by Bryan Mosier
“What the hell?” asks Bryan, himself both stunned and relieved by the sudden change in their situation. “Are those…engines?”
Still on his guard for any lone zombies that might not find the unusual noise enough of a distraction, Alex leans in close to Darla“You don’t think…” he starts but, once again his answer comes before the question can be asked.
Chapter 34
As the sound of the large metal door opening merges with the curious sound coming from inside the garage, a beam of light breaks through the darkness from the opening. Creeping up slowly, the metal panels of the garage door fold inward as the it finally makes its way up the metal tracks. Now bathed in the headlights of the a.t.v., the full extent of their battle can be seen in all its horrible glory with lifeless, rotted bodies littering the ground. Silhouetted by the twin beams of light behind her stands the unmistakable diminutive frame of Melody, her hair billowing forward as two large metal blades spin behind her. Mounted to each side of the a.t.v., the two lawn mowers now sit above each headlight, their metal frames strapped so that the blades angle out towards the front of the vehicle. Placed in the center, an electric chainsaw its razor sharp blade whirring loudly. With wires and ropes snaking over the front of the vehicle, some anchored to the tubular metal frame, others disappearing under its molded plastic hoodthe vehicle has become a mechanical Frankenstein’s monster.
Walking over to stand next to her, Brandon, wearing the climbing harness that Carla and Bryan had found earlier, looks out into the night, seeing the multitude of expressions on the faces of his companions. In some, he sees an expression of confusion, others the look of concern. Looking at Alex and Darla though, he sees in their eyes an expression that fills him with delight. In their eyes he sees pride. Yelling at the top of his lungs so that his message is heard loud and clear over the roar of the engines Brandon takes a step forward and says“You want to play rough? Okay, say hello to my little friend” and with that turns his back to his living and undead audience.
Giving Melody a quick nod she runs and hops into the driver’s seat of the a.t.v., pulling the seatbelt over her shoulder and fastening it firmly into place, making sure not to crush the little furry orange striped face popping out between the top buttons of her coat. Brandon, rushes to the back of the a.t.v., hops up onto small flat bed and quickly latches a carabiner onto the round metal tubing of the vehicle’s roll bars. Bending down Brandon picks up the hedge trimmer and, with a hard jerk of the pull cord, brings its small two cycle engine to life. With a hard stomp of his foot, Brandon, doing his best British accent yells,“BRING OUT YURDEAD!” gives Melody the okay. Jamming the gear shift into drive, Melody stomps on the accelerator and the vehicle bolts forward. Wheels spinning on the smooth concrete of the garage, the tires find traction as they make contact with the rough pavement of the driveway. Aiming their homemade assault vehicle towards the main body of the group of approaching zombies, Melody grips the steering wheel hard anticipating the impending impact. Watching as the front of the vehicleslams hard into the rotting bodies of the zombies, Alex at first fears for Brandon’s safety as he bounces precariously on the back of the vehicle.
The spectacle of the impact is one that everyone witnessing will not soon forget. With the engines of the lawnmowers revved to their maximum rpms the soft, decayed flesh of the zombies provides little resistance against the sharp spinning metal blades. Tearing through their bodies with ease, creating a fountain of flesh and blood soaring into the air as body after body falls victim to the rotating mulching blades. The chainsaw, its throttle wired to rev the tiny electrical motor to its maximum r.p.m.’s, serves to impale any zombies that manage to get between the mulching blades of the lawn mowers. Zooming past the huddled group, the a.t.v. plows a path through the mass of zombies, obliterating any unlucky enough to fall victim to the blades. Brandon, swinging back and forth from the rear of the atv, brings the oscillating saw head of the hedge trimmer around, swinging wildly catching a nearby zombie hard, severing the top half of its face. “Wooohooo” he yells before repeating his battle cry,“Bring out yur dead!....Bring out yurdead!”
