Elements of the Undead: Fire (Book One) (11 page)

Jack had then descended the porch stairs, the boards he had laid so carefully the previous summer squeaking under each step. The man—no, the
creature
—wasn’t moving. Brain and skull fragments spread out behind its body, coating the grass with a glistening slick of red, black, and gray. Chunks of skull poked up like spring mushrooms after a rainstorm. Jack slung his rifle over his shoulder and grabbed the garden hoe from the porch railing.

“Jack? Are you okay?” The door opened behind him, and Becka stepped out.

He motioned for her to get back inside. “Yeah. Stay inside, Becka.”

He approached the body. Circling around the corpse, he realized the man was in worse shape than he initially thought. He almost gagged at the putrid stench rising from the body, and had pulled his shirt over his nose to block the scent.

The creature’s hand twitched, and Jack took a quick step back. As he stared, the fingers opened and closed, grasping at the air.
Fuck…
He leaned the hoe against the porch and put the gun back to his shoulder. Taking another step back, he fired another round into what was left of the creature’s head. He was ready for the kick that time. The body jerked once and then was still. There was nothing recognizable as a head above the neck then, only a bloody, dirty pulp.

He retrieved the hoe and poked the corpse one more time to make sure it was really dead.

What the hell do I do now
? He didn’t know if the blood was contagious, but he thought it might be. He hadn’t really known anything. He sensed movement behind him and spun around.

Becka was at the foot of the stairs. His mother and the twins were at the door with their mouths agape. Jack dropped the hoe and went to Becka, folding her into his arms.

It hadn’t taken long for more ghouls to arrive. It started with a trickle and grew to an outright flood in no time, hundreds of them in every condition imaginable, swarming through Taos in search of a new food source.

Jack had no way to check for radioactivity. Some were obviously carriers, burned and blackened, skin hanging in strips with bits of skeleton showing through. Those, he shot from a distance whenever possible. Then, miraculously, the wave had subsided. The undead passed them by. They had all breathed a mistaken sigh of relief and started trying to get their lives back to normal, whatever normal was after the end of the world.

Jack cursed himself to this day for letting his guard down. It was only two weeks after the last zombies passed that he had lost his mother and Maddie. He squeezed his eyes shut, trying to halt his recollection of that awful day.

It had started off gray and overcast, colder than usual for late summer, but not unheard of. The twins, as usual, were cute balls of fleece and mittens playing under the watchful eyes of their mother and grandmother. Jack was in the cellar, taking inventory of their food. There were plenty of canned vegetables from Becka’s garden and ample dried food from their last run to Walmart. A generous neighbor had set them up with dried elk before the uprising, enough for the winter ahead. He was in the midst of calculating ration scenarios on a legal pad when he heard the first scream.

Dropping the notebook, he took the stairs two at a time, hoping and praying it wasn’t what he thought it was. He was outside in a second, turning his head every which way, trying to find the source of the screams. Someone fired a small handgun, the
pop pop pop
sounds underscoring each scream.
Becka
.

Drawing the SIG Sauer P-229 from the paddle holster attached to the small of his back, he raced to the rear of the house. As he rounded the south corner, he saw the cause of the commotion.

Maddie was on the ground, clutching her forearm and crying. Jack’s mother lay sprawled behind her, blood gushing from a tear in her throat. A few feet beyond, two zombies riddled with bullet holes lay on the ground. Becka was locked in a shooters stance with Ellie cowering behind her, one arm wrapped around her mother’s leg and the other clasping her favorite blue teddy bear. She was whimpering, peering around Becka’s leg at the dead ghouls.

Jack raced to Maddie. Her arm was bleeding, but she was otherwise uninjured. “I need to check on Grandma,” he said. Maddie had nodded at him between sobs.

His mother was already gone. Jack’s pulse, racing at a million miles an hour, had gone into overdrive. If it beat any faster, he feared it would burst from his chest and explode all over the room.
She’s infected; she’ll turn any second now.
He pushed the thought away and turned his attention back to his daughter. “Are you hurt, honey?” he asked. “Did they bite you?”
Please don’t let her be bitten. Please. Please.
“Let me see your arm.” She held it out reluctantly.

