Stay Dead 2: The Dead and The Dying (12 page)

“
Tell me about
it.”

“
I will. But first things
first, let’s get what supplies we can today. Burn these things up
tomorrow and see what we can do about fencing off the house the day
after.”

“
Sounds good. You going to
come with us?”

“
Might as well.”

Maria hadn’t noticed, but Tommy had
come to the door. He was standing just behind her with the look of
shock on his face. As Jeff and Walter made their way back to the
house they saw him, and both hoped he had not witnessed any of the
violence.

“
Tommy, what are you doing
out here?”

Maria turned around gasping. “Honey,
what are you doing out here?”

Laura came running to the door, “There
you are! Tommy.” She knew the boy had seen something he shouldn’t
have. She felt the need to explain, “We were playing Hide and Seek.
Tommy should’ve been hiding, but I…I guess he came out here. I’m so
sorry. Did he…?”

“
It’s not your fault,
ma.”

“
Tommy, did you see
anything?”

“
Are those people dead?” He
pointed to the bodies scattered around the lawn.

Maria wrapped him up in his
arms.

“
Yes, Tommy,” Jeff said.
“Those people are dead. There is something wrong with
them…something made them turn into bad people—into monsters—they
want to hurt us, so we had to stop them.”

“
M-monsters?”

“
Yup…it’s sort of like that
comic you like, Mutant Man. The one where he fights
zombies.”

“
Those people are
zombies?”

“
They were.”

“
But the ones in Mutant Man
are from space, and they’re green. These look like people. Like
dead people.”

Maria held him tighter, her tears
running down his cheek as well as her own.

“
We didn’t want you to see
this, Tommy. This is why we don’t come outside much, and why
there’s no school. Something happened, and now zombies are real.
They’re not green monsters from space with glowing eyes, they don’t
run or fly, but they’re still monsters, and we have to be the good
guys.”

“
Like Mutant
Man?”

“
Yup, just like Mutant Man,
but we don’t have any special powers. Are you okay,
now?”

“
I guess. I don’t like
seeing them, dad. The dead people like that. It’s
scary.”

“
I know. I know it is. Me
and grandpa are going to take care of it okay?”

“
Okay,” Tommy
said.

“
Now why don’t you go back
inside with grandma and play with Wally and Sandra?”

“
Okay, dad.”

Maria kissed him on the forehead and
he ran inside with Laura.

Walter patted his son on the shoulder,
“We couldn’t keep it from them forever. Sooner or later they’d have
to see one. It’s better this way. At least he didn’t see one of
them up close and trying to eat him.”

“
That would certainly scar
him for life. I just hope he didn’t see us bashing
them.”

“
I don’t think he did. He
just seemed freaked out about all the bodies. If either of us
walked out thinking everything was honky-dory and saw all these
bodies we’d get pretty freaked out too.”

Jeff nodded. He knew he wouldn’t be
able to shelter his kids from the dead outside forever. Part of him
felt relieved. Another part wanted to bring Sandra and Wally
outside and let them have a look so it would all be done and over
with, but he decided not too.

“
Okay, Maria, I think you
should head inside and lock everything up. Barb, you set to
go?”

“
As much as I’ll ever
be.”

“
Then let’s get this over
with,” Walter huffed.

16 OFF-ROADING

(back to
top)

“
Well, we were doing good
for awhile.” Jon-Jon said, staring at the clogged road just up
ahead.

“
Damn,” said Eddie as he
sat perched over Jon’s shoulder.

“
I knew it wouldn’t
last.”

“
Think we could take this
van off-roading?”

“
That’s about our only
option if we want to stay in our vehicles, I think, but look how
steep it is.”

“
Think we’ll
tip?”

“
Fucked if I
know.”

“
Wanna get out and check it
out?”

“
Nope, but I
will.”

“
Let’s do it.”

Most of the usual suspects got out of
their vehicles when they saw Jon-Jon and Eddie head out of the van
and to the side of the road. The road was thick with vehicles. Many
had bumped into each other, others looked as if they had tried
driving other vehicles off the road. It was a small taste of what
the chaos was like on the first days.

“
Let’s keep some distance
between us okay?”

“
Yeah, it’s really tight so
everybody maintain some breathing room incase we need to move back
in a hurry.”

“
I’ll climb up this truck
and be the eyes in the sky,” Chung-Hee said, hopping into the bed
of a pick up truck and then onto its cab.

Eddie stood on the edge of the road
looking off, “Damn. It is really steep. And looks like a few folks
gave it a shot before rolling over.”

Jon-Jon surveyed the area and took in
the vehicles that had ventured off road. They indeed rolled due to
the incline, but maybe they were going to fast or turning to
sharply he thought for a moment.

“
Maybe if we drove down
straight and into that gulley.” Frankie pointed out.

“
Yeah, the brush doesn’t
look to thick over there and the land levels out a bit. Then we
might be able to follow it through and bypass the
congestion.”

“
Let’s just hope we can get
back on the road at some point.”

“
So long as we keep moving
forward we should be able to.”

“
Hey guys,” Chung-Hee
yelled, “we got company.”

Scott jogged over to Chung-Hee and
hopped up onto the truck with him. “Shit. We got a lot of
company!”

Judy ran over to her husband. Concern,
worry, and fear all blended together into one expression across her
plain, yet attractive, face.

“
We need to
move!”

“
Where are they coming
from?” Frankie yelled out.

