Zombies! Rising from the Dead (19 page)

“I know but what else can we do?”
Rick answered.
Rick paused,
“Bruce, you know while were in town, well, um . . . what ah, what about
Frankie?”

I had been so concerned with getting us to Panatauk that I hadn't given a thought to
Frankie. The last time we had heard from him he had barricaded himself up inside The Game
Pad; but we hadn't heard anything from him since.
“Rick I will leave this up to you, but I want to see if we can get to him. We owe it to him
to at least find out what happened. I don't think I could live with myself if we didn't at least try
to find him,
” I said.

“Man
I'm so glad to hear you say that!”
Rick said in relief.

I went on explaining other things in detail.
“Well then that settles it, once we get Amanda taken care of we will try to get down there.
W
hen we get to Panatauk I figure the supercenter has the best chance of having her medicine. I
know it’s
going to be
a mess though. Hell, when we left things were about to hit the fan. I
imagine it’s been looted already and I figure those fucking undead things are in there too. I
’m going to
take the truck right through the front doors. We will unload right there at the pharmacy,
get what we need, and get the fuck out. I will call you in the morning right before I leave, you guys need to try and get
some rest”,
I told him.

“
W
e are getting ready to lay down now and see if we can
’t get some sleep
. I've done
everything I can to get Amanda ready
, i
t’s still
going to be
tough for her, you know
how she is, all super religious and stuff,
she
doesn't see things like we do.”
He paused.

“What do you mean?
”
I cut in.

“She thinks it's the end of the world and shit. I tried to tell her this
ain't
the fucking
apocalypse. She's starting to come around, but she still thinks of those damned things as people
coming back from the dead, she doesn't get it. I told her
it’s
just tissue, their souls are gone
but she's just having a hard time accepting it. She keeps saying, ‘I'm ready to go, I'm ready to
go.’ I was like, ‘do you see four horsemen? Do you see us ascending to heaven? No, so it
ain't
the fucking end of the world you know”

I listened
to him vent
.

“I understand man
;
just do the best you can with her. I know it is hard but
t
his is all
going to work out
work out. Now go and try to get some rest”.

“We will man, we will....”
He replied, shutting off the radio for the night.

I worked off and on for a couple more hours, getting battle plan worked out. I spent that
time going over my list of supplies, checking and rechecking my preparations. The house really
required no additional strengthening. For the last several weeks all I had to do was secure and
fortify the house. As I methodically went over everything I realized more than anything it was
myself I was preparing; psychologically. By late evening I had done absolutely everything I
could
do, the house was secure and my bags were packed. I had gone over every contingency
that I thought we would encounter. Rick and Amanda were
resting;
there was simply nothing
else to do. The time finally came for me to try and put my mind and ease and get some sleep as
well.

I decided to take my final night’s rest in the garden
room;
I wanted to look up at the stars
for what I was sure was the last time. I went into the garden and made a pallet on the floor. I
won't forget how the light of the moon cast a faint silhouette across the little vines. It sounds
silly now, but as I laid there I tried to envision that I was far away in some lush tropical jungle,
surrounded by thick green foliage and exotic animals.
I tossed and turned for quite a while, it was hard to put my mind at ease as it raced with
thoughts and imagery of what was to come the next morning. I tried to force the visions from
my head and clear my mind by wiping it of all thoughts, after some time I finally drifted off to
sleep.

Chapter 7

Into The Breach

I was awakened
the next day by the early morning sun as it shined in through the garden
window. As it glared down on top of me, I tried to ignore it by pulling the covers over my face.
Soon the heat of the rays started to cook me from the inside out like a baked potato.

I hesitated for a moment thinking about what today held in store. After months of isolation
and hesitation I would now come face to face with the abominations that threatened my
existence on a daily basis. I had done all I could do, prepared both physically and mentally, I
was as ready as I was ever going to be.
The last couple of months seemed like a dream, so much had happened in such a short
time. One day we were grilling and swimming in the pool and the next we were fighting for our
lives. Neither Rick nor I had heard from a living soul almost since the day this thing started. My hope was that everyone was just doing the same as us, holding up inside our homes until
the terror passed, but there was no way to know for sure and for all we knew we might very
well be the only ones left. There had to be survivors right? After all,
we
have made it so far. It
only made sense that others would have had to? We can't be the
only
ones can we?

I got up from the makeshift pallet I had made and walked into the living room. All was still
and quiet, except for the constant moans and scratching that was coming from outside. I had
almost gotten used to it in a way; it had become routine. I didn't notice that the house felt
warmer than usual.

I walked over to the refrigerator to grab a drink. As I opened the door the light didn't come
on. All at once it dawned on me. Sometime during the night the power had finally failed. ‘
How
fitting,’
I thought to myself. On the very day that could be my last on the planet the power
fails; it felt like an omen, a bad omen. I considered my home a part of my soul, an outward
extension of
myself;
I was a part of this place, and it of me. It was almost like it sensed I was
leaving, and now it was giving up the ghost.

I grabbed the soda out of the still cool refrigerator and popped the top. I walked over to the
bar and looked out upon the living room. The sense of hopelessness and futility that had
plagued me for so long had been replaced by a new found fortitude. It was something I
couldn't
explain; perhaps it was because I had purpose again, my friends needed me. I grabbed the
chilly can and walked into the living room. As I did, I rubbed my hand over the corner wall.
“
Don't worry baby, I'll be back,”
I remember saying. Over the last few months I had grown a
little delusional, but I saw my home as a real person. I tried to comfort it as best I could, letting
it know things would be alright. It is a unique human trait that we give sentience to nonliving,
constructs. For men most things take on a female persona, and henceforth with men being
the physically stronger of the two, we fall into the classic role of protector. I
felt
the need to
protect this place.
It's a rationale I can't explain, but nonetheless it exists.

I walked over to the supplies spread evenly across the living room sofa. Everything was ready to go, it was all as it should be; there were no more preparations to make.

We had
prepared until we were blue in the face.
I drank the rest of the soda and decided to take a shower. As gross as it was I hadn't bathed
all that often, and certainly not showers. I would take a bath from time to time but showers had
been out of the question. There were several reasons why a shower
would
be out of the
question, but the main reason was more paranoia than anything else.
When you're in the shower and the hot water is cascading down your neck and shoulders
you are oblivious to what is going on around you. The water is running constantly and you can't
hear what is going on outside that single room. My main concern was if one of them got in

while
I was in that loud ass shower I wouldn't be able to hear it; I wouldn't know until it was
too late. I knew the possibility of something like that was remote, the house was locked down
as tight as a bank vault, but that is the nature of the curious creature known as paranoia; the
p
ossible seems absolute, and preposterous seems likely.

I thought a good shower would wake me, loosen my muscles and make me more alert. It
would be my first real bath in almost two months. With the electricity now out the water heater
no longer worked, I estimated that the water tank still had some residual warm water in it and I
decided to us it before it went cold. I could have fired up the generator but I wanted to save that
a
s a last resort.

I walked into the back bathroom and looked into the bathroom mirror, the first time I had
done so in a very long time. I took stock, it had been a rough couple of months and the strain
was visibly apparent. I was thin and gaunt
;
unusual for me. I had lost about thirty pounds
so far
. My
hair was long and straggly and I had a thick
scruffy beard for all my many weeks of isolation.
It's been a rough ride,
I thought to myself,
time to get cleaned up.
I filled the sink with lukewarm suds; the water in the tank was already beginning to cool. I