“No, not really," John said feeling uncomfortable.
Derek looked at him for a second, realizing there was some underlying meaning to that answer but let it pass without asking.
“I haven’t talked to them since before this started. I keep telling myself she’s alive and safe somewhere."
Derek paused and stared into his beer.
"Anyway, it was about two years ago that I started back to school. Like I said that’s why I’m working nights. Nice and quiet so I can study. I sleep during the day, go to school from six to ten Monday through Friday then work from eleven to seven.”
“That’s something to be proud of,” John said. “It’s not easy what you’re doing.”
“Well, I thought it would all pay off someday, but, now it looks like it was all for nothing.”
“Our lives will never be the same that’s for sure,” John said.
Then realizing how absurd that thought was started laughing.
“Master of the obvious over here,” Derek said and laughed too.
They laughed for a moment then John said.
“You never know, one of these days things could get back to some form of normalcy. It is possible I suppose.”
“I think I need some more beer to believe that,” Derek said.
“I’ll get us another one,” John said, “then, I want to hear the rest of the story about what happened at the hotel.”
“Ok,” Derek said leaning further back into the chair enjoying the cool air.
John walked into the cabin. Amy was lying back on the couch reading by candlelight. She had lit several more candles and placed them around the cabin. Jimmy was curled up beside her playing a Gameboy he found in one of the cabinets. Suzie was on the floor at their side asleep.
She looked up when he walked in then lay her head back down.
“Hey, where did you get the book and the game?” John asked.
“There is a pretty good library over there,” she pointed to an area under the TV.
John knelt down beside Suzie to pet her.
“I bet you haven’t relaxed like this in a while girl,” he said.
“She’s jumpy,” Amy said. “She jumps at any sudden sounds.”
“That’s a good thing,” John said. “Her heightened senses should serve us well.”
“Ready for that drink yet?” he asked.
“Maybe later. I’ll stay here until Jimmy goes to sleep.”
“You would be a good Mommy,” John said smiling.
Their eyes met. Neither spoke for several long seconds. John could feel the butterflies form in the pit of his stomach.
The guilt he felt over having these feelings gnawed at his insides. Had he not just put his wife down this morning?
“Um… Ok, I’ll, uh…save you a seat,” he said finally his face turning red.
He patted Jimmy on the head.
“You doing ok buddy.”
“Yes sir,” Jimmy looked up and smiled then went back to playing the game.
“Are you guys hungry? Not that the Chick’s going to be doing all the cooking, but, I’ll make you something if you want it, this time,” Amy said still smiling.
“Maybe later. Thanks”
John grabbed two more beers and went back outside.
“Ok, where were we?” he said sitting down and handing Derek another can.
“I was telling you how it all started to get crazy around 5:30.”
“Right, so what happened?”
Derek opened the new can and took a drink.
“I was standing at the desk when Sam came staggering into the lobby and fell down. He was in his late sixties so at first I thought he was having a heart attack. I mean, he fell over flat on his face right in front of the desk. I ran around to him, shook him, called his name but he didn’t respond. Then I heard fire trucks and sirens. Two police cars raced up the road in front of the hotel, lights flashing. I was going to start CPR on Sam but red foam started to come out of his mouth and nose. Blood was running out of his ears. It was gross. His eyes opened up man, the look on his face,” Derek shook his head. “He looked like he had just seen the devil himself. Then he took one last gasp for breath and that was it. He was gone. I left him there and went to the phone to call 911. All I got was a fast busy signal like the phone was off the hook,” he took another long drink from the can. “Then a police car pulled up and two cops got out and came into the lobby. They asked me if I worked there, said some kind of epidemic was going on. I told them about the security guard, one of them pulled his gun out, walked over to Sam and shot him in the head. Twice. I said damn man what did you do that for? He’s already dead.” He said he knew that but if he didn’t shoot him in the head Sam would get back up and try to kill us. I said you got to be kidding me. You mean like a zombie? Man zombies aren’t real. He just looked at me for a second and said they are now.” Derek finished off the beer and crushed the can.
“What about the people in the hotel?” John asked.
“The cop asked me how many there were. I told him about 85. He said that most of them were either already zombies or would be soon. I asked him if we would die and he said he didn’t know. They said if you were bitten or got their blood in your mouth or eyes you would get it. I checked myself over good to make sure I didn’t have Sam’s blood on me. I was clean. They told me to stay put and then they were gone.”
“The zombies in your hotel, what about them?”
“I started hearing people banging around in the rooms and on the second floor. I heard screaming a couple of times but it stopped. My guess was the others were attacking the people doing the screaming. I was just standing there in a daze man. I couldn’t think of what to do. Then I saw the first real live walking zombies. There must have been ten or fifteen out in the parking lot heading for the front door. That’s when the power went out. Which actually was a good thing because it kept the automatic doors from opening so it kept the zombies from getting in. I was scared man. I never saw Martha or Sandy again and don’t know what happened to them. I figure they turned into zombies like everybody else. I thought about making a run for it but I chickened out. So that left the problem of being trapped in the hotel. So far most of them hadn’t even figured out how to get out of their rooms so I thought I would be fairly safe if I locked myself in the office. It had thick solid doors.”
