Zombiekill (11 page)

“I don’t know. I mean what happened can’t be undone so there’s no point dwelling on it. It’s in the past now.”

Kyler picked up his plate and carried it to the sink. He shook his head as the dying sun bathed his face in an orange glow. He turned around and leant against the counter looking at Charlie.

“What?” Charlie felt uneasy with him staring at her like that. It felt like he was judging her; as if sizing her up to enter a pageant. Why did he have to make her feel so uncomfortable in her own home? “Well?”

Kyler didn’t answer, but continued staring at her. Exasperated, she stood up and carried her plate to the sink. Greeted with nothing but silence Charlie went back to the table, got the bottle of water, and poured herself a small glass. All the time she moved about the room his eyes never left her. Charlie drank the water quickly, deciding she would just go upstairs and read in her room. He was in one of those funny moods again. Sometimes he would challenge her, and sometimes he would argue. This appeared to be one of those times when he was going to ignore her. She could deal with that. It was better than fighting.

“How was the water?” he finally asked, just as Charlie was about to leave the kitchen.

Charlie looked at her father who was still at the sink and shrugged. “Watery.”

Kyler nodded. “You realize that it’s not going to last forever, don’t you?”

“Yes, Dad.” Charlie headed for the exit and then stopped. She hadn’t talked about it for a while, but now felt as good a time as any. “You know where we can find plenty of water?”

Kyler opened a cupboard beneath the sink and pulled out a bottle of whiskey, the contents sloshing about as he unscrewed the cap. “No, tell me,” he said as he took a dirty mug from the sink. The mug was still encrusted with dried coffee at the bottom.

“Attwood’s. Up on the hill. You know they have fresh water running through the property. What about Attwood’s, Dad? I still think we could go there. He’ll help us. You’ve seen the light at night. We should—”

“No. Absolutely not.” Kyler filled the dirty mug with whiskey and swished it around. He carried it and the bottle back to the table and sat down. “No, Attwood is an eccentric old man. I’ve already told you that, and we’ve already had this discussion. So save your breath.”

“But he’s still alive. You’ve seen the lights at night, I know you have. So—”

“So what? So what if he’s still alive? We’re better off on our own. We don’t know anything about the place. It’s far too dangerous.”

“Dangerous? More dangerous than staying here and running out of water? More dangerous than waiting until the zombies figure out a way in, and kill us while we’re sleeping? More dangerous than what, Dad?” Charlie heard the frustration and anger rising in her voice, but was powerless to stop it. Why couldn’t he see it? Why did he insist on staying in this place? “I’m sick of it, Dad, sick of it all. I can’t just go on living here, with you, like this.”

“Good. I’m pleased to hear it. So what are you going to do about it?”

“What am I... ?” Charlie rolled her eyes and then looked at her father as he took another sip of whiskey. “What the fuck do you mean? I just told you what we should do about it. Christ, Dad, how many times do I have to tell you? Attwood’s. It’s our best chance of—”

“And you really think that’s our best option? You think if we make it to Attwood’s everything will be
fine
?”

Charlie knew he was being sarcastic. “No, everything isn’t going to be
fine
. I’m not an idiot. But I know that living here with you isn’t
fine
either. One day we’ll run out of water and you’ll run out of whiskey, and then what will we do?”

“You’re missing the point, Charlie.”

“I give up.” Charlie grabbed the fishing cap from the table and shoved it down on her head. “I’m going to pack. Seven days and I’m leaving. I’ll go on my own. I’ll go to Attwood’s.”

Kyler began to chuckle, and his hollow laughter echoed around the kitchen. Charlie watched him until the laughter faded away. The tears were coming again, and she hated herself for it. This is what he did to her. He made her hate herself even more than she hated him.

“I’m sorry, I shouldn’t have laughed. But you have to admit that you going out there alone is a little. . . unrealistic.”

“Right, because I’m pathetic. Just a child, right Dad? I couldn’t possibly do it on my own because I’m
such
a disappointment. That about right?”

“Charlie, you can’t even break a defenseless bird’s neck. How are you going to kill those zombies? What are you going to do when one is on top of you and you have to thrust a knife through its skull? What are you going to do when it’s about to take a bite out of your arm? Fight back? Cry? Run to your room?”

