Wake the Dead 2 (Wake The Dead Series) (9 page)

“Ouch!” she managed under in between coughs and deep intakes of breath.

“You asshole!” he screamed at her. “I thought you were dead!”

“Sorry to disappoint you,” she joked again.

“What the hell—?!”

“Happened? The brakes gave out,” she said with a forced grin, which seemed so out of place in that moment that he couldn’t help but begin to laugh at her response. “I didn’t do it on purpose!”

They both shared a good long laugh, despite their own injuries and experiences that they had to endure so far this day. And they did that because if they didn’t, Alex knew that they would break down emotionally to the point of hopelessness.

With that lone thought in mind, Alex walked slowly over to the boat, removed it from the trailer, and dragged the thing toward the river’s edge. It wasn’t a huge boat, and might fit three comfortably, and so it wasn’t very difficult to get into the water by himself.

He then made several trips back and forth from the ambulance to the boat while Selina caught her breath, sitting on a rock at the base of the hill. Alex began gathering the supplies and placing them in, including their gear.

He found his knife lying on the seat tucked in the belt still. He must have absently loosened it during the chase as it lay over the seat on the driver side. A few minutes later and all the supplies that they needed were in the boat.

“I have to find a hiding place for the rig,” he said, helping Selina to her feet and handing her a towel. He also had gauze in his hand and wrapped her bleeding forehead. She did not protest.

“Wait here, I’ll be back in a few minutes.” She nodded in silence as Alex jumped back into the ambulance and found a good hiding spot not far away down the road. He actually managed to get the ambulance off the road a good way and luckily, there was enough space for him to drive it in behind a cropping of trees and bushes that hid it entirely from the road. He hopped out, rubbing a cut on his own arm that he hadn’t known was there until now, and locked the doors, taking the keys with him.

He quickly made it to the riverbank where Selina was already in the boat, lying back and holding a towel against her forehead.

“You ready to get the hell outta here?” She meekly smiled at him and nodded. “Well, here goes nothin’.” Alex shoved the boat into the river and then lowered the motor into the water. But after several pulls on the engine’s pull-cord, it wouldn’t start.

“Goddammit!” he yelled after another minute of trying to start the motor, to no avail. He continued puling the cord until he couldn’t any longer, and sat back in frustration.

“Hon, look,” Selina managed to say, pointing to something and nodding after having watched him for the past few minutes. “The throttle.”

Alex was about to kick himself after seeing it. He moved the throttle to the ‘start’ position and also saw there was a choke on the engine. He pulled that out, too, pulled the starter rope and the motor started right up.

“Son of a…how did you know?!”

“My dad used to take me fishing when I was a kid. And you’re welcome,” she said with a groan. “Can we go home now?” Alex nodded, adjusted the choke to get the engine running smoothly, and guided the boat down the river.

Chapter 8

The sun had all but faded from the sky by the time Alex had guided the boat into view of the castle. He could see a figure on the wall-walk and believed it to be Phil. As he got closer to the moat, the figure stood up and waved to them.

“All good?” It was certainly Phil’s voice. Alex waved to him, pretending not to hear him.

Trepidation and anxiety ran amok through Alex as he realized that once again, he would have to explain to the group that two more of their friends were dead.

He could also see zombies in the parking lot in the distance, still choking the area with their presence. It soured Alex even more.

As Alex guided the boat even closer to the castle, Phil’s smile slowly faded and he looked to Alex with concern, seeing that only he and Selina were aboard a new boat. Alex merely glanced up at Phil and shook his head. Phil got the meaning as he immediately dipped his head. His body language was familiar, unfortunately,
and
was something that he himself imagined having looked like on more than one occasion. It was also something he would see again from the others before too long.

He steered the boat along through the moat up to the lowered drawbridge. Nick, Liz and Phil were all down there waiting.

“What happened?” Nick asked, as Alex cut the engine. The boat coasted right up to the lowered drawbridge. Phil tossed them a rope with a weight on the end. He wrapped the end around a post that appeared freshly placed. Alex couldn’t even look Nick in the eye. “Shit, is she okay?” Nick added, seeing that Selina had a bandage wrapped around her forehead.

“She will be okay,” Alex said, looking back to see the woman in obvious discomfort, if not outright discomfort. It pained him to see that, again reminding him of the feelings that were surfacing with regards to her.

“I'm so sorry. Alexis and Bryan…they didn’t make it.”

A very long silence ensued as they unloaded the equipment, placing it all in a small wagon for transport into the castle.

“I'm gonna get you guys out of this boat and then you can tell me what happened to my friends over a bowl of tuna fish.” Nick said, his statement spoken sharply, but Alex could not tell if it was accusatory in nature, or if he was simply upset because more of his friends had died.

