Slow Burn: A Zombie Novel (59 page)

Team Two took approximately twenty minutes to clear out the home of all foods, drinks, tools, and even clothing. We had nearly a dozen new refugees at the prison with nothing but the clothes on their backs. After the scavenger team finished up and spray painted a large ‘X’ onto the front of the home, we took a few minutes to rehydrate and ready our gear for the next home. Before leaving, I made a quick pass through the residence and located a book shelf. I had made a conscious effort to start to save books to build an eventual library at the prison.

“
There’s so much knowledge in the printed word,” I had explained once to Mattie. “Can’t let it all go to waste.

I picked through the shelf and placed five or six books into my rucksack, including a like new copy of
Huckleberry Finn.

“
Let’s roll!” I soon yelled, and everyone again readied themselves for action.

Moving now to the north side of Francis Street, the breaching team again lined up. We all tapped the man in front of us to silently tell them we were ready. Just when the point man was ready to move, a perimeter man called out.

“
Contact to the south alley!” I heard, followed by several gunshots.

My team began to move towards the rifle fire.

“
Team One stand fast!” I said. “Let the perimeter teams do their job. We have our own to do.”

My guys shuffled back into their spots, and Chris walked up and down the line yelling encouragement to them to get their minds in the game. Tapping up again, we moved to the door as the gunfire picked up in intensity. The point man pounded on the door, again not getting an answer, and checked the doorknob. Finding it locked, he made eye contact with me and moved aside. Like the previous door, this one was slammed open so hard the doorknob was forcefully embedded into the drywall of the house. The entrance was dark, almost foreboding. Unlike the previous house, this one had occupants, the kind that craved living flesh!

Chris entered the doorway, and a zombie was on him in a flash. I heard his 12 gauge roar as he unloaded buckshot into the disgusting former homeowner’s head. The remaining men froze outside the doorway leaving Chris inside alone.

“
Get inside that goddamn house now!” I screamed.

The lead man jumped and entered the house, and we burst in behind him. I heard Chris’ shotgun roar again from the kitchen area and once more as I entered. Stalking into the kitchen with my rifle at the ready position, I saw Chris standing over two small corpses. I lowered my rifle and stood next to him.

“
Damn, bro. They were just kids,” Chris said, choking up with tears.

Sure enough they were small children. The adult one out front must have been the mom.

Putting my hand on his shoulder, I gave it a squeeze. “Chris, they stopped being kids when they died from this damn disease.”

“
That doesn’t make taking their heads off with a shotgun day after day any easier though! I’ve been doing that a lot, and it isn’t getting any easier.” he muttered and stomped out of the kitchen, calling for the disposal team to pick up the corpses.

Looking down at the small figure wearing pink pajamas, I felt the stress and exhaustion of constantly being on alert come crashing down. Moving slowly out the door and making room for the disposal team to enter, I made my way to the truck and leaned against it.

We had quite a bit of work to get done before winter. We were going to have a long couple of weeks ahead of us.

Lewis jerked upright into a sitting position, unsure of where he was. Feeling the soft mattress underneath him, he suddenly remembered he was at his brother’s church. Flopping back down, his head sank deliciously into the soft feather pillow. Quite a difference from the filthy fiberglass insulation-filled attic he thought was surely his grave a week or so ago.

His brother, Kettle, thoughtfully gave him the night to recover with a hot bath, food and rest before showing him to his new quarters. Kettle had left him alone then and attended to his nightly sermon.

Now was as good time as any to track him down.

Swinging his legs off the bed onto the floor, Lewis gingerly walked to a small wash basin on his dresser.

“
Damn back is still all jacked up from sleeping across those attic rafters,” he cursed. “Oh well, things are looking up finally.”

He still felt tired, for as nice as the bed was, his sleep was still plagued by nightmares of zombies. However, instead of the normal howling and hungry moans, they sounded disturbingly like women whimpering and screaming in denial.

Feeling somewhat refreshed from brushing his teeth and washing his face, Lewis left the small sleeping quarters and made his way down a narrow hallway towards his brother’s office. Outside the door were two grubby looking men who stood guard. Before Lewis could enter, he was stopped by one of them planting a hand into his chest.

“
Stop right there, buddy,” the guard growled. "Father Kettle knows you are coming? He is a very important and busy man.”

“
Your Father Kettle is my little brother Charlie, you idiot!” Lewis yelled. “Get out of my way!”

“
Look here, little man; I don’t give a shit who you are. Nobody gets past here without the good father’s say so!” the guard continued as the other pulled back his shirt to reveal a large handgun tucked into his beltline.

As Lewis stood waiting, the guard with the gun knocked and entered the office where Kettle was finishing up a meeting with a few of his followers.

“
Excuse my intrusion,” the guard said, “but your brother is outside, Father. What do you want me to tell him?”

“
I can see him,” Kettle responded, and intently looked back at his followers. “My men have their assignments for the day. Are we clear on our plans my children?”

“
Yes, Father,” they chorused and prepared to leave.

“
And we don't need my brother knowing everything we have going on here," Kettle added. "He is not yet a full believer in our Lord."

"Yes, Father!" they again replied in unison.

“
Then you may go,” Kettle said, “the Holy Father shall watch over you all this day.”

As the men filed out the door, Kettle heard arguing right outside the doorway. Hearing his brother Lewis’ voice, he called for him to enter.

“
See assholes? I told you to let me in,” Kettle heard him say to the guards outside the door.

