Stay Dead 2: The Dead and The Dying (28 page)

Most of the group had already
collapsed in the cabin upon boarding the boat earlier, but those
that had hung around now started to make their way down into the
luxurious belly of the boat.

Eddie, Joseph, Janice, Frankie, and
Scott hung around up top with Chuck.

“
You know where you’re
going?”

“
Basically. Might be one
hell of a sightseeing tour. We’re going to have to follow the
Hudson out into the Atlantic and head up the coast. Going to be
weird seeing New York in darkness.”

“
Well I think I’ll keep you
company.”

“
Me too. Wish I had a
cigar,” Frankie said, scratching at his growing beard.

“
I’m sure whoever had this
boat has some stogies on board. In fact, there are probably all
kinds of goodies down there. Actually, if any of you go down there,
I could use some water or something.”

“
I’ll go check it out,”
Scott offered. “If I find any drinks I’ll bring a few up
too.”

“
You the man.”

Chuck piloted the boat slowly out of
the dock and into the Hudson, slowly increasing speed and
eventually hitting a nice cruising speed.

Scott came back up with a handful of
cigars, bottles of water, and a bottle of Johnnie Walker Gold Label
under his arm. Judy followed behind him with a few
glasses.

“
There we go,” Chuck
smiled. “I knew there’d be a few amenities down there.”

“
There’s more than a few.
Whoever owned this thing was a party animal. All top shelf shit
too. There’s two showers down there. Soap! Toothpaste, toilet
paper, man we got everything.”

“
Don’t get too attached.
Hopefully we’ll be off this boat before we can fully enjoy
it.”

“
Till then I’ll be
dutifully dulling my senses.”

50 FAREWELL

(back to
top)

Clem stood in the middle of the street
watching the dead shamble out the front doors. Their ghastly
rasping made his stomach churn. The thought of becoming one of them
was maddening. He felt like he was burning alive, like the sun
itself was drawing closer to him. They moved closer but Clem was
slow to respond, too swept away in his own aches and pains to be
able to move out of the way. Though he was dying, the dead didn’t
seem to care so much anymore. Why they didn’t bother when he
escaped the cell was beyond him now. Maybe they didn’t like his
singing. Whatever the reason they decided they wanted what little
life he had left bled out into their mouths.

Clem didn’t even feel the first few
rips into his flesh. It wasn’t until he was on his back underweight
of the horde of deaders that he knew what was happening. Only then
did he begin to scream. Their dead jaws rended the flesh from his
bones. Blood poured from the holes in his skin, filling in like
sand on the beach after the surf comes rushing back.

“
Oh God, is that Clem? Is
that Clem screaming?”

“
Easy, Danni, he was dying
anyway. At least it will be over for him soon.”

“
How can you say that?
That’s a horrible way to die…them things eating you…”

Danni bolted out of the
cell.

“
Danni, no! Don’t just go
running out there like that. You’ll get us all killed.”

Davis and Topher followed her out of
the cell but she was already bursting through the doors leading
outside.

“
No!”

She didn’t listen as she ran outside.
Some of the dead that had not descended upon Clem turned toward
Danni as she screamed at the horror that was her friend.

Danni pushed past the first few
deaders that moved for her and headed into the street towards open
ground.

Davis and Topher came through the door
more slowly, but upon seeing how close the deaders were they ran
towards Danni. One of the deaders lurched for Topher and landed a
solid grasp on his shirt, jerking him back and pulling him close
enough to bite him. Topher turned to defend himself but was bit on
the forearm for his troubles. He stared in disbelief as the dead
thing ripped a thin patch of skin from his arm.

He pulled away and ran towards the
others.

“
I’ve been
bit…I…I…”

“
I saw. I’m
sorry.”

“
Me too, man. What do you
want to do?”

“
Can I come with you
guys?”

“
Sure.”

“
Where are we going
anyway?”

“
Well, I’m going home. Then
I’m coming right back here and putting everyone of these
motherfuckers down.”

“
Someone’s
coming.”

“
Wha…Walter Caulfield. God
damn.”

“
Come on, get to my truck.
Looks like these fuckers are still hungry.”

Once in Davis’s truck they drove off
and down the road to the approaching pick up being driven by
Barbara Caulfield.

“
Dad, isn’t that the
Sheriff?”

“
Sure is. Pull up alongside
them.”

“
Look at all those
zombies,” Jeff noted.

“
Gotta be about two dozen
of them.”

“
Walter. Man, am I glad to
see you.”

“
Likewise, Sheriff. We were
taking a drive to see if we could find anyone else left in town.
And low and behold…”

“
Tell me you would’ve come
into the station?”

“
Sure,” Walter nodded,
“especially if your truck was out front.”

“
Goddamnit, if we just sat
back we’d all have made it out alive,” Davis mumbled.

“
What’s that?”

“
Just a bit of fatal irony
is all. We were stuck in one of the cells—surrounded by those guys
coming up behind us. Two of us didn’t make it--”

“
Make that three,” Topher
added, waiving three fingers in the air as if calling over a
bartender.

“
Three of us didn’t make
it.”

“
That’s a shame. I wish we
came here sooner, Bruce. I really do. Where are you headed to
now?”

“
I was gonna head home. Got
a bit of an arsenal. Was going to come back and re-secure the
station.”

“
Want a few extra
hands?”

“
You betcha. Follow me back
to my house?”

