Flesh-Eater (Book 1): Fear the Fever

by Stacey Broadbent

  “There’s a lot of blood,” Zuckerman whispered. “Whoever that is, I don’t think they’re still alive.”

  “You’re probably right, but with things the way they are right now, I’m not sure that we can trust that theory.”

  “Good point.”

  Crouching low, they approached the body. Chad picked up an empty shell laying nearby. He held it up for Zuckerman to see. He just nodded, and turned his attention back to the body.

  “Oh yeah, she’s definitely dead,” he gulped. “God that smell is awful.”

  “Are you sure?”

  “The top of her head is missing. So, yeah, I’m pretty damn sure.”

  Chad couldn’t help himself. His gaze drifted up to where the head should have been. Even with Zuckerman’s warning, he hadn’t been prepared for what he saw. He stepped away, bracing his hands on his knees as he started heaving. After all that they had seen so far, this was by far the worst. This used to be somebody’s mother. Her blonde hair (what was left of it), had streaks of grey throughout and had been pulled back in a haphazard bun. She had an ankle length skirt on, like the ones his own mother would wear. Somehow that made it so much more real.

  Swallowing back the acid in his throat, he swiped a hand across his mouth and slowly stood upright. He used his sleeve to wipe his running nose.

  “You okay, man?” Zuckerman asked, standing quietly behind him.

  “Yeah. I’m good. It just. She reminds me of… my family,” Chad said softly. “I hope they haven’t…” his voice trailed off as he stared at her.

  “I know.” Zuckerman put his hand on his friend’s shoulder and looked him in the eye. “I’m sure they’ve gotten out. We can go and check on them once we’re done here, okay? Just to be sure.”

  “Yeah, okay,” he sniffed.

  “We should have a look around. Someone shot that gun, maybe they’re still here.” Zuckerman stood up, holding his hand over his brow as he scanned the area surrounding them. “It looks like more than one person was here. There are a few sets of footprints.” He pointed to the path leading to the house. “Go grab Tammy and I’ll check it out.”

  Chad nodded and sluggishly jogged back to the car. Tammy was sitting where they had left her, staring blankly at the corpse, tears slowly trickling down her cheeks. Chad tapped on the window to get her attention. She turned to look at him, her face full of sorrow. He motioned for her to come out of the car.

  With all the effort she could muster, she pulled the handle and swung the door open. One shaky leg after the other, she stepped out and fell into Chad’s waiting arms. She clung to him, gripping his shirt in her hands as if he was the only thing keeping her from falling to her knees, her sobs shaking her entire body.

  Chad rubbed his hand up and down her back soothingly, whispering softly in her ear that everything would be alright. She looked up at him with fresh tears brimming.

  “It’s just so unbearable,” she wept. “All these people. They didn’t ask for this.”

  “I know.”

  “Mary was the sweetest woman. She used to come into school when we were kids and bring the whole class cupcakes.” She smiled at the memory. “She made the best cakes. Hers were always the first to go at the bake sales,” she paused, sadness washing over her again as she peered at the body lying only feet away from her. “She didn’t deserve this.”

  “No, she didn’t. That’s why we need to figure out what’s going on. Figure out how to stop this from hurting even more people.” He cupped her chin in his fingers, lifting her face to look at him. “We have to do it, for Mary.”

  “For Mary,” she said stoically, brushing the tears away with her hand and wiping them on her pants. “Sorry. I’m okay now.”

  “Don’t apologise for feeling sad,” he said. “It’s an awful situation we’re in right now.” He swung his arm around her shoulder, pulling her into his side. “Come on, let’s get you inside,” he said, and together they walked to the house.

