After the End (26 page)

Lila stayed in the deli to make chum stew. She tied a handkerchief over her nose and mouth as she poked through the freezer full of spoiling meat. "Never thought I'd wish for fresh blood," she muttered, as she took out chops and bacon and all the ground beef she could find. She had her doubts about the idea of ground up animal meat drawing them. But having the mannequin move was the key. She hoped their enemy wasn't smart enough to tell the difference between living and dead as long as their quarry was moving.

The women returned with a long-limbed mannequin—copper colored, faceless and wearing a Dolce and Gabana knockoff.

"Sorry," Deb apologized. "They didn't have any with realistic features, and we weren't about to go shopping for one."

"It'll work, if it's the movement and scent that attracts them," Lila said.

Derrick and Ari returned, arm muscles straining from the weight of the buckets they carried. And even now, facing an uncertain future and possible death, Lila felt a sharp tug of desire at the sight of Derrick's corded biceps and forearms and his fists gripping the bucket handles. She remembered how those hands had felt on her body last night, and more importantly, the emotions being with him had aroused in her—warmth, connection, a deep bond.

Please God, help us through this
, she prayed.
I'm not ready to die. Please give us more time together first.
Years would be great, but she'd settle for days the way things were now.

With a deli full of food at their disposal, some of which was edible, none of them had any appetite as they prepared for their bait and switch maneuver. Maybe the smell of the rotten meat had something to do with that.

Lila and Julie carefully poured gasoline into the bottles, filling them halfway, inserting the alcohol-soaked fabric twists and fastening the caps on with duct tape.

Outside, Ari chose a car and the other three prepared it by fastening the dummy to the grill and putting gasoline soaked rags in the seats. They wanted it to burn not explode—at least not until the vehicle had driven closer to the marina.

Lila coated the dummy with bait. She plastered gobs of stinking meat on the stylish mannequin, quite enjoying ruining the faux designer dress. She threw the rest of the smelly chum in the back seat of the car, while Ari added some human blood to the figurine. Lila winced at the application of guts and goo that had once been part of a living person. How quickly they'd all become immune to the horror. She reflected on the one good insight to come from this event. It was now easy for her to see that a body was merely a meat puppet, quite separate from the spark of life, the soul, inhabiting it. She'd believed that before, but now felt she actually
knew
it deep inside.

After preparing the car, they went back inside the deli for a final conference.

"Not all of them are going to run and check this thing out," Ari warned. "We have to be prepared to fight. Check your weapons and make sure you have more clips ready."

They went over everything, making certain they had working lighters and reviewing the timing for using the bombs and the route they would take to reach the boat. When there was nothing else to discuss, no more preparations to be made, and the moment to act was upon them, everyone fell silent.

"I just want to say, it's been a pleasure knowing all of you," Julie began.

But Ari cut her off. "Don't. No speeches or goodbyes. We're going to do this thing and then drive away on that boat. That's it. So let's go." He picked up his backpack and strode from the room without a glance at Lila.

The sight of his back turned on her as he walked away hurt a little, but she totally understood his point. There was no room for doubt right now. They had to convince themselves they'd succeed. Sentiment, however heartfelt, would only detract from their focus.

Lila scooped her own bag from the ground, the incendiary bottles clicking together. She was nervous about lighting one of them and tried not to picture the thing blowing up in her face.

The marina was a massive grid of slips with moored boats ranging from two-man runabouts to fully equipped yachts. The larger, more expensive boats were docked in a high rent section of the marina, while the one they'd chosen was in the "cheap seats" closer to land along with other mid-priced craft. The plan was to attract the zombies to the far side of the marina and hopefully slip past them unnoticed. Ari was responsible for getting the car going on its course. Lila and Deb would throw the homemade bombs, and Derrick and Julie would run for the boat and get it started.

"How's your pitching arm?" Deb asked, hefting one of the bottles in her hand.

"Norwalk Girls' Softball for eight years," Lila said. "Unfortunately, I wasn't a pitcher. But today I'm so hopped up I think I'll be able to throw about a mile."

