“They were not in their normal state. They were like your brother. A nd that happened a while ago, before most people knew anything about the creatures. Now they seem to be all over the place. The government was trying to cover up the whole thing for some reason which I still don’t understand, and they used me as a scapegoat.”
Jake also described his abbreviated stint as a mobster. Denise was confused. “So that Shark guy you slashed and threw into the river, was he a zombie too?”
“No, he was just a douchebag.”
When Jake was done, both sat silently as the Soul rolled down I 95. Jake broke the silence by changing the topic. “Can you see if my lady is on there? Amanda McKnight.”
“Umm. I found some lady named Amanda McKnight-Tillinghast. Here’s her picture. Is thather? She’s pretty!”
Jake looked at the Samsung Galaxy screen to see the face of an angel. It was Amanda, his soul mate, his personal celestial being who now apparently belonged to another. Denise narrated, “this says she married some dude named Chad Til linghast. Looks like he is some crazy rich oil man or something. Wait a minute. She posted that her previous boyfriend died. How come she thinks you’re dead?”
Jake offered an explanation. “It seems like someone with the state or the feds wanted everyone to think I’m dead. So, they fed the media some bull crap, and the media blasted it out there for everyone to see. I guess Amanda believed it was true.”
Jake clenched his jaws and squeezed the Soul’s steering wheel hard enough to make his knuckles glow white. He continued to drive onward, maintaining his strong, tough exterior while within him his heart was melting into a puddle of gelatinized mush.
Chapter Twenty-Eight - In the Flesh
Boston, Massachusetts Mack and Duy had been at the Lansdowne House for over a week now. Janice and her fellow compassionate constituents had done the best they could for Duy, who appeared to be on death’s doorstep when he first arrived there. The group provided the Dew-man with necessary nourishment through intravenous fluids and cleaned up some minor scrapes, cuts, and scratches he had obtained throughout their venture. He still wasn’t feeling wonderful, but the young attorney at least now had enough strength to stand up and walk about.
“I wouldn’t get too overzealous if I was you, Duy,” Janice cautioned. I’m still not exactly sure what it is you had or have. It’s not completely out of your system. At first, I thought it looked like the flu. But then you were also showing symptoms that were like Lyme disease, which is quite prevalent in this region. I really think it would be best for you to stay here and get more rest.”
“That’s kind of you, and I truly appreciate everything you have done for me. But we really must get going. Jake is probably on the move again. The news stations are all talking about him, showing his picture on TV. They say he is wanted for the murder of some well-known mobster known as ‘Shark.”
Mack and Duy began conducting a quick inventory of the supplies within their backpacks. They were preparing to head back out on the road in search of Jake. Anthony ran into the room and said “dudes, take me with you!” Janice was shocked and saddened at the thought that her good little friend Anthony wanted to leave. Young Carlos overheard the commotion coming from the front parlor, and he went to investigate further. “What’s going on, Anthony?”
“Hey, little buddy.” Anthony began his explanation. “As long as this city is overrun with these creatures, there will never be thepotential for me to achieve my life’s dream. I will never get the chance again to own another tattoo shop here. So why should I stay? I want to get out of here, see the country. Or what’s left of it. Hopefully it’s not like this everywhere, but I won’t ever know if I don’t go see for myself.”
Carlos’ eyes began to well up and fill with tears. “I don’t want you to leave, but I can’t stop you either,” he said. “Take this -it will keep you safe from the monsters.” The little boy handed the little person a super soaker water cannon that was nearly as big as Anthony.
“Oh, little dude. That’s awesome! Thanks, buddy.” Anthony felt bad about leaving his little amigo. He began to search for the perfect token of his appreciation for someone who Anthony had considered much like a younger brother. “I’ve got something for you too!” “Aaahhhhh, here it is,'' Anthony said as he reached into his backpack. He pulled out the
square clear plastic compact disc case, which contained his favorite band’s best compilation of rock music. “Van Halen 1! Little dude, it’s all yours now. Someday you will thank me!” He handed the masterpiece over to Carlos, who took possession of the prized CD. Carlos realized that whatever this thing was, it must be special. Anthony had tears running down his face as he handed it over. And Anthony never cries. Never.
