And This Too: A Modern Fable (9 page)

“Day 4: It has been days since my angel was sent to me. One last taste of humanity before I die, I guess. Not many of the infected have meandered here yet, and I have shot the ones that have. I’m tired; I smell; and I’m fucking sick of gas station food. A small part of me hopes that someone will come save me, because I’m not so sure anymore that mom and dad would have wanted it this way with me waiting for my untimely death. And I don’t really want to be barbequed in my parents’ gas station.”

Part Two:

The Light

Seven

Somewhere in New Mexico

              “Hush little baby don’t say a word, Mommy’s goina buy you a mocking bird, and if that mocking bird don’t sing, Mommy’s gonna buy you a diamond ring, and if that diamond ring is brass, Mommy’s gonna buy you a looking glass…”

             
Joanna cut herself off with a convulsive bay, holding the still born baby to her chest while rocking back and forth. She couldn’t speak; all she could do was cry. Joanna’s sister Marissa started to weep too, that baby was really all Joanna had left to hope for, but Marissa supposed that in these horrible times, hope was a silly notion.

             
“Jo…”

             
“Mommy and daddy are dead,” Joanna sobbed, “Daniel’s dead, Mark’s dead, Joey’s dead and now… Now I don’t have anything to remember Daniel by. Our baby is dead.”

             
Despite the fact that the girl she held in her arms was cold and silent, Joanna kept rocking her.

             
“Jo… we still have each other.”

             
Joanna sniffled before replying, “I suppose that should be enough.”

             
Marissa smiled at her sister.

             
“I need a few minutes alone,” Joanna said quietly.

             
Marissa only nodded, stood up from the arm chair next to her sister’s bed, and left the room without saying anything.

             
Joanna looked down at the blood soaked sheets--all that work and pain for nothing. She gently laid the swaddled corpse in the arm chair; and, even though the woman was exhausted, she began to tear the bed sheets off the queen sized mattress. As she opened the second story window, Joanna began to sing again, trying to drown out the overpowering “NUUUUUUUUUUUUUUGH” of the feeders below. Joanna watched as the stained sheets gently wafted to the ground. Then she lifted her baby girl from the chair and held her close to her bosom.

             
“It’ll be alright,” she whispered quietly, “Aunty Marissa’s a big girl, and she’ll be able to take care of herself.”

             
Without even a second thought, Joanna glided to the open window and flung herself down into the moving, blood thirsty mass below, still clutching her baby to her chest.

             
Marissa came into the room a mere moment later, carrying some fresh linen.

             
“Jo?” Upon seeing the open window, Marissa’s heart stopped. “Jo!” Marissa dropped the sheets and ran to the window. She couldn’t actually see Joanna, but she knew exactly what had happened.

             
The tormented woman gently closed the window, slid down the wall, and began to sob into her hands.

*****

              The rain started up again and Harley tried to pretend that she knew what her parents, Allie, and Deputy Thomsen were talking about in the squad car. She found it amusing that her dad was riding in the back like a criminal during times like these.

             
“Where are we going?” Kurt asked, staring at his favorite cold metal revolver.

             
“To go save a friend from himself,” Harley grumbled in return.

             
“Do I know her?”

             
“Maybe, but probably not. I just
met
him
.”
              Kurt’s stomach boiled at the prospect of Harley wanting to save another boy. “Why?”

             
“Because he doesn’t have anybody left, and in times like these we shouldn’t be afraid to cling to the people that we
do
know.”

             
At a loss for words, Kurt shrugged.

Harley's lips curled into a lopsided smile as she thought about Christian. She missed his eyes. Deep down, she knew that given the chance, they'd find out that they had a lot in common. He had taken her breath away, and had the courage to call her "angel"; it was time to return the favor.

*****

Christian pulled a forty of Gorilla Milk from the cooler and swallowed as much of it as he could in one gulp. Wiping his mouth on the back of his hand, he began to walk around the store. Sipping on the beer, Christian pulled a couple of packages of peanuts off one of the shelves.

"Yup," he muttered out loud, "living the DREAM!"

Christian poured peanuts into his mouth and chased the salty snack with another large swig of beer. The doors were locked, windows secure, and there were no zombies around to annihilate. Christian finished about half of the bottle before he set it on one of the counters near the small kitchen in the back. It was
shower time
. Christian grabbed the long sprayer and leaned his head over the industrial sink. He hummed a tune as he rinsed his hair and then his armpits. He finished with a sigh and splashed a little water on his face.

"Jesus, I'm lonely."

A trail of water droplets followed Christian around the store. He walked up behind the counter and grabbed the most appealing girly-mag. As he ripped off the plastic covering and leaned against the counter, Christian couldn't concentrate on fulfilling the deed that he had initially set out to do. Flipping through the pages, he almost yawned. None of the photo-shopped models could hold a candle to the exotic creature that had drifted through his gas station a couple days previous.

Just then there was the pounding of skin on glass and a muffled cry. Christian left the Bare Naked Beauties magazine on the counter and meandered over to the front door as the pounding grew increasingly more frantic. When Christian neared the door, he heard the cries more clearly.

"Christian! Christian! Oh please don't be dead, CHRISTIAN!"

Christian ran to the door and threw it open.

Harley fell into the startled boy's arms and let out a sob of relief. She beamed up at him crookedly, "I'm taking you with me," she whispered. "You're going to come with us to New Haven. I don't want you to die in this gas station."

Christian chuckled, "Me neither."

"Can we loot your store before we leave?"

Christian's heart rate was through the roof. The mystifying girl's presence had sent tingles through his veins. He boldly kissed the top of her head. "Of course, angel."

