Medora: A Zombie Novel (13 page)

Another rocking of the fence sent a blunt vibration into the tree, slightly swaying it with Ellen bracing herself with the branches. She waited for the next wave and then it all happened too quickly. The fence indeed came down like a domino, bringing all the attached fences from four or five yards crashing at once. With the fences, a single long
lightning rod next to the tree that Ellen was hiding in, also fell down, hitting a power line on its way, snapping it into two, releasing a vibrant shrill of sparks and electricity into the hot air. Before she could begin to register in her mind what was causing the caustic, fiery sound above her, a bolt of hot pain hummed into her entire body. All of her muscles spasmodically thrust outward at once, making her fall from the tree and slam into the grass below. Her back uncontrollably arched and her lips felt singed with smoke. Her entire being quivered and shook, trying to understand and cope with the extreme electrical energy that was just passed through it. She could feel her heart beating erratically beneath her chest, pounding at the walls causing her to breathe paradoxically, inhaling when she should exhale; her breathing muscles fighting against each other rather than together for a single breath.

She opened her eyes and saw a power line wildly whipping back and forth in the air above the tree, spewing sparks and threatening with a punctuated lashing sound like a leather whip. Gasping for air, she coughed
repeatedly and then alternated between choking and retching. Her vision darkened and she briefly lost consciousness, drifting along, with the pain slipping away from her thoughts. Quickly, the school that lay only a few hundred feet burst into her thoughts again making her jolt out of a sleepy haze into an upright sitting position. Long strands of grass brushed at her skin and she felt an overwhelming need to drink water.

Her eyes and head were throbbing as she crawled on her hands and knees to a shallow mud puddle and
she slurped up as much water as she could at one time. As she guzzled the water, she saw the source of the puddle, which was a leaky sprinkler head and she moved over to it, drinking from it like a drinking fountain. There was a stirring sound at the side of the house. Looking quickly over her shoulder, she saw movement and so she quickly crawled into a doghouse that incidentally had a dog in it. Curling up next to a Golden Retriever, she waited for whomever it was to pass by the doghouse. Sleepiness began to overtake her again and her entire body ached with pain. She was afraid that she would die if she slept, die next to this friendly dog that seemed to welcome her companionship by licking her nose.

“Hey there,” she
said, giving into the fatigue, “let’s take a little nap, okay?

*****

Keith clutched at the handles of the metal double doors of Oak Brook Elementary and pulled them with no movement.

“Hey, let me in! I need to get
in there. My wife and daughter are in there! Ellen and Jayne Sanders? Have you seen them?” He yelled at the doors hoping for a response, grasping onto the aluminum baseball bat that he rummaged out of his garage along with some of his own running shoes that actually fit his feet, a backpack of random food from the kitchen and three flashlights.

He looked behind him and saw small movements past the cars that were parked all around the doors. An anonymous arm lay
lifeless, sticking out from beneath the bottom of a truck and a dog barked from the passenger seat of another car.

“Hey!” He rammed the bat into the door producing a tremendous thunder that resonated within the metal doors. “I need to get in!”

The door suddenly creaked open an inch, so Keith slipped his fingers in, trying to get leverage to yank it open but someone was holding it firmly in place.

A man's voice spoke from within,
“Go 'way, ain't nobody you know here.”

“No, there is, my wife and daughter, Ellen and Jayne Sanders. My little girl goes to school here.”

The man let out a low chuckle. “No, no, you don't need to worry 'bout that no more. All the kids are gone from here now.”

“Who are you? Can I talk to a teacher or the Principal?”

“Listen, you need to back away and leave, there's nothing here for you.”

“If you don't let me
in, I'm going to break the window around the corner and I'm coming in.”

Ano
ther low chuckle. “You talkin' about that window right there down the sidewalk?”

“Yeah, I'm going to shatter the shit out of that window and I'm coming in for my
daughter, you son of a bitch!”

“I don't recommend you do that
. No, I wouldn't do that for your own good.” The door slammed shut.

“Dammit!” He looked behind him, turned to walk down the
sidewalk, approached a low window completely black with tint, and cupped his hands around his eyes trying to see in with no success. Someone bumped the window from within and he backed off. Then another bump followed by a thick thud.

“That's it.” He lifted his bat over his head with both arms and brought it swiftly into the window,
smashing the frame into black tinted shards of glass. He looked in and dozens of eyes stared back at him in unison.

“Jayne!
Jayne, are you here?” He climbed into a large gymnasium, tried to get a better look in, and realized that children were staring at him. He swallowed and gripped the bat. They were all infected, all of them. No time for thinking. With his bat he nudged the chest a young boy who grabbed onto Keith's leg and tried to gnaw on his calf. He kicked into the chest of an overweight preteen girl and tried to move swiftly around the crowd. They surrounded him quickly and seemed to move faster than the infected adults.

He started
swinging the bat from left to right to clear a path ahead of him towards the gym doors that would lead into the rest of the school, clipping some of the children in the arms. He refused to think that one of them could be his own daughter, knowing that if he saw her bloated infected face trying to bite him, he would sink in despair that very moment and let himself be devoured by half dead children.

