The Gorging (20 page)

“You here that?” asked Troy. He stood up and walked to the trailer door and peeked out. “I think I heard more screaming. It sounded closer. Come over here and listen to it.”

“I heard it, too,” said Bobby. “Get your head back in. Someone might see you.” Bobby and Troy had been debating for awhile on how they are going to get into downtown Nashville and even when they do, what the plan is going to be from there. For the past hour they’ve heard nothing but screams and the occasional gunshots going off. Most of the screams died away with the gunfire, but more screams would sound sporadically. They both agreed to sit in the trailer for a while, not because they needed to come up with a plan, but because they were both being chicken shits about going off into an unknown city in the middle of some crazy shit going down. Neither one of their cell phones worked. They kept getting the same busy signal and recorded message that everyone else had gotten that morning.

“We’ve got to get going from here,” said Troy. “There are people that likely need our help where all the smoke is coming from.” Troy looked back to Bobby.

Bobby looked at Troy and then stared at the trailer wall for a moment. “You’re right. We have to go...We need to find a phone right away. I want to let my wife know that I’m okay. And we need to call for help.”

“Sounds like a good idea. I still don’t understand how no one heard the plane crash and there are no emergency workers handling the situation. This bullshit tops them all. I can tell you that. Let’s just get the hell out of this hot ass trailer. My balls are starting to sweat and stick to the side of my legs.”

Bobby shook his head at the Wyoming redneck and let out a small laugh. They both knew it was time to go. They couldn’t stay in the trailer forever even if it did seem like a smart idea because they had to face the fear of the unknown.

After about ten minutes of mentally preparing themselves and then another ten minutes to get over the fence and back to the interstate, Bobby and Troy stood staring at the remains of the plane they were on about an hour and a half ago. They watched as small clouds of black smoke drifted from it and floated up into the sky. The silence in the area seemed rather eerie even for two combat veterans like Troy and Bobby.

“I can’t believe all those people died like that.” Troy shook his head and took off his hat. He looked down at the ground as if he were going to pray for the lost souls in the crash. He stared at the charred grass and the shredded metal that lay scattered across the ground.

Bobby looked at Troy for a moment and then back to the mangled mess on the interstate. For a moment, he put everything out of his mind and only thought about Pete burning up in the fire. He had lost his best friend. He looked down at the ground and said his own prayer while Troy stayed silent, looking at the ground.

God. I don’t know what to make of any of this, but please take care of Pete up there. I’m sure he’s up there with you. Please take it easy on his wife, even if she is a...well...a mean person...Just one more thing. Please let me make it back home to Nikki and Eddie, and make sure they are safe and well please and that they are not dealing with anything like this there. Thank you Lord. Amen.

Bobby raised his head and looked over to Troy who was still looking down at the ground. “Are you okay?” asked Bobby.

Troy looked up and over to Bobby with sad eyes. “I feel like an asshole.”

“Why do you feel like an asshole?”

“As bad as I feel for all these people, I still want to see the Grand Ole Opry.” Troy stared at Bobby for a moment and then put his hat back on. “Well, we better get going.”

Bobby watched as Troy stepped over the guardrail and onto the asphalt of the interstate. He ran what Troy said through his mind a couple of times to make sure he heard it correctly, and then shook his head. This would be the guy he would have to travel with for the time being. The guy that would likely have to save his ass if shit got messy in Nashville. Bobby was glad he was only going into town with Troy and then from there he would wish him well and head over to the police station to find out why the unthinkable seems to be unfolding in town. He hoped there would still be a police station because apparently there are no emergency workers anymore.

They staggered their way through the abandoned cars on the interstate and stopped about two hundred yards into their trip. They came across the first dead body they had seen since the crash and neither one of them could come up with an explanation as to why it was hanging out of a car window.

“I think I’m going to be sick,” said Bobby as he stared at the man hanging out of the window of the car. The man’s body lay slumped out of the driver’s window and his arms dangled down toward the asphalt. Blood had dried all the way down the side of the car’s door turning it into a maroon color. The dead man’s face was half gone and from the nose up there seemed to be mostly bone protruding through. What was left of his face dangled toward the ground and was only still attached at the chin.

“What happened to this guy?” Troy walked up beside the dead man in the car and knelt down next to him. He titled his head and looked up at the man’s face from underneath. Troy knew that was a mistake after he saw what the underside of someone’s face looks like when the skin is removed, except this man’s throat was half-gone, too. “Oh man. I think
I’m
gonna be sick.” Troy was sick, but his stomach was empty, so they only thing that came out of his mouth was air. He dry heaved while leaning on the side of the car.

Bobby started to dry heave as well as he watched Troy doing the same. He managed to get his stomach and throat under control after a couple of minutes. “It looks like someone tried to rip his face off,” said Bobby.

Troy wiped his mouth and said, “Just like the crazy people on the plane.” He shook his head. “This is crazy man. Where is everybody else?”

“They must be downtown,” said Bobby as he looked around and noticed the stadium that he saw from the windshield of the plane. “Maybe they’re in there.” He pointed to the stadium. “Something extremely bad must have happened and they moved as many people in there as they could.”

“That seems a little farfetched, but I guess it’s possible given there is nobody around...except for this guy.” Troy pointed to the dead man in the car and swallowed a large lump in his throat. He stepped back out of fear that the man would rise up and grab him. It wouldn’t really happen, but he was still afraid. They are both very afraid. Afraid of being the only two human beings left alive on the planet.

“Let’s keep going,” said Bobby. “There’s still a lot of smoke coming from those buildings over there. Maybe we can help and then find out what is going on.”

