Decay | Book 1 | Civilization

by Spitznogle, D. L.

  “Give me a second to explain, please,” Roger begged. “I don’t deserve your forgiveness. I don’t deserve anyone’s, but I listened to my wife die!”

  Guillermo stopped. He wanted to keep walking, to let Roger leave the safety of this place. Being torn to pieces may still be too easy of a punishment for the man, yet Guillermo now felt sorry for him. He turned to Roger and waved for him to continue.

  “It was the day of the attack. The moment I realized that what was taking place was serious, I called my wife. She had been trying to reach me for most of the morning, but I was busy trying to keep us on the air.” Roger choked up as he spoke.

  “Our youngest daughter was taken right out of her hands. Luckily, she couldn’t see the gruesome sight, but she had to hear her screams. She managed to fight off a small pack of fiends and get our older two children out of there.” The tears began to roll down his face.

  “I’m sorry to hear that.” Guillermo’s throat was tight.

  “By the time I called her, she had already been bitten. As she picked up the phone, she was screaming at our other two children. She told them to run as fast as they could. The screams that followed were all I needed to hear to know they hadn’t made it very far. I tried to tell her that I loved her, but I don’t know if she could hear me over her own screams.”

  Guillermo turned away from the man to wipe away his own tears. “I can’t imagine how that must feel,” he forced the words out while attempting to hold in his sobs.

  “This world can take someone as weak as I am and turn them into something wicked. I will spend the rest of my time alone.”

  Guillermo held his hand out to Roger, who shook it. “Good luck out there. I hope you find redemption. I am sorry, though. Right now, I can’t forgive you, but I truly do hope you find peace.”

  “Thanks,” Roger said with a thin smile, and without another word, he turned and walked toward the wall. He placed the ladder up, climbed to the top, kicked it to the ground, and dropped over the wall and out into the world. Most of the fiends were still at the front gate, but Roger had to take out a couple that had walked along the wall to the side of the yard. When he was sure that most of his path was clear, he held up the keys they picked up from the BCRC building and began to make his way through the city.

  Jonathan was already up when the others started to wake the following morning. He had taken blood samples from Emalynn, per her request, throughout the night. He was interested to find that her white blood cell count had dropped to near zero while her red blood cells continued on. She asked him to do any tests he needed to to better understand this infection and how to beat it, yet he couldn’t bring himself to use her body for research. Blood samples were almost too much for him to handle.

  “When I turn, feel free to do any tests you need to,” she said calmly. Most of her time had been spent crying. The young woman didn’t want to die. There were a few moments, such as this, where she stopped crying and tried to be strong.

  “Absolutely not,” Jonathan firmly replied.

  “Why? You need to understand them, right?”

  “No, there are plenty of willing participants out in the streets, and I am really not sure at this time what I would look for.”

  “You’re not going to let me roam about, are you? You know as well as I do that I won’t be me anymore.” Saying this made her realize how stupid she was for running after Bradley. “Don’t let me be one of them. If you can’t do it, Guillermo can.”

  “Then he will have to. I could not hurt you, Ema, alive or otherwise.” He touched her skin. It was no longer warm and soft. Her body temperature had rapidly declined throughout the night, and her skin was becoming dry and rough.

  “All the pain is gone. I guess it won’t be long now.” Before Jonathan could say anything, she continued talking. “Take me outside. I want to see the sun and the sky.”

  “Ok. Wait here,” he said without any hesitation.

  Jonathan went out to the dining room to talk to Deacon and Sophia. He let them know that Emalynn had wanted to go outside, and that he was going to make up a nice place for her to lie down comfortably. Both agreed that being outside would be for the best.

  “Hey Guillermo,” he said as he walked out from the garage and into the front yard. “I am bringing Ema out. Honoring her last request. Well, second to last. Do you want to get Roger and let him know?”

  “Roger left yesterday. Said he was responsible for Bradley and Tyson getting killed. He couldn’t take it anymore.”

