In Hiding: A Survivors Journal of the Great Outbreak (10 page)

I
found it surprising because she had been taking care of Bruce and if Ray’s
theory had been right, she knew what that meant for him. But she understood
that. Whoever those Zeds once were, that was all gone. What was left was a
mindless cannibal who showed no sympathy, no remorse and would never stop
trying to kill us. I remember walking away believing that everything we had
just discussed was right. I found that terrifying. It also meant that killing
Scott wasn’t going to end all of our problems. It was more then likely the
first of many more that we would encounter.

The
second night inside the store was no better then the first. The conversations
went long into the night. People were busy trying to convince others to agree
with them, while others were busy trying to get reassurance that what they were
doing was right. But that wasn’t the worst of it. We were also subjected to
Bruce’s screams throughout the night and well into the morning. We tried to
give him something for the pain, we gave him something to try and help him
sleep, but nothing seemed to work. He just kept going on about how it felt like
his arm was burning. He told us that his skin felt like it was on fire. His
screams of pain seemed to last forever until some point in the early morning
hours, he passed out.

If
that wasn’t enough, Bruce’s screams weren’t the only thing keeping us awake
that night. We were all concerned about the monsters outside and the one that
was still lurking around inside. That and what we might have to do to him in
the morning. I woke up that morning after only a few hours of sleep, only to
realize just how bad I felt. I was exhausted and my entire body felt like shit.
I would have given anything for a few hours of uninterrupted sleep. But that
wasn’t going to happen, that much I knew.

I
wasn’t the only one who was in rough shape. Most of the others were in similar
condition and that was probably why we chose to give everyone some time to grab
something to eat and gather his or her thoughts before we finally held the
vote. We decided on a secret ballot where each person would write their vote on
a small piece of paper and place it in an empty coffee tin. But before we
started I snuck back up to the roof to have a cigarette or two and finish my
instant coffee.

The
sun was shinning bright that morning. I looked out into the streets and saw
that there were more Zeds out there then the day before. They were spread out
across the parking lot with the exception of a large group that had gathered
around the front doors. I remember looking out at the far end of the parking
lot where the store’s gas station was and thinking about getting away. I
thought if I could make it to my car with a gun and some supplies I could get
to that station, fill up, and try and find some open road somewhere. I thought
if I got lucky, I might even make it to my parent’s cottage after all.

But
honestly I was too afraid. Scott had tried something similar only days before
when there were fewer Zeds out there. I had seen what had happened to him. I
could have tried for it, but if I failed I knew that the others might be voting
on what to do with me the next morning. So I just stayed on the roof until Adam
came and told me that it was time.

We
all ended up sitting around a table in the break room. The mood was tense as
everyone waited quietly to place his or her vote. The only thing that was said
before we started was when Ray asked if everyone agreed that the outcome of the
vote would be final. So everyone nodded in agreement that they would accept the
final decision no matter how it turned out. We were each given a small piece of
paper and something to write with.
 
The instructions were very simple. Just write down either “For” or
“Against” and place it in the empty coffee tin.

I
don’t know why but I hesitated before I wrote down my vote. Even though I knew
what I was going to do, I still had a hard time putting pen to paper. There was
something very final about writing it down and when I looked around the table
to my surprise none of the others had written down their vote either. It was
Paul and Anne who put their vote in the tin first. Then Kerri followed and then
everyone else slowly started filling the tin with their decisions.

Once
everyone was finished Ray grabbed the container and brought it to the front of
the room. He pulled each paper out of the tin and showed the room as he read it
allowed. He kept count after he read each one. The first vote was ‘against” and
for a minute I thought maybe Anne was able to convince some of the others to
change their mind. But as Ray read off seven consecutive votes of “For” I knew
that we had it.

