White Ash on Bone: A Zombie Novel (12 page)

What we are dealing with seems to be aspects of the body functioning after death.  Before Butler Memorial fell, I witnessed several bite patients expire and later begin to function again.  Medically speaking they are in fact dead.  I have heard the term zombies thrown around quite a bit, and for the moment, it seems to be an apt description.

I want to stress to the listeners to avoid contact with these "zombies" and to be extremely cautious when dealing with people that have been bitten.

I can also confirm by direct observation that the only way to effectively stop one of these zombies is by causing severe trauma to the brain."

"What do you mean by severe trauma?"
the radio news reporter asked.

"Shoot them, or smash their brains in,"
Carson responded.
  "Listen, I can't overstate the danger that the public is dealing with in the current crisis.  Out of an entire hospital only myself and my assistant Kimberly Horne managed to escape death."

"Can we talk to your assistant as well Dr. Carson?"
the reporter asked.

"Kim, honey, come over here please,"
Carson said.

"Kimberly Horne,"
the radioman said
, "is standing perhaps 10 yards away by a gate to the airport helping screen people for injuries before they are admitted to the facility.  Can you tell the listeners what happened to you back at Butler Memorial Hospital?"
the newsman asked
.

"I thought I was going to die; those things were attacking everyone.  They were after me too, but I managed to run away from them.  Then I found Mike, and he was there for me and protected me on the roof of the hospital.  Then a helicopter landed and rescued us.  It brought us here where we were asked to help out organizing the airport."

Alison's mouth dropped open in the car as she listened to her husband and Kimberly talk on the radio.  She took her wedding ring off her finger and pushed it into her pocket.

"Rex, can you show me how to use a gun before we get to the airport?" Alison asked.

Vicky lashed out in the driver's seat at some nightmare she was having.  Her fist hit the horn hard enough for a brief blast from under the truck’s hood.  Everyone in the vehicle jolted awake at the noise.  Alison felt her heart pounding.

"What's wrong?" Ginger shouted.

"Nothing, I had a bad dream," Vicky replied.

Outside the garage, something slammed on the garage door.

"I think the horn attracted some attention," Rex said.

"Do you think it’s one of them?" Alison said.  She realized she was clutching onto Rex’s knee while Brandi was glued onto her with fistfuls of her clothing.  Rex nodded.

"It's Dad," Ginger said.

"You don’t know that," Rex said.

Vicky reached over to open the door of the truck.

"What are you doing Vicky?" Brandi asked with concern bleeding into her voice.

"If it’s my husband then someone has to take care of him,” Vicky said.  “I don’t want my daughter to have to see it.  I’ll go out through the side door behind the truck and take a look."  She opened her door and stepped out pulling her shotgun with her.  Rex popped his door open blocking her path.  "Rex," Vicki warned, "Get out of my way. Your job is to protect my baby girl."

"Fine, but I’m going to be right behind you,” Rex said.  “Ginger, get up front behind the wheel.  Alison, let me show you how a revolver works."  Rex gave Alison a box of ammo and his grandfather's silver .38 special. "You got six shots so make sure you’re no farther than a couple of arms lengths and put a bullet straight to the head."

Ginger checked her .40 XDM from the front seat and sat waiting to turn the engine on.

Alison sat halfway out of the door behind Ginger waiting to back up Rex and Vicky.  Brandi was sitting in the front passenger seat twisting on the grip of a hammer that she had found at some point during the night.

Vicky approached the door leading back into the house with Rex following.

"Vicky," Rex said, "I have a bad feeling about this; let’s just get back in the truck and drive."

She ignored him and opened the door. She stepped inside. 

Alison couldn’t see much past Rex, but she heard the shot from Vicky's shotgun, and heard her scream, "Nooooo."

Rex stepped back into the garage and fired as his mother-in-law was pushed to the ground by a number of figures from inside the house.  Two zombies rushed into the garage after Rex and pushed him up against the back of the truck.  Rex managed to get his .45 up to the first zombie's head and pull the trigger.

Alison jumped out of the truck and brought her revolver to the head of the second zombie. It was about to bite down on Rex's arm.  She blasted its brains out on the wall before it could bite him.  Rex shoved the body back into the house, and it fell on top of the writhing mass of bodies on the floor.

Rex sent three systematic shots into the ghouls ending their gorging on his mother-in-law.

Vicky lay on the ground taking shallow breaths.  Her eyes locked with Rex.  She tried to speak but with some difficulty.

"Don’t. Let. Ginger." Vicky managed. Then she died.

Rex's hands shook, and his shoulders heaved in silence while he held back tears.

"Where's my Mom, Rex?" Ginger shouted.

Ginger tried to get out of the truck, but Brandi threw her arms around her and squeezed as hard as she could.

Rex brought his gun up to aim it at Vicky's head, but his hands shook.

Alison watched Vicky's lifeless body come back from death and refocus on Rex.  Vicky raised her arm reaching out to Rex.  Alison fired a shot hitting Vicky in the forehead ending her nightmares forever.

Rex stood pointing his own gun at Vicky until Alison reached out and touched his arm.  The touch brought him back from the abyss he was frozen in. 

In the truck, Ginger buried her face into Brandi's shoulder.  Alison could hear items crashing to the floor from deeper inside the house.  Alison caught the briefest glimpse of a zombie rounding the corner inside the house, but Rex slammed the door of the garage in its face.  The door thumped as the zombie beat on it from the other side.  Behind her, Alison could hear another zombie beating on the main garage door.

"Back in the truck," Rex said, "It’s time to get out of here before we're trapped."

Rex opened the driver's door and nodded his head at Brandi to get in the back.  The girls broke their embrace and Ginger faced her husband.

