Chapter 12
“Research and development,” Jonathan said to himself one morning through a mouthful of waffles. It didn’t take long to figure out how to make them. The box of mix told him everything but how long to cook them. After overcooking a few, he found the perfect timing.
Finishing his breakfast quickly, Jonathan walked to the garage, grabbed a pair of binoculars, and climbed the ladder to the roof. Once on the roof he looked out across the desolate town. At first he hated to see the town like this, yet lately it has been comforting just to know that there was at least something else outside of his world in the house. He had a plan, and the first part required understanding what was out there.
There was no pattern to be found in the way the dead moved out in the streets. They seem to be completely sporadic. Sometimes there would be one or two roaming about while other times the streets would be barren. Occasionally throughout the day, the dead would be moving about in hordes with no discernible reasoning.
Jonathan theorized that this was completely coincidental. The dead never showed any signs of understanding each other. He also wondered if, by grouping up, the dead were remembering a time when they had social interaction.
Several days wasted on the roof is how Jonathan felt about what he hadn’t learned so far. He would have to modify his plan a little bit if he wanted to learn anything useful. He spent another entire day planning and thinking. Regardless of what he felt he needed to learn there really only seemed to be one sure way to study these creatures. He had to capture one.
Although he wasn’t learning much from studying the movement of the undead, he continued to climb to the roof several times a day and have a look around. While he was not on the roof he was in the family room where he had brought out a chalk board. He made a short list of some supplies he would need. A rudimentary schematic was drawn up for how he would capture one of them.
Knowing that his lack of physical strength would literally be his weakness he decided that he could use his father’s car to make up for it. His plan was to create a primitive snare trap with a length of rope and use the car to haul the dead body over the property wall. Once he had one in the confines of the wall he hoped to have enough time to tie the dead up and move it into the back behind the generator shed.
The next two days were stressful for Jonathan. He wasn’t sure what he could use as bait to draw one of the dead into the trap, and he also had to deal with the outrageous number of them wandering around out in the open. There would not be any way to make his way out of the yard to set the trap before they were all over him.
The third day was spent experimenting with the trap and how to place it for the best chances of making a catch. The diagram for the spring trap was for catching small animals, and Jonathan lacked a spring mechanism. His plan would call for him to be on the other side of the wall and pull the rope tight as his victim stepped into the trap. He would than run to the car and drive it forward until the dead body was pulled over.
The following day was going to be the day. Clouds were visible in the sky, but they were thin and the sun shone brightly. The street out front of his house was clear, so it was time to act. Jonathan stood in his yard making his final mental preparations when he heard the gunshots off in the distance. He ran through the garage, grabbed his binoculars, and climbed to the roof.
Most of the dead in his area were moving toward the sound. He wasn’t sure if this was good for him, or bad. A few minutes of silence passed and a single gunshot sounded. Jonathan could not see where it came from, but the dead were going to find it. He only hoped whoever it was would be alright.
A few more minutes passed before Jonathan decided it was time to return to work. Most of the dead had moved north, but a few stragglers stayed behind. He finished his walk around the yard and felt confident that he could pull this off.
His first move would be placing the car in its spot. He climbed into the driver’s seat of the BMW. After adjusting the seat and mirrors he buckled his seatbelt. His father was very strict on wearing seatbelts. He pressed the push button ignition and the engine roared vigorously to life.
He pressed the button on the remote to lift the garage door. Although the garage was well lit through the skylights, the sunlight pouring in was blinding. His father never let him drive the BMW, yet he had driven his mother’s Chrysler 300M. Once the Garage door was opened fully he pressed the brake down and shifted the transmission into reverse.
The car rolled backwards as he let his foot off of the brake. He brought the car to a stop just outside of the garage. A smile formed on his face, he looked around knowing that nobody was there to see him anyway, and he stomped on the gas. The tachometer shot to six-thousand RPMs as he released the brake.
All five-hundred and thrity-six horsepower from the twin-turbo charged six liter V-twelve engine ignited over the asphalt driveway through all four tires of the wickedly powerful sedan. Smoke was accompanied by the smell of burning rubber. As the front tires finally found their grip the car launched back and Jonathan lost control.
Grass and dirt rooster tailed into the air as he flew through the yard. When he finally pressed the brake down the car slid another fifteen feet, stopping just a few feet from a large palm tree. He had gone across the entire front lawn in a matter of seconds. A few awkward laughs escaped him as he fully realized what all had happened in such a short amount of time.
“I probably shouldn’t do that again,” he said to himself. His heart pounded like a string of firecrackers exploding in his chest.
With his nerves finally settled, he shifted the car into drive and released the brake. Allowing the car to idle, it moved forward quickly through the yard and across the driveway. He backed the BMW up to the wall and stepped out. Two ropes tied to the undercarriage of the car would provide both the snare and a way back over the wall after he set the trap. The ladder against the wall was brought out earlier in the day.
Jonathan threw both ropes over the wall, climbed the ladder to make sure it was clear, and he walked back to the car to grab some steaks he had grabbed out of the freezer the night before. Not sure exactly what would attract them; he chose to go with New York strip steak, as he knew it would surely attract
him
. Drops of rain began falling gently from the sky. How this would affect his plan was unknown, so he moved ahead.
Peaking over the wall he confirmed that the street was clear enough to make his move. Giving one last tug on each of the ropes to make sure it was fastened securely, he prepared himself one last time to venture outside the safety of the wall. He tossed the wrapped up steaks over, slid himself to the other side of the wall and dropped to the ground. The fall was further than he anticipated. Pain shot through his left leg, and he fell onto his stomach on the cool wet grass.