  MILLIE

  “In Dublin's fair city

  Where the girls are so pretty

  'Twas there that I first met

  Sweet Molly Malone

  She wheeled her wheelbarrow,

  Through streets broad and narrow

  Crying, “Cockles and mussels,

  Alive, alive-oh”

  Alive, alive-oh

  Alive, alive-oh

  Crying, “Cockles and mussels,

  Alive, alive-oh,”

  Millie sang under her breath as she stumbled along. Her lungs threatened to give up on her and strangled the words as they came out, but she refused to stop doing the thing that she loved so much. With hacking coughs in between each verse, she sang on, her voice barely more than a whisper…

  She died of a fever

  And no-one could save her

  And that was the end of

  Sweet Molly Malone

  Now her ghost wheels her barrow

  Through streets broad and narrow

  Crying, “Cockles and mussels,

  Alive, alive-oh”

  Tears glistened on her muddy cheeks, as the haunting words she had sung, hung in the air. Harper and Zeke exchanged a worried look.

  “That’s not going to happen to you, Millie,” Zeke whispered into her ear as he guided her forward. She had been relying on him to keep her upright as they trekked once again, across the fields between their houses. No matter how hard she tried, she couldn’t seem to get her legs to obey her. Weaving and stumbling, she had tripped more than once. If it hadn’t been for Zeke’s arms around her, she would have fallen on her face. She knew she was holding them back, but neither one of them would admit to it.

  Zeke scooped her up into his arms to carry her over the creek that bordered their lands. She felt so frail in his arms. It was as if the last few hours had withered her away to almost nothing.

  Knowing she couldn’t carry on by herself, Zeke simply cradled her against his chest, striding forward. She rested her head against him, allowing the swinging motion to rock her gently to sleep. She was tired of fighting. Her body felt as though she had been hiking cross country for ten days straight. Her legs were like jelly and she could barely lift her arms. She felt like such a burden.

  “Hold on, Millie. Just hold on a little while longer,” Zeke whispered into her ear. She wanted to be strong for him, she really did; he had been through so much already. She tried to wake up. She wanted to tell him how much she loved him. She wanted him to know that it wasn’t his fault, and that she would understand if they had to leave her behind.

  She knew what was happening to her, her insides were burning with every breath she took. She wished she could have had a little more time, but the sweet embrace of sleep called to her. The sweet, excruciating pain of sleep…

  ZEKE

  “Millie?” Zeke came to a stop. “Millie?” he asked again, a little louder.

  “What’s wrong?” Harper asked, coming to stand beside him.

  “I don’t know. She just went limp in my arms!” Zeke’s eyes were wide with fear. He carefully lay her on the grass by his feet. “Millie? Please don’t do this.” He shook her shoulders as he spoke, desperation in his voice. “Millie?! Why won’t she wake up?” he demanded, looking up at Harper who was hovering behind him, her hands over her mouth as she shook her head in disbelief.

  “This can’t be happening,” she muttered. “She can’t…” She dropped to her knees, one hand reaching out to touch Millie’s cheek. “Wake up, honey,” she soothed, stroking her fingers along the soft skin of her face. “You have to wake up now, okay?”

  Zeke grabbed one of her hands, feeling the coolness of her skin. “She’s so cold,” he whispered, “Why is she so cold?” Rubbing his hand back and forth over hers, he tried to warm her up. “She was burning with a fever and now… Come on, Millie. Please wake up. You can’t leave me. Not you too,” he pleaded. “I can’t lose you,” he sniffed, “I won’t.” He grabbed Harper’s arm, making her look at him. “We have to do so
mething. Do you know CPR?”

  She wiped her tears from her face, nodding. She tilted Millie’s head back, pinching her nose. “Ready?” she asked, taking a deep breath. Zeke positioned himself over her chest, ready to start compressions. Harper lowered her mouth to Millie’s, sealing her lips around her sisters, she puffed out two short breaths.

  “One, two, three, four, five…” Zeke counted aloud while pumping on her chest. They went through the same sequence again before checking for a pulse.

  “Anything?” Harper asked hopefully. Zeke only shook his head.

  “Again,” he demanded. Harper turned back to her sister’s lifeless body and once again, blew into her mouth. “Come on, Millie!”

