“Don’t shoot!” The person shouted as he got halfway out from under the deck. He put one hand up as if to ward off the bullet.
“It’s a kid.” Breanne said. She opened the door to the vehicle and was out without any hesitation.
“I’m going too. Keep an eye out.” Tammy instructed Steve as she left the vehicle. The smell of blood was the first thing Tammy noticed when she got out. She ran over to catch up to Breanne.
As they neared the boy, they could hear a woman’s voice shouting from inside the house.
Breanne had pulled the boy out from under the deck. He looked scared, but unharmed. She was helping him to his feet. Tammy just caught the end of his first sentence as she approached.
“–climbed out the window back there.” The boy said with a wave behind him. “I tried to pull her up, but they pulled her away from me...” He continued, clearly distraught.
Then he looked at the doorway to the house.
Tammy followed his gaze to see two women being led outside by Mike and BB. The dark-skinned woman looked pretty beat up, but the other woman appeared fine. The boy shook off Breanne and ran up to the two women. They held each other in a hug.
“How...?” The boy asked the older of the two women.
“I pulled Romy into the pantry with me and shut the door. It was a tight fit, but we managed to avoid detection.” She said with a small smile. The smile faded. “Where are Ed and Sandra?”
Q didn’t respond. He lowered his head and shook it.
Just then a gunshot rang out from the other side of the yard. “We got company!” Abi yelled.
Two zombies were coming up the driveway. One loped ahead in a stumbling run. Abi shot the fast approaching zombie two more times, catching it in the hip with her second shot. The zombie crashed down. It started to drag itself towards her. Then Mike and BB were there. They dispatched both zombies with head shots.
Breanne and Tammy guided the survivors to the vehicle on Mike’s signal. The Humvee wasn’t built for nine occupants, but they were going to have to make it work for now.
Breanne reluctantly got in the very back with the boys. “Jesus! I feel like we’re in a fucking clown car act.” She complained as she got in. “You’re going to have to get a god-damn shoe-horn to get me out of here!”
Abi laughed at the comment. But her amusement didn’t last as she had to go join the other short people in the back. Tammy got in the back seat with the two new women. The larger woman introduced herself as ‘Michelle’.
“Where do we go now?” Tammy wondered aloud as the vehicle started turning around.
“I’m just going to get us out of here for starters.” Mike replied
The vehicle maneuvered back out of the yard and onto the highway. The sun started breaking through the late afternoon clouds, bathing their escaping vehicle in pools of sunlight one moment, and plunging them into darkness the next as they traveled down the highway.
Mike took his eyes off the road for a second to look over his shoulder.
“So, where do we go now?” He asked Tammy.
“...I think I have an idea.” Michelle stated.
Chapter Fifty-six
The Ren
November 2, 7:00 AM
Jack jerked awake to the sound of a raised voice. He shot out of his bed as the voice turned into a scream. It took him a moment to get his bearings in the dim light and locate the door.
In the other bed his dad and mom were also getting up.
“Jack! Wait!” His dad called after him, but Jack was already out of the room. Once in the hallway, he was able to locate the sounds. The screams were coming from the next room.
The Bentleys! Jack yanked the door open. He stood at the doorway for a moment, shocked and confused at what he saw. Patrick was on top of Rosa and the two appeared to be struggling. He took a tentative step back, until he saw Patrick wind up and plow a fist into Rosa.
He quickly stepped into the room and closer. He could only see Patrick’s back as the man was on top of Rosa. The poor woman was grunting and crying with the effort to keep her husband from hurting her. Jack was triggered into action when he saw Patrick lunge in to try to bite his wife.
He stepped up behind Patrick and yanked the man as hard as he could by the back of his t-shirt, just as Patrick pulled his own head back, tearing a piece of flesh from Rosa. Blood sprayed from his mouth as Patrick fell backwards off the bed, to crash on the hard floor.
Jack’s froze for a second as he saw Rosa. She was completely naked. And covered in blood. He was just turning to look back at Patrick, when the man lunged at him, hitting him in the side. Jack hit the ground hard. He looked down at Patrick, who was dragging himself up Jack’s legs, and screamed at what he saw.
