Aftershock: A Collection of Survivors Tales (9 page)

You ever walk through the woods? You ever walk through the woods for a really long time? You ever walk through the woods for a really long time trying not to get attacked by zombies? You ever walked through the woods for a really long time trying not to get attacked by zombies with the smell of shit clogging up your sinuses? I washed my pants at the first stream I came to, but you know, even with a bunch of detergent that smell never really comes out. Neither do the stains. So I walked around for a long fucking time. No idea where I was or where I was going. Funny thing about waiting to die, you don’t give a shit about anything anymore. I drank when I found water, ate when I found food. Once I grabbed a handful of what I thought were edible berries. They weren’t. I spent what I figure was a day or two tripping my ass off and when I woke up, I had shit my pants. Again. I think I got bitten again while I was out of it. There was blood all over me. So I just kept wandering. And not dying. Fucked up shit.

At one point I came up to a wall. Looked like it was put up in a hurry. With nowhere else to go I started following it around. I heard people on the other side, but before I could run I heard a shotgun rack and the bolt of a rifle slammed into place. I put both hands in the air.

“Don’t shoot!” I called out, “I ain’t a fucking zombie!”

I saw two heads peak up over the top of the wall behind a rifle and a shotgun.

“P-p-put your hands up!” Mr. Shotgun said, scared shitless.

I looked at my hands already in the air and the looked back at him trying to keep the sarcasm off my face.

“No problem Chief. Just take your finger off the trigger for me. I ain’t armed and I’m not crazy either.”

I could tell right away that these two had no idea what to do with the weapons they held, but at ten feet, everybody’s a sharpshooter.

We stood there for a surreal couple of minutes shooting the shit like the world wasn’t burning and they weren’t sort of holding me at gunpoint. I told them who I was and where I’d come from. I left out the part about shitting my pants. And the part about getting bitten. After a few minutes they began to let their guard down. Fucking amateurs. If I really a threat I could have taken them both out no sweat. Pulled them down off the wall and beat their fucking heads in with that fancy rifle. All of the sudden I hear this screechy voice on the other side of the wall.

“Timothy! What’s going on?! Who’s there?!”

“There’s some guy here. He seems okay,” one guy says. I’m guessing that one was Timothy.

“Is he armed?” came the voice.

“Doesn’t look like it,” the other one said.

“I’m not armed,” I called over the wall, “And I’m pretty harmless I guess.”

“I’ll get Reverend Mathis.” Then I heard her scurry away.

“Who’s the broad?” I asked.

“That’s the Reverend’s assistant. Francine. She can be a bit abrasive.” That was the other guy, Not Timothy.

“A bit,” I laughed, “Yeah seems that way.”

We stood there for a while, them pointing guns at me. Me smelling like shit. I wondered if they could smell me from where they were. I could hear the broad coming, talking a mile a minute to some poor bastard.

“Timothy, bring him around to the gate.” A male voice, calm-like. I wish he would have told the other guy to do it, then I could know his name.

Timothy motioned me to head south along the wall. I walked until I found the gate they were talking about. I heard a couple latches let go inside and it slid sideways along a track.

I stood face to face with an old guy who just had to be the Rev they were talking about. Francine was there too. Bouncing around behind him like a fucking Chihuahua on crank. Firing off questions without waiting for him to answer.

“Quiet Francine. Let us greet our new guest. My name is Samuel Mathis. This is Francine and Timothy, you’ve met. The other gentleman is Robert. Pardon the firearms, we can’t be too careful. There have been others not so polite as yourself coming around as of late. As if a plague of the walking dead were not enough to deal with… Ah well, if Man were not inherently evil perhaps we would not be in this situation… But before I break into a sermon. Please tell us your name.”

“Daniel. Daniel Forster. At your service.”

After making the acquaintances they led me inside the gate and closed it. I saw them throw three heavy latches and drop a huge log in place. Weird, but for the first time since this whole fucking thing broke out, I felt relief. Not safe, not by a damn sight, but relieved. I was around people, real people. Not like the jag offs from my unit. Those guys were real assholes. These people were good. I could tell right off the bat. I liked this reverend guy. I took a look around at their little compound. The wall looked pretty solid and as far as I could tell circled the whole place. There was scaffolding around most of it. Smart move. Good firing positions around the whole perimeter. Looked like they were trying to farm in some areas. I could see animal pens too. I immediately started thinking about bacon. My stomach growled and I realized I hadn’t had anything real to eat in at least a few weeks.

