by Mark Tufo
“Maybe you’re alright after all,” Icely said, wiping his hand along the side of Schools’ face.
“I saw a dog!” Grumper shouted. He was standing next to his car. “Brindle colored. And zombies,” he added.
“Already left? I doubt it. Get in the damn car,” Icely said.
Grumper and Icely’s driver, a dour-faced man named Rick, pulled around Mia and Jess’ disabled ride and sped down the road to where Grumper had seen the dog cross the roadway.
“Went that way,” Grumper said, sticking his hand out the window. He was pointing towards a small front yard that led into a back yard by way of a gated fence. The gate hung askew from the fence, the damage looked fairly recent.
“Well go get him!” Icely yelled.
“By myself?” Grumper asked.
“Bring the titted wonder and brow-beaten husband, you dipshit.”
All three doors opened almost as if on cue. Dianna checked her safety, Ned put on a heavy jacket. Grumper glared back at Icely as he got out of the car.
“Watch this,” Icely said to Schools, smacking him on the shoulder. “Gonna have a little fun,” he said privately, then he stuck his head out the window. “I want the dog alive, the zombies you can kill, unless one is the girl. Her I’ll keep.” He laughed.
Schools shook his head minutely. “Icely, I brought these people because they’re some of the best I have. I don’t consider them expendable.”
“Then that’s where we differ, isn’t it?” Icely was looking intently at Schools. “Relax, It’s one mangy dog against three adults. I think they’ll be fine.”
“This is bullshit,” Dianna said to Ned as she followed him through the broken gate. Grumper was bringing up the rear. “A couple of rounds into his car and we could be rid of him.”
“You forgetting about Maggie?” Ned asked. Maggie was their daughter; she was staying at Icely’s home while her parents were away on the hunt.
“If Icely were dead...” Dianna started.
“If we came back without him, there’s no telling what his guards would do,” Ned replied.
“They love him as much as everybody else.” Dianna stated.
“Meaning not at all.” Grumper chimed in.
“You willing to risk your...our daughter’s life on that?” Ned asked.
“Just find the damn dog,” Dianna said dejectedly.
“Not going to be that difficult.” Ned pointed with his rifle to the far side of the yard. The dog was moving back and forth in the corner of the yard not allowing the zombies to get a hold of her. She would occasionally glance up the entire length of the security fence that had her penned in.
“That dog is the man killer?” Grumper asked.
Riley froze for a moment when she heard the human speak. She turned and looked directly at him, the look of confusion on her face quickly dissolved as she bared all of her teeth.
“Oh fuck she’s scary looking, put a round in her, Ned,” Grumper said, changing his earlier stance on the dog.
“I put a round in that dog, Icely will put a round in me,” Ned said. “Come on let’s surround the thing.”
“And then what? Tell her to sit? I don’t think she’s going to listen,” Dianna said. “Maybe just say we got here too late and the zombies got her.
RILEY
I heard the loud explosion noises back by the house where I had left Jess. I desperately wanted to get back to them and make sure that they were alright. The noise was much louder than the time Ben-Ben had nosed open one of She-Alpha’s storing places in the food room. He had knocked over one of what she called ‘pans’ but which I thought of as ‘incredible heated aroma producer’. A stack of them had poured on to the hard ground in the food room.
Ben-Ben had stood frozen in fright as the pans clattered all around him. He had received a decent scolding for that. He had awakened the entire household, including Zach and myself. I had not known it at the time, and I’m sure the two-leggers would not have appreciated it, but he would get into the pan container every night and lick them, trying to eat traces of the food they had held earlier. The two-leggers had placed locks on the containers after that; even the cat would not have been able to get them open. I wondered for a moment if the sound had frozen the poor dog like it had the last time.
