The Dead & Dying: A Zombie Novel (15 page)

I nodded my head and took his hand in mine. As we walked through the snow, I glanced back over my shoulder, half-hoping to see the Hummer making its way back to us. But there was nothing but the clouds creeping across the sky and a flock of birds silhouetted against the sun.

I thought of Florida, of the crash of waves against the beach, of Carl suntanned and lean with sand caked on his calves and bare feet. Doc and Sadie were lounging on towels and I was laughing as the tide crept in and slowly eroded the walls of the castle Carl had worked so hard to build. That was the goal I had to keep in mind. Sunny, Florida....

But I had no way of knowing that was the last time I would ever see my friends again. Within the span of a week's time, I would be dead.

CHAPTER TWENTY-ONE: THE CHILD

After Mr. Carl killed my Mommy, I just kept running through the woods. I didn't know where I was goin' and really didn't care neither. But I kept thinkin' that I heard him behind me and that he was comin' to get me so there wouldn't be any witnesses or anything to what he did.

I got so tired, but every time I'd stop and try to find a place to hide for a while I'd get this picture in my head. I'd see Mr. Carl shooting Mommy over and over and I wanted to cry but just couldn't anymore. And I couldn't figure out why he'd did it. I thought he wanted Mommy all to himself and that he wanted me out of the way so he could have her. But then he murdered her instead of tryin' to get her to a doctor or something and it just didn't make any sense. Nothin' made any sense anymore. All I knew what that I was scared and more lonely than I'd ever been and I wanted to hug Pepper and Mr. Boots so tight that they'd squirm to get away.

But instead I just kept on runnin' 'til finally I came to this little town. At first everything looked pretty much normal except it was all empty which I thought was really weird. But I also thought maybe I could find a policeman and tell him what Mr. Carl did to Mommy. So I started going in to all the stores only there wasn't ever anyone in them. It was kinda like everyone in town had all went on a field trip, like maybe the zoo or something.

After I walked a little bit I came around this corner and the buildings on this street was all messed up and stuff. It looked like maybe a couple armies had been fighting it out and I suddenly saw all these bodies laying around. They weren't movin' at all and some of 'em had birds peckin' away at their skin and I knew they was dead and I started to get really scared. I wondered if maybe the monsters had been here too and if they had done all of this. And then part of me wondered if Mr. Carl had gotten there before me and shot anyone who might've been able to help.

I didn't know what to do so I just kinda stood there for a minute, turning round in a slow circle and it was like all the thoughts in my head had been wiped clean. I was scared, but I wasn't thinkin' 'bout being scared. I wasn't thinkin' anything at all.

Finally, I saw this little church up the road and I thought if I went there that the preacher might be able to get me to some cops. And if monsters had been there, then I was pretty sure they wouldn't be able to go inside a church 'cause it's protected by God and stuff.

So I started walking toward it and then I noticed someone movin' around in one the stores that had its windows all smashed out. I couldn't see 'em very well cause the inside of the story was really dark even though it was bright and sunny outside.

And then I started hollering for help as loud as I could. I hollered out that Mr. Carl had killed my Mommy and that he was probably comin' to kill me too and I needed someone to call the police.

The person inside kinda acted like my voice had scared him at first. His shadow jumped a little bit and he seemed to freeze in place. But then he came runnin' toward the street and instead of comin' out the door like a normal person, he kinda jumped out through the window.

Once he was outside I saw that his face was all cut up real bad and his tee shirt was all covered in blood. He came runnin' at me and I screamed and took off toward the church 'cause I knew now that the monsters
were
in this town.

All of a sudden, monsters started poppin' up left and right. They were crawling out from underneath wrecked cars, comin' out of houses and stores, and one even jumped out of a window. I remembered the way the monsters had tried to get me when I was in the little cave so I ran just as fast as I could and finally I was goin' up the front steps of the church and I'd just got inside and slammed the door shut when I heard one of them thud up against it. Even if the church was protected by God, I didn't wanna take any chances so I turned the little lock on the door anyway. And I think it made them mad that God had saved me cause they started pounding on the walls so hard that the windows kinda rattled around.