He pushed them over as he moved, making them topple over one another and slowing the general speed of the crowd towards him. Trying his best to kick over as many as he could without resorting to using the blunt force on children, he made it across the gym to locked wooden double doors. He was
about to pound on the door but the children were quickly at his back forcing him to bring the bat into the side of one of their faces, completely shattering a cheekbone. He swung the bat at another boy’s knee making him topple over.

Making a final lurch to the wooden doors, he slammed on it with the
bat, producing a thunderous sound that resonated to the walls of the gym.

“Someone open this
door, right now! I'm in here, a person is in here, and I’m not infected!”

There was no response at the door and more small figures were falling on him, toppling over one another and grabbing at his legs. He swung down hard and then swung at the doors again.

“Open up! They're swarming me!” He paused and then kicked downward. “Open up, you bast…” The doors opened inward and he fell through into a bright hallway of white light. Looking up, a gigantic belly of a man loomed over him.

“Get up! Get out of the way,
gotta get this door closed.” Keith scrambled to his feet and kicked back into the gym at a body crawling on him and the door slammed shut and clicked.

“Damn you, I told you to not break that window in.” A man with a very round face and
stubly facial hair stared back at Keith. “Didn't I tell you? We got all the damn infected in there, and there's no where else to put 'em.”

“I'm--
I'm sorry, but my daughter goes to this school and I've got to find her.”

The man looked at him and pursed his lips together
. “Sorry, buddy, but I think you found her. We put all the infected kids in that gym.”

“No, no she wasn't in
there. I didn't see her. She wasn't in there. Where are the other kids, the other kids that didn't get infected, they can't all be sick? Her name is Jayne Sanders.”

“Look, I don't know any names
. I'm just the head janitor here. Most of the teachers left a while ago, just a couple of us left here now. I'm sorry, but your little girl is probably in that gym and she's not your little girl any more. All the healthy kids were taken home a while ago.”

“
Well, I got to find out.” Keith turned back to the gym door to unlock it.

“Hey! What in the hell are you doing? Do you know how hard it was to get all those damn demons in there? I'm not letting them get out again
. Hell, probably half of them have already gone through that window you busted.”

“I'm opening this damn door.” He turned quickly, unlocke
d the door and peeked through. Most of the kids had moved out through the window or were headed towards it.

“Jayne
, can you hear me?” Slowly, their heads swiveled in the direction of his voice and they began to move towards him. Some of them cried out with a long drawn out whining.

“Look now, close that door,
close it! She might be in there. She might not but the only way you're going to find out is if you go along bashing all their heads in with that bat until you find her. Do you want to do that?” Keith stayed motionless at the door until the burly janitor closed it for him. “Come on, most of us are holed up in the teacher's lounge.”

“Okay,” Keith passively submitted. “Do you know if my wife is here? Her name is Ellen Sanders.”

“Well, I don't know, she could be, there are quite a few people crammed up in here. We can find out for you.” The man's voice had taken a tender tone, almost fatherly, trying to console the man whose wife and child were probably dead.

Keith realized that he had probably fallen into some sort of shock
. He wasn't thinking anymore, only taking orders from the unknown janitor. They walked down a thinly carpeted hallway. There were bodies; most slumped up by the walls, pushed out of the way by panicked foot traffic. Keith began to stop at every child and bent down to see his or her face and then moved on. The janitor waited patiently as Keith examined each of their faces.

“Hey, folks, this is the Captain speaking and I assure you that the safety of our passengers is the number one priority of this airline. We did have a minor incident with an unruly passenger who has been detained and has been deemed sick with the flu. We are 100% certain that there are no safety threats to this plane or anyone on board and this incident was an isolated and random event. We were able to make up our delayed time in the air and do expect a timely arrival in Holland once we reach a cruising altitude. We do expect some slight turbulence up ahead, so I will be switching on the safety belt sign shorty. Thank you.”

*****

Dave wished he had died.
At this point, he only had a vague feeling of actually being alive. He mostly knew he was alive by the pulsating pain of his face like a horse with its hoof squarely standing on his forehead. Voices began to distill from the static sound in his ears and the images of open rib cages and hanging limbs in downtown Manhattan began to flood his mind.

Someone was near him
. “This guy’s waking up.”

Dave’s legs jerked into life as he tested to see if they worked.

“Whoa, whoa, watch him! Watch him!”

Opening his
eyes, he saw the black circular tip of an automatic rifle looking back at him. He feebly swiped at it and let out a long and painful grunt from the cracking pain in his head.

“Alright, put a bullet in it.”

“No! No, I’m not sick! My head is just killing me.”

“Whoa, okay. Hold your fire.”

He looked up at three towering men staring down at him; above them were tall pine trees.

Dave squinted at them through the sunlight, “What happened? Where are we?”

“We got the hell out of New York, that’s what happened,” one of them replied while snorting and walking away.