Charlie loathed her father. When he began drinking he became spiteful. He talked to her as if she were still a little girl holding his hand. He couldn’t see her for what she was now. The death of her mother had changed her, changed everything; now it was ripping them apart, and she couldn’t find a way to make him see. “Let’s be honest, Dad, the truth is you’re coming with me. I don’t want to go out there on my own. So the question is, what will you do when a zombie is about to bite me? ‘Cause right now, I’m not so sure. I’m not sure that you wouldn’t just let it take me, and you can be done with me. That’ll be a weight off your mind, huh? Finally, Charlie will be out of the picture, and you can just drink yourself to death in peace. Happy days.”

Kyler stood up and angrily flung his mug against the wall behind Charlie. It narrowly missed her head but showered her in drops of whiskey. “Happy? You actually believe I could be happy without you? First your mother, and then. . . ”

Charlie began crying, unable to stop herself. Her hands were trembling though she didn’t know if it was fear or shock. She looked down at the floor, at the black and white pattern on the vinyl, and waited for the next explosion. Was he going to throw the bottle next? Was he going to hit her? When nothing happened, she looked up and found him sat down again, his head in his hands. He had done it again. She felt guilty for pushing him like that, for making him react the way he did.

Kyler mumbled something through his hands, but Charlie couldn’t hear it and stepped closer to the table wearily. Part of her told her this was a trick, a ploy to get her closer so he could grab her before she could run. Maybe he wanted to snap her neck and put her out of her misery too.

“Fight or die, Charlie. That’s all that’s left now,” Kyler said quietly.

“What do you mean?” Charlie heard the words echo around her head. “Fight or die?”

“You have to have more ambition than that,” replied Kyler. “They will do anything they can to stop you. There are thousands of
them
out there. I’m not sure that any wall is going to be big enough to keep those fuckers out. You have to see that Attwood’s isn’t going to work. Peterborough will kill us if we stay here. They’ll come for you, and eventually me too. They’ll just walk right on in and take this place from us; take everything I worked so hard for. You have to realize how much potential you have Charlie, if you could just see past the end of your damn nose. There’s so much more for you out there, Charlotte.”

Charlie wiped her eyes and sniffed. The room was eerily quiet and dark, and her father hadn’t called her Charlotte since she was a little girl. He wasn’t as strong as he made out to be. He was scared, too, and she could see that now. She didn’t know it was possible to love and hate someone so much at the same time, but she found as she looked at him sat at the table with his head in his hands, that there was no way she could leave him. Going to Attwood’s on her own was a pipe dream. She needed him as much as he needed her. After everything that happened, they still needed each other.

“This can’t go on,” Kyler said as he finally looked up at his daughter.

“Why do we have to fight all the time? We should be working together, Dad.” Charlie took the cap off and held it in her hands, twisting around nervously. “Why are you doing so much to drive us apart? I feel like sometimes you wish I were dead.”

“Never, Charlie, never. I know I’m hard on you, but that’s because I have to be. I see you and I see Jemma. I see where it all went wrong and how I let her down. I need to do better with you. I’m doing what I do precisely because I do love you, because it’s my job to bring you up and teach you how you’re going to live your life. That’s what a parent does, and God willing, I hope you get the chance to do the same one day.”

Charlie had to admit she hadn’t thought about her future like that for a long time. She had wondered about when she would have children, and she had thought that Jackson would be the man she spent the rest of her life with. But he had left her and was probably just another corpse now. The thought didn’t cause her any concern. What worried her was what was running through her father’s head. Did he think about that kind of stuff; about the future? She thought all he thought about was fighting and drinking. Maybe she had misunderstood him.

“Look, Dad, let’s—”

A short scream interrupted her, and she looked at her father. “Did you hear that?”

Kyler got up and nodded slowly, a frown spreading across his face. His eyes went to the window when they heard another scream.

“Christ, Dad, who is it?” Charlie felt afraid again and walked to the window to join her father. They couldn’t see the road from there, but there was no mistaking where the screams had come from: Mr. Riley’s house next door. Whoever was out there wasn’t on the road. They were in the neighbor’s property. Who the hell was it?

“I don’t know,” said Kyler as he took his daughter’s hand. “It is
not
happening again,” he said firmly. The anger in his eyes masked his fear, but Charlie heard it in his voice.

Charlie pulled her hands free as she understood. “I’m
not
leaving them out there to die.” Even as she said it, she could hear her mother’s voice in her head saying much the same thing. It was the last thing she had heard her mother say.

