I walked over to the big old oak, unzipped, and began to water the bushes. I shot a quick glance over my shoulder at Claire. She was leaning against a large brick mailbox checking out our surroundings. It was nice to have a lookout for a change.
I finished my business, and started to zip up. That’s when I caught a powerful scent.
It was the scent of death.
I stepped away from the tree just in time to see a Red-Eye zombie slide away from her hiding place behind the oak. It was a middle-aged female in a yellow dress. The dress had ripped and left her naked from the waist up. Blood, brains, and other assorted gore covered her front. She advanced towards me, hissing in anticipation of a good meal.
I backed up slowly, fumbling for my gun. I wasn’t watching where I was going, and promptly fell on my butt. The Red-Eye shot forward, bending down so she could eat. I couldn’t seem to get my gun out of the holster.
Just let it be quick.
As I was fighting for my life, Claire ran up from behind me. With a primal yell, she jammed her sharpened piece of rebar into the creature’s skull. The zombie reeled in pain, and fell to the ground. I watched in utter fascination as Claire withdrew her weapon from the zombie’s head and drove into the walking corpse’s skull several more times. The Red-Eye screeched for a bit, then fell silent.
Maybe she wasn’t as useless as I thought. I may have to rethink my rule about me taking care of all the zombies.
Claire turned around after she retrieved her weapon. “Got surprised while taking a pee. Been there.” She reached out her hand to help me up.
I sat speechless for a minute, and then I grabbed her hand. ”I don’t know. I think I had her right where I wanted her.”
“Yeah. Better zip up there, big guy.”
I stood up, and Claire helped me brush the dead grass and leaves off my jacket. I took a quick inventory to check for any injuries. I was okay. Just a bruised butt.
“There. Good as new. You okay, Tiger?” she asked, brushing off all the yard debris.
“I’m okay.” I looked into her big blue eyes. “Thanks. I thought she had me there for a second. I must be getting old.”
“Don’t mention it. Now, can we continue our walk?”
“Just a minute.” I was about to do something either really cool or incredibly stupid. Claire had shown me that she could be trusted with my life. I unzipped the pocket on my cargo pants, and retrieved the little silver revolver that I had found in the gas station.
“Here, you can have this. I found it a few days ago in a gas station. It’s a much better weapon than your rebar.” I handed her the little gun.
“Oh pretty.” Claire took the weapon. “What is it?” she asked as she pointed it at imaginary demons.
“I believe it’s a thirty-eight. I think it works, so be careful. Just point and pull the trigger.”
She carefully pointed it at the ground, and checked it out. “Does it fire, what did you call them this morning, hollow core bullets?”
“Hollow points. No. It has normal bullets. At the right range though, they’ll do the job.”
“Cool. Thanks. This is great.”
“You’re welcome. Just be careful. Oh by the way, it only has five rounds, so don’t go all wild- west on me.”
She laughed. It was great to see her laugh. Claire’s whole face lit up when she laughed. “Don’t worry. I’ll only pull it in an emergency. You know zombie attacks or bar fights.” She put her new little friend into the waistband of her jeans, and we shared a little laugh. It actually felt good to laugh again. It had been a long time. I think Claire and I were beginning to bond. It wasn’t a romantic thing, but maybe a friendship was developing, and I think she felt the same way. Not romantic, but maybe we could trust each other. Maybe this is how society gets rebuilt, one functional friendship at a time. We stood there for a few minutes. All of a sudden, she threw her arms around me, and gave me a big hug.
“Thanks John. I’m glad you found me.” Her voice was muffled by my shirt. “I’m going to do my best to help you. I think we’re going to make a great team. You’ll see.”
The hug felt a little awkward, but nice. I returned it the best I could. “I think you might be right. Now, we really have to go.”
We started walking again. It had been a nice day. Claire and I were bonding, and we didn’t get killed by anything. We also weren’t running for our lives. Between that and the beautiful fall afternoon, there was a lot a hope in the air. I think Claire felt it too.