“All right, Anthony. If you want to come with us, you’re more than welcome. We’re gonna find Jake and tell him what we have learned about his wrongful conviction. We will probably have to kill a few zombies along the way. So,if you’re down with all that, let’s go.”
Mack, Duy, Anthony and Roscoe all bid farewell to Janice and Carlos and they shoved off, out to the mean streets that awaited them.
“So where to now, Mack?” Duy asked as the group climbed up into the filth- covered Avalanche.
“I’ve go t to think that Jake, being on the run again, would probably try to stay in areas he is somewhat familiar with. Sometimes that means it is easier for others to predict where he will land, but Jake can handle himself. I think he may be willing to risk it. Especially when he is comfortable and knowledgeable about his surroundings and can use them to his advantage. I know we already checked his parent’s place once, but it’s less than an hour south of here. Shall we give it one more shot?”
“Shit yeah, why not? “Anthony chimed in. He was already feeling accepted and welcomed with open arms by his new band of brothers.
West Greenwich, Rhode Island The Avalanche pulled up to the closed gate across the front driveway to the Hathaway residence. Upon a closer look, the guys were able to see that the gate was padlocked shut.
“I don’t recall that gate being closed last time we were here” Duy recalled.
“Yeah, it wasn’t.” Mack affirmed.
“Hell, let’s just go blast the lock off,” Anthony said, new to the team and f ull of piss and vinegar. He reminded Mack of himself when he was a rookie and Jake was training him fresh out of the police academy.
“Nah, that will make too much noise. Let’s just leave the truck here and hop the gate and walk up to the house. Gear up, fellas. Who knows what we will find when we get there?” Anthony strapped the untested muzzle blades onto Roscoe’s snout, then they made their weapons ready and exited the Chevy. They all jumped over the gate and strolled up to the front door of the old white Victorian with dark green wooden shutters. They found the door unlocked and slowly opened it as Mack announced their arrival. “Hello? Mr. and Mrs. Hathaway?”
The men cleared the house, finding no trace of Jake or his parents. They were about to leave the premises when Duy walked into the living room. He approached the large oak mantle shelf above the fireplace. “He was here.”
Duy reached up to the mantle, retrieved an item from the shelf, and handed it over to Mack. “What is it?” Anthony asked. The blue and silver paint on the Dallas Police Sergeant badge wasn’t bright and shiny anymore. Not like it was when it was presented to the newly promoted Sergeant Jake Hathaway not that long ago. Now it was somewhat dull and worn and scratched. But it had plenty of stories to tell, if it could only speak.
“How do you know that hasn’t been here for quite a while?” Anthony asked. “I don’t believe Jake had been home since promoting to sergeant.” Mack recalled. “I bet we’re not that far behind him. I just don’t have any idea where he would have gone from here, unless he’s just headed back home to Dallas.”
Mack placed the badge back upon the wooden mantle, and they all began to exit the house. Suddenly they heard the bellowing sound from a Jersey cow coming from the back pasture. Th
e team walked out to the back pasture to see Martha pacing back and forth. “Hey, old girl, what’s wrong?” Mack spoke to the light brown mature milking cow who stood beside a four- foot-high stonewall that marked the east border line of the Hathaway property.
That was when the guys noticed the two gravesites just a few feet away from the cow. “Oh shit. What the hell happened here?” Mack asked. “That’s not good. These are fairly fresh, too.”
Several hundred feet away was a brick red garage with three separate bays. One of the sections housed a farm tractor and the other two hosted a variety of other equipment, such as a hay baler, hay tedder, rake, and snowplow. The guys decided this would be a good opportunity for them to stock up on supplies while they are here. They should gather up some fuel, tools, weapons and so forth now that the Hathaways would not need these items any longer. They were mindful that a lot of the service stations in the area had closed as a result of the Dead Armageddon, which made gasoline and other supplies that much more difficult to come by.
