The Dead Divide Us (Book 1) (10 page)

“It’s like they’re fucking drunk!” Jan said, in bewilderment. Jan actually laughed out loud as he was met with a sudden hilarity over these three hapless goons.

The blonde man regained his balance, the tall suited man righted himself, and Robert quickly realized they were
indeed
moving faster. They had turned their shambled ways into an unglamorous stumbling sprint; now only mere feet away from Robert and Jan.

“Holy shit!” Robert said as the blonde man reached out for him. Robert swung his bat with lightening speed in a rising uppercut.

SNAP!

Robert was pretty sure he just broke the blonde man’s jaw. The sound of it breaking gave both Robert and Jan the chills. The blow had knocked him back a few feet and Robert noticed his jaw was swinging loosely off of his face; looking as if his mouth was permanently hanging straight open. The blonde man’s eyes, however, showed he was just as angry and vicious as before.

“Rob, I’m going to hit this guy!” Jan shouted. Robert looked over to Jan on the other side of the truck and saw that the tall suited man was right on top on him. Jan had to make sure that he was supposed to hit this guy; he had been in fights before but never did he ever even think of trying to kill someone. Infected or not, Jan briefly felt guilty about wanting to hurt the tall man.

“Oh my god, this guy smells so fucking terrible. Rob, what the fuck?” Jan was fighting back the urge to puke; the smell coming off of these three was even worse than the stench of Carl Riggins.

“Well fucking hit him already!” Robert yelled.

Jan Goodman took a step back, uncovered his noise, and with the large rock in his right hand, he leaned forward and brought it down onto the tall man’s head. The collision was simply incredible.

Jan being a farming man, he was built like an ox. The rock in Jan’s hand, through his brute strength, split the tall’s man head into two pieces. Blood and bone flew all over the hood of Robert’s truck and forced the man’s left eye to hang out of his oozing skull.

“FUCK!” Jan screamed and backed away; making sure to clear himself of the gruesomeness before him. The guy stood for a moment before falling to the ground; even more lifeless than before.

RAAHHHHHH!

The large lady and blonde man lunged for Robert.

Robert stepped back and, lucky for him, the pair hit a slick patch of packed snow that caused them to slip around each other. Robert quickly ran around to the back of the Bronco; with Jan right behind him.

“What are we gonna do?” Jan asked quickly.

“They’re coming, go around the truck and come up behind them!” Robert directed, holding his ground at the rear of the truck. Jan took off without a word, following Robert’s orders. The two infected came up to the edge of the rear bumper; their sick sound and deadly smell even more pungent then ever it seemed.

“Come on you smelly freaks!” Robert yelled.

They came around the corner of the truck slowly; Robert noticed again the blonde man’s limp jaw swinging wildly off of its face. ‘
How would he even bite me now?’
Robert mused.
Taking another quick look, he couldn’t see a tongue on the poor bastard.
‘Maybe he swallowed that when I hit him
.’ He thought, gagging on the idea.

Robert reached to the Bronco’s spare tire carrier and unlatched it. The tire carriers were basically heavy as hell with wide bars that swung out completely to one side. With all of his strength, Robert swung the bad boy directly into the fat lady and the blonde man. The force of the heavy bars and full size spare tire sent them flying. Both went to the ground, the large lady landing on top of and pinning down the blonde man. They started flailing around instantly.

“I got it.” Jan yelled out as he rounded the other side. In a non-stop motion he raised the rock with both hands and drove it down onto the large woman’s head; remembering to turn his own head away this time to avoid any projectile brain matter. Her forehead split right open, and since she was elevated on top of the blonde man, the force of Jan’s rock actually broke her neck as well. Her head snapped down past her own shoulders and the actual sound of her neck breaking was indescribable. She was instantly still.

Robert approached the bloody mess; bat in hand.

“Wow.” Robert said mildly as he observed the large lady’s corpse.

“The skinny guy is all yours.” Jan said as he gathered himself. Something in his voice suggested he was beyond disgusted.

The blonde man twitched and pulled furiously underneath the fat woman. He was trapped and Robert thought, ‘
We could just leave him here. He isn’t hurting anyone anymore. His fucking jaw is broke anyway.’

Then the blonde man locked his eyes with Robert and he started to moan loudly. The moan was so human, so sad, yet so evil and utterly angry. Vomit started to spill out of the blonde man’s broken mouth and that’s when Robert knew he had to finish him off. ‘
It isn’t right to leave a person like this. I HAVE to kill him
.’He justified in his mind, surprised by his own thoughts.

Robert lifted up his bat and swung onto the blonde man’s head; crushing the top of his skull. His moaning stopped instantly but the blonde man’s vomit continued to pour out of his open jaw in a slow forming puddle of black bile.

4

The steady ticking of the Bronco’s engine was the only noise breaking the silence that had fallen around them. As it permeated the post trauma fugue that enveloped both men, Robert realized the truck was only running because of the whack Jan had given the starter. He suddenly became overwhelmed with the feeling that they were running on borrowed time. Not just with the faulty truck but themselves as well.

The silent exchange of words between the men motivated them both to get back in the truck and leave the bloody mess behind. As Jan and Robert left the woods, the entire experience weighed heavy in their minds. Jan Goodman sat there, not speaking, as Robert finally turned off the side road and back on to Route 9. Jan didn’t even put a wad of chewing tobacco in his mouth; he just gripped the now blood and flesh coated rock while he stared out the window. The snow was falling heavily outside the walls of the forest and Jan missed his family. He wondered if they were okay back at the Colton Fire Company.

Carefully guiding the truck through a snow filled one-lane highway, Robert finally broke the silence.

