by Geo Dell
“Christ, this thing is heavy,” Mike complained.
“Coming right now,” Ronnie told him. He climbed the ladder, turned, took the end of the beam and walked it forwards as Bob and Mike lifted it and shoved it forwards and up. The pitch from the fresh cut pine stuck to his hands, but it helped when he had to grip the beams and lead them up to the ridge beam. “Okay. Got it. Got it.” He turned back around, fished a nail from his pouch, pulled his hammer free and began to nail the beam into place.
Early August
Billy and Beth: The Camp
The fire burned hot, but low, the heat feeling good as the temperature of the air dropped. The fires were many. A small group had been sitting, watching the stars come out, when one by one, nearly all the others had come to sit and watch with them.
They had driven out of the city in whatever they could find that would drive and was not boxed in or frozen in traffic. Taxi cabs, huge delivery trucks and a few city police cars littered the field they were camped in. Billy and Beth had found the field and the others had come in after, some the same day, many more as the days passed.
Billy and Beth had come across the country themselves, picking up others as they had come., only to find Manhattan in ruins. They had fled. There was nothing but death there. Out here, twenty five miles away, it seemed lonely, empty, but not as oppressive as the city had been. Death did not seem as though it was only waiting. There were no dead, zombies, whatever they were. At least they had not seen any yet.
There had been birds calling from the trees as they had driven into the field. They had circled the vehicles, staying away from the trees, creating a long open area all around them. Within the first month, two dozen more had come and joined them.
They had thirty shotguns, better than fifty rifles and dozens of handguns between them. They had broken into gun shops and pawn shops on the way out of the city.
Billy stood and looked out at the gathering gloom. Nothing moved anywhere. Jamie came and stood beside him for a moment before she slipped her arm around his waist and managed to capture his attention. He bent slightly and kissed her forehead.
“Wow. I can't believe you just did that. I'm already getting the forehead kiss,” She told him. She smiled up at him, teasing as she said the words.
“You know it's not like that.” He kissed her once more, this time fully on the lips, a longer kiss.
“That was better,” Jamie told him. She looked out over the emptiness. “What are you thinking?” She asked.
“I'm thinking we stay here for a few more days.” He looked down at her. “But we'll have to leave soon. We need to get south. Summer is winding down. It doesn't seem possible, but it is. We can't stay too much longer.” He looked back at the clearing in the middle of the vehicles where the others sat and talked before the fires. They were sixty two, and dozens of kids. Three babies and their mothers.
He had never been responsible for anyone in his life, and now this. He had hoped Beth would lead. She had seemed the logical choice, but she had not taken it directly. It was not a responsibility he was comfortable with. He guessed she must feel the same. Beth was there, in the background, listening, approving or disapproving silently, letting him know with her eyes what she thought, what she would or wouldn't approve of.
“That it?” Jamie asked from beside him.
He smiled and shook his head. “No. But who isn't thinking deep thoughts?” His smile faded a little. She answered it with a serious look of her own.
“Come eat,” she said at last. She took his hand and pulled him away toward the others.
“I have to talk to Beth,” Billy told her. She let go of his hand immediately.
“Beth... It's always Beth, isn't it?” she asked.
“Jamie,” Billy started.
She turned back to him, her jaw set in a rigid line. “I didn't mean that,” she said, obviously meaning she did mean it, but wished she hadn't said it. She turned her eyes away. “Go on. It's okay.” She turned back to him, “Come back later on?”
“Just a few minutes, really. I only need to ask her about staying or leaving,” Billy told her.
“I'll wait eating... until you come.” She turned and walked away without another word. Billy sighed and then turned himself and walked off through the campground.
Quiet conversations passed back and forth between people as he walked. But it seemed as though there were still too many other things on everyone’s minds, and the conversations began to die down after a short time.
The light was rapidly bleeding from the blue bowl of the sky, and the conversations began to break up as the people who didn't have the first shift of the watch began to drift away, crawling into their vehicles to sleep. Billy found Beth and dropped to the ground beside her.
Manhattan: Bear
The taxi was in the middle of the road. Bear toted a heavy shotgun and wore two 45 Automatics he had liberated from a pawn shop. He had used them more than once. A heavy pack on his back held extra rounds for the shotgun and the pistols as well as food stuffs and other essentials he had picked up.
He had wandered through most of Manhattan before finding his way out and across to Jersey. He had remembered watching huge sections of it burn from Amanda Bynes' apartment with Donita. It seemed then that there could not possibly be any part of it left untouched, yet here was a whole area that appeared to be just that, untouched.
The taxi sat in the middle of the street. All four tires were up, Bear noticed as he walked closer to it. The balance of the street was littered with garbage, other debris from the surrounding buildings and little else. There were four other vehicles, all of which were parked sedately at the curb. He pulled one of the pistols as he approached the side of the taxi.
The windows were up, the partition between the seats blocking his view until he was nearly even with the driver's window.
