“Oh shit.”
“I still don’t follow,” Cue said.
Butcher checked the door once more. “The zombies don’t see themselves as a virus—”
“They see us as the virus.” Roper interjected.
Butcher ran her hand through her hair. “The way they collect other zombies is what happens when immature neutrophils sense an infection is present. They are attracted by certain chemicals and then kill the bacteria by a process called phagocytosis, in which they completely surround the bacteria and digest them. Sound familiar?”
“Let me get this straight. You’re saying those things think we’re the bacteria? And that’s why they eat us?”
Butcher nodded. “That explains why they’re gathering together and why they eat only human flesh. Whatever turned them into zombies initially, programmed them to act like white blood cells.”
“Jesus Christ on a cracker, Butcher. What do we do with that information?” asked Roper.
Before Butcher could answer her, a scraping sound caught everyone’s attention. The door behind them had actually pushed open six inches as the T-bar bent against the constant strain against the door.
“Shit.”
“We gotta get out of here,” Cue-Ball said, as the T-bar bent a little more.
Running to the edge of the roof, he looked over it. “We’re screwed. A jump this far will break bones.”
Roper took her rope off her belt. “One elevator coming up.”
“Are you crazy? We’ll never make it. It’s way worse down there.”
“We won’t make it up here, either.” Roper tied the rope to a four-inch copper pipe and turned to Butcher. “Go to the bakery next to the card shop. Make contact with Dallas and figure out how to get back to the Hummer to get us out of here.”
“What about you?”
“I’ll be right behind you.” Roper looked to at Cue-Ball. “You coming?”
“Like I have a choice.”
“You go after Butcher. Follow her to the bakery.” Roper grabbed his arm. “Follow. Her.”
“I heard you.”
“We’ll cover you from the bakery then,” Butcher said.
As Roper tested the rope, she looked over at the card shop. No eaters were hanging around it, which she thought odd since a food source had entered it. As she looked at the door, she realized Dallas had removed most of the barricade.
“Change of plans. Dallas has removed the barricade from the door. We need to stay together if at all possible, so head to the card shop.”
“That’s better. When she sees us coming, she can help cover.” Butcher agreed.
Tossing the rope over the side, and seeing that the drop would now only be two stories, Roper looked into Butcher’s face. “See you on the ground.”
“You sure as shit better.”
Together, Roper and Cue-Ball cleared a landing for Butcher, who rappelled quickly down the rope, landed, and took off running for the card store, bashing the head in of any zombie in her way.
Those man eaters aware of her presence were quickly put down by Roper, and as she reached the card shop, Dallas opened the door, pulled her in, and closed it again.
“She made that look easy,” Cue-Ball said.
The moaning from behind them was louder now. The door was open enough that they could put their arms through.
“Go!”
Cue-Ball was much slower getting down the rope and as Roper covered him, the door behind her burst open.
The first three eaters fell on their already mangled faces, allowing Roper to fire at the next two fighting to get over the three struggling to get up. She could hear Dallas and Butcher’s weapons as they covered Cue-Ball, but she knew she probably was not going to make it this time.
When the first three finally got out of the way, Roper knew she had to make a run for it or they would be on her before she could get to the rope.
Flinging her rifle over her shoulder, Roper grabbed the rope and started lowering herself. Hand over hand, she made it to the middle of the rope before man eater bodies began falling all around her.
“Oh fuck,” she muttered, hanging on tightly as a zombie brushed by her shoulder. Like sheep off a cliff, the zombies walked off the edge of the roof, and in horror, Roper knew it was only a matter of time before one of them fell and took her with them.
That time came sooner than she wanted.
****
Dallas
The moment she saw the rope go over the edge, Dallas started taking the barricade away from one of the glass doors. The zombies that had walked by the doors were no longer hanging around, but there were still at least three dozen or more wandering around the streets. She would need to cover them if they were going to come down the rope. The rope only went to the bottom of the middle of the second floor. They’d still have a good twenty-foot drop after that.
