Trying to Survive (Part 1) (5 page)

   It wasn’t long before I could see them start to regain a good portion of their energy... It was more like they
purposely
shut down during the day and it just took a while to reawaken themselves. However, they were without question, substantially less threatening.

   Once my house was in sight, I sped up, cut the wheel and spun the car around. The force of the violent motion made my foot slip off the gas and caused the engine to stall. It was an older car, and the clock read over 150 thousand miles. When I turned the key, it just didn’t want to start again.

   In no less than five seconds they caught up and began pounding on the windows, but they still weren’t strong enough to break them. Or so I thought, until the window behind me shattered and I felt their hands grabbing at the back of my head.

   I was officially panicked. All I could do is lean forward and press my face up against the steering wheel to avoid their bear-like grips. I feverishly pumped the gas pedal and tried to get the engine to turn over. “Come on, you red piece of shit!”

   After a few more tries, I felt it start up and watched as the gauges came back to life. All the banging on the car made it so I couldn’t have possibly heard it.

   I had no choice but to throw it in reverse, and then drive up onto one of the front yards so I could go around all of them. I yelled out “FUCK!” when I was forced to hit a mailbox and it cracked the passenger side of the windshield – something I was consciously trying to avoid doing.

   Suddenly, I heard movement and growling coming from behind me…
You gotta be fuckin kidding me…

   I took my foot off the gas and glanced back. It was trying to get up, but it was stuck in the small area between the front seats and the beginning of the back ones. As long as I kept a good speed and swerved around, it would just continue to fall deeper into the tight space and remain stuck.

   I sped up and got past another crowd of the infected, then took the slight jump back onto the pavement. When I looked to the end of the street – I saw something totally unexpected. Walt was running to the car with the little girl in one arm, and a boy around the same age grasping onto the other – following right behind him.

   I started beeping the horn to let him know I was alright, and so I could continue to draw attention away from them. Then I made the decision to slow down a little so he could pull out and drive away first.

   As soon as he was free and clear, I sped up, followed him onto the main road and started beeping the horn again. I needed to kill the one in the back of the car before it struggled free, but I left my rifle with Melanie and took the shotgun. It only had two rounds and I didn’t want to waste them on such an easy kill.

  
I played enough Resident Evil when I was younger to know how important it is to save the shotgun for emergencies…

   I moved past Walt and came to an abrupt stop – meanwhile signaling him to follow. I jumped out of the car and Walt rolled down his window. “What the hell man!? We got em, let’s GO!”

   “One came in through the back window – it’s stuck in between the seats, but it could wiggle its way out any second. Let me have your rifle, I don’t wanna waste one of the only two shells we have.”

   I looked over at the young boy and girl in the back seat while Walt reached for the gun. They were huddled together with their eyes tightly shut and their faces were wet with tears. The little girl opened them just for a moment, but then immediately closed them again.

   Walt handed me the rifle and I passed him the shotgun. “Get them back, now! Don’t wait for me.”

   He frowned and said “Don’t fuck around – they’re still all over the place.” As he sped away, I could hear that the wobble coming from the front of the car had gotten even worse.

   I took the time to look around and noticed that one of them was too close for comfort… It had been years since I fired a gun... I nervously raised up the rifle and moved the crosshairs to its chest.

  
Go for the head… One to the chest probably won’t kill it.

   I adjusted my aim upwards until I could see the amber of its bloodshot eyes. I took a deep breath, held it in and pulled back the trigger. The kick of a rifle had grown unfamiliar over the years, so it startled me a bit and caused me to flinch... It was already on the ground by the time I regained sight of it.

 
As I pulled the bolt back and pushed another bullet into the chamber, I thought to myself
– I’ll get used to shooting again soon… Just need the opportunity to do it a few more times.

   When I walked back over to the car and looked through the broken window, I hesitated. Its back was turned to me and it was still tightly wedged – unable to do anything but wiggle around and make noise.

   From my point of view, it seemed like just a normal man. He was wearing a white undershirt and dark blue pajama pants – like he was just sitting around or getting ready for bed when he turned. There wasn’t even any blood on his clothing and his hair was barely a mess…
I guess he hasn’t gotten the chance to kill anyone yet…

   I just had to remind myself, that basically, they
were
“zombies” just like in the movies. The only difference is that they weren’t rotting away and disgusting – they were so much more… human. Even though it made shooting them slightly more difficult, I knew the feeling wouldn’t last long.

   I brought the rifle up and aimed at its head. I wanted to be more prepared and train myself to be comfortable with shooting a gun again, so I took a few deep breaths and tried to concentrate on what I was doing. I needed to get to the point where I wouldn’t even blink when the shot rang out.