Kyler nodded. “I know. You’re just like her. Too damn kind for your own good. She didn’t have a mean bone in her body. Jemma would run across a busy street if it meant helping someone.” Kyler sighed and looked at his daughter. There was no way they could stand by and listen to someone die. “Okay, if we’re going to do this, we’re going to do it right this time. You follow my instructions and stay behind me, got that? And if I see any sign of trouble, I’m pulling the plug.”

“Got it.”

Kyler lead Charlie outside into the cool evening, and they stood there waiting for another signal. There were voices, shouting, but no more screams.

“They’re inside Mr. Riley’s aren’t they?” asked Charlie. “What the hell are they doing? Is it the military? You think they’re going house to house?” Suddenly Charlie began to hope that this was the rescue; that this was a sign that things might get back to normal.

“No. It’s not help. Wait there.” Kyler ran to the garage and returned a moment later with tools. He handed Charlie a crowbar and held a hammer in each of his hands.

“What are we going to do?” asked Charlie as she looked at the huge brick wall separating them from the neighbor’s property. “There’s no way into Mr. Riley’s except through the front gate.”

As her father looked at her, Charlie understood. “Fuck.”

They ran down the driveway and approached the fence. Three zombies were banging on it, their hands wrapped around the metal. Kyler dropped the first one by smashing it over the head with a hammer. He dropped the second in the same fashion, but the third was standing too far back and couldn’t be reached without opening the gate. Kyler put his hands on the lock and prepared to unlatch it so they could get out and around to Mr. Riley’s. He looked at Charlie.

“Ready?”

Charlie looked at the zombie at the gate, at the dark road outside, and then her father. She held up the crowbar and steeled herself.

“Do it.”

CHAPTER 7

“We weren’t prepared. We didn’t have enough weapons to fight them off,” said Schafer. “I had planned the route, but I hadn’t expected to encounter such a large group of them. It was almost as if they were waiting for us; as if they knew we were coming. I know it’s ridiculous, but. . . Look, I take full responsibility for what happened. I can’t promise you anything or offer you anything, but I know how to get there. If we could just find some more weapons, maybe even a gun. . . ”

Charlie stood up. “We have weapons.”

Kyler glared at her. “Sit down, Charlie. This doesn’t concern you.”

“Shut up, Dad, of course it does. And we
do
have weapons. No guns unfortunately, but we have plenty of things we can use out in the garage.”

“Fuck, Charlie, why don’t you just give them the house keys while you’re at it? Sit down and be quiet. We don’t know these people. We certainly don’t want to go telling them about everything we have. For all we know—”

“I know that they came to us for help,
Dad
.” Charlie remained standing. She wasn’t going to back down, not from this fight. “Schafer knows how to get to Attwood’s, and we have the weapons. What is it, three miles? We can do this. You’re not going to keep me a prisoner here anymore.”

As Charlie and Kyler stared at one another, Schafer decided it would be best to stay quiet at this point. He was indebted to them for his life, for saving his family’s life, and didn’t want to cause a fight between them. They had been lucky enough to come across them, and if they hadn’t have randomly picked the house to hide in when they had, then they would probably not be here now. Schafer reached across and put his hand on Magda’s lap.

“Listen, Schafer, just tell me again how the fuck you all ended up in my neighbor’s house.” Kyler wished he had a gun, but refused to have one in the house while Charlie was at home. It was something he regretted now, especially with
them
at the door, but he couldn’t change the past. Next time he knew who he would be voting for.

“Of course.” Schafer felt Magda squeeze his hand. She was nervous, but Schafer felt confident that these two people were okay. They had helped them and, if anything, they seemed to be interested in how to get to Attwood’s. Jeremy and Lyn looked uncomfortable sat opposite him in the darkness with Victoria wedged between them, but they were keeping silent. Schafer just hoped Jeremy would keep quiet long enough to get Kyler on side. They were all sat in Kyler’s kitchen around the table. Rilla was awake but still felt sick. She was sipping on a glass of cool water letting her father do all the talking.

“Have you been out there, Kyler?” asked Schafer. “Do you know what it’s like outside of these walls?”

“I saved your ass, didn’t I?”

“Then you know what it’s like. Facing them isn’t as easy as I thought. We were vastly outnumbered, but if we go now, this minute, then we have the advantage.”

“You want to go out in the dark?  Have you lost it?” Kyler paced up and down, his eyes casting suspicious glances over all of the new guests. “Let’s just reassess the situation. So you were all tucked up safely in
his
house, right?”

“Correct,” said Jeremy.

His black shirt clung to his sweaty body, and Kyler could tell the man was nervous. It was obvious that Schafer led this little party.