Dallas could only imagine what was happening on the roof that made Roper choose to go down the side of the building, but it must be bad for them to lower themselves into the crowd of man eaters.
Once the door was cleared, Dallas shouldered her rifle and waited.
Butcher was the first to rappel down the rope, and she did so quickly, the man eaters had no time to react. She hit the ground in a crouched position, sprang up and bolted toward Dallas, who stepped back into the card shop with Butcher in her grasp just as Roper shot two zombies in the head.
“What the hell is going on up there?” Dallas asked.
“They came up the stairs and are just about through the barricade. We had no choice.” Butcher looked over Dallas’s shoulder and saw Cue-Ball struggling down the rope.
Opening the door, Dallas and Butcher cleared the area around him, and when he fell, he landed on two dead zombies. Butcher dispatched two more, who had reached for him, but it was obvious to her he wouldn’t make it to the card shop.
As Cue-Ball rose and got his bearings, he, too, realized he wouldn’t make it, so he turned his rifle around and began smashing faces as he made his way to the Hummer. Just as he flung open the passenger door, a zombie bit at his arm, narrowly missing it, and received a smashed in face for his efforts. Once in the Hummer, Cue-Ball locked the doors as the horde surrounded it, banging on the windows and moaning.
“There she is,” Dallas said, opening the door just as Roper started down the rope.
Butcher leveled her rifle at the few who were under the rope, but did not fire. All of the creatures were now moving toward the Hummer.
“Cue must be crapping his pants right about now.”
“Oh god.” Dallas lowered her rifle as she watched the first three zombies walk right off the roof and splat on the ground below. “Oh, Christ, no.”
“What are they doing?” Butcher asked incredulously.
“They have no depth perception or sense of fear,” Dallas replied, thinking back through the ever-growing zombie file Einstein filled in her mind.
Just then, one of the man eaters struck Roper’s shoulder as it plummeted to the ground, but Roper managed to hang on.
“Oh no. No, no, no,” Dallas let her rifle fall to her side as she took five steps toward the street.
“Dallas, get back here.”
Looking down the street at the approaching horde, Dallas knew there was not enough time. Not unless…and then it happened.
One of the falling zombies smashed right into Roper, knocking her off the rope. She plummeted down, landing with a thud on top of one of the jumpers, breaking her fall, a loud whooshing sound escaped her mouth as all air left her.
Dallas took one look to her left and knew it was over for Roper. There just wasn’t enough time to get to her and get her to safety.
Turning to Butcher, she said, “Take care of Einstein for me, will you?”
“You can’t help her, Dallas. She’s done. Get back in here.”
Shrugging, Dallas said, “Everyone dies sometime, right? I read a book once. The main character said I’d rather die with her than live without her. O
nce they get to us, end it. Please.” Dallas bolted out to the street, zigzagging around the walking dead until she came to Roper, who was just getting to her feet and trying to suck in air.
“What…the hell…are you…doing?” Roper panted.
“Keeping a promise.” Dallas looked to her left, then her right. There was no place for them to go. There were hundreds on either side, all making their way to the Hummer where a trapped Cue-Ball lay in a ball
“Dallas, no.”
Dallas smiled softly. “Too late. We’re hosed, but at least we’re together.” Putting her arms around Roper’s neck, Dallas pulled her close and whispered, “Close your eyes and think about one of the greatest places in the world you’d like to take me.”
Dallas felt Roper clutching her back as the two women stood in the middle of the street surrounded by the moaning, fetid man eaters swaying back and forth as they ambled toward them and the Hummer.
Ten feet.
Eight feet.
Five feet.
That moaning was so incredibly loud, Dallas could barely hear Roper when she said, “If I didn’t know we were gonna die, I’d kill you for this.”