  They worked together, each doing their part, for another twenty minutes, before Harper finally placed her hand over Zeke’s.

  “Enough,” she said sadly. “She’s had enough.” Her hand shook as she began to sob silently. “Goodbye my beautiful angel. Fly free.”

  “Fly free? How can you say that? She’s not free!” Zeke screamed at her.

  “You don’t know that. She might not turn into one of them,” Harper challenged.

  “How can you be so naïve? After everything we’ve been through?” He shook his head, turning his attention back to Millie. “I’m so sorry I couldn’t save you,” he whispered, as he pressed his lips to hers one last time. “I’m sorry I couldn’t keep my promise.” He buried his head in her chest, as he fought back tears. “I love you,” he murmured.

  “She loved you too,” Harper snivelled, placing a hand on his back.

  “I know. She loved everyone.” He smiled through his tears. “She had the biggest heart. The world needs more people like her, if only I could’ve protected her.” His eyes welled up and Harper pulled him in to her.

  “Shhhhhh. You did everything you could,” she cried with him.

  “I just wish it could’ve been enough to save her,” he gulped, “what am I going to do without her? She was my light.”

  Harper nodded. “Mine too.”

  ZUCKERMAN

  The house was empty. He had searched every inch of the place in case whoever had shot that woman, was hiding. The last thing they needed was for one of them to get shot too.

  Knowing it was only a matter of time before someone came along, he got to work looking for any kind of clue as to what may have started this nightmare. He was rifling through the kitchen drawers when Chad and Tammy came through the door. He glanced up at them, noting how distraught they both looked.

  “I’ve checked the place. Doesn’t appear to be anyone in here,” he said as he continued his search. “You guys wanna look through the bedrooms while I keep going in here?”

  “Okay, I’m not really sure what I’m looking for though,” Tammy said apologetically.

  “Just anything that seems out of place, I guess.” Chad suggested. “There’s a barn out there too. We should check that out when we’re done in here.”

  “Mmhmm.” Zuckerman moved onto the cupboards under the sink. “We should look for anything we can use as weapons.” Chad nodded in agreement while Tammy stood beside him, a look of apprehension on her face. She shuffled closer to Chad. He noticed her unease and reached out to grab her hand, giving it a gentle squeeze.

  “Don’t worry,” he said, “it’s just in case we run into any trouble. We don’t intend on using them unless we have to.”

  “Yeah, of course. I just… don’t know if I could, ya know… use a weapon on someone,” she said awkwardly.

  “Hopefully you won’t have to.” He smiled at her, giving her hand a little tug. “Come on, let’s go see what we can find.”

  They walked down a hall filled with photos. One large family portrait hung above the master bedroom. Chad studied the picture, feeling an overwhelming sadness wash over him as he recognised the face of the woman to be that of the body lying outside. Hers was a face that he would not forget anytime soon. It was sure to remain seared into his brain.

  “She was beautiful, wasn’t she?” Tammy asked quietly, staring up at the same picture.

  “Yeah. She was.” Chad tore his eyes away, focusing on the job at hand. “I’ll take this room. You see what you can find in there.” He pointed at the bedroom to the left.

  Zuckerman had been through every drawer and cupboard he could find in the little kitchen. Other than a handful of knives, he hadn’t found anything of much use – except for the plates loaded with baked goods – those suckers would come in very handy! He helped himself to a cupcake.

  “Hey, you guys hungry?” he called out with his mouth full. “There’s lots of baking here. Would be a shame to let it all go to waste!” He grabbed another cupcake and shovelled it into his mouth while he went to explore one of the tall cupboards by the front door.

  This was obviously where the gun had been kept; there were loose shells all over the base of the cupboard. Whoever had used it must have been in a hurry. He rummaged through the coats, hoping to find another weapon they could use, but there was nothing else there.

  The hairs on the back of his neck stood to attention and he suddenly had the urge to look outside. Sliding his back to the wall, he edged his way closer to the door to sneak a peek through the glass window. In the distance, he could just make out two figures walking towards them. One of them appeared to be carrying something, he couldn’t quite make out what though.