“You know those people weren’t okay, right?” Robert blurted out, feeling awkward.

“I know.” Jan said simply.

“Well, we did what was right. You know?”

“I do.”

The truck slipped a little in the ever building snow. Robert pulled a tight counter steer to the left and the truck quickly righted itself. He was used to driving in snow but if the storm kept up he didn’t know if anyone was going to be driving around out there.

“Hey how do you think my family is doing? That fire company setup looked ok to you?” Jan suddenly asked.

“I think they’re safe yeah. Those guys had that place pretty secure by the looks of it.” Robert replied.

“But you don’t trust that Major Frost?” Jan asked, already knowing the answer.

Robert turned his head, taking his eyes off the road.

“No, he seems to know that I know more than I admitted. I think he sensed that I had already encountered one of the infected, Carl.” Robert said.

“Yeah, now that you mention it, that Major Frost is a professional, he’s probably handled situations like this before; maybe even some situations that weren’t made public.” Jan said.

“Maybe.” Robert said, taking a look at his surroundings. They were only about ten minutes from his parent’s farm house.

“Frost has probably dealt with many people, in a lot of different ways. I’m not saying I trust him. I just kind of have to rely on him.” Jan said.

Robert finally realized just how worried Jan was for the safety of his own family. Of course Jan had to hope that Major Frost was on the level. He left his family under Frost’s care.

“Hey I want to thank you man for coming out here with me. I’d be stranded back there if you hadn’t come with.” Robert told Jan with sincerity.

“Don’t thank me. I love you guys. Growing up, your house was a second home for me. You, Paul and your parents made me feel like part of the family.” Jan said.

“I’m glad you feel that way. We enjoyed having you around.” Robert said.

Jan put down the large rock he had been holding on his lap; all the while seeming to not notice the dredges of the infected speckling it. He unzipped his jacket a little, letting the cool air rush around his chest and then turned a stalwart face towards Robert.

“I don’t remember, it was a terribly confusing time for everyone, but I still want you to know that I’m sorry about Felicia.” Jan said.

Robert’s mind went blank. For a moment he was stuck in a dark nothingness. It wasn’t very often that Robert thought about his dead twin-sister, Felicia Landry. It hurt him too much to think about her. After the cancer took her during their senior year of high-school, Robert became a professional at hiding his emotions.

Robert graduated in a high-school class of three-hundred teenagers; but to him, he felt like he graduated alone, his twin sister was supposed to have been there too. Forcing himself back into reality, Robert put up the mind-block he had become so accustomed to using.

“Thanks, you did a lot for us during that time.” Robert blandly told Jan.

“Like I said, I feel like a part of your family too.” Jan said.

“You are.” Robert said, his confidence returning.

As the Bronco hit another patch of ice and snow, Robert counter steered once again for another small victory over the winter elements. His confidence rose even higher as the road that turned off to Rita and Thomas’s farm came into sight.

5

The driveway wasn’t too bad to navigate. Robert had feared that it was going to be treacherous, it was a very rocky dirt driveway, but the Bronco made it up the hill just fine. There was also more tree overhang then Robert remembered, so the driveway wasn’t as badly covered in snow.

Jan leaned forward as the truck now left the small tree surrounded entranceway and entered the farm area.

“I haven’t been up here since we helped move them.” Jan said.

The farm was a wide stretch of land, carved out of the forest. The medium-sized brown farmhouse laid nestled back closer to the tree line, where a large hill backed the entire farm. The aged off-white shutters of the house gave it a real sturdy and old-time feel. Robert noticed some smoke coming out of the chimney. His father had started up the fireplace no doubt, fine time for a fire during a cold winter’s fury. Set in front of the house was a large fenced in area for the horses.

Rita and Thomas had only two horse to tend to, one that came with the property and her name was Sundance. She was a golden-oldie for sure; a little nasty at times but if you were gentle and treated her right she usually came around to like you. Her white mane contrasted well with her yellow hair and white spotted face. The other horse was a new little girl, not yet three years of age. Shadow was a horse that was as black as a moonless night. Shadow’s fur was so dark that even in low-light it seemed to glisten in shiny white flashes. None of the horses were out though; they must be in the stables which were off to the right off the farmhouse.

Robert drove the truck up past the rather large chicken coop and parked her next to their parents old Scout Truck. The plow was already attached to the Scout; it had gotten a lot of use this winter season already.

“So do I kill the engine?” Robert asked Jan.

“I might be able to get her started again with the rock, but I’m not sure.” Jan responded.

“Alright, let’s just go in. Make sure they are okay and get them out of here and down to the fire company. I’ll leave the truck running.” Robert said, as he looked at his gas gage. Little under a half tank, plenty of fuel to burn.

Robert exited the truck and that cold winter smell filled his lungs yet again. The entire farm was covered in a sizeable amount of snow. Robert noticed what looked like deer tracks in the snow, over by the water well pump. Near the stables though, Jan noticed a different set of tracks in the snow.

“Hey look at these.” Jan called over to Robert.

There were a few foot tracks leading to and from the wooden door of the stable. At times the footprints looked bunched together and staggered.

“Let’s go check up on your folks.” Jan said, not liking what he saw there in the snow.

Robert and Jan walked up the wide staircase and up onto the large wraparound porch of the house. As they passed the big living room window, Jan looked into the dark room. On the opposite end, the kitchen window blared in the white light of the winter day. Robert knocked hard and quick on the front door.

“Hey Mom, Dad. It’s Robert.” He called out. Robert and Jan were silent, a few seconds of listening for a response and they were both filled with dread. All they could hear was the falling snow around them. The roof of the large porch shaded them well, too well for Robert’s liking actually. It just seemed too dark at the moment.