They walked inside the castle, but Alex turned in the opposite direction, walking into the outer courtyard where he saw the wolf in the distance. He dropped to his knees as Shadow raced over to greet him. As the wolf got to him, he rubbed his snout against Alex’s face a few times before turning and running back across the courtyard where he sniffed at, and then began eating from, a bowl off to the side of the chapel door.

Alex stood and headed back the opposite way, joining the others inside the castle.

“Not worried about Shadow coming inside, are you?” Alex asked Nick.

“No, he seems to have figured out where his place is pretty quickly enough, so we have been leaving the drawbridge down more often,” he said with a shrug of his shoulders, his back still to Alex.

 They all entered the Great Hall and took seats around the table just as Kelly entered the room with a smile on his face.

“Hey, man! You see my post for the boat out there?” he asked Alex, who smiled ever so briefly. “And how’d the boat hold up?”

“Not so good,” Alex got the answer out quickly as he knew tougher questions were to follow.

“Where’s Alexis?” he asked quickly, revealing to anyone who’d been paying attention that he carried a torch for her. That made delivering his news even harder. “And Bryan?” and what happened to you?” he asked Selina.

“I'm sorry, Kel,” Alex said, looking him in the eyes, “it was a terrible thing.” Alex paused and allowed himself to let his emotions out finally, tearing up in unison with Selina.

“Bryan and Alexis got caught in a huge mob of zombies around the hospital grounds….” Alex said, beginning his recap of the events at the hospital. During his recollection, Liz and Selina both got up, Liz escorting Selina away, along with the medical supplies, as Alex continued to recount the tragic events in the recent past.

He told of how Bryan had escaped thanks to the stick of dynamite, but was overrun anyway. The recounts of having to shoot the dying man were almost too difficult to relive, but he did so anyway. Then he explained to Kelly how the side came loose on the boat that they’d spent days making, and saw how that too affected the big man. It was lost a bit as he explained how Selina had almost tragically died on the way back, too. It was uplifting to have a portion of the tale that wasn’t completely catastrophic, thought Alex, as he conveyed those details.

“And so, Selina and I were discussing heading south, maybe,” he said, waiting for a reaction, but getting no response immediately. “I appreciate your hospitality here, Nick, but we really don’t want to deal with another harsh winter, and your food supply is dwindling. No disrespect to you, I hope. Our absence will make it easier to feed everyone. And we’ll stay for as long as you need to help restock whatever supplies, too, if you want.” Nick simply nodded, clearly having an issue processing all of the negative facts. There was a very long silence that followed, no one saying a word.

“We’ll have a memorial service for them tomorrow in the morning. In the meantime, get some sleep. It’s been a harrowing day,” Nick said, pushing aside his bowl, untouched as it was, and walking out of the room ,disappearing into the darkness of the castle halls. It seemed to Alex as if the gloom swallowed the man whole.

“C’mon, Alex, I’ll take you to Selina,” Kelly said, standing up and gesturing for him to follow.

“She took her to see Hannah, right?” Alex asked, though he already knew the answer to that question. They navigated a hall and stood before a door where Hannah was resting. He opened the door and nodded for Alex to look inside. Liz and Selina were on either side of Hannah, setting up the IV bag and trying to make the girl as comfortable as possible.

“What’s got her so sick?” Alex asked meekly, truly concerned for the woman.

“Dunno. Might just be the flu. I think she has what Tom had. She insisted on staying in the same room, ya know?”

“Yeah, I can understand the need for that…
reminder
,” Alex said, again placing his hand absently over his wallet, wherein could be found a photo of Sara. “I know very well indeed.” Kelly nodded and began to walk away.

“Hey, Kel,” said Alex, tapping the man on the shoulder as he passed. He turned around, staring sorrowfully at Alex through his glasses. “I'm truly sorry about your friends.” He said nothing, nodded once again to acknowledge the offering, and disappeared down the hall. There was certainly a black cloud hanging over the castle these days, Alex admitted, taking in a deep breath.

Alex stood there alone for a long time watching the ladies through the sliver of an opening, as they helped Hannah get comfortable, and now and then joking or crying collectively.

After feeling a cramp in his leg, Alex eventually strode back into the Great Hall once again, taking a seat at the dining table there, alone and full of grief.

“Maybe it
is
time to go,” Alex whispered aloud. He looked around as if searching for a sign, but ended up just reliving the nightmare of people dying over and over in his mind.

“So, you
are
wantin’ to go?” it was the voice of Selina. Alex almost fell out of his seat, lost in the terrible memories of the past.

“I'm leanin’ that way,” he said with a smile. “They have minimal food, supplies, and such. It’s up to you though. And what about Hannah?”

“She seems to be in better spirits. We’ll see how the fluids and the new meds help when she gets up in the mornin’. How ‘bout you and me get some sleep, eh?”

