Resurrection (13 page)

“Corned beef it is,” Peter yelled out.

He brought Charlie the can of hash. And took a seat on the cot opposite the one Charlie was seated on.

“It’ll be dark soon but were safe down here,” Peter said.

“Your dad built this?” Charlie asked between mouthfuls of hash.

“Me and my dad, we dug this hole and shored it up with the wood from the abandoned houses. When the grocer, Mr. Wright turned and daddy had to dispose of him, we were the only ones still living in town; the only ones who remained alive I mean. We took all the food we could salvage from the grocery and here we are.”

“What happened to you your dad?”

“He was killed by raiders, they rolled into town one day and caught daddy by surprise. There were four of them, he never had a chance. I saw the whole thing from the back of the grocery. I buried daddy up on the mesa where he could see everything.

“Those raiders, did they get away?”

The boy’s next words sent a chill through Charlie, “I disabled two them with my bow and tied them to that tree by the water pump, the Wasters came later that night attracted by the blood, and it wasn’t pretty. The other two got away.” Peter said rather indifferently. Charlie realized at that point that Peter was clearly able to fend for himself and to kill if necessary; he would definitely be resting with one eye on him.

Chapter 31

Throughout the night Charlie kept looking over at Peter, but he never moved. The last time Charlie opened his eyes he decided to get up. He crept up the ladder and opened the trunk lid and peered outside.

It was still dark but he judged it must be just a few hours before dawn. He raised the lid and looked all around him and upon seeing nothing he decided it was safe to step out onto the desert floor.

He sat down on the hood of a car and looked up at the night sky. The desert air was cool at this time of morning and he relished the breeze. In the distance on the horizon he saw a bright glow which reminded him of the electric lights of a large city illuminating the night sky.

“Now what in the world is that?” He said.

Suddenly he heard something to his right but before he could turn the Wasters were upon him. The first one knocked his rifle from out of his hands, he reached for it but there were too many of them.

He scrambled to find the car so he could escape down the hole but now it was lost among the other junk automobiles. He was certain he could not be far from it but with the Wasters coming into the jumble of vehicles from all sides he became confused.

He jumped down and crawled under one of the cars; the monsters shuffled all around and began trying to crawl under. He pulled his pistol and began firing, the wasters surrounded the car and he was trapped.

He shot wildly into the creature’s faces in an attempt to open up a hole through which he could escape but when one fell away two took its place. Suddenly the pistol went silent, the magazine was empty and he tried to grab another but was unable to due to the close quarters. He cursed himself for allowing himself to get in this situation.

The Wasters grabbed hold of him and began to pull him from under the car. The creatures had a grip on him from all sides and a burning panic began to take over.      Suddenly he heard a scream so shrill it hurt his ears and then he realized the scream was his own.

He placed his back against the underside of the car and pushed with all of his strength and the car began to rise, slowly at first, and then with one quick shove he rose to his knees and threw it backward where it landed on top of the car behind it.

He pulled his machete and began wildly swinging at his attackers. He lopped off their heads, hacked off their limbs and disemboweled the creatures in a blind rage and after a moment their numbers began to wane until all that was left was a mass of writhing, moaning fiends lying helpless on the desert floor. He found his shotgun and reached down to pick it up. As he stood he felt a sharp pain in his left shoulder, an arm encircled his neck and he smelled the fetid breath of a Waster.

He fumbled with the shotgun when suddenly he heard the unmistakable whizzing of an arrow as it passed by his ear. The monster released its grip on him and fell limp onto the ground. Charlie turned and shattered the creatures head with a shotgun blast; it was then he saw Peter only ten feet away waving at him.

“Come on, get back in here,” Peter yelled.

Charlie quickly ran toward him and climbed onto the ladder and locked the trunk lid behind him. Once at the bottom of the pit he collapsed onto the bunk.

“What were you doing out there?” Peter asked.

“I couldn’t sleep, I never do, and I didn’t realize there were this many of them here.”

“I told you that I had been finding more than usual lately, that’s why I was out hunting today,”

Peter struck a match in order to light a lantern and Charlie shouted and covered his eyes.

“Put that light out, now!” He cried, covering his eyes with his hands.

Peter doused the match.

“My goggles, where are my goggles?”

“They probably fell off out there during the fight,” Peter said.

Peter fumbled about as he attempted to find his way in the pitch dark.

“Watch that stack of canned food kid, you’re going to knock them over on yourself, let me help you,” Charlie said.

“You can see me right now, can’t you?” Peter declared.  

Charlie hesitated for a few moments. “Yes, I can see you.”