They trotted to a truck and crouched behind it, waiting for Ari's signal. It came in the form of a car engine turning over. He would steer the car as close as he dared, then bail.

Lila peeked around the edge of the truck to watch both zombies and seagulls swooping and devouring interesting tidbits from the docks or the decks of boats. It seemed the zombies preferred fresh game but would scavenge on dead meat when necessary. Again, Lila wondered what happened to them when all forms of sustenance ran out. Would their nervous systems continue to activate their bodies or without fuel would they eventually run down like wind up toys?

She glanced at the car coming slowly up the street, driving around abandoned vehicles and over smaller obstacles. The mannequin strapped to the hood didn't look much like a real person but perhaps enough to fool zombies. Lila's gaze swung back to the revenants. Some responded to the sound of the car engine, heads snapping up from their food and swiveling toward the noise. When the vehicle came into view, several began to run toward it. Soon nearly every zombie within her sight rushed to join them. The creatures seemed to have a herd mentality.

The car passed out of Lila's view behind a building. She pictured Ari lighting the rags, putting the brick on the gas pedal, jumping from the car, rolling across the pavement and scrambling to his feet. This was a critical moment. Some of the zombies would see and chase him. She and Deb must distract them with the bombs, giving him time to get away.

"Go!" Deb ordered Derrick and Julie, but the pair was already on the move, racing from this first hideout point to the next. They'd visually mapped their way all the way to the boat. Deb lit and hurled the first of her bombs. It sailed over the stalled vehicles to land with a crash on the pavement. The shatter of glass was followed immediately by a small yellow fireball that lit the area.

Lila's hand was moist against the slick surface of a glass bottle. She clicked her lighter twice before flame bloomed. With trembling hand, she set the flame against the wick. The fabric caught immediately and began burning its way toward the bottle. She drew back her arm and launched the bomb with all her might, aiming for the huge target of an abandoned Hummer. She wished it was as easy as in the movies, where simply hitting a vehicle magically made it explode, but in real life it wasn't that easy to make a gas tank ignite. The bottle crashed against the Hummer and blew up.

As she pulled another bottle from her pack, Lila checked on Derrick and Julie. They were yards away, crouching behind a kiosk to rest before starting the next leg of their run. The way to the boat was rapidly clearing as the zombies migrated away. But they would return just as quickly if any of them sighted Derrick and Julie. Lila lit another fuse and threw another bomb, back behind them this time. It hit a wall and exploded with a satisfying crash.

Deb threw another, too, then tugged on Lila's arm. "We should go now."

They'd discussed this ahead of time. Ari would circle in the other direction to meet them on the docks, but Lila had a horrible feeling they were leaving him behind as she raced after Deb toward a bait and tackle shop. The bottles in her bag clinked together and she feared they'd break, dousing her backpack and clothes in gasoline.

She and Deb reached the wall of the shop and pressed flat against it, panting. The new hiding place afforded her a better view of the entire marina and also the flaming car with the gore-streaked mannequin strapped to the front like a sick hunting trophy. With its weighted accelerator, the car was gaining speed despite bumping over obstacles. It careened down the street toward the docks. Ari had aimed it for a stretch free of other vehicles, but the sedan soon veered off course and crashed into a building.

From all directions, zombies raced toward the burning car. The first undead reached the mannequin and pawed at it. Finding it wasn't human, their interest evaporated. Instead they opened the car doors and rummaged inside, checking out the rest of the meat Lila had thrown there. At least one's hair caught on fire, but he continued to burrow among the burning rags for tidbits.

Others raced past the car, heading for something else. Lila guessed they'd spotted Ari. She lit another Molotov cocktail and hurled it with all her strength into the midst of the running zombies. When the glass broke, the fire hit the gas vapor and the thing exploded. The fireball caught the hair and clothing of some of the zombies and set them alight. They raced on as if unaware of their flaming bodies.

"We need another distraction," Deb said after she'd thrown two more bombs in different directions.

"A big explosion," Lila agreed and a cartoon light bulb went off in her head. The idea was so simple one of them should've thought of it before. "Why not a car? Put a wick into the gas tank and set it on fire just like the bottles."

