A New Death (Savannah's Only Zombie Novel) (7 page)

“I was visiting my grandmother in the hospital. My adopted
grandmother. You see, I’m adopted. My parents are uh… white. So you can imagine
the looks I was getting visiting this elderly white woman.

‘Why is this young black man coming to see this old white
lady?’

Can you believe that? I know we’re in the south, but for
race to still be such a big issue, it just doesn’t make sense. It’s 2013
people, c’mon. I guess having our first black president didn’t change anything
like people hoped, not that I voted for that clown.

Anyways, she was in the hospital recovering from a pretty minor
procedure. She didn’t come out of it too well, so they put her into a medically
induced coma so that she could heal properly. She’d been in there three days so
far. Between me and my parents, we always made sure somebody stopped in to
check on her.

I had just gotten off work and was stopping by to see her. I
replaced her flowers with some new ones I grabbed from the gift shop on my way
up. She always loved flowers. She had a garden of her own that she tended to up
until her surgery last week. She had me out in that garden so many summers of
my childhood. I’ve been making sure to stop by her house to water her garden
too.

I didn’t stay long because a nurse came into the room to
give my grandmother’s roommate a sponge bath. The elderly woman gave me a wink
as she began to slip off the top of her hospital gown. I’m gonna be honest,
I’ve seen a lot of scary stuff in the past twenty-four hours, but I’m still
gonna put that in the top five.”

Everyone chuckled.

“As I was walking out,” Ben continued. “I noticed the
hospital seemed really busy. I couldn’t tell you what ‘normal’ hospital busy
looks like, but it was a lot more busy than when I walked in. Phones were
ringing, names were being paged over the intercom, and nurses scurried back and
forth all over the place. Hell, looking back on it now, I think I knew
something had gone wrong. It’s funny how we just refuse to believe that
sometimes things go south.

When I finally made it outside, I noticed that the emergency
room loading area was slammed with ambulances and cars. Paramedics and doctors
were frantically trying to get everyone inside and treated, but there were just
too many of them. Doctors began treating patients right there. I heard mothers
wailing, husbands shouting, and doctors barking orders. It was complete chaos.
My first thought was there had been a terrorist attack.

Can you believe that? It’s been over a decade since the
towers fell and that’s still my first thought. Seems fair enough though,
especially with the way our government fumbled over the embassy attack. Anytime
some big disaster happens, that thought is there creeping up in the back of our
minds. I quickly realized that this was no terrorist attack once I took a good
look at the wounded.

The majority of the wounds all seemed very minor. Scratches,
cuts, small wounds. It sent shivers down my spine. Why all this fuss for
something that some alcohol pads and a bandage could fix? It wasn’t adding up.
This was something more than some cuts and bruises. I mean, I’m no doctor, but
I could tell by the doctor’s faces that this was serious situation. Every
single one of them had the same look on their face that said, ‘This doesn’t
make sense.’ Every single one.

It was then that I saw the first of those things. What are
we calling them? Zombies?”

Lexx cleared his throat.

“Sick people,” Ben added.

Lexx nodded affirmation.

“At the time I didn’t think anything about it, whatever
they’re called,” Ben continued. “It just seemed really strange that in the
midst of all this chaos, this one woman stood there in a daze, motionless. Her
eyes were dull and grey. Her hair disheveled, like she had just gotten out of
bed. She was dressed like it too. A tank top, no bra, and those short shorts
that have the writing on the back. You know the ones I’m talking about? The
ones that trick you into reading it and then you realize you’ve been staring at
the girl’s butt for a minute. If she hadn’t been dead, she would have been
pretty cute. Is that weird? Can I say that out loud or are you judging me? I’m
feeling judged. I didn’t know, ok?

She stood there like a statue. Not moving, not even
blinking. A nurse finally ran up to her and tried to see if she could dress the
wound on her right forearm. It was a small, round mark. It looked like a bite
mark. Her eyes followed the nurse’s face, still never blinking, just staring.
The nurse went to put a bandage on the bite and the girl moaned in response.
That was the first time I heard ‘the moan.’ I don’t think I’ll ever forget it
too. There was a pain and agony in it that shook me to my core.

