'Til Death Do Us Part (56 page)

“
Philly cheese steak, I
’
m starving.
”

“
Yeah I
’
m hungry
,
too, but I
’
m not thinking this is the best time.
”

“
No, no, it
’
s the best time. A
ll the street cart vendors come out for the parades.
”

“
See!
”
Azile said
,
throwing her hands up in the air.

“
What
’
s your solution
, Azile?
Are
you tough
enough
on
the inside to sacrifice him?
”
I shot back.

“
If he ever puts my life in danger I
’
ll—
”

“
Stop!
”
I told her.
“
Don
’
t say something you
’
ll regret or force me into a decision I don
’
t want to make.
”

She turned to face forward;
the set of her jaw told me she was straining to hold
back
a litany of words best left out of this journal.

The truck was starting to jostle around as
an increasing number of
zombies made our acquaint
ance and still more were coming.
I know it’s wrong
,
I’m not so far removed from reality to know my thoughts aren’t politically correct, but the image I got of all those zombies around the truck was of those late night commercials that beg for money.
You know the ones where the Red Cross truck pulls up into the village and the people all run to the tr
uck for their allotment of food? U
nfortunately
,
in this case
,
we were the food.

“
Can you drive forward?
”
I asked Azile.

“
This is a truck not a tank,
”
s
he replied as we looked over the expanding sea of dead.

“
You guys need to find something to wad up and stick in your ears
.
”

“
Fireworks?
”
John asked. I thought I might have caught a glint of fear in his eyes
,
but it was quickly replaced with a stoned countenance.

“
Close enough,
”
I told him as
I
pulled back
the
charging mechanism.

“
What are you doing?
”
Azile asked.

“
I am going to destroy these motherfuckers.
”
I took off my hat under the severe protests of John.

“
Listen
,
bud
,
I just need you keep the line of firecrac
kers straight as I set them off.
Can
you do that?
”

“
Sure
,
man
,
but you should still keep your hat on.
”

“
I
’
m fine for the moment.
”
And I was.
The
white noise was replaced
by an eerie silence in my head.
Eliza was nowhere around, at least not in broadcasting mode. I
‘
pushed
’
the closest zombies away from the running board and opened the door. The nearest ones were straining against invisible bonds
, their teeth gnashing at the empty air like Doberman Pinschers trying to find a meaty thigh.
And did I tell you how much Dobies scare the shit out of me?

When I was eight
, I
had a friend in my neighborhood
that
had two of them. To get to his door to knock, you first had to go through the gauntlet. The walkway was up against the house
,
and the dogs were chained on the right hand side, their
saliva
dripping muzzles could
just
reach the edge of the walkway. I would walk with my back up against the house with my arms outstretched as if I were walking on a six inch ledg
e forty stories up.  Those dogs would be snarling and snapping;
long lengths of saliva would be pouring out of their muzzles as they strained against their chains to get at me. The leather on their collars the only thing holding them back from my certain death.

I shuddere
d thinking of those damn dogs and
pushed a little harder against the closest zombies, I wanted them as far back as possible. It didn
’
t seem to me that they were heeding my
‘
advice
’
quite as well as I would have hoped
,
but I had other things on my mind, so the dividing of my thoughts may have had something to do with. I p
laced the barrel of the machine
gun in the crux of the window frame and the truck body. I pulled the trigger and nearly flung myself off the truck.

“
Umm, Trip
,
maybe
come over here and grab my belt,
”
I said before I dared shoot again. I was thankful when my instruction did not lead to a four minute explanation. When I felt he had a good grasp
,
I let loose with a torrent of hell.