  He quickly ran down the hall to where his friends were. “I think we need to leave,” he whispered. “Now.”

  “Why? What did you find?” Chad asked, turning to face him.

  “There’s someone coming,” Zuckerman whispered again. “Across the field.” He pointed in the direction of the barn. “It looks like two, maybe three people.”

  “Do they look… normal?” Chad asked.

  “Yeah I think so. It’s hard to tell from this far back though.”

  “Maybe we should wait for them? They might be able to help,” Tammy suggested. “It could be Zeke, he does live here after all.”

  “Yeah, it could be, but I don’t think he’d take too kindly to a bunch of strangers ransacking his house. We should at least step outside and see what we’re facing. We have the advantage of a car, so if we don’t like what we see, we can always leave.” Chad was already walking to the front door. “The more people we have helping us, the better our chance of finding out something useful.”

  “Let’s not forget that these people might be armed. We know someone around here has a gun and knows how to use it,” Zuckerman said.

  “I know Zeke, he won’t shoot us. We came here to get answers didn’t we? He might be the one person who can actually shed some light on things,” Tammy added.

  “She does make a good point,” Chad agreed. “Look, we’ll stand round the side of the house so we’re hidden, and once we know who we’re dealing with, we either try to approach them, or we bale. Simple.”

  Zuckerman flicked his eyes between the two of them warily. “I guess it would make sense to see who they are,” he said reluctantly. “But if they turn out to be zombies, or crazed gunmen, you’re on your own!”

  ZEKE

  Step by step, they sluggishly made their way back to Zeke’s place. Millie was cradled in his arms, her head tucked under his chin to stop it from lolling about.

  They didn’t speak. There were no words left to say at this point, as each one mourned the life of the person who had meant so much to them. The sweet, innocent girl who had been so full of life and love. It was hard to comprehend that they would no longer hear her singing in the fields, or see her face light up in childlike wonder at the sight of a butterfly. She would no longer grace them with her brilliant smile that could light up any room she entered.

  Even knowing what her fate was likely to be, they couldn’t just abandon her. Her skin had begun to fade to a dull grey colour and her cheekbones were protruding from her face, but she was still Millie. If you looked hard enough, you could still make out her gentle beauty.

  Once
it had sunk in that she wasn’t coming back, they had decided to take her with them and bury her, along with Mary, under the big oak tree. She would like that.

  Zeke had ever so carefully picked her back up and tenderly kissed the top of her head, whispering, “I know you’re still in there, Millie. Please stay calm. Try to fight it.”

  He had pinned her arms between his chest and her body so that he could feel the moment she began to reanimate. He held his chin firmly against her forehead so that she wouldn’t be able to bite him.

  Never had the distance between their homes, felt so vast before. He knew it was only a matter of time before she came back to life, so to speak. What they would do when that happened… it didn’t bear thinking about.

  Harper was staring off into the distance, her fingers picking at the bottom of her sweater. He knew he should say something to make her feel better, but he was struggling to find the words. They had both lost so much today.

  “Do you think, if we pray, God will save her?” her voice was barely more than a whisper. She turned to face him, her eyes glistening with tears. “Do you think he could stop her from… becoming one of them?”

  “I don’t know, Harper. It wouldn’t hurt to try,” he said to humour her, not really believing his words. God? He thought, what kind of God would bestow this kind of plague upon us? On Millie?

  “Will you pray with me?” she asked.

  “Sure.” He stopped walking and she placed a hand on his shoulder, bowing her head.

  “God, we pray that you will look after my sister, Millie, and that you will guide her to you and not let her suffer in the hell that is on Earth at this time. We pray that you will free her soul from this body and let her join you in heaven. Don’t turn my baby sister into one of those monsters. Please, God,” she begged, making the sign of the cross across her chest. “Amen.”

  “Amen.”

  She looked up at him and smiled. “Thank you for doing that.”