Dan slowly trotted the horse through the town’s Main Street in the direction of the garage where his friend Mike had let him store his truck and horse trailer. All of the buildings appeared to have been looted and as they passed by the local grocery store they found the source of the awful stench. The tall glass windows in the front of the store had been busted out and all of the food inside must have been rotten by now. They made it to the door of the garage and the two of them got off the horse.
Dan was just hoping that his truck was still there. He tied Midnight up to a stop sign at the street corner then rustled through one of the pockets on his pack in which he kept his smaller belongings until he found the key. Anika waited behind him as he slowly inserted it into the door knob. As he was just about to turn it, the knob moved ever so slightly. Dan paused for a moment. “Mike… Is that you!? Are you in there!?” He yelled through the door then pausing to listen. There was no answer, then the knob moved again, but the door didn’t open. Dan retrieved his rifle from Midnight’s side and held it on the door as he turned the knob. As soon as it unlatched the door exploded open and a creature bounded out knocking Dan off his feet. The rifle fired in the air and Anika let out a scream. The ghoul landed on top of him and began viciously trying to bite him. He swung the butt of his rifle into its jaw with an audible crunch, knocking it to the right of him. The creature made what could only be described as a hissing gurgle moan as Dan scrambled to his feet and wrenched the lever action of his gun. Midnight rose to his hind legs neighing loudly. The creature slowly got up and began moving toward Dan. It wasn’t as fast as before. He guessed it had more or less fell onto him. He looked down his sights and aimed for its chest seeing the nametag on it's filthy uniform. “Mike?” Dan asked in fear, his voice cracking. Mike looked so gaunt and decomposed that Dan hadn't recognized him until now. Dan's heart sank again and a lump began to form in his throat. The creature formerly known as Mike's jaw was now hanging from only one side where he had bludgeoned it with the rifle. It dangled in a grotesque manner while the tissue still attached on the other side clenched and released flapping it like a wing. Anika watched in awe. “I’m sorry buddy” Dan said as he pulled the trigger letting loose a bullet into the creature’s chest. It stumbled back a step or two then started towards him again. "What the hell?" he exclaimed. It was a perfect shot at point blank range. As a matter of fact the hole in the creature chest was so gaping that light could be seen coming from the other side, yet it advanced. Dan had never seen anything like this before but he knew from years of hunting that the quickest way to bring an animal down is a head shot. He raised his rifle with only one shot left and he let go the bullet into its brain. The ghoul dropped like a sack of potatoes making an audible thud as its body hit the ground. Anika ran to his side and clung to him. Tears were in Dan’s eyes. That was his good friend. She cried too but not from loss as Dan did, her tears were from fear in truth his partly were as well. Dan hugged her tight and said with a broken growl in his voice “We are going to have to be tough about this. We can’t let it tear us up inside.” Anika stared at him a moment then nodded. They both understood it was not going to be easy going.
He then reloaded the rifle and entered the office of the garage with her in tow. The office was small with only a single desk topped by an outdated PC with a couple chairs and one filing cabinet. Promotional what-nots and do-dads adorned some shelving. There was a "Girls of South" calendar on the back of the door featuring a Miss February named Ashley wearing a confederate flag for a bikini, and signs advertising motor oils and auto parts littered the walls. There was a window covered by a dirty white mini blind that looked into the garage area where Dan’s truck had been stored. He peered through it straining his eyes to see. There hadn’t been any electricity here in a long time and there was very little natural light coming into the garage area. He got Anika to help him look though the desk. The drawers were locked but Dan fancied himself a bit of a McGuyver and was determined to find a way in. He began trying keys on his ring and found one that fit but would not turn. He found a paperclip on the desk next to a rolodex. There was barely enough room to slide it in under the key and through some determined trying he picked the lock. Once inside they found a flashlight and a cheap 38. Special pistol in a holster with a nylon belt attached. Also in the drawer they found a half-full box of bullets. It was a great find. Mike must have kept it there for protection. Some of his customers tended to get a little redneck on him when he did a repo. He gave the gun to Anika and used the light to look through the glass. There in the back beyond a 90's model Chevy blazer and an old Ford Galaxy he saw his truck still attached to its trailer. He then moved the light to the garage doors. They were a roll up type and he realized that they had to be opened with either an electric motor or with a large chain. He knew that the pulleys on that old door hadn’t been greased and even when they were it had an annoying tendency to stick. As he was beginning to work out how he would get the door open something moved across his beam of light. Dan jumped back startled. Something was in there. “What’s the matter? Anika asked. “I saw something” he replied. “Do you think it’s one of those… zombie things? She asked. Dan cocked his rifle again. “I don’t know, but I am not taking any chances.” He said as he loaded three more shells into the gun.
