“I already have. I’m sending all my people with you.”
“Then you’ll come.”
“Manny—“
“Please Felicia, you may think your people hate you but they don’t. They don’t know Tanya, hell we only met her once. You could help our people to transition.”
Felicia didn’t respond. I knew she was mad or maybe she didn’t care. I knew despite her resistance, she would be coming with us.
By morning, the storm had past except for an overcast sky and a misty light drizzle. Felicia greeted me by the door wearing sweats, sensible shoes, her red hair tied back, and a Prada tote bag that probably cost two grand.
“Decided to come with you,” she told me. I didn’t act surprised. She didn’t explain why she changed her mind and I didn’t ask. She joined the others lining up to get into the car.
The party ended up being fifteen, fourteen people from yesterday and Felicia. Three of them were children, the scared kid from last night who was a dark skinned boy with large eyes and two white girls who looked about five and thirteen. I knew Manny talked to other people last night but hadn’t convinced any to come. I heard him talking before I drifted off to sleep.
I ended up in the car with Dave, with Paul and Rose again.
“We need to stop at the beach to bury Justin,” I told Dave when he started the car.
“Jim, we have to get out of here.”
“There’s no rush,” I said. “And I think we owe it to him and to his friends.” We had all the time in the world today and had to start claiming the land back from the dead.
Dave didn’t respond, but he drove to the beach where Justin’s body still lay near the water. The bugs had already started on him but I was used to it.
It wasn’t hard burying him in the loose dirt near the water. Easier then when we buried those decaying bodies on Orient Beach. Gwen and I added some rocks we found. I think she wanted people to know this was a grave, but I don’t think they will realize what it was. Justin might be long decayed before a population came back to this beach. I didn’t see the
Renewal
. I hoped they got to Harbor Island safely.
Dave had been strangely less bossy but he had gotten better since we took that road trip last year. He no longer complained about everything just for the sake of it. He also left Olive on the boat. Dave cared more for his dog than any of us. He might miss Tanya too, but I didn’t want to think about that. They both tried to be discreet but the boat had no secrets.
Ironically I was in the shotgun seat. It’s not like I could shoot anything.
“I’ll hit any that I see them,” he said. “No reason to go out in the rain.” He drove slowly. The windshield wipers
were going back and forth on a slow speed. I saw some clear skies in the distant, and I hoped for better weather.
Hitting didn’t guarantee a kill. I
wanted to make sure the job got done correctly.
“We need to stop and kill them. I want to make sure they’re dead. I need the camp people to start learning.” I said that even though Paul and Rose were in the back. They hadn’t been on my walk so I didn’t know if they were willing to take on zombies. Neither of them said anything. I knew very little about them. I wasn’t sure how to best bring up learning about their pasts and what skills they could bring to the table.
“That will take forever.”
Dave couldn’t shoot either, but I knew that he wasn’t afraid to whack them with a tire iron if he had to.
I turned around to Paul and Rose. “Great, that will give us time to get to know each other.”
There was silence for a few seconds. I looked
out of the window. So far the highway wasn’t in such bad shape. There were a lot of potholes, rusted cars, and breaks in the road but Dave maneuvered easily around them. The roads looked worse than they did last year. I wondered how much longer they would last. I hoped we could get to Harbor Island in one piece.
“I’m Rose Harrison and I lost everything—“
Be careful what you ask for.
The first zombie we came across was an old one. His clothes were tattered and hanging off him
,
his skin grey and flaky. He didn’t see us or turned around from the sound of the car. He walked erratically in the road. Probably looking for a scent of food.
Dave stopped the car about twenty feet behind him, but sat in the driver’s seat with the engine running. About half of the people got out of the cars, including Gwen and Manny, but the rest didn’t move. The kids stayed in the car, along with the two adults who looked after them.
No one approached the zombie. They stayed close to the cars except for Manny who moved to me.
I got out and closed the door behind me. The zombie still hadn’t noticed us; still shambled forwards not realizing food was right behind him.