“
They’re coming from the
brush on the other side. A few dozen of them. Too many for us to
take on.”

“
Jon, can you lead us down
there?”

“
What choice do we have?
We’re going to have to back up a touch to get around these cars to
get over there,” Jon-Jon said as they began to hurry back toward
the vehicles.

“
Hey, Abdul, you’re gonna
have to back up and lead us around, okay?”

“
Sure.”

“
Let’s go! Let’s go!”
Jon-Jon yelled.

Scott and Chung-Hee jumped down,
racing back to their vehicles. Judy grabbed Scott’s hand and pulled
him to a run.

Abdul spun his truck around. The dead
were mere yards away and could be seen as clear as day on the road
now. He drove closer to them causing Carrie to scream at him. If
she weren’t so annoying he’d have enjoyed her growing anxiety. He
turned the truck sharply and headed over to the side of the road. A
small sedan was in the way of an otherwise relatively clear path to
the other side.

“
Hold on tight.”

“
You’re not
going--”

Abdul slammed on the gas and sped
forward, hitting the sedan hard enough and at such an angle that is
pushed the car to the side and only cost them a bumpy ride and a
headlight.

“
You’re fucking crazy,”
Carrie screamed, “you almost gave me a heart attack!”

“
Would you rather a heart
attack, or having your skin ripped off by those things we just
passed? Well?”

He took the truck down the side of the
road. The incline was steep and the truck went down fast. The ride
was bumpy and Carrie bitched and moaned the entire way down. Abdul
hit his head on the ceiling at one point and as they reached the
bottom he almost steered into a tree.

Scott and Judy were right behind them,
bumping up and down just as much. Abdul moved his truck away just
in time as Scott and Judy began to fish tail right into them. They
hit the tree that Abdul almost had, but only barely.

Jon-Jon held the van at the top of the
road till Scott turned the vehicle the right way around and
followed Abdul through the level patch of land. The dead were
clawing at the back of the van now and moving up its
sides.

“
Go! Go now!” Dawn
screamed, as she stared at them through the rearview
mirror.

“
All right, all
right!”

Jon-Jon gave the van just enough gas
to start down the slope and once the van was on it, it bounced
quickly and violently down.

“
Hold on tight!”

The van dipped so hard forward from
one of the bumps near the bottom that the front bumper caught and
dug into the earth, crunching under the weight of the van as it
tipped end of over end, landing on its roof and partially crashing
into the tree that Scott had barely hit, crushing the rear doors
rendering them useless.

The dead shambled slowly down the hill
as the sounds of panicked screaming continued inside the
van.

17 RAIDERS

(back to
top)

Walter, Jeff, and Barbara headed over
to the neighbors house. Walter drove the pick up truck to the
closest neighbor. Walter didn’t particularly care for these
neighbors. The man was an ass who treated his wife like shit. He
always seemed to be arguing with her about something stupid. Walter
once made it clear to him that if he ever hit her he’d have to
argue with her through a wired jaw.

The truck came to a stop and Walter
stepped out. He took the baseball bat from the bed of the truck,
and grabbed the shovel, tossing it to Jeff as he got out. Barbara
stepped out with rifle in hand. Walter wanted her to take the back
and use the rifle if needed. He was certain him and Jeff could
handle any deaders on their own with the melee weapons, but just in
case, having Barbara with the rifle wasn’t a bad idea—especially
since she was shaping up to be a decent shot.

Walter led his children up the steps.
He peered in to the front window, and though it was bright outside
it seemed no light found it’s way in the home. It was dark and
grey, like everything had a thick layer of dust on it. He imagined
they must have drawn the shades, locked the windows and the doors
and as he tried to the doorknob he knew he was right. It was
locked, as was the window.

“
We’re going to have to
break in.”

“
I’ll do it. Step
back.”

Jeff eyed the door and hoped his idea
worked. He rammed the head of the spade shovel into the doorjamb
where the lock was. The wood splintered and his arms vibrated as he
struck the lock. He rammed it a few more times and was then able to
pry open the door.

Walter looked around the yard for
deaders. Seeing nothing he led them inside the dark
house.

Jeff’s heart pounded. He tried to
listen for anything in the house, but he was unable to hear
anything over his own breathing and racing heartbeat.

“
Come on,” Walter said.
“Let’s be quick about this.”

Walter walked through the home
cautiously but still swiftly. Checking each room as he moved
through it. They found the kitchen and Walter rummaged through the
cabinets till he found a box of trash bags. There was also a
flashlight in there that he grabbed and put in his back
pocket.

“
Here,” he ripped open the
box and handed each of them a bag, “fill it up with supplies and
run it to the truck.”

Barbara slung the rifle over her
shoulder and loaded the bag efficiently. She opened the cabinets
and began throwing in boxes of pasta, canned goods, spices, and
your run of the mill non-perishables.

Jeff opened the freezer and was hit in
the face with the smell of spoiled meat. He quickly closed it and
opened the fridge for the same scent, but grabbed two bottles of
soda and a small pack of bottled water.

Walter opened the pantry and bagged
everything he could. He grabbed cleaning items as well as food and
stuffed the bags till they were ripping from the weight.

“
Okay, let’s run these back
to the truck. Let’s go.”

They dumped the bags into the bed of
the truck, taking in their surroundings the whole time. Walter’s
head moved from side to side and he kept looking back to their home
to make sure no deaders had gone in search of living
flesh.

“
Going back,” Jeff said, as
he bounded the steps.