   I held steady, pulled back on the trigger and watched as a small section of its head blew out, sending blood and chunks all over the inside of the car. My right eye twitched when a tiny speck of blood hit my cheek, just underneath it.

   It was funny. At that moment, I actually realized that only having the use of one eye was somewhat of an advantage when it came to using a scoped rifle. My eye didn’t have to struggle to readjust once I looked away...

   Some more of the infected were starting to close in, so I jumped in the car and headed back to the Vet’s office. Once I reached the parking lot, I dragged the body out and around to the side of the building. I had no idea a gunshot wound to the head could leave behind such a prominent trail of blood.

  
I never thought I’d know what real chunks of brain look like either…

   As I made my way down the long hall, I found myself becoming extremely nervous about our new situation. The task of caring for two children at a time like this was nothing short of intimidating.

   Even
if
we had extra guns… Melanie’s arm is never going to be quite the same, and those two kids were both years away from being able to handle firing a gun.

   I knew their presence would strongly hurt our chances of survival, but it didn’t matter. We were going to do everything we could to make sure they didn’t endure the unimaginable suffering that so many others had…
Not even the most horrible people on earth deserve to the die like that…

   When I got close to the room, I called out “Walt, it’s me!”

   He appeared in the doorway and walked out to meet me. I could sense his urgency. “We might have to go back.”

   I tilted my head in confusion. “Did you see more people?”

   “No, it’s not that. We’re going to be out of food soon. We have three more mouths to feed now… There’s plenty of food left in your house, and there was a good amount in the one I just left.”

   “If we just do the same thing again, we should be fine. I only had a little trouble because my fuckin foot slipped off the gas and the car stalled out when I spun it around… It won’t happen again.”

   I sighed and continued on. “We’d have to do it eventually – even if we didn’t have three more people around now… So, what’s up with these kids? Are they okay? Brother and sister, right?”

   Walt shrugged. “They haven’t said a word yet. Melanie’s trying to make them feel better.” He leaned in closer. “I have a feeling she had kids when this started. I could tell by the look on her face when she saw them... She even started to cry a little.”

   “That must be why she was so determined to make sure we rescued them.”

   Walt lightly nodded and began to rub his chin. “Well, it’s good in a way… I don’t know shit about dealing with kids and I know you don’t either. This way, they’ll have someone who can really be like a parent to them.”

   I leaned up against the wall next to the door and folded my arms over my chest. There was an A/C vent right overhead and the cold air was blowing directly on me. The fact that we still had power gave me the feeling that society was still intact. “So, is this it? Do we just stay here and only venture out when we need something? Or do we keep going and look for help? For more people.”

   “I’ve been thinking about all that too... I wish there was a way to find out where there’s a military base. That would be a good bet if you ask me.”

   “If we’re wrong, we’ll just be heading into more densely populated areas, which means more of those fuckin things.”

   Walt looked to the ground and chewed on his bottom lip. “We’re safe for now. So, let’s just spend a few days here – maybe longer. Melanie needs to heal, and I’m sure those kids would appreciate not being scared out of their minds for a little while.”

   As we headed into to the room, I muttered “We really need more guns.”

   The moment I stepped through the door, the boy and girl became frightened and moved closer to Melanie. She put an arm around each of them and said “That’s James, he helped save you. He let them chase him so Walter could get to you.”

   The little girl just looked at me with the usual questioning, child-like innocence. Her bright green eyes were still glistening with tears. The boy frowned and moved even closer to Melanie.

   The girl looked to be ten or eleven at most, and he didn’t look too far behind her. They both had the same light brown hair, green eyes and facial features. I even noticed that they both had slightly bigger ears than usual. They were obviously related.

   I slowly moved closer, took a knee, did my best to feign a smile and said “I’m James. It’s nice to meet you. What are your names?”

   Melanie locked eyes with me and shook her head – signaling that they still weren’t ready to talk.

   I held the smile. “Well, you don’t have to be afraid anymore. You won’t ever be alone again, and we won’t let any of those things near you. I promise.”

   I looked over to Walt and nudged him. He got the point, cleared his throat and added “That’s right. We’re here to protect you and take care of you. Just let me know if you’re hungry or thirsty, okay?”

   Neither of them said anything, they just continued to stare and huddle up against Melanie. They both looked exhausted – like they could fall asleep from nothing more than a few minutes of silence. I moved closer to Walt and whispered “They probably haven’t slept much.”

   “I don’t even want to imagine what they’ve been through… How scared they must have been.”

   I turned back to Melanie and said “We’re gonna go look around and make sure everything’s locked up – stuff like that. I think they just need some peace and quiet, and I’m sure you do too.”

   “Don’t stay away too long.”

