The Reawakening (The Living Dead Trilogy, Book 1) (5 page)

“What in the world is that?” he asked.

“Watch out, Rick! Those dogs are coming for us.”

I barely had enough time to finish my sentence when the mangy dog jumped up first. Rick waited a beat and then fired a single shot. The dog instantly fell back against the dirt, a bullet placed squarely above its left eye. Blood and gray pus oozed out of the wound. The black lab followed in the rear. Rick hesitated momentarily and then shot it as well, and it fell dead next to the first dog. He waited for Buster to arrive, cussing angrily as his old pal neared. It must have been hard for Rick to shoot his former best friend. He’d raised Buster from a pup and had nurtured him for the last seven years. “Sorry about this, buddy,” he said, waiting a second too long and allowing Buster the opportunity to jump up and grab the barrel in his teeth. Rick wrestled back control of the gun. The dog recovered and then leapt up at the window, its long nails scratching wildly against the siding. Rick stepped back inside the house, aimed the rifle downward from a standing position, and fired a single round into Buster’s head. The dog flew back and landed with a thump on the dirt. Tears welled up in Rick’s eyes as he surveyed his old friend. He wiped his moist eyes with the back of his hand and leaned out the window to observe his dead dog.

“Rest in peace, pal.”

“Rick, do you hear that noise? It’s coming from the barn.”

“I hear it, but I can’t believe it. I put down that entire herd one by one.” He started towards the back door.

“Obviously not.”

“How could that be? I shot them all in the head.”

“Could you have missed?”

“Missed? With a Glock from two feet? Hell no, Thom. I’m an expert shot. Dammit, I was standing point-blank in front of them when I pulled the trigger.”

“Then there has to be a reasonable explanation.”

“Come on, let’s go out there and see for ourselves.”

He reached in the gun locker, pulled out another rifle, and handed it to me.

“Take this just in case there are any more dogs out there.”

I took the rifle and followed him to the back door. Thousands of birds milled about in the sky, changing formations and careening back and forth. I didn’t want to ascribe our plight to the supernatural, but what else was there? I felt hopeless about our situation and somehow couldn’t resist the feeling that the end of times was near.

We headed towards the barn. A fierce wind kicked dirt up in our path. Blades of grass swayed in the pasture, and the field seemed to take on a life of its own, changing colors and absorbing the sun’s light in an odd manner.

The caterwauling got louder as we approached the barn. It sent chills down my spine. I looked up and watched as the abstract bird formations kept switch-backing and changing direction. What were they doing? The closer we got to the barn, the louder the cows’ cries resonated in our ears. It sounded as if the entire herd had come back to life.

Rick reached the door first and opened it with one pull. Light poured in and illuminated the inside. Hay flew up in the gusts and swirled around in tight spirals. The rank odor hit me first, a horrific mixture of decay and death. I retched into a pile of hay near the far wall. Just below me, I noticed the mauled, bloody chick pecking at the side of my shoe. I kicked it away in horror and stood back. The chick wobbled for a minute before wandering around the corner of the barn and disappearing from sight. When I looked back up, I saw Rick walking down the main aisle and staring in stunned silence at all the cows.

I picked up the rifle and ran after him. The cows were kicking and jumping around in their stalls, trying to free themselves from the narrow confines. Their eyes were not quite black, but more a grayish tint that made them look frighteningly surreal. I walked behind Rick, staring at the abstract blood patterns that had been splattered across the floor and wood slats. Every single one of them had the same bullet hole above their eyes.

“There has to be an explanation,” Rick whispered, shaking his head in disbelief.

“You shot them,” I said. “The only explanation is that they came back to life.”

He turned and looked at me. “Are you kidding me, Thom? I spent over twenty years studying microbiology. That includes studying cellular structure as well as having performed countless autopsies on both animals and humans. I think I know a dead animal when I see one.” He returned his attention back to the cows.

“What else could it be, then?”

“Don’t talk like a damn fool. That’s the stupidest thing I’ve ever heard!” he shouted, gripping the rifle. “I’m telling you right now, there’s a reasonable explanation for why this is happening.”

“Give me just one.”

“I can’t right now. But I will.”

We continued down aisle after aisle, staring at all the distressed livestock struggling to be free from their enclosures. Wads of bloody, pink foam bubbled from their mouths, noses and ears. They kicked back against the wooden pens and glared at us.

Suddenly we heard loud squeals coming from outside the barn. We rushed out and saw that the pigs had started digging frantically in the mud and attacking each other with their bared teeth.

“Please tell me that you didn’t put them down, too?”

He turned and gave me a look. Yes, he’d slaughtered all the pigs in addition to the cows.

“If those pigs break loose from that pen, they’ll wreak havoc everywhere,” he said. “I’m going back into the barn and finish off the job. You head over to the pen and put a bullet in each and every one of their goddamn skulls. Stay far enough away, Thom, so that you don’t get bitten. It appears that all the farm animals have come down with the virus. It’s rare when it happens, but if that’s the case, then we’ll need to barricade ourselves inside the house until it burns out.”

“Jesus, Rick, what are you going to do about Susan?”

“Like I said, it’s rare that a virus of this type has the same effect on humans. But just in case, I loaded her to the gills with anti-virals. She should be fine once it works its way into her system. Now go finish those sows off.”

The thought of slaughtering those pigs filled me with dread, but I knew that I had no other choice. I’d never shot a living thing before, and my hands were shaking. I was going to kill a living thing merely to put it out of its misery, not for nourishment. Their death was to safeguard us from disease.

