Revenence: Dead Silence, A Zombie Novel (12 page)

"Fuck, yeah," Shari said, picking up a rifle and examining it.  "All the zombies we've seen from the balcony lately, I'm sure they'll make some good targets, especially those slow-milling, deteriorating bastards we've had lately."

"Let's get to it, then," Fauna said, picking up a modified rifle for herself and stepping back into the attic.  They made their way out of the house, over to the garage, back up to the loft, and out to the balcony.  Fauna instructed her on how to load the clip, how to hold it, and how to aim. 

"This is a regular one.  We'll get into snipin' later."  She took out the clip and handed the gun to Shari.  "Now you watch out when this thing's loaded, that trigger's real sensitive.  You want to blow off
their
heads, not some living bystander."  She pointed to the sight on the end of the barrel.  "You just look through this here...line it up...pull the trigger.  Simple as that."

"Simple enough," Shari said, studying the anatomy of the gun, soaking it up. 
Survival will mean learning to use this thing like it's an extension of me,
she thought.  "Man, I can't wait for some rotting assholes to wander their way over here, so I can fix my sight on them..." she raised the gun and aimed at an invisible foe.  "And blow them into the afterlife, where they rightfully belong."

Fauna smirked, pivoting around to return to the loft.  "Atta girl."

As Shari stood on the balcony a couple of days later, aiming at another zombie ambling up the driveway, she reflected on what Fauna had said.  She wondered about the people they were getting ready to shack up with...maybe they were sponges, too.  But a sponge could soak up useful information and skills, or it could just soak up all the resources around it.  Would they prove to be useful, or a hinderance?  She supposed that if they had survived this long, there was a good chance that they weren't likely to be helpless leeches.  On the other hand, neither she nor Fauna had any real way of knowing their exact circumstances.  Shari supposed some people might survive due to the skill of somebody else who helped them, or through sheer luck, or even by stepping on the backs of others.  They wouldn't know for sure what types of people they were until they had gotten a chance to live with them. 

Fauna was on the radio downstairs in the garage, working out the details with Jon of exactly where and when they'd meet. 
Today is the day, princess
, the voice in her head remarked. 
Three months of safety and peace on this farm, virtually untouched by the horror of the outside world.  You sure you're ready for it?
  In a way, she felt like she was actually
itching
for it.  Maybe it was cabin fever, maybe it was the sense of guilt that accompanied her realization that she was safe while so many were not, and maybe it was the need for vengeance that she felt toward the undead...whatever it was, she felt more than ready to venture out. 
I can't stay here forever,
she told herself. 

Fauna joined her on the balcony.  "Well, it's all settled," she said.  We're gonna meet 'em in the next town over, outside of town near the billboard."

"What if something happens and we can't find them?"

"Jon's got a CB radio in his truck, and I've got my walkie-talkie.  Told him to look for us on channel 9 if he needs us.  I'll take my binoculars, too," Fauna said.

"So when do we leave?"

"I told him we'll meet around 3:00, so we should probably be on the road around two-thirty.  That gives us about an hour, hour and a half.  We should eat some lunch and get the horses saddled up, get ready to be on our way."

They headed back into the loft.  "So you nervous about going out?" Fauna asked.

"Nah," Shari replied.  "I guess I should be, but...I don't know.  It's been a few months.  I guess it's time we ventured out.  Besides, we know how to handle ourselves."  She took some lettuce and tomatoes out of the fridge and got to work preparing a salad.  She grinned mischeviously.  "And if anyone fucks with us...they'll have to contend with our AK's."

Fauna nodded, smirking.  "You're damn right."

"Quarter horses can do what, about sixty miles an hour?" Shari asked with an element of phony non-chalance.

"Faster'n a zombie can run, for damn sure, if that's what you're gettin' at," Fauna replied.

"Yeah, that's what I'm getting at," Shari said quietly. 

"Well, road seems pretty clear for a ways," Fauna said.  "Let's pick up the speed a little."

They rode in silence until they reached the point where the road intersected with the highway.  They sat for a moment, surveying the highway ahead.

"More crashes this way," Fauna said.  "Worse comes to worst, we can always go off the road.  Long as the ditches ain't too steep." 

"Is the town on this same road?" Shari asked.

"Yeah, straight shot," Fauna said.  "'Bout seven miles north.  Shouldn't take more'n thirty minutes, max."  They rode on, cautious and observant.  Shari looked over her shoulder at one point.  About two-hundred yards away, a small group of decaying zombies were moving in their direction in a fruitless effort to catch up.  She chuckled. 
Good thing those halfwits  aren't as fast as us
.

Fauna stopped, eyeing a pileup of cars ahead, and took out her binoculars.  "Road's jammed fulla cars up there," she muttered.  "Might as well get off the road now."  She motioned to her right.  "Come on, this way."  They descended down into the shallow ditch and rode into a field planted full of maturing soy plants, which seemed to stretch to the horizon.  "Lotta food right here," Fauna noted.  "Enough soybeans for the two of us to eat for years."