I thought maybe if I stayed real quiet that they might just go away after a while, so I went up toward the place where the preacher stands and laid down on one of the little benches. I didn't move or make any noise at all. I just closed my eyes and pretended like I was somewhere else. I imagined I was on the playground with Danny and Pete and we were playing tag and Mommy was standin' just outside the fence watchin' and smilin' like she always did.

I think I might of went to sleep for a little bit 'cause next thing I know the inside of my mouth is all dry but my head's sticky and there's all kinda spit on the bench I was layin' on. And those monsters were still out there and they were still poundin' away on the door and walls and I just wanted them to go away and leave me alone.

I kept hopin' that I would hear army helicopters comin' into town and they would open fire on all the monsters with their machine guns and then soldiers would break through the windows and tell me everything was gonna be alright. I kept hopin' to hear police sirens outside and someone saying through one of those horns they use
step away from the church, we have you surrounded
. But the only thing I heard was the thumping and pounding from the monsters.

Then I began to notice how hungry I was. It felt like my stomach was startin' to eat itself so I started lookin' around to see if I could find some food. Only there weren't nothin' in the church but a bunch of song books and some candles. I did find a little ladder with a rope leading up into the ceiling beside it though and I started climbing the ladder, thinkin' that maybe I could find some way to escape the monsters if I got to the top.

It ended with a little trap door and when I opened it, there was a big bell aver my head and it was like I was standing on a little porch or something. I could see the whole town from up here and could see all the monsters down below. I sat there and cried for a little bit, then I got real mad so I climbed back down the ladder and got a bunch of the songbooks and stuffed 'em down the front of my shirt. After that, I climbed back up again and started throwin' the books at the monsters, hopin' maybe it would scare them off. Only it didn't. It just seemed to make them even madder.

Then suddenly I felt real dizzy, like I'd spun too fast on the merry-go-round and it got real hard to breathe. My heart kinda felt like it was tryin' to beat right out of my chest and I was super hot. For some reason I started panting just like Mr. Boots after he'd been playin' in the sun only my tongue wasn't hangin' out like his. And all these thoughts kept going through my head, tellin' me that I was gonna die, that the monsters were gonna break in and get me and it didn't matter whether this was a house of God or not. And the voice also kept reminding me that my Mommy was dead and I was all alone and that there wasn't anyone in the whole wide world who'd be comin' to help me.

Everything got kinda blurry and then became real clear again and I started worryin' that maybe I was gonna fall off the side and down among all the monsters. So I started climbin' back down the ladder, only my hands had gotten all tingly like they do when I've laid on them for too long. And as the dizziness got worse I started breathin' harder and my heart started beatin' faster which just made me feel more and more dizzy. And that little voice was still in my head, still telling me I was gonna get eaten, they were gonna kill me just like Mr. Carl had killed Mommy only it would hurt a lot more cause they wouldn't be using guns or knives or anything like that.

About halfway down the ladder, my vision started gettin' real dark around the edges and I felt like I was rockin' back and forth as I climbed. My whole body was numb and tingly now and that darkness kept spreadin' until it was almost like I was back at that house lookin' through the keyhole again.

Next thing I know, I'm fallin' and then I hit the floor with a big thud that caused some of the candlesticks to fall over and there was this pain in my ankle that cut through the dizziness and darkness and made me scream. I tried to stand up, but it felt like my foot was being rammed with a ninja sword and I fell back down again, only not as hard this time.

Outside the monsters kept poundin' and I could hear this loud cracking sound that reminded me of how Buddy Holloway used to break sticks over his knee before he moved away.

They're gonna get in, the little voice told me, and when they do you won't be able to run or nothin'. They're gonna get in and they're gonna eat you and you're gonna die.