The nurse tried her best to calm her patient down, but was
rewarded with a mouthful of teeth to the face. One bite, two bites, three bites
before two doctors tackled her to the ground. It was too late though, as blood
poured from the nurse’s face. She fell to her knees as she coughed and spurted.
Blood was steadily flowing into the hole where her nose had been. The woman was
choking to death on her own blood.

She died quickly. The doctors were still struggling with the
dead girl, so they didn’t see the nurse stand back up. Others began turning
too. One man strapped down on a gurney, turned into one of those things, and
flipped himself over trying to grab one of the paramedics. The nurse attacked
her would-be rescuers, freeing the first girl. Things escalated very quickly.

I don’t really remember what happened next. Fear took over
and adrenaline surged. I just turned and ran for my car. Like a fucking coward.
I wish I could say that I ran back and helped the doctors. I wish I could say
that I went back and saved my own grandmother. But I didn’t. I just ran. She
could be dead, eaten by one of those freaks. Oh God, even worse, she could
still be asleep in her room. Can you imagine waking up in the middle of all
this? Can you imagine waking up in this world? My brain told me that the
hospital would be evacuated, but my heart screamed for me to go back. My legs
just didn’t listen. They just kept running.

Next thing I knew, I was in the car, driving away from the
hospital. I remember tears running down my face. What were my parents going to
think? I remember feeling angry with myself. I think that was the first time I
felt the- What did you call it, Jeremy? The Rage? Yeah, I felt the rage start
to creep up into me. I felt like I was going to rip the steering wheel off. I
was sitting at a red light, ready to burst out of my own skin. It didn’t last
long though as I watched a man run out into traffic and get creamed by a semi.

I didn’t know at the time it was one of those crazy runners.
It got hit hard and was pulled under the truck. It rolled underneath the
truck’s tires and crushed both of its legs. It tried to get back up. The rage
quickly drained from me and was replaced with pure liquid fear. It crawled a
few feet before a car sped by, crushing its head. The head actually got caught
in the wheel so that the car dragged its face across the pavement leaving a
bright, crimson streak. I blew chunks all over my dashboard.

I ran the red light and shot down Waters. I headed to the
nearest gun shop I knew of on Montgomery Crossroads. Not sure why I felt the
need to get a gun, but I felt like crap was about to hit the fan. I wanted to
be ready for anything.

Well, turns out I picked the wrong gun store. It’s where I
ran into the aforementioned ‘bubbas’ who apparently thought too many ‘niggers’
had guns already. I never even got the chance to look at a gun. The owner
didn’t want any trouble from them, so he just let them take what they pleased.

I tried to just leave and go on my way, but they wouldn’t
have it. They shot out the tires on my car, so I took off running. I think they
enjoyed ‘hunting’ me. How sick is that? I hate to think that maybe the dead
aren’t the ones we will have to worry about. I ran through neighborhoods and
jumped over fences like I was in an episode of COPS. I thought I had lost them
when I reached Dutch Island, but they cornered me in front of Jeremy’s dad’s
house. And that’s when I met up with him.”

Ben paused for a minute, thinking to himself.

“I should have gone back for my grandmother. I should have
gone back for her. I just left her there. She was in a coma and there was no
way for her to protect herself. I don’t know if I can ever forget what I did. I
don’t think I can forgive myself for that.”

There was silence as Ben finished his story. Nobody really
knew what to say. So, Lexx spoke anyways.

“Hey man, you did what you had to do. Hell, we’ve all done
stuff in the past day that we probably regret. Don’t let all these tattoos and
my stunning physique fool you. I may look like the bad-boy type, but before
yesterday, I wouldn’t hurt a fly.”

Tori mumbled, “Yeah right.”

“I ain’t lying babe! Underneath this beautiful exterior is a
heart of gold. It’s all mutha-fuckin rainbows and southern charm with me,” Lexx
said with a smile.

“Did you say rainbows?” Jeremy asked. “Cause that sounds
kinda gay.”

“Not your kind of rainbows fruitcake,” Lexx huffed. “Manly
fucking-rainbows.”

Everybody except Lexx laughed.

