A New Death (Savannah's Only Zombie Novel) (6 page)

Suicide wasn’t something that had even crossed Jeremy’s mind
at this point. Things were bad, really bad, but kill yourself bad? It seemed
way too early to be jumping ship. It had not even been a full twenty-four hours
yet. Could the events of the past few hours really be enough reason to off
yourself? What made these people think suicide was the answer? Did they see
something so terrible that a bullet to the brain seemed like the
easy way
out?

Besides
, Jeremy thought to himself.
That would
hurt so bad.

“We should probably grab some food and leave this place,
man,” Ben said, breaking the silence.

“Why leave? Let’s just drag the bodies outside and board
this place up,” Jeremy said.

“What if the bodies attract those things? Besides, others
might get the same idea we had and try to rake this place clean. I’d rather not
get into any more human on human confrontations today,” Ben answered.

“Yeah, I guess you’re right. Touché,” Jeremy replied. “So,
where we going from here?”

Ben stood there for a moment trying to think of an answer.

“You have any family here? My parents live just out past
Rincon. We could go there,” he finally said.

“My mom is dead and my dad is off somewhere in the middle of
the ocean on his yacht. Sounds like we are going to your place,” Jeremy said.

Ben nodded and began to pick up boxes of food.

“Let’s grab what we can and get it into the jeep. I don’t
think the owners are going to care,” he said, motioning towards the bodies.

They both begin to grab food and drinks off the shelves, and
carry what they could back to the front door. After accumulating a small pile
of snack foods, sodas, and a couple of cases of bottled water, Jeremy walked
back to the supply room one last time. He came back carrying the two pistols.

“I don’t know how you feel about it, but we should probably
take these too. Our tools can only do so much. If we run into any more of those
running freaks, it might help to have some kind of firepower, you know?” Jeremy
said.

Ben hesitated to take the gun, but nodded as he did. Jeremy
was right. Those runners would be too much for hatchets and machetes. He placed
it on top of the pile.

“You ready?” He asked Jeremy.

Jeremy nodded and Ben reached to open the door, expecting
the worst to be outside. It was clear. Dark, but clear of any dead. It took a
few trips to get everything into the back of the Jeep, but as soon as they were
done, they pulled away from the store. The guns sat in the center console,
ready.

As they drove through Savannah’s mid-town, they passed a lot
of empty, abandoned cars. Jeremy drove, weaving in and out of the gridlocked
mess. Luckily for them, his father really had to have the four wheel drive,
despite the fact that he lived in a gated community. Jeremy must have jumped
the curb twenty times by now.

“Hey look,” Ben said, pointing to their right.

They were passing by the mall. And it was a mess. There were
actually people still looting. It looked like Black Friday, maybe worse. The
world was going to hell in a hand basket and people were concerned with
designer jeans and shoes. The parking lot was not only crowded with living
people, but plenty of dead ones too. No doubt all the commotion was attracting
them to the mall.

“What kind of idiot would go to the mall at a time like
this?” Ben asked.

Jeremy just shook his head and shrugged. Maybe it would have
been a good place to hide if it was locked down, but right now, the mall was
last on his list of places to go. He watched as one rather large woman fought
off a group of zombies with her new Coach purses. She was unsuccessful.

He drove on, trying to put as much distance between them and
that madhouse as possible. They rode in silence for a few minutes, both men
fighting of exhaustion. What would normally take them a few minutes of driving
was taking much longer, due to debris and derelict vehicles. More curb hopping
was needed.

“You know what kind of bothers me?” Ben said, breaking the
silence.

“What’s that?”

“Where exactly is the military in all this? Or any other
government official for that matter?”

Ben paused as Jeremy let it sink in. He was right. Jeremy
had not thought about it until then, but since he left the store earlier, he
had not seen one soldier or police officer. And that just did not make sense.

“I mean, Savannah is surrounded by a military presence,” Ben
continued. “We have Hunter Army Air Base right here. Fort Stewart just south of
us. Parris Island and the Beaufort Air Station right over in South Carolina. We
are literally surrounded by the military. But I haven’t seen a single soldier,
heard a single helicopter or seen any sign that our government is trying to fix
this mess in any way. They should be setting up some kind of shelter or refugee
camp right?”

