Stay Dead 2: The Dead and The Dying (27 page)

He stood near the door of the cell,
his fever burning hot. He felt as if he wanted to collapse but as
the dead paid him no attention he knew that he could not. He wasn’t
entirely sure if it was that Topher’s idea solely had worked or if
it was the combination of that and Clem being so near
death.

The rest of them crowded into the
corner yelling at the dead. The dead tried again to grasp their
prey. Clem turned the key and slowly opened the door. Not a one
turned to look. He stepped out, his legs burning with each
movement. He closed the door, and looked back inside once at Danni
and only Danni. She was crying, and so was Clem now. He turned back
and began to walk around them. In a few steps she lost sight of
him.

He walked slowly and staggered on his
own.

I’m coming home, Lorraine.

He was behind the dead now, and going
around them. They didn’t seem to care.

Once out of sight he began singing in
a raspy terrible voice. He sounded like Tom Waits with
bronchitis.

Heartbreak Hotel was one of the few
songs he could remember all of the words to. Not that he was a big
fan of The King, but just because it was one of those songs that
got stuck in his head and never left, so he went with it and began
belting out the verses. He smashed things and kicked things and
threw the intestines off his body, trying to make as much noise as
possible so that the dead would follow him on out as if he were the
Pied Piper.

He tiredly pushed aside what was left
of the barricade by the front doors and stepped outside. He stared
at the sun, singing as loud as he could. He could hear the dead
shambling behind him now. They were starting to follow the
noise.

“…
And although it's always
crowded, You still can find some room, Where broken hearted lovers,
Do cry away their gloom…”

“
He did it, they’re
leaving, and following him out.”

“
Don’t get too excited,
just hold on and keep quiet. Keep listening, and when I tell you,
run like hell.”

***

Barbara had taken a turn behind the
wheel, hoping she’d have better luck coming across someone than her
father was having. She drove toward the outskirts of town, near the
VFW hall. She slowed the truck down to a crawl, just long enough to
survey the dead twitching bodies scattered around the grounds.
Walter peered out the window, taking note of the police cruiser
that looked as if it had been in a war, covered in blood, dirt, and
dents.

He shook his head and Barbara drove
on.

48 THE PROTEAN

(back to
top)

Several deaders were shambling around
the front of the marina. They lurched with weary limbs. Joseph and
Frankie took the lead, running out to greet the deaders while they
were still spread apart. Chuck followed behind.

Frankie smashed one across the face,
knocking its jaw nearly off, spinning it off balance and then
kicking it to the ground. He swept out the knees of another and as
he was about to go for a third, Chuck swung into action and knocked
the dead thing down first. Joseph was bashing a deaders head into
pulp and Frankie and Chuck were doing the same to the ones they had
knocked down, turning them into a twitching mass of black blood and
putrefying remains.

Scott, Judy, and Jon led the group
through the carnage, while the others finished off the remaining
deaders. The marina office itself was a small building that sat
right near the water. To the left of them was a ramp that led to
the side of the building and most likely to the dock behind it.
Scott jogged over and waived everyone on.

“
This way. The coast is
clear.”

Frankie caught up to the lead, Joseph
not far behind him. Joseph looked back to see where his mother and
brother were. He noticed the two of them walking side by side and
that something seemed off. His brother was usually in the midst of
the action, taking charge. It seemed like he didn’t care what was
happening.

“
Joe, there’s a few over
here.”

He turned and ran over to Frankie.
Behind the building was an outside patio. Many of the tables had
been overturned and thrown about. Some where bloodied but most were
not.

“
Chuck…take point and find
us a boat,” Frankie yelled.

Chuck then ran ahead to the dock,
eyeing the offerings for one that would be able to fit everyone—or
as many of them as possible.

“
I’ll come with you,”
Jon-Jon called out.

The night wind coming off of the water
was cool and salty, but there was the hint of something
else…something dead.

“
I smell it too,” Jon said,
“Let’s hurry the fuck up.”

“
Not going to be that easy.
The dock isn’t exactly full, and we got a few people here. Most of
what I’m seeing can’t carry all of us.”

“
Can you walk us through
how to drive one?”

“
Honestly. It’s a lot
harder than I made it sound earlier, but I’m sure we can find
something. It’s not like we need to adhere to the SOLAS convention,
we can just cram into a smaller vessel. We’re used to sitting on
top of each other.”

“
That we are. What the
hell’s a SOLAS?”

“
It’s just about passenger
safety.”

“
Yeah, well, we can forget
about that.”

Chuck paused, stopping at the start of
a new row, “Right there,” he pointed.

“
You ever drive something
like that?”

“
I basically lived on
something like that. Want to go check it for deaders?”

“
Not really, but let’s do
it.”

They jogged ahead as the group
followed cautiously behind.

Joseph had finished dispatching of the
deaders in the area and joined his mother and brother who were
lingering near the back of the group.

“
Hey, what’s a matter with
you two?”

“
Sorry, sweetheart. I told
your brother while you were driving…”

Joseph looked back and forth from his
mother to Eddie. Looking for a clue and seeing nothing but bad news
in their faces.

“…
I’m dying.”

“
No…”

“
Sorry baby. I…I got
scratched on the bridge. Didn’t think it was anything, but I can
feel it inside me.” She put her hand to his face as he began to
tear up.

Eddie put his arm around his
shoulder.

