After the End (6 page)

"Medulla oblongata!" Derrick suddenly whirled around from studying a rack of chips. "That's why the shot to the forehead didn't work. It doesn't matter if their brains are damaged. In some zombie lore the heads must be completely severed. Cutting through the nervous system at the base of the neck stops them from functioning."

"You're saying they have to be beheaded," Ari said.

"That's my guess."

They all stared at Derrick. He sounded so certain and they were so desperate to believe in anything, Lila thought, even the guess of a kid raised on too many horror movies. Well, why not? Would a scientist have a better idea of what stopped a revenant?

Just then, a movement in the terminal caught her attention. Lila turned toward it. Something was moving in the shadow of the stairs to the lower level. She squinted and touched Ari's arm. "Hey, what's that."

He turned to look. They both stared at the thing crawling out of the darkness of the stairwell. It was the dead man from downstairs. Lila recognized the trench coat. They hadn't worried about the revenant pursuing them since his legs were broken. But apparently the creature's will was stronger than its physical disabilities, because the zombie was crawling relentlessly toward them.

Ari took a step forward. "God
damn
it." He picked up the pole he'd leaned against the counter and strode toward the creeping menace. Lila trailed after him, unable to look away from the abomination making its painstaking way across the floor. The thing's shoulders hitched and its hands braced against the cement as it hauled its broken body forward like a wounded soldier trying to escape a battlefield. Behind her, the others continued talking. Then one by one their voices fell silent as they saw the crawling zombie.

Ari jabbed the man in the side with his pole. Lila reached out a hand and whispered "no" to herself. It seemed so wrong to poke at the pitiful creature. But in an instant the zombie turned from pitiful to dangerously feral. It whipped a hand out lightning fast and gripped the pole, almost pulling it from Ari's hands. The creature looked up and bared its teeth, the dangling eye on its cheek bouncing jauntily at the sudden movement.

Ari jerked the pole from the creature's grip, raised it and brought it down on the zombie with an audible thump. Again and again he hit the undead thing, but still it wouldn't stop crawling. The zombie reached for Ari's foot. He leaped aside and smashed its hand with his boot. He slammed the pole across the back of the creature's neck several times.

"Find me something sharp to cut its neck with," he called out.

"Use the pole like a spear. Jab into the hollow at the base of its skull. That should impale the medulla." Joe went toward him, but didn't rush to help.

His suggestion was easier said than done. Ari tried to impale the zombie but it twisted away from his stabbing blows. The broken body thrashed like a landed fish, making it nearly impossible for him to hit the right spot. When at last he drove the pole into the creature's flesh, blood gushed from the wound. The heart must still be pumping. Lila watched in horror as the thing spasmed.

Ari's arm muscles strained as he pushed against the pole, keeping the dead man pinned to the floor. "Not working. Somebody get a knife."

Lila dashed back into the store, searching frantically for anything sharp enough to cut through flesh, gristle and bone. There was nothing. She could think of nothing to help.
Blind panic. This is what blind panic feels like.

"One of these shelves," Hector yelled. He swept the items off a metal display shelf and Deb helped him pull the shelf from the frame. Hector ran with the shelf toward Ari and the struggling zombie.

Joe and Hector's bodies blocked Lila's view. But she didn't want to see any more. She waited beside Mrs. Scheider, her body tense as she caught glimpses of Ari weilding the sharp edge of the shelf over the prone zombie. He grunted as he bore down, driving metal through flesh. The thing that had once been a man made a gurgling noise and lashed out with its arms and legs once more before going still.

"It worked," Derrick whispered.

She glanced at the white-faced boy beside her. Although his makeshift weapon was clenched in his hands, he hadn't gone to help. Neither had Joe or Hector. They'd stood nearby, letting Ari do the job alone. Lila realized with a flush of shame she'd done the same.

Hector moved, affording her a glimpse of Ari standing over the finally dead zombie. He dropped the metal shelf with a clatter and stooped to grab the pole he'd tossed aside. Straightening, Ari walked toward the shop. His expression was grim and his hands blood-spattered. He stopped and looked around at the rest of the group.