“And you left it to go to Attwood’s?” asked Charlie.

“Correct again.” Jeremy whispered at Victoria to stop fidgeting. “Schafer thought we should go.”

“Nice,” said Kyler. “You going to throw him under the bus, just like that?”

“It’s okay,” interjected Schafer. “We’re okay. I get it.”

“So how did that work out for you? I’m guessing not so well as you’re sat at my table instead of sipping champagne with Attwood out of a crystal glass.”

Charlie sniggered, and Kyler threw her a glare. “Well, let’s hear it.” Kyler’s question was aimed at Schafer.

“We had some trouble out on the road. My daughter, Rilla, encountered some trouble, and we narrowly avoided some zombies. I took care of them, but our path was blocked. Something caused the dead to converge in one place which cut us off from the route I had planned. We couldn’t get back to Jeremy’s place, so we had to find somewhere else. I guess we got lucky and ended up at your neighbor’s.”

“Lucky? Is that what you call it?” Charlie refilled Rilla’s glass. “I don’t think Mr. Riley saw it that way. He was about to—”

“Yes, I know, thank you.” Schafer remembered all too well the encounter with Mr. Riley and did not need any reminders. After breaking into the house with Jeremy, they had gone from room to room downstairs to ensure they were alone. Rilla had taken Victoria and started to barricade the front door while Lyn and Magda went upstairs to check they were in the clear. That’s when the screams had started.

Mr. Riley was still in the bathroom when Magda had first come face to face with him. As she rummaged through the mirrored cabinet looking for some pain-relief tablets that she could give to Rilla, his bloated body rose from the bathtub and was on her before she had time to react. Lyn had screamed seconds after Magda and uselessly stabbed her knife into Mr. Riley’s back. There had been a brief struggle before Schafer had come to the upper floor and finally put Mr. Riley down with a swift blow to the side of the head. The old man had been in the tub for months and his reanimated, fragile body hadn’t put up much of a fight.

“I’m feeling a lot better now,” said Rilla. “Thank you for helping us, Charlie.”

It was the first words that Charlie had heard the girl say. She seemed to be of about the same age yet was quite different. It wasn’t just the accent. Rilla wore a light blue jacket that looked expensive even though there was a tear in one arm. Her brown hair was tied up in a bun, and she looked a lot like a slimmer version of her mother. Rilla had been quiet and withdrawn, but Schafer had mentioned how she had fainted and felt sick in the subsequent escape that had ended up with them next door.

“Do you want anything to eat?” Charlie saw her father glare at her again, but ignored it. “I can find something, I’m sure.”

Rilla smiled sweetly. “No, I don’t feel much like eating.”

“Actually, I do think we should be leaving,” said Schafer.

“After what we’ve just been through don’t you think we should rethink our strategy?” asked Jeremy. “I think poor Victoria has had quite enough for today. Your route is compromised, Schafer, and if it weren’t for Kyler and his daughter then, quite frankly, we’d be history right now.”

“Hold on, hold on. By the time we got to you, you seemed to have things under control.” Kyler approached the sink and looked out of the window at the black night sky. He could see stars forming through the twilight.

“Exactly.” Schafer pushed his chair back and rested a hand on his wife’s shoulder. “You cleared the path between these two houses which is precisely why we should stick to the plan and go now. This is a perfect opportunity. We’re close to Attwood’s, and that crowd of corpses is on their way here. If we go now, then the road to Attwood’s should be clear. We can be there very soon and hopefully not encounter any of those things.”

“Those things don’t sleep, Schafer,” said Jeremy. “Look, you can’t just tell us what to do. Kyler, listen to me:
it’s not safe out there
. We have to stay. We need to stay here tonight. I’m sorry, but I’m not putting my wife and daughter through that again.”

Kyler knew he had a decision to make. Things had come to a head much sooner than he had hoped. He had expected to have more time with Charlie, more opportunity to make her understand. There didn’t really seem to be much of a choice. The hundreds of zombies that Schafer had reported were on their way here. Drawn by the others and the screams, they would surround the house, and then there would be no way out. If they went outside, they risked everything. But staying put was playing a long-term game that he wasn’t sure they could win. Whatever they were going to do, they were going to have to do it fast. Suddenly going out in the dark didn’t seem like such utter madness.

“Charlie, come here.” Kyler waited for his daughter to join his side. “You did well out there earlier.”

“I didn’t really do anything, Dad. You did the hard work. I didn’t even have to kill any of those. . . people.”