“What are you, I saw when you overturned the car and you fought off all of those wasters.”

“I’m just a man.”

“You ain’t no man, not like I ever seen before!”

“Look, I need those goggles; I can’t believe I let my guard down like that.”

“You can’t see in the daylight without them can you? You’re just like those Wasters, you’re blind during the day but you can see at night, that’s why you wear the goggles,” Peter said.

“Ok, look, in case you haven’t heard, living out here isolated and all, there is a plague loose on the earth and it wiped out most of the good citizens of the planet and turned them into living dead folk. Well, apparently some people did not die when they were afflicted and I am one of those lucky ones, if you can call that luck.”

Charlie hesitated for a moment, he saw Peter, still standing by the canned food like a cornered animal.

“Anyway, it seems that the virus left me with some new gifts, shall we say. I have strength like the Wasters, I’m not as strong as they are but my brain still functions and I can utilize the powers in ways they cannot. Also, I have excellent night vision, but I also have weaknesses and not being able to see in daylight is one of them.”

There was silence for a moment before Peter spoke.

“So, is there still the possibility you could turn?”

Charlie sighed; he rubbed his hands over his head and contemplated the question. Should he lie and tell Peter that there was no danger of his turning.

“The fact is I just do not have an answer to that question, its one I live with daily.”

Charlie stood and walked over to Peter and took him by shoulder and guided him to his bunk and then returned to his own and sat down.

“Guess you’ll be the one sleeping with one eye open now?”

“I have been. At first light I’ll go out and find your goggles.”

Chapter 32

When Peter was satisfied that the sun had risen sufficiently and there was no more danger from Wasters he went out and found Charlie’s goggles. The Wasters Charlie had put down were already decomposing in the sunlight.

“Hey I got your goggles, there not broken, lucky for you, huh?”

Charlie put them on and climbed the ladder and out of the pit. Peter followed behind him.

“Hey, the bite, it looks like it is already just about healed, how can that be?” Peter said.

Charlie climbed to the top of the mesa and pulled out his binoculars and scanned the horizon. Peter climbed up and stood beside him.

“What are you looking for?” Peter asked.

Charlie did not answer but kept observing the horizon in the distance. Peter strained to see anything. Soon Charlie took the binoculars from his eyes.

“I saw a glow in the distance last night, over that direction, just before I was attacked,” Charlie said pointing. “Have you seen it, the glow I mean, it looked like a city or something, I’m not even really certain I actually saw it.”

“No, I haven’t seen it; I haven’t been outside after dark since my dad died.”

Charlie looked at Peter, “Well kid that’s where I’m going.”

“Wait, you’re leaving?” Peter said surprised.

“I can’t stay here; I’m looking for a place where civilization hasn’t died out, a place where people have gained a foothold.”

Peter looked down at the ground and kicked at a rock with his foot. He took a quick glance at the mesa where he had buried his father.

“Well, if your leaving I’m going with you, there is certainly nothing here for me anymore,” Peter said finally.

“I don’t recall putting out an invite, I’m no wet nurse.” Charlie responded bluntly.

“I don’t need you mister, I can take care of myself and if you leave you can’t very well stop me from following!”

Charlie contemplated Peter’s words for a moment,

“Alright, we spend today gathering supplies; we’ll head out after first light.” 

Chapter 33

Dawn broke and chill ran through the air as the first orange rays of light crept across the land. A Roadrunner darted from its hiding place underneath the branches of a Cane Cholla. The bird pulled a small Rattlesnake from underneath a rock with its sharp beak and quickly killed it and then retreated to its refuge under the cactus. 

Charlie puffed slowly on a cigarette as he watched the display of nature from the hood of one of the cars. Cigarette Smoke curled around his head and drifted listlessly upward in the still morning air.

Peter pulled his pack up through the hole in the Chevy trunk and hefted it onto his shoulder. He searched through the cars and spotted Charlie not far away. He was looking toward the spot on the horizon where he said he had seen the glow in the night sky.

Peter hurried through the jumble of automobiles and joined Charlie. Neither spoke, a Mourning Dove sang a somber refrain that drifted across the barren landscape as the pair stood silently in the field of corroding metal tombstones. Charlie finished his cigarette and flicked it into the air.

“Let’s go,” Charlie said.

They crossed the dusty road and headed south. Peter stopped and turned and looked back at what had once been his home, a place of many happy memories and some not so joyful. He looked over one last time at the mesa where his father lay and with tears welling in his eyes he gave a salute.

Later in the morning they came upon some human bodies scattered around the desert.