“What do you want to do, Jim?” Manny asked me. When did I become the zombie hunter?
Harry who was in the back seat of
Manny’s car came out. He pulled out a crowbar out of a backpack and dumped the pack in the car. The crowbar looked unsteady in his hand.
“You’re right, son. We need to start killing these things. I want to try to kill this one.”
“Are you sure?” I looked around hoping someone else would volunteer but no one did.
“Not really, but I have to start somewhere.”
There was no real training for this. Harry would need to swing, hope for a good hit while making sure his flesh was away from the zombie’s grasp. He wore a ratty rain coat, good to get out of if the zombie grabbed him.
“What should I do? How should I approach it?” he asked. He put the crowbar in front of him like a sword.
“Try to hit from behind. Even if it hears you, it might have some trouble turning around. When you get in contact range, hit it in the head as hard as you can and keep hitting until its dead. Manny, why don’t you cover him?”
“It was a person once—“ Harry said, looking at it, watching the disjointed walk. Then it suddenly stopped.
“Yes, but that person is dead. They aren’t coming back. You need to kill it right now. It smells us.”
Manny didn’t say another word. I wondered how many zombies he dealt with.
I followed Harry who walked to it almost as unsteady as the zombie. He got behind and walked silently towards it. When he was about two feet away, it finally turned around and saw him. Pieces of clothes and skin came off as it turned with a surprisingly high amount of energy. It began the death moan. The eerie guttural sound that signaled being close to a kill.
Harry froze. Manny aimed but I put my hand up so he wouldn’t fire.
“Don’t be scared! Hit it, Harry!” I yelled.
He took a deep breath and without a sound, hit it with the crowbar hard directly in middle of his head. Because it was old not a lot of gore splashed and it crumbled to the ground face first with a large dent in the head. On the ground it began to use its arms to get up. It knew food was near but couldn’t quite figure out how to get into a standing position.
“Good shot, Harry, hit it again until it’s dead.”
Harry whacked it again and again until it stopped moving and the head was completely bashed in. I didn’t blame him for overkill nor did I stop him once I realized the creature was
dead. Better to hit it too much than not enough. Manny put his gun down and I went over to Harry.
“Good job,” I said, patting him on the back. Better than me when I had to kill the first time. He didn’t yell or scream.
“Thanks,” he said, dropping the crowbar. It fell to the ground with a clang. He rushed off to a grouping of trees and I heard him retching. I walked over him and stood behind waiting for him to finish. Once he was done, I helped him back to the car, grabbed water from my pack and gave him a sip. Manny grabbed the crowbar and washed it off with some wipes.
“You did great,” I said.
Harry looked at his pale hands which were shaking. He said nothing.
“It gets easier, I promise.” I looked at the others. I knew Tanya would be proud of me. “Anyone else want to try?”
Chapter 11
After Harry killed the zombie, I got three more volunteers for the next one. Harry didn’t volunteer again. Dave helped Gwen kill one, even though she nearly freaked out when it let out the death moan. The thirteen year old girl Daisy tried to volunteer, but Joan her guardian wouldn’t allow it. The only other volunteer was Rose who whacked an old zombie until long after it was dead.
We needed to find a place to stay for the night. I tried to think where we could stick fifteen people when I saw the school. I saw candles in the window. I wasn’t sure if they were friendly or not but it looked like a private boarding school which meant dorms and many beds.
A big rusted metal sign read “St. Mary’s Catholic Boarding School.”
I pulled into the parking lot, wishing for Grace’s gun in case they were hostile but I had to rely on Manny.
I walked to the door closest to the window with the candle and found it locked. I looked at Dave who stood beside me. I knocked.
Unlike the airport I didn’t want to break in. I knocked again, this time harder.
"Tanya told me how to jimmy a lock. Do you want me to try?"
Dave didn't have to. I heard the door unlock, a barrel of a shotgun came out. I saw it was attached to a middle aged man, white, slightly bearded wearing all black. He looked over all of us and at the children the most.
"What do you want?”
"We need a place to stay."
"Plenty of other places to stay."