Mack entered the tractor shed and began to unscrew the gas cap to the old dirt encrusted orange Allis Chalmers farm tractorin the first bay. “Cool, it’s got about half a tank left. You guys see if you can find a hose somewhere.”
Duy spotted a garden hose just outside the garage and brought it over to Mack. Then he obtained three large portable plastic gasoline containers in the corner and moved them closer to the tractor.
Mack and Duy began to work on siphoning the fuel from the tractor tank and into the portable cans. Meanwhile, Anthony and Roscoe began to scout out the rest of the utility building. The pint-sized one came across a selection of smaller gasoline powered tools such as chainsaws and weed whackers. He began to pour the remaining fuel from them into the water chamber of his super soaker cannon.
At that moment, Anthony noticed that Roscoe was no longer by his side or inside the tractor garage. The police dog was now standing just outside the middle bay door but facing the opposite direction. He was growling fiercely, his gaze focused upon the tree line and what he heard directly behind the wooded property line.
A seemingly hungry pack of horribly demented dogs and contaminated cats had been scouring the area. The sounds and scents of the human group on the Hathaway property had caught their attention. Some of these dogs and tabbies were formerly house pets that became infected along the same lines of their human counterparts. Others had always been out on their own and never had a place to call home. Nonetheless, they were all together now and with one thing in common: the need for feed. Preferably human or other animal flesh.
The herd of approximately a dozen mutated monstrosities began to make a beeline toward their living feast. They were much slower than normal animals, moving with a cynical stagger and an unbridled enthusiasm to devour.
A black death vomit drained from their nostrils and mouth, all were missing at least chunks or all their fur. More than one was missing an eyeball. One of the canine creatures at the rear of the pack was once a collie. Now, only ITs upper torso remained. IT was using its two front legs to pull the stumpy carcass forward. The group smelled of a combination of garbage and death.
Anthony called out to his friends, “umm, guys… we got trouble. “
The other two men looked up to see the approaching maniacal mutts and looked around to each find an improvised weapon within a close proximity. Mack reached for a wooden-handled, ten-pound sledgehammer. Duy grabbed a short-handled, curved-blade sickle. The pair exited the garage and began to march toward the pack, sledging and slashing the heads of the chaos breed.
Anthony recognized that as effective his comrades seemed to be in stopping some of these beasts, they were still severely outnumbered by this pack of crazed animals. He accessed his freshly fueled super soaker and began to shower the demon beasts with gasoline. He then pulled a large metal Zippo lighter from his pants pocket and flicked the metal spark wheel with his left thumb. Holding the flame up in front of the water cannon’s muffle, he effectively turned what was once a child’s squirt gun into one badass flamethrower.
Anthony torched the beasts as his comrades stood back, watching as the creatures matted fur, muscle, and tendons melted to the ground. The creatures were not fazed by being barbecued or acting as if they were experiencing pain.
Now they were completely scorched, like beasts in a petting zoo from hell. A couple of the zombie dogs and attempted to continue forward but their legs just crumbled below them, and their advance was thwarted.
“I hope you all like your meat well done,” Anthony said. “Let’s fini sh them off and get out of here.”
Roscoe ran up to muzzle slash the first line of roast beast, while Mack and Duy utilized their garage tools to finish off the rest.
The team then gathered their filled gas cans and garage gold. Theyretreated to Mack’s truck, still parked in the driveway on the other side of the Hathaway’s closed gate.
It was now nightfall, and Mack parked the Avalanche in a nearby church parking lot. The group opted to get some rest in the secure vehicle rather than risk their safety by camping out in the unknown.
New York Interstate
Come sunrise, the crew was back on the road again. Dew-man was now driving the begrimed king cab pickup. They began to recount their experience on the Hathaway property with the anthropophagous animals. Anthony asked, “So what the hell do you think caused those animals to change into what we saw?”