“Did you have any food or water?” John asked.
“Oh yeah. We have a kitchen in the back of the office so I had some bottled water in the fridge and some other food. I busted into the snack machines in the lobby and took all the stuff out. I opened the drink machines and pretty much cleaned them out too. I was going back for one last trip to carry some soft drinks back when I saw a couple of the room doors open and zombies literally fell out. They saw me and started coming toward the lobby so I ran to the office and locked the door. I stacked furniture in front just in case. There was one side door by the lobby bathroom, and another door that led to the front desk. You had to come in the side door to get to the desk. It didn’t have a lifting counter like some you see.”
“Did they try to get in?” John asked.
“No, I heard them in the lobby banging into things but they never tried to get in the office and I don’t think they’re smart enough to figure out how to climb over the counter. I finally tried my cell phone but it was dead. The landline was dead now too. So, I settled in to wait. I thought the fire department, the police or maybe even the national guard would be coming by any minute. No one came.”
“What about outside the hotel?”
“Twice the first day I saw police cars go up the road. I heard the civil defense sirens go off too. Mostly all I saw when I looked out the window were those walking corpses. I thought about trying to leave again but every time I looked outside there seemed to be more and more of them.”
“Sounds similar to my situation that morning?”
“The second day I heard screaming again on the second floor but it didn’t last l
ong. They took care of whoever it was quickly. On the third day I heard a woman screaming on the outside. I looked out the window and saw her running up the road toward the TV station. She was barefoot and bloody. Her clothes were torn. There wasn’t anything I could do man. I mean they were everywhere. In the street, in the Hotel, in the lobby. I couldn’t help her.”
Derek sighed and rubbed his eyes. The thought of what happened was obviously upsetting to him.
“Hey, you guys need another cold one? Semi cold anyway.” Amy had come out of the cabin and was standing behind them. She handed each one a beer.
“Thanks,” they both said at the same time.
“Sorry to sneak up on you like that. I didn’t want to interrupt,” she said.
“How’s Jimmy?” Derek asked.
“Sleeping like a baby,” she said taking a seat on the deck. “What happened to the girl?”
“I’m not sure but I don’t think she made it.”
“Why not?” she asked.
“There were four demons chasing her.”
“Oh no,” Amy said raising her hand to cover her mouth.
“They were closing on her when they ran out of site behind the trees. I’m guessing they killed her.”
Derek lowered his head and played with the tab on top of his can.
“When they ran by one of them stopped and looked directly at my window. Freaked me out. There’s no way he could see me. I barely had the curtain pulled back far enough to see out.”
“What did he do?” Amy asked.
“He stood there for a second glaring, then he screamed and ran down the road toward the others. These must have been the same four demons that came back to the hotel, and the same ones at the dock. Minus one of course,” he said looking at John and giving him a thumbs up.
“Right. You would have probably dropped two of them,” John said.
“Or three,” Derek said grinning.
“Oh cut the macho bullshit,” Amy said. “What happened next?”
John and Derek laughed.
“I wasn’t trying to be funny,” Amy added.
“Anyway, later that day I needed to get more food so I listened at the door for a while but didn’t hear anything. I opened it and looked out into the lobby. There weren’t any. So I climbed over the desk and snuck over to the breakfast area. We keep all kinds of goodies back there. I jumped over the breakfast counter and loaded a bag with apples, oranges, bread and little boxes of cereal. Some of the zombies heard me rustling around because when I came out there were three standing in the lobby. I jumped over the counter and ran back to the desk, climbed over and made it with no problem. They didn’t even come close to catching me. Thank God none of them were demons.” Derek paused to take a drink. “Then yesterday I was getting brave so I had the curtains opened half way and I was laying on the couch reading when a shadow passed by. Then three more”
“Oh my God,” Amy said, “did they see you?”
“No, when the first one passed I dropped to the floor and froze. It was bright out and the windows are tinted so all they would have seen in the glass was their own reflection. Besides they were headed for the front door. I could hear them beating on it. They threw the trashcan into it but it held. I think they ran into it a few times too. They gave up after a while and I saw them go back by the window. I think they went to the hotel behind. I thought I heard screaming over there but I’m not sure. It could have been the demons. I don’t know. I was hoping they were gone for good but this morning at 3:00 a.m. I was asleep on the couch and was awakened by the sound of them passing by my window again. This time they tried a little harder to get in. I was sure they knew I was in there. I heard banging against the doors like they had a battering ram or something. Finally the glass broke and they were in. They ran through the Hotel screaming. It sounded like they went up to the top floor and were systematically working their way through the hotel floor by floor. I was afraid to move.
They came back through the lobby twice but never tried to get back here. The last time was about an hour before you guys got here.”
“What were they doing?” Amy asked.
“I’m not sure. It sounded like they were dragging bodies around.”
