Rotten (7 page)

“Wait a minute,” Highland said, “if humans can jump around like monkeys and lope like cats and tear out guts in seconds, what can predators do?”  He dropped his fork and sat back.

“Bunnies!” Rotten said.

We laughed, we all laughed.  Including Sully.  Mrs. Williams grasped her chest and giggled.  “Oh my!”  And we laughed harder. 

“We are so f …” Princess wiped her eyes.  “We’re in trouble, dudes!”

“Bunnies!” I almost fell out of my seat.  Yes, zombies are bad, but zombie bunnies?  I didn’t just laugh, I snorted, and grabbed an additional napkin. 

“No wonder you guys are crazy,” Sully spoke up from the end of the table.  “You think too much.  Thus far we know of what?  One dog and humans?  We plan for humans.”  He pushed his cleaned plate aside and stood from the table.  “Mrs. Williams, do you have a wine glass?”

I swear I think she blushed.  Those golden brown eyes had more power than I knew.  “Yes, Professor, I do,” she said, and batted her eyes at him, which I’d never seen anyone do in real life and didn’t even know what it meant until that moment.  She stood up, looking totally fifties chic, and opened a cabinet taking down two glasses.  We all rolled our eyes.  What the hell?

“He’s right,” Rotten said, smearing jelly on a biscuit.  “Right now we prepare for humans, but shit fire,” he glanced at Mrs. Williams, “we can’t be prepared for zombie freaking cockroaches, rats, and owls right now.  If they come, well then they come, but damn!  One threat at a time people.”  He bit into the overflowing biscuit.

Sully emptied the bottle of wine into the glasses and Mrs. Williams picked one up, sniffed, turned up her nose, and then drank half of it.  “When you kids are ready, we have some bodies to bury.” 

We had a debate in the yard, heads in the grave or heads in a separate grave?  Mrs. Williams had done a good job with her root shovel of disconnecting the heads and we studied. 

“They’re zombies,” Princess said.  “You can’t bury their heads with their bodies.” 

Moonshine, already digging, finally conceded.  “Got another shovel, Mrs. Williams?”

Rotten started on the fresh hole and then dug a third for Midget the dog, zombie or not, he got his own grave with his head.

We took turns in the shower and then started covering the windows on the second floor.  I worked with Rotten, while Princess helped Moonshine, and we nailed big sheets of one-inch plywood over the windows in the hall.  “Is Sully flirting with Mrs. Williams?” Princess whispered so Highland wouldn’t hear.  

I shrugged my shoulders and thought, what if he is?   Mrs. Williams hadn’t had a date that I knew of in twenty years.  My mind boggled.  I was twenty-three and I had been in a relationship of one sort or another since I was fourteen.  Not to mention they were a lot closer in age than most of the girls I’d seen hanging on Sully’s every word.  “Maybe,” I hedged.  “Are you mad?”

She hammered harder.  “No, I’m not mad.” 

“Good,” I said and helped Rotten heave another piece of plywood in place.  “But maybe he is,” I said, pulling the hammer out of my pocket and spitting a nail from my mouth.

“She is pretty hot.”

“Fifties chic,” I responded, holding the wood as Rotten hit the first nail.

“I know, right?  I’m okay, I still hate him, though,” she laughed. 

“I know,” I said and hammered.

“Mom, get up here,” Highland said, stepping out of his bedroom into the hall.  He waited for Mrs. Williams and Sully to come up the stairs before he began. “The Internet, phones, TV, and regular radio are down, but I got on the shortwave and found out that the highways are closed outside of Arlington and Browntree, we are hemmed in.  One guy, a truck driver, was turned away from making a delivery in Blacksport, he said there is military everywhere and they have the interstate blocked off heading in this direction.  Another guy in Browntree said the same about the military and that all roads heading into Blacksport were blocked.  One has family here, got an odd call on his landline from his daughter last night, and then couldn’t get back in touch.  None of them knew what was going on, but said there were rumors of some kind of military experiment.  Another guy didn’t believe any of it at first, so he decided to check things out.  Apparently he lived not far from a roadblock and first he tried to drive through and was turned away.  He went back to his house and got his bike, hitting the back roads that only the locals know, or so he thought.  Those were blocked too.  He said it looked like an invasion.  He was getting ready to bug out when they got him, just now.  Busted in his door, yelled some legal stuff, and started shooting.  He’s dead and I heard it happen. I think it’s only happening here and we are alone with it.”

“Shit, well you know what happens next.” Rotten sighed.

“Yep, nuke,” Moonshine said.

We all nodded.  “It’s the only way to be sure,” I agreed.

“What in the hell are you talking about?”  Sully demanded.

“They always nuke the town with the zombie outbreak, they can’t let it get out and affect other places,” Rotten explained.

“In the movies, people, in the movies.  This is not the movies, am I the only sane one here?”  Sully looked to Mrs. Williams.

“How long do you think we have?” Mrs. Williams ignored Sully and looked at us.

“Twenty-four hours, no more than thirty-six,” Highland said and we all agreed.

“You don’t honestly think the military is going to destroy two entire towns in neighboring counties, do you?”  Sully said.

“Well, of course they are,” Princess stated as though it was blatantly obvious.

“Especially if it’s local, there can’t be any witnesses to what happened here,” Rotten said.

Highland rubbed his face.  “You’re right.” 