“Maybe they are,” Jeremy said.

He said, but he knew it was not true. There had been no
signs of it. The few minutes that he watched the news earlier, none of it was
instructing what to do. It was all theories of what was happening. It wasn’t
reports of what was happening, just media personalities giving their opinions.
It wasn’t news, it was hearsay.

“Jeremy?” Ben asked, breaking Jeremy’s deep thought.

“Sorry,” he said. “Just thinking. I know what you mean. I
haven’t seen anyone either. Except for the one ambulance I saw earlier.”

They drove in silence again. Jeremy tried to not think about
it too much. The idea of our government backing out on the people was
unsettling, not surprising, but unsettling nonetheless. It was weird, but he
didn’t want to start making conspiracy theories quite yet.

Another car passed them, speeding off in the other
direction. The first vehicle to pass them. Jeremy saw people walking as they
drove through the city, but cars were scarce. The fact that there were still
others alive was a good sign. The city had not been completely overrun by the
dead. Yet.

“Which way do you think we should go?” Jeremy asked Ben when
they reached DeRenne Avenue.

If they were headed out west towards Rincon, there were
really two routes. One would be to get on Veteran’s Parkway to I-16. The other
would be to cut through downtown and hit up Highway 80 to Highway 21. Either
way, it was gonna take a while to get where they were going.

“I don’t know, man,” Ben said, shaking his head. “It might
be a good idea to stay off the parkway. We have no idea how clogged it is. It
might be easier to weave in and out through the city streets.”

Jeremy nodded and proceeded to press on deeper into the
city.

***

“So, what do you do for a living, Ben?”

Ben straightened himself up. Sleep was creeping up on him
and was winning the fight. He ran his hand over his face a few times and
yawned.

“I, uh, I’m a social media manager,” he said.

“Oh, ok,” Jeremy replied. “What does that mean?”

Ben laughed.

“Yeah, I get that a lot. Basically, I run all the social
media for someone. Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, it’s all me. They send me what
they want to upload and I make it look good.”

“Sounds like something a celebrity would have. Who do you
work for around here? There’s no celebrities around her- Wait. Are you telling
me you work for
Her
?” Jeremy said.

“Ha-ha, yes. Yes, I work for
Her.
The Lady isn’t as
technologically savvy as she puts off. It’s all me. But hey, it’s a pretty easy
job. I just have to remember to interject
y’all
in there every now and
again.”

This caused Jeremy to laugh. She did say that. A lot. More
than any other southerner should. But hey, Jeremy had no problem with her like
some locals did. He would hear some of the older ladies come through his
checkout line and complain about her being a sellout and making Savannah look a
cartoon. Jeremy always smiled and nodded politely. Sounded like jealous old
women to him.

“What about you, Jeremy, what do you do?”

“I
was
a cashier at Publix,” he said, remembering
Ashley.

“Was… Yeah, I haven’t thought about it like that,” Ben said.
“I guess all I have now is a degree in nothing. Should have learned a trade
like my mother suggested.”

Jeremy came to a stop when the road ended. He took a left
when he got to Victory Drive and it eventually dead ended into Ogeechee Road.
He had the choice of going either left or right. To the right, was the Westside
of downtown Savannah. They could cut through there and connect with Highway 21,
taking them straight to Rincon. Or they could go left and go really out of
their way, but stay away from downtown. Jeremy was fixing to turn right, when
Ben spoke.

“Hey man, it’s really late. And dark. It might be a good
idea to wait and tackle the rest of this trip in the morning. It’s taken us a
while to get where we are now, it might be dawn by the time we make it to my
parent’s.”

“So, what do you want to do?” Jeremy asked.

“I’m exhausted and I’m not even the one driving,” he said
looking around. “I say we see if one of these warehouses are open and we
barricade ourselves in for the night. Just wait it out until morning.”

Jeremy looked around. There were a lot of warehouses and
industrial looking buildings in the area. Off to the left, he noticed a side
road that snaked back in between some of the buildings. He turned down the
road. It might be a good idea to find something off the main road a bit.

They passed a few buildings, most of them had gates and
fences. All closed.