“
I’m sorry Mom, I should’ve
been there to make sure nothing happened to you. We should’ve
protected you.”

“
It’s not your fault. I
want this. I want this to be over.”

“
You want to
die?”

“
No, but I do want to be
with your father, and with the little ones. They still need me. You
two are all grown up. Look at you both. Two big strong
men.”

“
No, mamma…”

“
Come on honey, looks like
they found a boat.”

“
What are we gonna do
Mom?”

“
I told your brother what
to do if I make it off the boat.”

“
I love you.”

“
I love you too, son. I
love you both so much. I’m proud of you both. You both turned into
two good men. I know I wasn’t always perfect, but I know I raised
you both right.”

“
It isn’t fair.”

“
No it’s not. Nothing’s
fair. Life isn’t fair. Now stop crying and get us out of here. I
don’t have much time. I’m going to fight this as much as I can so
we can get off that boat together. I don’t want to die on the
water.”

Janice held both of her sons by their
faces, wiping away their tears with her thumbs. “Your father
would’ve been so proud of you both. He never said it enough—he
wasn’t much for the mushy stuff—but he loved you kids.”

Chuck and Jon climbed onto the boat.
It was a big vessel—a charter yacht—and wasn’t more than a few
years old. The Protean was elegantly scripted across the back of
the boat.

“
It’s beautiful,” Chuck
said.

“
You can drive
it?”

“
I can’t drive it—a Captain
pilots a boat.”

“
Ok, Chuck, can you pilot
it?”

“
Of course I can, but let’s
make sure there aren’t any surprises in the cabin.”

“
Lead the way,
Captain.”

49 CAPTAIN
CHUCK

(back to
top)

Chuck and Jon came back out of the
cabin as the others waited close by on the dock, huddled together.
Jon waived them on board, saying “All clear.”

“
What about the
keys?”

“
We’ll have to check inside
the marina.”

“
Any
volunteers?”

The usual suspects all started for the
marina. Scott began helping everyone else on board.

“
Ed, there’s no guarantee
the keys are in there. The owner might not keep them
here.”

“
Well, then what the fuck
are we supposed to do?”

“
I don’t know. I thought it
made sense to find the boat first and then look for the keys. We
have the slip number. If we just ran in and grabbed all the keys I
think it’d be more chaotic to find the boat after that.”

“
You’re probably right. But
maybe we should’ve scouted for a back up boat?”

“
Whatever guys,” Frankie
said. “It doesn’t matter, we’d have to do this either way,
right?”

That was enough to keep them quiet
while they reached the patio doors of the marina. Frankie pulled
the door handle and was relieved to find it opened. They stepped
inside and no sooner did a pair of bloodied yuppies wearing
bloodied boat shoes and Dockers come staggering out at them.
Frankie was quick to attack and so was Joseph. They both took down
their dead attackers and mashed their faces into the
floor.

“
Holy shit, does it stink
in here.”

Chuck made his way to the counter and
rifled through the key compartments.

“
There’s got to be another
one in here. Two of ‘em can’t smell this bad.”

“
Who gives a shit? Are the
keys in there or what Chuck?”

“
Yes they are. I’m going to
grab a few more in the same row just in case.”

A door burst open in the marina. In
the darkness though, no one could see from where. Joseph ran for
the door and called the others to follow. Chuck pocketed a bunch of
keys and they jangled as he ran over. Then a deader clutched his
arm out of the darkness and Chuck howled in fear. Frankie pulled
the dead thing by its greasy hair as it was about to bite down and
pulled it back, throwing it against the wall. As Chuck ran for the
door Frankie bashed its head against the wall so hard it cracked
the sheetrock. He let go of the dead thing and followed the others
out the door, wiping the greasy film off his hands and onto his
pants.

Several other deaders had begun to
approach the rear of the marina, seemingly emerging out of the
darkness. Eddie and the others didn’t bother with them and ran
toward the boat.

Once on board Chuck was able to start
the engine. Eddie struggled with unknotting the rope from the boat
slip until he remembered he had a knife in his pocket. He dug it
out and began cutting the rope but it was too big and proving to be
just as difficult. Chuck jumped down and helped him out.

“
Thanks man,” that was one
hell of a knot.”

“
Well, I’m sure the owner
didn’t want it drifting away on him.”

“
Probably not.”

“
Should we give these guys
a lift?” Chuck joked, pointing at the approaching
deaders.

Eddied forced a laugh and then
followed him onto the boat.

Frankie stood on the deck, looking
down into the water. It was dark, and the waters were still, but he
could see something just below the surface. At first he wasn’t sure
if it was the moonlight reflecting on the water, but after a few
moments he was able to start making out forms. He looked on both
sides and off the back and finally he accepted what his eyes were
trying to tell him—deaders were under the water grasping at the
bottom of the boat. Disgusted and disturbed he had to make sure he
wasn’t going crazy and he called Eddie over.

“
Ed, come here a second
will ya?”

“
What’s up man?”

“
Look in the
water.”

“
What am I looking
for?”

“
Keep looking.”

“
Oh…”

“
You see ‘em?”

“
Yeah, yeah I see ‘em.
That’s pretty fucked man.”

“
Ok, I just wanted to make
sure I wasn’t seeing shit.”

“
Everyone, get inside the
cabin and make yourselves comfortable. Captain Chuck is going to
get us the hell out of here.”