by catt dahman
Bart cleared his throat. “He’ll love all that. I think we will, too. A shower?”
“Hot water…solar power.”
“It sounds like heaven,” Jessica added.
“And we play baseball,” Carl told them.
“Baseball?” Anthony whistled, “I am so in heaven. I can’t thank God enough for bringing you to find us. Lord be praised, but y’all are a miracle.”
“If you’re any good, people will fight to get you on their team,” said Teeg as he laughed, “I’m terrible at it; no one wants me. We’re glad we could help. You have a good voice; we have churches and a choir….”
“You think they’d let me be in the choir?”
“I can guarantee it. We aren’t radical, extremist religious nuts. Beth, Kim, and their kids go to the Catholic services, and the Southern Baptists joined with the Evangelical people who hold up their hands during the service, like being at a concert, but….”
Alex added, “You don’t have to go; no one makes anyone go.”
Teeg added his ideas. “Like Jewish people have their religion, there are strict religions that require people to decline some goods or do certain actions on specific days, but we work on all of that. People who are non-believers aren’t hassled; it’s all good.”
“I wanna be at your church then,” Anthony told Teeg.
They walked or rode horses as they went along the back way to avoid more contact; some walked, and then they traded off. Carl’s knee and Jessica’s ankle kept them both in saddles.
Alex said, “You don’t even have to have a religion. You can go look at trees or whatever on your allotted church time. We have two or three meetings a week, depending on attendance.
“You, Muslim?” Lacey asked Rae with a sneer, “terrorists are.”
“I don’t know any terrorists to ask about their religion. I attend the Catholic church with Beth, Julia, and Len,” Rae told her.
“I do the progressive Evangelistic singing and dancing with Misty, but Mark is Catholic. Their kids trade off.”
“My new church with you is just black?”
“Not at all. We’re the Hispanics, who aren’t Catholic, and Johnny and Conner are white, and so are Jilly Montaine and her man, Pan. Nick comes with us at times; he was the brother of the President of the United States.”
They saw wrecked vehicles.
“Meh. That’s a mess.”
`Because the rest saw people in a panic on roadways, the zombies, and then nothing afterwards, they all stared as they traveled, looking at the cars and rubble.
“The bombs did some of this, but what you see is from the people fighting, looting, scrambling for supplies, and trying to stay alive,” Len explained. Things fell from the blast, burned from it, were hit by storms, and burned by people….”
“All this damage? Why? It’s like a war went on,” Tell said.
“It was a war,” Kim said, “gotta think how people were chased and fought…got supplies…used Molotov’s, shovels, baseball bats, and guns. They fought for their lives.
Then, there were the rest of the army and the Reconstruction Army, and finally, we came through fighting and getting what was left, killing zombies.
People had sick family members in their homes, and when the zombies attacked, the fighting was rough, spilled onto the street, and got between cars. They fought it out, and zombies were smashed up. The gasoline, unless it was treated, didn’t work anymore.”
“Are those bodies?” Robbin asked.
“Yes. Some are the zeds or Reds that were killed. Some were healthy people fighting them. Who do you think will come along and bury billions around the world?” Len asked.
“They are all just left here. I had no idea,” Bart said. “What will happen?”
Len shrugged. “I dunno. I guess nature will take over, and hundreds of years from now, people will find bricks and junk in piles but all grown up with the weeds. Nature seeks a balance; it’ll take it all back.
Humans will carve out places as best they can like back in the old days, and we’ll start over. Maybe archeologists will wonder what we did with our cell phones and computers and televisions and microwaves”
“Maybe,” Alex agreed, “or maybe we will have screwed up so badly that we’ll be extinct in a few hundred years.”
“Hard to believe that we had televisions, computers, and all of the other tech stuff…electricity, and now, we are back to the Dark Ages,” Bart said.
“Not total Dark Ages. We do have the knowledge of before, anyway,” Beth said. ”We have a bunch of solar panels, so we have hot food and hot water; we can have limited lights at night, but lights….”
