Dead Hunger: The Flex Sheridan Chronicle (6 page)

She
nodded. 
I locked and closed the door again, and ran back inside the house.  I ran right by the scene in the entry and to the girls’ bedroom.   I
grabbed
the two
twin sized
Disney Princess comforters from the beds and ran back to the truck.  I unlocked it with my key and pulled the door open.  Her head popped up.

“Here, Trinie,” I said, using my pet name for her.  “I know it’s warm out, but I want you out of sight.  Cover yourself with this and stay on the floor, okay?”

She nodded, her blonde hair bouncing with her cute little head.  “Okay, Uncle Flexy.”  That was her pet name for me.

“On the floor,” I said.  I pushed the lock knob down again and closed the door tight.

The trailer was parked up against the side of the house.  I didn’t want to start the truck
’s engine
because of the noise, so I lifted the tongue of the trailer and
walked backward,
rolling
it over the uneven ground toward my Suburban.  I passed the truck and spun the trailer slowly around, then dropped it down o
nto the tow
ball, snapping the latch into place.  I plugged in the
electrical
connector
just to be safe.  Hauling what I planned to haul, it wouldn’
t be smart to get pulled over, though I kind of doubted that dead running lights were something the police would be concerned with right now
.  They’d be more likely to take you for a criminal if you were hunched over somebody sawing the top of their skull off
with a steak knife
.

That
job
complete, I had
three more tasks
left before I could get my ass on the road.  I was exhausted, but the adrenaline was still coursing through my veins, and sleep was the last thing on my mind.

My next task was to bury
Jesse
.  That sweet little girl who loved to play checkers with me.  The one who really taught me the r
ules of hopscotch, and who could beat me at both even when I wasn’t letting her.

But first I needed to
get Jamie
secured in
the back of
the equipment hauler
.  I went back
inside
the
screened
pool enclosure and
lifted one
end of the cylindrical shaped
sarcophagus I created for Jamie, then
dragged it
behind me as I walked b
ackward
toward the Suburban
.  The plastic slid fairly easily over the ground, and I got her to the trailer in just over a minute. 
I lowered the rear hatch, which
converted
into a ramp, and dragged her up onto it.  There were two coils of nylon rope
in on the trailer
, so I tied one length around the center of the bundle in case the hose
slipped or loosened.  N
o
loud noises
from Jamie
so far
, but I could still feel slight movement, so I knew she was alive – or at least not completely dead.   Afterward, I lashed the
bundle
containing my former sister to the passenger-side railing
o
f the open trailer
using
the
steel tie-down rings
.

She would not be going anywhere.  I didn’t know what to do with her.  This wouldn’t do for very long, but  I didn’t have any choice, and this was all I could do right now.

Before I
could lay
Jesse
to rest
, I had to retrieve her from the bottom of the pool, but it would not do to have her body lying exposed in case it drew more of
them
.   I would be better off digging her grave and getting her after
ward
.

I walked around to the side of the pool
enclosure
to the small shed.  It wasn’t locked
, and inside was everything I’d need.  There was  a tarp, but I didn’t want to wrap her body in that. 
I grabbed a spade shovel
and took note of the empty space that I believed once accommodated the small axe that was now inside the house
– or more specifically, embedded in Jack’s flesh
.
 

I walked back out and tested the earth in several spots. 
It had rained earlier, so the ground was moist
, to my relief.  I started digging the grave for my darling
Jesse
directly
behind the shed.  The rear fence
blocked
sight of
me from anybody who might still be alive, or anyone who might want to come at me for whatever reason –
I
still wasn’t completely sure, at least at that point,
what was happening
.  I would love to be as blind to the new dangers of the world as I was at that particular moment in time, but I’m no fool.  The saying used to go
‘
what you don’t know can’t hurt you,
’
but it’s
changed in this world.  Now it’s ‘
what you don’t know can
eat
you.
’

From my vantage point,
I could look around the corner and see the
cab of my
truck, so that made me feel better about
leaving Jamie so close to Trina.

The grave was not too big.  Just about four and a half feet long by two feet wide.    I wanted to make it about another foot deep, but I
didn’t have the time or, as it turned out, the energy. 
The adrenaline had started to dissipate, after all.  Using the shovel as a support, I propped it outside the hole and leaned on it as I stepped up and out.

“Flex?”

The
unexpected
voice mad
e me
draw back
, and I almost fel
l
back
into the small grave.

She stood barely five feet in front of me.  It was Gem.

“Jesus Christ, Flex!  It
is
you!”  She ran to me and I
threw the shovel down and took her into my arms. 
I wrapped them around her and squeezed her so tight to me that I almost couldn’t breathe.  We didn’t say a word for the longest time, and when she pulled away
from me, I looked into her face, her eyes.

She kissed me gently on the mouth, then pulled back, her eyes meeting mine, a question in them.