“Hey look,” Ben whispered, pointing to the right.

There was a small, one-story office building with an open
yard between it and a warehouse. A chain-link fence with barbed wire closed in
the yard between the buildings; a single gate was the only entrance. And it was
open. The gate was slightly pushed open, a chain and lock hanging from it.
Somebody must have forgotten to lock it up.

Jeremy smiled and nodded. He pulled the jeep up to the gate
and Ben quietly jumped out. He pushed the gate open wide enough for the jeep to
fit through and then once Jeremy was through, closed it back shut. He pulled
the chain through the chain-link fence and wrapped it around the posts of the
gate. He decided to leave it unlocked, in case they had to bug out in a hurry.
Zombies should not be able to get the chain off.

Jeremy parked the jeep in front of the warehouse and shut
the engine off. He stepped out, grabbing the machete and Ben’s hatchet. He left
the guns in the console. Don’t want to make too much noise. The whole area was
shrouded in silence.

As they walked up to the door to the warehouse, he handed
the hatchet to Ben.

“Better be safe than sorry,” he said.

Ben nodded. They both took a deep breath before Jeremy pulled
the door open. The lights were on. Somebody must have left in a hurry. The
warehouse itself was pretty open. There were stacks of sheet metal and
machinery scattered throughout. To the right as they walked in was a picnic
table and a small office behind a window. Ben walked over to the window and
peered inside.

“What is this place?” Jeremy asked.

“Mock Plumbing and Mechanical,” Ben said from the office.
“It’s some sort of plumbing company.”

He was holding up a business card. Jeremy continued to look around,
taking in the place where they might be spending the night. A large pile of air
duct sat next to one of the large loading doors. That must be what they make
here. Duct for air systems and stuff. A large, flat-bed truck with metal gates
down the side sat further down at the next loading door.

“Hey, Ben, I think they make other stuff here too. There’s a
huge pile of air duct over here, so maybe they do more than just plumbing,” he
said across the warehouse.

No answer.

“Ben?”

Silence. Jeremy turned around to see what was going on.
There was Ben with his hands up. And a man. And a woman. They were both holding
guns, the man’s shotgun pointed at Ben and the woman’s pistol pointed at
Jeremy.

“Looks like you boys are gonna have to find some other place
to play tickle the pickle,” the man said with a crooked grin.

“Huh?” Jeremy said.

“You know, tickle the pickle? Hide the salami? Look, however
you guys need to express yourself, sexually, well that’s your choice,” the man
asked.

“What does that even mean?” Ben asked, slightly turning to
see the man with the gun pointed to his back.

“You guys are gay right? I’m not judging, to each his own…”

“No!” Ben and Jeremy shouted at the same time. The guy
laughed and the woman stepped forward.

“You’re going to have to forgive Lexx here, he’s… well he’s
stupid,” she said. “You two planning on stayin here? Cause we already had the
place scoped out.”

“Yeah, dibs,” Lexx said.

Jeremy held his hands out in front of him.

“Look, can you at least put the guns down? We’re not gonna
cause any problems. We’re just tired and need a place to rest,” he said in the
calmest voice he had.

Ben shot him a look that clearly said, ‘What the hell are
you doing?’

“We don’t know what is going on out there,” Jeremy
continued, ignoring Ben’s looks. “We already had enough run-ins with the
zombies to-”

“Zombies?” Lexx interrupted. “You think they’re zombies?
Like in the movies?”

He started laughing uncontrollably, putting his gun down. He
bent over holding his stomach.

“This kid thinks they’re zombies,” he choked out between
laughs. “Tori, did you hear him?”

She just shook her head, annoyed with her counterpart, and
lowered her weapon. Her glare stayed on Jeremy though. Her bright green eyes
cut right into him. The stare might have been worse than the pistol. She stood
her ground. Lexx stood back up from laughing, wiping tears away from his eyes.

“Woo. That’s rich kid. Whataya? Fifteen? Sixteen?” He asked,
still chuckling to himself.

“I’m nineteen,” Jeremy said, highly annoyed. “If they’re not
zombies, then what are they?”

Lexx cocked his head to the side and looked at Jeremy. He
just glared at him for a few seconds.