Patrick was a zombie! Blood dripped from his open mouth and down his pale neck. One of his eyes had a deep gouge through it, the pupil totally gone. The other eye stared at Jack with the wide-eyed look of the undead. It dragged itself closer and raised a fist with murderous intent.
Jack’s quick thinking saved him. He snapped his knee up, catching the zombie under the jaw and throwing it slightly off balance. Jack got his other leg up, placed his foot on Patrick’s chest and kicked out with all his might, sending the zombie backwards off him.
Jack quickly scrambled to his feet. The zombie was on its knees and about to get to its own feet when it got tackled to the ground.
“Dad!” Jack called out as his dad landed on the zombie and started punching down. The thing that was Patrick was impervious to the blows. It grabbed Craig’s arm and brought it to its mouth. Craig cried out in surprise and pain as the zombie bit down.
Then, seemingly out of thin air, John was there. He delivered a swift kick to the zombie’s head, which freed up Craig’s arm. He pulled Craig away from the zombie before it could recover. Craig crab-walked several yards and got to his feet as the zombie started to sit up.
John landed another kick, sending the zombie back down onto its back.
“We need a weapon!” He called out.
Melissa came into the room and pulled Jack away. “Stay back.” She said. Then stepped around her husband.
Patrick’s face was messed up. But it seemed unperturbed as it again tried to raise itself into a sitting position. Melissa stepped up and kicked out with her heel, connecting against Patrick’s elbow. With a loud snap the joint buckled and the zombie fell back again. Its arm flopped around uselessly as it sought to gain purchase on the floor and rise up again.
Just then, a chair slammed down on its head. Rosa stood behind the thing that used to be her husband and brought the chair down once again. She was naked and bleeding but continued to hit the zombie repeatedly, yelling incoherently, until the chair started coming apart in her hands. John and Melissa could not approach closer for fear of getting hit by the frantic woman.
Then Keith was there. In one smooth motion, he stepped up to Rosa on one of her backswings, took the chair leg from her and pushed her towards Melissa. Melissa deftly caught Rosa, as Keith turned and brought his hammer down hard on Patrick’s forehead. The hammer blow crushed Patrick’s forehead and splashing into his skull. Jack watched in morbid fascination as brain matter sprayed out of the wound. Patrick instantly stopped moving.
Before anybody could react, Keith grabbed the blanket off the bed and walked over to Rosa, draping the blanket over her naked body. In the next instant, Rosa started wailing.
“Get her out of here.” John said to Melissa, who was still holding on to the panic-stricken woman. Melissa guided Rosa out of the room and was quickly joined by Sarah. The two women took Rosa away, having to nearly carry the stricken woman. Jack heard Shelley calling out, instructing the women to take Rosa down to the clinic. John limped after them.
“Are you ok, son?” Craig stood over his son; concern etched on his face.
Jack blinked and looked up. “Dad...” Jack got up and hugged his father tightly.
“I know, son. It’s ok.”
“You’re hurt
!” Jack stepped out of the embrace and grabbed his father’s arm.
Craig looked at his arm. The sleeve of his pyjama was torn, and blood was dripping from puncture wounds just above his wrist. He winced slightly when he got a good look, then shrugged for his son’s benefit. “It’s nothing son. Are you hurt?” He put his hand behind Jack’s ear and came away with fresh blood.
“I’m ok.” Jack said. He hesitated a moment as he checked himself. “Yeah.” He nodded. “I’m not hurt. Just a couple of bruises.” He reached to the back of his head and his hand came away with blood as well. “I guess I must have cut myself. But it’s nothing serious dad. It doesn’t even hurt.”
He looked at his father’s injury again. “You’d better head to the clinic, dad.”
Craig nodded. “Of course. Not without you though. Let’s go together, ok?” They turned to leave. A large group had gathered at the entrance to the room. Folks parted for father and son. On their way out, Jack heard Ern asking what had happened. Joe’s deep bass voice could be heard clearly. He said he had seen the whole thing.