“Sounds like a plan,” Alex said, getting to his feet. He didn’t even realize until now how much his body ached from the day’s activities. “I gotta start working out again.”

“Let’s maybe start tomorrow,” she joked, seeing that he was sore.

“I see they cleaned your head wound a bit, huh?”

“Yeah. They’re good girls in there.”

“So, they got you thinkin’ twice now about leavin’ then?” Alex asked, taking her hand and leading her out to the outer grounds to their ‘home’.

Alex found Shadow lying down outside quietly. But, when Alex stood at the chapel door, he heard the moaning of the undead once again, riled up at perhaps smelling a potential meal. Shadow snarled and trotted over to the bars, snapping and growling at the many undead limbs and digits once more breaching the bars of the gate.

Alex sighed heavily, wanting something more than this for the two of them and Shadow. It wasn’t fair that Shadow had to stay locked up inside this area, large though it was, trapped within these walls.

And when it comes right down to it, so were they now. Yes, they would need to do something about this, he decided. And soon.

***

They woke the next morning at their own pace, eventually gathering in the Great Hall and sharing breakfast, as well as stories about their fallen friends. It was very uplifting and not at all emotionally similar to the night before. After they ate, as promised, they all gathered together at the rear of the castle grounds, in an area where Alex had found Nick only recently in heavy contemplation.

The roof was open above them where it appeared it was meant for a pane of glass, but none was there. It was also where someone, presumably Nick and/or Liz, had planted makeshift tombstones. It was reasonably well kept and the ground was well kept, unlike most of the surrounding area where weeds and grass grew heavily among huge dead spots of brown grass and dirt these days,

The group took turns saying something kind about both Bryan and Alexis. To Alex’s surprise, even Liz and Selina spoke kindly about Alexis, Selina specifically recalling her bravery and willingness to be the ‘pied piper’ in their plan.

Everyone laughed and cried, placing eclectic wildflowers down in a place which Nick had prepared as a memorial, and there was much reminiscing. Nick had spent the better part of the evening to make the place special for today. He had even hung a wreath on an easel, and decorated it with many of Ben’s things, including some old photos. Beside that was another crudely made cross, driven into the ground, which displayed some of Tom’s things. This space was to be used as their ‘graveyard’ to remember their fallen friends, Nick said, feeling emotionally expressive in particular this day. Though, under the circumstances, and with the many special memories and stories that were shared, they were collectively caught in the thralls of the emotional upheaval this morning,

The weather too seemed to shift wildly this day in conjunction with their mood swings. It was sunny one minute, then the clouds would roll in and threaten to rain the next. Then the clouds would disperse abruptly, leaving behind sunny skies once more.

As the group began to disperse, Alex lingered until it was only he and Nick left in the funeral garden.

“You guys wanna leave soon, I assume?” Nick asked, suspecting the reason for Alex’s choice to remain behind. He stood in silence after asking the rhetorical question, staring up at the sky pensively, his hands held behind his back with one hand grasping the opposite wrist.

“That is something that Selina and I have discussed, yeah,” he answered, moving to position himself in Nick’s line of sight. “But, as I’ve said before, we’re more than willing to help you get ready for winter.”

“What vehicle do you have to take south? You’re not gonna get that van outta the fairgrounds, I’m thinkin’” Nick said, staring back at Alex.

“Agreed. We were thinking of taking the ambulance. I haven’t really given it much thought to be honest,” Alex said truthfully.

“Well, it’s probably well kept,” Nick said. “Runs on diesel though, Might be harder to find fuel out there.”

“Solid point. Devil’s advocate though, I might be able to siphon a lot of gas from abandoned big rigs. Or even from someone’s home oil heat. But, best not to take that chance. I’ve heard varied answers on that. We’ll need to give it some thought for sure, though.”

“What about a nice all-wheel drive four-cylinder?”

“Yeah, been thinking about trying to wrangle up some kind of all-wheel drive vehicle, something I can take off road if necessary. The ambulance might not be the best idea for that. Plus, there’s more medical supplies inside the rig you guys may want later, just in case. Anyway, just wanted you to know. Anything else that Selina and I could do for you guys before…?”

“Yes, as a matter of fact. I’d ask you to help us make one more run to the grocery store with Me and Phil, to fill the gas cans, and refill our stock of canned goods,” Nick replied, turning to face Alex again, who had made his way for the exit. .”And maybe help us hunt down a vehicle
if
you’re gonna take that ambulance. Kelly’s good at a lot of things, but vehicle repair isn’t his strongest suit. I’d love to know that you looked over whatever vehicle it is we’re gonna be usin’ in the future here.” He smiled through his goatee at Alex. ”Sound okay to you?”