Dallas’s entire body trembled at what she knew was coming: Being eaten alive as the man eaters tore out her intestines and ripped her muscles off her bones. How long did the pain last? Did you feel every bite, every claw scratch? Did you just finally bleed out and die? When you think about how you might die, being eaten by another human being probably didn’t make the list, and Dallas clenched her eyes, hoping it went quickly—waiting for Butcher’s bullet to end this fear.
It didn’t come.
The shuffling of their feet stopped, and even the moaning seemed quieter, and as Dallas opened her eyes, she saw hundreds of lifeless ones staring back at her.
“Roper?” she whispered through unmoving lips, as if hearing her might trigger their aggression.
“I see it,” she said, still clutching Dallas. “What are they waiting for?” Roper pulled slightly away and carefully looked around them. They were completely surrounded by the undead, who stood there cocking their maggot-ridden heads from side-to-side, as if confused.
“I don’t know, but don’t move.”
“Seriously?”
“Shhh.” Dallas swallowed hard and tried to control her trembling. It was more than unnerving being so close to the undead, with empty eye sockets, torn flesh, and putrid stench. It was petrifying. “Let’s just wait.”
Then, as if on cue, they all slowly continued walking toward the Hummer, completely ignoring the clutching duo. As they plodded by, some actually brushed up against them, but not one zombie even cast so much as a single glance at them or tried to take a tiny nibble.
It was as if they weren’t even there.
“What the fuck?”
“They want Cue-Ball,” Dallas said.
“Oh my god, Dallas, I think…I think we’re going to live.”
When the last zombie wandered by, completely uninterested in them, Dallas looked over at the card shop. Butcher, who should have shot them both by now, was nowhere to be seen.
“Let’s get the hell out of here.” Roper said.
Before Dallas could answer, the door to the antique store opened and the three guys took off running in the opposite direction of the Hummer.
Immediately, the horde turned and started after them. Dallas and Roper, still grasping onto each other, closed their eyes as the zombies trudged after the men sprinting out of town.
When the horde was completely away from the Hummer, Dallas and Roper bolted for it, jumped in, pushed Cue-Ball to the back seat and started the engine.
“What the fuck was that?” Cue asked. “They just…ignored you!”
Dallas ignored him. “Where is she?” She asked Roper.
“There!” Roper pointed to the antique store, and standing out front, watching the man eaters amble after the men, stood Butcher, rifle on her hip.
Dallas pulled up to the door, Roper flung hers open, Butcher dove in, and they peeled out in the opposite direction of the horde, leaving hundreds of zombies chasing after the men going.
The Hummer was silent for the first five minutes.
Dallas gripped the wheel so tightly her knuckles were white. Roper stared straight ahead, and Cue-Ball just breathed hard.
“What the hell just happened?” Butcher asked. “What the fuck happened back there?”
“I wish I knew, Butcher,” Dallas said. “I wish I knew.”
****
Once Safety’s dressing had been changed and everyone had eaten, they surveyed the surrounding wall to make sure it was safe for the night. No one was ready to discuss what had or as in this case, hadn’t happened back in town. By Butcher’s reckoning, if the horde moved at one mile an hour, and they were a good fourteen miles from the other side of town, they could get some much needed rest in the before heading off in the morning.
Not everyone was happy about the idea of staying so close to the town, but Roper’s ribs were bruised from her fall, Safety was sore and drugged, and everyone was emotionally drained. It just wasn’t the time to pack up and move everyone out. Dallas simply didn’t have it in her.
“I want a fire,” Roper said bluntly. “And I don’t give a shit who might see it.”
“Excuse me?”
“A fire. A campfire. I don’t care about choppers or the military. I want a goddamn fire.”
“I’m with Roper,” Butcher said. “I think we all need some comfort…some warmth.”
Dallas looked at Einstein, who shrugged. “Well then, make yourselves a fire.”
Fifteen minutes later, a roaring fire was blazing in the middle of the quarry. After they laid their sleeping bags down and everyone sat around the fire, it was Cue-Ball who finally asked the question on everyone’s minds. “Is anyone going to explain what the hell happened back there? Why they just walked on by? They should have attacked you for God’s sake.”
