by Weeks, Kris
A scream sounded from in front of Alex as he dodged one that was falling towards him with an open mouth and then dodged another to get to where the scream was coming from. He stumbled over a body and fell to the ground. He kicked the feet out from under one that was coming towards him, kicked him as he fell over him and flung his body to the side, he rolled over and came face to face with a torn apart Atora. Half of her face was laid open and her stomach was torn in two. Her one eye that was still in her head was open but not moving.
“Atora.” Alex whispered.
She didn’t move. Alex rubbed her head and pulled his hand back full of blood. He could hear growling from behind him. He turned to see the one he had kicked crawling over to him. He rolled back over, grabbed his spear of rebar, hopped to his feet and drove the stake into the man’s head, a woman jumped onto his back and a loud growl sounded in his ear as a warning that she was ready to eat. Alex turned fast and grabbed her by the hair and flipped her over his back and jabbed the spike through her head and pulled it out. Another scream sounded again and Alex peered down at Atora with sadness and hauled ass towards the gate. He knocked down a few of the drunks and made his way past Thomas, Nate and Willy to the gate where Rue was trying to pick up Karlin, Adrianna was trying to keep the zombies at bay but was failing. Alex began helping Adrianna and looking for Eric to help, when the van roared up with doors wide open. Andrew jumped out and picked up the bleeding Karlin and crawled in the back and closed the doors. Rue jumped in the front and hollered to Adrianna to come on. Alex pushed Adrianna to the van and then jumped in behind her. Eric sped out of the gate and turned toward the three that were wearing thin on energy. Alex held the door open and grabbed Nate by the collar of his shirt and pulled his body into the van, his legs dragged the ground and he was able to pull them in just as Eric slowed near Willy. Nate still laid on the floor of the van as Willy jumped in and landed on top of Nate. They both scrambled to get up to make room for Thomas, Eric slowed the van after hitting a few of the sluggish that were still invading their land and Thomas headed to the van. A small woman in a torn sundress pounced forward in an instant and sunk her teeth into Thomas’s shoulder. Alex reached for Thomas and grasped his hand, he pulled him to the van before Eric stomped on the gas and Alex lost his grip. Thomas reached out for Alex as he fell to the ground with the woman still gnawing on him.
Chapter Six
“HEY, STOP!” Alex screamed.
Eric kept driving and turned around to head back towards the gate to the land.
“He is gone, we can’t have him in here with us after he has already been bit.” Eric hollered back over the screaming of Rowena.
Alex sat back in the chair as Nate and Willy made their way to the bench seat in the back. They passed Thomas as the woman made her meal out of him. Alex watched in horror as they passed by and Thomas stared up at them with pain in his eyes. Alex pulled the door closed and sat back rubbing his hands down his scruffy face.
Everyone settled themselves as the van roared away from the land.
“You are one stupid human being!” Eric roared from the driver’s seat.
Alex bowed his head knowing he was speaking to him for opening the gate. At the point he had done it, he was really just being an asshole. He was so tired of Eric’s bullshit.
“Tell me why I should not kick your ass out of this van right now and let you get eaten?” Eric asked.
Everyone stayed quiet except Rowena cooing. Alex dropped his head.
“Sorry.” He muttered.
Nate patted Alex on the shoulder and Willy nodded over at Alex telling him it was okay.
“We need to stop and check on Karlin, she is bleeding a lot!” Adrianna spat out.
“Was she bit Andrew?” Eric asked.
“Can’t tell!” Andrew started wiping away the blood.
Eric pulled over to the side of the road and stopped. He put the van in park and searched the area. “Everyone keep an eye out.” Eric told the group that was left. He barreled out of the driver’s side door, moved to the back of the van, he pulled open the doors and Andrew stepped out. Karlin laid with her eyes open to him and blood was smeared across her face.
“Were you bit Karlin?” Eric asked.
With no gentle touch at all, he pulled her up by the front of her shirt and turned her to see her back. He ran his hand down her back and up over her blood stained hair. He spun her back around and wiped the blood from her face with his hand and then wiped his hands on his jeans. She had a hole in the side of her neck that was spurting blood.
“I see the wound, it isn’t a bite.” Eric stated.
He grabbed an old towel from the floor of the van and handed it to Andrew. “Hold it tight, she was stabbed by something.” Eric told him.
Andrew loaded back up and Eric closed the doors and went back to his side of the van and hopped in. He put the van in drive and started to pull forward when Rue screamed.
“WATCH OUT!”
Eric slammed on the brakes and looked at Rue with anger across his face. Rue held Rowena close and pointed to the front of the Van. Eric turned to where she was pointing and tore his angry eyes away from Rue and came face to face with a woman laid across the hood of the van. The woman reached her frail arm towards the windshield and then dropped it down with a bang. Blood covered both of her arms, down the front of her button up blouse. She lifted her head from the hood and it was smeared across her face.
“Please?” The bloody woman questioned them on if they were going to help her or not.
“Oh shit, she’s alive!” Nate hollered from the back.
Alex pulled open the sliding door to the van and hopped out.