"Ginger, we have to go, and we need you baby," Rex said.  "We both know you’re a better shot than me. We need you to kill anything if it is about to get in while we're driving."

Ginger wiped her eyes and hugged her husband.  "I can do it," she said, "Just get me out of here."

Rex got behind the wheel and brought the diesel engine to life.  He reached up and his hand hovered by the button to remotely open the garage door and reveal the horrors outside.  Alison felt her stomach tremble at the danger that awaited them outside.

He pushed the button and the motor of the door opener grinded to life.  The door in front of the truck jerked upward and revealed the outside inch by inch while it climbed.  The truck filled with the smell of smoke from the outside world.  Rex pulled down on the stick dropping the vehicle into drive, and the door rose over the hood of the truck.

Outside, figures stood in the way of the vehicle.  Alison recognized one of them as Ginger's father.

"I'm sorry," Rex said and slammed on the gas.

The zombies moved at the truck, and Rex plowed into them.  Two were run over outright as the vehicle exited the garage. 

Alison watched Ginger's father reach out for the truck on the driver’s side.  The zombie glanced off the moving truck, but his hand smeared briefly across Alison's window.

Rex slowed the vehicle to a manageable level when they cleared the danger and made it down the private drive.  He turned right at the first intersection of the subdivision’s road.  They could see two houses that were on fire side by side up the street. 

The undead animated the neighborhood.  In one driveway, zombies struggled, en mass, to enter an open car door.  At a red shuttered house, they beat on the door.

Shots fired out of various windows of one house as people defended it from the undead.  The noise drew more zombies to the scene.  It was clear to everyone in the truck that there were too many zombies for the people inside to possibly hold off, but there was not much they could do to help them.

Rex slowed the truck down and beeped the horn.  Some of the zombies turned at the sound and headed to the truck.  Rex kept up the beeping and started to lead them down the road like the pided piper.  It couldn't last.

More of the undead moved at the truck from the front, and Rex was forced to hit the gas.

"I'm sorry," Rex said, "If we keep trying to help them, the truck is going to get swarmed with the bastards."

“It is what it is,” Ginger said trying to numb herself to the pain. They drove off.

###

Jack lay beside Donna on the floor with his cat, he watched over their sleeping forms.  Outside, occasional pops of gunfire sounded out in the darkness.

It had been three years since Jack had been this close to a woman.  He still talked to the girl of his dreams and played out their lives together in his mind; her name was Karen and she had been Jack's world.

"Jack, I want to go look at houses today,” Karen said. “I found this cute three story brick home that was just placed on the market and it looks too good to pass up."

"Babe, we can't afford a house right now," Jack said.  "I know we have the money for a down payment, but a house is a long term commitment."

Karen flashed him a smile with her full lips that set off her dark hair and eyes.  She slid over closer on the couch next to Jack and took his hand.  "I've already made the appointment, so you'll just have to go to keep me from buying it," Karen said. She squeezed Jack's hand and grinned at him playfully.

The problem was that after looking at it, Jack loved the house.  It had been completely rebuilt by the previous owner with more quality finish than most new houses possessed.  They made an offer on the house and moved in with in a month.  A few weeks later, Jack received a promotion at the shipping company where he worked.  

He felt blessed sitting in his new home at the dinner table with his wife.  "I think we need to think about adding an addition to our family,” Karen said. “It’s kind of lonely in the house with just the two of us."

"You got me with the house," Jack replied, "I’m not going to fall for that trick twice this year.  Plus, I thought we discussed that we were not ready for kids yet."

Karen pointed her fork at Jack.  "Come on, it could be fun," she said.  “I know what you like.”

"No."

"I promise to feed it and take care of it," she pleaded.

"I should hope so,” Jack said.  “Just think of the horror of pushing all that on me.  I’ve never even changed a diaper."

"Who said anything about diapers?" Karen said.

"I’d think it would get messy pretty quick with out them," he said.

"I'm talking about getting a cat," Karen said. 

"You're a bad girl,” Jack said.  “You had me going there."

"I always have you going babe," Karen smiled.  "Seriously though, I was talking to my mom last week and she wants to do something nice for us.  I told her I wanted to get a cat, and she offered to buy us a Siamese cat like the one she grew up with as a kid."

"Haven't you seen that Disney movie," Jack said. "Those cats are mean; plus, they are all thin and alien looking."

"I'll have you know that’s a load of crap," Karen said.  "Siamese cats have gotten a bad rap from that movie over the years.  I can assure you that they are quite loyal loving cats; my aunt has two of them.  Plus, the ones in the movie are bred to be all skinny and alien looking, but I'm talking about a traditional Siamese."

"Ok, so what the hell is a traditional Siamese?" Jack said.

"They’re a normal sized feline with the shape of a big housecat,” Karen said.  “But they have the brown coloration with the blue eyes you would expect of Siamese."

"And you're sure they're not all alien looking?" Jack said.

"Yes, I’m sure,” Karen said. “You’re such a silly little goober."

The next day Jack found himself sitting in his car with his wife Karen in front of a Cattery sign.  "What the hell is a cattery?" Jack asked his wife.

Karen punched his arm, "The first rule of Fight Club is we don’t talk about Fight Club," Karen said.

"So maybe this won’t be so bad after all," Jack said, "But I do notice that you seem to have all these little decisions mapped out ahead of time before you spring them on me."

"Nonsense," Karen replied. "If I had any such intentions I wouldn't have brought you along to pick the cat with me.  Let's not waste any more time. I want to go pick out our new baby."

Walking in the door of the Cattery, Jack was greeted by dozens of pairs of deep blue eyes.

"Oh you must be Karen and Jack," a man said sitting behind a desk.  "The kitties seem to like you Jack."