The positive feelings lasted until we rounded a sharp curve and spotted two Red-Eyes in the middle of the road enjoying a meal among some abandoned cars. The Red-Eye that Claire had dispatched by the oak tree was not alone. Damn. It had been a nice day for a change.
We stood there for a while staring at each other. Man and zombie, eyes locked on each other. We were about fifteen to twenty feet apart. I had to act first. “Claire, get behind me,” I barked as I got my rifle ready for battle. I moved Claire to my rear to confuse the two Red-Eyes, and maybe make the coming fight a little easier. Red-Eye #1, the one closest to us, started to move. Claire obeyed and got behind me while Red-Eye #2, who was further away, retreated a little bit. He backed off, and started to circle around to try and flank us.
Something was wrong.
These were not ordinary Red-Eyes. There was something about them that just wasn’t right. Something about them was weird. Red-Eyes were usually pretty sharp, but they always acted like maniacs when they spotted fresh, live meat. They spotted you, and came running.
These guys were different. They moved a little slower, and a lot more deliberately. The two of them almost looked like they were sizing us up, and choosing an attack plan. It was not usual Red-eye behavior. Both of them fixed their big, red, beady eyes on me and my rifle. Then there was the smell. That was somewhat different as well. Worst smell ever. Worse than Claire. Claire was a perfume factory compared to these guys. The Red-Eyes had a pretty bad death smell, but these guys really smelled strong.
I paused for a second. This was hard to figure out. Why had their behavior changed so suddenly?
“Smoke them, John,” Claire yelled. “Kill them!” She tightened her grip on my jacket.
Red-Eye #1 stopped advancing, and seemed to be trying to protect his meal lying on the road. Red-Eye #2 was further away checking out the situation. He’d moved around looking for an opportunity to outflank us, and attack us from the side. Red-Eye #2 was using Red-Eye #1 as a distraction to gain an advantage. They were working together to try and kill us. I make my decision. Even though #1 was closer, #2 needed to die first. If Undead Bastard #2 outflanked me, it was all over, and Claire and I would be the next items on the menu.
I raised my rifle and drew a bead on Red-Eye #2. He saw me aim, and tried to make a quick move to avoid the shot. He’s not quick enough though, and he’s penned in by a few wrecked cars. I splatter his brains all over the car behind him.
“Excellent! Nice shot, John,” Claire exclaimed. Now I had to send Red-Eye #1 back to whatever level of Hell he called home. I drew a bead. Red-Eye #1 started to move closer. Man, was this dude ugly. His hair hung in greasy strands off his head. As the creature advanced, he bared his teeth in a hideous grimace. It almost looked like a big smile. Blood and foam dripped from the corner of his mouth, and he was growling like a mad dog. I got him in my sights, and prepared to end his pain. I pulled the trigger, expecting to see a dead Red-eye at my feet.
Nothing happened. The rifle jammed.
“OhGodOhGodOhGod,” Claire said, over and over.
We started to back up. Red-Eye #1 advanced, one slow step at a time making that horrible growling sound. I still held the useless rifle. Maybe I could jam the butt into his skull. I almost told Claire to run, but I couldn’t seem to find the words. Instead, I kind of pushed her towards a wrecked car for cover. The Red-Eye threw Claire a glance, but he was fixated on me. We got to a clear spot in the road and begin to circle. Red-Eye #1 cocked his head a bit, and sized me up. He looked like he was formulating a plan.
I backed up some more, trying to free the stuck rifle. The Red-Eye began to crouch, getting ready to strike. This was the end. I wouldn’t have time to drop the rifle and pull my gun. By that time, the zombie would have already pulled out my entrails and made a hat out of them. I shot a quick glance at Claire. She was cowering near the trunk of a nearby sedan. Even though I was in full panic mode, I remembered something.
Claire had a gun.
“Claire! Use your gun! Shoot it!” I fell to the ground as the walking corpse jumped on me and began the attack. I jammed the useless rifle into the Red-Eye’s neck and began to struggle for my life. Its teeth got closer as my strength waned. All I could do was close my eyes and wait for the teeth to clamp down on my neck and end it all.
