“We’re going to live,” she had cried, and back then I had agreed. But now we had sunk down to levels I would have never thought possible.
We have each loved the little critters that populate the southwest, and it broke our hearts when our driving hunger required us to start consuming them. Loni, once again, had tears pooling in her eyes when we were forced to eat our first tadpoles. The frogs were next, but even these didn’t last long. The spring only ran for maybe an eighth of a mile before the desert sands reclaimed it, but it did draw other animals. I was able to catch a few snakes and even a bird or two, but soon it became apparent that we were fighting a losing battle. We were holding on, but we both silently realized that we wouldn’t be able to go on this way.
Another issue we were having was our quickly dwindling firewood. Since we needed to boil our water before drinking, this was also a severe need for us. The desert shrubs provided enough fuel for us to make this happen, but as the weeks passed, I needed to forage further and further from camp.
One day, when I was returning with an armful of chaotic twigs, I heard Loni screaming for help. Dropping the sticks, I began to sprint back to camp. As I approached, the screaming only increased in volume. Topping a hill, I saw that a zombie was clawing at our tent. It was already half shredded and from the sounds of things, Loni was trapped inside.
All my weapons were in the main camp, save my dagger, but I didn’t have time to retrieve any on them. I tore down the incline in three oversized strides. Water splashed wildly, as I raced through the stream. Loni was still screaming, which I hoped was a good sign. Drawing my double-edged dagger, I started to yell in the hopes of distracting the animated corpse. It wanted Loni and couldn’t have cared less. It did notice when my hiking boot took it in the face.
It looked up at me. Its milky eyes were liquid death. With a reptilian hiss, it came at me spraying black phlegm as it stumbled through the tattered remains of our tent. I stumbled back a step and promptly fell off the 4-foot incline that dropped down into the stream. My butt landed in the water, and my left elbow landed on a rock.
The elbow hurt worse.
My only salvation… the zombie’s spill was almost as nasty as mine. He rushed towards me, but totally ignored the drop off. He came crashing down on top of my legs and for a moment, I feared I might have received an accidental bite. This wasn’t the case, but the zombie was quickly attempting to rectify that shortcoming. I stabbed forward with my dagger aiming for his eye, yet only managed to cut a jagged tear across the right side of his face.
It was clawing at me and going for a bite, when it was suddenly pulled off me. Loni had it by the ankles. It was distracted enough that this time my dagger did take it in the eye. It finally collapsed in a jet of gore.
“Oh my God, Emery. Are you okay?”
“Am I okay? How about you? Did it get you? Are you alright?”
She looked over herself once more as if uncertain as to the truth of her words. “No, he didn’t get me. I’m fine. Other than a few bruises that is.”
“Yeah, I might have you beat there,” I said, rubbing my elbow. But my eyes were lingering on the foul corpse lying beneath me.
“It seems strange that one of them would show up at our spring,” she said past a worried face. “I thought you said they would never come out here.”
“Well, I suppose they will show up everywhere eventually. Still, it’s a big difference between seeing one lone zombie after a month and the large hordes we barely escaped from before.”
“But what does this mean? Why now?”
“It only means one thing: the zombies around these parts won. There are no humans left in the little towns, so they are slowly wandering away in search of new victims.”
“So there might be more?” Even in fear, I found her beautiful and knew I would do anything to protect her.
“This means a lot of things, honey, not the least of which is that anything left behind in these towns is up for grabs. We could use getting some weapons better than an axe, and of course, a few hundred cans of food would be nice.”
“But Em, the fact that all we have is an axe is a good reason not to go to town. These people had guns, and they are dead. How do you think we would fare?”
“But we just saw that the zombies are off searching. Maybe they have left the towns. Sure some are around, but if we try for a small town where there weren’t too many people to begin with…”
“I don’t like that idea. Could we just stay here longer? I’m sure you’ll bag a deer soon.”