John looked at Amy.
“Now we know where the bodies at the front door came from.”
Amy nodded.
“Bodies?” Derek said.
“Yes there were eight bodies stacked like firewood out front,” John said.
“I didn’t notice I was in to big of a hurry to get out of there.”
“I sure would like to know why they’re doing that,” Amy said.
“God only knows,” John replied.
“They went back up the last time and hadn’t come back down when you stopped out front. Then of course they heard the glass break when I threw the chair into it and came running, and, you know the rest of the story.”
“Right,” John said smiling, “I won’t have to see the movie, I lived it.”
Everyone laughed. Then there was a moment of silence.
“I’ve been thinking,” Amy said finally. “It’s different now, you guys know that don’t you?”
“What do you mean?” Derek said.
“We have a kid to take care of. It’s not like it was yesterday, or the day before or the day before that. It’s not just about seeing how long we can survive. It’s about making sure this kid has a chance to grow up. It takes on new meaning. Just like Dean and his family.”
“Who is Dean?” Derek asked.
“There was a family back in the upstate that we ran across on our way down here. I think it was Wednesday,” John said.
“Yeah I think that’s right,” Amy said, “although days of the week don’t count anymore.”
“What happened to the family?” Derek asked.
“They stayed,” Amy said, “there were two families actually. Dean, his wife and their two sons and Dean’s brother Jim, his wife and their daughter. They were staying in a fallout shelter in their backyard.”
“Fallout shelter?” Derek said. “That’s old school.”
“Yeah, like the fifties,” John said. “They had everything they needed though. They were set.”
“And the gomers,” Amy said, “like the guy back there on the dock, the whole town was nothing but gomers. We didn’t see a single regular zombie anywhere.”
“What about demons?”
“We saw two,” John said. “Dean shot the first one before he had a chance to cause us any trouble.”
“What about the second one?” Derek asked.
“It was inside the courthouse. There were bodies stacked in front of it also.” John answered.
“Yeah but we saw evidence of even more. We just didn’t see them,” Amy said.
“What kind of evidence?”
Amy looked at John and John knew what she was thinking.
“You tell him. We haven’t talked about it but I’m sure you know what I’m thinking.”
“More bodies. Stacked up like the ones in front of the hotel. The demons must have been doing the same thing there.”
“It was creepy,” Amy added, “gomers everywhere and then there was the occasional stack of bodies at the front of some of the buildings and houses.”
“We heard screams,” John said, “while we were driving through town. Same screams we’ve heard from other demons. We didn’t see any and none came out to greet us thank God.”
“I was so glad to leave that town. It was like riding along and waiting on an ambush or a bomb to go off any second,” Amy said. “We were exhausted by the time we got out of there. It was really weird.”
“Not as weird as the roadblock in Mount Pleasant,” John said.
“What roadblock?” Derek asked.
“A gomer road block,” Amy said.
“A gomer road block?”
“Yes. Gomers. There were two police cruisers blocking the road,” John said.
“Yeah and two police officer gomers, one o
f them had his gun drawn,” Amy added
“What happened?”
“They waved us through,” John said and laughed. “They actually waved us through.”
“That’s wild,” Derek said.
They sat for a moment lost in their own thoughts. After a long pause Amy got up, said goodnight and went inside to go to sleep.
“What are we going to do tomorrow?” Derek said finally.
“I don’t know Derek. I don’t know,” John said. “Lets sleep on it and decide in the morning.”
“Ok,” Derek said, “I’m going to sit here a little longer and enjoy the quiet and the fresh air. After being cooped up in the hotel this is like heaven. Pure heaven.”
Just then a ghostly scream emanated through the air and drifted down from above them.
“Correction,” Derek said looking up, “this is a little piece of heaven right smack dab in the middle of hell.”
“Very poignant,” John said as he rose from his chair. “I’ll be inside trying to clear my mind so I can sleep.”
“Good luck with that.”
“Right,” John said then went into the cabin.
A lone candle burned on the counter. The flickering flame cast an eerie glow around the room. Shadows danced about the cabin like ghostly apparitions.
Amy and Jimmy were asleep on the bed in the stateroom. Suzie was asleep on the floor.
John picked up one of the blankets Amy put out for them and took it to Derek.
“Here at least cover up if you’re going to sit out here. It’s getting colder.”
“Thanks,” Derek said taking the blanket and covering up, “I may sleep out here tonight.”
“Suit yourself, see you in the morning,” John said and went back inside.
He watched Amy sleep for a moment and thought about lying down beside her but didn’t. Instead he lay down on the couch and covered himself with the blanket. He took the pistol from his belt and put it under the pillow. He closed his eyes and was quickly asleep.
Derek fell asleep to the sound of water lapping at the side of the boat. The breeze, coming in from the sea, moved the ropes on the halyard causing the metal rigging to clink against the poles.
For the first time since the beginning they felt safe even though they knew out in the darkness lay a vastly changed world full of death. But, at least for tonight, they would sleep well.
The Demon Dead Page 17