"More of those things may be coming. We've rested long enough."

No one argued as they gathered the things they'd commandeered from the store. Lila shouldered two totes full of water, juice, and food, their combined weight pulling on her shoulders. She gripped the red umbrella, which seemed totally useless now, but acted as a sort of security blanket for her psyche—something to hold onto.

When they were all ready, Ari led them upstairs to the street, going first to check that the way was clear. He called back over his shoulder. "I don't think it's going to get any better than this, very few people on the street and no undead that I can see. The way to the store looks clear."

Lila glanced at Ann Hanson beside her. The woman's expression was calm to the point of blankness. She held Ronnie's hand and bent to whisper to the whimpering child. Lila could see that Ronnie was Ann's red umbrella, something to cling to and take care of while the world fell apart.

"Move out," Ari called.

The group climbed the stairs as a tight unit, emerging from the shelter of the underground to the danger of the streets. Ari kept them moving at a fast clip, down littered sidewalk and around abandoned cars as they crossed the street.

Lila looked at buildings around them, so familiar and normal. This was her city, but eerily empty, as if it was early morning instead of the middle of a busy weekday. Had the people all run for shelter, clearing the streets, or had the government given some evacuation procedure to follow? Maybe there was some location they should be heading. Although they'd only been underground for a short time, she felt like she'd missed an important inter-office memo instructing them on how to respond to a zombie attack.

The trek from the subway entrance to Superior Sporting Supplies was surprisingly uneventful. Other than having to step around gore, there was nothing to impede their progress. Within minutes all nine of them were safely inside the building. The scent of leather and plastic from shoes, bags, jackets and other gear pervaded the store. It was a clean odor of new things at odds with the primal smells of blood, bodily waste and sweat she'd been inhaling. Lila wished she could scrub herself as clean and new as the store smelled, and scour her mind of all the horrific images that polluted it.

Power was out here, too. Light flooded in from the front windows, while a few emergency lights illuminated the back part of the store. Rows of display racks made dark tunnels down which anything might hide, but they didn't find another living soul in the store. No dead ones either or signs of death. Perhaps the people who worked here had stepped outside to see what was happening and had gotten carried away in the madness.

"We'll sweep the entire store and make sure it's safe," Ari said. "Lila, wait by the front door and lock it when I give the all clear."

He put down his makeshift weapon and took something more lethal from the hunting and fishing area, a knife with an eight inch blade. Ari, Hector and Joe went toward the back of the store to secure the storeroom, while Deb and Derrick checked out every aisle in the store. Everyone returned to report the building was deserted and Lila locked the door.

At the gun counter, Ari chose rifles and ammo from the gun cabinet after he'd found the keys. "That cop's gun might not have stopped that zombie, but if we blow the whole head off, they aren't going to keep going."

He handed out weapons to everyone except Ann and Ronnie. Ann was helping the little pick out a pair of tennis shoes to replace her sandals. Lila glanced at her own sandals and decided she'd better get better footwear for walking, too. But first Ari gave them all a tutorial on how to use the guns.

Lila held one called a CVA Buckhorn 290 Magnum. It was heavy. She breathed in the sharp tang of gun oil and metal as she rested the stock against her shoulder. She never would've imagined when she got up this morning with her mind twisted in knots over Doyle that she'd find herself several hours later with a rifle in her hands, learning how to squeeze the trigger. Lila shook off the foggy feeling of disconnect and brought her attention back to what Ari was saying. If she concentrated on the motions of what she was doing, she could keep her panic at bay.

"We don't want to draw attention with random gunfire. Don't shoot unless you have to and make every shot count. Aim for their heads and don't think of them as people, only targets. They aren't people any more."

"What if the guns don't work?" Hector, always the pessimist, sighted down his unloaded rifle and squeezed the trigger.

Ari smiled grimly. "Run like hell." It was the first time Lila had seen him smile and even though his smirk was ironic, it looked good on him.

