by T. W. Brown
I did not even see the damn thing. It had one of its arms left and part of the upper rib cage and a few vertebrae that looked almost like a stubby tail. I was just on my back, staring at the sky, enjoying the warmth of the fire when the thing grabbed my arm. Before I could do anything it had latched on to the sleeve of my coat with its jagged, broken teeth. If not for the thick flannel pullover that I had on underneath my jacket, I would not be making this entry.
Most zombies these days have some pretty busted up chompers from all the years of gnawing bone, trying to chew through walls and doors, along with the general lack of oral hygiene. That allows them to tear through things better. I should have been wearing my studded leather; but NO-O…I wanted to be comfortable and star gaze.
After I spiked the thing, I had a rough time sleeping. Not to mention I had to sweep the area for signs of any more snappers. Sure enough, found three more. This little pod had probably once been part of a larger herd and got left behind.
We are a few days outside of Billings. Since that area has one of the larger settlements, I have to guess that is their destination. I will be happy just to sleep in a bed. I have not been to Billings in a while, I wonder if it is still the same.
For those of you who have not been…it is like a mix of ancient Rome and the Wild West. They have everything you can imagine, and a lot of things that you can’t. I am willing to bet that Darwin Goodkind will sell his “cargo” there.
I think I have him figured out from what I have seen. This is his scam.
He stops outside of a town he targets. His mercs stay with the wagon of women and he goes in to town with the other men that he travels with. They sell goods, but the entire time, Darwin’s men are seeking out women to seduce or proposition. They arrange a meeting outside of town the day they leave. The woman shows up expecting a little fling and gets knocked in the head and thrown in that cart.
Since I started following them, I have seen this play out in four settlements of varying size. If I am correct, there are at least a dozen women in that wagon now.
On the down side, I think this Darwin character is suspicious. He has lost a few men in a short time. That last one was sloppy. They found the body, and that prompted Darwin to hire four more mercs. I am going to have to either make my move soon, or give up on this one.
One way or the other, I will make up my mind in Billings. I would hate to give up on this one. The guy is scum and needs to be taken down, however, while I can certainly hold my own in a fight, only action heroes in the old movies can win when the odds are this stacked against them. In the real world, taking on over a dozen seasoned fighters would be my death sentence. And while I am not afraid to die…I am not willing to just rush into it enthusiastically.
15
Geek on a Cross
A small crowd quickly swelled to a large one as word spread that one of the “unclean” had been handed over to their leader for justice. Kevin heard the ropes strain and the pulleys whine as the men began to heave. Slowly, like the start to a roller coaster, Kevin began rising up.
With a few momentary pauses as the men re-gripped the rope and gave a pull, eventually Kevin was almost all the way up. There was a sudden drop that sent his stomach to his throat as the pole seated into the hole with a reverberating thud that sent pain through his shoulders as the weight of his body shifted.
His feet scrambled for purchase on the tiny block. When his heels found it, he was able to take some of the weight from his body off of his shoulders.
“My people,” Erin called out, and the crowd went silent. “I have another of those that would defy God and resist his call to the grave when the curse set free from the vials and broken seals seeks to do its holy work.”
There was a cheer, and Kevin looked around, hoping for, but not finding one face that was sympathetic. What he saw was hate and rage. These people were sheep being led by a wolf.
“This abomination would try to come and steal your soul before you have redeemed yourself and made peace with the most holy God in order to secure your place in Heaven. With his tainted blood, he would have you all infected and one of the soulless wanderers for all eternity.”
An angry roar arose, and from somewhere, a rock sailed through the air and slammed into Kevin’s chest. As if a signal had been sent, several more came. He could duck and bob his head somewhat, but his ability was so limited, and in seconds he felt pain radiate and his vision go to white as rocks found his face.
“Enough!” Erin bellowed.
Amazingly, the rain of stones ceased in an instant. Kevin could feel the warmth of blood trickling down his face. His vision remained blurry and it felt as if his right eye might be swelling shut. He spat out a mouthful of blood and was thankful that no teeth came along for the ride.
“This man will remain here as that wave of death comes. He will be swept away by them, and it will be he that loses his soul before he can redeem it!” Erin shouted, her voice becoming fervent.
The crowd cheered. Kevin looked down as Cherish began to string a long cord with hundreds of tiny bells around his legs. She tossed them up and over his outstretched arms. Every time that he moved, there was a jingle. When he re-positioned his feet, there was a cacophony of noise.
The men who had hoisted him up were now busy building a fire just about five feet away. He was going to be the decoy. It was common knowledge that zombies came to large heat sources. They were doing everything they could to bring the dead right to him.
Wagons were already in a line to cross the bridge and depart this small island that had once been a park that housed a soccer field on one part with a picnic area on the other end.
A group of men appeared and started dispersing the crowd. Erin remained with Cherish as everybody left. Kevin continued to struggle with keeping his heels on the tiny wooden block. Every time he so much as twitched, bells would ring like some sort of deranged Christmas ornament.