Chapter 5

   It barely took five minutes for us to check the doors and make sure all the windows were closed. The building was as secure as it could be – which wasn’t saying much. We considered trying to block off the windows, but quickly agreed it wasn’t worth the effort. We both knew that if they tried to get in, a few pieces of furniture wouldn’t even come close to stopping them.

   We’d just gotten done searching the rooms and dragging the body from the hall outside so the kids wouldn’t have to see it. As we walked back in, Walt noticed a door we overlooked, hidden off to the right behind the front desk. To our surprise, it turned out to be some kind of break room.

   There was a rather large couch, a refrigerator, two tables, chairs and a series of cabinets. There were books or magazines laying on almost every surface. The entire room had a distracting floor made up of black and white tiles in a checkered patter – I actually felt like it was straining my eye.

   Walt immediately zeroed in on the refrigerator and flung open the door. “Shit, not much in here, man… Half eaten cup of Ramen, an orange and a bottle of
diet
Sprite.”

   I walked over to the cabinets and opened them one by one. They each let out the familiar squeal that all cabinets seem to produce. “Nothing put plates, cups and some sugar. Just a bunch of shit we don’t need.”

   Walt snatched up the orange and started to peel it. “Might as well eat this now. It’ll probably go bad soon.”

   “If the power stays on, at least we can bring back any food we find when we do eventually go back out there.”

   Walt offered me a piece, but I declined. I just didn’t feel like eating. Once he was done, he threw the peels across the room, completely missing the trashcan. Then motioned for us to head back.

   The bandage over my eye was starting to make me itch. It felt soggy – like it needed to be changed. Walt noticed me scratching at it as he walked past. “Oh man, I should probably take that off and check your eye. Those pills could be masking the pain of an infection… You really need to let me put more alcohol on it too.”

   “Thanks… Feels like I need a new bandage altogether.”

   “Okay, I can do that. But, let’s go in one of the other rooms so it doesn’t scare the kids. Hate to tell you but… it’s pretty nasty… The lid was so messed up that I basically have it taped shut.”

   “Thanks for the warning.” I remarked sarcastically under my breath. As I left the room, I said “Let’s do this in the bathroom. I wanna see it.”

   Walt stopped and looked at me. “You sure? I’d say it’s best that you don’t. Then you won’t even be thinking about it, you know?”

   “Just get the shit and meet me in the bathroom.”

   He shrugged and let me have my way. Before he walked into the room across the hall, he turned back and said “Don’t say I didn’t warn you.”

   I ignored him, lit a cigarette and made my way to the bathroom near the waiting area. I approached the sink, put both hands on the rim, leaned forward and stared at myself for a few seconds – preparing for what I was about to see.

   I took a long drag and watched as the ember flared up and ate through the lightly striped, white paper. I did it two more times and then left the cigarette in my mouth, favoring the left side as usual…
Here we go…

   First, I peeled the bandage from my cheek. It revealed four deep and jagged cuts, stretching down the left side of my face. They were barely starting to scab over…
I’m gonna look like more of a monster than those things do once I don’t need to be wrapped up anymore…

   Just as I reached up and started to unravel the bandage covering my eye, Walt came through the door. I stopped what I was doing, turned around, sat back against the sink and said “You’re right. I’ve seen enough already.”

   He didn’t reply, but his expression turning woeful and pitying said more than enough. He slowly approached me and then finished removing the bandage. As soon as the air hit my eye, it instantly became painful. Now that it wasn’t forced shut, I was able to blink it again – that was even more painful.

   I winced, and the cigarette left my lips and fell to the floor as I brought my hand up to my eye. I could truly feel just how mangled it really was. “Hurry up…”

   “I have to put alcohol on it… It looks irritated.”

   “I know man, just make it quick. I already know it’s gonna hurt like hell.”

   Walt rolled up a small towel and handed it to me. “Bite down on this if you want.”

   I snatched it away and gladly did as he suggested.

   He quickly soaked another small towel, got it close to my eye and said “Ready?”

   I took the towel out of my mouth and said “Wait!”

   Walt stopped what he was doing and watched as I leaned down, retrieved my cigarette and took another long draw… I tensed myself, yelled “Do it!” and shoved the towel back in my mouth.

   Just as I suspected, it was indescribably painful. More so than just about anything else I’d ever experienced. It felt like my face was being held over an open flame – the towel barely muffled my roars.

   Out of anger, I slammed my hand down onto the edge of the porcelain sink and broke part of it away. Walt patted my eye a few more times, then held it closed with a piece of gauze and taped it in place. By the time he was done wrapping me up again the pain had almost subsided.

   “Your face looks like it’s starting to heal just fine. I don’t think I need to put any your cheek.”

