Parish (8 page)

              “Nice to meet you, Smitty.  I’m Emily, this is my husband Jack and our children Wade, Wren and Jamie.  That is our dear friend, Artemis.” Emily stood up and extended her hand to the awkward teenager who gave her a sloppy sideways high five instead of shaking it.

              “Cool.” Smitty smiled as his attention wandered over Wren, who crossed her arms over her chest and cast her eyes to the ground.  “Okay, just follow me and I’ll get you settled in.  It sure is nice to have you, we could always use some more able bodies.”

              “Yeah.” Jack smiled, afraid that someone would catch on to their plans.  They followed Smitty to the ground floor of an abandoned coffee shop.  He held his hands out wide as he turned to them as if he was presenting the presidential suite in a five star hotel.

              “Oh, man.” Smitty laughed as he ran his palm over his face.  “I should’ve asked if you want me to give Artie here his own space.”

              “It’s Artemis, and no we’re good.  Thanks for asking though.” He nodded as he walked over and sat down on the floor.

              “No, we’re fine, really, thank you Smitty.” Emily smiled sweetly.

              “Alright then, you folks go ahead and get comfortable.  I’ll see you soon.” He flashed Wren a smile before exiting.

              “That was creepy.” Wade said in a hushed tone, looking at the door.

              “You can say that again.” Wren added.

              “What’s the plan?” Artemis asked Jack as he pulled his knees up and rested his arms on his knees his hands dangling down in front of him.  Jack walked over and sat down beside him.

              “I’m not sure, they have the place guarded pretty well.” Jack sighed.  “I think our best bet would be to sneak over to the vehicle, tell the kids to hit the floor and just gun it out of here.”

              “That may be the only way.” Artemis shook his head slowly.

              “We should do it when everyone is asleep, minimizes the number of people in our way.” Emily whispered.

              “It’s a plan then.” Artemis looked to the kids.  “You three need to try to rest, your Mom and Dad too.  Jack I’ll take the first shift if you want to try to sleep.”

              “Sounds like a deal.” Jack nodded as he tried to lay down on the hard tile of the coffee shop floor.  Wren moved in between her Mother and Wade, Jamie sat on Emily’s other side.  In no time they were all dozing softly with Artemis keeping watch.

              The sun faded and the room began growing dark.  Outside, maybe forty yards away a small glow was evident.  It wouldn’t be wise to have a big fire, it could draw the attention of the undead.  Artemis looked back to Jack, and nudged his foot to wake him.  Jack bolted upright at the sudden jostle.

              “Shhh!” Artemis held a finger over his lips.  “Everything’s cool, it’s your turn to keep watch.  Don’t let me sleep more than three hours, after that we gotta beat it out of here.  Got it?”

              “Yeah, three hours.” Jack nodded as a huge yawn escaped him.  “Go on, get some rest, I’ve got this.”

              “Alright then.” Artemis eyed him up suspiciously before leaning back against the wall and closing his eyes.

Chapter Seven

“Come on, wake up, but be quiet.” Jack whispered as he woke his wife.  Emily looked up at Jack, and for a moment seemed to not recognize him.  That look quickly faded as she turned and hurriedly began waking the kids.  Artemis was at the door, looking out.  He turned and motioned for them to follow him.  He moved his hand up and down, telling them to stay low.  Artemis moved through the door silently, the DeLasalle family following at his heels.

              When Artemis held his hand up for them to stop, the stopped.  When he motioned for them to haul ass, they did.  No one was out wandering about the camp as they made their way to where they had parked earlier.  As they reached the vehicle they all exchanged triumphant smiles, but the victory was short lived as someone whistling Dixie broke the silence.

              Artemis once again held his fingers to his lips, as he pulled Jamie and the twins closer to him.  He leaned in and whispered.

              “I’m gonna open that door and when I do I want the three of you to move as fast as you can, get in there and get to the back.  You need to get down on the floor in there.  Nod if you understand me.”  All three nodded.  “Good.  Now, on the count of three I’m gonna open it and you move.  Okay?  One…two…three…”  He opened the door as softly as he could manage, once it was open he pushed Jamie up and in.  Wade and Wren followed closely behind.  Emily was next in, then Jack.  Artemis waited until last.  As he stood up to enter the vehicle he heard a shout.

              “Where in the hell do you think you’re going?”  He didn’t answer the question, instead he jumped in and shut the door.

              “Everyone hang on, I’m busting through that fence.  We’re getting’ the hell out of this place!”  He threw the vehicle into reverse and slammed on the gas, speeding backwards the camp before slamming on the brake and causing the vehicle to lurch before putting into drive and once again slamming his full weight down on the accelerator.

              They picked up speed as the approached the makeshift gate.  Several men with guns were standing near it, all had their guns raised and were aiming at them.  Artemis let out a war cry as they slammed into and through the gate.  More than a dozen zombies were lingering along the outer rim, and once the gate was down they began stumbling into the camp.  As they drove down the road the shots of gunfire echoed out.

