My Apocalypse (Book 1): The Fall (9 page)

23.

I held up the keychain and had my finger poised to push the button. I paused for a moment, curiosity and fear holding my finger at bay. I was sure that whatever my beloved had cooked up was all for my best interests, but I was a little scared at what it might just be. Finally I decided to say fuck it, and pushed the small button down.

Almost instantly, a little ways down the road, I heard a stereo start up. Loud bells could be heard, and I recognized the starting chords of ACDC’s “Hells Bells”. The sound grew and grew, until it could be heard clearly to me, like the music was being played through my own private headphones. I watched the glass in my house’s windows rattle, and saw knick-knacks start to shake on the shelves. Through the window I saw the dead in the area start to flock to towards the sound, which seemed to be emanating from a house a little down the block. Looking closer, I noticed that there were more than a couple of large, high-rise speakers setting on the home’s porch.

Gods bless you Baby,
I thought to myself.

I hefted my pack, shaking my head a little in amusement, and started towards the back door. I had tried to fit most of what my baby had left for me in the pack, but had to leave behind four of the Molotov’s, and purposely left the dynamite. The pistol, now loaded, I had shoved in the front of my belt, and had strapped the bat and machete to the back of the pack. I carried the cane though, and had traded the knife Alec had given me for an older kitchen knife my father-in-law, Carl, had gave us long ago. I felt like an idiot, like some cliché’ horror movie hero.

I went to the back door once again, and had just placed my hand on the doorknob when the basement door shook violently and issued a loud thump. I turned slowly towards the door. Once more there was an impact against it from the other side, and saw the wood bow and crack slightly. My eye widened, and I backed up, running into the doorframe. Again and again something hit the basement door, and whatever it was could now be heard growling through it. Then, with all suddenness, all sound stopped. Whatever it was must have either knocked itself out, or given up.

I had just turned back to the door, when the howl came up.

The ferocity of it shook me to my core. It sounded from some dog brought straight from Hell, one of Satan’s minions sent to eat my soul. I threw the door open, not daring to take my eyes from it, when the wood panel at the bottom split open and erupted outwards.

There was my dog, Cat, coming through the door at me. Part of his face was gone, peeled away by a sharp piece of the wooden door. Blood and black ichor seeped from his jaws, now upraised in a feral snarl. His teeth were bloodstained and bared, and his eyes were alight with a hellish light. Whatever Cat was now, he sure was no longer my beloved dog. Further and further through the door he pushed, more and more flesh being stripped away by the wood, and I decided not to wait around. I turned and bolted out of the door, heading back towards the tracks. I heard Cat let out one more howl, louder and longer than any I had ever heard before, and became even more scared when I heard it answered by two others after, mere seconds apart from each other.

I made it to the tracks easily, and decided it would be in my best interest to keep myself armed. I did not want to draw attention to myself, so I left the pistol in my belt. I instead pulled the cane apart, holding the blade in my right hand, the metal shaft in my left. I swore under my breath, realizing my handicap with the missing eye. If anything came up on that side, I would be pretty much fucked unless I heard them first.

Crossing over Avenue G, I decided to stay on the tracks, figuring that I would be hidden better than if I took the main road. My in-laws lived almost exactly a mile away, and either route would get me there just as quick. I had gone about two hundred yards after crossing the road, the natural walls that rose on either side of the tracks now almost fifteen feet high, when I realized the folly of my decision.

I was running hard at that point, excitement and adrenaline kept my feet pumping. I wasn’t paying the best attention though. Finally looking up, I slid to a stop in the gravel beside the tracks themselves. There, about twenty feet ahead of me, was a group of them things. They were coming towards me, slowly, and must have been being drawn by the music. They were spread out pretty good, but the small herd had enough members to give me pause. I had already been spotted though, and my options were few:

Run back the way I came, back towards my home and the demon version of my loved pet.

Try and scale the ravine wall, thick with brush and near impassable.

Fight my way through the herd.

I chose the second. Mama didn’t give birth to a fool.

I dove into the brush on the right side, instantly feeling my hands start to get cut and bleed from the large thorns on the bushes I was trying to use for leverage. I could hear the zombies getting closer, and I wasn’t making good time up the hill. Finally making it to a clearer spot under a small tree, I turned back to look, leaning up against the high side of its trunk. The dead-heads were there below me, trying to follow. Thirty or so of them bastards were down there, grouped together and trying to climb over one another to get to me. Lucky for me, they didn’t seem too bright, and the thick brush impeded them from coming after me.