“I wonder who they are. Why would they be out here?” Peter said.

Maybe the same reason I’m out here,” Charlie said. “They were searching for something a dream perhaps, one that blew away in the wind.”  

“Don’t look like the Wasters got to em; what do you think happened.”

Charlie picked up a canteen which was lying beside one of the corpses and turned it upside down.

“Thirst I’d guess, see if they have any weapons.”

“This one’s got a pistol and two full magazines,” Peter said.

“Keep that it may come in handy.” Charlie said.    

Charlie turned and looked across the plains, wind blew back his hair and the sound of flies buzzing on the cadavers filled his ears. He started walking again and Peter reached down and picked up the teddy bear one of the bodies was clinging to. He slapped it against his thigh to remove some of the dust and stuck it in his coat and made the sign of the cross over the bodies and then hurried to catch up.

As evening fell Charlie stopped and surveyed the area. “We’ll stop here for the night, I don’t want to chance walking in the dark right now, there’s sure to be Waster out here.

Evening surrendered to the night, stars filled the sky and the moon was nowhere to be found.

“Look, said Charlie pointing at the southern horizon. There’s the glow I was telling you about, see it?

“Yeah, I do, what do you think it is?”

“I don’t know. It looks for all the world like a city, like it was when there was electricity. Gimme a can of those beans, I’m getting a little hungry,”

The pair sat facing the glow in the night sky, a cool breeze from the south swept in.

“Getting a little chilly,” Peter said.

Peter sat the can of beans on the ground beside him. He watched Charlie for a moment and tried to get enough courage to ask some questions

“Can I ask you something?” He finally said.

Charlie never averted his eyes from the glow in the southern sky.

“What?” He said finally with a tone of slight aggravation.

“Well, for one thing I never got your name.”

“Is it really that important?”

“Well you know mine, so yeah, kinda.”

“Ok then, its Charlie.”

“Charlie? Huh, I would not have guessed Charlie; you don’t look like a Charlie to me.”

“So Peter, what does a Charlie look like?”

“I don’t know, like, you know, someone with black rimmed glasses and works in a hardware store or something.”

“In another life perhaps that was me.”

Peter sat silent for a moment then continued.

“Were you married, do you have kids?”    

Charlie remained silent; Peter looked back toward the south, toward the glow. Suddenly Peter felt Charlie grab him and push him backward onto the ground. Charlie fell on top of him with his hands over his mouth.

Peter was confused and afraid, he began to struggle and tried to escape Charlie’s grip, but the more he fought the tighter Charlie’s hold on him became. He began to panic as Charlie’s hand covered his nose and mouth and began to cut off his air supply.

“Shhhh,” Charlie whispered in Peter’s ear. “Lie still and be very quiet, there are Wasters about, don’t move don’t say anything.”

Then, to his left and out of the corner of his eye Peter saw movement. He turned his head slightly for a better look and saw two Wasters not ten feet from where he and Charlie lay. Directly behind the first two three more followed and on his right he could make out four more. Slowly they moved out of his view and Charlie slowly moved his hand from his mouth.

Charlie looked around and then cautiously sat up. He held Peter down with his hand on his chest for a few more seconds before allowing him to sit.

“Where did they come from, why didn’t they smell us?” Peter asked.

“I don’t know but they are walking toward that light, like moths to a flame. That’s the reason we are seeing so many out here, we’re going to have to be more watchful from this point on.” Charlie said.

I thought Wasters hated the light?” Peter said.

“They don’t hate the light it just causes a pain reaction.” Charlie answered. “But they know that where there is light there is flesh.”

The attack was so sudden that Charlie did not have time to respond. He was knocked to the ground and the Waster jumped on top of him. The wind had been knocked from him and he struggled to catch his breath.

The monster had the advantage over him. He struggled to reach for a weapon but the thing had his arms pinned. Its black tongue flicked at his face as it tried to bite him. It was taking everything Charlie had to hold the creature back and he was beginning to lose the battle.

Suddenly, Charlie felt the thing go limp, the jaws continued to snap at him but the body of the creature went completely slack and he now had to hold the head up to prevent it from falling onto him.

It was then that he saw the tip of an arrow as it protruded the throat of the monster. Then he saw Peter standing over him straddling the creature. Peter pulled the arrow from the monsters back and Charlie threw it off of him, it landed several yards away. It lay in the grass gurgling; black and dead blood flowed from its mouth.

“Be very quiet Peter,” Charlie said putting his finger to his mouth. “We’ll attract the others. This may not have been such a good idea, we need to find cover.”