"We're a big group, with children,” I explained, hoping he had a soft spot for kids. "It's only for one night. Promise.”
"What's your name?"
"Jim."
The man's features softened. He put the gun down.
"You aren’t Jimmy, are you?"
I had never seen this man before in my life, so I assumed he knew me from Bob Bam.
"I prefer Jim," I explained. "My dad never understood that."
"Which one of you is Tanya?"
"She's not here. This is Dave," I said, pointing him out.
"Hey," Dave said and waved.
"And this is Gwen," I said pointing her out. “And this—“
"Come on in." He said, interrupting. “We can do introductions inside where away from those devils.” He moved aside to let us come in. The school was chilly but not freezing.
"We're having dinner in about 10 minutes. You're welcome to join us."
“We have some canned food to donate. How many are you?”
“A few,” he said and wouldn't elaborate. I guess he wasn't sure yet he could trust us. Of course I had no idea if we could trust him. For all I knew he could be a cannibal.
"What's your name?" I asked as we walked a long hallway. Classrooms on each side, empty of students and filled with faded drawings of happy places. I tried not to think of all the kids in this school and how many were dead.
"Victor. Everyone calls me Father Vic, but that's only an honorary title now that God has left us to the demons."
"Father--" this came from Dave. "You shouldn't say that." I never saw Dave as religious but I knew he was raised Catholic.
"Sorry my son," but he didn't argue. “I still believe in him, but he has left us.”
Dave didn’t argue. We went through another series of hallways before we reached a room with double doors that read
cafeteria
. Vic opened the door to a room bathed in candlelight, even though light still came through the window.
There were many cafeteria style tables but two were put together in the center of the room and had more candles and some lanterns. Sitting around the table were eight boys of various ages from about 8 to 15. There was one adult woman at the table who wore black slacks and a white shirt. Some of the boys wore blue uniforms and others were in tees and jeans. All but three were white. The others were black, Hispanic and Asian.
“Hello boys,” Vic said.
“Hello, Father Vic,” they said, together in unison. It was eerie.
“This is Jim, you know Jimmy from the radio program.”
Some of the boys got excited like I was some famed celebrity. It’s not like I’m a regular guest on the show but I’m glad they remembered me.
“You can call me Jim.”
“Please,” he said. “Take a table. Rubin, Seth get more candles, and bring out food for our guests.” Two boys got up, grabbed a candle and went through some double doors.
I took a seat in the table closest to the big one. Dave sat next to me and Gwen went to the other side. I opened my pack and took out the two cans of food and placed them in front of me.
I looked to Dave and then his pack. He opened it and counted out mini milky ways until there was enough for everyone.
The others didn’t have packs like ours but they foraged and came up with another 5 cans. I handed it over to Vic.
“Not a lot.”
“The kids could use some variety,” he said, taking it. “And a piece of chocolate will make their day. We have a lot of canned and boxed food here,” his face got sad. “Enough for 300 hundred students for a month-- That’s our normal enrollment. We also have a community garden and a home-ec room. We have a lot of propane.”
“You’ve been here since it began?”
“Yes. Me, the kids, Mrs. Jones,” he said, motioning to the woman who I assume had been a teacher. She said nothing.
I didn’t want to ask what happened to the other kids.
“Most of them died,” Vic said, knowing what I was thinking. “The flu hit the campus. It killed about 270 students. At least I think it did. The first ones we shipped to the hospital. Others went home with their parents. Some of them we had to bury because no ambulance or parents came. Two or three of the students became those devils and attacked the other students before we took them out. Now it’s just us. Sometimes one of them comes along and I send it to hell, but it’s been quiet lately which is helping Mrs. Jones and the boys.”
It was helping us too.
I had just met Father Vic but I liked him. For all I know he was diddling these kids at night and was batshit insane, especially when he talked about demons. I looked around at the kids. Despite all that happened, they seemed cheery and didn’t seem to be hiding anything.
“We’re starting a farm on Harbor Island. You are welcomed to come. I don’t have space in the cars, but someone could come back with a van.”
