Surviving Amid the Zombies Read online

  Taylor’s shoulders sagged as he shuffled toward the stairs. “Come on, Christina. I’ll read you a story.”

  “What are you talking about?” Lawrence asked. “I thought you wanted to come.”

  The boy looked up as if he was not sure whether he was being tricked. “I do, but somebody’s gotta stay with Christina.”

  “I’m not a baby!” She cried.

  “I know you’re not,” Lawrence answered. “She’s coming with us.”

  The look of disbelief on our faces must have been clear to the detective, because he said, “Think about it. I mean, she’s gotta go outside sometime, right? Why not today?”

  It took me a moment to find the words, but I finally responded, “Are you serious? It’s safer for her to stay here.”

  “It’s okay, Detective Lawrence,” Taylor said forcing his lips into a weak smile. “I’ll hang out here with Christina.”

  “No! We’re all goin’!” The detective barked out the command. His cold glare put a chill into the room before melting into a broad grin. “You wanna get outside, right?”

  “Yeah,” Taylor answered with obvious suspicion.

  “Well, then it’s settled. We’re all goin’ on a gas run!” Lawrence looked absolutely thrilled as he smiled at Kelly.

  The blank expression curled into a smile. “Well, the more the better.”

  I simply stared at them in disbelief. “What the hell are you talking about? This isn’t some family picnic! In case you haven’t noticed, the world has gone to shit. And you two are making jokes about risking all of our lives. How about you just shut the fuck up and concentrate on getting this gas without anybody getting killed!”

  The others turned their eyes to the floor of the basement as if they had just been scolded by a teacher. Lawrence and Kelly quietly went to work on gathering the gas cans. Taylor and Christina stood together at the bottom of the stairs watching me.

  After a moment, the little girl whispered, “Kevin said a bad word.”

  Taylor looked down at her, smiled and said, “Yes, he did, because he’s very angry.”

  She looked over at me with fear clear in her eyes. I smiled at her, and she smiled back. The fear vanished.

  I walked over to Lawrence and asked, “So what do you think. Is it better to drive one of the cars to the gas station and risk attracting every shell in the city, or keep quiet by walking the distance?”

  “Definitely the car,” Kelly quickly replied.

  Lawrence looked at him for a moment then answered, “Yeah, I hafta agree with him on this. The car is safer.”

  “Well, I guess we really should have thought about replacing that radiator hose on our car,” I said, wondering how we could have forgotten this. “I don’t suppose you have a car, do you?” I asked Kelly.

  “I have a van,” he answered.

  I had to stifle my laugh at the thought that I should have known the old hippie would have a van.

  “Better yet!” Taylor said. “So we won’t have to squish ourselves into a car with all the gas cans.”

  “Well, if we’re gonna take the van, I’ve gotta unload it.” He looked around at our expressions of curiosity. “I sorta had it loaded up with supplies just in case I had to take off in a hurry.”

  I wondered for just a second at what precisely he thought might force him to take off in a hurry. Before I had a chance to put my thoughts into words, Lawrence spoke up.

  “Somehow I’m not surprised you have a van,” he chuckled. “So I guess we should get going.”

  He turned and took Christina’s hand while the rest of use grabbed gas cans that Kelly had lashed together in threes with twine through the handles.

  We followed the thin maintenance man through the door leading out to the alley.

  “My van is parked behind the next building,” Kelly said as he led us down the alley. “Like I said it’s kinda messy, but it’ll get us where we’re going.”

  This disclaimer did nothing to build up my expectations of the van we were going to find. I pictured a beat up old van, maybe gray-primer colored. This mental image made the reality of what I was to see more startling.

  We waited as Kelly unlocked the gate at the end of the alley. He relocked the gate as soon as we had gone through. He then led us to another large solid metal gate a few hundred feet away.

  “This was where alla the store employees parked. I figured it was the safest place to park my van,” Kelly said as he unlatched the gate.