In
the end only Anne and Kerri voted against Paul. I was stunned in a way that it
had been so few. I looked around the room and saw Anne had her face buried in
her hands and Kerri was fighting back tears while the rest of us sat there in
complete silence. Maybe it was the reality of what we had just decided to do
that kept everyone quiet, but in all honesty I think it was because of the
little tidbit that hadn’t been discussed yet. Who was going to do it?

It
didn’t take Paul long to volunteer. He had led the cause and he felt that he
should be the one to pull the trigger. At first I was glad to be off the hook,
but there was a part of me that remembered Paul freezing up the last time he
came face to face with one of them. I was starting to wonder if he really was
going to be able to do what needed to be done.

The
other thing was that he was going to need help. For safety reasons we couldn’t
let him do it alone. If something went wrong, one slip up, or if there was more
Zeds then just Scott hiding in that garage, Paul was going to need back up. So
Cody and Trevor volunteered to help him first and then for reasons I can’t
remember I did the same.

The
next thing I knew the four of us started for the downstairs while the others
stayed upstairs just in case something went terribly wrong. Although we didn’t
fight it when Shannon asked if she could go and check on Bruce. We just told
her to stay on the other side of the cage door and avoid close contact with
him, you know just in case.

Cody
and I each grabbed a baseball bat, while Trevor opted to bring a fire axe he
had found. Paul of course brought his handgun and if all went according to plan
he would be the only one who would have to use his weapon. I was going to open
the door while Cody and Trevor stayed hidden on both sides of the open doorway
to keep Scott contained. Paul would stand about ten feet back and fire the
fatal shot once he drew Scott out of the garage. At least that was how it was
supposed to work anyway.

We
stood outside the garage door for a few minutes going over the plan again and
again to make sure that everyone of us knew what we were supposed to do. Once
we were ready to go I stood with my back against the door with my hand on the
handle. I could hear the terrible noises that Scott was making on the other
side of the door. His face was still pressed up against the window and even
though I knew he couldn’t break through, I still felt a little uneasy about the
proximity of his mouth and the back of my head.

Paul
double-checked his pistol to make sure that everything was as it should be. I
looked at him and then over to the other two waiting for a signal to open the
door. I took a deep breath and as quickly as I could I turned the handle and
pulled it open as far as I could.

I
could hear Scott as he started to make his way out of the garage. I heard
Trevor shout something that I can’t recall and then I heard the gunshot much
sooner then I was expecting. Paul had fired a bullet right into Scott’s chest
that had knocked him to the ground. He didn’t appear to be moving at all, in
fact we actually thought that we had killed him. We were just beginning to
discuss what to do with the body when I saw the arms reach out and grab a hold
of Trevor’s wrists. Scott was back on his feet and he had a hold of Trevor.

He
had a firm grip on both of Trevor’s arms and he had them both pinned to the
side of his body. That was when I saw Cody raise the bat high above his head
and bring it down with incredible force into Scott’s right arm. The bones cracked
like a tree branch and Scott’s arm went limp giving Trevor an opportunity to
pull away. Cody took another swing, driving the barrel of the bat into Scott’s
shoulder sending him spinning away from us.

Paul
stepped forward and fired another shot at him while he was getting up off
 
the ground. He barely flinched as the
bullet entered his shoulder. He was coming back for us and Paul was visibly
shaken. I was starting to worry that he was going to freeze up again. But
instead he fired a third shot into Scott’s stomach and nothing happened. He
started to panic. His next three shots missed entirely and he was forced to
reload. We needed to buy him some time.

Trevor
charged at Scott and swung his axe directly into his right kneecap. The impact
of the blow brought Scott down to the ground as his leg gave way from
underneath him. But Scott pushed himself back up onto one knee and that was
when I stepped up and took a swing with the bat. I struck him right in the jaw
and it sent him flying back onto the ground. His jaw clearly shattered on
impact, yet he still kept trying to get back up, trying to kill us.

