El Paso Under Attack - 01 (3 page)

He was quiet for awhile. Probably trying to see if his mind could accept what I just told him. Personally, mine couldn’t. I felt very much responsible. Those things were chasing us, we escaped and most of those people stuck in that traffic jam weren’t so lucky. Words couldn’t begin to describe how terrible I felt, but it sure as hell wasn’t Dudley’s fault. He wasn’t the one driving the damn Jeep.

“I was right earlier, when I said what I said.”

I didn’t know what he was talking about. This of course wasn’t anything unusual. He often said the oddest and most random things that made no sense whatsoever.

Another thing that isn’t unusual is the way Jaxon picks on everybody. I’ve been told that it’s something he’s always done with his very close friends.

“Those things,” he continued. “They aren’t alive. They can’t be. Not with those wounds and all that blood…and those screams. They’re dead. They can’t be alive.”

I agreed with him. I didn’t need to say anything, I just nodded my head.

“It’s like a horror movie. The dead are attacking us. They’re eating us, just like a fucking movie.”

He didn’t say what kind of movie. We both knew of course, but it just seemed easier to refrain from using the one word that summed up exactly what those things were.

And that was fine by me.

The humidity was horrendous. I looked up at the sky and saw some seriously dark rain clouds gathering in the distance. We were in for a storm. It would probably begin sometime after sunset, that’s how El Paso weather usually works.

I reached into the console and removed a couple of dark blue bandanas. I gave one to Dudley and we both tied them around our necks cowboy style. Maybe it would help with the sweat.

I was getting drowsy twenty minutes later. We should have already been on the move, but after narrowly escaping what we had just been through, neither one of us was in a big hurry to jump back into the maelstrom again.

“We won’t be safe here forever.” I told Dudley. “We still need to get to Georgie’s.”

“I agree.” He replied.

“Well, if Redd Road is blocked,” I said, referring to the road where the traffic jam was. “We can go the longer way around through the access road. They’ve opened it up a few months ago. It’s really wide, about four lanes and there aren’t a lot of stores around the area yet, so there hopefully won’t be a lot of traffic…we should be able to get through.”

“Alright,” said Dudley. “Just give me a few more…”

The scream interrupted him. One of the dead had found us. It was a young man, whose left arm was mangled. He wasn’t a danger to Dudley and me at the moment; he was on the opposite side of the river.

“Let’s go,” said Dudley.

“Hold on a second. I wanna see what he’s gonna do.”

We watched as the dead man made a bee line right for us despite the fast moving water. He also didn’t hesitate for even a second at the water’s edge, he just waded right in.

With both of his arms reaching out for us, we watched as he stumbled against the strong current of the river. His screams meanwhile, had attracted more company on the opposite shore. It was a woman in a white sun dress. She also made that bee line right for us.

“We should leave,” warned Dudley.

“Wait up.” I replied. “There’s no way they can cross, the waters moving too fast.”

I was right fortunately. Less than halfway across the man lost his footing and was unable to get back up. We watched him flounder in the water for a brief moment before the current carried him well away from us.

The woman came next. It was the same thing. She lost her footing, fell and floated away downstream.

After that, there were others. They weren’t far behind the first two, just a few minutes if I remember correctly.

I don’t know why I stayed there and kept watching. It was like being unable to turn your head when you pass by the scene of some traffic accident. I was mesmerized.

I began to shake. I guess it was my nerves finally reacting to what we had been through.

What I didn’t realize, is that I was learning about my enemy.

My mind was taking in the things that would come in handy later.

I learned that their screams attracted others. I don’t know if this was a purposeful call or not, but the end result was the same. When one of the dead screams out, more of them come to investigate.

I learned that they were stupid. It was evident that they couldn’t cross the river. The ones in the back saw the ones in front wash away. Yet, they still waded in right behind their friends.

