(Book 2)What Remains (8 page)

“Monkey…” I said as calmly as I could.

He didn’t look at me or even flinch upon hearing
my voice. I grasped the wooden rod to try to pull it out of his
still extended arm, but it didn’t budge. For an eight year old, the
boy had one hell of a strong grip. I shook the shovel trying to
snap him out of it. His unblinking eyes were locked on the decrepit
monster in front of him.

Calise started to cry back by the slide - the
first sound she’d made since Sarah and I reached them. Sarah
cradled her, rocking her like a baby. Through her own tears she
loudly whispered in our direction, “
Nathan… was he
bitt
—”

“No. He’s fine. I think he’s just in shock.”
Calise was buried in Sarah’s shoulder facing the other direction.
Regardless of the fact that she’d already seen far too much I still
attempted to block the girl’s line of sight to the zombie. “Get her
up to the attic. Maddox and I will be up in a minute. We should be
out of the yard when the ones that were drawn by the noise make it
closer.”

Sarah took a long look at me, then at Maddox,
before starting up the path that led back to the line of
winter-faded grass. Much like the way I had attempted to block the
little one’s view, she placed her hand gently over Calise’s eyes
during the retreat to the house.

After they disappeared into the safety of the
house I turned my attention back to Maddox. Inside, I was tearing
myself to pieces for letting him be in this situation. I’d thought
the area was safe because the gaps in fencing weren’t big enough
for any person to squeeze through. The thought of something that
was less than a ‘person’ being a threat had never occurred to me
but it
should
have. Any rules of normalcy had died along
with the rest of the world. The sheltered time in the house had
made me blissfully ignorant to the new way of things.

The shovel remained in Maddox’s catatonic grip.
I shook it harder, which only jostled more muck out of the beast’s
split cranium.

“Listen to me, Maddox,” I said, my volume
reaching levels reserved for calculated scolding. “Monkey, you have
to hear me. This one can’t hurt you anymore, but the group that’s
about to be on the other side of our fence
can
.”

Still no response; his unshakable grip on the
wooden handle remained in place. I shifted to hold the middle of
the shovel with my left hand so that my right became free.

“
MADDOX! Let go!
” I commanded, using my
right hand to give his opposite cheek a light smack.

His eyes pulled free from the corpse and his
posture relaxed. “Daddy… I… I…”

“You did fine. You protected your sister and
yourself; the rest can be discussed later tonight. Now let go and
follow me back to the house. We don’t have long before they—”

Pounding fists on the driveway side of our fence
cut my sentence short while simultaneously confirming what I had
begun to say. Maddox looked back like a deer in the headlights then
returned his eyes to mine while releasing his grip on the shovel.
After he stepped back I also released my grip, allowing the mangled
corpse, with its wooden extension, to face plant.

I could see the thoughts running through his
young mind as he tried to make sense of what had occurred. His face
reflected the pain I too experienced when I first cut one of the
creatures down the night everything went to hell. His present
fragility demanded a certain delicate response that the growing
chorus of hungry claws drumming on the fence nearby would not
allow. I tried to shift my voice from that of reprimand towards
suggestion, hoping that he wouldn't burst into justifiable
tears.

“Don’t worry about this mess; we can deal with
it later. Head to the house now and walk softly. I’ll be behind you
the whole way.”

Maddox looked at the oozing abomination on the
ground and shuddered. I gently placed my hand on his shoulder to
guide him back towards the house. More fists met our wooden
divider, which created enough noise to overcome the crunching of
our feet on the leaves. By the time we reached the window, clatter
reverberated throughout the yard. If the predators in the area
remained focused on the fence then I was certain it would give way
sooner or later. I moved the trap door out of the way so Maddox
could get in first. It would take a few more minutes for my
still-healing body to climb through the opening.

When he moved closer I whispered directly in his
ear, “Once you're inside I want you to go right up to the attic.
Don't stop in any of the rooms or go by windows. We need to
disappear so the zombies think they missed dinner and hopefully
move on. I'll be up there too as soon as I can get into the
room.”