“Anyways, as I was saying, I wouldn’t hurt nobody. Except
Mr. Chan. Oh man, could I hurt that little man. He was always yelling at me.
And in some ‘ching-chang’ language too. I’d be all like, ‘Mr. Chan, I can’t
understand you!’ and he’d be all like, ‘Ching-chong, ching-chang!’

Yesterday, oh yesterday he pissed me off something good. He
was yelling at me, like usual, this time about how I was handling the meat
wrong. He kept going on and on about respecting the meat, handling the meat, be
gentle with the meat. I could only handle him saying meat so many times. And
then he was all was like,

‘Lexx, you so ignorant. You so uncultured.’

Ok, so uncultured? Maybe. My parents did name me Lexx with
two x’s. I wasn’t really brought up in a ‘cultured’ environment. But ignorant?
Hells no! Despite my upbringing, I always excelled in school ‘n shit. Half the
time I was smarter than the teachers! That probably got me in more trouble than
anything.

I flipped my lid and told him I quit. He started yelling
that I was fire. He meant fired, but kept yelling fire. I was already walking
towards the back door when one of the waitresses ran in the kitchen, yelling
that one of the customers was choking. So, being the good guy that I am, I ran
out into the dining room to see if I could help. When I got out there, the
first thing that caught my eye was the pretty little thing on the shelf above
me.”

“Oh, please,” Tori said.

“No, for real babe. The way you were giving that fat guy the
Heimlich, kinda turned me on. I was thinking, ‘Man, I wish she’d pound me like
that.’”

She leaned over the edge of her shelf and shot a dirty look
at Lexx.

“I will shoot you,” was all she said.

“Yeah, yeah. She was giving the ol’ heave-ho to this fat boy
who couldn’t handle his egg roll. Only thing was, he wasn’t choking. He was
turning. But we didn’t know that at the time. When he had went limp, everyone
just assumed he had passed out. But he really died. Tori laid him down and was
about to go all mouth-to-mouth on the guy when his eyes shot open.

Everyone was relived at first when he sat back up. We all
thought he was fine. That he was ok. That was until he tried to bite ‘first
responder Barbie’ over here.

Man, this girl went from trying to save the guy’s life to
givin him a knuckle sandwich directly to the face. She sent him sprawling
across the floor, but he didn’t even seem to register the pain. He scrambled
back towards her, jaw flapping up and down as he went. To be honest, I’ve never
seen a guy that big, move that fast!

As soon as he got close enough, Tori gave him a boot to the
face, and with the skirt she was wearing then, I wouldn’t have minded taking a
boot to the face either!”

“I didn’t get dressed this morning with the idea that I’d be
fighting these creeps all the time,” Tori said, sighing afterwards. “Luckily I
had these jeans in my car. I’d probably just ditched the skirt all together.”

“Why did we have to find those damn jeans?” Lexx said with a
hint of sadness in his voice, shaking his fist in the air with
mock-frustration. “After the boot to the face, fat-boy, as I like to call him,
realizes he should pick an easier to acquire snack. He grabs the closest thing
to him, which just so happens to be some middle-aged lady. Took a huge chunk
out of her arm. Blood started gushing from the wound everywhere.

Now up until that point, everyone had remained relatively
calm. I think they were all just in shock, but man, when he bit that lady, the
whole place blew up. People started running and screaming. Everybody just
panicked. The lady’s husband tried to be all hero and ended up being fat-boy’s
next entrée, if you know what I mean. Not a good scene. Blood everywhere. By
this time, Mr. Chan had run back into some backroom. I thought he was a coward
and was going to hide. He came back out with one of those ninja swords. Whataya
call em? Katanas? Either way, the sword was as big as he was.

He knew how to handle it though. I watched as he scurried
over to fat-boy and in one fluid movement, removed the top of the guy’s skull
from his head. I didn’t think the little man had it in him! He really was
badass! It seemed so effortless when he did it too. It was almost like he had
practiced it or done it before.

Still wasn’t enough though. The woman’s husband was starting
to get back up, which was odd, because she hadn’t yet. I tried to warn Mr.
Chan, but there wasn’t enough time to get the words out. He spun around
quickly, only to slice off the guy’s arm. It wasn’t enough to slow him down,
and his six foot, two hundred and fifty pound frame was just too much for Mr.
Chan. They both crashed to the floor. The geek got him right in the neck. I
heard Mr. Chan scream something Japanese and then watched as his sword thrust
straight through both of their skulls.”

