moving forward inch by inch until her hands passed over a door.
“The Foxes of the earth have holes, and the birds of the air have nests; but the Son of Man hath not where… to lay his head.”
“AMEN!” She found the knob and turned it. “Follow me, and let the dead…bury the dead…”
The door easily opened into a room that wasn’t as dark, and she could now see a little from the flashes of lightning illuminating the room for a second at a time; giving it the effect of a strobe light. The voices of the preacher and his pupils had died away and she saw that Dave was holding Angel up in the air by the hair of her head and was forcing his other hand into her belly.
She was kicking her legs and her mouth was open in a silent scream, her hands beating at Dave’s arm, trying to make him release her. Her teddy bear had fallen to the floor below her and the blood from her stomach began dripping onto its face. She tried to run to save her but she could not move her feet, she looked down and her feet were gone; emerged into the floor up to her ankles. She grabbed the back of her right knee to pull her foot out of what suddenly became a foul-smelling puddle of blood and raw meat. It would not budge. She tried to pull her gun, but it wasn’t there.
The thunder and lightning continued and Dave had yanked a fist full of Angel’s bowels out and shoved them in his mouth, the rest of her entrails spilled out onto the floor. She tried to scream and found she had no voice. Angel’s body went limp and Dave flung her like he was throwing a weightless rag doll, across the room where she slammed into the wall, bounced off of it
and landed in a twisted heap on the floor. She faced Kate, her eyes were open with a look of fright forever etched there.
It all seemed to be happening in slow motion. It became dark again and Kate panicked. Another quick flash of lightning revealed Dave charging at her with his teeth bared and she threw her arms up in front of her face to fend him off. She fell backwards as he toppled onto her and ripped into her arm.
Kate awoke with a scream. Dave and Angel looked at her in confusion. They had been sitting on the floor working on a puzzle. “You, okay?” Dave asked.
“Yea, damn nightmare.” she said as she leaned forward and covered her face with her hands in relief. It was just a dream; a very vivid, lucid dream yet it seemed so real. She had heard scripture as clear as day, but she didn’t know one verse from the Bible by heart. “Where’d you get a puzzle?” She asked to get her mind off the haunting voice of the preacher and the macabre image of Angel’s eviscerated body in a mound on the floor. Angel pointed to the entertainment center, the bottom storage door left open. There were several more puzzles stored within. “Aunt Vibian wubs puzzles. This one looks like Heaben, Kate. Isn’t it butiful?”
She picked up the puzzle box and it did look like Heaven, the sun shining brightly through the clouds to illuminate a waterfall running into a crystal blue stream. Flowers of all colors shapes and sizes scattered all through a green landscape with a golden road leading behind the cliff of the waterfall. Several birds dotted the limbs of majestic trees, and many other animals positioned at the edges of the road. For some odd reason all she could think of was ‘follow the yellow brick road’, it had become a mantra in her head and it served to distract her even more from the horrid dream. Angel got up to point out something in the picture. “My house is right there. You can’t see it because it’s hiding.” She pointed to the road leading behind the waterfall.
“I’m sure your house is beautiful. I will have to see it sometime.” Kate gave the box to her and she sat down in the floor and resumed arranging the pieces of the puzzle.
“I didn’t know how to entertain her,” Dave said, “I told her I wished I had games for her to play, and she came up with this. It’s better than nothing.” He got up off the floor and we walked into the kitchen, leaving Angel to study the pieces of the puzzle. “Did she say much of anything?” Kate asked. “Yes. I think the zombie in the laundry room is her father. She said he had gotten bitten on their way here. I assume he left her here because he didn’t want to hurt her; the problem was, he became an Abled and came back for her. He must’ve thought it was her in the attic.”
“I’m glad she didn’t see him like that. She told me earlier that the scary monsters started chasing her when she went outside to look for her dad. I guess she forgot to close the door while running from them and the ones upstairs followed her in. Preston said the back door was open when we got here. Jillian said in her notes she heard someone run into the other room, but she had left her bag in the hall and opened the door to get it. They saw her; it distracted them from going after Angel.”
“It saved her life. She’s a lucky girl. We’ll pack up and leave at first light. I’ll carry her until I get tired, then it will be your turn,” he said. “Not a problem. We just have to make sure there’s a clear path out of here. “But for now, I am going to try to get some rest, the nightmare kept me from benefitting from my sleep.” Kate looked at her watch and it was 3:30 AM already. “I’ll set my phone alarm for six,” Dave said. “I’m gonna sleep a little more too. You take the couch this time.” Kate looked into the living room for Angel and she was asleep in the floor. She picked her up and Angel didn’t stir. She lie back on the couch with Angel on her chest and quickly fell into a deep dreamless sleep.
Chapter Twenty
Just before Dave’s alarm was set to go off, they were awakened by gunfire. Dave quickly moved the couch away from the door and looked out the peep hole. “There are people out there killing the infected, if we hurry we might be able to catch them.” Kate gathered their packs immediately and grabbed Angel’s hand.