  Jonathan took a moment for this to register. “Oh, ok. Well, do not go get him. Anyway, Ema will need to be . . . taken care of when the time comes.” A tear broke through and ran down his face as he said this.

  “Oh god. I hadn’t thought of that, and you want me to do it? I’m not sure I can. She’s part of my family now, so are you.”

  “Thank you, that means a lot to me. Still, we cannot let her become one of them.”

  It took him a moment to respond. He looked as though he was pleading with himself to not have to be the one. “I’ll do it, but only after she’s gone for sure. Don’t think for a second that I want to be the one, though.”

  “Of course not,” Jonathan replied.

  As Jonathan carried Emalynn out into the sun, the warm breeze brushed gently against her face. This caused her pain as the wind felt hot against her cold skin, yet she would deal with it for the chance to die out in the sun. Her skin was pale, and her eyes were gray. From her looks, there was no life left in this young woman.

  “The picnic basket is nice,” she said. Her voice was not much more than an exhausted whisper.

  “I hoped you would like it. I have some sandwiches and drinks in here if you are interested.”

  “I’m not hungry. I don’t think I could eat anyway. What do you have in there to drink?”

  “Chardonnay,” he responded awkwardly. “I do not know if it is good. My parents did not really drink very often, so they probably just grabbed what looked good at the time.”

  “I’ve never had wine before. I tried a beer one time at a party. Tasted like what I would imagine piss with just a hint of dirty bath water would taste like.” She tried to laugh but began to cough.

  Jonathan held her while she coughed, patting her on the back. “It is probably a bit early for alcohol, but how about we give it a try,” he said once her coughing fit had passed and he’d opened the wine bottle. It may have been early for wine, but Jonathan felt the time of day didn’t matter in their current situation.

  He poured them each a glass of the white wine and helped Emalynn take a drink of hers. The initial taste was a little bitter, and he began to think that wine was a bad idea. Emalynn seemed to enjoy the taste a little more though.

  “It’s pretty good, and definitely too early,” she said, her voice was a little less raspy, but it still sounded harsh.

  “I have never had any alcohol before. Now seems to be the best time to give it a shot. So, tell me about this party. I guess I did not picture you as a wild party girl,” he said playfully.

  “Oh stop it.” She pushed him weakly. “Some friends of mine were invited to a party one weekend and wanted me to go, as well. Being the only party I’ve ever been to it was probably pretty typical.” Her breathing was short and forced as she spoke.

  “If it is painful to talk you do not have to.” Jonathan looked into her eyes and touched her face; she reached up and placed her hand on top of his.

  “I’m having a good time. Anyway, it was just a bunch of teens drinking beer while some boy’s parents were away for the weekend. It wasn’t really like how you see parties in movies. Everyone was sitting around, just relaxing and laughing . . . you know, just having a good time. Being alive. Everyone else there was much older than we were.

  “The guy who was throwing the party asked me to have a beer with him. It tasted so bad. He never tried anything, but I thought he would. Anyway, I panicked, called my mom to come get me, and went home. How about you? You ever be
en partying?”

  “No. My parents barely let us out of the house. Study study study. That is all I have done my whole life. To be a great biologist in a world that has fallen apart.” He laid back and looked up at the sky.

  “You do know that it will be you who makes this world a place people can live in again, right?” For the first time since yesterday, Jonathan caught a brief glimpse of life in her dying eyes. This had made him feel as though hope had been injected directly into his veins.

  “Yeah, as long as you believe in me, then there will be no stopping me.” He smiled, sat up just enough to kiss her cold forehead but was taken by surprise as she pulled him to her lips.

  Emalynn’s lips were cold and dry and tasted of the bittersweet Chardonnay. Jonathan found the wine to be much more appealing this way. If things had been different, if she had not been dying, he would take her. Here on the grass of his front lawn, he would let his hormones run free and take her.

  Instead, after their kiss, he laid down on his back with Emalynn resting on his chest. His heart beating faster than ever.