I had to keep running further away. I had two of the fast zombies chasing me and they would not stop. It would do no good to bring them back towards Jess. I could hear the wheelers moving, but I had to get across the hard ground, otherwise the zombies were going to catch me. I realized my mistake the moment I entered into the back yard, but by then it was too late to turn around. The zombies were not more than a couple of steps behind me. My hope right now was that the fence had a weak spot that I’d be able to get through. If not…it was time to fight.
The zombies were fast in foot speed but not reflexes. It took them time to ‘catch up’ when I moved from side to side. I was gauging just how long when I heard a two-legger speak from the other side of the yard. I stopped long enough to snarl at them. The closest zombie nearly caught my tail as I pranced to the side and then in an instant I got an idea the cat would be proud of; I mean, not that I cared or anything. I ran past the unfurled hands of the zombies and through their legs, heading directly for the two-leggers and the deadly fire-arms they were carrying.
The male in front was aiming his fire-arm at me. I slowed long enough that the zombie behind me almost stepped on my rear paw. Timing was going to be everything. His expression changed as he saw the zombie barreling down on him. The weapon in his hands moved up and fire poured from the end as the zombie behind me hit the ground.
I was close when I heard him yell ‘JAM!’ Sounded like something the young two-leggers used to make sandwiches with. The female was moving past the male with the sticky food, her gun up. She fired as well and I heard the second zombie fall. By that time I was weaving between their legs. There were too many of them and they had too many weapons for me to stand and fight.
All I heard was a bunch of talk as I tried to make distance.
“That was close.”
“Casing is stuck.”
“Get the fucking dog.”
And then I felt blistering pain as something struck across the side of my head. Day faded to night as I tumbled to a fall.
ICELY
“That, my friends, is how you catch a dog,” Icely said, wielding a bloodied gun stock. “Ugly little bitch, isn’t she?” The dog’s tongue was lolling out and its eyes were rolling up into its head. A trickle of blood leaked from its left ear. “Put it in your trunk,” he told the stunned trio.
“I don’t want to touch that thing,” Grumper said.
“Get her ass, I’ll get the business end,” Ned said.
“Poor thing,” Dianna said.
“This is a smart fucking dog,” Ned said as they deposited her in the trunk.
“What are you talking about? It’s just a stupid mutt.” Grumper closed the hatch.
“I don’t think so, man.” Ned stated. “Did you see her? It was like she knew to bring the zombies towards us, that we’d have to deal with them first. She would have gotten away if it wasn’t for Icely.”
“Bullshit,” Grumper said. “Just a stupid mutt.”
“Just a stupid mutt that killed at least three people,” Dianna said.
“Then if she is a furry Einsteinian mass-murderer, I’m not too glad she’s in this vehicle,” Grumper groused.
“In this we are in agreement,” Ned said.
“Yo, little bitch, we have your mutt!” Icely yelled a few times, making sure to stay quiet for a few moments each time that he did in order to listen for any sort of reaction. He had almost struck pay dirt on the first go-around.
CHAPTER EIGHT
Jess began to stand up when she had to place one hand over her mouth to stifle her scream and with the other push Patches away. “What the hell, Patches?” she asked, noticing the droplets of blood that welled up through her jeans.
&nbs
p; “Fool girl, what do you think he’ll do to you or your brother if you go out there!” Patches spat back.
Jess recoiled. She had never seen the cat act so aggressively towards her or any person for that matter.
“They have Riley?” Ben-Ben asked, struggling to keep up with the conversation. “We’ve got to get her back!”
“You too?” Patches asked. “Got any good ideas that DON’T get us killed?”
Ben-Ben’s head bowed a lot like Jess’ did. “It’s Riley, Patches,” Ben-Ben said sadly.
“I know, little dog, I know, but there’s nothing we can do right now. There are six of them, and they all have guns,” Patches said in as soothing a voice as possible.
“Oh, Riley,” Jess sobbed.
Jess jumped when she heard Icely yell again. “Listen, little bitch,” he bellowed. “I know you’re heading to Colorado. Just so happens I’m heading that way, too. If I don’t see you soon, I’m putting a bullet in that dog’s skull. It doesn’t have to be like this,” he added almost sweetly.