“Someone sounds hungry,” Mathis laughed. “We should get you fed. Francine, go and have Mary fix a plate for Daniel.”

He leaned in close and whispered in my ear, “We should probably get you a new pair of pants too.”

I laughed it off like it was a joke, but I will tell you right now, and fuck you for judging, but I almost cried right there. After how many months of dealing with assholes and cannibals, to have somebody offer to do something nice for me, something good… Even something as simple as offering me a clean pair of fucking pants. The Rev gave me the nickel tour. It was a fairly solid little spread. Pretty defensible from a military standpoint, even if it looked like most of the people here looked they wouldn’t know how to field strip a taco, let alone a rifle. Still, with a little training and the right fortifications this place looked as good as any for a standoff against a couple hundred walking corpses.

“Quite the setup you got here Rev,” I said.

“We have done what we can with what we have been given. There isn’t a man among us with any real training for this sort of thing. We have a few farmers, a couple of auto mechanics, various and sundry tradesmen, some with hunting experience, but no real military training. That is, until now.” He smiled and put a hand on my shoulder, stopping us in the middle of the street. “You see, I prayed to the Lord to send you here, and now you have arrived praise God.”

“Whoa there Rev. I don’t know how much the Big Guy had to do with my getting here. I just wandered through the woods waiting to die… with no real destination and I just sort of ended up here. I’ll help out if I can and stick around until it’s time for me to leave, but don’t go throwing any divine providence bullshit at me. I can’t handle that kind of pressure right now.”

“As you wish my friend. We could certainly use your expertise here. And I won’t force my divine providence as you call it, on you. For now, get something to eat and get some rest. Tomorrow we’ll put you to work.”

He laughed and clapped me on the back. The group led me to what passed for a mess hall around here. I had two plates of chow, some kind of stew, and more water that I think I have ever drunk in one sitting. I ripped off a loud belch and excused myself.

“He likes your stew Fran,” The Rev called into the kitchen. “I have instructed the residents here to leave you alone until after you have some rest. Needless to say they are quite anxious to meet you. We haven’t had any newcomers in some time, except for the boy, but you will meet him as well. For now, I have taken the liberty of preparing my own room for you. It’s one of the few areas that affords any privacy here I’m afraid. Tomorrow we will show you the rest of the compound and allow some of the others to introduce themselves.”

With that somebody came and took my plate, then the Rev walked me outside and up a hill to a house. An actual, honest-to-goodness house with four walls and a roof. We went inside and up the stairs to the softest, sweetest looking bed I have ever seen. Really it was just a cot mattress and an old box spring with a ratty blanket, but it looked like the fucking Hilton to me.

The Rev wished me a good night and closed the door. I asked if he was going to tuck me in. He just chuckled and said he would be downstairs on the couch if I needed anything. I don’t know what happened, but as soon as my head hit that pillow I was out. Next thing I know the sun is coming in the window and stabbing at my eyes.

Two weeks passed like lightening on the rooftop. Mick, Garett and I spent a few hours each day scouting the town below. There were no people, and no zombies. After the first week of no sightings we allowed the girls to come with us on our trips. Zoe was prepared as usual. She had a notebook filled with lists of items that would help us when we finally moved on from the slice of paradise we had found. I began to rethink the notion that we needed to follow the flyer. Why leave a perfectly safe and abundant shelter? If we changed our plans we could find a building in the area and fortify it.

No one was in agreement with me. They all saw the roof and this town as a layover. Where I saw an end to running, they saw a fill up station on our way to the true destination. Every day that passed I felt more compelled to push the issue. With each scouting trip we found ourselves faced with the problem of too much. There were too many things for us to take, and not enough room for us to take them. How’s that for a problem? My solution was to stay, and keep all the stuff. Too bad I was the only one to think this was a good idea.

Hannah had found a room in one of the houses that had been owned by a girl who could have been her best friend. The clothes, toys, books were perfect for her. I allowed her a few hours to replace all of the worn out, oversized things we had found on the road along the way. They never had a chance to pack, or take anything of their own when I grabbed them from their home. This bedroom was a blessing for the morale of a road weary little girl.