“Get the hell back in here!” Eric hollered. “You don’t know what is wrong with this woman and we don’t need any more passengers.”
“Don’t be a dick!” Adrianna belted out. “We have room, you can’t just leave her.”
“The fuck I can’t!” Eric stated calmly. “Alex get the hell back in here.”
Alex was already to the front of the van standing next to the woman. “Have you been bit?” He asked.
“No, but I just killed a whole hell of a lot of those things over in that field and there were plenty more where they came from.” She stated in her raspy voice between breathless pants.
“Come on.” Alex grabbed her arm and guided her to the side door of the van and helped her in, surprised that Eric had not taken off and left them there.
Adrianna moved over almost squishing Barker and allowed the woman to sit down, Adrianna unscrewed a half full water bottle that her and Barker had found on the floor and had been sharing. Alex jumped in and closed the door.
“I’m Alex, this is Willy and Nate; that is Adrianna, Barker, Andrew and Karlin in the back,” he pointed to each one. “This is Rue and Rowena and this here is Eric, he threw a thumb towards the driver’s seat.”
“I am Mary Roark. I had a house few miles down, but it is ate up with dumbasses now. I hiked it through the woods with the hoe I had been gardening with when zombies started in on my property and killed a ton of them. I got hemmed up in a tree and just got done fighting my way out. Thank you for stopping Eric.” She added to the explanation of her adventure.
Eric did not respond, which Mary let go since he was driving. Mary cleaned off her face with one of her cleaner hands and wiped it on her shorts she was wearing. She took a swig from the bottle Adrianna handed her and leaned her head back on the seat. She could see out of her peripheral that there was blood covering the floor of the very back of the van.
“What happened?” Mary asked sitting up straight and turning in the seat.
“Think she got impaled by a piece of the fence.” Andrew replied.
“Is it just puncture wound? If so, just keep pressure on it, the bleeding will stop and she will be okay. I had four boys that got hurt daily.”
“Well, good to have you aboard Mary.” Nate stuck out his hand.
They shook hands and Mary sat back and relaxed
enjoying the view of the zombies from somewhere they could not get her.
Eric drove on through the small town and passed a few small torn up buildings and through to the end of town. The sun was starting to set and everyone was getting tired of being in the van. Eric pulled over to the side of the road. He hopped out and stretched his arms toward the sky. He lifted each leg towards his chest. Alex slid open the door and stepped out.
“I didn’t say anyone needed to get out.” Eric turned when he heard the door.
Alex glared at him and helped pile everyone out of the van. Everyone got out and stretched as Eric had and walked around near the van to stretch their legs.
“Why is everyone not listening, get back in the van.” Eric demanded.
“We need to check on Karlin!” Adrianna turned to him and said with a tad of rudeness.
“I don’t care what…” Eric started.
“Eric, I want to thank you for stopping for me.” Mary interrupted and grabbed his hand to shake it.
Eric pulled his hand away quickly. “I didn’t stop, you were just in my way and I didn’t want to get your ass stuck in my radiator.”
Mary stepped back like his words had just pushed her away.
“Well, thanks anyway. Just a suggestion; being an asshole is probably going to get you killed.” Mary replied before walking away.
“Look, I run this ship; if you don’t like me, my attitude or the way it is ran, jump out there with the sharks.” Eric explained loudly.
“They’re just drunks!” Nate tried to lighten the mood.
Eric glared at Nate and began his spouting again. “Here is the plan. We are going to find a place to bed down for the night and possibly tomorrow if not longer if it is safe enough so we can gather some necessary things. Now get back in the van.”
Adrianna and Mary were both back cleaning off Karlin some more and checking on her injury. They both heard Eric. Adrianna climbed into the back with Karlin and Mary closed the doors. Andrew loaded up and took Adrianna’s place in the seat and everyone piled in after him. Eric was already in and pulled off before Alex could slide the door shut. He drove slowly down the main road and searched the outside for a stable building. The group scanned the sides of the road and watched for the staggering corpses. Eric turned to the left and into a parking lot. He stopped in front of the red brick building and killed the van.
“Here?” Rue questioned.
“Don’t question me!” He spouted back without looking at her.
He moved his head from side to side looking from one side of the building to the other. He turned to look behind them scanned to the left and right.
“Since you are the one that got us in this shit, you get out and check the building Alex.” Eric shot his voice behind him.
Alex slid open the door without hesitation and hopped out. He slid the door back to and walked toward the glass door.
The building had big letters across the top of the building that was supposed to read ‘ACME BRICK’ but only read ‘A ME B ICK’. The other two letters had fallen to the ground in front of the building and shattered. Sounds of cracking plastic sounded beneath Alex’s boots. He ran his hand across the bricks as he stepped into the entryway and up to the door. He pulled the door but it was locked. He looked through the Acme Brick logo on the door and the inside was filled with darkness.
“Find a way in.” Eric called from behind him.