“I really hope that sound carries,” Erin said, looking up at Kevin with almost no emotion on her face. “And don’t you worry about that woman you were travelling with, I am sure that my people are keeping tabs. Perhaps there will be enough left of you that I can have your head on my desk when she comes looking for you once the dust settles, so to speak.”
Erin turned and started off, directing her people and leaving Kevin as the last person on the tiny island. He wanted to hope that maybe the zombie herd might shift again. But, if anything, all the noise from this camp being broke down and on the move would only serve to pinpoint his location.
His feet slipped and the jingle of bells sounded. A second later, it was answered by a chorus of low moans.
***
“Well I didn’t sign up for this kind of garbage!” a woman spat. “If she did what you are saying, then why don’t we just kill her?”
“I plan on it,” Catie mumbled. Darlene nudged her in the ribs.
“And you are certain of what you saw?” a man asked, standing up on his tiptoes to be seen.
“Absolutely,” another man said calmly.
Catie had been introduced to Rob McKay. He and his partner, Sam Redding were like night and day…in more ways than one. Sam was tall, with dark skin. Rob had skin that was so milky white that it practically glowed in the dark, an enormous splattering of orange freckles and curly red hair that almost looked like a fright wig. But where Rob was muscular and had the look of a fighter to him, Sam was nerdy and stick thin.
“It’s like Carrot Top and Erkel,” she had quipped when the two men were out of earshot and it was just her and Darlene.
“Yeah, but you don’t want to piss either one of them off,” Darlene said with a frightening seriousness. “They have things floating around in their minds that make me grateful they are on our side.”
She was curious, but it would have to wait. They had gathered in the shadow of the partially struck military tent. Catie counted seventeen people. They were all apparently “in” on the whole idea that their leader, this Erin Crens
haw, might not be all that she was trying to claim.
Darlene had been on the fence about it, but now she seemed to be committed. Catie had to credit it to Kevin. He had shown her the “monster” up close and personal. She had made her own conclusions and realized that those who were immune were not all evil just like all that were not immune were all good.
“You need to see this!” a man exclaimed as Rob was about to speak further on his plan to depose Erin Crenshaw.
Catie had actually chuckled at the use of that word: depose. What they meant was that they would kill her and somebody else would have to step forward. But now that would seemingly have to wait. The man standing just inside the tent flap looked like he had seen a ghost.
People started filing out, mostly out of curiosity in regards to whatever had this young man so rattled. Catie figured that the herd of zombies had finally made the scene. Honestly, it did not matter how often you had dealt with zombies in the past, a large herd could still put fear in your heart and make you stop and stare for at least a moment or two to witness the awesome power the zombies possessed when they were in such great numbers.
They had to weave around the people involved in the mass exodus of what had once been Jordan’s Point Park. Word had been passed that the rally point was the parade grounds of the Virginia Military Institute. Once everybody was there, apparently Erin was going to announce their new destination.
Catie had decided that these people were the modern day and human equivalent of locusts. They came, ravaged anything and everything useful. Made themselves a nuisance to anybody who might already be in the area, then they moved on. She was pondering that idea when she stepped into the alley between a pair of the last remaining tents that were in the process of being taken down.
“Is this some sort of ritual?” Catie asked.
In the distance, she could see a man hanging from a cross. The sun was in a position that it was really nothing more than an amorphous and unidentifiable shape. However, a sick feeling began to grow as those around her had gone suddenly silent.
She turned to Darlene. “I’m serious, do you guys do this every time you leave. Some sort of offering to God or whatever it is that you believe in?”
“No, these are only done for the worst of the worst. The last one was over three years ago. Some guy went on a bit of a spree and raped three women. His last victim managed to tear his mask off. He beat her down and left her for dead outside of camp, but a roving patrol found her before a zombie did.” Darlene shuddered. “The guy was strung up and then lowered into a cage of zombies as his punishment. Oh…and he was stripped naked. Guess what they ripped off first.”
“He wasn’t on a cross, though,” Rob pointed out. “They put him on what was basically a giant ‘X’ and so he was left dangling…literally.”
Catie shuddered at the thought and shielded her eyes to try and get a better look. She still could not see because of the way the sun was hitting, but a feeling was growing inside her.
A hand grabbed her arm, and Catie looked down to see it was Sam. He shook his head. “We gotta go. Everybody is rolling and that herd could be here any minute.”
Catie pulled away. “In case you forgot, I’m not one of you. Maybe you are okay with something like this, but it seems rather barbaric to me. Why not just execute the poor bastard and be done with it?”
She started walking against the grain of the crowd. A moment later, she felt somebody beside her. She was not surprised to see Darlene.
“I have a bad feeling about this,” Catie whispered.
***
Kevin tried to turn his head, but every time he did, he would slip from his perch and jerk to a halt, wrenching his shoulders something terrible. To compound things, all the bells would jingle and clank. The zombies were getting louder. This caused him to want to turn his head and the whole thing would start over. He was almost certain that he had dislocated his shoulder the last time he fell. The pain was white hot and constant from his left shoulder now, and even with his foot on the perch, the pain remained.