Lexx paused for a second.

“He knew. I don’t know how he knew, but he knew you had to
get them in the head. How could he have possibly known that? They weren’t lucky
guesses. He knew.”

He stopped again, lost in thought.

“Yeah, it was strange that he knew that,” Tori chimed in.
“After Mr. Chan executed both himself and the geek, I gave Lexx a shove towards
the back of the restaurant, asking where the back door was. We ran like hell
through the kitchen and out into the alleyway. The coast was clear so we took
some time to figure out whose vehicle we were going to take. I had a Jeep
Cherokee while ‘Mr. Tough-Guy’ over here drives a hybrid. It wasn’t much of a
discussion.”

“Hey,” Lexx interjected. “We probably wouldn’t have run out
of gas like we did!”

“Yeah,” she continued on. “We also wouldn’t have been able
to go off road like we needed to. And boy did we have to go off road! The only
thing worse than Savannah rush hour traffic is Savannah rush hour traffic
during the end of the world. These people do not know how to drive!”

Ben chimed in, “So, what were you doing at the restaurant
Tori? “

“I was waiting on a blind date who I’m pretty sure stood me
up. No big deal though. The guy had a horse face,” she said matter-of-factly.

“I must say that you are one of the most straight forward
women I have ever met,” Ben added.

“Yeah, I get that a lot,” she replied. “My father was- is a
Marine. He’s stationed out at Parris Island. I’m the son he never had. When my
mom passed away, I was the only woman in his life. He did his best with me, but
I’m a little rough around the edges because of it. Growing up around Marines
will have that effect on you. I’m no tomboy mind you, I like to dress up, and
go out drinking downtown with the girls too. It’s just not the end of the world
when I break a nail, you know?”

She yawned. This started a chain reaction of yawning.

“Look,” she said. “We all need to get some sleep if we’re
going to be any good tomorrow. I’ll take first watch and I’ll wake you up in a
few hours, okay Ben? Then you can wake up Jeremy and Lexx can take last watch.”

“Sounds good,” Ben yawned.

Lexx passed the lantern up to Tori and she dimmed the light
so that it was barely on. Jeremy lay there in the darkness; his mind racing
with the day’s events. He glanced up at Tori, who was propped up in her “bunk”,
scanning the warehouse for anything suspicious. She noticed his staring, which
he quickly redirected his gaze. He could have sworn he saw her smile.

“This really doesn’t feel like camp to anyone else?” Lexx
asked. “I’m just sayin’. This feels a lot like camp.”

Ben started laughing, but it wasn’t long before everyone
else joined in. Even Tori.

“Sure, man. This does feel like camp,” Ben said, his
laughter trailing off. “And just like camp, let’s get some sleep.”

“Okay. I’m gonna rock that zip line tomorrow though,” Lexx
said, letting out a big yawn.

It was answered by more yawns. Jeremy felt his eyes grow
heavy. His mat wasn’t the most comfortable bedding in the world, but right now,
it was heaven. As he fell asleep, he tried his best not to think of Tori taking
her bra off.

***

Earlier, when Tori and Lexx were checking the perimeter of
the yard, they searched carefully for any kind of weak point. The warehouse ran
along one side of the yard and the office building ran along three quarters of
the other side. A chain-link fence topped in barbed wire ran across the front
and back sides.

The back of the yard was covered by metal roofing and filled
with all kinds of plumbing fittings and material. PVC and cast iron pipe,
elbows and tee’s littered the ground. They were inspecting several bins of
fittings when Ben and Jeremy pulled up, leaving the bins to go see who was
entering the gate.

If they had only gone back a little further, they would have
found a shelving unit full of more material. But it wasn’t the shelves that
they needed to see. Hidden behind the shelves was a drainage ditch that ran
parallel with the back fence. The running of water over the years had created a
small gulch underneath the fence. Jagged rocks would have made it difficult to
access, but to someone not worried about pain, they would serve as no
deterrent.