And I couldn't do anything but lay there on the floor of the church and cry 'cause I knew the little voice wasn't just tryin' to scare me. I knew it was right. I was gonna die and there wasn't anyone comin' to save me.

CHAPTER TWENTY-TWO: CARL

I'm standing on the shore of a lake. On the opposite side are rows of pine trees that sway softly as a breeze moves among their boughs; the sky is the clearest blue I've ever seen and these big, fluffy clouds drift by so slowly that it almost seems like it's the sky behind them that's actually scrolling by.

The sun is warm on my skin and glistens on the surface of the lake like glitter that's been dumped down upon the tiny ripples of water. I smell honeysuckle and lilac in the air and I wish my grandpa was here with me so we could drop some bobbers in the water and see if anything's biting.  And Josie, too.  I woulda loved for her to have met the old man.

It's a beautiful day.

A perfect day.

And then I notice my grandpa
is
here. While we fish, Josie spreads out a red and white checkered blanket and starts unpacking the food from the little wicker basket she's brought along. She'll give us a hard time, of course, about yanking these little creatures out of their world; she'll try to make us feel guilty, ask us if we can see the fear in their round eyes, the panic as they struggle for breath in a world they never know existed.

“How would you feel,” she says, “if some alien came along and just pulled you right off the face of the earth?”

My grandpa laughs from the bank and for a second I wonder where these two have come from. I'd simply wished they were here, hadn't I? Or maybe not. Maybe they've been here all along.

My grandpa pulls a flask out from the inside pocket of his fishing vest and takes a snort.

“Damn good hooch, I tell ya.”

He passes the flask to Watchmaker who eagerly raises it to his lips as Sadie slaps him in the back of his head with her palm. We all laugh and then Jason is running along the shore, holding a rainbow trout at the end of a long strand of twenty-pound test, his smile as bright and brilliant as the rays of the sun.

“Look what I caught! Look Uncle Carl! I caught it, I really did!”

I try to tell the boy that trout live in streams, not lakes but Monica just shakes her head and tells me I'd better give up, he'll never believe me.

“Carl,” Josie calls, “picnic's almost ready. Will Doc be joining us?”

I don't think he will. He was here earlier and we talked for a while but then he just up and disappeared. Said something about a storm coming, but I think he's wrong this time. It's such a beautiful day. That's the thing about weathermen, I say; it's the only job where you can be wrong ninety-five percent of the time and not get fired.

There's a round of laughter, but something out toward the middle of the lake catches my eye. Nothing more than a few bubbles at first, rising to the surface and popping like there might be a turtle or something down below.

As I watch, though, the bubbles become more and more frequent and before long the center of the lake looks like a pot of water that's just coming to a boil. Everyone has clustered around me and we're all silent as we look out at the water.

“What is it, Carl? What's going on?”

Momma always said it’s better to keep my mouth shut and have the world think I'm a fool than to open it and prove them right. So I don't say anything and just stand and watch alongside everyone else.

The water's roiling now and the ground has begun to tremble beneath our feet like how I'd always imagined an earthquake would feel. Josie takes my hand and squeezes it hard, her eyes wide with fear.

Something bursts through the surface of the lake, something so large that the mind balks at the sheer enormity of the thing. It continues to rise as sheets of water rain down like a mighty waterfall and waves crash against the grassy shore as if we were standing by the ocean instead of something so much smaller.

And still the thing continues to rise, its shadow spreading across the water and falling over the group of people who cluster around me. Fifty feet, sixty feet, seventy... it blocks out the sun and casts the day into darkness as lightning begins to flicker way off to the east.

I realize that what I'm looking at is a monstrous pair of jeans. They're ripped and tattered and stained with grass but they're jeans none-the-less and each leg is larger round than most buildings I've seen in my life.

My eyes follow the legs upwards until they turn into a black t-shirt the looks as though the world's largest moths have decided to have a little snack on it. More holes than threads, I can see withered flesh below, the ivory curve of rib bones with strands of muscle hanging down like seaweed from the wreck of a ship.