“Still. You didn’t freak out.”

“So... ” Charlie wondered what her father was looking at. It was dark outside, and with the street lights not working, the town was no longer bathed in that eerie orange glow. The stars were bright but somehow she didn’t think they held much interest for her father. She also wondered why he was paying her a compliment. It wasn’t like him, at least not recently.

“So, I think we should make up the spare rooms. These people need a bed for the night.” Kyler was thinking about the garage and the poor array of weapons inside—that and the bottle of whiskey he craved so much.

“Are you serious?” Charlie had been waiting for him to give the go ahead for them to leave. “But you heard Schafer. This is our best chance of getting out of here.”

“Why, Charlie? This place is safe. Just like Jeremy’s. And you see what happens if you go out onto the streets ill prepared. It’s a war out there, and you can’t face
them
without being armed.”

“But—” Charlie couldn’t believe he was blowing it.

“Kyler, if I may say so, I think you’re making a mistake,” said Schafer from the table. “I appreciate your offer of hospitality, but do you have enough food and water for eight people? How long do you think we can make it before we turn on each other? How long before those people outside are inside?”

“With respect, Schafer, I’m only offering you a bed for the night. I didn’t say anything about long-term. Tomorrow you’ll be on your way. Charlie and I are just fine here.”

“You’re throwing us out?” Jeremy stood up and pointed at Kyler angrily. “You can’t do that. What are we supposed to do?”

“Jeremy, calm down,” said Lyn. “Victoria is stressed out as it is.”

“Listen to your wife. Sit down.” Kyler faced the table. “This isn’t a democracy. This is my house and my rules. You will do what I say. I’m the President here, and if you don’t want me to kick you out right now, then you need to start listening to me.”

“Dad, just listen for a moment. We have an opportunity for change here, to make our lives a little bit better; not just for ourselves but all these people too.” Charlie felt bad for siding with the others. She felt like she was betraying her father, but she couldn’t agree with him. He would have them close up their house, and they would die in it. He was so stubborn he would rather do that then open their doors and consider helping these people. If they worked together, they stood a chance. All Kyler wanted to do was build a wall around them. He thought if he built it tall enough and strong enough they would be all right, but he misunderstood that walls could be broken down. “Attwood’s is achievable, Dad. It’s right there. I know we can do it. I know it. Please?”

“Attwood doesn’t care about you, Charlie. He doesn’t care about any of you.” Kyler began to raise his voice and talked over Jeremy’s whining protests. “That house he built on the rise is just a rich man’s playhouse, somewhere to keep his sports cars and do some organic farming. Fuck, he probably paid cash for it and avoided the tax. I know how they work. I know how people like Attwood think. I used to see rich people like him come up all the time from Boston. They would come out here to fish, and I would have to listen to their inane stories about how they
only
made a million last week, or how they were fucking the maid behind their wives backs because she’d put on too much weight. These people live in a different world to us. You think he’s going to let us in? If you believe that he’d even give us the time of day then excuse me, but you’re all going to die out there at his front door. A world of zombies, and you think he’s going to risk opening the door to his mansion to let a few hicks in? I don’t think so. You want to go on your suicide mission then do it. Leave. I’m not stopping you.”

The room fell into silence. Charlie watched as the girl, Rilla, slowly got up and walked around the table to her parents. She leant over her mother and kissed her on the cheek then took her father’s hand and made him stand up. She leaned into him, and as they embraced, she whispered something in his ear. Charlie saw Schafer’s face change. Even in the darkness she saw the edges of his lips curl upwards into something approaching a smile. Beneath his bushy beard lay a kind face, a face that she trusted. His clothes were splattered with blood. He understood what it was like to be out there, and yet still wanted to go.

“Kyler, thank you for getting us out of a fix back there,” said Schafer as he approached Kyler. He held out his hand. “We’ll be going now. My family, Magda and Rilla, don’t want to inconvenience you. I understand your thoughts. I don’t want to force anyone to do anything. I think if we stay here we would probably starve to death or end up hating and killing each other. I don’t want to contemplate such a thing. We’ll be out of your way in a moment.”

Kyler looked Schafer up and down and then shook his hand. “Okay. Well, if you’re certain.”

“We are. It’s best we go now. By morning the streets will be full of those corpses again.”

As they released hands, Charlie saw Lyn stand and drag her daughter to her feet. The younger girl, Victoria, looked scared and tired. How long had they been dragging her around?