“Do you know scientists have found flint for starting fires that is over seven hundred thousand years old?” Len asked. “George told me that back when they were excited to use fire; I guess some are the same here.”
He pointed around them. He motioned them all to gather at what used to be a park but fell into ruin and decay and was an overgrown bit of land. A stream ran along one side where the horses went to drink and eat the long grasses. “I teach my groups to use flint, now.”
“And I can make a fire with one,” Rae stated.
“Me, too,” Carl said.
“When we get back, everyone will go through a gate check to make sure that no one is infected. Those suspected will have a comfortable place to rest, clean up, drink water, eat food, and read books…for at least few days to be sure.
Those who check out clean will be allowed in and can get settled. Your necks…the backs of your necks will be checked, too, because of military inoculations.”
“A cure?” It was the old question people asked over and over.
“No, it makes people kind of immune to the bites, but they still have some of the same symptoms that the zoms have. I bet the military doctors didn’t talk to you. For inoculation.”
“What about necks?” Anthony rubbed his.
Kim laughed. “They put tattoos on those they inoculated.”
“I ain’t got a tat,” the man said, “I want one.”
“We got someone who does that,” said Kim as he pulled up one sleeve to show his wife’s name, the Jet, Hannah, Katie, Georgie, and Stevie (he didn’t know one day he would have another three added).
“Anyone Injured?” Len asked. “We better do a check.”
“My ankle,” Jessica said.
“It isn’t bitten,” Teeg examined it again and told Len. “Sprained. Not a mark on her; it’s just a sprain. He patted her with plastic gloves.” I put some cream on the ankle that will numb it; also, we have a good wrap on it. The doctors can take a look, but you aren’t bitten or scratched. Take some Tylenol, and drink this water for me.”
Carl held out a leg. “Screwed up knee, thank you very much, Lacey.”
Julia examined it and wrapped it more securely for him, making him wince. “It’s just bruised, but I bet it smarts a little. I think you’ll be off of it for a few days.”
“I ought to kick her ass for that, too,” Beth muttered.
Patrick showed Julia a chewed thumbnail since she asked to see all injuries. She looked very serious and thanked him for showing her.
After checking him with his mother’s help and finding him clear, she added a band-aid to his thumb after cleaning it thoroughly and putting a cream on the little torn nail. “Try not to use it too much until the nail is better.” With a wink at his parents, she patted his head.
“Thank you, Miss Julia,” he beamed.
Joyce held her hands up and said, “Nothing on me. Nothing on my legs; Jessica, check me?” Beth helped, saying the woman looked fine. Joyce and Bart relaxed and hugged Patrick as he watched the proceedings curiously. Teeg and Rae were checked, then Beth and Kim, then Len and Rev. They were cleared.
“Kim,” Len called his friend over. He was looking at Lacey’s ankle.
“What is it?” Lacey demanded.
“Just looking,” Len told her. He looked at her scratch. While bites were a gi
ven for the spread of the infection, scratches could go either way and often proved to be fine if it were a zed.
Reds often were covered in their own infectious blood and fecal matter, and a scratch easily could spread the germs. Zeds that were bitten and then infected might spread it with a scratch, but it depended on how fast they turned and their over all conditions. Also, more decomp meant more infection.
Len didn’t think it would help to ask the girl which kind scratched her.
There was only a small scratch on Lacey, hardly an inch long, with just a little blood, something that looked as if it were made by a cat’s claw or a thin branch. It was practically nothing.
However, the one who did this must have been a Red and had all kinds of infection on his hands, allowing the tiny bits of blood to enter Lacey’s blood stream in the small cut.
She was infected.
Most people would have a little scratch that would start healing the next day and be fine by the third day. This particular scratch wouldn’t work out that way. The cut was puffy at the edges, red, angry-looking, and scary. In the center, yellow pus already formed into a crust that smelled terrible, a stench, which once smelled, became unforgettable: such as rotting eggs, ruined meat, spoiled milk, old diapers, slimy bog waters, and vomit. But more than that, it smelled dangerous and busy. Those fast, purplish bruises formed around the wound, painting Lacey’s leg all the way to her knee, along with swelling and discoloration.