Standing, in awe of the spectacle, Bryan gets jolted back to reality as a large piece of broken bone comes careening passed him, narrowly grazinghis ear. “Um…guys, I think we should probably take cover.” With everyone in unanimous agreement they head for the nearest object that they all can get behind in relative safety. Running to the overturned mini-bus, its rear door still hanging open, the exit still clogged with lifeless bodies of zombies, the group gets behind the bus to wait out the slaughter. Huddled together behind the bus the group can do little more than sit and listen to the sound of the orchestraof engines roaring this way and that, a sound accompanied by the rhythmic chants of Brandon continuing his battle cry“Bring out yur dead! Bring out yurdead!” with the occasional refrain of“He’s not dead yet!”
“You know that kid ain’t right…” says Alex, looking at Darla,“…but I love him. He scares the living hell out of me but I love the little guy”.
With a smile Darla mirrors the sentiment for her little sister,“When we were out there and…and things weren’t looking so good, I was worried about what would happen to them without us but the truth is I don’t know what we would do without them.”
Peeking around the corner of the bus, Alex watches as Melody brings the atv around hard, sliding sideways on the blood soaked pavement, into a group of zombies. Some, their bodies being drug under the frame of the vehicle to be chewed up by the large, knobby wheels, the others falling victim to Brandon and his hedge trimmer. “Oh...now that’s a flesh wound” yells Brandon. Pressing hard on the accelerator the rear wheels spin furiously, tearing through the flesh of the zombies underneath, sending a rooster tail of blood and rotten entrails high into the air. Watching Melody looping the vehicle around the oval driveway, slipping and sliding on the wet pavement, the lawnmowers mulching through the remaining zombies, Alex almost feels a sense of pity for the creatures as they clamor towards the sound of the engines and their certain doom. As the massacre reaches its conclusion with the zombies numbers have been reduced to just a few slow stragglers. Loping the vehicle in long slow arches, Melody slows the vehicle to a crawl to allow Brandon to dispatch the remaining few with the hedge trimmer. “C’mon” says Alex,“let’s go help them finish so we can get the hell out of here.” With Darla and the rest of the group in tow, Alex heads back out into the open of the driveway. “There’s one over there” he says to Bryan, pointing with his sword to a zombie off to one side of the front yard.
As the group spreads out to dispatch the remaining few zombies miraculously left standing after the motorized onslaught, Alex and Darla head over to meet Brandon and Melody. Seeing them approach, Melody shuts off the engine of the a.t.v.killing the power to the chainsaw and lawnmowers. Standing up in the driver’s seat of the a.t.v., Melody leans her elbow against the top frame of the vehicle and watches as Justin and Helga finish off the last of the remaining zombies. As she surveys the blood soaked, gore filled landscape a look of pride blossoms over her angelic, freckled little face. Reaching into the inside breast pocket of her faded green army jacket, she pulls out a small object sealed in a yellow and red plastic wrapper. Tearing at the plastic she pulls out a thin stick of beef flavored grease and salt and puts it to her mouth and mimes smoking a cigar. As the group reassembles around the a.t.v., Melody looks out into the darkness smiling and says“I love it when a plan comes together” with Brandon immediately adding a gravely“Oooooohhh yeeeeaaaahhhh!”
Examining their handiwork, Alex looks up at the two youngsters with a senseof both pride and amazement. “Where…where did you guys….” he starts but then answers his own question,“…oh, I know…don’t tell me, the internet?”
“Nope” comes the surprisingresponse. Seeing the confusion on everyone’s face Brandon looks at Melody and in unison theyadmit“Netflix! They got every episode of the A-Team and McGyver” explains Brandon, a wide grin filling his f
ace.
“Yeah, it’s a virtual do-it-yourself survival guide for the apocalypse” adds Melody, the innocent child like tone of her voice making the observation more than just a little disturbing.
“C’mon, let’s get you guys down from there so we can get Donna and get out of here” says Alex as he helps Melody down from her perch atop the atv. Unlatching the carabiner anchoring him to the metal frame of the atv, Brandon hops down, his feet planting hard onto the skull of a lifeless zombie trapped beneath the back wheel of the vehicle, a sight not unnoticed by Melody who declares in her best British accent“Aw, ee’sexpired” to be immediately followed by Carla with“…ee’sa stiff” and Darla“…yep, bereft of life”.