Jess let loose a sob as she heard the cars pull away. “How...how could he know where we’re going? How am I going to get Riley back?” Jess asked as she slumped back down the side of the house.
Patches wheeled on Ben-Ben. “This is your doing!”
“What?” Ben-Ben cried.
“You told that bird!” Patches said, referring to the parrot in the home in Vegas Ben-Ben had been staying at.
“Stupid bird,” Ben-Ben sulked.
Jess and Zach were going at it tear for tear, each seemingly trying to outdo the other.
“Why are you crying, Zach?” Patches asked, trying to calm herself down.
“Because I’m a baby,” he replied. “This is what I’m supposed to be doing. I miss my mommy and my daddy, my brother…Mia, and now Riley. I’m hungry and my diaper is dirty.”
“That’s a lot of good reasons,” Ben-Ben said solemnly.
“That’s a lot of good reasons,” Patches echoed.
It was the smell that finally got Jess moving. “Zombies,” she said softly, looking about wildly. She scooped Zach up, wishing he had some sort of hearing protection in case she needed to shoot. “I’d just better make sure that doesn’t have to happen,” she told him. “We have to find a car,” she said aloud.
“There’s my Jess,” Patches said supportively.
“That way we can chase those bastards down and kill them,” she said with vehemence.
Patches did NOT like the sound of that. In her own way she was saddened by the loss of Riley. But risking the lives of the rest of them in a fruitless bid to get her back was not a wise decision and she would do what she could to make sure that didn’t happen.
Jess looked from house to house as she walked down the street, being mindful to stay in the shadows as much as possible. She dared not attempt to enter one; too many dangers could be hidden within those walls. She had gone more than a mile before she had found a car that wasn’t completely out of gas or did not have its keys.
She approached the vehicle cautiously. It appeared as if the person who had vacated it had just done so. The door stood open and the keys dangled from the ignition, a Power Rangers keychain glaring a shocking pink back at her. The dome light was on, possibly not as bright as it could be but it shone a dull yellow.
She looked from the car to the convenience store ahead of her and back again. Patches hopped onto the driver’s seat and then over to the passenger’s.
“Hurry up!” she meowed.
Jess was not quite as convinced the ride was theirs. She thought to ask the person in the store if it would be alright if she could borrow it or perhaps get a ride. “Yeah stupid.” Jess berated herself, “I’m sure they’d be more than willing to drive to Colorado so they could get in a gun battle. Take the stupid car.”
She knew it was a dog eat dog world now, more so than it ever had been. But taking this car was paramount to killing the person inside that store; perhaps they had a family they were trying to provide for.
“Ben-Ben, get in the car! And then she’ll have no choice,” Patches said.
Ben-Ben hopped in, he placed his front paws on top of the steering wheel and was looking outside the windshield. “I sure could go for a biscuit,” he said, looking at the storefront.
Jess took two steps towards the store when she saw the door begin to swing outwards.
“I...I’m sorry. I wasn’t going to take...” she started, and then the words caught in her throat.
What came out the door had been human once but that was a long, long time ago. Whoever had vacated this car most likely now resided in the intestinal walls of the creature that stared back at her. Pure malevolence radiated off of the zombie that stared back at her. Not only did it want to eat her, but it appeared as if it wanted to make her suffer as it did so. The zombie had ragged strips of flesh hanging from its sallow cheeks; milky white eyes ringed by dark black circles stared intently at her. It wore a grey t-shirt, the logo on the front stained in blood and gore. Jess was just able to make out ‘What would T—’ the rest was ripped away or obscured by viscera. A savage bite had torn part of its thigh away, but that did not seem to impede its movement as it started towards her.
“Stop,” Jess said weakly, attempting to reason with it.
“We have not saddled ourselves with the smartest human,” Patches screeched. She hopped over onto the driver’s side. “Help me, Ben-Ben,” Patches said as she pressed down on the center of the steering wheel.