Davis sped away, relieved to be out in
the world again. Danni sat with her head against the window in a
state bordering on shock. Topher sat in the back holding his wound,
trying his best to think of the good times, but could only picture
Clem dead on the ground and think of his future, wondering if he
would share the same fate.

“
Sheriff?”

“
Yeah?”

“
Can you put me down when I
turn?”

“
If that’s what you
want.”

“
Wouldn’t you?”

“
Not so sure. What if life
on the other side isn’t so bad?”

“
And what if it’s hell on
earth?” Topher said, pondering it as the words slid out of his
mouth.

“
Point taken. Whatever road
you want to go down, Topher, you got it.”

51 LIVING DEAD

(back to
top)

In the cabin all the children with
exception to Christopher had fallen asleep. They lay huddled
together on the large luxurious bed that still smelled of fresh
linen. A smell many of them had forgotten till now.

Alexis rummaged through the cabinets,
sorting through the clothes. She set a few pieces aside for herself
and moved along as Dawn did the same. Abdul took the opportunity to
shower in one of the two bathrooms and after realizing there were
indeed two bathrooms—and two showers—Alexis jumped at the chance to
use the other one.

“
My hair is so disgusting I
want to cut it off. It’ll take hours to wash out all the
grease.”

“
Well don’t use all the
shampoo. I’m going next.”

“
I’ll try to save you some
hot water.”

Then looking around, Alexis realized
that Carrie wasn’t among them.

“
Dawn? Did you see
Carrie?”

“
I don’t think she made it
sweetheart.”

“
Oh.” She had grown to hate
the woman. Though she didn’t want her dead, part of her was
relieved that she was no longer with them. “Well if you find any
makeup, let me know.”

“
I didn’t even think about
that. I hope there’s a pack of slims somewhere in this
heap.”

Alexis turned on the water. Just
hearing the spray of the shower was soothing to her. As the steam
started to fill the room and fog the mirror she put her leg in to
feel the temperature and in seconds she stepped in. It was
comforting, invigorating, and from the look of the murky water
pooling at her feet, cleansing. There was a small bar of soap. The
smell of it filled her nose and she realized how often she’d taken
that scent for granted all her life.

She dried off in front of the mirror.
With the dirt and grime washed away she almost looked like herself.
Her skin felt soft and fresh and she could no longer detect her own
odor. She brushed her teeth, combed her hair, and put on someone
else’s deodorant. She put on the new clothes she found, and despite
them being a little loose and a little long they fit her good
enough.

Topside, Chuck had maintained a good
cruising speed. The Tappan Zee Bridge was now fading in the
distance, but ahead in the dark waters of the Hudson floated any
number of dangers. The Hudson grew narrow and presented a
frightening view of both New York and New Jersey. Both coasts lit
only by the moonlight. Boats sat adrift in the water with no signs
of life. Then a boat, not far from a small dock near the coast, had
a deader rise up and walk toward them, walking right off the boat
and disappearing under the water with a small splash that was
barely heard.

“
Did you see
that?”

“
Yeah. Kinda
funny.”

“
Funny, but kind of sad,
don’t you think? Those deaders are dumber than dirt. It just walked
right off the boat. And these things are fucking destroying
us.”

“
That just makes it even
funnier.”

“
Come on, Frankie. How is
that funnier?”

“
Just is man. The whole
thing is just a fucking joke.”

“
Everything’s a
joke.”

“
Then how come you aren’t
laughing?”

“
I was close, that deader
made me smile. Almost made me laugh. And that’s a good thing, man.
I didn’t think I had any in me.”

“
Any what?”

“
Laughter, hope, whatever.
I thought it was all gone. Do you know why I followed you over that
bridge?”

Eddie paused. Uncertain of how a
single comment erupted into this.

“
I followed you over
because I figured we’d all end up dead. And it didn’t mater anymore
because I didn’t feel like I was alive. It’s almost like I’m one of
the living dead. What’s the point of going on when all we are is
gone?”

Janice began to cry, “Oh, Francis, I
felt the same way. I’ve wanted to die for too long now, and right
before the bridge I wanted to live again. Something welled up
inside of me just before—a little light, a little hope, I guess. I
didn’t want to leave you boys, I couldn’t, but I didn’t want to
live either. Francis, boys, you can make it in this world. I can
see it in you. There’s a fire.”

“
I thought I lost
it.”

“
Did anyone else go along
just to die?”

“
Fuck no,” said
Chuck.

Scott shook his head, holding Judy’s
hand as she said, “No way. We went along because we thought we
could do it. Maybe not alone, but together I thought we could. Not
to be a part of some suicide run.”

“
What about you,
Joe?”

“
I want to live. I want my
family back, but I don’t want to die. We’re all going to go one day
anyway, so what’s the rush? I want to get back at these deaders. I
want to survive them. For me, for you, for everyone they’ve take
from us. I…I want…revenge.”

“
Don’t live on hate, son.
Please.”

“
I promise you I won’t live
on it forever.”

“
We lived on love a long
time, Mom, because of you. You and Dad. But maybe hate’s what we
need right now. Maybe that’s the only way we can live in this
world. We’ve been running on fear and anger this whole time. I got
some hate to give.”

“
Maybe you guys shouldn’t
be drinking then?”

“
Chuck, just get us the
fuck out of here, okay?”

“
I’m sorry, but you guys
are getting all worked up, and the last thing I need on my boat is
a bunch of angry drunks.”

“
Nobody’s drunk
yet.”

“
Speak for yourself,” Judy
said, tipping back her glass.