“Wha….” starts Bryan, his jaw agape expression of wonder mirroring that of Alex and Justin in their amazement at the girl’s knowledge of classic British comedy.
“What...” starts Darla, giving Alex a playful smile,“…you guys think you’re the only ones that watch television?”
Looking at Helga standing there in the darkness of the night, blood trickling from the scrape on her knee, Justin feels a storm of emotions wreaking havoc in his usually logical mind. As he walks over to her he tries to think of what words he needs to say to make things right between them, rehearsing them over and over in his mind. Standing close to her now, looking into her soft blue eyes, Justin’s mind goes blank, the words he wanted to say lost in the moment. “Helga, I…I wanted to say…” he tries to start but his usually logical, organized brain fails him. Working on emotion and instinct, Justin takes a deep breath, putting his hands around Helga’s waist, he pulls her close. As he presses his lips to hers the maelstrom in his mind calms and a quiet clarity returns. Pulling away slightly, Justin looks at Helga with a tear running down her cheek, seeing the happiness in her eyes he knows that in this moment words are not necessary.”
Feeling a weight lift from his chest Justin pulls her close to kiss her again, wishing in this moment that he would never have to let her go.
Seeing Justin and Helga in that moment, Bryan feels himself overcome with emotion. Looking at Carla holding her wrist, the pain still very real as evidenced by the expression on her face, Bryan walksover to her. “Hey” he says, trying to load his voice with as much fake confidence as he can,“You…um…. you gonnabe alright?” he asks, gesturing to her arm.
“Yeah, it’s just a really bad rope burn is all” replies Carla, the shake in her voice belying her attempt to understate the very real pain she is feeling.
“Can I see?” asks Bryan as he takes her hand in his. “Doesn’t look too bad. I think we’ve got some bandages in one of the bags…” he starts but is quickly interrupted. “Bryan, I just wanted to…to thank you…for what you did. You…you saved my life” she says as the tears start to stream down her face. “I was so scared…”
Putting his hands on her shoulders and looking into her tear filled eyes, Bryan offers“Hey, don’t cry. You know I would never let anything happen to you. You know that, right?” Pulling the sleeve of his shirt down over his hand, Bryan gently wipes the tears from her face. “I want you to know that…that um…I really…I really like for you. You’re pretty cool, I mean for a weird doomsday survivalist chic.” Managing a smile and feeling the tenderness in his touch, Carla looks at Bryan and smiles. “I know” she says as she wraps her arms around him. Feeling her pressed against his chest, smelling the sweetness of her hair Bryan’s world falls into silence, the only sound of their two hearts beating in time as one. Leaning in Bryan presses his lips to hers and in that moment the horrors of the last few hours melt away, all the fear and sadness replaced with a feeling of completeness, contentment and joy.
“Did you hear something?” asks Melody, looking to Brandon for confirmation. “Yeah…what is that?” he asks. Looking around at the others, each couple lost in their own emotional moments, Brandon and Melody cock their ears trying to determine the direction of the sound. “I think it’s coming from…” starts Melody but before she can finish the thought Brandon is already moving in the direction of the noise. “C’mon” he tells Melody, the urgency in his voice clearly evident. Running into the darkness, Brandon and Melody find themselves standing next to the overturned wreckage of the mini bus that brought them here. “I think it was coming from…” starts Brandon but is interrupted as a loud pounding sound reverberates through the metal frame of the bus. “C’mon, help me clear out the doorway” says Brandon as he grabs the pants leg of one of the zombies lodged in the emergency exit.
Pulling hard, the two youngsters working together manage to free the body from the clot of zombies clogging the entrance. As its limp body falls to the ground, the massive head wound clearly visible in the moonlight, a familiar voice issues forth from the cavity of the bus.“About fucking time” yells Suzie-Steve,“it was starting to get pretty ripe up in here. I don’t know what smells worse, those dead ass mother fuckersor Larry’s fat ass. I told you not to eat so much before we left.”
