Benton: A Zombie Novel: Volume One (8 page)

* * *

As I’m looking at the house, I see a zombie walk out the front door. Judging by the tattered and dirty skirt it wears, the zombie looks like it was once a female. Half its head is missing, as if some other zombie took a chomp out of it when it was human.

The knot in my stomach tightens. Are Mark and Gary okay? 

The zombie heads straight for the van. It doesn’t seem to see us, but it’s coming for us. Then, the zombie veers off to the left and wanders off.

I look at Katie and Bill. “You guys duck down. I’ve gotta go see if Mark and Gary are okay.”

Holding my machete, I get off the van and run to the front door.

Slowly, I walk inside the house. Mark and Gary come downstairs. “Jen?” says Mark.

“Yeah, I saw a zombie walk out the door. So I came in here to make sure you and Gary were cool.”

“I thought we closed the door, but it’s obviously a good thing we didn’t,” says Mark. “While we were upstairs, we heard something moving around, but we never found it. The zombie you saw leaving the house must have been it. There are no other zombies in the house. So let’s get Bill and Katie out of van now.”

As we head back outside, I see that the same zombie I saw leaving the house has got its hands on one of the windows of the van, growling and trying to get to the humans inside. Katie and Bill are still ducked down, but one of them must have gotten up at some point

I run to the zombie with my machete. It immediately turns to look at me, and it growls with that sound that will haunt me for as long as I live, coming after me, hands sprawled. I plunge the machete into the part of its head that still exists. Blood splatters and, as it falls on me, I manage to roll out from under it.

Then, even though the zombie is down and permanently disabled, Gary rushes up to it and shoots it in the head. “Cocksucker!” he says.

Mark rushes over to me. “Hey! Good job!”

“Thanks. We better go check on Bill and Katie.”

Gary, Mark, and I enter the van. Bill is still crouched down in his seat. I don’t think he’s moved since I asked him to duck. But Katie has changed seats. She stares at me with saucer blue eyes. “I thought it was gonna get us.”

“Well, it’s dead now,” I say. “Let’s go get in the house. It’s safe there.”

19.

THE SALT AND PEPPER SHAKERS in the kitchen of this house are little black and white cows. My mother would have loved these.

She decorated our home in country modern with colorful pillows and quilts and her beloved cow collection.

I think about my mother and how much I miss her. When she died, we were not close, but I had hoped someday that would change.

“You okay?” Mark says to me.

I look at him with tears in my eyes. “I’m fine. I just miss my mom, is all.” Mark puts his arms around me and hugs me tight.

Inside the kitchen cupboards and pantry, we’ve managed to find food supplies we can use. We can add the items to our stash.

Katie, Bill, Gary, and I have decided to sleep in the bedrooms rather than sleep in our sleeping bags. I’m staying with Katie in one bedroom. Gary and Bill are in another. However, Mark has decided to sleep in his sleeping bag in the living room by the front door, where he can keep his eyes and ears peeled for anything.

The worst thing about staying in an abandoned home are the family photos I see. In this house, it looks like there were two girls and three boys, plus the parents. They look at the camera, happy and not knowing a zombie apocalypse was coming. Are they all alive and living at a camp? I hope the zombie who wandered out of here was not the mother.

20.

“YOU KNOW THAT CONVENIENCE STORE WE PASSED ON THE WAY HERE?” Gary says to me.

“Yeah.”

“Let’s go check it out. Maybe there will be cigarettes.”

“You’ve got a million cigarettes, Gary. Seriously?”

“Let’s go check it out.”

I sigh. “I’ll wake Mark up and . . . ”

“Let the dude sleep. It’s just up the street. Katie and Bill can stay here too.”

“Okay, you’re right. Sounds like a plan. Let me get my rifle. Do you want me to drive?”

Gary holds up the keys. “No, I got it.”

* * *

As Gary and I leave the house to enter the van, I look around for zombies. I don’t see any, but I know they’re out here.

No sooner do we get on the road, a zombie wanders onto it. It’s young and thin with long, dirty auburn hair, and it’s wearing a ragged shirt and torn blue jeans. I get a sick feeling looking at it, not just because it’s a zombie, but because it’s my look-alike. It’s what I could become.