  “I’ll believe in you long after I’ve left this world. You know, I think it’s cute how you hardly ever use words like ‘don’t’ and ‘can’t’. Your English is a little more . . . proper then mine is.”

  “Contractions. One thing my parents were big on. My dad would always say, ‘You can’t use contractions because they make you sound lazy.’ Even though he used them all the time. I think he liked to come off lazier than he was.”

  The hours had passed by while they both lay awake on the front lawn watching the sun rise high above in the cloudless sky. The silence was disrupted by the occasional cough or sob from Emalynn. The sound of the door in the garage reminded Jonathan that this was not the perfect summer day, and that they were not alone.

  “I think that is the others coming out to see you,” he said as he ran his fingers through her hair.

  “Yeah, it will be nice to say goodbye to them all,” Emalynn choked. Jonathan couldn’t tell if her face was wet from tears or sweat.

  Jonathan wiped away a tear from his own eye and held back more as he tried to stay strong for her, but he wanted to just hold her and cry. Footsteps alerted him that now would be a bad time for that, and he sat up just enough to see who was walking toward them.

  “Hi,” Sophia said, as she walked across the grass. She was followed by Deacon, Guillermo, and the twins.

  They talked for several hours, laughing for a while, then crying, then laughing some more. Emalynn tried her best to spend a little time with everyone. She played with the twins and their action figures. Sophia sat with her so they could have “girl talk”. Their giggling (and Emalynn’s coughing) could be heard in the garage where Jonathan stood watching. Emalynn even talked to Guillermo using the little bit of Spanish that she had remembered from school.

  “The sun is beginning to set. Do you want to stay out here longer, or do you want to go back inside?” Jonathan asked as he knelt beside her. Everyone else had said their goodbyes and went inside, hoping they would not have to see what would inevitably happen.

  “Let’s watch the sunset together. It will be like a romantic date.” She pulled him down on the blanket next to her, put her arm around his, and laid her head on his chest again.

  Jonathan opened his eyes. He was cold, the temperature dropped to the sixties after the sun went down, and he felt as though he had a gallon of piss in his bladder. As the sleep washed away in the morning light, he remembered where he was.

  The weight on his leg, and the tingling sensation in it, suggested that Emalynn must have used it as a pillow last night. Then he was hit with the thought that maybe she was eating his leg. He sat up quickly to check on her.

  “She’s alright,” Guillermo said calmly. He was leaning up against the tree watching the sky as the morning light flooded in ahead of the sun. “You fell asleep right after the sunset last night. She asked that I watch over you so you can sleep.”

  “How long did you talk to her?”

  “Long enough. She told me that she wanted me to be there when she changed into a fiend, and that I’m supposed to put a stop to it. She said it would be too hard for you. I’ve been here all night, waiting for it to happen, but she is really hanging in there. She’s a tough one.”

  “Yeah, she is,” Jonathan agreed as he looked down at her. She looked lifeless and cold, yet her beauty had not faded.

  The two let Emalynn sleep while they watched the sun come up. She tossed and turned in her sleep, and she would go almost a minute at times where she wouldn’t breathe. They knew it wouldn’t be long.

  She finally sat up and turned to look at them. Her eyes were a bloodshot, dusty gray. Joints popped as she bent, and she moaned deeply. She sat for a moment, as if whatever was controlling her was trying to adjust to its new body.

  Jonathan felt his stomach drop at the sight of her. There was a morbid beauty about her. Perhaps it was just knowing who she used to be. This must have been what she saw in Bradley to make her run out to him. Her body looked stiff, but it seemed to be clearing up quickly.

  “You may want to look away,” Guillermo told him as he placed a hand on Jonathan’s shoulder. Jonathan noticed that Guillermo was holding a hunting knife. “I’m going to make this quick, and now seems to be the time to do it.”

  “Wait. Maybe she has not . . . There could be a chance that she is still her for just a few more minutes,” Jonathan pleaded.

  “Jonathan. She’s gone. That’s not her anymore. Don’t remember her like this. Don’t let her be this.” Guillermo adjusted his grip on the knife while watching Jonathan.