The driver sat behind the wheel, a browned and shriveled mummy behind the glass. Bear staggered back against his will, shocked for a moment. The driver grinned back at him with his permanent, yawning smile. He was leaning against the door. Bear stepped forward, levered the door handle, and the driver spilled out with a dry rattle, shattering on the asphalt. Bear jumped back again, glancing up nervously at the surrounding buildings. A few pigeons, disturbed by the noise, took flight... nothing else. A few seconds later, the silence came back, and the street was once again as it had been.
Bear shoved what was left of the driver aside with one foot, and leaned closer to the inside of the car. He pulled his head back out quickly and backed away, his face pale. He had thought that since the body had seemed dried out, shriveled, that maybe there would be no smell. He had been wrong. He pushed the smell out of his head so he could hang onto the meal of stale peanut butter crackers he'd had for lunch. He walked off down the street, sucking the cool air into his lungs as he went. He almost missed the three people watching him from the doorway.
A young, dark haired man had been at the front. He held what turned out to be a fully automatic machine pistol in one hand loosely, pointing at the ground. Bear had brought up his own hands, and they seemed to be indecisive, hovering over the pistols on either side. He forced them to drop.
The young man nodded. “No harm, no foul,” he said aloud.
Bear's eyes lifted to the two women behind him. He nodded, and they had nodded back.
“We're going a little further out,” the young man said. “A couple of car dealers out there,” he motioned vaguely toward the east. “Get some wheels. Try to get the fuck out of here.”
Bear nodded.
“Why don't you throw in with us then?” one of the women asked. She stepped forward and then down off the walk; she walked over to Bear. “Damn, you're a big guy,” Madison said as she offered one hand. The other held her own machine pistol down to her side.
Bear chuckled. “Bear,” he said.
She nodded. “John... Cammy,” she said pointing. They both nodded and then stepped down off the pavement and walked ov
er.
A few minutes later, they had been walking through what was left of Union City heading towards the outskirts, talking as they went.
~
They had met no one along the way. Before nightfall, they had been driving a pair of new pickup trucks. John and Bear in one, Madison and Cammy in the other, weaving in and out of traffic heading back into the city.
They had ended up in the house over in Harlem, with the gas lanterns for light, the windows boarded up. Bear had not been in on the decision to go back into the city.
When John had gotten himself killed, Bear had packed up his truck. He intended to go whether Madison and Cammy came with him or not.
They had gone back to Jersey. Madison knew the area, and they had settled into an old factory, and that had been short too. Bear had begun to feel as though a cloud were hovering over them... maybe even just him.
After they had lost Madison, Bear had been aimless, unsure what to do with Cammy. Unsure if she would even come back to herself, and if she did what she would be like. Once she had come back to herself, they had decided together to head south. It was a week later, when they had finally started to head out, that they had met up with Billy Jingo and his group.
Donita
The fires burned bright, freshly banked for the night. She could not say what it was in fire that still frightened her, but it did. It touched something deep inside, something that she could sense had not always been there, like at one time she had embraced fire the same way the breathers did. Now it only frightened her.
Behind her, several thousand hid themselves in the woods. She had collected them through the south, across the vast desert, into the mountains, and she had brought them with her as she made her way back toward the city of New York. She could not even say why it was New York she was drawn to. Something here pulled her.
She looked back to the fires. She should have gone already. There was a dog with the breathers, and the dog kept coming around, sniffing at the wind. It could smell them, of that Donita was sure. Another dog had been coming around too, but she had caught that dog and given it over to the twin. This dog was smarter, or at least smart enough not to come too close.
The terrible fires burned, sending their stink into the air, creating heat.
She stood, her legs flexing easily. Behind her the big man stood also; soundlessly, and although she did not see him or hear him, she felt him.
She had taken him back in the mountains. He had become her right arm. Strong. Loyal. More.
She knew he stood, knew he was waiting for her to move, knew that he believed the entire world revolved around her. All this with no words, touches, conscious thoughts. She looked off through the trees to the opposite side of the road, across from where the breathers were camped.
Her new eyes saw more than her old eyes had ever seen, though not precisely as she had seen with those other eyes. This sight was not suited to daylight. It could see, would see in daylight, but not well. The lesser light of the moon was the light she needed. She stood now, looking across the field to where something else had captured her attention.
She had seen the woman far across the field, past the other road, and she had known she was on her own. She watched those who were camped out in the field, and she debated about approaching them. She was wondering whether this group was right for her, hanging at the edges, checking them out. She had no idea that she was now being checked out.
She carried a pistol in a holster at her side. Donita would have to be careful.
She was alone. It was a thing that Donita knew. She was not a part of the other breathers that were camped not far away. There were no others back in the shadows waiting for her. She was a loner, and she had managed to avoid the other walkers like herself that must have scented her, followed her. She had also avoided the others, the breathers, like the ones that were camped in the open field. Donita scented the air and drank in the information.
Alone... Hungry... Mistrustful... Donita said nothing, simply flexed her legs and leapt into the tall grass, the big man behind her.