Trevor
stepped on one of his arms and I stepped firmly down on his other. We had him
pinned to the ground as Paul approached with his gun, now fully loaded and
ready to fire. He stood over Scott and took aim again, that time he was aiming
right for his head. Paul said something under his breath and squeezed the
trigger. The gun fired and in an instant there was a bullet-sized hole right
above Scott’s left eye. The blood that oozed out of the wound was darker then
any blood I had ever seen. It was almost brownish in color and looked thicker
then it should have been. After that he stopped trying to get up. I swear we
still waited a few minutes just to make sure and I remember Trevor telling all
of us that we did what needed to be done as we stood there.

It
didn’t take long before a few of the others arrived. Adam and Ray had heard all
of the gunshots and wanted to make sure that everything was all right. They had
completely ignored our request to stay upstairs. But I really didn’t care, I
was just grateful it was all over.

Cody
wanted to hold a small funeral service for him which we all agreed would be a
good idea. But first we needed to find a place to dispose of his infected body.
That was until we heard Kerri come running out to meet us screaming about how
Bruce had stopped breathing.

We
all raced to the back room to find Shannon and Sandy inside the cage trying to
revive Bruce. A crowd had formed around the entrance of the area and they were
all watching as Shannon tried to get Bruce’s heart beating again. Paul pushed
his way through the crowd. He put his hand on her shoulder and asked her to
back away. Shannon stood up with a confused look on her face, but she never
said a word.

That
was when Paul stepped forward, stood over Bruce’s body on the floor and pulled
out his pistol. He pointed it right for Bruce’s head and began to whisper
something under his breath just like he had before. The one thing we had
learned from everything was that a bullet to the brain seemed to be the one
thing that made these things stay dead. I guess we should have acknowledged
that they were more like zombies earlier then we did. Kill the brain and kill
them.

As
Paul prepared to fire his shot the screaming began. The others were pleading
for him to stop and show some compassion. He kept trying to tell them to stay
back while he did what he needed to do. He never took his eyes off of Bruce and
that was why he never saw Anne coming up from behind him. She physically tried
to grab the gun out of his hands and she wasn’t going to give up easily. Paul
tried to keep the gun pointed at Bruce but Anne was making it increasingly
difficult. That was when he pushed her away with one of his arms sending her
falling back into the cage. He hadn’t pushed her that hard, but she lost her
footing and it ending up looking a lot more violent then it actually was.

That
was when it all went to hell. After seeing that, Ray and Adam charged over and
grabbed a hold of Paul. As they were wrestling Paul dropped the gun on the
floor. Cody was trying to help Paul, yelling out to everyone what had happened
downstairs and explain to them why he was doing what he was doing. But nobody
was listening. Ray may have already understood that, but he was trying to
subdue Paul after what he believed to be an act of aggression against a
woman.
 
Kerri was trying to yell
something over to me, but I couldn’t hear her over all the shouting.

The
pushing and yelling continued until I heard Shannon scream. That was when
everyone shut up. Bruce had started to move again. He was shaking violently on
the ground almost as if he was having a seizure. Shannon thought he had
regained consciousness and that his convulsions were a just a sign of him
waking up. She tried to rush to his side but before she got too close Cody
grabbed a hold of her by the waist and pulled her back.

Paul
was frantically searching along the floor for the gun but was struggling to see
through the maze of legs. He was down on his hands and his knees shouting for
everyone to help him find it. I could see Bruce was no longer shaking. He was
starting to lift himself slowly off the floor. I started searching, trying to
help Paul find the gun before it was too late.

That
was when I saw Trevor push his way through the crowd still holding that fire
axe in his hands. I could still see Scott’s blood on the blade as he made his
way past me. He moved in close and without hesitation he brought the axe down
into the top of Bruce’s skull. Then just for good measure he did it once more.
I didn’t know what to make of it at first. As he pulled the axe out of Bruce’s
head there was very little doubt that he was dead. That was when Trevor turned
around and glared at every one of us with an incredibly intense look in his
eyes.