  Jonathan turned around, but he couldn’t help but glance back over his shoulder. Guillermo walked up behind Emalynn with the knife held firmly in his right hand. Emalynn struggled to turn to him as her body loosened up. He spoke something in Spanish that Jonathan didn’t understand and plunged the knife into the back of her head.

  Guillermo caught her as she began to twitch slightly and drop to the ground. He laid her down gently and pulled her hair off her face, then rolled her onto her back so she could see the sunrise one last time before he closed her eyes.

  Jonathan walked up to the garage to grab a shovel. He would dig her grave right where they had been laying. She seemed comfortable there, and that is the closest he had been to her. He would make it a goal to bring her back a proper headstone.

  The ground was soft, making it easy to dig. The tree was far enough away that roots were not much of an issue. Guillermo had covered Emalynn with the blanket and grabbed a shovel of his own. A landscaper by trade, he made Jonathan look like he had been standing still.

  Nothing but a six-foot hole would work for Jonathan, and Guillermo agreed. Deacon came out to help as well, and the three of them worked for three hours, taking breaks every hour or so. It was well past noon when they finished.

  After wrapping her tightly in the blanket, the three men lowered her carefully into the earth. They stood over her body, each one covered in dirt and sweat. Jonathan wished he could have given her a better funeral, but he knew it was the best he could do for her.

  “If you don’t mind, Sophia found a bible in the family room. I’ve never had much time for religion, but Sophia found a passage she wants me to read. Says she saw it in a movie.” Deacon held up the bible.

  “That would be great,” Jonathan said, not being one for religion himself.

  Guillermo held tightly onto the cross he wore around his neck and said a prayer of his own under his breath.

  Deacon looked a little nervous as he began. “This is from the book of Psalm,” he read the passage, feeling stronger and more confident as he progressed. His thick Australian accent carried the verse well. The passage seemed not only to fit their funeral, but it worked out well for their situation in its entirety.

  They indeed walked through the valley of the shadow of death. Jonathan saw the scientific proof he needed to know that what they were dealing with was man-mad
e, but he couldn’t shake the thought that maybe God had a hand in it. He personally believed that if God is up there, he must be a scientist, and this whole world plays a part in his experiments.

  Chapter 21

  Several days passed before Jonathan returned to work staring at hundreds of papers, most of which were useless. With the rest of his time, he pondered the great question of what he was doing with his life. He realized he didn’t let Emalynn go, because he didn’t go after her in the first place, and the worst feeling was knowing he should have.

  His father had urged him to attend church, and this is the reason why. It would be easier to tell himself she went on to a better place, but Jonathan couldn’t believe that. The pain of losing this girl, someone he had barely known, was almost sharp and deep. Emalynn could have been a light in the dark that guided him toward a better future for the entire world.

  Jonathan knew he had to trudge on with or without a light, as there were people counting on him, so he kept reading. The acidic paste he had created was as strong as it would become. He had tested it on a few things lying around but wanted to test it on undead flesh.

  Guillermo and Deacon had gone out the day after Emalynn’s death and brought back a dark green Toyota Tundra. They needed something a little larger than the BMW to work with, and the four-door pickup with a lift kit and thirty-five inch tires was a bit excessive, yet Deacon found it too beautiful to pass up. Jonathan’s plan to leave, however, wouldn’t require such a large vehicle.

  The truck was fitted with a cage in the bed, made from stainless steel pipes they found in a small maintenance shop just a few blocks away. Pipes were welded to the frame and ran through the truck’s body. Some of these pipes were welded to spots that would protect the body from impact. The cage weighed the truck down quite a bit, but luckily the powerful engine barely noticed.

  Deacon’s craftsmanship came through when he fabricated a plow that resembled what old trains had on the front of them. Jonathan recalled reading that train engineers referred to them as “cow catchers”. This would serve the purpose of clearing the road of fiends and other debris, reducing time spent out of the vehicle clearing the path. It would also push sharp objects away to protect the large tires.