I also learned that they had no concept of pain. They weren’t only stupid about wading into the water to get at us; they also didn’t seem to care if they drowned. Which they couldn’t drown being that they were already dead and I had no doubt that they were indeed dead. Still, all that water rushing into their lungs couldn’t feel good and it made me remember back to when Merrick was savaging the arms of my neighbors at the front gate of my patio. They didn’t even react to the bites. They didn’t care if they were injured. They didn’t seem to even notice that they were being injured.

I was measuring my enemy without even realizing that I was doing so.

We sat there for a long time watching at least thirty of them wash away down the river. It was getting late in the day and I began to worry that Georgie may not even be home. There was every chance in the world that he could have tried his luck and attempted to get out of town.

Then I began to wonder if this was happening anywhere else?

It must be. What could possibly be containing everything inside of El Paso? We could hold up at Georgie’s for awhile, but eventually we had to go somewhere. Was there any place in the country that was still safe? Had the government come in to help us yet? Would the government come in to help us?

I started the Jeep and slowly drove away from the river. I took the trail to an exit ramp that came off the freeway to Doniphan, which was a pretty major road in my neck of the woods. At the moment, it was deserted, nothing but empty cars, lifeless bodies, and bloodstains on the street. We crossed the road slowly and carefully, on the lookout for the living dead.

We only saw one of them. She looked to be half eaten as she reached out for us. She couldn’t pursue us, there wasn’t enough left of her body. She could only reach out and growl. I was thankful that she didn’t scream.

I’d heard about roads like this from other survivors…empty except for the dead. It seems to leave a mark on people, more so than a lot of other terrifying situations. I always wondered if it had something to do with the emptiness.

We were fortunate that Doniphan was so empty. There were enough deserted cars to cause serious problems if anything began to chase after us. The weaving in and out would have slowed us down almost to a standstill.

When we hit the access road, we were able to speed up a bit. I still kept it at a slower pace. I didn’t want to go charging through and run into anything that would damage the Jeep. It was our only safe way of travel. The four lanes were spread out nice and wide, so it was easy to go around any deserted cars we came across. I saw some wet bloodstains, but never any bodies either dead or undead.

That was a relief.

I was beginning to relax. Either that or I was getting used to things. I can’t really say which.

When we came to Redd Road again, it was at the way opposite side of where we encountered the traffic jam. We made our way slowly, on the lookout for any signs of danger.

We were all alone.

It was as if the earlier horror hadn’t known this area existed. There weren’t even any of those deserted cars. It just looked empty.

Like a ghost town.

We drove up a street called Dakota Ridge. This was Georgie’s street. His house was a red brick number at the corner of the first left turn.

We sat in the Jeep with the engine running for a bit while we watched the house and checked up and down the street.

“What if everyone around here is dead?” said Dudley.

“There’s no sign of anything going on over here.” I answered. “Maybe everyone was able to get indoors and safe before…”

Georgie’s windows were all boarded up. It was right in front of my face and I only just now noticed it.

“Look at Georgie’s windows.” I said. “He’s already sealed himself in. He’s safe.”

“Look at the other houses,” said Dudley. “Same thing, it looks like everyone managed to board up their windows before they got hit.”

“Hopefully, those things already passed through here. Everyone was safely boarded up and they just went on by.”

I reversed the Jeep into Georgie’s driveway. We hopped out with all our belongings and went to his front door.

“Georgie…it’s us.” I called out as I banged on his front door.

There was no answer, but I could hear movement from inside.

“Georgie let us in.”

There was still no answer. Yet, I thought I could hear some shushing sounds from somewhere inside the house.

“Georgie, are you guys okay in there?”

No answer, just more shushing noises from inside.

“Just break down the door,” said Dudley. “I can hear him in there.”

“I’ll tell him that.” I said.

“Georgie, we’re getting worried. I’m going to kick down the door and come in.”

No answer.

I gave the door a sharp kick. Nothing that would come close to causing any damage, I just wanted to see if it would cause Georgie to get off his ass and open up.

“Go away,” said Georgie in a muffled voice from behind the wood.