Rick fired the first shot, and the dead animal collapsed to the floor in a heap. By the time I reached the pen, my hands were noticeably trembling. I lifted the rifle to my shoulder and pointed it at the first pig charging towards me. Its head collided angrily against the rail. Its snout protruded through the opening and blew out a spray of saliva that flew up in my face. Terrified, I wiped it away with the back of my sleeve and staggered backward, fearful that I’d been infected. I raised the weapon and pointed it down at the pig. Its eyes flared and widened as it snarled, and its hind legs kicked mud up behind it and onto the surrounding pigs. I pulled the trigger and fired. The bullet struck it in the shoulder, but the wound only seemed to embolden it. I stared in shock, noticing that not a drop of blood spilled from it. It was as if this pig was made of stuffing, like one of the toy animals Dar kept on the shelves of her bedroom. I lifted the gun and aimed again, this time nailing it between the eyes. It collapsed instantly and fell back into the mud. I went around and methodically shot each pig in the face. When the deed had been completed, I stood staring at all the carcasses, feeling strangely aroused by what I had just done, and almost drunk with raw power. It gave me such a high that it filled my entire being with a primal emotion that made me feel invincible.

Rick was closing the barn doors by the time I made my way back. Above us, the skies looked ominous, filled with so many birds that they blocked out much of the sun. We went back inside and settled in the dining room. After a few minutes passed, Rick went upstairs to check on Susan. I went into the living room and knelt down next to Dar, who was still asleep. I placed the back of my hand on her forehead. Thankfully, it felt cool to the touch.
Better to let her sleep
, I thought. I went into the kitchen, made another pot of coffee, and returned to the dining room with fresh cups for both Rick and myself.

“How’s Susan?” I asked when he came back down.

“Still sleeping. Her fever hasn’t yet broken, which concerns me, but overall I think it’s a good sign that it hasn’t gotten worse. I’m convinced that she’ll come out of it, especially considering all the anti-virals I gave her.”

“Dar’s still sleeping, and thankfully, she doesn’t have a fever.” I sipped the hot coffee. “Now that Susan seems to be doing better, I think I should be heading back to Boston once Dar wakes up.”

“Might want to wait another day, Thom. If this thing is spreading—and I’m not saying it is—it’ll certainly be worse down there. Best thing to do is to give it twenty-four hours and see what happens. At the very least, drive down to the general store and call your wife, and see if she and Stephen are okay.”

“I doubt they’re having any problems down in Boston. Ever seen any cows grazing in the Commons?”

“Yeah, you’re probably right. Still, you can’t be too careful.”

He removed a clear plastic bag from his jacket and tossed it on the table. I stared at it, trying to make out what was inside it. It looked to be a piece of leather.

“It’s an ear from one of the dead cows.”

I stared at in revulsion, wondering what he was doing with a cow’s ear.

“I’m going to take it down to my lab and examine it, and try to determine the cause of this outbreak.”

“You have a lab downstairs? I thought you were coming up here to shovel shit and forget about the rest of humanity?”

“Yeah, well, I lied.”

I’d always been secretly scornful of his decision to leave academia and New York City in order to move up to Maine. It seemed a rebuke of my own lifestyle, a slap in the face for all the decisions that I’d made by choosing to live in Boston. But I never admitted this to him.

“Let’s just say that I like to keep abreast of the latest innovations in the field, especially after having studied genetics all those years.” He stared at me, as if wanting to admit something else but afraid to.

“What is it, Rick?”

“I might as well tell you now, Thom. The crops I raise up here are not your garden variety. They’re a direct result of the research I’ve been doing in DNA.”

“You mean you’ve tinkered with their genes?”

“Of course I did, and it happens all the time in agriculture. It’s no big deal, Thom. Just by changing a few sequences of DNA, I was able to make these plants more resistant to Maine’s winter. I was also able to create produce that was both tastier and more efficient to grow. It’s an important part of nature, and a technology that’s here to stay.” He stared at me. “You tasted the corn and squash we had for dinner last night. What did you think?”

“They were delicious, but that’s more a testament to Susan’s cooking than your Frankenfood.”

Rick laughed and stuffed the ear back in his pocket.

“Don’t you think you’re playing with fire by messing with Mother Nature?”

“Wake up, Thom. It’s being done all the time these days in corporate agriculture. The only difference is that they have few ethical standards when it comes to these matters. With them, it’s all about the dollar, volume, and boosting the stock price. I farm with care and integrity and with no financial motive other than to make a living. Besides, it’s just Mendel experimenting with his peas all over again, mixing the genes to create a stronger hybrid.”

“You’re messing with the environment, Rick, and that worries me.”

“What the hell do you know about the environment, Thom? You complain all the time about environmental degradation and global warming, and yet you sit on your ass writing books. What if I told you I had the ability to create a plant that doesn’t require pesticides and can grow in all different climates? And what if I told you that because of my tinkering we could feed the world many times over, thereby reducing the carbon footprint required to transport crops from one place to another? Would you tell me to go to hell then?”

“Probably not. But it still sounds scary.”

“Anything does when you’re not familiar with the technology.”

Dar stumbled into the dining room and sat in the chair next to me. She looked tired, almost stoned, and I attributed it to the shock waves still coursing through her fragile mind.

“How you doing, kiddo?” I put my hand over hers.

“I just want to go home really bad, Dad.”

“Your Aunt Susan isn’t feeling well. I just want to make sure she’s okay before we head out.”

“What’s wrong with her?”

“I think the situation has stressed her out,” Rick said.

“She doesn’t have what all those animals have, does she?”

“No, she’s fine. Your aunt Susan just needs a little rest.”

“What do you think, Rick? We can stay and help you out with Susan if you like.”

“Nah, I think you’re good to go home. We should be fine now. Besides, there’s not much we can do for Susan at the moment, except let her rest and make sure she’s well hydrated. Hell, I can do all that. I’ve got plenty of medicine and Tylenol. Pays to be prepared.”