              “Wow, Artemis, that was pretty cool!” Wade smiled as he leaned forward and slapped Artemis on the shoulder.  “You’re the man!”

              “Yeah.” Artemis laughed.  “Now we have to find another safe place.”

              “I wish we knew what they know in Washington.” Jack wished aloud.

              “Even if we did, it may not make a difference.” Wren shrugged.  Suddenly her attention was drawn down beside her.  “Jamie?  Are you okay?”

              “I don’t feel well.” Jamie’s tiny voice replied.  Jack jumped and quickly spun around to give their youngest his full attention.

              “What’s wrong bud?” Jack asked.

              “I don’t know, I feel like I got the flu.” Jamie replied.

              “Check his skin!” Emily cried out.  “What color is his skin?”

              “It’s skin color.” Wren furrowed her brow.

              “Ok.” Emily breathed a sigh of relief.  “That’s good, skin color is good.  It’s probably just stress, lack of sleep and that damn orange soup they fed us.  Just try to lay down back there, sweetie, you’ll feel better soon.”

              “Okay.” Jamie nodded as he looked to his sister.  “Can I use your leg as a pillow?”

              “Sure.” Wren nodded as she lifted her arm and allowed him to lay his head on her lap.  Lovingly she stroked his hair back and watched as he closed his eyes.

              “Are you still wantin’ to go to the swamp, doc?” Artemis asked.

              “I don’t know, anymore.  Why don’t we turn on the radio and see if they’re saying anything on there.  Maybe we’ll get lucky and they’ll tell us it’s safe somewhere.” Emily few her legs up underneath her as she held her hand over her eyes.  Artemis reached over and turned on the radio.

              For several moments there was nothing but static coming across the air.  The mood seemed to fall, until the static began to break up and a voice wafted over the station.  All of them jumped to the edge of their seat in anticipation.

              “Hey, I’m Hal, and I hacked into the station.  I am not a government official, I am just a guy in a prepper hole with information for everyone who is off the grid right now.  Okay, this is going to sound crazy but bear with me.  This undead thing is everywhere.  When I say everywhere, I mean it.  It’s in Europe, in China, in Australia in Michigan.  A ton of cities are like, just ghost towns now well…that isn’t accurate now is it?  It’s more like zombie towns.” Hal laughed over the radio.  “Anyway, the last information coming out of the CDC said that those who first showed symptoms of this and came back from the dead, are like
dead
dead.  Whatever is causing this doesn’t make them reanimate indefinitely.  This is totally good news.  The CDC said as long as people who are safe right now don’t go out and do something stupid like get bit or whatever, that this whole thing will be over in like four to seven days.  That’s cool, am I right?  Well I sure hope someone is out there listening! We have light at the end of this blood drenched tunnel!”

              “I wonder if they know what’s causing it yet?” Wade asked.

              “It hasn’t been that long, I doubt they know yet.  If they knew I’m sure that man on the radio would have mentioned it.” Emily waved her hand dismissively.

              “Whoa!” Artemis shouted as a zombie fell onto the hood of the vehicle, its mouth still working as it noticed the living, edible, beings a few feet from them.

              “Damn!” Emily shouted as she tried to look up through the windshield.  “That thing better have fallen from a roof or window, because I swear to god, this is already bad enough without it turning into some B horror film.  I can’t handle Zombicane where a hurricane meets a hoard of zombies merging and creating a super storm that drops more than rain and hail on you it drops the undead!”

              “If we survive this, please pitch that idea to those people at that science channel on cable.  That would be an awesome made for TV movie!” Wade was smiling.

              “Mom?” Wren’s voice was a bit shaky.

              “Was is it?” Emily asked.

              “I think Jamie has a fever, he’s burning up my leg!” Wren replied trying to stay calm.

              “I’m coming back!” Emily cried as she turned and made her way back to them.  Wren softly laid his head on the seat and scooted away to allow her mother some room to examine him.  She picked his head up gingerly, allowing her hand to rest on his forehead.  “Oh, baby, you’re burning up!”  She frowned and looked up at Jack who wore the identical look of worry she did.

              “Is he going to be ok?” Wren asked as she chewed her bottom lip.  Even Wade was looking at his little brother intensely.

              “He’ll be ok.” Emily nodded.  “We just have to get this fever to break.”

              “We’re about to run into another issue, doc.” Artemis’ deep voice pulled them from their family dilemma.

              “Oh, please don’t say that!” Jack shook his head, his shoulders falling in defeat.

              “Sorry, but I can’t keep mum about this one.  We’re about to run out of gas.” Artemis looked into the rearview mirror and met Jack’s eyes.

              “What are we going to do?” Wade asked as he turned his attention outside.

              “We need to find a safe place, somewhere that’s easily defendable in case.” Artemis replied. 