“What do you mean go away?” I shouted. “Open the damn door. We need to get inside.”

“I can only take care of my wife,” said Georgie’s muffled voice once again.

“Are you for real asshole?” shouted Dudley. “Open the fucking door before I rip it off the hinges.”

Then I heard another muffled voice from inside.

“Georgie, open the door. They’re our friends.”

“No Lucy. I’m only taking care of you.”

“Are you serious? Let them in, or I’ll be leaving with them.”

After that, the muffled voices were indiscriminate. What was being said was far beyond me and just between the two of them. I only knew that they were having an argument and it seemed like Georgie was losing.

I went to the front of the yard by the street to keep watch.

It was as still and silent as a ghost town.

I glanced over at the other houses. We were being watched.

I saw that many of the neighbors were staring from their second story windows, safe inside their boarded up homes. As a matter of fact, all the houses in the vicinity seemed to have look outs like this. Excellent, I was right (I normally am). These people boarded up before the danger came through.

That’s if the hell of my neighborhood even came through here at all.

Lucy opened the front door.

“Jax,” she cried out. “Man, am I glad to see you.”

She ran right over, threw her arms around my chest and ended up nearly crushing my ribs in a bear hug. Just when I began to wonder if I’d ever breathe again, she released me and did the same thing to Dudley.

Inside the house, the air conditioner was pumping. It wasn’t the greatest. I hate evaporative coolers so very, very much. Yet, it was a hell of a lot better than the humid, heat from outside.

Georgie was in the next room staring at his feet.

“How ya doin Georgie,” I asked.

“It’s nothing personal guys. I just need to keep my wife safe.”

“Then she shouldn’t be with you ya pussy,” retorted Dudley.

In all honesty, Dudley told it like it was. Georgie wasn’t exactly the toughest cat around. In fact, he seemed to kinda go all to pieces whenever a situation became the slightest bit heated.

Another bit of honesty I can share about Georgie is the attachment he has towards his wife. It borders on psychotic. I have no doubts that he would have left us outside to be eaten if she hadn’t intervened.

Now Lucy…she adored us. She was the type of person that just really cared about other people, especially her friends.

It made for some interesting weekends.

Lucy would want to hang out with everyone and Georgie would want to keep Lucy all to himself. Yeah, those were some good times. The arguments that they’d get into over little things like Lucy having friends…it was simply hilarious. I used to joke that you couldn’t buy that kind of entertainment.

This time, his laugh is genuine, as is the smile on his face. He enjoys the moment for a few minutes, lost in memories of brighter days and better times. Past lives that were forged in laughter instead of tears. I give him his moment.

Where was I? Oh yeah. We were finally inside Georgie’s house.

“What’s going on out there?” asked Lucy.

“I’m not sure.” I answered. “It seems like…like…”

“Zombies,” said Georgie. “I think those things are zombies.”

Stupid Georgie, this was the exact word that Dudley and I had successfully avoided earlier at the river.

“Are you serious…Jax?” said Lucy in response to the silence coming from Dudley and me. “That can’t be right.”

“It seems right,” said Dudley apologetically. “We’ve seen things.”

“Has it come through here yet?” I asked.

“Nothing serious,” said Georgie. “There were just a few people that ran down the street kinda funny. We were already boarded up when it happened, so none of them stayed.”

He mimics the hard, rage infused face that we saw many times earlier in the day.

“I wonder if it’ll come back this way again.” I said.

“The news said to stay put and board up the windows, but now the stations are all off.”

“What do you mean off?”

“The signal went down earlier,” said Georgie. “No more TV.”

That didn’t sound good. That didn’t sound good at all.

“Should we stay here Jax,” asked Lucy. “What if more of those…those…things come this way?”

“I think we should stay for a while at least,” I answered. “Maybe we can figure something out. Maybe help will come.”

“Where’s your kid?” Dudley asked. “Georgie and Lucy had a six year old that normally never left her mother’s side.