I spent a few moments to catch my breath, and than finished my climb.

Coming out of the bushes at the top, I was relieved to see that there was nothing in sight but the street and apparently empty houses. I took a deep breath and continued on my way.

A little while later, I had made it to Lakeview Avenue. There was my aunt’s house, dark and empty, on the corner, and from here I could see my in-laws house down the street. I smiled, relief washing over me. I had just started down the street when, in the distance, I heard a howl that I recognized easily. Cat must have made it through the outside door, and between my leg and my now bleeding hands, I was sure that he could track me easily. I broke into a run, trying to cover the distance as quick as I could.

As I came into the yard, I immediately noticed that there were no cars in the drive but one, Carl’s small Honda. Also, there were a couple of dozen or so dead littering the lawn, their heads partly gone, or literally blown to small pieces.

My heart was beating hard as I stepped onto the porch in front, the screen door hanging on by only one hinge. I tried the knob, and, finding it locked, slammed my fist into the door. I began to run to the back, but stopped when I saw a larger ladder setting next to the house. Looking up, I saw that the upstairs window was open. Inviting to those that had the nerve to make the climb. I grabbed the ladder and placed it under the window, climbing it easily. As I got to the top, I pulled my pack off and slid it through, then squeezed myself through the small window.

The house was dark, quiet. I looked around, and saw the small room I stood in had bee used not to long ago. The bed was recently slept in, and there were clothes on the floor. Flies buzzed, swarming around a few empty cans of food. I picked my pack up and placed it on the bed, the cane I carried next to it. Pulling the pistol out of my belt, I brought it to bear ahead of me, and started down the narrow stairs to the ground floor. The quiet enveloped me, and, due to the boarded up windows, so did the darkness. I hit the bottom and turned to head into the living room, when I was stopped abruptly by the twin barrels of a shotgun staring me right in the face.

“Who are you?” I heard from behind the gun. “And why the FUCK is you in my house?”

24.

“Carl?” I asked, dropping my pistol and immediately putting my hands in the air.

“Who is that?” I heard the man ask again, and it was then I knew that it wasn’t Carl, my father-in-law.

“The name’s Eddy,” I said, the gun in my face making me very nervous. “I’m just trying to find someone, anyone, but mainly my family. Make sure the family is okay. This was my in-laws house.”

“Eddy,” he said, but I could hear uncertainty in his voice. “Where the fuck did you come from? “

“Two days ago, I woke up in the hospital, and have been searching for my family ever since. And I came through the upstairs window. It was open.” I told him. Was it really only that short of a period of time since I had awakened? It seemed like a lot longer than that.

“Well,” the man said. “You better come into the dining room. We ought to talk, but talk quietly. Sound draws them fuckers in you know? Want something to drink?”

“Sure man,” I replied. I picked my pistol up off the floor, shoving it back into my belt, and followed him into the dining room.

I saw no one else.

No one rushed out to greet me, welcoming me home from such a long time in the hospital. My beloved didn’t come and throw herself into my arms, letting me know how much she missed me and loved me. I knew the man was alone here.

“What happened?” I asked him, once we were both sat down at the dining room table.

“What do you think happened?” He shot back, the look on his face calling me a dumb ass even though he didn’t speak the words. When I didn’t answer immediately, he continued speaking.

“The end of the world happened, Eddy.

“It started off slowly at first, just a couple here and there. Then, one day, there were thousands within minutes, and the whole thing went to shit from there.

“At first the government was able to keep us contained, keep the walkers out of Danville. The smaller outlying towns fell quick though. We only had to deal with the few that managed to make it through. Things were relatively normal, and those that didn’t leave with the initial evacuation led their lives as usual.

“The military was using the hospital as their base, and that was our downfall.

“Someone went in and was bit. You can guess what happened then. One makes two, two makes four, etc... The army was over run, and with it, us also. There was a second evacuation, and that was when most people from the area left. I lost my wife shortly after to those things when they overran our house, and we took off trying to find a safer place. We stumbled upon this place, and it seemed safe enough. We rigged up a generator we found on the property, and hunkered down.

“By that time, the things were everywhere. Me and the boys had a grand old time killing any of them that came up on the property, and between all of us, we came up with all new ways to destroy the bastards.