“If he was there, and saw the whole thing, then how come he never helped us?” Jack said to his father as they got to the stairwell.
“Don’t worry about it, son.” Craig said. His face betrayed his distaste though.
LATER THAT MORNING, all injuries had been assessed and treated.
Rosa had a laundry list of injuries. Her nose had been broken and she had also broken two fingers of her left hand, including the pinky finger, which had also been severed down to the first knuckle. She had a deep laceration near her collar bone, where Patrick had bitten her. Several ribs were bruised or cracked, and her face and head were a mess of cuts and bruises. Shelley feared that she also had a concussion and said that somebody should stay with Rosa to keep an eye on her. Rachel and Christine volunteered to take turns staying with the distraught woman.
Craig’s bite wound required several stitches. He had also torn open several knuckles on his hands. He was bandaged, pumped full of antibiotics and sent on his way.
John had broken a toe and suffered a mild ankle sprain. He had not had time to put on shoes, so his kicks had been barefoot. His foot had swollen up considerably.
Jack had a few bruises, a minor groin pull, and that mysterious cut to the back of his head. He did not remember hitting his head at all, but when Shelley discovered the cut, she had Joe put in a dozen stitches.
Keith had a small cut on his hand from the chair that Rosa was swinging around. Otherwise the stoic man was uninjured.
Melissa was the only combatant that was completely uninjured.
Jack had to admit to himself that Joe had done a great job fixing everybody up. It was almost enough for Jack to feel respect for the big man. Almost.
Jack got to experience something totally different that morning though.
Christine sat with Jack on a small bench outside of the clinic as he was waiting to get his stitches. Out of the blue she grabbed Jack’s hand. Jack turned his face towards the woman. Loose curls of ebony hair framed the fine features of her face.
Huh, she has green eyes... Jack realized.
“What you did in there... You were so brave! I mean, you saved her!” She contemplated her words for a few seconds. “Jack, you’re a hero.”
The next thing Jack knew she had kissed him. Her lips were incredibly soft. It wasn’t one of those totally romantic kisses, but Jack felt his stomach flutter, nevertheless. Especially when she smiled at him afterward.
The moment passed quickly though, as Joe poked his head out of the clinic door.
“Ok Jack, we’re ready to–” A suspicious look crept into his eyes as Christine and Jack quickly put some space between each other.
“Ready to what, Dad?” Christine was the first to recover.
Joe looked at the young couple for a second. He then shook his head. “Er... We’re ready to take a look at that head wound of yours. Come on in.”
And with that the moment was gone. Jack stole a quick glance over his shoulder at Christine as he followed Joe into the clinic. Her face betrayed no emotion.
THE GROUP ATE BRUNCH together. Everybody was there, except for Rosa and Shelley who were in the small office adjacent to the clinic, and John, who was laid up in bed with strict orders to stay off his feet. Melissa had taken some food to him and returned to say that he was in good spirits.
The remaining people sat squeezed at three cafeteria tables. There was plenty of room to spread out, but most people felt the need to be close together.
Jack listened as people discussed what had happened. ‘I can’t believe it!’ And ‘How did this happen?’ Came up a lot. Everybody was concerned about Rosa, who was surely hurting both physically and emotionally.
“Do we need to keep an eye on people that got bit?” He overheard Rachel whisper to Joe.
“I don’t think so.” He replied. Joe noticed that several people were paying attention, so he raised his voice. “From everything I have seen and heard, its not spread by bodily fluids. What I don’t get though, is that Patrick never had a stomach problem!”
People contemplated this for a few moments. It was Ethan that spoke next.
“Actually, I think that I can explain that.” He was met with many raised eyebrows.
“You see, I saw this thing on tv when we were still at home.” He thought for a second, trying to remember. “It was some top-secret footage that got leaked out. I remember that these guys were dissecting a corpse and explaining what the syndrome had done to the victim.”