It stares at nothing in particular as it enters the road, but then it sees us and its expression changes to a rabid undead after its prey.

“Watch this,” says Gary.

“What are you going to do?”

Gary drives up to the zombie. Much closer than I want him to.

Then Gary puts his gun up to the zombie’s face as it approaches, and shoots. The zombie’s head splits open and the blood splatters all over Gary’s clothes, and a bit of it lands on me as well.

“Gary! What the hell?”

“That was awesome!”

“Look at you. It’s all on you. Let’s just get to the store.” 

* * *

We’re approaching the store. From the outside, it appears ransacked. Still, it’s worth looking inside.

“Okay, get ready to roll,” I say. But Gary gives me the meanest look I have ever seen and just keeps on driving.

“What are you doing? The store is back there.”

* * *

I open my eyes. My upper body is lying on the seat behind Gary. My head feels like it’s been hit with a baseball bat. My hands are tied behind my back and there’s duct tape over my mouth. I sit up.

“Back down, bitch, before I kill you,” Gary screams.

I put my head back on the seat. I’m shaking and my heart is thumping. What’s going on? Why did Gary do this to me? What’s going to happen to me? 

It’s not just my head that hurts; my nose and mouth, covered in duct tape, feel as though they’ve been smacked as well. I lie quiet, wondering how far Gary has driven past the store.

The car is moving, but not too fast. It seems Gary has driven off the main path and onto a side road. I look up at the window and watch the trees pass. Then I look over to the side door.

If I can get to it, my hands are free enough to manipulate the handle. Maybe I can pull it open and get out. I’m thankful Gary didn’t tie my feet as well.

Gary swerves the car. “Fuck,” he screams. The car veers off the road and then it stops, almost crashing into some trees. Two zombies throw themselves at Gary’s partly open window.

As Gary shoots one in the head, I move my body over to the side door and struggle with the handle. I pull open the door enough for me to squeeze out. Then I run, duct tape over my mouth and hands tied behind my back. 

I dash through the trees, but then I trip, and my face falls hard against the ground. The pain is excruciating as I roll to my knees and get back to my feet. If zombies are around, I don’t notice. If they are chasing me, I don’t know.

But I heard Gary peel the van off the road and leave. I know he hasn’t come after me. He’s left me out here, bound, mouth covered in duct tape, and no weapon to protect me.

21.

I PLOP DOWN BY A TREE. My head jerks around, looking in every direction for zombies, and then I see it: a house and a woman standing near it, holding a gun and looking around her.

I lift myself up from the ground and then I run to her. When she sees me, her eyes grow big. Rather than help me, she runs inside the house and slams the door.

I keep running toward the house. My hands are tied behind my back, but my plan is to kick the door. I can’t let this woman ignore me.

I reach the home. I notice a weathered and torn American flag has flown off of its holder and lays by a pot of dead flowers. On the door is a sign:
The Finn Family
.

I see two zombies in the distance. They don’t see me. But if I don’t get help soon, they will. I kick the door.

The windows of the house are boarded up, but one window is not completely covered, and I can see a curtain behind the wood. The curtain opens and then shuts fast. Is the woman scared of me? Does she think I’m a zombie? Why won’t she let me inside? Doesn’t she realize I need help?

Now the zombies see me, and they’re headed my way. I kick the door again. This time the door opens. A man answers, holding a gun in his hand. I hear zombie growls. He pulls me into the house, then I hear gunshots, and the growls stop. The man slams the door.

“Over here; please sit down,” says the man. The woman who ran away from me is there as well. A little girl, who looks to be about five or six, stands by her side.

I take a seat in a chair, holding my tied arms to the side. The man gently removes the duct tape from my mouth. Tears roll down my face.

“Thank you,” I say.

“Let me untie you,” says the man. “My goodness, what happened to you?”

“What happened to her, Daddy?” says the little girl.

“Go to your room,” says the woman. The little girl runs away.

“Someone whom I thought was a friend hit me and knocked me out. I woke up with duct tape over my mouth and my hands tied. I managed to escape before he could do anything further to me.” As the rope leaves my wrists, I rub them.