“With what, my homemade spear? Listen, if it looks too crazy when we get there, we will just leave. But even besides food and weapons, there are loads of other things we need to live out here. We left our home so quickly, and I’d love to get more tarps, tables, a saw, wood, all sorts of things. We could make this place far safer with a little more gear.
Taking her into my arms, I said, “Come on, Loni. We knew this day was coming. We don’t really have a choice. We’ll just have to be careful.”
She snuggled into me and shivered despite the desert heat.
* * *
It was a quiet drive to Bluff, the town we had chosen to hit. Bluff wasn’t too large, on the best of days, and was about a one gas station town. It was my hope this would make it perfect for our needs.
We spied a zombie stumbling along the road more than a few times. Every time this happened, I could feel Loni tense. We both hated what our world had become, but what could we do?
“You would think we’d see someone,” she said, as the clutched the armrests until her fingers turned white.
“There must be people around. In an isolated place like this, the packs wouldn’t be huge enough to take out everyone, but the people left would be holed up or hiding. There would be no reason for them to be out here.”
My words seemed to help her; even if I wasn’t sure I believed them myself.
It was about a 50-mile drive to Bluff; so besides everything else, I knew that getting gas would be something we would need to do. As we drew near, the zombies grew in number. It was still nothing like the cities or even the mid-sized town we were from, but for just two people that didn’t have one gun between them, it was certainly enough to make us worried.
“So the plan is: food, gas, tarps, and any extra weapons we can get a hold of.” My words were full of confidence, but as the zombies began to lurch towards us, they rang hollow and were replaced by a whispered, “How are we going to do this?”
By the time we reached the outskirts that held a few businesses, we had an undulating parade of at least two dozen zombies following us. It wasn’t too much, but more than enough, and others were appearing each minute.
Cold hands slapped at our car as we passed, leaving angry red smears. Tangled bloody teeth gnashed, and as always, the horrid moaning filled the air.
I thought Loni might have been silently crying, and I knew I had to think of something. A simple Rambo-style approach wasn’t going to cut it.
“Okay, I have an idea,” I said, as I slowed the car.
“What sort of idea? Why are you driving so slowly?”
Then, I started honking the horn.
“Oh my God. Emery! Aren’t there enough out here already?”
“Don’t worry, I have a plan. I’m going to lure them all out of the town. Then, when they are all far enough away, we’ll hurry back in and grab the goods. I think it will work. If enough of them make it back, then we can always…”
My voice trailed off when our car went over a cattle guard with a load bang. Looking down, I saw that it looked like someone had removed every other runner from the cattle guard. “I wonder…”
“What are you – Emery get back in the car!”
Grabbing up my wood axe, I said, “Hold on, let’s see how well these shits do with this jacked up cattle guard. I might be able to finish this right here.”
“Please don’t. It’s too dangerous!”
“If I can kill them all then this w
hole town is ours.”
I think she was getting a weapon of her own ready, but I needed to focus on the first three zombies that were nearing the cattle guard. I knew that cattle were too stupid to figure out how to cross these metal grids, but I wasn’t sure how well they would work on zombies. Sure these freaks were probably not even as intelligent as a cow, but their feet were longer, so the whole thing was still a toss-up.
The first one made it a few steps before it slipped through the rails and slammed down to his waist. It was a male zombie, and if there were ever a doubt about them not feeling pain, it was instantly dispelled when his groin smashed into a cattle guard rail with a loud snap. It was painful to see, but didn’t keep me from batting the guy’s head off with my axe.
Three more came and, with the help of the altered cattle guard, I was able to take them out easily enough, but as the main horde approached, I grew concerned. At first, I held my own, swinging my axe until sweat poured off me in thick threads.
Then, things went south.
The cattle guard was becoming clogged with bodies, and the other zombies were now able to just walk over their fallen fellows. I wanted to run, but if I turned my back I was afraid they would get to me before I could reach my car.