“Does it hurt?”
She looked afraid to answer. Len used plastic gloves and pressed the flesh gently, letting some of the pus flow free, wiping it away, and relieving the pressure that was already building. That always hurt so badly, but it relieved the pain for a while. Lacey tensed with the pain and then relaxed as it settled into a throb. “Yes. It hurts. What’s wrong?”
Len looked her over and sat back and said, “The blood on your face didn’t do anything; your eyes are clear, and you’re okay with that. When you received this scratch, the thing’s hands were dirty with spit or blood, and it opened up your skin with its nails.” He hated this part. “Lacey, you’re infected.”
“No,” she argued as she stumbled to her feet, “I am not.”
“I’m sorry….”
Beth rubbed her knuckles against her shirt. She hit the woman, and if her saliva met a cut on Beth’s hand, she would also be infected. Without thinking, she looked to Kim. He grabbed Beth’s hand and looked at it carefully, but there weren’t any marks. “Nothing.”
“Give me the alcohol,” Beth demanded. It wouldn’t help, but she felt better swabbing her hand. Kim took the cloth and scrubbed for her. “Use gloves,” she warned him.
“I don’t need them,” Kim said. What he meant was more than the words alone conveyed.
“What about me?” Lacey asked. “What do I do now?”
“This is what it is: You are infected, and I’m sorry, but you will turn. What you decide is called your own terms. How do you want to handle that part?” Alex asked her.
“You can’t mean that…my terms?” Lacey spat furiously.
“I watched a lady named Gina drink some gin and tonic in a tall glass with ice and take a handful of pills to help her decide for herself. I’ve seen people use a gun and handle it fast that way. People have asked me to take care of it for them,” Kim said. “I’ve also seen some ignore it and let it go until they turned, and then I put them down so that they wouldn’t live that way and harm others by attacking them.”
“Your choice,” Alex said softly, “people should be afforded the dignity to decide for themselves.”
“You can’t go any further with us. It’s spreading in you very fast.”
“You wanna shoot me, or I can kill myself; that’s what you have to offer? I never asked you to come get me out of the fucking mall where I was safe and uninfected,” Lacey screamed as tears rolled down her cheeks. She tried to think past the nausea and the throbbing of her ankle and her head.
“Awe, man,” Anthony said quietly.
“Just glad it isn’t you, huh?” Lacey asked. She leaned over to vomit until her stomach ached but was empty. “What am I supposed to do?”
“You decide for yourself what is right and best,” Alex said, “that’s far more than the zeds got; you have a choice in this. Imagine how they felt having no choice and being stuck like that forever unless someone bashed in their heads. We have a choice to say goodbye and to die how we want. I know I don’t have the guts, but how could I ask a friend to do it? Hard choice. But I know these fine people will do it right, and that’s my choice.”
“He’s right…you can,” Carl began and then cocked his head to the side. He looked at Len questioningly, confused. Something felt, as Len said, ‘hinky’.
Len’s jaw dropped before he could cover it. He felt sick.
“You mean if it were you,” Beth said to Alex. Unconsciously, her hand crushed down on Kim’s hand.
“Lacey, you have to decide, now,” Len said.
Lacey yelled a few curses and ran away from the rest, never looking back as she fled them; only a few watched, disinterested.
“I’m out of here; you’re not gonna shoot me like some rabid dog.” It wasn’t too long until she turned. Lacey was going the other way, or Julia might have taken a shot at the girl’s head, not wanting a zombie to come around.
Rae even raised her gun for a second before registering Len’s face. The shot would set off a barrage of emotions. She felt kicked in her gut. She thought and shook her head sadly, and Len gave her a nod.
“We’re going to start walking. Let’s leave the other three horses for Beth, Len, and Kim? Carl? Teeg? You want to come and help me?” Rae asked. She whispered to Rev and then said, “See ya, Alex. God speed.”
