Life Among the Dead (Book 4): The End (21 page)

15

“…My daddy calls him Chachi,” an imitation of a young girl’s voice by a seasoned soldier arises a burst of laughter from the younger men seated around him in Fort Eagle Rock’s crowded dining hall. Through the constant din of the large cafeteria of all the other folks talking and eating, a mother searches the mass of people for sight of her youngest son.

“Why would you tell him?” her oldest asks. “Here?”

“I don’t know,” she answers, genuinely unsure why she chose that moment to tell the boy that the man he had known as his father all his life wasn’t actually his father. He was told the truth about who his father actually was. He just abandoned his tray and ran off. “Did you see which way he went?”

“Out,” Killian answers. He fills a roll with a scoop of his chili mac, a bite for the road. “I’ll go find him.”

“I’ll come too,” Susan says about to stand. “I don’t want you both…”

“Why don’t I just go? Talk to him,” the now thirteen year old suggests, leaving his mother to fret over many of her life decisions. He himself isn’t very happy with her regarding the news, feels it was unfair to his brother, his father, himself, and even Josh. The boy may be upset with his mother, but he is thoughtful enough to leave her with some hope, “He probably just ran ahead to the concert. I’ll go find him.”

The night air is chilly compared to the mess hall, between the heat of the kitchen and all the combined body heat of the diners. Leaving the constant drone of so many people talking behind is nice.
All’s quiet on the Western front
, Killian thinks to himself as he searches the darkness for sight of Hippo.

All their lives they were raised as brothers, though informed that they were actually half siblings. The news came as a shock to Killian and Hippo both that they in fact have the same father. Somewhere out there.

Killian begins the trek to the recreation building on base where functions are held, where folks can play indoor sports or workout in the gym. The pool will be opening in just a few weeks once the weather decides to warm up and stay warm. The civilians have been growing bored despite the Army’s many activities, the Kelly Peel concerts are a welcomed addition.

“There you are,” Killian says, spotting his brother sitting on a bench outside the rec center.

“Is this one?” the boy asks, handing his brother a rock.

“One what?”

“A geode,” Hippo clarifies.

All the geodes the older boy had opened with his father have been almost perfectly round, white in color, and deceptively light. This stone is none of those things, but he doesn’t want to tell his brother that. “It might be, you never know until you crack one open.”

The news seems to have aged his brother beyond his years, the boy looks up at the starry night as if contemplating the universe. Killian sits down next to him, knowing the ponderings are much closer to home.

“All those Father’s Day presents went to the wrong guy,” he whispers, sniffing back a tear. The last thing he wants to do is cry in public, he sat here as a means of stopping himself from crying at all. With all the people walking about, he knew he’d never let himself do it.

Hippo has always been a very willful boy. He can be quite stubborn most of the time. Looking at his brother, Killian sees it for the first time, he sees his father in him, the stoic way he holds his pain in like every time Oz Johnson had dropped him back off with his mother. Swallowing the hurt so not to reveal any weakness to the world.

“Do you remember when mom and Josh let me go with you and your…
our
dad for a few visits… before the restraining order?”

“Yeah.”

“I loved that,” he says softly, afraid his emotions may break through if he talks too loudly. It wants out, the sadness builds up like water behind a dam, the pressure is immense, but the boy is stronger. One deep breath, and a tightly clenched fist, reduces the strain into something more manageable. Anger.

“I think he did too,” Killian admits. He tries to stroke his brother’s mohawk, comfort him in some way, but the younger brother just dodges the attempt at coddling. “I think, deep down, he knew.”

“If he did he would have fought for me,” Hippo seethes, unsure where to direct his rage. “Doesn’t matter.
She
knew.”

“You know mom just wanted to do what she felt was best for…”

“I hope she dies,” the boy wishes, never wanting to see her face again.

####

Susan can’t eat. She pushes her tray away in frustration feeling she has really messed up. Messed up not only her life but her children’s, though at the time she only wanted to make sure they had everything they could ever need. She thought Josh was the best option. The truth hasn’t set her free, instead it has condemned her to a very tense relationship with her kids, as if life wasn’t tense enough already.