  He swung open one side of the gate to reveal a surprisingly large parking lot.

  “Well, there she is!” Kelly announced brightly and turned to relock the gate behind us.

  What I saw certainly blew my expectations out of the water. Perhaps, it was my preconceived notion about an old hippie with a van that set me up, but the well-kept, large, white campervan in the parking lot caught me by surprise.

  Lawrence clearly shared my feeling, and he exclaimed, “Damn! That is sure not what I was expecting!” He glanced over at Kelly and then at me. “When you said van, I figured you meant some broke down, psychedelic piece of crap. This is something else. What is it, a twenty footer?”

  “Twenty-five.” Kelly grinned despite himself.

  “Wait! You had this tricked-out campervan just waiting, and you stuck around here?” Taylor shook his head with disbelief. “I woulda been so outta here!”

  “Dude, don’t think I didn’t consider it,” Kelly said and paused a moment as if thinking about his words. “But the thing is, where am I gonna go? I mean, who knows if there is any place safe anymore. I thought maybe later after things settled down then…” He let the words trail off without finishing.

  I looked at him, wondering just how close he had come to leaving us behind.

  “Well, let’s get going,” Lawrence commented as we reached the van.

  Kelly kept his eyes on the detective as he unlocked the door at the rear of the van. Taylor pushed closer to get a better look inside.

  “Hey, I can’t see,” Christina complained as she was blocked out.

  I moved over and lifted her high enough to see inside the van. From that vantage point, she could see several filled burlap bag piled on a gray couch along one side and the sink, small refrigerator, and stove on the other.

  “Let’s go camping in the mountains!” The little girl squealed.

  Kelly looked over at her and said, “Sorry, not

  this time.” He pulled out the folding metal steps from beneath the door and climbed inside the van.

  Taylor sprung up and through the door next.

  Lawrence went next. He turned and his big form filled the doorway as he helped the giggling Christina up into the van.

  Once the way was clear, I stepped into the van. I turned, lifted the stairs, and closed the door. The sound of the door closing seemed to startle the others, and they turned quickly toward me.

  “What?” I asked.

  “Uh…just jumpy from being in small spaces, I guess,” Lawrence answered.

  No one else said anything but simply went back to looking around the campervan.

  Taylor opened the small refrigerator to find that it was stuffed with a variety of packaged food. In fact, he had trouble reclosing the door as some food fell out.

  “Yuck!” Christina said, picking up a pack of tofu.

  “That’s good for protein,” Kelly said as he grabbed the food from Christina. “Just leave it alone!”

  After a moment of paralysis, she wailed, ran to Lawrence, and buried her face in his stomach. The big cop was taken by surprise. Once he regained his composure, he glared at Kelly and began stroking Christina’s blond hair.

  “It’s okay, honey. I’m sure he didn’t mean to yell at you.” His glances at me and Taylor and even Kelly made it clear made it clear how uncomfortable the situation made him.

  The little girl continued to keep herself pressed into the detective’s big body even as he moved over to sit down on the couch. It was comical to see her shuffling in time w
ith the big cop’s movement, and I had to stifle a smile.

  None of us wanted to be the first to disturb the scene by moving. Instead, we simply stood and watched.

  Finally, Christina raised her head, sniffled, and looked over at the bags piled next to her. “What are those things?”

  “Just some bags, honey,” Lawrence answered.

  She sniffled some more as she looked from the bags to Lawrence. “What’s in them?”

  “I’m not sure.”

  Both of them turned to look at Kelly for the answer. The thin man was standing near the driver’s seat of the vehicle.

  “None of your business,” he replied with obvious irritation.

  The words sent Christina back into tears and back to Lawrence’s stomach.

  “It’s okay, Christina. Kelly’s gonna apologize for being mean to you.”

  The detective again glared at the maintenance man. This time there was a difference. Lawrence’s scowl was met be an expression of pure loathing from Kelly. If he was taken aback, nothing in Lawrence’s expression showed it. For several seconds that

  seemed to drag on forever, nothing changed except for the growing tension.