I heard a gunshot at close range. Red-Eye #1 yelped and pulled away, screaming in agony. I started to pull myself to a sitting position to find out what happened.
Standing a few feet away was Claire and her .38. In the space of about a half an hour, Claire had now saved my life twice.
She stood there with her blue eyes wide, in a shooting stance with both hands on the gun. She was scared and frozen in place. I walked over to her and took the weapon out of her hands.
Nice shot, Claire,” I said, wincing in pain. My second fall of the afternoon had done something to my shoulder. I tried to act nonchalant on the outside. Actually, I felt like throwing up.
“Glad I could help,” Claire said in almost a whisper. Then she bent over and threw up.
The excitement was over. Humans 2, Demon Zombies 0. Not that anyone was keeping score or anything. I turned my attention to my rifle. A spent shell had jammed during its exit. A few seconds’ work cleared the weapon, and made it reliable once again. A little piece of malfunctioning metal had nearly killed us both.
I took a glance around. We were safe for the time being, but very exposed on the road. I handed the .38 back to Claire, who was still losing her breakfast. I put my hand on her back.
“Are you okay?” I asked.
She stood up a little unsteady. “Think so. That was the last of what I ate this morning, I think. Did you hurt yourself when you fell?”
I didn’t mention the creeping pain in my right arm. “Yeah. I’m intact. That was fun, huh?”
“Yeah. Lots of fun,” she said. She looked a little pale. “Did he get close enough to bite you?”
“No bites.” I caught a glimpse of movement up the road. It was Red-Eye #1. Claire’s well-timed shot had not closed the deal. He was crawling away down the road, trailing blood and moaning.
“Jesus Christ! I didn’t kill it. Goddammit,” Claire said angrily.
I put my hand up. “I’ll take care of it,” I said, pulling my handgun. “Come with me.” We jogged up ahead of the slowly escaping Red-Eye. A quick look told us that his days of eating humans were over. Claire’s shot was almost perfect. She caught him right on the edge of the skull, near the ear. I aimed my gun at the center of his head, and finished the job. Red-Eye #1 went silent. Claire and I then turned our attention to the body in the middle of the road that had been its last meal. We may have to spare another bullet.
Although the body looked vaguely human in shape, it turned out the Red-Eyes were feasting on a deer. The poor forest-dweller had been mangled and bitten almost beyond recognition. I wondered if they hunted it down, or if they had found it and were scavenging. Based on their behavior, I thought they might have hunted it down. Pretty creepy. I also wondered if deer turned like dogs.
Claire had the same thought. “You don’t think the deer will turn into one of those things, do you?”
“Don’t know. I don’t think so.” To be sure, I put a bullet in the deer’s skull. Claire jumped at the loud report of the gun.
We peered down at the remains of Red-Eye #1. Its eyes had already begun to fade to a pink color in death. It sort of looked like a regular zombie, but its behavior was a little weird. It seemed smarter, and more aware of its surroundings. It’s almost as if the Red-Eyes were changing, or learning how to be better killers.
The Red-eyes were becoming predators. A small shiver ran down my spine.
Claire poked the corpse with her sneaker. “What’s the deal? These guys didn’t act like normal undead geeks. What’s causing them to act like this?”
“I don’t know, but I think things may be changing in the world around us,” I answered, trying to sound brave. Inside, I was shaking like a leaf.
“What if they get so smart we can’t kill them?’ Claire asked. Now she looked really pale.
I didn’t answer. I guess I didn’t even have an answer. Nothing made sense anymore.
We decided to continue our walk. My shoulder was aching a little bit, but no permanent damage had been done. All that zombie fighting had cost us some time, and the afternoon was upon us. A chilly fall wind came up, and it felt a little like rain. Claire and I were going to have to find a hiding place for the night soon.
I would really hate to face these new Red-Eyes in the dark.
