End of the Line (35 page)

She spun around and used the crowbar to whack the black guy in the head. He went down but wasn’t dead. Tanya got a clear head shot and took it.

“Holy fucking shit,” Annemarie said. “Oh god, Jake.” She began crying. She reached over to touch him.

“He’s dead,” she said, weeping.

“What the fuck happened?” I asked.

Jake grabbed Annemarie’s hand. She screamed. The virus could work pretty damn fast once you are dead. She yanked her hand away but Jake had it. He didn’t realize Tanya was right there. She put the end of the rifle right at his temple and fired. The sound was loud, deafening. Annemarie screamed again, backed up but stayed on the ground and began crying. Tanya grabbed the rifle from his back. She went back in the store and retrieved Jake’s bag.

“Holy fuck,” I said. First Dot was dead, now Jake. I felt that anger raising. “You bastards!”

I think they thought I was talking about the zombs. Maybe I was.

             
“Do you think we got all of them?” Jim asked, his voice almost a whisper.

             
“I think so,” Tanya said. Annemarie was still wailing. Jim went over and helped her up. He wore a new shirt but blood still stained his back.

             
“What happened?” I asked.

             
Jim helped Annemarie over to us. She had stopped wailing but still cried.

             
“Nest or trap or somethin’. Parts of bodies in the back ripped up.”

             
“A lot of people came here for bikes,” Jim said. “Maybe they figured out something.”
             
“You god damn sons of bitches.” I didn’t like the idea of them learning.

“Dave,” Tanya said. “Let’s go, before others come. They probably heard the shots.”

I wanted to yell at them and the world but she was right. We had to get away from here.

We walked quickly down Jericho Turnpike until we found a store that did not have smashed windows, dead women or zombies.

“We can look for a car again,” Tanya said. “Just gotta take it slowly.”

             
“Fuck this!” I said, my anger came to a boil. This was my fault. I was supposed to look after them, now Jake was dead. 
             

“This is your fault, all of you. That kid Henry didn’t know what the hell he was doing.”

             
“Dave,” Tanya said. “Knock it off.”

             
“You’re not the leader. You knock it off.”

             
“Dave,” this came from Jim. “I’m the leader. Don’t be this way.”

             
“Whose idea was it to get bikes?”

             
Jim didn’t say anything and looked away.

             
“You went along with it,” Tanya said. “You’re pissed. We got it, but it ain’t our fault.”

             
She was right but it was too late. The anger was already there and someone had to get it. That someone used to be my wife and occasionally my daughter.

             
“You don’t know what the hell you’re doing?” I shouted. I looked at Jim. “Why the hell did you let Ashley go on her own?”

             
“We couldn’t stop her. Dave if you think you can do better why don’t you go on your own?” He sounded pissed probably because of what I said about the bikes.

             
“Fuck you, Jim. Sick of you and Rachel dismissing me like I’m some five year old.”

             
“You acting like one,” Tanya said.

             
“You are too.”

             
“Enough” Annemarie said, her face streaked with tears. “No one’s going on their own. Leaving CostKing meant a risk. We all knew it. Jake is dead, Dot is dead, Ashley probably is too. We can’t splinter now. We need to stick together and find a car.”

             
I knew Annemarie was right. I was still mad but instead of arguing, I knocked over a display case.

             
“You feel better?” Tanya asked.

             
We walked down Jericho Turnpike, searching for anything that could take us
home, bikes, a manual car or even a ride, some survivor who was looking for supplies. Someone who was handy who we could invite back to CostKing. A car did come by, a green Toyota Prius that we waved and yelled at, but instead of slowing down, it sped up. I barely saw the driver and his three passengers, all looking terrified of us. Didn’t they know the guns were for the zombies?

             
The zombs weren’t out in force, but we occasionally had to shoot one.

             
I don’t know how long we walked. My feet were killing me and Olive whimpered at the long walk, but I couldn’t carry her. We finally reached Commack when Jim collapsed.

             
“Shit,” Tanya said and went down to aide him. I helped her pull him up.

             
“I’m okay,” he said, his eyes woozy. “Can we stop for a break?”

Chapter 23

             
We picked the first house that looked secure, didn’t smell like dead bodies or have zombies. That turned out to be the third house on a tree line street two blocks from the turnpike. I placed Jim on the couch while Annemarie searched the bags for antibiotics. Tanya took Jim’s shirt off and removed the bandage. I could see his back. The major scratch looked ugly and puffy and had red lines around it.

             
“We may have to stay here for a few days,” Annemarie said. She gave Jim a pill and one of the strong pain killers we found at her parent’s house. “Let the antibiotics take their course.”

             
I didn’t want to stay here for that long but it was obvious Jim needed to rest and recover.

             
“We gotta find a car,” Tanya said. “Search every fucking garage. I’ll walk back to CostKing and get a car.”

