Life Among The Dead (18 page)

“
He was bitten.” Bill points out and receives affirmation from the artist.

A new page and the Derosso figure is shown lying down on a bed. A black line divides the page signifying that this happened in a different room. Hector is drawn on the other side of the line. He is in the prep area working on a bowl of green scribbles. A TV is displaying the word:
News.
A storefront window is rendered on the back wall, allowing stick Hector to view a red jumble of chaos brewing outside. Derosso appears now in the prep station, his eyes are black X’s.

Stick Hector must have been startled because now he bleeds from one of his misshapen hands. Derosso is coming at the employee and receives a knife in his chest. Another Hector appears, running away. The Derosso caricature is following.

Words give a brief explanation
. Knife cut me. I tried to hide but could not get away. He always found me.
Stick hector is on top of a cabinet with Derosso looking up at him.

“
So, how did you get away?” Dan asks him.

Hector grows another arm that wields a big pot. The pot connects to Derosso’s head. He then draws what looks like a big box with fog coming out of it. The artist can tell his audience is lost he debates drawing a thermometer with its mercury all the way to the bottom, instead he just labels the box:
Freezer.

A red square is placed on the floor of the freezer labeled:
Bloody rag.
Derosso is placed in the freezer and a new Hector appears to close the door.

“
Good work.” Dan tells him. He is rifling through a drawer in the kitchen. “Lindsey, do you know where Olive Grove Hospital is?”

“
On Main.” Lindsey says while she holds the tearful Becka.

“
Main is going to be a mess.” Dan says in a defeated tone.

“
It won’t be too bad. There is a street car that runs right past the hospital.”

“
You want to take the tracks?”

“
If they are clear.” Lindsey tells him her plan and goes back to making shushing sounds for the girl. Becka’s head is on Lindsey’s shoulder again.

“
From the hospital you guys can stay on Main, or head around back and take the ramp just passed the industrial park. Either way you can get to the bridge.” Dan tells Bill.

“
We should get going.” Bill suggests.

“
Good thinking.” Dan says, rising off his barstool. “Becka, are you coming with us, or what?”

“
She’s coming.” Lindsey answers for the teen.

All except Lindsey and Becka carry supplies back across the hall to Matilda’s. The two ladies are holding each other so tightly one might mistake them for conjoined twins.

The cats have come back into the apartment. Dan sees a white Persian walking into the bedroom where the old woman lies. Its paws are dark with blood. They ignore the felines and head for the window climbing out one at a time.

Below them some of the dead linger, but the population is lower than when they first climbed up the steel steps. Slowly the dead must be losing interest, or are finding better prospects. They don’t seem to be looking for the meals that eluded them before, some of those that remain pace the alley. A few stand stationary and just stare at the van.

Dan wants to get them out of the alley. He is pretty certain it is time for another hair-brained stunt. The soldier dashes back inside the apartment and follows the candle glow to the bathroom. In the medicine chest he locates what he had hoped to find.

He now has cotton balls and is soaking them in rubbing alcohol. The soggy swabs are wrung out, and then stuffed into Matilda’s pill bottle. Once he has the childproof cap secured Dan makes a hole in the white lid with his knife. He works one last cotton ball into the container through this hole. Half of the fibrous material sticks out of the end, fashioning a makeshift wick. Once back on the metal platform Dan tells the others to get in the building.

“
What’s that?” Bill asks.

“
Matilda’s pills.” Dan answers. “Get inside.”

Hector reads the man’s lips and complies, pulling Barbara and Becka into the building with him. Lindsey follows soon after them.

“
I don’t…” Bill starts to say half inside the window, but Dan interrupts him.

“
Trust me.” Dan says. As soon as the others are clear he pulls out his Zippo. The white fuse of his invention burns with a blue flame. It is airborne, sailing through the air as the flames spread over the entire object. It arcs towards the Earth like a meteorite. The soldier turns to dive through the window after he watches it bounce off the main street and roll under a parked convertible.

Bill still stands in his way. The soldier has no choice but to plow through the man, they both fall into the old woman’s apartment. Bill again wants to say something; Dan just pushes his head down. The younger of the two hugs the elder’s head on the floor as they all wait.

Time drags along and Dan doesn’t understand. He expected a loud bang and a fireball, enough commotion to lure the dead from the alley. He pokes his head up to see the road. A heavyset zombie wearing only a bathrobe stands by the car his improvised incendiary had landed under. The dead man is facing towards the alley watching three zombies walk out. The fat corpse’s robe is open. A breeze causes the fabric and his penis to flap obscenely.

Dan cannot see the amber container, but is picturing it melting into the pavement, as the white fiber inside turns black. The wick must have gone out, Dan decides.

“
The old lady had a heart condition?” Bill asks with a slight knowing lilt in his voice.

“
Yeah, that was her nitro.” Dan replies.

“
You do realize the medicinal dosage of nitroglycerin is too diluted to explode?”

Dan has to laugh at himself. “Of course I knew that.”

“
I think they are spread out enough that we can make it down safely.” Bill states.

“
You’re probably right.” Dan feels like an idiot right about now. “Sorry everybody.”

They all nod that it’s all right. Bill leads them down the series of platforms. Dan and Hector take the rear, both armed as they cover the older man. Bill steps onto the ladder and rides it down to the van; the steel on steel friction makes a horrible screech. Lindsey descends next with the two girls.

Dan taps Hector’s shoulder and takes his weapon so the deaf man can head down the rungs. He stops half way so Dan can hand him one of the metal boxes of ammo. Bill receives the box from Hector and they lower the second one in the same fashion.

The dead are starting to congregate around the van. More are entering the alley from the street. It is Dan’s turn to use the ladder after he drops one of the rifles into Bill’s waiting hands. The last muzzleloader comes down with him.