Aiming wasn
’
t even necessary, annihilation surged from that barrel.
Zombies liquefied as the steel-
jacketed 7.62 round
s
would slam into first one zombie and
then into his mates behind him—
maybe as many as three deep before the bullet was finally sated with death. As I looked over the multitude of zombies that day, there were all kinds from a
ll races. Men, women, children…
fuck
,
even babies. Some were black, some white, Hispanic, Asian, there were medical workers in scrubs, cops, construction crews, some McDonald
’
s workers
(hopefully Becka was in there—
see journal number
two
), my point being
,
no one escaped this plague
. I
t
’
s that
,
in my memory,
I choose to believe t
hat ALL zombies resemble Durgan:
white, male
,
asshole. That
’
s how I can sleep at night.
I just need to pretend that every former human I destroyed that day resembled that
one particular
asshole
. I
t was that and only that thought that kept me on the good side of the sanity line.

Watching what that large caliber round can do when it strikes a
five-year-
old girl is not something
that is conduc
ive to my already thinly spread mental health.
My zombies
are
ALWAYS
big goons who are deserving of that bullet.
That is all I am saying.
Zombies fell like wheat to a Harvester, and wasn
’
t that what I was doing? Harvesting the dead? The bullets slammed into them, the sound almost louder than the percussion of the rounds being expended. The ones that weren
’
t neatly cut in half were pushed back as if the thumb of God had pressed them in the abdomen. Heads disintegrated into a spray of blood, brain
,
and bone
,
to mist down on their brethren like a bloody
spring
rain.
But there would be no bumper crop rising from the resultant moisture.

“
Where are they going?
”
John asked over the din of the gun.

It was time for a break anyway, the belt was getting low on rounds, the barrel wasn
’
t glowing quite yet
,
but it was thinking about it. Something strange was happening, zombies were still being attracted to the noise
,
but they were moving aw
ay from my firing zone; well…at
least the ones that still could.

Azile
’
s mouth was hanging slightly agape. I don
’
t know all she
’
d been witness to since this
s
tarted
,
but it may have been safe to say it was nothing quite on this scale.

I leaned my head in so she could see my face.
“
Drive
,
girl
,
before they figure out I
’
m not firing.
”

She mi
ght have been in a bit of shock. I
t didn
’
t stop her from getting the truck in gear
,
though. She slammed both feet on the brake, almost sending me once again off the truck, when she ran over the first fallen zombie. She was frozen, her feet were pressed solid on the brake,
and her
arms were locked straight ou
t in front of her. Her back may as well have been adhered to her seat.

“
Shit,
”
I said.

“
You have to go
number two
to
o
?
”
John asked.

I didn
’
t even have time to respond to that.
“
Hold this,
”
I said to J
ohn as I handed him the machine
gun.
“
Do
not
touch the barrel.
”
And before I completely lost my mind
,
I removed the
remaining rounds
.

I had not even finished climbing over
him when John screamed in pain.
“
That
’
s fucking hot!
”

“
I told you not t
ouch the barrel,
”
I said as I got between him and Azile.

“
That
’
s the barrel?
”
h
e asked.

“
Azile, you alright?
”
I asked gently. She didn
’
t even acknowledge my presence.
“
Plan B it is,
”
I said aloud as I watched t
he zombies stop their evacuation, they weren
’
t yet coming back.

I grabbed Azile
’
s
right hand and pried her white-
knuckled
fingers from the steering wheel;
the left came off a lot easier. I then reached down and pushed up on the back of her knees so her legs would bend. Then I stood up over the gear box and physically slid her over to my previous spot.

“
Here goes nothing,
”
I said as I restarted the stalled truck. She still hadn
’
t moved on her own or even looked over at me.

The truck bucked wildly as I threw it into what I thought was first gear (it wasn
’
t). I had to stick my hand out to keep Azile from slamming off the dash.

“
Buckle her in
,
John.
”

“
You said hold this and don
’
t touch the barrel. How many more things do you think I can do?
”

“
One more?
”
I asked hopefully.

“
Okay
,
fair enough.
”

John
effortlessly got the belt around her and secured her in. I started the truck again, hoping for better results.

“
John
,
one more thing and I promise that
’
s it.
”