Jack’s stomach dropped through the ground like a runaway elevator plunging into a pitch dark mineshaft. There was a perfect circular bite wound high on her right forearm. Bone glistened inside. Around the bite, the skin was an angry purple, bruised and crushed by human teeth. Becka came to his side, her pistol at the ready. She split her attention between Jack and Maddie and the surrounding yard, scanning for more zombies.

“It hurts, Daddy,” Maddie cried through clenched teeth. “It hurts...” Jack didn’t know how long it would take for her to turn. But he knew it was inevitable. Bites were one hundred percent fatal.

“Jack!” Becka said, a note of urgency in her voice. “Your mother.” He glanced over his shoulder and saw his mother’s hands and feet twitching.
That was fast.
Taking Maddie by her good arm, he guided her away, scooping Ellie up as he passed. As he walked by Becka, he mouthed the word “Please” and gestured at his mother’s body.

Becka gave him an almost imperceptible nod of acknowledgement. As quickly as he could, Jack bundled the girls across the huge wraparound front porch and back inside the house. He had kicked the door closed with his heel just as Becka’s gun
cracked
.

Jack felt a little piece of himself die with the sound. But at that moment, he didn’t have time to mourn. He had to figure out what to do about his daughter. And the clock was ticking.

Becka had come inside a few minutes later, her face full of grim resolve. She placed her pistol on the dark mahogany table, the same table that was in Jack’s grandmother’s house when he was a child, and walked stiffly to the couch where Jack sat with the girls. Jack rubbed Maddie’s back and murmured soothing words to calm her. It wasn’t working. Ellie, meanwhile, stood a few feet away, unsure of what was going on.

“I’m sorry, Jack,” Becka whispered. Jack nodded and snorted back a tear. He would mourn his mother later.

Becka knelt in front of Maddie, gazed into her eyes. “I’m here now, honey.”

Maddie pulled from Jack’s arms and buried herself in her mother’s breast. Becka squirmed, angling her body in an attempt to avoid contact with her daughter’s infected blood.

“I’m so cold, Mommy,” Maddie cried. “It hurts...”

“My baby. Oh, my baby.” Becka sobbed into Maddie’s hair before regaining her composure and stiffening up. Jack saw hardness in her eyes that scared him to his core.

“I don’t know how long we have,” he mouthed.

Becka nodded, still unable to speak.

“Is Maddie gonna to be okay?” Ellie squeaked. Becka looked at Jack with pleading eyes. She couldn’t bring herself to answer her daughter. Not yet.

With a sudden jerk, Madeline grew stiff, as if stuck by lightning, and then she sagged in Becka’s arms, limp as a rag doll. Becka lowered her to the floor. “It’s happening.” Tears brimming in her eyes, her mouth set in a grim line, she looked up at Jack.

Jack jumped to his feet, his mind struggling to comprehend how they had gotten to this place. He had no idea what to do, or even if there was anything he
could
do. He scanned the room, searching for some way to restrain Maddie, some way to avoid putting a bullet in her head like a diseased animal.
Like Mom
.

Maybe the infection will run its course…Maybe it won’t affect her the way it does everyone else…
He knew he was avoiding the inevitable. A simple bite wouldn’t cause a person to go stiff, to pass out. Maddie was infected, and she was going to turn soon.

Jack pointed at the rear of the house. “Ellie! Go to your room and lock the door! Don’t come out until I call you!” Ellie looked uncertain, began crying harder.

“I don’t want to, Daddy. I want Maddie to be okay.” She was shaking like the last leaf on a tree, threatening to blow away forever.

“Ellie! Do as your father says!” Becka commanded in her sternest mother voice. “Right now, young lady!” Ellie’s tears increased, her whole body convulsing with sobs as she tore her gaze between her sister and her parents. With a glare of condemnation that broke Jack’s heart, she turned and fled to her room, slamming the door shut behind her.

Jack stared at Maddie, knowing full well she was about to become a zombie. Her skin was already losing its ruddy tone, changing to a sallow gray as her body shut down.

“She’s gone, Jack.”

He looked up, surprised at the finality in Becka’s voice. He wiped his eyes with the back of his hand. “I know... but I can’t do it.”

“Jack.”