“For sure, Foxy Roxy Rae,” Alex said. Rev waved silently. Carl nodded and followed, holding his head down, sick to his stomach, and wishing he weren’t there.
“Beth, you and Jules wanna go on with Teeg?” Kim asked.
Julia stared, still putting it all together in her mind.
“You mean if you had to make a choice. Right, Alex?” Beth asked him. Next to Julia, Alex was her closest friend. The three were very close.
“I love you, Beth. And Jules. You two go with Teeg, okay? And you tell Kevin how brave and cool I was.”
“No,” Julia screamed, launching herself at Alex. Big Bill plucked her from mid-air and wrapped her in his strong arms. Despite her kicking and punching, he managed to carry her as he moved down the road, taking the blows as she fought to get loose. Julia was a fighter, and few could have held her back.
“She’s having some problems with this, I guess,” Alex said. His face was going hotter with fever, and he motioned to his leg. “Bitten right above the boot.”
“Because of me,” Teeg’s eyes filled with tears as he replied.
“You wish I hadn’t saved your handsome ass?” Alex asked and chuckled, “get out of here, or you’ll make me sad. Take Beth.”
“Are you sure, Alex?” Kim asked.
“Positive. It’s okay; it’s like I told that girl; this is better than what the others got. I got to see the mall…go figure…wow. Anyway, it’s my terms, and that’s just fine. You take care of my sweetie, Hannah, as she’s liable to take this badly.”
“I will.” Kim shook hands with Alex and then hugged him. Len did the same, then Teeg. “Beth? We need to get you out of here so Len and I can….”
It was the reason her friends admired her, and in all the world of chaos, she survived. It was why Kim loved her and why she became a mother to three adopted children. Beth’s face went from pale and sad to gentle and kind. She looked strong. Her jaw set firmly; she took a deep breath. “Alex, Honey, who do you want to be here with you and take care of things?”
“I don’t want any of you to have to do it, but if I do it, I’ll be shaking and may screw it up,” Alex sorrowfully said, looking at the ground. “I’m sorry to have to ask…maybe I’ll just….” A wave of nausea hit him
as his stomach clenched. Raw meat would settle the pain. His vision felt a little foggy.
“Are you ready?” Len asked, “we can wait, or we can talk first…we can….”
“Ahhh, stop putting it off. I need this while I can still think right and be myself. If I wait, then I’ll get scared, and the fever is already making me feel weird; it’s moving fast in me….”
He hoped that was enough. The nausea was bad, the fever was getting bad, and his calf ached all the way into his groin. In a little while, his head was going to be more dizzy and slippery than it was now, and he would not be himself. He could feel the infection nibbling at his mind and erasing his sense of self. “It’s going extremely fast.”
“We need some privacy, okay?” Len asked Beth and Kim. This was his offering to keep them from seeing it and for his taking on the responsibility alone.
“I can handle this….” Kim was uncomfortable and knew Len was miserable.
Beth held up one slender hand that held her rifle. Her face was a mask of calm. “You boys go on and let me spend a bit of time with my friend, okay?”
Kim didn’t want his wife to do this and cry later, but he saw her look of determination and love for Alex. He nodded and stepped away, turning his back and walking a few steps away, giving his wife and his friend the respect and privacy they needed. It was the only gift he had for Beth: his show of belief in her ability.
Len rubbed at his eyes. “Allergies,” he said and saluted Alex and Beth and moved away as well, going to stand with Kim.
“Hannah is going to be so pissed off; you know how she is. She’s going to throw a fit and do something wicked,” Beth told Alex.
“I bet she will.”
“Lord, now I’ll have to listen to her rant. Gee thanks, Alex.”
“Sorry, I am dying and pissing off your kid,” he chuckled, “take care of her, Bethy; she is amazing, and she’s going to be a more amazing woman. She’s the future.”
“Alex. She’s a hybrid,” Beth told him.