For some reason, the sun seemed especially bright and hot. He hadn’t remembered it being quite so brutal, but his thirst was becoming almost painful in how unbearable it had become. Carefully taking the pressure off of the one heel, Kevin allowed that single foot being lifted to act as his center of focus. It was the only spot not engulfed in pain at the moment. He had to bite down to endure the agony in his shoulders, but it was just for a few seconds and then he wedged it back into place.
He took those few seconds to take stock of himself. He was certain that his one heel was terribly bruised, it would not allow him to stand on that tiny wooden ledge much longer. At some point when he’d been hoisted, his prosthetic had come unseated. Now it dangled impotently and useless, reminding him of his often ignored fragility. His head throbbed from the blow he had received at the hands of Cherish Brandini, and flies were starting to buzz around it which added to the creepy and unclean feeling that had him fantasizing of a giant wash basin.
He could feel a dull, hot throb from his one wrist. He could not bear to look over at it. His arm was straight and tied securely, but about halfway up the forearm, that horrendous break left what remained hanging limply. The radius and ulna were both snapped in two. He was certain the bone had come through the skin, but he was wearing a long-sleeved shirt and coat which prevented him from actually confirming that suspicion with his own two eyes.
Yet, none of this compared to what was coming, He could hear them; and by now, he could smell them. The dead were coming for him and there would be no miracle save. His credo of “This ain’t the movies!” rang like an evil taunting chant in his head. The zombies would finally win.
He thought about everybody he had lost. Some he had missed terribly, others not so much. Hell, he was only human. He had never been much of a people person, and when he was being honest with himself, he knew that his know-it-all mentality was off-putting to say the least.
Yet somehow, through it all, he had met Aleah. They had been madly in love. It was not her fault that he was immune and she was one of the unknown. They had gotten drunk one night on some homemade blackberry brandy. She had actually suggested going out to find a zombie and letting it bite her. That way they would know for sure.
Kevin still hated the fact that he had taken a few seconds before coming to the conclusion that such a thing would be a bad idea. He had loved her so much, and while they could have tried to make a go of it, they both knew it was mere fantasy.
And then there had been the odd fling with Heather. Five years of being so close and more of the homemade blackberry brandy coupled with them both being immune had resulted in an odd romance. Kevin struggled the entire time with the fact that he had known Heather when she was still just a teenager. The fact that she was in her early twenties held no credence in his mind.
They parted under good terms and remained friends all the way up to the day that he and Catie left. In fact, Heather had been intent on coming along with her new beau, but the pregnancy nullified that possibility.
And then there was Catie. Their love-hate relationship had been one for the ages. Not once had she ever just accepted anything because it was his idea. Many council meetings were adjourned with those two going at each other over everything from matters of security to farming techniques.
One night after a particularly heated argument, it had been Aleah’s insistence that the two meet and hash out their deep-seated problems, whatever they might be. She had acted as moderator for the first ten minutes when she stood up and told Catie to simply kiss Kevin and get it over with. After some sputtering and hemming, she had actually kissed him. It had been done out of anger more than anything else as she vehemently denied any interest in him.
At some point, apparently Aleah had left. Kevin could not say when, because it was as if something in him had finally clicked into place. He was madly in love from that point on. The two became Beresford’s first “power couple” as they stee
red the community to a prosperity and comfort that many believed they would never know again.
It was as if his mind had found its other half. Eventually, the town no longer needed their guidance to sustain itself. People had learned, paid attention, and offered their own contributions to making things better.
And then the nightmares came. He’s had to know for certain about his sister and mom. He had to return to the place he knew they had gone and see for himself what had befallen them. He had actually considered slipping away and going alone. He loved Catie dearly and was afraid that such a trip would result in her death. He’d already sent enough of the people that he cared about to their graves. He did not want to be the reason Catie died.
But he knew that there was no way he could do something like that to her. She had made it clear early on that she would remain at his side forever.
“You’re the first person smart enough for me to love forever,” Catie told him one night as she lay snuggled against his side.
“And you might be the only woman tough enough to stand me that long,” Kevin had said as he leaned over and kissed the top of her head.
It was in that instant as he hung on that cross, his mind doing everything possible to distract him from the pain, that he realized why he had felt so at home in Falling Run.
As a child, his family had owned that cabin up the hill. They had made the trip every year, sometimes as many as four different outings. It was his father’s escape from the hustle and bustle of his work life. And while he had hated it as a teen, he realized that most of his best childhood memories had revolved around that cabin. This area was someplace that was imprinted on his mind as good…peaceful. Home.
Kevin screamed. Looking down, he saw that the first of the leading edge of the zombie herd had at last reached him. One of them had grabbed at his leg and tugged, causing the pain to shoot through both shoulders.
Through his blurry vision brought on by the tears filling his eyes, he saw more heads turn his way. Some that had passed by and perhaps not noticed were now very aware of his existence. He was an island of meat in a sea of undead. Already he was engulfed on all sides; the undead tens of feet deep.