In his mind’s eye, he saw the days and hours from Maddie’s birth up until this awful moment. He tasted salt on the back of his throat, his eyes burned, he felt like he was about to vomit.

Becka put a hand on his shoulder.

Their eyes met. Only for a moment, but it was enough.

“Okay. Get her feet,” he said.

Together they had carried their daughter from the house to the rear of the wood shed. Jack had chosen the shed because there was no way Ellie could see it from inside the house. As gently as he could, he placed Maddie on the ground, propping her against a log he had been meaning to split all summer. She was so small and delicate she didn’t even reach the top. She started to slump to the side, but Becka caught her, straightening her and making sure she was planted firmly against the tree. She kissed the top of Maddie’s head and sat back on her haunches with her eyes closed.

Maddie jerked, her leg skittering a few inches to the side. “Becka!” Jack cautioned. “Watch out!”

Becka stood quickly and moved to his side. She clutched his arm. Jack withdrew his pistol. The metal was cold in his hands. A blocky chunk of death and destruction being put to a use he had never imagined in his worst nightmares. They embraced quickly, squeezing each other with all of their might. Jack never wanted to let go.

Maddie stirred again, and Jack broke their embrace. He took a step back and sighted on the thing that used to be his daughter. Becka sniffed and turned away. His grip on the pistol was sweaty and the gun wavered. He forced himself to focus.

Maddie’s eyes twitched under their lids as the disease worked to figured out how to operate its new host.

Then they opened.

Jack’s gun went off with a deafening roar, scattering the remains of his previous life to the winds and ushering in the brutal reality of the new.

Seventeen

The sun was finally below the mountains. Candles flickered softly, creating a sense of intimacy in the room—a warm bubble perfect for the discussion at hand.

“You’re both right,” Megan said.

Pringle frowned. “What makes you say that?” Cesar remained silent, a smile tugging at the corners of his mouth. The door creaked opened and Alicia entered.

“Hey, Alicia,” Megan said.

“Sorry I’m late.” Alicia took a seat on the far end of the couch.

Megan pressed on. “Where was I? Oh, yeah. I agree we’ve grown too fast. I mean, look at us. We’ve got all of these people jammed in here, and only a few who know what the hell they’re doing.”

“That’s an understatement,” Pringle spat out, squaring his shoulders for battle. Megan gave him a nod of encouragement. Engaging him was the key. He needed to debate. It was in his nature.

“Yes. It is, and I’m sorry for oversimplifying things. The four of us have been carrying this community on our backs since the start. As much as we want it to succeed, we’re doomed if we don’t change.” Pringle nodded in enthusiastic agreement.

“But…” Megan’s voice dropped an octave, becoming deadly serious. “We can’t turn people away, not without giving them a choice. That’s not who we are. It’s not who I want us to become.” She paused, letting her words hang in the air for emphasis. “We’ve got a good thing here. We’ve got a steady food supply, a decent climate, excluding the summers, and access to a city that wasn’t leveled by nukes…” In an uncharacteristic move, Pringle didn’t object, instead sinking into his seat and giving her his full attention.

“When was the last time a swarm passed this way?” Megan asked.

“Never,” Pringle admitted.

“That’s right. Never. The undead aren’t bothering us. The only time we ever see them on this side of town is when they stray from their pack.”

Cesar shifted in his chair and coughed into his hand. “We will have rules,” he said, taking over from Megan. “Strong rules. Everyone will have responsibilities that they must fulfill if they wish to remain. I know many of the refugees are reluctant to venture into the dead zones, but that can’t continue. We have to spread the risk…”

“And limit the number of newcomers?” Pringle asked, warming up to the idea.

Cesar shook his head. “No. We don’t impose limits. Not yet, at least. However, we will require that anyone who joins us agrees to our rules. If they don’t, then we’ll send them on their way without exception.”

Pringle chewed on this for a moment before responding. “How do you enforce these new
rules
?”

“That’s where you come in. I want you to be in charge of implementing them, ensuring that they’re fair for
everyone
in the compound.”
Here’s the carrot
, Megan thought.

Pringle’s face lit up. Up until now, his responsibilities had been largely undefined. From collecting supplies to shooting undead stragglers and checking for infection in the inbound population, he did it all.