Loni screamed and I shouted, “Get behind the wheel and get ready to--” And that was when the first shot rang out.
I was startled when the zombie’s head to my right exploded in a shower of gore. Another and another fell. Not questioning my salvation, I hurried into the passenger side of my ride. Loni needed no encouragement and sped away.
We spied the black Ford and the two guys standing in the bed with rifles. Once we arrived, one of them, a man, maybe 30 with a faded old cap hopped to the ground and yelled, “Come on, we got a safe place.”
Then, without waiting for a reply, the pair sped off towards the north side of town.
We came to some kind of mansion surrounded by a 5-foot brick wall. It had a steel gate, at which two zombies tugged. Two loud shots silenced their moaning. The passenger leapt out and opened the gate. Once the truck was safely inside, we were waved through.
The engines were turned off, the gate was locked, and we finally had a chance to take our rescuers in. The driver approached us, shaking each of our hands.
“Hello, there, great to find others who have made it through this mess. I’m Mitch, and this here is my pal, Bobby.”
On closer inspection, I saw that Mitch was probably closer to 40 than 30. His hair was beginning to both recede and gray. He somehow had managed to retain his beer gut through the apocalypse, but he had a nice enough smile.
His buddy Bobby might have been more on the shell-shocked side and only mumbled a greeting. He was in his late 20s, also a bit stocky and tended to keep both his long, tangled blond locks and half of his face hidden under the shadows of his straw cowboy hat.
Mitch laughed. “You two look like you haven’t seen a good meal in quite a while, although I have to say the effect does look good on you, miss.”
I thought that was a bit of a strange comment, but we went ahead and introduced ourselves before proceeding into the mansion and enjoyed the biggest meal we had eaten since before all this hell started.
* * *
After sharing a tense dinner, where we did more staring than talking, the plain meal was interrupted by the sounds of the zombies’ moaning growing louder in volume.
“So they are just on the other side of that wall?” I said.
“Yeah,” Mitch said with a grin. “We picked this place well, huh?”
“Doesn’t that drive you crazy?” Loni asked, but I was thinking about something else.
“You mean this place isn’t yours?”
Mitch had been looking at Loni, but his jaw snapped shut and after a glance at Bobby, he turned towards me.
“Nope, this isn’t our place. It used to belong to ‘ole Gunny, but when we saw him walking around with half his neck torn out, we figured he won’t mind if we moved in.” Then with an edge, he added, “Is that okay with you?”
“Yeah,” I said, lifting my eyes towards him, while trying to watch Bobby’s expression at the same time. “I suppose I might have done the same thing. If we’re going to survive we need to use all the resources we can get.”
Mitch broke out into a wide smile. “Good, good, glad to hear you say that. We couldn’t agree more.”
Loni was giving me a nervous glance, but despite this I said, “Um, okay. So, ah…I guess considering everything, I suppose we are going to need to stay here tonight.”
Like always, Mitch did all the talking.
“Of course. As if we’d throw you out there in the dark. Come on, we have plenty of room, right Bobby?” His friend just nodded. “Shoot, we got bedrooms we barely even looked at yet. You can take your pick.”
I tried to smile, but the situation was so odd, I’m not sure I pulled it off. Outside, the moaning seemed to increase in volume.
“That sure is generous of you guys, but can I ask you a question?”
“Of course, fire away.”
“I’m not an expert on your town, but it doesn’t seem too big, and I imagine many zombies were killed before the takeover, and I’m sure a few…victims were eaten beyond repair, so why can’t you two just sit on the wall and wax everything that moves?”
“Interesting question. I have a few things to say on the subject. Firstly, hell, the plague only started a few weeks ago. We are still trying to get our shit together and figure out what we should be doing. Secondly, and I tell you this in confidence, one of the reasons we are letting all the walkers roam the streets is to keep scavs out of here. Some of the stuff might be hard to get, but the way I look at it, Bluff is ours.