Vic didn’t say anything for a long time.
“Not that safe out in the open.”
“We can clear the bodies. It’s an island so there’s some safety except for the floaters.”
“Floaters?”
“Sometimes zombies fall into water and float. At least we can see them. This place isn’t ideal but we have to start getting back to some normalcy. I’m not seeing a lot of new zombies, mostly old ones who are easy to take out.”
“Now we just have to worry about man.”
“I know you just met us. We aren’t here to harm you. We’re survivors, that’s all.”
“I want to trust you Jim, but there were others.”
“What others?”
“Men came to the school. Said they were hunters and looking for strong people to recruit. I thought theirs eyes were going to pop out when the saw the boys. I told them none of these boys were hunters and they were safe here. I could see the anger in the leader’s eyes because I refused. Two of my older boys went with him. They slipped out in the night. I think if they hadn’t gone, he might have tried taken all of the boys by force. After he was gone, a zombie got inside. I don’t know how because every door is locked. We managed to kill it before it could hurt us. We found one of the doors with the lock broken from outside.”
“We’re not those men,” I explained. “We hunt zombies when we have to but what we really want is a community.”
“I’ll have to think about it,” Vic said, changing the subject. “Truth is—it’s safe here and with the garden, and the rations, we have enough for a while, but on the other hand. I’m sure the boys would like some open space and other people—other children?” He looked at the three children with us.
“There’s a few,” I said. “Let us know in the morning, this way, we can send a car.”
“We have a school bus. I’ve been keeping it running, going out some times to other houses to scavenge food and siphon gas—“ He paused. “Sorry, Jim I can’t move the boys until I know that I won’t be sending them into danger. Tell me on the radio when it’s safe to come. We all listen to Bob every Friday and sorry Jim, your conversations with your dad aren’t so secret. Please forgive me.”
“You have a radio? Why didn’t you contact Bob?”
“I can hear but I can’t talk.”
“I forgive you, but until we can get some private communications up, can you consider not listening?” I wasn’t mad, even though both my father and I had cried during our conversations.
“It gets a little boring around here but I’ll try to stop. I’m happy you reconciled with your dad. On a personal note, I never really gave a rat’s ass, excuse my language about gay people. God decides about heaven and hell. I’m sure the pope will excommunicate me, but I have to wonder if I’m the last priest on earth.”
“You probably aren’t. I’m not the last gay person on earth. There are at least three of us.” I looked over at Gwen but Manny who sat next to her looked at me.
Vic laughed, a hardy, sidesplitting laugh.
“Sorry. That came across funny. I guess we’re all a little funny after what happened. Some of us are going to come out haha funny—“ he paused. “And some are going to come out dangerous. Those are the ones we have to be careful about.”
Having recently met a dangerous one, I knew what he was talking about. I thought about Brian and the woman at Costking who deliberately infected a young girl.
“I can see from your face that you know what I mean.”
“A man went crazy, murdered someone to get a boat, then he drowned. I don’t know what set him off. ”
“Loss of authority,” said a voice. I turned around to see it was Manny who spoke. “I think that’s what happened. Brian went from a nothing to someone with power. Changing leadership meant he would lose authority. I shouldn’t have trusted him.” He looked at Felicia but she looked like she was trying to melt into the chair.
“Vic,” I said. “How do we know who these people are? Manny didn’t think Brian would go crazy. People need our help but we don’t know if they are good or bad.”
“The problem is you don’t. You’ll never know who you can trust. You have to have faith”
I wanted to ask if he meant in God, but didn’t.
“At least look out for bullies.”
I laughed and then hit Dave on the shoulder.
“I’m not a bully,” he said.
The two boys came out with a cart filled with steaming plates and put one down in front of each of us. Spaghetti with sauce. It made me think of Maddie. Her jar sauce tasted like it belonged in a restaurant. I missed her, her bubbly personality and complete honesty. She had been the one to start calling me Sweet Jim. I didn’t like it originally, but now I’d do anything to hear her voice say it again.