“You say this was a friend?” says the woman. “What friend would do this?”

“I’ve been traveling with a group of people. I went on a supply run with one of them in our van. We were going to check out a store we saw. Then, before I knew it, he knocked me unconscious.”

“But where is this person,” says the woman. “Are we in danger?”

“No. He drove off. We’re safe here.”

“I’m Joe,” says the man. “This is my wife, Linda, and our daughter’s name is Carrie.”

“Hello,” I say.

“Your face is bruised. I don’t have ice,” says Linda. “But would you like some water? I can bring you a cloth for your face.”

“Yes, thank you.”

Without smiling and with the same blank expression, Linda leaves the room.

I look at Joe. “I don’t know what I would have done if I had not found this house.”

“I’m glad you got my attention,” says Joe. “We’ve been locked in here, and so far, we’ve been fine. Those two zombies I just shot were only the fourth and fifth zombies I’ve put down since we’ve been shut inside. Not many out there.”   

As Joe talks, I can’t help but think about Gary. He hit me, took me away from everyone. What about the others? Will he hurt them? Will he go after Mark? Suddenly, severe panic overtakes me and I start to cry.

“Now, don’t worry,” says Joe. “You’re here now. You can stay here until we can get you back to your folks.”

“But, we were traveling to Texas and just passing through. I don’t know where I am. Gary, the guy who hurt me, left me here because he knew nobody would be able to find me.”

“I see.” 

Linda returns with a bottle of water and a washcloth.

“Thank you.” I take a sip of the water.

“Are you staying?” she asks.

“Yes, of course she’s staying, dear,” says Joe. “It’s getting dark.”

“Fine. I’ll set another plate.” Linda leaves the room again. I spread the wet washcloth over my face. I can tell Gary banged me up pretty good.

“I’m worried sick about my boyfriend and the rest of my friends. Gary may go for them.”

“You’ll have to put your worries aside for tonight. We’ll go looking for them in the morning. You said you were headed to a store? Are your friends staying close to the store?”

“Yes, but I have no idea how far it is from here. I think the store was called Red Robin, or something.”

“Sounds familiar. We’ll find it. I know these parts well.”

22.

STANDING IN THE FINN’S BATHROOM, I’m shocked at what I see in the mirror. A large bruise extends from my forehead, down one side of my face. I have a black eye and a busted lip. I don’t know how many times Gary hit me.

I leave the bathroom and head to where I hear conversations. In the kitchen, lighted with oil lamps, are four plates of food on the kitchen table.

“Please, come sit down,” says Joe.

“Thanks!”

“What happened to you?” asks Carrie. She’s got strawberry blonde hair and freckles on her face, like her mother.

“Hush. That’s none of your business,” says Linda.

I respect Linda’s wishes, and I’m not sure how I could explain to someone so young what happened to me.

I pick up my fork to eat. Joe says, “Now it’s time for the blessing.” I put my fork down.

“Gracious Lord, we thank you for this food that we’re about to receive, in the nourishment of our bodies, for Christ sake, amen,” says Joe.

“Amen,” I say, feeling a bit like a faker. My family never said prayers.

“After we eat, we’ll show you where you can sleep for the night,” says Joe. “In the morning, we’ll go look for your friends.”

I nod my head, grateful for the food and for finding a safe place to escape zombies and Gary.

* * *

After dinner, Linda takes me to the bedroom where I will sleep. She gives me a toothbrush, a flashlight, and a nightgown. The gown is pink with flowers on it, something I would never wear, but I’m not complaining.

I pull back the covers of the twin bed and climb inside. Then I stare up at the ceiling. I’m still worried sick about Mark and the others. I’m assuming Gary went back to the house after he left me. Or, maybe he just took off with the van. The van has all our supplies, but at least everyone would be safe.

As I’m lying in bed, in walks Carrie. She carries a flashlight and a worn stuffed bear.

“Do you live here now?” she asks.

“No, no. I’m just staying here for the night. Aren’t you supposed to be asleep? It’s late.”

Without answering me, she climbs in the bed. The light from the flashlight helps her see my bruises. “What happened to your face?”

I pause for a moment. “Some guy was mean to me, but that’s all over now.”

“Oh.”