The zombies’ combined weight jostles the vehicle as they reach for the remaining survivor. Their bodies rub against the fenders in their desperate attempts to grab a meal.

The engine is already idling as Dan enters through the sunroof. He releases the ladder letting it fly back home. The corpses are trying to claw their way in through the windows. Dan can see one of the zombies by Bill’s window has a hand full of jewelry; every finger is adorned with a heavy ring like a gaudy set of brass knuckles. The hefty accessories weigh down the ghoul’s arms, forcing it to swing from its shoulders like a boxer who has gone a few rounds too many.

That can’t be good,
Dan thinks, but it is too late. Bill’s window smashes inward as the undead lord of the ring’s hand connects just right with the glass. Several sets of hands surge in through the breech. They have him.

The dead are grabbing at the older man. Their moans are higher in pitch and eager. Many of the occupants of the van start to scream, Becka out of horror, Lindsey out of concern. Bill is screaming in agony.

“
No!” Dan goes to the window with his 9mm drawn. Hector is trying to keep Bill in the van against the attempts of the dead to rip him from it. Dan fires into the corpses, but more join in the effort to claim the prize.

Dan snatches the red can from the floor and pops up through the sunroof. One of the dead has climbed onto the hood and the soldier comes face to face with it. The corpse clutches either side of Dan’s head and pulls violently. The 9mm enters the thing’s open and hungry mouth. All it gets to eat today is a bullet.

Gas is poured along the left side. The survivor flips open his lighter and sparks the flame to life. He touches the flame to the foul smelling liquid and the van becomes an inferno.

Inside the cabin Hector falls backwards into Dan’s legs as he rends his new acquaintance from the undead mob. The soldier’s ribs slam into the edge of the roof; he almost loses the gas can and lighter. He falls back into the crowded space.

“
Drive! Drive! Drive!” Dan bellows. He sees the extent of Bill’s injuries. The man’s right ear is missing and there are deep furrows gouged into his check as if the zombies were trying to remove his face. His neck has a large chunk missing and his shirt is soaked through with blood.

The van speeds backwards out of the alley and makes its turn onto the road. Dan is thrown into the seats in front of him while he tries to find material to dress Bill’s wounds. Hector takes off his shirt and offers it to him. Barbara has moved to the back to be of assistance.

“
Barbarella, hold this to his neck.” Dan tells the little helper.

The girl applies pressure to the waded garment, giving her neighbor an encouraging smile. Though he winces through unbearable pain, Bill returns the smile trying to look brave for her. “I guess it’s a good thing we’re already heading to the hospital, huh?”

Dan tears strips from Lindsey’s shirt, he would use his but the material is too rough and not really absorbent. Cotton works best. The injured man’s wife drives, her eyes pour tears down her face.

The donated material is put against the man’s head where his ear should be. Bill holds it there himself. Dan catches Hector’s attention, drawing his eyes to his lips. Hector’s eyes are wide, he knows what happens after someone is bitten. Dan mouths the words: How long?

The quiet man writes on his notebook: Hour? Hour and a half?

“
Is he all right?” Lindsey asks, trying to see her man in the rear view.

“
I’m fine.” Bill assures her, but his voice gives away that he is lying. He speaks through clenched teeth and searing pain. The gouges in his right check stretch and widen as he talks.

“
Don’t you dare lie to me, William.” She says in a stern tone.

“
He’s bitten.” Dan reports.

“
No.” Lindsey cries the word as if he was already dead. In the back Dan can hear Becka say the same word only she says it out of fear. She is afraid of the man turning into a zombie anywhere near her. Dan has to admit to himself, he fears the same thing.

The soldier looks ahead of them through the cracked windshield. They are coming up on their turn onto Vermont. The intersection is clogged.

“
What’s the plan?” Dan asks the grieving woman behind the wheel, she ignores him. He puts a hand on her shoulder. “Lindsey?”

“
Hannah’s.” She waves him off as if he was interfering with her train of thought.

Hannah’s is an open-air shopping center consisting of several buildings connected by elevated walkways. Dan doesn’t quite get it right away. He can see the mall coming up; before he can put two and two together the van is careening into the wide courtyard.

The white vehicle dodges large cement planters and kiosks selling phones and bamboo plants. It darts around stone pillars and fountains. Despite the fact she strikes a slushy stand, spilling multi colored beverage all over the ground and running over numerous undead shoppers, Dan is impressed.
She clearly comes here often.
He remembers trying to do his Christmas shopping here a few weeks ago.
And, I thought that was a nightmare.
Something troubles him, as he recalls the side of the mall that opens onto Main Street has a large staircase.

The courtyard ends at a cliff. A wide set of stairs looms before them and they are not slowing. Metal railings are erected down the center of the long series of risers. The van is able to avoid them as it leaves solid ground. All the passengers become weightless.

The roof of the van scrapes along the bottom of a support girder overhead as gravity fights to reclaim them. They touch down and the driver must wrestle the wheel to maintain control. The van is swerving. They crash through a hotdog vender’s abandoned cart, the windshield becomes awash with thick slimy water and small sausages. The wipers go to work trying to improve visibility.

“
Honey, didn’t you want to come here for more guest towels and a new book?” Bill asks his wife.

They are on Main now, speeding along the trolley tracks. Dan wonders if Lindsey believes the hospital can help her husband, if her risky maneuvers are being made out of hope. As far as he knows, there is no hope for him.
It’s a damn shame,
he thinks to himself. He likes this man, sadly it’s a fact,
Bill is beyond medical attention.

Lindsey avoids the minor obstacles in her way. Only a stalled trolley car and a couple of inconsiderate drivers paused along the tracks between them and Olive Grove. They pull into the drop off circle in front of the large medical facility. The area is infested with zombies; their dead eyes track the white vehicle.