Troy nodded. They both kept walking down the interstate and ran across the occasional dead person or two. Each person they did come across had similar wounds. Torn apart faces and ripped open necks. There were a few lying in the middle of the interstate next to their cars that had their bodies disemboweled. Bobby threw up once, although nothing came out of his mouth. Troy did the same twice. They were hungry even in spite of the foul smell of the bodies they came across. The air was filled with smoke and death. The smell of blood and mutilated flesh made their stomachs turn inside out, but they still had to keep going. They heard screams and gunshots, but had not run into anyone who was still alive since they left the back of the semi-truck trailer.

After walking and maneuvering through what seemed like hundreds of abandoned cars and trucks, they decided to cross through an industrial park to get into the downtown area faster than walking completely around the stadium.

“Look,” said Troy, pointing to a tall building that was on fire just up ahead of them. “No one’s even putting out the fire.” The building continued to burn. Fire trucks were lined up outside, but there were no firefighters attending to the flames that were blazing through nearly all of the windows of the building. It would only be a matter of time before the building would come down.

“I don’t feel right about this,” said Bobby. “We haven’t seen anyone alive since we crashed.”

“Maybe they’re all hiding indoors,” said Troy. “Maybe a news broadcast told everyone to stay inside. You should know about that right? I mean you are a news boy aren’t you?”

Bobby looked at Troy plain faced. Inside he felt anger that Troy referred to him as a newsboy. It reminded Bobby of what the grunts in the military would call him and his other co-workers. The grunts always made fun of those who were not grunts. Bobby would get the worst of it, being a combat photographer, and having to go everywhere with the grunts. Even when he was in a firefight in the war, he was still never considered one of the gang. He was considered an outsider. He hated it with a passion, but he tried to never let it show. Bobby swallowed and took a deep breath. Now was just as good as any time to finally stick up for himself. Maybe Troy didn’t mean anything by it, but Bobby was getting tired of being a loser. Mr. Masterson always talked down to him and made him feel useless. Bobby had felt like a loser to Nikki for a long time now. Today had been his breaking point. No longer would he sit back and accept being a loser any longer. It was time to make a stand.

“Don’t call me a news boy.” Bobby shocked himself as he said it. He felt relieved afterwards because he was finally standing up and being a man again. Not a loser. “Just call me Bobby.”

“Damn, man,” said Troy as he put his hands up between him and Bobby. “I didn’t mean anything by it. I was just talking about you knowing about the news. That’s all.”

Bobby pulled himself together and said, “It’s all right. Let’s just get moving again.” Bobby started walking ahead of Troy. Troy followed as they finished the rest of their journey across the industrial yard and into downtown. What they would see ahead of them would be something they would never forget for the rest of their life.

“Where is everyone?” said Troy as he and Bobby stopped in front of an art museum. “I don’t feel good about this.” “You’re probably right about the news broadcast.” Bobby looked up at the museum. Several growling sounds came from behind them in an alleyway. “What was that?” Bobby turned around quickly.

“I don’t know,” Troy said, looking in the same direction as Bobby. “It sounds like those people did on the plane. I don’t like it.”

They walked slowly and peeked around the large brick building at the corner of the alleyway. Just as they did, they both saw right away what the growling noise was.

“Holy shit,” shouted Bobby. “Let’s get the fuck out of here.”

“I second that.” Troy said.

It was a group of what looked like more than fifty people staggering along and growling loudly. They had smelled fresh meat and warm blood. They smelled Bobby and Troy. They were hungry.

Bobby and Troy ran as fast as they could down Main Street toward a bridge that looked like it ran north out of downtown. They neared the front of the Rockin’ Roll Café and stopped in their tracks when they both noticed a group of people inside the restaurant. Bobby and Troy looked at each other and seemed to be mentally asking each other whether or not the people inside staring at them are normal. Did it really matter? Anything inside is better than being stuck outside with a bunch of bloodthirsty maniacs.

Two people stood inside the restaurant looking at Bobby and Troy. They were wondering the same thing about the two men standing in the middle of the street looking at them.

Inside the building a woman looked over to the man standing next to her. “Do you think they’re safe Frank?” asked Betty.

Betty and Frank were visiting the Music Row Record Shop when all hell seemed to break loose and everyone went bat-shit crazy. They are a middle-aged couple from St. Louis, Missouri. Frank didn’t like to travel, but Betty insisted that they should visit Nashville before they get too old to leave the house. She absolutely loves the country music scene just as much as everyone who visits Nashville to see the Grand Ole Opry and to walk down Music Row.

Frank shook his head and stared at the two men standing in the street. Frank was skeptical since he and Betty had made it inside the restaurant after having escaped from a small group of bloodthirsty hostiles. He breathed heavily as he stared at the men staring back at him. He reached up and grabbed the handle of the door and held onto it tightly. His index finger was wrapped in a white cloth with a makeshift splint on both sides. He had broken it when he punched an old woman that had tried to bite Betty’s neck in the street. He knew they were lucky to make it inside when the chaos first erupted. People had suddenly gone crazy and those who were not crazy ran for their lives. Most did not make it far before they were tackled to the ground and viscously murdered. The screaming of people having their throat torn out had made Betty sick and Frank had felt an enormous pain in his chest. The heart attack he had four years before was a similar pain, but it went away after some time. He prayed that he would stay alive long enough to make sure Betty makes it home safe. He won’t let a heart attack stand in his way right now.

“Do you think we should let them in Frank?” Betty asked. She crossed her arms under her breasts and looked at Frank, waiting for him to give an answer.

Frank gripped the door handle tighter. “I don’t know Betty. They’re not covered in blood like those other ones we saw.” He shook his head. “They know we’re in here though. They might come for the door.”

“Don’t say that Frank.” Betty shook her head vigorously and looked at Frank. “What if they are crazy?” She walked next to Frank and looked out at the two men.