Claire and I walked in relative silence for a few more hours. We were both thinking about the incident with the two Red-Eyes.
Why were they changing? Worst of all, would they change into something that we couldn’t defend against? That thought really bothered me.
Recently, it had seemed like things may have been calming down. Instead of large groups of undead, I had only been encountering small gatherings of three or four. These new Red-Eyes posed a problem. Based on our chance encounter, they looked like more formidable hunters. Along with the dogs, they could take over and hunt down all the living things in the whole area.
I looked down at Claire. She and I might be the remnants of a dying species.
A cool, stiff wind blew into our faces, carrying a variety of paper debris into our path. The afternoon was waning. We would have to find a place to bed down soon.
“So, what’s the plan, Tiger?” Claire asked as we passed a school bus. I always tried to avoid abandoned school buses; too many kid zombies might be on board.
“We’ll stick to the original plan,” I answered, as I directed her away from the bus. It looked empty, but you never knew. I really wasn’t up for any more zombie-fighting this afternoon. “We are going to find some supplies, and a place to bed down for the night.”
We walked a little more until we reached an intersection. This one was a little larger than the one where I met Claire. It had multiple lanes going in all directions. Cars and trucks were scattered everywhere. Claire started to walk ahead.
“Wait. Let me take a quick look around,” I said. I put my binoculars to my eyes and took a look. Nothing was alive or moving. The intersection was quiet. Just me and Claire and a lot of slowly rusting cars and trucks. I then took a look across the intersection and saw yet another strip mall.
“What do you think about that strip mall up the road and to the right?” I asked, handing the binoculars to Claire. “It could be a place to resupply and bed down for the night.”
She peered through the binoculars. “Hard to see from here. It may work. Let’s give it a try.”
“Sounds like a plan. Let’s scout it out from the gas station across the street.”
“Okay. I’m ready,” Claire said as she pulled out her revolver.
With my rifle at the ready for any baddies, we started across the intersection. Like most places where two roads met, it was a scene straight out of a nightmare. Multiple lanes of traffic were piled on top of each other, looking like grotesque modern art. Decaying bodies lay here and there among the wreckage where they had died. Several of the cars had burned with their former owners still inside.
Claire stopped and stared at the carnage. “Everything okay?” I asked, reaching for her hand.
“Yeah …Yeah, I’m okay. It’s just a lot of death. They’re not moving around. I guess that’s a good thing. Right?” I agreed. You haven’t really experienced a zombie outbreak till you see one struggling inside a car.
A low moan came from ahead of us. In a burned-out car in front of us, was the corpse of its former owner. It spotted us, and started straining against the seat belts trying to get out. Thinking it was going to get a good meal, it began making a god-awful racket as we got closer to the car.
We both stared at the car for a few moments. “Claire, I have to silence it, or it could bring others to our location.”
“Okay, but be careful.”
I walked slowly up to the car and looked inside. The car was burned to a crisp, along with its occupant. In fact, the zombie was nothing more than a blackened skeleton sitting in the driver’s seat. Part of its collarbone and shoulder was bitten off in a huge chunk. It turned towards me and started making a horrible screeching sound. This might have been the worst one I had ever seen. I dispatched it with a rifle shot, and that unholy sound stopped. Yep, this one was going to be one of my top ten zombies. Just when you thought it couldn’t get any worse, another hellish image pops up in this world.
“Man. That’s just horrible. I don’t think have ever seen one so bad,” Claire said, covering her mouth.
“Yeah. Poor bastard never had a chance.”
We stood there and pondered the fate of the driver in the car for a few minutes. Sometimes you found yourself staring at these horrible scenes unable to look away. What had happened here? Had the driver come upon the accident scene and tried to turn around? Was he or she overrun by the dead? Why had the car burned?
It’s amazing how insensitive you become to all the horror. A few months ago, seeing something like a burned-up zombie in a car would have probably sent Claire and I screaming off into the night. Now we stared at the poor bastard imagining possible scenarios for his or her death.