Assessing his leg, Jonathan felt that nothing was broke. Wobbling slightly as he stood, he looked around once more and proceeded with setting the trap. The snare was set wide, about five feet from one side to the other. Jonathan felt this would provide enough room to trap one of the dead. Resting the rope on sticks he had tied together to provide a base that would allow the rope to sit roughly two inches off the ground. Jonathan’s number crunching showed that this would snare the dead just below the knees.
After placing the steaks in the center of the ring he began climbing the rope back over the wall. The pain in his leg was dull, but it made it hard for him to climb the wet rope. Pulling himself over the wall was difficult, yet he made it just as he heard the moans coming from the yard across the street. Turning around on the ladder he peeked over the wall to watch as his prey walked into his trap.
The shambling dead man gurgled as he wandered out into the street. He was dressed in a police uniform. His right arm hung loosely as it was broken above the elbow. Jonathan felt bad for the man, but he was so excited to have lured one in with such ease and on the first try, too. The dead police officer did not come across. Instead he wandered down toward the end of the block. Jonathan was furious, and stuck his head up over the wall to see if there was a reason he’d passed by.
“Nothing!” Jonathan said under his breath in anger. “What is it going to take to get your attention?”
He stepped down to the next rung on the ladder. As he put weight on his left leg to bring the other down a slight hint of pain caused him to turn his foot slightly. The wet rung seemed to have run out from under him. He let out a loud yell as he fell the remaining four feet.
Jonathan slammed into the ground, feeling as though he had been hit by the BMW. Pain coursed through his body. With the wind knocked out of him, he tried to let out another yell, but no sound came out. Then he lay in the soft rain struggling to catch his breath. The choking moans became louder, causing him to sit up.
His right elbow felt as if someone had smacked it with a hammer. Along with his left leg and right ribs, the pain seemed to move between the three areas. The moans became louder still. He forced himself up the ladder, taking caution not to slip again. By the time he made it to the top of the wall he could tell that the moans had more than one source.
Peeking over the wall yet again, he saw three dead people making their way toward his wall. They still didn’t seem to have much concern for the steaks he had set out for them, but he could tell they knew someone was close by. He kept a close eye on them as they felt along the wall. They slowly moved closer. Unaware of exactly where the noise came from, they seemed to just head in that direction.
Jonathan recognized the young woman in the yellow tank top as she moved along the wall completely passing by the trap. He had seen her on his first time out after the attacks. The next man was also familiar. He was the heavy set man standing with her at his gate that day. This man stepped right into the snare and Jonathan reacted. He grabbed the rope and pulled with all his might.
He took it easy, however, but as soon as his feet touched the ground he ran away from the wall still holding the rope. The sound of the man hitting the pavement brought a smile to Jonathan’s face. Jonathan made his way back up the ladder as quickly as he could despite the pain. He saw the man lying in the grass trying to make his way to his feet.
He made it back down the ladder much faster this time as he pushed the pain from his mind. He jumped back into the driver’s seat of the BMW, pressed the ignition button as well as the brake. As soon as the engine roared he dropped the shifter into drive, released the brake, and let the car move forward under its own power. Keeping his eyes on the mirror he saw the feet come over the wall followed by the legs. The legs, however, were followed by a string of intestines. He had pulled the man in half.
Stopping the car and stepping out, Jonathan made his way back to the pair of legs. They were not kicking or moving which gave him the impression that he must have killed the man. If he could call killing a dead man “killing him.” He climbed back up the ladder slowly peeking over the top of the wall. The dead man was crawling away unfazed by what had just happened to him.
Jonathan glanced back down at the legs with a look of surprise on his face. He hypothesized that the body was indeed controlled by the upper half, most likely the brain. He would try again tomorrow, but for now he was going to drag the legs to the back and throw them over the wall into one of the other yards.
He decided to take the next day off as his body was sore. During his resting time he had to fix the problem of ripping another dead man in half. One of his first re-designs called for a pulley system that would allow him to lift a body over the wall before bringing it back down on the other side. Something a little simpler came to mind, however. He would use two ropes and call them to him. One rope would be his snare trap on the ground while he used the second rope as a lasso, dropping it down over the chest.
He figured this would solve two problems in one shot. The problem of possibly pulling another one in half, and the problem of tying it up once he had one over the wall. He wouldn’t need the lasso skills of a cowboy, yet he still practiced to perfect his technique.
Jonathan awoke, feeling no more pain in his body, and he felt the day was here to make his move once again. The sun was bright and the grass was dry. The fact that the dead were out all over today was an added incentive to go for it now. They had been out more after all the noise he had made the last time. Stepping out of the garage, Jonathan felt consumed by the beautiful sun. The car was already in place with the ropes waiting to play their part.
He tried to stay as close to the wall as he could to avoid being seen through the gate. He crept up the ladder and looked over the wall. The dead were everywhere, and there was nothing around to explain why they were out like this. Although most days were as beautiful as this one, he theorized that maybe it had something to do with humidity, but lacking a device to read humidity, he couldn’t confirm this.
Jonathan dropped the first rope down onto the soft green grass in a five foot radius. Even after shaking the rope a bit it still turned into more of an awkward oval than a circle, but it would work. The next rope he kept in his hands ready to drop it around the chest of the first dead body to walk into his trap.
“Hello!” he hollered over the wall kind of timidly.