She’s thinks about her decision to leave her husband, a choice she often second guesses though could never change, especially now.
Would it have been so bad to raise the boys in an uncertain life with a man with no direction?
Oz was a good man and a great father, but he had no drive to better himself, no ambition for more. He’d rather clean toilets than deal with people and always said all he needed was her and Killian, even at the end of their marriage.

Susan’s mind wanders to examples of what a kind hearted individual Oz was, a fact no one would have guessed from the outside. She thinks back to when they first became pregnant with Killian, they discussed how to bring the child up. One topic was the existence of Santa Clause, Oz felt strongly that they should keep with the tradition where Susan differed. They compromised, they would tell the child of the wondrous man that brings toys to all the good little boys and girls around the world, but if he should ever ask them if he was real or not, they would tell the truth. That day came, sooner than they thought, another kid in Killian’s kindergarten class spilled the beans. The boy was in tears when they picked him up that day, in the car he calmed enough to tell his parents what was wrong. He asked the question: Is Santa real?

Oz and Susan looked to one another for a silent sign as to what to say. Susan just motioned for Oz to take this one since the dilemma was mostly his creation. The day had come at last, a day the large man had dreaded, and he couldn’t do it. Oz was unable to pull the trigger on Santa, allowing him to live on for a few more years, more importantly he let his boy have a little magic in his life.

Susan chuckles, remembering how the hard, stoic man became such a softy when looking into Killian’s tear filled eyes. It was only about a year and a half later she told him she was leaving him. Her chuckle becomes a slight sob as her eyes well and burn, she wants to cry for what she did to him and her family. Staring down at her untouched food, she builds the courage to head out and face her youngest son, knowing she will deserve every ounce of hate he feels towards her. Before she can act she is ripped from her thoughts by screams of terror.

People are darting for the exit as a thick cloud of red smoke fills the hall. The rolling haze overtakes those desperate to get out. People are pushed and trampled in the chaos, soon all are blind and confused. They yell for help, unable to find the doors. None of those that had made it out had the sense to hold it for anyone else, allowing the fog to thicken wall to wall. The lights overhead are blotted out, even if the panicked diners could see their hands in front of their faces in the smoke they wouldn’t be able to see anything else.

Folks are rushing around, Susan is hit by a heavy body that topples over her. Her chest is crushed against the table painfully. The wind is knocked out of her but it isn’t fatal. She forces the flailing person off of her and drops under the table for safety, leaving the futile dashing to the others. The people cry out and scream, some call for order but it’s a wasted effort, once a group reaches this level of anxiety there’s no reasoning with them.  She’s just grateful that her boys had made it outside before all of this.
At least they’re safe
.

16

“C’mon, this way! We’re gonna miss the show,” Killian leads his brother whose sour mood affects his speed, the boy drags his feet and lags behind. They aren’t certain where the concert is being held and are trying to locate it by sound, hearing the audience applaud loudly.

“Calm down,” the depressed youth says. Whenever he is feeling down he has a habit of being surly as if he wishes everyone to join him. “They’re just clapping. It’s not like you’re girlfriend hasn’t started yet.”

“She’s not my girlfriend!”

“Then why did you keep those magazines with her on the cover under your bed, and lock me out of our room so you could look at them?”

Killian doesn’t have an answer for his need for privacy at his age, he just follows his ears towards the sounds of adulation that are getting louder letting him know that they are getting closer. His companion holds him back like a ball and chain, if not for this funk they’d both be running to the show.

Hippo continues to pick at his brother. “It’s not like you’re gonna see her boobs,” he says, looking up from his downcast view of the floor to see if he has gotten a reaction. “Boobs. Big deal. Mom has boobs. You wanna see…”

They are so close but unable to determine which way to go, the clapping is a thunderous roar, intermittent between pauses where they can hear Kelly Peel speak to the people. During an exceptionally long and loud burst of clapping and cheers, screaming is added. Bloodcurdling cries of terror stop the brothers in their tracks, it’s in the halls with them.