“I said I’m sorry. I thought we we’re gonna die and I got scared and when Iget scared my tummy gets upset” comes Larry’s voice, as Brandon and Melody free more of the zombies from the bus’s rear exit. Pushing the last body out of the doorway, Suzie-Steve looks out at the two youngsters by themselves and declares,“Oh shoot babies, are you the only two left? The others…they’re not…” she starts but Brandon, shaking his head points in the direction of the house and says“No, no they’re fine. A little banged up but everyone’s okay.”
“Let me guess. All that noise I heard, that was you two saving their bacon again, wasn’t it?” With a sheepish grin on each of their faces, Brandon and Melody look at each other, offering a shrug of their shoulders as confirmation. “Unh-huh, I thought so” says Suzie-Steve as Larry limps forward,“C’mon, help me get this fat ass out of here.” As Larry awkwardly squeezes through the narrow opening of the emergency exit, dropping hard to the ground onto his back, to be immediately followed by Suzie-Steve.
Stepping out away from the bus she drops to her knees and “Oh sweet Jesus, fresh air. Now I know what the good Dr. King meant by‘free at last, free at last!” Looking over at Larry, his large frame still prone on the ground Suzie-Steve pronounces“Remind me to never get locked up in a small room with you again you gassy ass fat mother...” but is interrupted by Melody“How about we get you two up to the house. I think there are some people who would like to see you.”
“You know” starts Alex as he looks over to see the other couples sharing a tender moment,“there was a moment there, right at the end when I thought…” he starts. “That we weren’t gonna make it?” says Darla, finishing his thought for him. “Yeah, and it’sfunny. In those last moments all I could think about was…”
“What would happen to Brandon? I thought the same thing about Mel.”
“Yeah, but…but there was something else” he says, stepping in closer to Darla.
“Oh?” she asks, as she looks into his eyes seeing the emotion starting to boil to the surface.
“I couldn’t stop thinking…” he starts,“I couldn’t stop thinking that if this really was the end that I wouldn’t get to…that I…I didn’t get to tellyou…” the words catching in his throat.
“I know” whispers Darla. Standing on the tips of her toes, Darla puts both hands on Alex’s chest as he wraps his arms around her. As their lips connect the world around them disappears. “Wow” says Alex, smiling as he gazes into Darla’s eyes, amazed at how even in the dim light he has never seen a more beautiful shade of green.
“Ah grossguys. You aren’t gonna start boinkin are ya?” comes the little voice out of the darkness as Melody and Brandon step into light. “What the hell? Weain’t been dead for more than an hour and y’all already goin allorgy up in here?” comes the familiar voice out of the darkness. “Brown chicken brown cow” adds another familiar voice. The three couples, still locked in their respective embraces, recognizing the voices turn to watch as two very familiar silhouettes emerge from the
blackness of the night. “Suzie-Steve…Larry…. you’realive? How?” asks Bryan. “The bus. It was covered in zombies.”
“Yeah but they only had one way in and that little door got clogged up real fast. All I had to do was crack a few skulls and those brain dead fuckers did the rest” explains Suzie-Steve. Walking up to Suzie-Steve, a regretful expression on his face, Alex starts,“Suzie-Steve, Larry…I just want to say I’m sorry for leaving you…”
“Ah-ah, don’t even go there. You did what you had to do and I did what I had to do” says Suzie-Steve with Larry nodding in agreement. Putting herarm around Alex, Suzie-Steve adds“Now c’mon. Let’s get up there and help that little girl, alright?”
Chapter 35
Stepping up onto the front porch of the house, the group finds the house has been heavily fortified.“Looks like someone was expecting a hurricane or something” says Bryan, pointing to the thick sheets of plywood nailed over the windows. Walking up to the large wooden door, Alex gives the handle a twist and pushes on the large hardwood door but it doesn’t budge. “Locked” he says looking to the others for suggestions. “Hmmh. Now what?”
" Vad sägs om att använda radio på bussen att helt enkelt ringa Donna och låt henne vet att vi är här och det är nu säkert att komma utanför . Eller ännu bättre , bara skrika upp till hennes fönster . Jag menar det är bara ett tvåvåningshus " offers Helga, her suggestion once again lost in the language barrier between her and her friends.