Dan looked around the office some more. There was a large iron wrecking bar leaned against the filing cabinet. “I wonder why I took all the time to pick that drawer.” He joked and gave it to Anika. “ I am going to go in there and get my truck I need you to go outside and get the garage door open. Take that pry bar and lift up the bottom of the door when I pound on it. I have to get the latches loose from the inside first. Put all of your weight on it if you have to. Don’t use it until you hear me knock though.” Anika nodded as she understood and took the pry bar and pistol with her as she went outside. She wore the belt loosely around her waist. It was a little too big for her and a long strip of the nylon belt hung down so she looped it through her belt loops a second time. She went to the last garage door and stuck the pry bar under waiting for Dan’s signal.
Dan searched through his backpack and found a roll of duct tape. “You can use this stuff for anything.” He mumbled to himself. He taped the flashlight securely under the barrel of his rifle. He turned it on and moved it around the room a bit while looking down the sights. His rifle was a model with a side mounted scope so he still had an option for use of the open sight. It worked quite well. He took a deep breath readying him for anything as he turned the knob of the door leading into the garage. The door creaked open letting a little more light in than before. Dan quickly scanned the room with his light. Nothing appeared to be in sight. He slowly began to take a few steps into the room when the sound of something rattling in the back of the room alarmed him. He snapped his body in that direction and focused the beam of light on the area of the room the noise seemed to come from. As his flashlight shown on the area he saw a shadow of something at about eye level move just out of sight. That lump grew I his throat again. He swallowed dryly trying not to imagine what it may be.
Anika was growing tired of focusing on the pry bar for so long. She began to look around. The town was as empty as a gourd. No signs of anything similar to normalcy. She had never been to this town but had been to another much like it as a child and imagined it being as it once was. Her eyes gazed down the long dusty street and she detected a little movement at the farthest point she could focus her vision. As she examined more thoroughly, straining her eyes, she saw that it was the figure of a person walking in her direction. Then she spotted another…and another. Before long as many as 5 had appeared from around the street corner. She waved to them...no response. As they grew closer to her she noticed more detail about them. They were staggering more than walkingThey were not people, not anymore, they were zombies. They were getting closer to her by the second. Perhaps they had heard the gunshots earlier. Could they even hear? Some were moving faster than others. Some seemed to be almost jogg
ing now. She cried out Dan’s name in a worried tone as if to hurry him along.
Dan heard Anika outside but didn’t make a sound himself. He had his own problems. What could she be so impatient about? He moved toward his truck, which was still conveniently attached to his horse trailer. He knew where the shadow had come from and was ready to fire upon sight. Nervously he rounded the corner near the driver’s side of his truck. He saw the movement again but this time it stopped before if got out of the light. His eyes took a second to focus on it. When they finally did a great feeling of relief passed over him. It was a very sick looking cat sitting on top of a toolbox. Dan left it alone. The poor thing was in miserable condition and it pained him to do so but he couldn’t afford to waste his ammunition.