Roper and Dallas exchanged the same questioning gaze.
“It was the damndest thing,” Cue-Ball continued, slowly shaking his head. “There you were, smack dab in the middle of ‘em. Hundreds, maybe, and yet, not one, not one, even came close enough to biting you?”
Einstein frowned. “What? Are you kidding me? You guys were in the middle of a horde and survived? That doesn’t make any sense.”
Dallas nodded and inhaled a deep, tired-sounding breath. “They just stood there staring at us, as if they couldn’t figure out what we were. They didn’t moan, they didn’t lunge, they didn’t do jackshit except stare through those vacant eyes. It was…surreal.”
Roper reached for Dallas’s hand, which was warm from the fire. “Like bugs under a microscope. It was so creepy, waiting to be eaten one second, being stared at the next, being completely ignored after that. My heartbeat hasn’t returned to normal. Not sure it ever will.”
“And I’ll never get that stench of death out of my nostrils.” Dallas looked at Roper. The flames cast eerie flickering shadows off her face. “They stink of rotting flesh, ammonia, blood, and death. Their teeth are all loose in their heads and those eyes—” she shook her head in disbelief. “Those eyes are the worst—looking but not looking at us.” She shivered. “Gross.”
Everyone was quiet for a moment. Peanut was asleep with Zeus next to her, Einstein fed the fire, and Butcher drew in the dirt with a stick.
“So they went after those three guys, but left you two alone?” Einstein kept shaking his head. “That doesn’t make any sense in the zombie world at all. I’ve never heard of zombies passing up easy flesh before. It had to have been something you were wearing or ate, something those guys didn’t have.”
“A vagina?” Roper said softly.
No one laughed.
“Whatever it was,” Butcher said, looking up, you both possess it or they would have attacked at least one of you.”
Roper rose. “I need to do a perimeter check. I’m sorry, guys, but I’m just not ready to analyze everyt
hing that happened back there. I want to heave and cry at the same time.”
“Take Zeus with you. He’ll go as long as Peanut is asleep.” She knelt down and pulled the covers up around Peanut’s chin.
When Roper was gone, Butcher continued. “We may be sitting on something that could turn this epidemic around. We just need to figure out what you and Roper have in common.”
Dallas nodded, leaning against a square stone. She hadn’t yet calmed down. Her hands, when not holding Roper’s hand, trembled and were clammy. She had to hold her own hand to keep them from shaking. “Okay. Let’s see if we can narrow it down.”
Butcher studied the fire for a moment. “Whatever it is…it’s different than what the majority of the world is or has. It could be anything from a childhood disease to a vaccination, to a pheromone you emit. When Roper returns, I’ll start with the questions. Einstein, will you keep track of their answers and toss in any ideas you might have?”
“You bet, but Butcher, I can’t imagine anything that could have prevented those man eaters from attacking them. I mean, really, what are the odds they didn’t attack either of them? Very, very low.”
“You didn’t see them, Einstein. They were completely surrounded. Completely. Not one eater attempted to attack them. Not one.”
“Then I guess we have to assume they both have or don’t have something the rest of us have or don’t have.” Einstein reached into his backpack and pulled out a pen. “Let’s figure out what that is.”
Cue-Ball cracked his knuckles and leaned toward Dallas. “So, sweetheart, how are you different from the rest of the population?”
Dallas thought about her childhood illnesses, the medications she took, anything she did, wore, or at that would be different enough to avoid being bitten or eaten, but those weren’t what stood out most in her mind.
“Well…I am gay. That’s different. I don’t know that it—”
Butcher shook her head. “Yes, but Roper’s not, right? We’re looking for something you both have in common.”
No one seemed to know the answer.
“I’m not what?” Roper asked, coming out of the shadows with Zeus by her side.
Einstein was first on the trigger. “Gay. We’re trying to figure out what you two have in common, and Dallas started with gay. If I remember correctly, you told me your boyfriend’s name was Chris.”
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