Must be a coping mechanism or something.
We pulled away from the scene toward the gas station. “You know, I’ve always wondered something,” Claire said as we passed the gas station’s sign. It said $3.61/gallon for regular unleaded.
“What’s that?”
“Who’s going to clean all this stuff up?”
“Don’t know. Maybe nature can take care of it,” I answered half-jokingly. At the same time, I pictured highways and roads turning into fields and city streets turning into forest. Actually, that didn’t sound too bad at all. Maybe future survivors could grow corn or wheat in city parks and empty lots.
We reached the gas station across the street from the mall. It was a large multi-pump affair with a food store attached. Wrecked cars and trucks littered the lot. It also looked like a fire had broken out in the store. The roof had collapsed, and blackened corpses were inside the building. There was a wrecked fire rescue truck parked in front. I wasn’t even going to bother to check it out; it looked like nothing usable remained. Besides, I didn’t feel like stepping over barbecued humans to find supplies.
Claire and I established a lookout point in some decorative bushes. “Make sure nothing sneaks up on us from behind.”
“Okay,” she said, getting her gun ready.
“Don’t shoot me by mistake either.”
“I won’t. Just hurry up and take a look.”
I put the binoculars to my eyes and took my first look at the strip mall. The parking lot was a war zone. There were abandoned cars and trucks scattered everywhere, many with their doors wide open. There were some smaller shops arranged on each side of the larger store in the middle of the mall. There was also a lot of glass and debris lying in piles throughout the parking lot. It looked like some of the vehicles and stores may have been on fire; that explained the hook-and-ladder fire truck on the road near the mall entrance.
There were also a lot of bodies.
I could make out at least twenty to thirty decomposing corpses lying around in the parking lot. I couldn’t tell if they had been zombies or not. Some of the bodies had piles of rotting groceries near them. They must have been alive. I didn’t see anything walking around, but that didn’t mean no bad guys were around. The undead sometimes took to hiding.
I aimed my binoculars at the big store in the middle of the mall. The sign said “Mollie’s Place” in big red neon letters. The “M” was shattered, and red glass was piled on the ground beneath the sign. The store itself was made of brick, with small rectangular windows near the top of the wall. Those windows, and the two sets of automatic doors, were the only glass at the front of the store. A few large trucks were parked in front of the store along with a few wrecked cars. A huge pile of metal shopping carts filled in the spaces between the trucks. It looked like it was done on purpose.
It looked like a barricade. It almost looked like someone had tried to build a fort out of Mollie’s Place.
I handed the binoculars to Claire. “What do you think?”
“Looks pretty blitzed. That’s a lot of bodies.”
I thought about our situation for a minute while she took a look around. We were running low on food and water. Without food and water, we were dead. However, the presence of a barricade might indicate someone was inside. I didn’t want to risk a war with another survivor that might get Claire or myself killed or wounded. Then again, I didn’t see any guards or people walking around, so it may be empty. I think we had to try and get inside.
“John, I got a zombie,” Claire said handing the binoculars back.
I took a look where she was pointing. Sure enough, I saw a figure stumbling through the wreckage of the lot. It was a fireman dressed in full fire jacket and helmet. Poor guy. Came to help and wound up becoming a walking corpse. I hoped he was alone, as I would hate to see an entire battalion of zombie firemen walking around.
Claire looked at me. “What’s the plan, Tiger?”
I thought for a minute and looked across the street. “I think we have to try to get inside. We need a place to stay for the night.”
“All right. Sounds good. Let’s do it,” she said with determination. Claire was such a brave young lady.
We broke out of the bushes, and started across the street. Fireman-Zombie saw us and began to walk over. He was moving pretty fast. We might have to take him out.
“Claire, stay near my side and don’t get too far away. We’ll make a beeline for the door. We not going to run, but don’t dawdle. Oh, and one more thing…”, I paused.
“Yeah, what?”
“Stop calling me ‘Tiger.’”
Claire could only giggle.