~
The woods ended at a small creek running down the side of a ravine. The woman never heard them until they were nearly on her. The big man had circled and purposely rustled the tall grass behind her. When she turned quickly, Donita leapt, the full weight of her body crashing into the woman before she even knew she was there, and took her to the ground. Donita took her slim neck in her hands and snapped it before she could react. The power in her own arms still surprised her. The woman's neck broke like a dry stick. Her feet kicked at the ground as the man came from the grass and watched.
Silver-blue moonlight painted her face as she held the woman until she stopped fighting. A second later, it was over. She lay dead. Donita stood briefly and then moved to the man where he stood, his eyes reflecting the same moonlight that had brought so much life to the woman's eyes just a few moments before. He cocked his head sideways and then came to her, his body settled down next to the woman. He seemed to be waiting on Donita, his fingers tented, holding his body weight as he waited.
There was still warmth in the woman, and it both excited and repulsed Donita as she squatted and her thighs settled on either side of the woman’s ribs. She bent forward and lowered her mouth to her throat, finding the hollow. She tilted her chin with one hand and then turned her neck to the side. Her teeth found the artery below the skin and closed over it. A second later, the passion took her and she lost herself. The man scrambled up onto the woman's body, whining low in his throat as he did.
Later...
The moon was bloated and silver bright. The man stood nearby, the last remaining twin was curled into her legs, arms wrapped around them.
They knew. The people nearby were aware that they were here. The other dog, the one in the camp, the one she had not been able to get, had been barking most of the night. One of the breathers kept looking over to where they were. He would come. He would not come until morning, but he would come and he would bring others with him too.
She could take them all easily, but this was not her fight. This is not where her fight would be. This was not what the army was for. They were purposed for something else entirely.
Her hand fell to the twin. She had taken her and her sister in the south. They had been her favorites. She had lost one not long before, but she had made those that had killed her pay for it. The touch of her hand raised the twin to her feet.
A few minutes later they were all on the way, running through the night at a fast lope, running down the moon.
The Camp Late August
Billy sat sipping coffee by the fire, talking over traveling plans with Dell and a few others, when Winston and Rogers walked over. Rogers settled into a conversation with Jamie. Winston raised his eyebrows at Billy and Dell. They both got up and walked away from the fire.
“What's on your mind, Winston?” Billy asked.
“Probably nothing. I had the overnight... kept hearing something, I don't know, out of place. The dog kept looking over at the woods, growling real low. The fires were going, who knows what's out there.”
Billy nodded. Dell looked concerned. He stuffed his hands down into his pockets.
“That's it. No big deal. I wasn't about to walk away from here and go check it out in the middle of the night.” He sipped at his coffee. “Went over first thing, right after daybreak. It was bugging the hell out of me.”
“What was it?” Scotty asked.
“Walk over there with me?” He asked.
“Sure,” Billy agreed.
“Absolutely,” Dell said tightly.
Billy sat his own empty cup down, smiled down at Jamie's questioning look. “No big deal,” he told her. He turned away, and he and Dell followed Winston across the road toward the small woods on the other side. Halfway there, Jamie caught up. She slipped one arm through Billy's own. “What is it, Babe?” She asked.
“Don't know,” Billy told her. “It's Winston’s show.”
&n
bsp; The smell hit them before they reached the woods.
“Jesus,” Dell said, “What in...”
The carcass of a small dog lay rotting a few feet away. The throat torn open, the stomach bloated, swollen, intestines spilling out of her side where whatever had killed her had been feeding. A few feet away a human corpse, whether man or woman it was hard to tell. But whatever had been feeding on the dog had been feeding on the body also. The head had been dragged several feet away. Most of the chest was gone, and the stomach lay open, a hollowed cavity.
Billy raised his eyes and took in the gloom, his eyes searching the area.
“Some of them have been living here,” Winston said quietly.
Jamie stepped back into the small clearing. “Why does it look as though this was cleared,” Jamie said.
“Exactly my question,” Winston said.
“Probably was already cleared,” Dell said. “Then this Zombie comes along...”
“Maybe the body was someone camped out here? Then, this Zombie came along and killed them,” Jamie asked.
No one spoke.
Billy turned back to the clearing from his examination of the surrounding woods. “Trails,” Billy said. He pointed. “There... and there.”
“Might have been here last night,” said Jamie. “I say it because there's nothing else here. No other animals have moved in to take what's left.” She looked at Winston.
He nodded. “I thought that too. It's maybe not a problem because we're leaving soon, but that looks... I don't want to say fresh... but it looks like a new kill. And the dog was barking all night, looking in this direction. I thought, if they are here, this close,” he shrugged.
“Today,” Billy said. His eyes swept the clearing again. “This morning. Maybe last night”
“Yeah,” Scotty agreed.
“Probably should keep this to ourselves,” Billy added.
Winston nodded. “My thoughts.”
“But I guess we better check the areas we stay in closer,” Jamie said. “Who knows what might have happened.” She turned and looked through the woods and across the field. Their camp was easily visible. She shuddered. Winston caught her eyes and blinked. Billy caught the interplay.