“You gettin’ smart with me?” he asked, still looking Jeremy
in the eyes.

Jeremy looked over at Ben and then at the woman.

Is this guy for real?
He thought.

Lexx walked over to Jeremy, never losing eye contact. He got
right in his face. He smelled of cheap cologne. The kind that came out of an
aerosol can. It burned the nostrils.

“They are obviously very sick people. Infected with some
crazy virus. They ain’t zombies kid,” he said, very seriously. The man who was
all chuckles a moment ago was now as serious as (insert something serious
here). He turned and looked at Tori, pointing his thumb at Jeremy.

“Can you believe this kid?” He muttered. “Fuckin’ zombies.”

“Alright, this has been fun, but I think it’s time for you
two to leave now,” the woman said.

Jeremy took a step closer to them; they both raised their
guns in response.

“Whoa. Wait,” he started, holding his hands up. “Why can’t
we both stay here tonight? We can all take turns with keeping watch, that way
we all can get some sleep. We’re exhausted; I’m sure y’all are too. In the
morning, we can go our separate ways. It’s a win-win for everybody.”

Tori and Lexx both looked at each other. Lexx was shaking
his head adamantly no. Tori pursed her lips together and glared at him. He
nodded his head and mouthed, ‘ok.’

“Deal,” She said. “But in the morning, you’re gone.”

Jeremy held his hand out to shake. She grabbed it and gave
him the firmest handshake he had ever received.

“You two sure you don’t need to get your mommy’s permission
first before you spend the night,” Lexx jeered.

“Hey man,” Ben said. “The kid just lost his mom.”

Jeremy had tensed up at the statement and not realized it
until Ben spoke up. He shook his head, trying to fight back the emotions that
were welling up inside of him.

“Hey, sorry kid, I didn’t know,” Lexx backpedaled. “Like
Tori said, I’m dumb.”

“It’s cool man. You didn’t know.”

“Listen,” Tori interrupted. “We were in the middle of
checking the perimeter when we saw you two pull up. It looks like this place is
pretty secure. However, we’re going to have to figure out some way to secure
that front gate,” she said. “I don‘t really want to lock a padlock with no key.”

Jeremy looked back to the truck.

“What if we take that truck and park it in front of the
gate?” He asked. “That way, we could still get out easily but it would stop
them from getting in.”

Tori looked at the truck and nodded.

“That should work. Good idea,” she said, impressed.

She looked at Lexx and he nodded. He went into the office
and found the key box. He grabbed a handful of keys and made his way to the
truck. The two of them seemed to have the same “telepathic” communication that
Jeremy and Ben shared. Tori turned her attention to Ben.

“So, what’s your name?” She asked.

“Ben.”

“Well, Ben,” she started. “Why don’t you go and check all
the doors. Make sure they are all secure and locked. If the front one was
unlocked, there’s a good chance the others might be too.”

Ben nodded and walked off. Now it was just Jeremy and Tori.
They both stared each other down for a minute; both of them sizing one another
up. Jeremy struggled to look her in the eyes. He couldn’t help but to notice
how beautiful the woman was. Now, then again, he might have been slightly
biased since he had been mostly surrounded by dead chicks who have been trying
to eat him, but no, Tori was easy on the eyes.

She looked like a runner. Not the dead ones. Her body was
tight and slender. She had the potential to kick Jeremy in half. Despite the
fact that she had probably been fighting for her life for the past couple
hours, she was still well put together. Her scrunchy blonde hair was pulled
back into a pony tail. She was wearing a loose-fitting Foo Fighters t-shirt and
blue skinny jeans which had a few blood stains on them, but for the most part,
she looked clean. Pristine almost.

The truck roared to life across the warehouse. Jeremy
snapped out of his daze. Tori walked outside to watch as Lexx parked the truck.
Jeremy followed her out. Lexx pulled the truck out in front of the gate and
parked it parallel with the fence. He had to climb out the passenger side door
due to parking the truck so close to the gate and fence. After climbing under the
truck, he closed the gate shut.

“That should do it,” he said, walking back towards the
building.

The three of them walked back into the building to see Ben
standing by the picnic table.