I sent Mick, Garett, and Zoe off to find more practical items. I wanted some time to spend with my niece, the only innocent person left on the planet for all I knew. Her sister and brother had begun the process of growing cynical and tired. Hannah was the exception. She was still a child at heart, and wanted to find magic in this broken world.

“Aunt Amy?”

“Yes peanut?”

“May I try on some of the clothes before we go?”

Looking into her eyes I saw she was afraid that I would deny this request. How could I though? This child had been positive through the hardest conditions. She kept a brave face and a smile even as we were chased by the monsters that used to only occur in the nightmares of children. Sighing, I put on my best smile and began picking clothes from the closet. I did my best to take out the frilliest and pinkest items I could find.

Hannah twirled around the room as she sported each new ensemble. As luck would have it, there was a wooden jewelry box with a wind up ballerina that spun as music played. The moment I showed it to Hannah, she stared at the small treasure and giggled joyfully. There we were, in the middle of the end of the world, and I was holding hands and spinning with the last ballerina left on the planet. It was like a dream I never wanted to end.

Tears rolled down her tiny cheeks. “What’s wrong Hannah? Did I do something wrong?”

“No Aunt Amy. Nothing is wrong. For the first time since you got us I feel like everything is right.”

I pulled her into a tight hug. Laughing and crying at the same time I assured her that I knew exactly how she felt. With one big turn, I turned the hug into a whirling dance. Her tears dried up and the cheerfulness rose and swelled until it was a wave of happiness that was better than any high ever experienced. Simple joy is hard to come by in humanities last days.

When we finally emerged, Hannah was a dressed in a fairy costume. Prior to leaving Hannah awarded me the title of fairy god aunt. Ribbons hung down from a poorly constructed bun, but my shoddy hair work was gratefully hidden beneath the most beautiful crown of flowers I had ever seen. It seemed the little girl who lived in this abandoned home had the same love of dress up that Hannah had. I loaded up all the items Hannah had picked in a wagon I had found in the back yard. She skipped merrily down the street a few feet ahead of me as we made our way back to the roof.

Three trucks came barreling down the street towards us. Dropping the wagon handle I ran towards Hannah. She froze in the middle of the street. Time slowed to a crawl, but I couldn’t force my muscles to move any faster. They must have believed we were zombies, no one would run a child over on purpose otherwise. My mouth was open, but no scream would come. I couldn’t warn her to move out of the way.

A small breeze blew and Hannah’s ribbons danced around her head. Surely they would see she wasn’t shuffling and moaning. At the last second Hannah found her voice and let out a shriek. But it was too late. They had sped up, aimed right at her and crushed my darling niece under the front of the first truck. I screamed in agony as I watched my little girl, my innocent fairy angel destroyed in a heartbeat. The windows opened, and the men inside began to shoot at me.

I took cover behind a car, praying that they would drive away. Maybe I could still save her I thought to myself. As the engines roared off in the distance I scrambled to her side. She was already gone. Clutching her body close to mine I rocked and cried in the middle of the road. I don’t know how long I sat there with her broken body pressed against my chest. The next thing I knew Mick was pulling me up. He was asking questions that I couldn’t hear or understand.

Garett just stared down at his sister. Zoe collapsed into a heap a good thirty feet away. I gathered what strength I had left and made my way over to her. As I hugged her all I could say was I’m sorry over and over again. Her crying echoed my own. We would never be the same. Hannah was the light of our group, and without her we were going to be like a body without its heart. We had lost our soul.

Garett kicked the wagon’s contents in the middle of the street. Anger bubbled inside of him, and without the culprits to take it out on he began to convulse. Her body was so light from the lack of true nutrition on the road that she weighed nothing as I cuddled her in my arms and walked towards the unknown destination where we would entomb our smallest family member. Mick and Garett buried her small body in a field under a tree. I nailed the fairy wings to the trunk. This way anyone who came across her grave would know someone magical was laid to rest there.

When we crawled back up on the roof that night I knew staying was no longer an option. In fact I needed to get out of the town, off the roof as quickly as possible. We spent the next few days going through the motions. Zoe was not to be left behind anymore, after losing her sister she was no longer a child. We added a trailer to the back of our SUV and filled it with as many supplies as we could. Looking out the rearview mirror as we pulled away from the cursed town I felt I finally knew why it was empty. Even the zombies knew to stay away from this place. It was a wolf wrapped in sheep’s clothing. A town that from the outside looked like paradise, but really was hell on earth.