Rotten sighed, he was a forum junky.  He read from the time he woke up, until he went to a gig.  Granted, he usually didn’t wake up till noon and he sure didn’t have a gig every night.  Rotten searched the bottom of the barrel, from prophecy and UFO sites to all manner of the end-of-the-world and conspiracy sites, plus he read like fifteen legitimate newspapers every day.  We always said he was depressed, looking at that scary stuff all the time and anticipating the end of the world, but we listened.  “You know, we’re useless eaters to those in charge of things.  Especially us.” He looked us each in the eye and laughed.  “Especially us.  This was planned; you know that damned shot they made everyone take.  How’d you get out of it, Moon?”  Rotten said.

“You forged the paperwork, bro, you know that,” Moonshine said. “You even came up with a receipt from the pharmacy.”

Rotten nodded.  “And you, Dove, what about you?”

“I avoided it,” I stated simply.  I was good at avoiding things; it fit perfectly into my depressive nature.

“Sully, did you take the vaccine the college was pushing?”

“No.”  He shook his head.  “I missed my first appointment and hadn’t scheduled another.”

“Mrs. Williams?  Did you take it?”

“No, Reginald, I didn’t.  Most of the ladies in church did and I know most of the people in the shelter did, but I didn’t.  I didn’t trust it.”  She chuckled softly.  “I’ve been listening to you guys for too long.”

“Thank God.  I know you guys think I’m crazy, but I’ve been studying.  I sent y’all links; didn’t you read any of them?  I think it was the shot that turned everyone, they were really pushing it, and it didn’t make any sense if you thought about it.  Suddenly, out of the blue, we have a new, previously unheard of mosquito borne disease and it only affects the few miles of river between Blacksport and Freemont, even though the damned river is flowing through towns all the way to the ocean.”  He shook his head.  “And then, miraculously, they have cure for it in just a few months, sounds like a movie, doesn’t it?  None of us took the shot, and none of us turned.  So it’s been a big experiment and they sure as hell don’t want to let us out to tell the world.”

“How did you know it was going to happen, Highland?”  I said suddenly.  “How did you know to have all this wood stored?”  I pointed out the two by four inch peek holes or gun ports conveniently cut out of each piece of plywood.

“I read the stuff Rotten sends.  I figured it would be better to have it and not need it, than to need it and not have it, but we’ve got to get out of here now, while we still have a couple hours of daylight.  The guy on the radio said there was some crazy fencing crossing the road and going into the woods, he said it ran for miles.  We have to assume that they have fenced the whole area, although the manpower that would take is mind blowing and sure proves it was a planned event.  We’ll have to figure out a way to get around it.”

“Where was the man, Wayne?”  Mrs. Williams said.

“This side of Arlington, he said off Black Oak road.” 

“Uncle Paul’s,” she said, “we’ll go there and hike out.  I know that area like the back of my hand.”

Highland nodded.  “It’s the best we have.”

We looked at each other and then set the tools and ladders in a corner.  We decided to leave without any words, resigned to the fact that to stay would be to die in a fiery explosion.  We had no idea what to expect on our journey, and moved downstairs in a rush to gather necessities.  Moonshine stepped into the garage, while Highland ran down into the basement. 

“Water, girls.”  Mrs. Williams pointed at the pantry as she filled a tote bag with food.

Highland came up out of the basement looking like Rambo.  “I’ve got guns!”

Princess and I looked at each and shrugged.  Highland collected guns, who knew?  That’s what I mean about him, as long as we had known him, we still didn’t know him.  He dumped half a dozen handguns in holsters on the table and ran back down the stairs, returning with rifles and a large black bag.  He handed us each a pistol and told us quickly how to use it, pointing out the safety again and again. 

Sully stepped into the kitchen, watching, and finishing the glass wine.  “So we’re just leaving?  Like that?  No discussion?” 

“It would seem so.”  Mrs. Williams handed him a bag containing a small supply of cookware.  “I hate to be the mother, but everyone go to the bathroom.” 

We laughed, and it seems like on cue we all realized we had to go.  We met back in the garage and Mrs. Williams handed out an assortment of coats and jackets to us and then she checked behind Moonshine as he organized the supplies in the back of both vehicles, Sully’s Escalade and her Jeep.  “I’ll drive, and Wayne, you follow me, you know the shortcut we’re taking.”

Highland nodded and we piled into the vehicles, Mrs. Williams, Sully, and Moonshine in the Jeep, and the rest of us climbed back into the Escalade.  Highland tested the walkie-talkie, part of the gear he retrieved from the basement, and then turned the ignition. 

He held the radio to his mouth.  “Ready, Mom?”

“On three,” she said and began the count.  Rotten hit the button and both doors engaged and began to rise. 

Princess and I turned in our seats to look out the back window, watching for any movement, and Mrs. Williams backed out first, slowly and cautiously and stopped in the middle of the street, as Highland thumped over what was left of Mr. Keppler.   Luckily, there were not many cars left on the road, and we pulled out of the neighborhood onto Main Street without encountering any problems.  It was still and quiet and nothing stirred. 

“Why do you think they burn up in the sun?”  Princess said.  “Any why don’t all of them?  I mean we see both kinds, dead and bloody people, and dried up sacks.” 

“I was wondering about that too,” Rotten said, while keeping his eye on the road.  “I think when they are dead-dead they decay like normal people, but I think when they are un-dead they just self-combust or something.  You know they say we’re about seventy percent water, maybe they just dry out like an old mummy.”  He shook his head.  “Zombies, vampires, and mummies, wow, we hit the jackpot.”