“Hey,” he started. “In the back, there’s an area that is
kinda closed off. Some sort of tool room. We could sleep in there, just in case
any of those things get in the warehouse, we’d still have one last line of
defense. Also, I found this foam insulation stuff we can use as beds.”

“Good,” Tori said. She smiled for the first time.

The four of them made their way back to the tool room. It
was walled off by two large sets of shelves. A large iron gate marked “MOCK
TOOL ROOM” was the only way in. The four of them walked in and Lexx shut the
door behind them. Ben had already taken the foam insulation and torn it into
four body length mats.

“It ain’t a bed, but it’s better than nothing,” he said as
he passed them out.

Lexx began to move some stuff off one of the shelves,
transforming it into a makeshift bunk bed. Tori did the same above him. Jeremy
laid his down on a workbench and Ben just put his on the floor.

“Did you see the bathroom too?” Ben asked after placing his
mat down.

“Yeah, does it work?” Lexx asked.

“I don’t know. I’ll go check it out,” Ben replied.

He walked out, closing the door behind him.

“Hey, hit some of the lights off too. I got a lantern up on
this shelf we could use for light instead,” Lexx called out.

“Alright,” Ben yelled back.

What was almost a bad situation just a few minutes ago; it
now felt that both pairs felt comfortable with each other. Comfortable enough
to sleep near each other. The fact that no one was trying to eat each other
helped a bit too. When it came down to it, human is human. You’ll take what you
can get.

Tori jumped down from her shelf, grabbing both Jeremy and
Lexx’s attention.

“Sorry boys, but I have to do this,” she said, reaching her
hand up into the back of her shirt. There was a faint click, and then she
pulled her arms into her shirt one at a time until she reached up the front, and
pulled out her bra. Lexx and Jeremy both just watched, jaws dropped.

“Be free boobies,” she said, throwing her bra back on her
shelf, rubbing her chest, and then climbing back up to her spot.

“That was the coolest thing I have ever seen,” Lexx said.

“Yeah, well wait til I drop a deuce later. You won’t think
girls are so ‘cool’ then,” she shot back.

“O-M-G. Will you marry me?” Lexx asked.

“Not if you were the last man on earth.”

“I wouldn’t say that too soon darlin,” Lexx said with a
chuckle.

The lights went off. Lexx turned his lantern on. The little
thing put off some good light, for the most part the tool room was lit. Ben
walked back in and lay down on his makeshift bed.

“Did I miss anything?” Ben asked.

“Only the coolest thing ever,” Lexx said.

The three of them laughed, Ben sat up and gave them a
puzzled look.

“What happened?” He asked.

“Uh, only Tori taking her bra off without taking her shirt
off, nothing major,” Lexx said. “Tell him how awesome it was Jeremy.”

Jeremy didn’t say anything for a minute. Tori sat up and
looked over at him. He shrugged.

“Ok, it was kinda cool,” he admitted.

“Kinda cool? You sure you’re not gay, kid? That was freaking
amazing,” Lexx rambled.

Tori shot Jeremy a quick smile and lay back down. There was
silence for a few minutes. Jeremy tried his best not to think about Tori taking
her bra off. He was in plain sight of her and Lexx; he did not need to be
pitching a tent where they could see him.

“Anybody else feel like we’re at summer camp?” Lexx asked.

“You just don’t shut up do you?” Ben asked back.

“No, he doesn’t,” came Tori’s voice from her shelf.

“Well, fine then, why doesn’t somebody else talk then?
Jeremy how’s you end up with Benny boy here?” Lexx huffed.

So, Jeremy told them. He told them about the grocery store.
He told them about Ashley and Brian. And how they died. He paused after telling
them about his mother. After a minute, he cleared his throat and told them
about the Padre. He told them what the Padre said about what was going on. Lexx
chuckled to himself up in his “bunk”. Jeremy continued and explained how the
Padre sacrificed his life so that Jeremy could escape. He explained how much of
a douche bag his father was. He ended with the rednecks, the fast zombies, and
meeting Ben.

“So, yeah, that’s how I got here,” Jeremy said.

There was silence for a few minutes as the other soaked in
his story.

“Ok. Well I’ll go next then,” said Ben. He sat up on his bed
and began to talk.