Once he nodded an acknowledgement I lifted him
by his armpits while biting my lip. Maddox climbed into the window
with little support from me. I was surprised, proud, and relieved
that he didn't need the assistance. He disappeared from view in the
dark room to scurry up to the attic to meet Sarah and Calise. I
took a deep breath and slowly released it to prepare myself for the
physical exertion.

Suddenly his little arm extended out of the
window and I jumped as if I was being attacked. “I got you, Daddy,”
he whispered downward barely loud enough to hear over the noise.
“We can go upstairs together.”

The dead persisted for what seemed like an
eternity. All four of us held onto each other in the center of the
attic hoping to obtain a level of inconspicuousness that might
break the infected group’s interest. Time crawled along to the
constant droning of pounding fists. Although we had been hidden
since the moment we went inside, they still tore at the fence like
a platter of flesh was waiting for the first one to break past.

We sat in the darkness. Any hint of daylight was
blocked by the sound-dampening wall of boxes around the attic
vents. A pair of cheap tea lights were lit in between the huddled
circle in which we sat.. There were moments I thought I heard a
board splinter or a window shake. With each one I cringed and
waited to hear a predatory tsunami wash through the level beneath
us. If it weren’t for the little girl weeping in my arms I would
have the Kukri in a white-knuckled grip waiting for the moment I'd
have to rectify this vile intrusion.

Maddox sat still and silent next to Sarah with a
blank expression; a disturbing state to see him in since he hadn't
stopped moving a single day in his life. Occasionally his eyes
darted about as if they were sketching a recreation of his troubled
thoughts in the air. Sarah stroked his thick brown hair in a
regular interval; I know the action was meant to comfort him as
much as it also kept her own thoughts at bay.

Holding him there defied her fears by confirming
he'd made it out of the encounter with the mangled ghoul in one
piece. We exchanged glances in the dim light; a palpable worry
overcame her delicate features and it horrified me. Seeing such a
strong woman in such a fragile state forced me to face the
undeniable truth that we could not stay in this house much
longer.

Calise whimpered into my chest non-stop for the
duration of it all. I held her tight while occasionally kissing the
top of her head hoping to diffuse her terror. She deserved to be
sweet and innocent; innocence is the God-given right of any
five-year-old. All I wanted was to keep the monsters relegated to
story and myth so that she could dance on worry-free in her pink
tutus without a care in the world. However, thinking that we could
keep her from seeing one of the beasts up close was a foolish
delusion.

Desperate to calm her, I subconsciously shifted
my weight, setting us both into a slow back-and-forth rocking. The
pointed lip on my Kukri’s handle was lightly brushed causing it to
gradually spin on the plywood floor. At that moment I also became
aware of a cool spot on my chest from Calise’s drenching tears.
Staring at the Kukri, my insides grew incensed with red-hot rage.
It was as if the blade called my name, beckoning me to make the
infected mob pay for what they had done to my family.

My mind wandered beyond the present
circumstances. A wandering mind was likely the only real
preventative action one could allow to avoid madness in such
maddening times. One would think that I’d mentally escape to the
happy times before the end of the world but I could hardly remember
them. The horrors of my flight home still gripped my subconscious
with parasitic determination. Those memories were so palpable that
it didn’t take much to transport me right back to where I was weeks
before.

In the blink of an eye I'd find myself peering
off the railroad bridge into the James River, the turbulent rapids
dotted with the refuse of the dead. Splashes from a recently
reanimated corpse pulled my attention one way while a motionless
figure floated face down past the place I'd just been staring. Then
some sound from the outside would snap me back to our isolated
hiding place. My thoughts screamed within my tortured mind,
PULL
YOURSELF TOGETHER! YOU’RE NOT OUT THERE ANYMORE - YOU’RE HERE WITH
THEM AND THEY NEED STRENGTH YOU DON’T POSSESS ANY LONGER.