“Now, don’t get me wrong, I’m happy you two showed up, and we could probably use some other decent folk, but I don’t want just any loser that wonders by thinking this town is up for grabs. So in some ways, they’re our guards.”
“Strange concept, but I guess it makes sense. So, uh, you’d want us to stay here?”
Keeping his eyes locked with mine, Mitch said, “Sure, why not?” He gave a little laugh, “Unless you have somewhere better to go.”
I could see the whites of my wife’s eyes, but answered, “Not right now we don’t, so, ah…thanks.”
“No sweat. Now, Bobby, why don’t you show them to their rooms.”
* * *
After leading us down a dangerously dark corridor, with only his flickering taper to show us the way, Bobby left us in the doorway of what must have been a guest room. A thick comforter covered a Mission-style bed, reminiscent of the Santa Fe theme. After a few forced pleasantries, odd stares, and a couple of grunts, Bobby left the candle with us and took his leave.
As soon as the door was shut and Bobby’s clunking footsteps had retreated, Loni threw herself into my arms.
“I wish we’d stayed in the desert. This place is horrible.”
“The place itself isn’t that bad. At least we’re safe.”
“Are you sure? I’m frightened. I don’t like how those men were looking at me. I’m afraid of them.”
“I hear you. With the law gone, there’s always the chance that people might just start making up their own rules.”
She shivered against me. “I hope they aren’t thinking anything along the lines of see, want, take.”
I tried to laugh, but it sounded hallow in the stygian room.
“Come on, honey. These guys might be a little socially inept, but I don’t think they’re serial killers or anything.”
She pulled away, but kept her chocolate eyes locked to mine. “I wouldn’t be so sure. Can that guy Bobby even talk? I feel like we have entered into some Dawn of the Deliverance, here”
I laughed again, this one more relaxed.
“Yeah, they’re goofballs, and I doubt they’re the type of guys we would be normally sharing a few beers with, but they may grow on us. Besides, there really aren’t that many zombies here. If we can clean o
ut this town, then we could have a real chance. I’m sure a hick place like this will have loads of guns. We can get food, even another ride if we needed to. Once we are set up, then we’ll have more options.”
“If you say so.” She was hugging her arms around her slender form while she talked. “I still don’t like it.”
“Come on, baby, what do you wanna do? Sneak off in the dark and try to make it through a few dozen zombies without us even having a gun?”
“No…I….. just promise me that you won’t let them get weird.”
“I promise to protect you. Don’t I always?”
She said, “Yes,” but as the candle made dancing tiger strips of darkness across her face, I wasn’t sure if she really meant it.
* * *
Wiping the sweat from my brow, I looked out over the field of rotting death that lay before us. It had taken a little convincing, but I was able to talk Mitch into just going ahead and clearing out the rest of Bluff. There might have been about 200 zombies still walking the streets, but after a morning of almost constant gunfire, nothing moved other than a stray tumbleweed and the growing number of circling vultures.
“Well, I guess we can just grab what we want now,” I said, as I moved closer to where Mitch and Bobby were standing on the roof.
“I suppose you could say that,” Mitch grinned. “This is our town, but we’re willing to share, right, Bobby?” His friend nodded. “We’re all in this together, right, Emery?” he continued while slapping me on the shoulder.
“Oh, yah,” I said.
I was about to go on, when Loni called up from below. “Are you guys finally done?”
“Yeah, I think so,” I answered.
“Good, I made us all something to eat if you wanna head down here.”
“Thanks, darling,” Mitch called. “That’s quite a woman you got there,” Mitch said, addressing me. “Quite a woman.”
* * *
Later that night, as I relaxed in bed and tried not to worry about the fact that the book I was reading covered a lifestyle that would no longer be possible, I heard a scuffle in the hallway. Loni had just gone to use the restroom, and I jerked up. Could a zombie have somehow gotten inside?
Journalstone's 2010 Warped Words for Twisted Minds Page 14