“But things just kept getting worse.

“Before the radios went down completely, they said they were pulling out of Danville for good. The radio said something about them having built a bunker in Champaign, at Carle hospital. Anyone that wanted to join them would have to meet them on One-Fifty, because they were going to be leaving fast.”

I thought long and hard about what he had said my head lowered. Then one thing came to mind, one question that just did not make sense.

“Bob, why didn’t you go with them?”

He never answered.

I looked over at him and saw his shoulders slump, his head now resting in his hands. I didn’t know the man, but I felt for him anyways. I reached out and placed my hand on his shoulder, a sign of affection I had never done before.

I decided to look around, and walked over to what used to be Crystal's uncle Bud’s room. I had just placed my hand on the knob when Bob shot up to his feet.

“NO!!!” he berated at me.

“Bob? There’s not…” I let the question hang, not wanting to finish it. He did nothing but look at me.

I was at a loss for what to say.

I looked towards Bud’s room, just imagining what I would find if I opened the door. Then I looked back to Bob. I decided I would leave him to his thoughts for awhile.

“Is it possible for me to clean up some?” I asked him, hoping his answer would be yes.

“Sure,” he said without looking up. He waved a hand towards the bathroom. “Water may not be too hot, and I’ll ask you to not use too much power. The generator I got rigged up works fine, but the noise draws them cock-suckers like flies.”

“Sure thing man, I understand.” I replied.

I stopped only for the shortest time, looking down at him, still not knowing exactly what to say. I watched as he took a deep breath straighten up, and down the glass sitting in front of him. He turned and looked at me, his eyebrows raised as if to ask me “What?”, and I realized then there was nothing more I could do.

I nodded at him, and then made my way upstairs to collect my things.

25.

My hand swept down the cabinet mirror, wiping away the steam that had collected there. The bath had been a little cold, on that Bob had spoken true. Yet, even due to the luke-warm water, in the early May night cold creeping in, the mirror had fogged up. I looked at myself once more in the dim candlelight, sighing at the state of my hair and beard. I quickly found a pair of scissors in a nearby drawer, and immediately set them to work on the unkempt hair. It only took a few minutes for me to get my beard into shape, and I had just started on my hair when I heard a knock on the door.

“Eddy?” I heard Bob say through the wood. He spoke in a hushed whisper, and I could sense that something was wrong due to it. I went over and opened the door, and he stood there on the other side, his shotgun in hand.

“My god!” he said, his own eyes going straight to my one missing one.

“Yeah, I know. What’s going on?”

“Sorry,” he started, “are you bleeding?”

I held up my hands, allowing him to see the cuts from the thorns.

“I also got shot yesterday, but it isn’t too bad. Why?”

“We have a problem.” Bob turned and walked away, no other words said.

I grabbed my cane, which I had sat by the toilet, and the pistol which sat at the edge of the sink. I found Bob in Carl’s old room, by the small window that faced the road. He nodded towards the window, and I saw that there was a small hole cut into the thick plastic covering it. I placed my eye to it, and a small gasp escaped me at what I saw.

Sitting in the center of the road was Cat. Even in the fading light I could see the areas where his flesh had been stripped away, and saw the black fluids dripping out of his mouth. He just sat there though, staring at the house, and didn’t move. Bob tapped my shoulder, and when I looked at him, he pointed to the left and the right. I looked back out, and glanced both up and down the street. On the edge of the property, in both directions, there were others. I could tell they were ravenous, their eyes glowing in what little light there was. All three of the creatures were just standing there, staring at the house.

I turned and looked at Bob, a questioning look in my eyes. He motioned for me to follow him, and we quietly went back to the dining room.

“They must have followed you,” he said once we were there. He spoke quietly, as if he didn’t want anything to hear him, not even me.

“I didn’t know.” I told him. “But why aren’t they coming for us? Why are they just standing there?”

“The fast ones have a really good sense of smell,” he said, “and that’s how they track us for the most part. But they were still human once. I threw a mix of ammonia and Pine-Sol along the edge of the property. It seems to fuck them up pretty good. They can't smell shit around it but the mixture of the chemicals. As long as they don’t see us or hear us, we’ll be fine.”

“We got a deal then.” I held my hand out towards him, a sign of faith. He took it gently and we shook.

“I’m going to finish up and then get some sleep, okay?” I asked him.

“That’d be fine.” He replied.