“Hey – Yeah!” Ern said. “We saw that piece, too!” Nancy nodded vigorously beside her husband. “Sorry young man. Continue.” The old man prompted.
“Well, and then we saw the president explain... you know, about the nanobots! So, he told us that the nanobots start off in the stomach – or was it the intestines – anyway they start off there. But then these things make their way through the body and into the head. Into the brain.”
“Patrick was having headaches...” Nat supplied.
“Exactly!” Ethan agreed. “So, he must have had a few of those nanobots in his system. It wasn’t enough to give him the same symptoms, like stomach troubles, but then they got into his brain, and killed him!”
Joe did not look pleased. “If that’s true, son... Then any of us could still be infected!”
The group exchanged concerned looks at this revelation.
“Ok, wait.” Joe continued. “Does anybody here have a headache, or has anybody here been suffering from a headache for any length of time?” He looked around him. Nobody said anything for long moments.
“Um, Mister Collins? I had a headache.” Jack stated. “But I always get a headache when I’m exposed to gluten...”
“Do you still have a headache?”
“No. It’s gone.”
Joe pursed his lips. “Seems to me like something like this would get worse, not better. I think you’re ok, son.”
Jack nodded. “Yeah I think so too.”
“I have a headache...” Everybody turned to look at Claire, who had raised her hand. “I don’t think it’s the syndrome though... I think its stress and ... stuff.”
Joe nodded. “Why don’t we head to the clinic in a bit and get you something for your headache? Then we’ll see how it goes after that. Anybody else?”
Was that an act of kindness? Jack was surprised.
“I learned something this morning.” Everybody turned to look at the speaker. Craig ran his good hand over his mouth and chin as he considered his next words.
“A couple of things, really. First, zombies are hard to stop. It took six of us to take one of them down! We need weapons, like Keith’s hammers.” He said, with a small nod at the Asian man.
“Yeah, I agree. We need to learn how to use guns too!” Joe added, then frowned. “But John is out of action for a while...”
“I can take over from him... I mean, I can teach you...” Bill said softly. The shy man started looking do
wn under the scrutiny of the rest of the group, when Emily spoke up beside him. “Yeah, and I can help. We should all know how to shoot a gun. It’s too bloody dangerous not to!” Jack smiled at the way Emily pronounced ‘gun’. It sounded more like ‘Goon’.
Craig nodded, and continued. “Secondly; we need to work together. Melissa was right when she said that we are now a tribe or a family. There are nineteen of us left. We can’t afford to lose anybody else!” He looked around him intensely. “We have to be able to rely on each other.”
That was met with a chorus of “That’s right!” and even a “Hell yes!”
Craig’s face turned serious. “We also need to figure out what to do with Patrick’s body.” People fidgeted nervously, obviously uncomfortable with the topic.
“That’s easy. We bury him. It’s the right thing to do.” Ern stated with a self-assured expression. Nancy crossed herself beside him. Not everybody agreed with his statement though.
Jack was amazed that everybody stayed civil in the discussion. A couple of days ago they would have been at each others’ throats.
In the end it was agreed that the group would officially decide on what to do after supper. For now, a couple of volunteers were going to head up to the Bentley’s bedroom and clean up the mess and wrap the corpse in some sheets.
Joe piped up one more time before the group disbanded. “Guys, there is one more thing that we need to do.” The group looked at the big man as he got up from his seat and walked over to Craig.
“I was thinking about what Melissa said yesterday. We’re supposed to come forward and announce ourselves as candidates, to be the leader.” Jack saw several people’s faces drop, expecting the blow hard to nominate himself. What he said next, surprised the whole group though.
“There is only one clear leader here. And that is Craig. He is always first in coming up with ideas, and I witnessed him being first in protecting ... his tribe.” He said the last with a smile, liking the way the word sounded.
“I know not everybody is here. But I think that I know how everybody feels... Can we just vote now?” He didn’t wait for an answer. “All in favor of Craig being our leader.” Joe raised his hand. Every hand shot up. It was unanimous.
Apocalypsis Immortuos | Book 1 | Syndrome Page 39