“I would, but I don’t know what you’re doing,” he replied.
“Use that fat head of yours for more than chewing! Press your paws here!” Patches said in a panic.
She reared back and used her entire body weight to press upon the horn. On the third attempt, Ben-Ben finally picked up what she was doing. Sort of. It wasn’t necessarily what she was thinking but it worked when he face-planted himself into the center of the wheel. He fell away reeling but had accomplished what he’d set out to do as the car bleated out a response. Both Jess and the zombie paused their prey-and-game contest to look.
The zombie started running, Jess turned to get back in the car. She nearly sat on Ben-Ben who didn’t have the wits to get out of her way as she sat. Patches was staring out the front windshield as the zombie caught the front edge of the car. He spun slightly as he lost a little of his momentum. Jess shut the door just as he came around. He leaned down so he could look through the window at her. She pulled back as he was no more than inches from her.
“Start the car, start the car, start the car!” Patches begged.
“I agree with the cat!” Ben-Ben barked as he pulled himself free.
Zach’s eyes were the size of saucers. “They’re right!” he intoned.
Jess was transfixed, almost as if the zombie were a snake charmer and she the snake. A long gray-black tongue streaked with blood fished through the fissure in the zombie’s face. He licked the window leaving a trail of innards most likely from the previous owner of the car. The zombie’s hand came up, black cracked fingernails scraping at the smooth surface attempting to gain purchase and get at its newest meal. The hand lowered, its head cocked to the side as it came in contact with the door handle. It was working at thinking so hard it was almost audible. Jess just watched in terrified horror.
Her breathing stopped when she heard the mechanical sound of the handle being moved. In the silence, the occupants of the car heard the hitch catch slightly and then fall back into place as if the zombie hadn’t quite figured out the puzzle. Patches hoped it didn’t have the dexterity to open the door, but she wasn’t leaving anything to chance. She was terrified and had forgotten to retract her claws as she ran across Jess’ thighs. She plummeted on the door lock, pushing it down. She turned to Jess, getting between her and the visage of the zombie. She hissed and spat so loudly she was finally able to release the invisible grasp the zombie had upon Jess.
“Start the car!!” Patches yelled. “Or so help me, when I’m done with
you you’ll wish the zombie had gotten a hold of you!”
Ben-Ben was cowering in the back seat, his tail firmly entrenched under his belly. “You scare me, Patches.”
“You’re hurting me!” Jess cried.
Patches hopped back over to her side. It was then she noticed the welts of blood seeping through Jess’ pants where her claws had been. “I’m sorry but if it gets us out of here...” She left the rest unsaid, it really didn’t need clarifying.
The zombie was once again working at the handle. Something was working in his festering brain as the attempts became more frequent. His expression began to change when he realized he was having no success. The crust on his face cracked as his eyebrows furrowed in first confusion and then tilted downwards in anger. Jess jumped as one fist slammed into the window and then another. Her hand shot to the ignition, the dome light dimming as she tried to turn the car over. The engine whirred slowly as a spider web crack appeared under the assault of the zombie.
“Oh poop, oh poop, oh poop,” Zach exclaimed.
The car finally started with a catching sputter just as a crack bisected the entire length of the window. Jess was once again staring at the zombie. Patches dug a claw into her hand that was still clutching the key.
“Fuck, Patches!” Jess said, pulling her hand towards her mouth so she could lick her wound.
One quick wince and her hand went to the transmission column. She almost compounded their problems as she slammed the car into drive and tried to create a new drive-in opening for the store. The zombie careened off the rear of the car as he came back for them. The car revved in high gear as Jess inadvertently placed it in neutral. The zombie had come up the trunk and slammed his fist on the rear windshield.
“Is he behind us?” Ben-Ben screamed not daring to look. “He is, isn’t he?!”
Jess finally got the car in the right gear. Her wheels screeched as she reversed out of the parking lot, the zombie going for a short ride with the group.