Among the Living (42 page)

Kate cleaned her swords while she talked about her friend Bob and her hope that he was okay. She spoke of the fight in front of her apartment, of the way she waded into battle without a hint of remorse. How she felt detached from the action as if she were watching it on a small screen.

Grinder talked about a concert, about stepping onto the stage and pounding through what he called a ‘vicious set.’ He went into detail about the attack on the fans, how they fought and died in the tiny hall. He should have been horrified, but when he spoke, it was in a tone that was almost reverent. Later he found paper and a pencil and started writing. When dawn rolled around, he was still scribbling notes with a goofy grin on his face.

Mike talked about his girlfriend the entire time he had the floor. He talked about how beautiful she had been, how he knew he loved her after only one day. Mike then spoke of his son Andy and how he missed him. How he needed to get out of the stadium and go find his ex-wife. He was sure that she was safe. The others listened but did not encourage him.

Nelson listened too, and before he turned to leave, he spoke to them in a hushed tone.

“I know you all have been through a lot. I know you think you have seen hell, but this is far from over, folks. There are a lot of people stuck out there, holed up in office buildings and apartments. Tomorrow the Army is going to start clearing the streets, and we can use help.”

Kate looked up at him, and there was a gleam in her eyes that was unexpected, a look of eagerness. She seemed to be fighting a smile.

“I’m in.”

Mike considered Nelson’s words carefully. He had a half-plan in mind to go after Rita, to save at least one person in his life. He had failed Erin, and deep inside, he had always felt that he failed Andy. Now he had little to live for. Or maybe he needed something new on which to focus, because he was all too aware that he was capable of hating with as much passion as he loved.

Grinder didn’t even think twice; he gave Nelson the devil horns and said, “Rock and fucking roll, man.”

Lester sat quietly for a moment and then looked each of his new companions in the eyes. He knew that had he not come barreling into Pioneer Square earlier that day, they would all be dead. They stared back, and after a few seconds of silence, they looked away. They avoided trying to make him feel guilty, avoided trying to convince him that it was the right thing to do, but there was no need, because Lester was one pissed-off mother fucker. All he cared about was killing the things out there. Human or not, he wanted to roast the whole town.

“Get me a shitload of ammo for my gun and I’ll help.” Then he grinned the evilest grin he could manage just before he leaned over, hands on the barrel of his rifle and broke down in tears. “I’ll kill every one of those fucking things, every one of them.” His voice was barely audible.

Nelson, for his part, began to feel a bond with his new companions. There was a city to save and not enough people to save it. He knew that the local government had blown it when they tried to cut off the flow of information. Then the National Guards were called in, of which he was a part, but they were unable to cope with the threat. Now the federal government would have to come in and clean up the mess.

It was going to be a blood bath. They had to contain the virus here, in the city. It could not be allowed to escape. Nelson knew things that the others didn’t. He knew where it started, how a doctor tried an experimental procedure on his wife and paid the ultimate price. He knew because he was called in with a group of others to help cordon off the place. But his men were unable to cope, and some were attacked, then they attacked others. And so it went.

His best friend died a horrible, screaming, mindless death. He had known the man for ten years; Nelson had been the best man at his wedding. He was there when the woman he married ran off with another woman. He was there when they took a little trip to Thailand to erase the memory.

He was the one who had to pull his .45 from his holster and shoot his best friend in the head, and whenever he closed his eyes, he saw his buddy howling for blood just before his brains were splattered all over the ground.

Broken, and so are they.

THE END

The story continues in

AMONG THE DEAD

Coming 2012 from Permuted Press

www.PermutedPress.com

Timothy W. Long has been writing tales and stories since he could hold a crayon and has also read enough books to choke a landfill. He has a fascination with all things zombies, a predilection for weird literature, and a deep-seated need to jot words on paper and thrust them at people.

Tim is the author of the horror novel
Among the Living
and the forthcoming sequel
Among the Dead
. His other works include the deserted island ‘zombedy’,
The Zombie Wilson Diaries
and the apocalyptic novel
Beyond the Barriers
. He also co-wrote the post-apocalyptic novel
Wacktards of the Apocalypse
which was recently named the preferred version of the end of the world by a consortium of rapture survivors.

Tim can be found tooling around his website: TimothyWLong.com.