"Then run like hell. Sounds good. Let's do it." Deb took immediate action, finding a vehicle with a gas tank cover that didn't require a key to open it. She pulled the fuses from the rest of her bottles and tied them together. Lila tied a weight on the end of the strand and threaded the wick down into the gas tank. When she thought it had reached fuel, she held the wick to the side and loosely fastened the cap back on, then exchanged a look with Deb.

Deb flipped open her lighter.

A quick glance told Lila that Derrick and Julie had almost made the boat. There were still no zombies in their immediate vicinity. The distraction tactics had worked so far. She turned her attention back to Deb in time to see the fuse catch fire and start sizzling down its length toward the car.

The women ran, darting behind the building and across open ground to the next spot they'd chosen for cover. They crouched and waited for a thunderous explosion. Nothing happened. Maybe the wick had burned out or the enclosed space had stifled the flame before it could ignite gas fumes.

Lila turned her attention to the docks, only yards away now. Derrick and Julie had boarded the boat and were crouched beside the dashboard. Lila could just see the tops of their heads. They were well hidden. Safe. She grabbed Deb's arm, holding her back and whispered, "Maybe we should wait a few moments and give them a chance to do their work. If we're spotted running, we might attention to them before they're ready to go. Besides, Ari needs to catch up."

Deb nodded and hunkered back down to wait. A second later an explosion shook the ground, trembling through their bodies. The bang was followed by a whooshing noise, a yellow glow in the air, and a warm rush of air as the blast spread outward from its epicenter. Shrapnel rained down from above like pellets of hail peppering Lila's body. She ducked her head, pulling herself into a small ball.

Good thing we were sheltered by this building
, she thought. She looked at Deb to congratulate her on the success of their bombing. Deb was hunched over like she was...and there was a piece of jagged metal protruding from her back near her shoulder.

For a moment, Lila stared at the offensive object, trying to make sense of it.

Deb raised her head, her expression confused "What?" She reached over her shoulder.

"Don't!" Lila stopped her with a hand on her wrist. "You've got something embedded in your back, but maybe we shouldn't pull it out." She envisioned a gush of blood, a punctured lung, and Deb wheezing for her last breath right here on the ground.

The other woman's eyes widened, and she winced as shock wore off and pain set in. "Ow, fuck! It hurts. Do something. Get it out." She turned her back so Lila could operate.

The metal had torn through Deb's jacket and shirt. Lila gently tore the fabric away so she could see how bad it was. The shard was deeply embedded in the flesh to the right of Deb's shoulder blade. Could it be piercing her lung? Lila had no idea how much of the chest lungs occupied.

"Just pull it." Deb begged. "It can't stay in there. We've got to run for the boat

Lila reached out a trembling hand to take hold of the long shard of shrapnel. She moved it a little and blood oozed from the wound. She needed something to bandage the wound with and searched in her backpack for more of the fabric they'd used to make the fuses. There wasn't any, so she took one of the alcohol-drenched wicks and pulled it from its bottle of gasoline.

"Okay, I'm going to pull it out on the count of three and stuff this rag in the wound. It'll sting so bite down on something if you think you're going to cry out."

Lila took a deep breath and let it out slowly. She held the cloth that reeked of gas close to the wound and took hold of the metal with her other hand. "One. Two. Three..."

* * * * *

Chapter Eighteen

It was a lot more difficult than Ari had estimated to set the brick weight on the pedal and dive from the moving vehicle before it picked up too much speed. He landed on the sidewalk with a jolt that sent a sharp pain through his shoulder and drove the breath from his body. But there was no time to recover. The zombies would be on him like flies on meat. He rolled to defuse the impact and pushed up from the sidewalk, staggering to his feet.

A glance at the car told him it was already careening off course, heading toward the wall of a building. But the same glance also informed him the zombies were running toward it—and toward him. Behind him, he heard the crash and pop of the bottle bombs going off. Lila and Deb were hard at work trying to create a distraction for him.