“Where are we going?” Angel asked and Kate replied, “I don’t know, but away from here.”
“Are we gonna go where Daddy said I had to go?”
“I’m sure we’ll get there sweetheart, but right now I just need you to be quiet and get ready for me to pick you up. You got your teddy?”
“Yep, I don’t go anywhere wifout Teddy.”
From the kitchen they heard a door slam into the wall, their first thought was that it may be one of the men outside, coming in. Then Angel squealed, “Daddy!” and tried to break free of Kate’s hand, Kate jerked her back and Angel realized that her daddy was not okay. She screamed loudly and started sobbing, saying “No, Daddy, no.” She hid her face in the crook of Kate’s neck. Kate could not believe what she was seeing, though she didn’t know why considering all the other impossibilities that had become possible over the last six weeks. Dave shot him between the eyes earlier, and had disabled the brain. How is he back up and standing? Blood was had dripped down the bridge of his face from the wound and spread out across his lips and chin. The pattern probably created while he was lying on his back in the laundry room.
Dave was as shocked as Kate was and stood staring at it in disbelief. She turned her back to Dave, offering him the machete strapped to her back, since a bullet obviously hadn’t been enough to do the job. He removed the machete and Kate turned back around so Angel could not see her fathers’ final fate. In one swift motion Dave decapitated him, his head hit the floor and rolled a few feet away. His face holding the same expression Kate had seen on Angel’s face in her dream. His body dropped on its knees, fell forward and remained animate. It tried to pull itself forward and blood seeped from the stump creating a dark red puddle that spread out, as if in search of a host and almost touched her feet. Kate stepped back so not to get any on her boots and moved further away from the headless body in the floor. Kate instantly thought of Jillian and Preston among the other dead upstairs and wondered if they were going to come back again.
Dave tossed the machete across the room and threw the door open, he put his hand on Kate’s back to guide her out first. She held tight to Angel and they ran as fast as they could. A passenger in the van saw them coming and threw open the back doors of the van. Kate noticed that the bumper sticker had said, “If God is for me, then who can be against me?”
The driver still shot out of his window and once in the van, Dave began shooting out of the side windows. The driver punched the gas and the van sped wildly around the corner onto U.S. 41. They were thankful that someone had come along making their escape from the house much easier than they had thought. There were so many more infected out there than they had expected, they wouldn’t have made it had these people not been outside. Angel was still quietly sobbing and Kate positioned her in the middle of the seat between Dave and herself. Angel protested, “Don’t let me go.” “I’m not letting you go; I’m only putting you on the seat so I can be comfortable. I’ll still hold your hand.” Kate told her. “Okay.” She squeezed Kate’s right hand tightly, snuggled Teddy in the crook of her elbow and put her thumb in her mouth.
The van was really nice, a custom job. It had gray fuzzy seats that were very comfortable. The first seat in the back was full length and even reclined a little. There were two bucket seats behind it that were just like the two front seats, and another full length seat that could be folded down into the floor of the van to make space in the very back. The windows even had cute little curtains. A spirit bear necklace was hanging from the rear view mirror. Kate had recognized it for what it was because her former employer had given her one just like it a few years ago. Kate was broken from her thoughts as the man in the passenger seat held out his hand.
“Nice to meet you, I’m John and this is Tank,” he said while nodding his head toward the driver who held up his hand and waved. Dave and Kate both shook the hand he held back to them.
John had short white hair and a
friendly smile. Tank was a big man, on the heavy side, but it suited his temperament. He wore aviator sunglasses, had graying hair and a full beard. He possessed a nice smile as well. “It’s nice to meet you, too. I’m Kate, and this is Dave.” Dave gave a quiet salute. “And who is this little angel?”
“Angel.” Kate said. “Oh, so she is an Angel. It’s very nice to meet you Angel.” John told her. “It’s berry nice to meet you too. Are you gonna take me where I gotta go, cause I fink my house might be there and I wanna go.” He seemed to look puzzled for a moment and asked, “Well, where do you have to go?” She released a heavy sigh. “I don’t know, I thought you would know.” And with that she hugged Teddy tighter and folded into Kate’s lap.
“So, you two are military. I gotta tell you, when we saw your uniforms, we almost hightailed it outta here, but I saw the girl. You do know that the troops that are left, are killing everyone?”
“Yea, we know,” Kate told him, “We don’t follow those types of orders. We took off on our own. We’re in the business of saving lives, not taking them.”
“I tell you, that is so good to know.” He turned back and looked at Angel. “You know what, Angel? We have a little girl back at our camp just about your age and she’s been a handful, but I think with a new playmate, it might calm her down. Would you like a new friend, Angel?” John asked her. Angel’s thumb remained in her mouth and he nodded her head yes. Kate thought it was a good idea and hoped that a new friend would brighten her spirits. Maybe it would help to distract her from thinking of her father for a while. “So, where are we headed?” Dave asked.
The Dead Live On Page 10