I broke the silence, but there was nothing awkward about it. 
“Gem, I’ve been thinking about you.  And here you are.  God I missed you.”

“
Me, too,” she s
aid.  Then: “Flex, I’m scared. 
Uncle
Rogelio
is . . . one of
them
, and there were so many of them in
Miami
that
I had to get out of there. 
He killed my Aunt Ana, Flex!  I can’t tell you how. . .
You
do
know what’s happening to people, right?”  She searched my eyes, waiting for my answer.

I nodded.  “Gem, I know.  This is the only firsthand experience I’ve had so far.  It’s fucking bad here.”

Gem shook her head.  “I know, baby.  You were
on my mind for weeks before
this all happened
, but once I realized something bizarre was
going on
, I knew I had to find you.”

“Gem, I’m glad you’re here, and there’s a lot I need to tell you – none of it good.  Jamie’s one of them.  She killed Jack, near as I can tell, and
Jesse
. . . well, Jess is dead.  She drowned in the pool trying to escape her mom.”

Gem’s face
fell, and tears immediately formed in her eyes
.  “Oh, Flex.  Oh, my God. 
Not little Jess.”  Her expression became more distressed.  “
Where’s Trina?  Is she okay?”

I nodded and
pulled her against me again.  She put her head on my chest and I breathed her in.  “
Trina’s
in my truck, locked in
, lying on the floor
.
  She’s a good little hider
, and she’s been really good, listening to what I’ve told her to do
.
”

Gem
held onto me for another long moment, then pulled back.  “So this . . . grave.  It’s for Jess?”

I nodded.  “She’s still in the pool.  I didn’t want to get her until . . . you know.”  I looked at the grave.  “I think
it’s good enough now.”

“Give me your keys,” she said.  “I need to go to Trina.”

I fished them out of my pocket and handed them to her. 
“I’m glad you’re here, Gem.  You are the one person I needed to see now.
  I think the only person.
”

She shrugged.  “It was the same with me.  Go get her, and I’ll sit with Trina for a bit.  But don’t finish this without me.  I want to see her.”

I nodded and headed toward the pool, turning back to watch her walk to the Suburban.  The one that got away was back.  I must not have done everything wrong.

I reached the edge of the pool again and scanned the water.  The zombie I’d killed was caught in the side ladder.  He’d floated into it and his arm was caught, so he was not sinking down to where
Jesse
’s body lay.  I entered at the steps and just walked in.  When I was chest deep, I dove down and found her again.

*****

Back at the Suburban, I tapped on the window.  Trina sat beside Gem, another of her favorite big people in the world, and was talking animatedly.  I noticed a machine gun of some type on the dashboard, and noted to myself that this was not my weapon. 
Gem rolled down the window.

“
Is that an Uzi?
” I
asked, shaking my head
.  “I’m ready.   Bring that other comforter with you.
”

She nodded.  No words were necessary.  Gem pulled the twin comforter from the floorboard, and turned to Trina.  “
On the f
loor,
door
lock
ed
, not a peep, right?”

“Like I’m playing hide and seek,” Trina said, smiling.

“Just like that,” Gem responded.  “Shhh.”

“Shhh,
”
repeated Trina, crawling onto the floor.
  Gem dropped the other comforter on top of her and rolled the driver’s side window back up.  She got out of the truck,
clicked the lock
and closed
the door
.

“Let’s go,” she said.

Back at the gravesite
Gem knelt down
over
Jesse
’s body.  I had
rested
her on her back and had done my best to straighten her clothes and hair.  Despite her
condition
,
her hair and clothes soaking wet,
she still looked beautiful.

“I never should have had to see you like this,
Jesse
,” Gem said. 
She
stroked
the child’s
face
and hair, then lowered her face to
Jesse
’s and kissed her cheek, then her forehead.  “Rest in peace, little rabbit, you.”

It was what she’d always called
Jesse
. 
Jesse
loved it, because she loved rabbits.  In fact, against
her mother’s
better judgment, Gem had convinced
Jamie
to let her read Watership Down to
Jesse
, who
from the beginning
, adored the
tale
of Fiver
,
Hazel
and
their
warren of rabbits.

When Gem was done with her good
byes, I knelt down beside
Jesse
and touched her face.  I dropped down and put her cheek against mine.  “I love you, little one.  And I want you to know that wasn’t your mama you were running from.  She loves you.  Your mama would never do anything to hurt you.”

I
stared down at her for a
long time,
kissed her cheek and stood.  “Let’s wrap her.”

Gem spread out the comforter and I picked
Jesse
up and placed her on it.  Gem carefully folded the blanket
over and
around her, tucking it in tightly on all sides.  Together, we lifted her and placed her inside the grave. 

In silence, we covered her body with soil until
only a mound of earth
was visible
before us
.