  Finally, Kelly’s lips curled into a grin even as the fury remained in his eyes. “Sorry, Christina. Those bags are just filled with clothes and towels and stuff.” He did not wait for any further response but turned to sit in the driver’s seat.

  After a moment, the van’s engine roared to life. The entire van vibrated with the idling rhythm.

  “Someone needs to go out there and open the gate,” he declared.

  No one jumped up to accept the job, so I found myself saying, “I’ll do it.” Even as the words came out, I felt the tingle of regret moving from the back of my neck all the way down to the pit of my stomach.

  Kelly swiveled around in the driver’s seat to hand me the key to the gate. I took them from his outstretched hand and looked at the plastic orange tag reading “Everything for the good life! Barstow & Sons’ Sporting Goods and Camping Supplies”. Something about the happy message made me smile, but the smile quickly turned to sadness as I wondered what had become of Bartow and his sons.

  When I looked up from the tag, I found that my changing expressions had drawn the attention of my companions.

  “Are you okay, Kevin?” Christina asked.

  I smiled at her and said, “Oh, I’m fine, Christina. Thanks for asking.”

  “I hate to interrupt this warm and fuzzy moment, but we need to get moving, dude,” Kelly said.

  “I’m on it!” It took all of my energy to sound confident as I strolled to the back of the van and out the door.

  I shut the door, and the van began turning around toward the gate. The rumble of the engine was loud and deep. I trotted to the gate and grabbed the padlock to insert the key before noticing the slight rattling sound.

  I looked down at my feet as a hand and the arm stretched under the gate toward my ankle. Fortunately, I jumped back before the fingers could close around me.

  “Fuck me!” I screamed to no one.

  I kicked at the arm, and it quickly retreated back under the gate.

  I had a moment of pure uncertainty. Should I go ahead and open the gate even if there were shells on the other side? Should I run back to the van? Or was there something else to do? I looked through the slight opening in the gate hoping that the answer might present itself. Unfortunately, I could see nothing on the other side of the gate.

  The next thing I saw was my hand reaching over to grab the padlock once more. The key slid in and was turned. The shackle popped open, and the lock was removed from the lengths of chain welded into either side of the gate.

  Suddenly, the only sound that my ears could pick up was the deep rhythmic rumbling of the van’s engine. In the next instant, the gate flew open and the wave of shells spilled in. They were on top of me before I could so much as turn. The hands and fingers and teeth sank into my flesh. I opened my mouth to scream. As I did, I looked down at my hand and everything else vanished.

  In my palm was the key with the bright orange tag reading “Everything for the good life! Barstow & Sons’ Sporting Goods and Camping Supplies”. I looked behind to see the van. Inside, everyone was near the windshield watching me with expressions of curiosity. I nodded to them and turned back to the gate. Without further delay or distraction, I unlocked the gate and yanked both sides open.

  Somehow the sunlight seemed a lot brighter on the other side of the gate. The glare caught my eyes by surprise. What at first appeared to be an empty street in front of me revealed something else as my vision cleared. On the ground a few yards away was partially-decomposed shell dragging itself toward me. I focused on the gleaming whiteness of its skull before being distracted by movement caught in the corner of my eye. Off to the left was a group of about twenty shells shuffling toward me.

  I spun around with the idea of running back to the van to find it was already moving up right behind me. In fact, it was coming up so fast that for a moment I thought it was going to run me down and jumped out of the way. Maybe they had decided that I was not contributing much to the group and everyone would be better off without me. It is certainly funny how such ridiculous things can find their way into your mind during times of stress.

  The van stopped suddenly as it filled the space left by the open gate. The back door opened, and Lawrence stuck his head out. “C’mon we don’t have all day!” He barked.

  I scrambled around to the door and jumped in. Before I was completely settled, Kelly hit the accelerator and the van jumped forward. The result was that I very nearly tumbled back out the door. I probably would have if Taylor had not grabbed my arm and pulled me forward.