   “Do it anyway… just in case. After my eye it’ll be like nothing.”

   “… Alright.”

   As we walked down the hall and I tried to properly adjust my new bandage, I said “It’s gotta be a good sign that the powers still on, right?”

   “Yeah, maybe… or all the shits just running by itself with no one watching over it, and it won’t last much longer.”

   “I guess we’ll find out soon enough… So, you think there’s a way to get on the roof? We could use the rifles to look down the road and see what it’s like.”

   Walt came to a stop and raised his left brow. “Yeah, there has to be a way to get up there, right? There’s probably a ladder around back or something like that. Good idea.”

   After we informed Melanie of our new plan, we made our way to the back door of the building. Just as my fingers touched the handle, Walt reached out to stop me. “Stand to the side and fling the door open. I’ll stay a few feet back and be ready to fire.”

   It was all clear, so we split up and began looking around the back of the building. I could see the faint evidence of people who had been eaten, left behind in countless different places. Closest to us, was a car with the door hanging open, and a faint, bloody handprint smeared down the side of it… I could tell those things actually tried to lick all it clean.

   As I’d noticed before – they don’t even leave behind the blood. They really do lap up every drop they can get.

   When I reached the end of the building and looked down the side, I still hadn’t seen a way up. Then I heard a whistle and saw Walt motioning for me to join up with him, so I sprinted over.

   He pointed around the corner and said “Found it” when I got within a few feet of him.

   We approached the rusted ladder and I signaled for him to go first since he was the one who found it. The metal bars were rounded and extremely thin – begging for my foot to slip off each time I moved up a rung. I could feel it straining from our weight and moving around as we climbed.

   Walt scoffed “Man, what a piece of shit… I think it’s even starting to come away from the wall.”

   Once we both made it up, I had an idea. “If we do end up staying here, we should find a way to detach it from the wall so we can pull it up during an emergency… It could save us if they ever decided to swarm the place and we can’t get to the cars.”

   His eyes widened. “Yeah. There’s no way those things could make it up here without it. That can be our secondary escape option.”

   We walked to the other side of the roof, laid our rifles across the ledge of the brick wall surrounding it and looked through the scopes.

   It was just more of the same scene. Abandoned vehicles, ambulances, fire trucks and even cop cars were everywhere I looked. There were two spots where accidents were partially blocking the street, but all that meant is we’d have to do a little off-roading.

   The infected were scattered around in small groups, though clearly growing in numbers as my view drifted closer to the main part of town. And I could see dozens in the distance that were slowly heading our way.

   Walt sighed. “It was a good idea… just can’t see far enough to know what’s really going on.”

   “It does seem like the further down I look, the more of them I see.”

   “Yeah…”

   Walt continued to kneel at the red-brick wall and scan the distance. I looked away and thought for a few moments. I was genuinely starting to believe our best chance was to go out and search the area for more people – this part of town appeared to be completely taken over.

  My only issue was leaving Melanie alone with the kids for too long. “We should take turns going out and searching.”

   Walt jerked his head away from the scope and jumped to his feet. “No way. Are you fuckin crazy!?”

   “We can’t leave them alone for hours at a time.”

   “So, then… we all go together! You’re not goin out there alone and either am I! That’s just dumb, man!”

   I reached over and grabbed him by the sleeve. “Quiet down and listen to me.”

   He pressed his lips together, looked off to the side and rolled his eyes. Then sarcastically remarked “Go on… try and explain why it’s not stupid to be out there driving around by yourself.”

   “I say we stay here for another week – or until the power goes out.”

   “The power goes out? What does that have to do with anything?”

   “If the power goes out, that means help isn’t coming. It means if we want any help or the protection of more people we’ll have to get out there and find it.”

   I stopped and stared at Walt for a few moments. He reminded me even more of our father when he was angry. His face would wrinkle in all the same places and the tone of his voice would slightly change. It was just like when our father used to yell at us as kids for misbehaving.

   “You’re right. It’s incredibly dangerous, but going together won’t make that much of a difference. All it’ll mean is if we get into some shit, both of us die instead of just one.”

   “Bullshit – having one of us there to save the other could make all the difference in the world.” He loudly said without actually yelling.

   “Maybe, but this is the way it is and I’ll be the one to go out first.”

   Walt reached up and tugged on my bandage. “James.” He put his hands on my shoulders. “You’re injured and blind in one eye.”

   “I can see just fine.”

   Walt scoffed “Yeah, sure you can.”

   “Well, it’s happening whether you like it or not. And you’re going to stay behind and protect them – whether you like it or not… I have a feeling once those things run out of people to eat, they’re gonna start branching out and searching for more. And if that happens, and they figure out we’re hiding in this building - we’re totally fucked.”