Alex wanted so badly to just flip him off, but he refrained. He walked around the brick building to the side. There were six windows about midway up the wall. Alex stopped at each one to look in. He rounded the corner to the back and found a few more windows and a fenced in loading dock. Alex climbed the fence, hopped up onto the cement landing and went to each of the three roll up doors. The first and second were both padlocked, but he lifted on them anyway. He made his way to the third door and lifted as he did the others even though it appeared to be locked as well. He placed his hand around the handle, lifted and let go. The padlock fell to the ground from the latch holding it closed. Alex picked up the padlock, it had been placed on the door but never latched. With no weapons, Alex waited a minute to decide if he wanted to go back to the van or take the chance and open the door. He rubbed his dark beard and thought for a moment. He looked around the loading bay for something he could take with him. A large brick laid near the wall to his left.
“Better than nothing.” He picked it up and readied himself.
He reached down and lifted the door and took a step back. The door rolled up and slammed into place as it should have. Alex watched for any movement inside and stepped in. The little bit of light left from outside poured in allowing him to see. A forklift sat right inside and pallets of bricks were stacked behind it. Two doors were on each side of a large window that looked into an office. Alex made his way to the door that read ‘OFFICES” in big black bold letters. He turned the handle, happy to find that it was unlocked. He stepped over the threshold and let the door go. He took a couple of steps and jumped as the door slammed behind him.
“Son of a bitch.” He said out loud after staring down the door.
Alex tiptoed through the hallway and passed the closed office doors. He thought about his son in that moment and smiled because he knew he would have laughed at the door scaring him. He missed having his boy by his side. He missed his whole family and wished that he would have saved them all or been taken out with them.
A bang on one of the closed doors brought him back to what he was doing. He jumped again and a bang sounded again through an office door that he was getting ready to come up on. He didn’t dare get near it. He put his back against the wall away from the door and slid past it watching it like a hawk not knowing what or how many were inside. He hurried to the opening at the end of the hall and came into a maroon tiled floor opening into what looked to be used as the front office. A desk was to the left, uncomfortable plastic chairs sat to the right with a coke machine and vending machine stashed in the corner. Alex stepped toward the vending machine looking at the rows of food that he so badly wanted. He ran his hand across the glass and quickly shot back to reality and flashed his eyes back to the door that he tried to come through earlier. He hurried back to the door with the thought of the rest of his friends, besides Eric stuck outside. He unlocked the two deadbolts on the glass door and a slide bolt at the bottom and top of the door, he pulled it open to everyone still sitting in the van. He stepped out into the small entryway and out into the open. He waved to the group that was watching intently for him. The group piled out into the parking lot and hurried in as Alex held open the door. Adrianna and Andrew carried in Karlin and after everyone filed in, Alex pulled the door closed and locked all the locks.
“So far I have heard one in an office down the hall.” Alex informed everyone.
Eric walked around the lobby and turned to the group. “Alex go clear out rooms.”
“I think it is a good idea to rest for a bit before we do that. We need to get some food and water in us.” Alex replied back.
“No, it is a good time to listen to what I say.” Eric walked into Alex’s face. “You are the one that almost got all of us killed, now you can keep us all safe by clearing out this building. You are going to listen or you are out!” Eric pulled Alex by the shirt and pushed him down the hall.
As Alex passed by the front desk, brick still in hand, he also grabbed a conveniently placed letter opener that laid on the desk.
“Hang on there, I will go with!” Mary grabbed a nearby brick stacked against the wall and walked toward the hallway.
“No, you will stay in here and help start trying to get all of the food out of the machines.” Eric pulled her by her shoulders and turned her around.
Mary stopped and turned back toward Eric. “Look here boy, I am not the one you are going to push around. I have been on this earth a lot damn longer than you, and your scrawny, inked up self will not be directing me in any way, especially by putting your hands on me! You get that?” She spa
t out at Eric.
Everyone’s eyes were huge waiting for Eric’s response. He stared at Mary and pursed his lips a bit. “Well, aren’t you a feisty old bat; however your mouth is going to get you talking to zombies…outside! Shut your mouth and keep it that way.”
Mary took a step back and cocked her head at Eric. “How about this, we can compromise. I am going to help Alex and then I will come back and use one of my old bat bobby pins to open the machines and you can sit over there on your lazy ass and do nothing.”
Mary walked hastily past Eric and into the hallway, she pulled Alex by the arm and led him down the hall.
“Where is it, let’s get it done.” Mary held the brick out to her side.
Alex looked at her realizing that she did not understand the likes of Eric.
“You can’t do that shit, he is an asshole!” He whispered.
“I don’t give a damn what he is. I am old enough to be his momma, and he will have a little respect.” She whispered back.
Alex shook his head and placed his hand on the door knob. He looked at Mary and nodded, she nodded back and planted her feet. Alex turned the knob and cracked the door open, he pushed it open slowly and could hear a low growl. He swayed the door open and stood back waiting for the attack. Mary stepped to the side of Alex so that they were both blocking the doorway. They looked at each other and then back at the man sitting against the wall across from them. Alex turned his body to step in front of Mary and stepped into the room. The man’s skin color was pale, and his eyes were a pretty blue color. There was no blood on his face or arms to indicate he had eaten anyone. Alex took another step and Mary stepped in behind him and grabbed his shirt pulling him back a bit.