              “What place appears to be safe to you?” Wren shrieked, her chest heaved as she appeared to have an anxiety attack.  “They were going to…going to…back there…”

              “Calm down, Wren!” Emily commanded.  “Take slow deep breaths.”

              “It will be ok.” Jack smiled nervously.

              “Stop saying that!  What are you the Mr. Rogers of the apocalypse?” Wren screamed.  “How can you see any of this and think it will all be ok?  Oh my god Dad!  Pull your head out of your ass and take a big whiff of reality!”

              “I said calm down, dammit!” Emily’s voice rose over Wrens screaming.

              “I see what looks to be an empty mom and pop grocery.  I bet we could get in there and secure it up pretty good.” Artemis slowed down and pointed to the left.  “Anyway, it isn’t…” his sentence was interrupted by the sputtering of the engine.  It stalled and rolled to a stop.  “…like we have much choice.”

              “Shit.” Grumbled Jack as he looked out of the window to estimate how far they were from the store.  It appeared to be about thirty yards, give or take a few.  “I don’t think it’s safe for all of us to go at once, not with a sick kid in tow.”

              “I agree with you on that, that’s why you’re coming with me, Wade too.” Artemis turned slightly in his seat in order to look at them directly as he spoke.  “We’re gonna get out of here and make our way to the door.  Ain’t no one gonna panic, ain’t no one gonna freak out.  We’re gonna look out for one another, and if one of those things comes at us, we’re gonna kill it.  Right?”

              “Yeah.” Wade agreed, but didn’t turn his attention from the window.  Jack merely nodded slowly as he shot a worried side glance at his wife.

              “The ladies here, well they’re gonna lock the doors behind us.  Once we make sure it’s all clear, I’ll come back to get them.  If something happens out here, you honk that horn one time.  Only honk it once, we don’t want to draw more attention to ourselves than absolutely necessary.” Artemis took a slow deep breath.  “Keep your eyes open, and be aware of your surroundings.  When you lose focus that’s why something will jump up and bit you right in the ass.”

              “Did you learn that in the military?” Wade finally turned away from the window and looked at Artemis.

              “Naw,” Artemis shook his head and smiled widely.  “I learned that from Teely.” He chuckled as his eyes momentarily glazed over as he remembered.  “Anyway.  Each of you grab something that can kill one of those things and then we’ll go.”  Jack reached for his gun, and Wade grabbed a crowbar that had been left in the vehicle. 

              “Be safe out there, please.” Emily kissed Jack quickly.  “You too, do you understand me?” She had turned to Wade who gave her a curt nod.  Emily kissed her son on the cheek.

              “Everyone ready?” Artemis asked.

              “As ready as we’re going to be I believe.” Jack replied as he stretched his neck.

              “Let’s get it!” Artemis cried as he swung open his door and jumped out, his boots hitting the pavement with a thud.  Wade and Jack scrambled to join him.  Wren jumped over and locked the driver’s door as soon as Artemis closed it.  Emily locked the other doors.  They turned their attention outside to the three guys who were creeping their way toward the grocery store.

              Jacks head was turning back and forth like he was watching a tennis match.  Wade kept looking backward towards them, and Artemis would raise his gun up poised to shoot after every two steps.  A female zombie came shuffling down the sidewalk, arms raised and jaw moving.  It had seen them and it wanted to feed.  It zoned in on Wade.  Wade jumped back, and Jack began to charge over to his sons’ side.  Before Jack could get there, Wade raised the crowbar up over his head and brought it down with a wet smack as it went through the woman’s skull.  She drooped onto the sidewalk like a sack of rotten potatoes, blood and brain matter pouring from the wound, it puddled around Wade’s feet.

              “Mom, did you see that?” Wren asked as he looked from her brother to her mother and then back again.

              “Yes, I saw.” Emily replied uneasily.  The three men continued their way to the front of the grocery store.  Artemis held his hand up to have the other stop as they approached the front door.  He flattened himself against the store front.  In one swift movement he entered, Jack and Wade quick on his heels. 

              Several minutes passed before two shots rang out causing Emily and Wren to jump and scoot closer to the windows, as if moving closer to the windows would somehow give them x-ray vision.  Artemis and Wade came running out of the store and directly to the vehicle.  Emily and Wren unlocked the doors as they approached, swinging the doors open.

              “Come on, come on!  We gotta hurry.  Hand me the little man, I’ll carry him.” Artemis waved his hands for Emily to hurry and hand him Jamie.

              “What was that?  Where’s Jack?” Emily’s frightened voice quaked.

              “He’s fine.  He’s still inside.” Wade replied as he offered his hand to his sister to help her.

              “Yeah,” Artemis took Jamie into his arms.  “The old couple who I guess owned the place, they were inside, and…well let’s just say they were hungry but not for grits.  Now hurry up.  Those shots will be drawing them here.”