Anika was getting very afraid and had now started practically screaming for Dan to unlock the door. Some of the faster creatures were little more than a half a football field away. He could hear the panic in the tone of her voice but couldn't tell what she was saying. Dan released the locks on the mechanical garage door and pounded on it to signal her to lift. Anika put all her weight on the pry bar and after a couple of heaves the door popped loose enough for Dan to be able to lift it with the chain. It got about halfway up and became stuck again. "There are more of them coming!" Anika screamed. He looked outside and saw the ghouls advancing. He practically climbed the chain putting all his weight on it and it gave way causing him to fall hard onto the hard concrete floor. It hurt badly knocking the wind out of him, but there was no time for recovery. He forced himself to stand and get into his Diesel F-350. The engine turned over. Finally something had gone his way. He pulled out of the garage and Anika jumped into the cab as well. There were probably as many as fifteen of them headed their way some of them almost running. He wasn’t aware that they could move that fast.
Midnight was helpless still tied by his reins to the stop sign by the office entrance, but very aware of the situation. He neighed wildly and pulled on his reigns again bending the stop sign down at an angle. Dan pulled the truck around with the trailer near the horse and jumped out. “Shoot any of them you can. And remember to aim for the head.” He instructed Anika as he tossed her the rifle then hurried to save his best friend. He undid the knot in Midnight’s reins with great haste and led him around to the back of the trailer. The creatures were growing very close now. Remembering how Dan had wrenched the lever action to cock the gun, Anika popped off a couple of shots at the closest ones. The first shot missed but the second one landed in a kneecap causing the body to fall violently to the ground. It pulled with its arms and pushed on with the remaining leg in a ravenous determination. Dan opened the trailer door and Midnight climbed inside. Normally he hated the trailer but the animal was very nervous and eager to get in. Dan got the door closed and locked just in time to spin around, pull his concealed 9mm and shoot one of the running zombies that was only a few feet away. Soon another was close by. Anika took care of this one. It fell into another zombie causing it to fall as well. By the time Dan had gotten back in the truck they were nearly surrounded. They pounded the windows and some were trying to climb onto the hood and int the bed of the truck around the fifth wheel hitch. Dan threw the truck into low gear and plowed the powerful machine through the mass of creatures. The tires spun in the slick mess of brown rotting viscous flesh. Dan engaged the 4 wheel drive and the truck hopped violently a few times then eventually climbed out of the pile of slaughtered human effluence. The one on the hood was thrown off and got up to give chase. The ghoul in the bed was severed in half when Dan turned the truck to point it in the direction leaving town.
They had made it out alive… for now. This had been a lot for both Dan and Anika to take in. They both knew what the other was thinking but neither of them wanted to talk about it. It seemed easier that way. They both knew there wasn’t a good outlook for the future but neither one of them wanted to verbally admit it. He especially didn’t want to. He did want to kill her hopes of seeing her parents again.. Anika moved across the bench seat in the truck closer to Dan laying her head on his shoulder. He put his arm around her. They just drove. First going down the two lane road leading from town, then down the four-lane highway leading toward Nashville. This hadn't been the plan but what choice did they have? They had nearly half of a tank of fuel and they just drove on. They finally came to a stop about 50 miles outside of Nashville and by that time it was night. Anika was still leaning on his shoulder. They fell asleep this way inside the safety of the truck. Both too tired to even dream.
CHAPTER 5
Dan hadn’t set his watch the night before. He woke up naturally from his much needed rest at around 11 in the morning. The sun’s golden hue poured over the Tennessee landscape and the abandoned vehicle laden interstate highway. A cool and very refreshing breeze blew through a crack in the driver’s side truck window. Dan could hear Anika outside humming a tune. She sounded angelic, making up a melody as she went along. It was soft and it soothed him. She was holding up incredibly well for a girl that had seen as much as she had. Things like that will make a person grow up fast he figured. He exited the truck to find her standing near the back of the trailer. She was feeding Midnight some grasses through the small window on the trailer’s gate. It took her a second to notice him as he rounded the corner and she gasped as he startled her before coming into full sight. “Why don’t we let him stretch his legs a bit” Dan said, then undid the latch on the gate of the trailer. Midnight jumped out as quickly as he noticed the gate beginning to open, nearly knocking them both down. He ran back and forth along the median of the interstate highway’s grassy section. Dan and Anika, both regaining their footing watched him as he enjoyed his feeling of being free from his prison-like trailer. He hadn’t been required to ride in one in quite some time and, as animals live in the moment, Dan suspected that he nearly forgotten what it was like.