"
Mmm
, soybeans," Shari said sarcastically.  "We could make...let's see...soybeans, soybeans, and...soybean surprise.  The surprise is soybeans.  Although I have to admit, it beats starving."

"Come the end of the season, we might
need
these," Fauna said.

A saddled horse was running in the opposite direction to their left, minus its rider.  As it got closer, Shari saw part of a rotted human leg stuck in the stirrup, a running shoe and calf on one side and lower thigh on the other.  It was a thin leg, that of a petite woman or a young girl.  Judging from the way the flesh was shredded and the veins were torn, Shari was guessing the owner of that leg must have had it eaten off.  She shivered and looked away.

They reached the end of the soy field and approached a treeline.  "Almost there," Fauna said.  "We're gonna try and make our way back onto the road.  Should only be about a half mile from there."  They galloped along, keeping a safe distance from the treeline, not knowing what could be lurking in its depths.  When they came to the road, Shari looked toward the town up ahead.  She saw no sign of movement. 

"Isn't the dead silence eerie?" she murmured.  "All the ambient noise from the old world...the electric hum, everything...it's all gone.  Unreal."  She shielded her eyes, staring down the road.  "Is that the billboard?"

"That's the one," Fauna confirmed, scanning the area through her binoculars.  They rode along with a healthy level of paranoia.  Fauna took out her CB walkie. 

"Man, that thing's huge," Shari said, giggling.  "And I thought my dad's cell phone back in  the eighties was bulky."

"This one's fairly old, a vintage model," Fauna conceded.  "They make 'em smaller now, but this one gets the job done.  If it ain't broke, why the hell fix it?"  She fumbled with a dial, pushed the button on the side, and spoke into the mouthpiece.  "Jon, are you there?  We're comin' up to the billboard now, and I don't see a truck over there.  You read me?"  She let go of the button and waited. 

After about twenty seconds, they heard Jon's voice in response.  "Yeah, we're here.  Listen, there are a lot of undead here in town.  We got to that billboard about ten minutes ago, and we could see them walking around.  We didn't feel comfortable just sitting there in the truck, waiting for them to discover us, so I drove around a little."  He paused and laughed.  "I ran a few of 'em over, figured what the hell?  The fewer, the better.  Anyway, I don't think we should meet at the spot we planned, too close to town.  I don't know how many more of them are here.  I figure up the road might be a little safer, so if you girls want to head that way, we'll catch up, talk later when it's safe."  He stopped, waiting for a response.

"Roger that," Fauna responded, turning her horse around to go back south.  Shari stroked the AK47 slung over her shoulder, and also her bow.  It comforted her, reminded her that she wasn't defenseless. 
My booming, lead-spewing phallus, and my silent, stealthy phallus,
she thought, referring to her AK and her bow.
  Now all I need is a melee phallus to smack people and zombies in the face with
.  She followed Fauna down the road. 

They had ridden about 1/4 mile when they heard a rustling in the narrow band of woods lining the road, and the crackling of twigs under a human stride.  Shari grabbed her bow and nocked an arrow in the space of a few seconds, and Fauna did the same.  A voice came from the woods.

"We got our sights trained on you girls."  A sinister laugh.  "And you may as well know, we got you outnumbered.  You might wanna lower those bows."

"And why would we do that?" Fauna ventured calmly.

"'Cause if you do, you might luck out.  We might let you live.  We could use some females.  It's been a long while since me or my buddies have had any pussy.  And if you don't...."  He laughed again.  "We'll kill you, and some of my boys might
still
have their way with you.  So what's it gonna be?"

Shari was getting ready to suggest they run when they heard one of the mystery assailants shriek like a teenage girl.  "What the fuck?!  Danny's dead, man!  One of those bitches put a goddam wooden spike through his head!"  Shari and Fauna started to move away.

"
The fuck you talkin' about?!"
  The voice of the first man.  "Me and Bobby both had our eyes glued to 'em!  Neither one of those girls--"  His voice was cut off abruptly.  And then a moment later they heard...

"
Shit, they got Roger too! Roger's dead!  Who the fuck is out there?"

They heard the rumble of a motor approaching, close by...Jon.

Shari and Fauna took off running, and Fauna motioned to Jon to follow them.  They cut back through the soy field as they had earlier, with Jon right behind them. 

Shari sighed. 
Thank God for Jon's good timing.  I guess they'll be useful, after all.

"Jon!  I'm glad we all made it safely," Fauna said warmly. 

"Me, too," Jon said, shaking Fauna's and Shari's hands.  "I want to thank you again, you have no idea how much this means to me.  Anything we can do to help you two, anything at all, just let us know.  You didn't have to let us stay here, and you damn sure didn't have to put yourselves at risk to escort us here.  I only hope I can repay you."  He locked gazes with Shari for a moment.  "And you must be Shari."

"I am," she responded.  "Are you going to introduce us to your family?"

"Oh, of course," he said.  His wife walked up and grabbed his hand. 

"I'm Cindy," she said.