A more recent curiosity of recalling the sound
of the lunatic on a dirt bike we’d all heard the night before
brought me closer to the present horrors. I ran through all the
possibilities that the reckless stranger could present... could he
be an ally? Or was he an even greater threat to us then the undead?
Someone who rode around on a dirt bike taking potshots at walking
viral disasters couldn’t possibly be entirely ‘stable’. Regardless
of who the zombie vigilante was, considering the possibilities
helped me keep memories of the past from the forefront of my mind.
Calise coughed; I’d become so lost in my thoughts that I nearly
forgot she was sitting on me.

Finally the pounding simmered to a stop. I
handed Calise to Sarah so I could get some visual confirmation that
the worst was over. Moving like a teen sneaking out of his house at
midnight I tiptoed across the attic floor to the driveway side
where the vent was blocked by Maddox's box wall. I eased the
'peephole' box out of the wall with bated breath. Glancing over my
shoulder I saw everyone else frozen, looking on nervously while I
fumbled with our fragile barrier.

When I turned to place the box down Maddox
sprung to his feet from his place at Sarah’s side; if Calise hadn't
occupied her lap I'm sure the boy would have been snatched back
down as quickly as he rose. Light footsteps brought him next to me
within seconds. I couldn't say anything and Maddox knew it; any
noise might negate our hours of forced silence. He met my glare by
grabbing hold of the box I was holding to move it aside, hell-bent
on assisting me whether I liked it or not.

I inched myself closer to the vent. The loudest
sound inside was the popping of cartilage in my neck as I strained
to hear out of the awkward opening. My head creaked to the side,
listening for any hints of the imminent threat. Normal sounds of
apocalyptic chaos became apparent as they typically did, but the
clatter from the fence line was gone. It was difficult to see much
of anything out of the peephole but the area closest to the fence
looked clear. I backed off at a normal speed compared to the
snail’s pace I used to reach the vent. When I was clear from the
opening Maddox resealed the hole again with the box. For once
things seemed to be going in our favor.

Sarah cleared her throat to get my attention.
She shot me a quizzical glance, looking anxious about breaking our
silence. I returned the unspoken question with a raised finger to
tell her to hang on. Maddox stood patiently at my side waiting for
our next move. A snapping motion locked his eyes on mine. I pointed
at the opposite vent; he nodded in response. Like an eager soldier
Maddox immediately shifted to fulfill his mission. Before he could
fully turn I placed my left hand on his shoulder, pantomiming a
listening motion then pointed at my eyes with my right pointer and
middle fingers. His shaggy head bobbed up and down. I placed my
right pointer over my mouth to mimic a 'shush'. He nodded once, his
face wearing the composure of a war-hardened veteran.

My boy is eight years old
, I thought with
disheartened angst.

He glided across the floor with a deadly
precision that would make a trained assassin proud. Several
agonizing minutes passed while Maddox studied the situation on the
opposite side of the house. After a step back his little man-hands
returned the box to the wall and hustled back to my position. Now I
was the one with a serious expression waiting for his report. He
stood on his tiptoes in order to place a palm lightly on my right
collarbone to which I bent down in compliance.

“I didn't see anything, Daddy,” he said, his
warm breath on my ear. “It didn't sound like anything was in the
yard but I could hear some banging somewhere else in the
street.”

The smile on my face broke the tension in the
room. Sarah stood with Calise's arms wrapped around her neck.
Maddox saw my smile and looked confused.

“Thank you, Monkey,” I said. My volume was far
from normal but I didn't feel the need to whisper any longer. “You
did good... in fact, you did great.” His seriousness faded and he
smiled back.

“We need to talk about what to do next,” Sarah
said without preamble. She set Calise down and the little pink ball
of fluff immediately went to her brother and hugged him
tightly.

“I know.” I reached into one of our food boxes
and handed both kids bags of Welch’s fruit snacks. “Enjoy these
guys and eat them slowly. Mommy and I need to go downstairs to
talk. I want you both to stay up here. You don’t have to stay as
quiet as we just were but follow the same rules we’ve been using
for noise.”