Dan placed his arm around Anika’s shoulder and pulled her close to him. She hugged him and snuggled into his chest. He could think at that moment of no better sensation. His life would now have to be lived in the moment as Midnight’s was. His sanity was too big a price to pay for facing a realistic future. He knew that there was little chance of finding much that was good in Nashville. He knew that likely his parents and hers had met their demise in one way or another. In this moment however, he tried his damnedest to push it to the furthest depths of his mind.
The horse had settled down a bit now and was munching on some of the taller grass at the edge of the highway. There was a dip in the ground off the right side where a drain pipe was installed to allow water to flow under the highway during heavy rains. Midnight wandered his way down and began to drink from a pool that had formed there just in front of the clogged pipe. It was just another sign that the highway department was now a thing of the past. As Midnight drank from the small pool it grew shallower and a disembodied human head was revealed. The skin of it was swollen with the water and one eye was dislodged and dangling by the retina across the engorged nose. The jaw was still moving up and down biting at nothing.
Dan called the horse back with a whistle, not knowing he had just been drinking from this diseased pool. He reloaded him into the trailer. Midnight reluctantly complied. Dan and Anika then climbed back into the truck themselves. Only an eighth of a tank left. Dan started it up and they drove for nearly two hours before it finally ran out of fuel. Forcing them to abandon it as so many other vehicles had been. Midnight was going to have to be their transportation again. There was still a long stretch of road ahead but hunger pangs were getting to them. Dan raided Midnight’s saddle bag and found the only food left was a few strips of deer jerky and a bottle of water. They wanted to try and make it last but they hadn’t eaten in two days and it tasted so good they ate it all. The only problem was, the jerky was so salty it made them drink the entire bottle of water too.
Hating to leave his truck, Dan knew they needed to find more sustenance. Midnight had eaten better than the both of them with all this un
kempt grass. Dan figured it would be ok to ride him for a while. He saddled the horse and they began to ride. The closer they got the tighter Anika’s grip around him seemed to become. It was clear she was starting to become nervous as to what they may discover. “Are you okay?” he asked her. “I’m fine” was the only reply he got. He was just learning her personality, but she seemed more like the type of person who would put off dealing with a situation until it was absolutely unavoidable. Then when she could no longer evade it, she would explode in a burst of emotion. That’s what had happed back at the cabin. He was sure another breakdown was eminent. Dan didn’t operate on that frequency. He liked to confront things head on. In his mind it would only be worse to deal with the longer he waited.
Since she did not want to talk, Dan began to think it may be better to enter the city at night. Maybe they could stop just outside the city when they got there and wait for an opportune time to enter. Midnight was acting strange. Feeling sorry for his buddy, who had worked so hard for him over the last six months Dan decided this would be a good place to get some rest.
They dismounted and Dan noticed the horse’s breathing was becoming more labored. It was warm and humid outside and Midnight had shown signs of fatigue before in these conditions but never like this. Dan tied the reins securely to the guardrail. Then, Midnight did something Dan had never seen him do. He laid down. Flopping on his side in the road, the horse’s large abdomen swelled and he expended air in short shallow breaths. His coat was lathering rapidly. Dan felt an overwhelming sadness and fear rise from his stomach, then his chest, and finally forming a lump in his throat. He was extremely worried. Midnight was losing this battle. His head drooped to the ground on his side, mouth agape, with his tongue lolling out. Daniel Stone’s brown eyes were now glossy and forming tears, as Midnights big eyes of the same color closed. With one final grunt, the animal stopped breathing entirely.
Life After Page 3