“I don’t know for sure. But being stray animals and with no steady food source, I imagine they were probably feasting upon infected carcasses that had been discarded in the streets, the forests, everywhere,” Duyreplied. “Thank god Graham made that muzzle for Roscoe so he’s not ingesting any of that nasty shit!”
They were about to enter the lower tip of New York state from Connecticut when McElroy picked up his cellphone. He noticed that the ringer was still turned off and muted from when he had shut it off to sleep the previous night. He also discovered that he had missed an incoming call about an hour earlier, and there was a message on his voice mail in-box.
Mack began to play the recording and held the phone to his ear to listen. He suddenly began to feel his jaw drop. The eerie voice on the recording was one from the past. It was a voice he was not sure if he would ever hear again.
Duy saw the stupefied ex pression on Mack’s face and pulled the vehicle over to the side of the road. “What, man? What is it?”
Mack pushed play again on the voice message and then set it to ‘speaker’ for all to hear. “Hey, brother. It’s me, Jake. Maybe you’re not answering because you’re still upset about Holly. I really had no choice, man. You must believe me. She wasn’t herself. Neither was my brother. I guess by now everyone has seen these thingsand noticed what’s happening to people. I just heard that Amanda thinks I’m dead and she went and married someone else already. What the hell is that all about? Anyways, sorry I missed you but maybe I’ll get another chance later. Stay safe buddy.”
Duylooked at Mack and astonishingly said, “Oh my god, he really is alive!”
Chapter Twenty-Nine - Us and THEM
New York Interstate Hwy Mack attempted to find the phone number Jake had called from, but there was nothing showing on Mack’s cell phone caller ID. “He must have used *67” Duy said. Why would he not want you to be able to call himback? “
“Maybe he is afraid that the people who are hunting him as a prison escapee have access to my phone records?” Mack wondered. “But just because I can’t get a name or address from the phone he used, m aybe I can find out which cell tower he was closest to when he made the call. I’ve got a dispatcher friend who might be able to help me out with this.”
The DPD officer searched through his contacts on his cellphone, located the correct one, and called. “Hey, Tracy, it’s me, Mack. I received a call on my line just a little over an hour ago. Any chance you can find out which cell service provider that call was from and then try to ping it for me? It’s important. I need to know the locat
ion that call was madefrom.”
Tracy advised it would take a few minutes and said she would have to call Mack back. Twenty minutes later, the dispatcher rang back and said, “okay Mack, the phone that called you is serviced by T-Mobile, and they were able to ping it for me. The call you are referring to was made within a threemile radius of the southwest borderline of Newport News, Virginia.”
“Hmmm. Newport News…Newport News…. I have heard someone mention that place before.” Mack thought aloud. It didn’t take long for him to recall who had spoken of that Virginia town. “Jake was telling me about his old DPD buddy who resigned and left to move to Virginia. Now he’s an air marshal.”
Tracy offered, “That was Stanley Glazier.” “Yes, that sounds right. Can you look up his new address for me, please?” Mack got the address from Tracy and said, “All right, fellas, looks like we need to head towards Newport News.”
“Hey, Mack, one more thing,” Tracey added. “This may prove to be interesting to you. Remember that Gladys woman that testified against Jake at his murder trial? She was found murdered the other day.”
“Really? That isinteresting! Do we have any suspects yet?”
“I don’t know. I’m just a dispatcher, Mack. No one tells us the GOOD shit. Except I heard that she was hacked up pretty good.”
“Wow. Hey, thanks for all your help, Tracey. Bye.”
Anthony was beyond curious. “Who is Gladys!?”
“Gladys Torrence; she was the nosey neighbor who testified against Jake,” Mack said in response to Anthony’s question, but then continued to think to himself out loud. “So, she was correct in some of her statements during her testimony. Rich probably had changed over time, in appearance and behavior, considering the way his carcass looked. She assumed he might have been doing drugs or excessively drinking alcohol, but there was something far different going on with him. His posture became hunched and slumped over; his appearance and hygiene deteriorated noticeably. Who knows what was really happening to him? My guess is that he was changing as a result of being infected. He was probably turning into one of THEM.
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