  “Thanks,” I said once I had gotten my balance.

  “No problem,” he answered and grinned.

  Chapter 3

  Kelly turned left and drove straight through the mob of shells. The van shuddered and

  rocked as it struck then ran over bodies.

  “Bouncy!” Christina squealed, sitting on the couch with Taylor blocking her view of the windshield.

  He turned to her and laughed.

  Kelly was not laughing as he yelled, “Damn, there’s a lot more of those things than I thought!”

  Lawrence moved up front into the passenger seat. I started to follow him, but then stopped and said to Taylor, “Why don’t you play a fun game with Christina…uh…so she doesn’t get bored.”

  The boy nodded, showing he understood what I meant. “Christina, I’m thinking of an animal. Can you guess what it is?”

  “Does it have claws?” She asked with a giggle.

  I turned to look through the windshield, and what I saw felt like a punch in the stomach. There were shells everywhere. As far as I could see down the street in front of us, those undead things were shuffling around, rocking back and forth, but mostly they were moving toward us.

  “Any ideas?” I asked weakly, expecting no answer which is what I got.

  I looked down at Kelly and happened to catch sight of the fuel gauge showing a full tank. I felt so stupid that it had not occurred to me before. “Shit, why the hell didn’t we just syphon the gas out of this thing? We could have gotten enough gas to last for months!”

  Lawrence looked up at me and then turned to Kelly. “Seems like he’s got a point.”

  Kelly stared out at the street for a moment without saying anything. “Are you guys fucking kidding me? If we drained this thing, we’d have no chance o getting away.” Before either Lawrence or I could say anything, he announced, “Better hold on to something, this might get pretty bumpy.”

  He stomped his foot on the gas pedal, and the van lunged forward.

  There was a thud from the back, and Christina yelled, “Ow!”

  “Hold on tight, you two!’ Lawrence called

  out.

  “Thanks for the--” Taylor was cut off by the bounce of the van as it moved over the first body.

  Over the next few of min
utes, the van alternated between the thuds of shells being struck down and bouncing over the bodies.

  Taylor and Christina made a game of bouncing with the van like it was some sort of bucking bronco. A strange game to be sure, but the boy was a genius for keeping the girl and maybe himself from realizing the horror of what was happening outside the van.

  From where I stood staring through the windshield, it was impossible to escape the unreal carnage that was taking place. They just kept moving forward as the van sped toward them. They made no attempt to avoid the oncoming vehicle. I wondered if they did not realize that the impact would break them in two, and I wondered if they knew but did not care. Maybe something inside the shells welcomed the end, a halt to their endless slow shamble. Who knew? Or maybe I should have asked who cared? After all, it was a waste of time to ponder a question to which the answer did not matter in the least.

  I emerged from my thoughts just in time to see a woman in a nurse’s uniform with one arm missing stumble into view. In the next instant, she disappeared under the van, and I felt the shape of her body as the wheels rolled over her.

  Finally, the van rolled clear of the mass of bodies and into an empty street.

  “Well, I gotta say that was a loada fun,” Lawrence said, sounding especially tired.

  Kelly was silent for a minute before a huge laugh burst from him. “I knew those things ain’t nothin’ that this baby can’t handle!” He petted the dashboard with affection.

  “I can’t argue with that!” Taylor commented as he walked up to the front of the van.

  “How much further?” I asked.

  “Just a couple of blocks, up here on the right,” Kelly answered as he slowed to take a look at our destination.

  Up ahead, we could see one of those little gas station-convenience stores on the right side of the street. I assumed the older two-story brick building across the street was the supply store Kelly had mentioned earlier.

  My honest impression was that we had risked a great deal for what appeared to be not much in return. I started to put my impression into words but stopped myself. Lawrence did not.

  “We really came all this way for that?” He asked. “Are you kidding me? There must be a better gas station around here.”