*****

             
So where are we going?" Kurt groaned moodily from the back seat.

Christian put his hand on Harley's leg.

"The bus," Harley replied, beaming at Christian.

"The bus?" Christian inquired.

"Growing up we found this abandoned bus in the Sidewinders Woods. My sister, her boyfriend, his 'brother' and I had agreed that we'd meet there if shit ever hit the fan. I just never would have thought that the shit to hit would be zombie shit."

"I always thought it would have been the third world war," Kurt muttered.

"I just hope that Trevor and Tsgumi can find us."

Christian gave Harley a puzzled look.

"My sister and her fiancé."

"Ah," Christian replied.

Kurt was staring at the window, trying to contain his raging jealousy.

"Do you want me to drive, angel?" Christian asked.

Harley smiled at him and shook her head. "I'm fine."

"You're hair looks good short."

Harley fingered her chin length locks and blushed, "You think so?"

Christian nodded and reached over to gently tuck a stray strand behind Harley's ear. "Then again, you'd look good no matter what."

Harley couldn't help but giggle.

Kurt made a phony gagging motion as he rolled his eyes. That's when he noticed the lumbering figures on the side of the road and gasped, "Holy shit."

Harley coyly looked out the window to hide her gigantic grin. Her flirty face disappeared as she realized exactly how many of the reanimated were coming toward their little group. The moment turned cold with the knowledge that they were about to stop their cars and kill people. Harley flipped on the hazard lights and began to slow way down. By the time the Escalade came to a complete stop, the passengers of the cop car knew what was going on.

Martin bit his lip. He didn't want Fehny to be exposed to such gruesome violence, but they didn't have a choice.

Harley stuck her head out the window and hollered, "KILL AS MANY AS YOU CAN! WE'LL GET THROUGH THIS!"

Windows rolled down and bullets began to fly. No one was keeping track of exactly how many they'd killed. They couldn't.  The whole scene was too chaotic to tell whose bullet hit which head. Fehny's hands were over her ears and her face was buried in her lap, she didn't have anything to contribute.

The more they shot, the more zombies came limping into view.

Sweat began to roll down Harley's brow as she grew nauseous. She just wanted to get to the bus.

Bodies were dropping like flies, and the smell was ever worsening. Then, the steady flow of ghouls started to stem. As Harley shot into the crowd, she was able to tell which kills were hers. They could see the mass growing smaller.

When there were only a handful of lethargically limping undead, Harley let out a harsh, frightened, shrill, screech of the word, "DRIVE!"

*****

Harley's heart stuttered. She was a killing machine, and that scared her. She switched the hazard lights on and pulled over. Allie quickly did the same, and all six of them watched as Harley stumbled out of the car and threw up on the pavement. Martin covered Fehny's eyes as Deputy Thomsen looked away and Allie swallowed her worry. Christian got out of the car and rubbed Harley's back.

"Are you okay, angel?"

Harley could only nod, the putrid taste of bile was still in her throat.

Christian eyed the mess on the pavement and was relieved to see that his angel hadn't been infected by the demons around them. The thought of Harley oozing asphalt colored bile had made his heart stop. He swallowed his fear and put a consoling hand on the quivering girl's back.

"Do you want me to drive?"

Harley nodded again. She was shaking and dizzy. A part of her just wanted to die. Life didn't seem worth living if it meant staying up all night and day to shoot reanimated corpses in the face. It wasn't as cool or fun as she thought it would have been. The movies had all made it look so easy.

"You know where the woods are right?"

Christian nodded.

"Drive us to the Sidewinders Woods, and then I'll take us to the bus," Harley weakly murmured.

Christian kissed Harley on the cheek and put his lips to her ear. "You're beautiful," he whispered, "we'll get through this because we have each other."

If she hadn't just puked all over the highway, Harley would have kissed his inviting lips.

*****

Somewhere in Washington

Tsgumi checked the list as Trevor took inventory of their supplies. It hadn't taken long to accumulate everything they needed to make the four hour drive down to the woods, but it was always good to double check.

"Four blankets?"

Trevor counted silently before replying, "Check."

"Two sleeping bags?"

"Check."

"Evaporated milk?"

"Check, six cans."

"Canned meat?"

"Check. Two cans chicken, three cans tuna, five cans Vienna sausages, three cans spam, four cans potted meat."

"Beans?"

"Check, three one pound bags."

"Rice?"

"Check, five one pound bags."

"Water?"

"Check...not nearly enough. Hopefully they'll have some sort of filtration system because six gallons is nothing."

"If they're there."

Trevor glared at Tsgumi and swallowed his doubt. "Tsgumi, you know your sister as well as I do, she's a survivor...which, I'll have to admit, none of the rest of us are without her. She will be there. I have this feeling."

Tsgumi raised an eyebrow at Trevor. "A feeling?" she scoffed skeptically.

Trevor nodded, "Just trust me on this one, Tsu. Now...what else is on the list?"

Tsgumi scanned the list and smiled, "Kisses?"

Trevor leaned over and gently kissed her on her soft, light rose colored lips.

Hopefully they could make it the four hours without running into any zombies; they were barely armed and Tsgumi had never shot a gun in her life. Trevor and Kurt had gone shooting together once, but it had been years. Trevor was thankful that for the gag going-to-college gift bug out box of emergency supplies that Harley had given him at his graduation party. They quickly shoved their supplies in the trunk and back seat of their old school Honda Prelude. Tsgumi slid into the driver's seat, and Trevor settled in the passenger's seat with a full box of shells at his feet and a shot gun on his lap.

"Ready?" Tsgumi asked, starting the engine.