“
What a dick,” Kettle heard one of the guards mumble as the door closed.

Lewis ran up to his brother and before Kettle could stop him, wrapped him into a hug.

“
I still can’t believe you’re here,” Lewis sighed. “We’ve not had much of a chance to talk.

Releasing his brother, Lewis stepped back and looked at him. “Care to explain how you came to be dressed as a priest in the middle of a pandemic and not rotting behind bars serving a life sentence?”

“
Not at all, big brother, please sit down,” Kettle said pointing to a spare chair.

Easing back into his leather desk chair, Kettle poured himself and his brother a large glass of ice tea. After handing a glass to Lewis, Kettle leaned back and looked at his brother. He looked old and worn out. The years had not been kind to Lewis.

“
You know I was innocent, brother?” Kettle asked.

“
Uh, well yeah of course,” Lewis replied unconvincingly.

Kettle’s face took on a more somber expression. “Well the Lord knew it, and finally intervened.” Kettle smiled. “My fortunes changed for the better when the State’s prison system began moving me from prison to prison due to overcrowding. After the unfortunate death of the individual who attacked me over his little sister’s sexual allegations against my church, I hadn’t made any waves or caused any grief among the prisoner population. I became a model inmate, even helping prisoners find the Lord.”

Kettle stood, clasped his hands behind his back, and walked to a window to looked out, not seeing but reliving his past.

“
Finally ending up at Statesville Correctional Center was an act of God. The administration kept me in general population and also eventually allowed me to be the prison chaplain. For the last few years I worked my persuasion on a select few guards, mostly female, as well as some of the more aggressive inmates.”

Turning back towards Lewis, Kettle walked to the desk and sat on the edge.

“
I prayed for years, schemed a hundred times over for the one chance, no matter how slim, to escape that wretched place. When I observed the current epidemic sweep the entire world, I knew this was a sign from above and probably my only chance to be free!”

Lewis just nodded as his brother continued.

“
It did not take long once the prison was placed on lockdown for a few well-placed disturbances to escalate into an uncontrollable riot. I, along with several of my most loyal followers, escaped with a few guards who I had befriended inside the facility.” Kettle moved back to his chair, sat down and smiled at his brother. “You see, it was deemed by God that I am here in this time of tragedy to save His children before the end of days.”

“
Damn lucky I found you,” Lewis offered. “I was in bad shape.”

“
Enough of me, tell me your story big brother,” Kettle asked. “I wasn’t able to get much information from prison. I was discreet about our bond, per your requests, although it didn’t appear to help your career much.”

Lewis took a drink of his ice tea and scowled at his brother’s remark.

“
I started from scratch once Mother was killed by the callous actions from those ignorant police officers. Eventually I was able to get elected as a Councilman of this city by fooling the smart ones and playing on the hatred for law enforcement among some of the low income population.” Lewis cleared his throat of his rising anger. “I even tried to get elected as mayor a few times, but the current mayor was embedded in the community and I was unsuccessful.”

“
I’m deeply sorry for all that you endured, brother,” Kettle remarked, trying to calm down Lewis, who was turning red. “Look who is in charge here now. We are, together.”

“
I knew that this epidemic was going to get out of hand as soon as I saw the first news reports,” Lewis said, “and I took the steps necessary to seize control when the time came while everyone else just froze in fear.”

Now Lewis stood and began pacing back and forth across the room with clenched fists. “I had it all!” he cried. “I was in charge of what was left of civilization in this dumpy city. My safe zone was heavily stocked with supplies and everything was going along perfectly until…until…” Lewis trailed off, choking on his anger.

“
Until what?” Kettle prodded.

“
Until those fucking cops showed up and ruined it all!” Lewis roared. “Since the moment those five cops showed up, all they did was ignore my authority and undermine the loyalty of my people!”

Kettle jumped to his feet.

“
Did you say five police officers showed up? Together?” he asked.

Lewis stopped pacing and looked at Kettle. “Yes, there were five of them. There were four men and one woman, why do you ask?”

“
Don’t stop with your story,” Kettle decided. “We can get back to them.”

Lewis grabbed his now empty glass and filled it from a bottle of wine Kettle kept on his desk. He quickly downed a full glass. “Ahh, much better,” Lewis said with a smile as the alcohol warmed his belly. “Where can we get more of that? Anyway, it wasn’t long after the cops arrived that these infected bastards started showing up in force. Almost as if the cops lured them to the safe zone so they could take over in the confusion of battle.”

Kettle offered a confused half-nod in reply.

“
It all came to a head when the big cop, Mike, attacked me in my office and stole all of the extra ammo,” Lewis said. “He said it was for the guards, but I know he threw it away so they would run out! When I saw an unbelievably large group of infected people attack and overrun our perimeter wall, I called in the air force and they destroyed the entire thing, after I barely escaped with my life. I spent several days trapped inside a fucking attic until I managed to escape. While on my way here, I saw those same damn cops stealing and looting supplies all over the city! I had it all, and they destroyed my career, my safe zone, and my life!”

Kettle sat there silently a few moments then leaned forward. “Sit down, brother,” he ordered, pointing to the chair.

After Lewis sat, Kettle looked at his brother thinking how he could capitalize on his anger.

“
I think we have a common enemy, my brother. These same cops have a stronghold set up at the old Collins prison not but a mile from here. They are becoming a nuisance. Plans have been set into motion to rectify that situation.”