He suggested they each find a knife, baseball bat or other weapon. Some did that, while others took the opportunity to make calls on the three available cell phones. The store phone was down because of the power outage apparently of this entire section of the city.

Lila put down her new rifle and borrowed Ari's phone to call her parents. They were hundreds of miles away in Ohio and hopefully safe if this situation only affected the New York area. She was desperate to believe it was true, although there was nothing to give her any such hope. With something so crazy, what was the likelihood this wasn't a wider phenomenon?

The phone rang five times, each ring ratcheting her tension up another notch, before her mother picked up. "Hello, Lila?"

"Yeah, it's me, Mom. Is everything all right there?"

"Your dad and I are okay. What about you? We've been watching the news. It's terrible! How are you? Are you safe?"

 "A store. I was on the subway with these other people when it was attacked and we escaped. We haven't seen any news yet. We don't know what's going on. The city's a mess. These things are killing people."

"Oh, sweetheart, we've been so worried about you. I called your cell over and over."

"I left it on the train with all my stuff when we ran." Hearing her mom's concerned voice made her eyes sting and she blinked away tears. "What's happening, Mom? What are they saying on TV."

"These attacks are happening all over the country. Stories are coming in, but no one really knows anything. You know the media. If they don't have any idea, they bring on experts who make up theories. The general consensus seems to be this is some kind of virus. But you tell me how a virus can make dead bodies rise and walk." She drew a deep, audible breath and her voice was steadier when she continued. "You know I'm not the most religious person, but if this isn't the damn apocalypse, I don't know what is."

There was a noise in the background and a "give me that" before her dad's voice thundered into the phone as if he was trying to yell all the way from Ohio. "Lila, listen to me. Are you someplace safe? You need to get someplace safe, lock the door and ride this out. That's what your mom and I are doing. Whatever's happening, the army will get it under control soon. You just have to protect yourself until then."

Lila looked at the rifle and ammo, the scope and night vision goggles lying on the counter beside her. "I'm trying, Daddy. I'm with some people from the subway and this one guy has had some military training. He's kind of our leader. I'm not at my apartment and I can't get there. It's blocks away, all the public transport systems are shut down and the streets are jammed with abandoned cars. We haven't decided what our next move should be yet."

"Let me talk to this guy."

Lila glanced at Ari, selecting vests and boots, holsters for the knives and other gear. "He's kind of busy right now. Has the President or someone made a statement yet? Is there something we're supposed to do or something the military is planning on doing? And are you sure you and mom are okay?"

"We're fine. Don't you worry about us. Our house is so far out of town, we're not in the thick of things. Wouldn't even have known anything was going on if I hadn't happened to turn on the TV."

"Dad, arm yourself. I know you don't have a gun but you need to get an ax or butcher knife. Anything sharp. We think you have to behead these things in order to stop them. Ari killed one that way, and one of the people here thinks it's about severing the spinal column."

Ann came up beside her, clearly wanting to use the phone. "I've got to go now. The phones are down here. We only have a few working cells and no way to recharge them. Take care of yourself, Dad. Tell Mom I love her. I love you both."

"Love you, too. Call again as soon as you can. Let us know what's happening."

"I will." She hung up and surrendered the phone to Ann, the weight in her chest nearly choking her. She ached to be with her parents right now, secure, loved and safely out of this nightmare city.

She walked back toward the front of the store. Ari beckoned her to join him. "Try this. See if it fits." He held out a hunting vest, and she slipped her arms into it. He zipped up the front. "It's no Kevlar, but might protect you a little and there are lots of pockets for carrying things."

Lila looked down at the heavy brown camouflage vest looking ludicrous over her short skirt and wedge-heeled sandals. "I need some pants and shoes, too."

Ari scanned her bare legs. "I don't know. That's kind of a good look for you."

Was he flirting? Here, now, in the middle of an end-of-the-world disaster? Her legs burned as if his assessing glance carried the heat of a torch. He met her gaze, brown eyes sparkling, and her stomach gave a little flutter.