             
I saw in Tanya’s face something I’ve never seen before—Worry. She was worried about Jim.

             
“I’ll go with you. Annemarie can look after Jim.”

             
Tanya nodded. She walked over to Annemarie to tell her, then touched Jim on the shoulder.

             
“I can walk,” he said, and he shivered.

             
“No,” Tanya said. “We’re gonna get you home.”

             
Jim must have been really sick because he didn’t complain.

             
I did not like the idea of wandering around in the day, definitely not at night and I hated leaving Annemarie and Jim alone.

             
“Are you sure you’ll be okay?” I asked her.

             
“Just be quick.”

             
Tanya packed her crowbar and a few rifle rounds. I had one of Mike’s rifles. Not that I could do much with my lousy shooting. I grabbed Olive and put her on the leash. I wondered what we could do with her if we found bikes. We would have to find something to hold her. I was not leaving my dog behind. I’ll put her in a backpack if I had to.

             
I didn’t want to leave. I was still tired, but we walked out of the house without saying another word.

             
At least the weather cleared. The sun was beginning to come out from behind the clouds.

             
Tanya started on this block first. No reason for us to go far. We used a crowbar to open garages. Some of the cars we found even had shiny keys nearby. But most of them either were dead or almost dead. None of the garages had portable jump starters although I have to wonder if those would be dead too.

             
We walked down to the next block and three more after that. Nothing. Dead cars, no manuals, nothing. We managed to find one bike, but it wouldn’t do any good for Jim. We wheeled it along our search figuring the worst case scenario, someone rides to CostKings and brings back a car.

             
Then a car drove by. A mother fucking car. I ran to the street waving my arms. This one didn’t pass us by. It screeched to a halt a few feet away from us. The car had painted black windows.

             
A thin white man got out of the car wearing a denim jacket and had a rifle slung on his back and a smaller gun holstered at his hip

             
“Well, holy Jesus,” he said “Other survivors.”

             
“Hello,” I said. “I’m Dave, this is Tanya.”

             
“I’m Rick. Good to meetcha. Where you headin’?”

             
I was about to tell him the whole story when Tanya kicked in.

             
“We’re heading west, a bit,” she said. She talked slow when she said it.

             
“Where abouts? Ain’t a lot after Queens except for lots of them.”
             
             

             
“Not that far,” Tanya said.

             
“I’m heading to Floral Park, just found out there’s a gun store there, can drop you anywhere in between.”

             
I didn’t mention anything about Mike and his family. If this fellow seemed trustworthy, I could tell him.

             
“What do you want to trade?” Tanya asked. “We got some ammo.”

             
“Yeah, I’ll take that and your pussy too.”

             
“What the fuck?” I said.

             
“I don’t think so,” Tanya said.
             
             

             
“Come on,” he said, grabbing her arm, and spun her around and slammed her against the car. Tanya kicked him but the way he held her she couldn’t move.

             
“Man, what are you doing?” I asked. He whipped the handgun out of his holster and shoved it in my face before I even had a chance to move mine in position.

             
“Getting my money’s worth. I haven’t had pussy in months. Then I’ll drive you anywhere you want.”

             
Olive growled, enough for the man to aim his gun towards her. There was a shot and the man collapsed to the floor bleeding.

             
I looked at Tanya ready to see a gun in her hand but it wasn’t. She was still trying to get the guy off. She moved around and he fell to the ground. Blood spurted from the man’s back.

             
The rifle was in my hand.

             
I shot him. He was going to rape Tanya and kill my dog.

             
I killed a man.

             
I’d killed only one zombie before, but had never taken the life of a person. Not even someone who had a zombie bite. The guy was dead and because I shot him, he wasn’t coming back. They didn’t come back unless a zombie bit them.
             

             
Tanya rifled through his pockets until she found his keys, a pocket knife and wallet. She didn’t seem surprised to find out he had a badge. “Fucking pigs,” she said throwing the wallet next to the corpse. She nabbed his rifle and the handgun too, then looked at me.

             
“Dave,” she said.

             
I sat on the curb, not caring if the zombs came and killed me.

             
“Dave, come on, get into the car,” she said, trying to help me up. “You saved me. You’re the big fucking hero.”

             
“I can’t do it anymore,” I said. Olive saw me sitting and went into my lap. “I want my old life back, my old world.”

             
“It ain’t coming back,” she said. “You gotta face reality: move on or die. Take a leap off the building like your old boss if you don’t like it.”

             
I thought about Abe. No one expected it. Abe was so lively, so much into keeping us alive. Why did he leave us to Rachel?

             
“I wish I had the old world back,” she said. “But I’m selfish cause I like Tanya now and I didn’t before. Tanya now wants to save Jim.”

             
I took a deep breath.

             
“Tanya, I think you’ll make a great leader.”

             
Tanya didn’t respond. I think I embarrassed her. Instead she said, “Get in the car.”