From around the corner just down the hallway before them, a naked woman comes running. The boys are in shock, the fact that this is their first time seeing a naked woman in person is sullied by the utter horror on her face. The effort she puts into escaping whatever frightens her robs her body of any shred of grace and sexuality. This is not how Killian expected his first sighting to be.

“There. Happy?” Hippo asks. “Gross.”

The woman just skirts around them, passing by, still screaming. They watch her depart down the hall not certain what to make of it. More screams come from where she had fled like an echo. It’s coming from around the corner, desperate cries for help.

“Stay here,” Killian tells his brother as he peeks into the next hall.

Shrill pleading, screams that chill his bones await the older boy when he pokes his head around the corner. They shake the walls of the corridor, warning him to tread no further. He ignores the foreboding feeling in his gut and rounds the bend. Not to be left out of something that finally interests him and takes his mind off his personal issues, Hippo is right behind his brother, disregarding the instruction to stay back.

The screams are coming from an open door. The older boy creeps closer, his brother at his back so close they become one entity. He prepares to peek into the room to see what is going on when suddenly he doesn’t have to, the woman screaming tries to claw her way out along the floor.

Taken aback, Killian flinches and knocks into Hippo. They rush to the woman’s aid, like the other lady they saw she is naked, only this girl is covered in blood. Her screams cease upon sighting the helpful pair, they flank her looking into the room to see what it is that terrorizes her so, what could have made these wounds.

“Isn’t that your girlfriend’s husband?” Hippo asks. He tries to get a grip on the naked woman’s arm to pull her away from Randy Russell but her bare skin is slick with blood.

“Not now,” Killian replies. They haven’t much time to get the victim clear. The British comedian is tangled in a toppled rack of clothes where the girl had shoved him to make her escape.

The woman has a nasty wound on the back of her neck, another behind her arm on her tricep. She looks back at the man that had done this to her as he rises from the knots of costumes. Her screaming resumes with fresh terror.

“Not this again,” Hippo complains about her screaming. “You have to help us, help you. Get up!”

But, she is beyond reaction, too petrified by fear to get up. The boys can’t lift her, dragging her would be too slow a process, Killian has a plan.

“Shove her back in,” he tells his brother.

“What? Even I don’t think that’s cool,” Hippo responds misunderstanding, giving her to the obvious zombie doesn’t sit well with him.

“Just do it. I’ll take care of Randy Russell,” Killian clarifies, finding it odd to use a person’s first and last name when the person is present.

The younger of the two begins to shove the girl, her blood trail makes it easy as it reduces the friction greatly. She is horrified at first by what he’s doing and bats at the boy yelling for him to stop. His brother has bravely entered the room and taken a towel from the back of a chair set in front of a round make-up mirror. The comedian’s eyes are locked onto the morsel, he takes steps towards him, starved for flesh having been robbed after just a taste. Blood is soaked around his bristly mouth, his signature scruff acting like a sponge.

Killian holds the towel if front of himself like a matador as the zombie closes the distance, he’s scared but has no choice but to act. He holds his position, letting the menace draw near, waiting for the right moment. Randy lunges, the boy steps aside and wraps his head in the towel. He quickly pulls the corners around to the back of the ghoul’s head and holds them together in tight fists. He’s seen his dad do this before when a raccoon got into their house, not wanting to kill the animal in front of his son.

Randy Russell thrashes, but the boy holds on for dear life, guiding the blind zombie to the door where he casts him out. The ghoul is sent into the wall across the corridor, clumsily falling to the ground. Undeterred by his face smashing into solid concrete, Randy recovers and gets up. Killian closes the door and locks the knob, sealing out the threat. He wishes he had a means to dispatch the zombie, rather than allowing it to remain active, possibly harming someone else, but he had no option. He did all he could do to protect his brother and save the girl. He breathes a sigh of relief and tries to remind himself that this is an Army base, someone will be able to stop one zombie, he hopes.