Another spoke up, “You’re a pretty lucky
guy, Sir. We were leaving the city and happened to stumble onto you. I thought you were one of the infected but then I heard you trying to talk so I just scooped you up and threw you on top the Humvee and here you are. Where did you even come from? That entire section of the city became completely infected in a matter of hours. Must’ve been hiding somewhere?”

The man spoke with a certain nonchalance that comforted Dave. He detected some sort of accent from another state but he couldn’t put his finger on it.

The man continued, “I mean, shit, that entire street was raining with thousands of bodies. Thousands. My socks,” He bent down and lifted his pant leg up. “My socks were originally white, and now they’re fucking red like Normandy beach. The amount of bodies must’ve been three stories high right in that street, don’t you think, Captain?” He gestured to the other man standing at Dave’s left.

“Yeah.”
He also slowly walked off.

Dave fell silent knowing that he was singly responsible for the deluge of bodies that flooded the street. He a
lone lured thousands of the sick off the top of a skyscraper and survived. “My girlfriend is dead,” he blurted out in some sort of attempt to change the subject.

“
Yeah, well, everybody’s girlfriend is dead now, buddy.” The man paused and cleared his throat. “What’s your name? You hungry? Why don’t you get up off the dirt there and get something to eat. All we got are rations, but we got plenty.”

“I’m Sam Malone.” In a hasty attempt to make up a name, it was the best Dave could do.

“Sam Malone? Like from Cheers?” The man laughed.

“Yeah, just like from Cheers.”

“Ha, well, sorry. I bet you’ve been getting that your whole life. I’m Lieutenant Sean Anderson.”

Dave finally got to his feet and suddenly realized he was in a forest surrounded by trees. The sun was slanting through the branches, casting dancing shadows of leaves in the dirt. It was jarring for him to see the natural world in such a preserved state when the last thing he had seen
was human monsters trying to rip his flesh off. The pure air filled his nostrils and sank into his lungs, sending chills down his back from the wholesomeness of the woods. He looked at Anderson. A frightfully young man stared back at him from beneath blond eyebrows. From his strong jaw and square mouth, Dave would’ve guessed that he was in the military.

“Good to meet
you, Sean. Were you the one who pulled me out of that mess?”

“
Yes, sir, I grabbed you up and brought you to the woods.”

“Hey, thank you. I mean, thank you so much. I would’ve died right there in that street if you hadn’t done that. You really saved my ass.”

“Well, you’re welcome, Sam Malone. I’d do it again. Are you hurt badly? To be honest, we actually haven’t had time to check you out for serious injury.”

“Well…” Dave patted his legs and abdomen with his hands, “I think I’m in one piece. My face hurts like hell and my hips are killing
me, but I actually feel okay.”

“
Yeah, sorry about that. I butted you right in the face with the back of my rifle when I thought you were infected. Your face is actually kind of… it’s purple.” He gave Dave a weak smile.

“No worries. I’m just happy to be out of the city.” Dave looked around him and realized there were a number of men dressed in army fatigues staring right at him. A few others were facing out into the woods with their rifles drawn. “So you guys are the National Guard?”

“Yes, we’re the National Guard.” Anderson glanced over his shoulder at another man.

“Anderson, shut your mouth.” The man shouted at him and approached Dave. He had deep grooves of aged skin forming the outline of his mouth. Dave could tell from his tight thin lips and authoritative stern forehead that this man was not going to be as friendly as
Anderson was. He walked right up to Dave’s face, “What’d you say your name was again? Sam Malone?”

“Yeah, that’s right.”

“You’re sure your name is Sam Malone?” Dark aviator sunglasses concealed the man’s eyes.

“Sure, I’m sure
…” Dave paused.

“What? What you got to say, Sam Malone?”

“And you’re from the National Guard?”

“You’ve got a lot of questions for someone that could easily get stranded in woods with flesh eating monsters roaming around.”

The threat landed and Dave just stared back at the man’s sunglasses.

The man continued, “You’re one lucky son of a bitch to be standing right here right
now, so I’d shut your mouth and stop asking questions right this minute, Sam Malone.” He turned to Anderson and commanded, “Stop chit chatting and get on the radio.”

“Yes,
sir,” Anderson replied and scurried to the Humvee.

Dave mustered the courage to speak up again to the man who had clearly revealed himself to be in charge, “Can I ask where we are?”

“We’re an hour or two outside of Buffalo.”

“Buffalo? How did we get out here? What’s going on back in the city?”

“New York City and the immediate suburbs have become compromised at this point. Attempts to neutralize the city have been abandoned.”

“Abandoned? How is the lower island just
abandoned? This doesn’t make any sense. The entire city is infected?”

“The army is currently setting up a perimeter to contain the infection. That’s all I can really say at this point.”

“Oh, okay.” Dave felt small. He was a child now with no idea what the world was. He didn’t know if everything he had known about the world was fundamentally changing or if this was just a single event in history that would be contained to be looked back upon. “And I’m sorry, what was your name?”

“I’m Captain Ortega.” The man’s expression had not changed once since he began talking to Dave.

“Oh, okay, nice to meet you. Thanks again for pulling me out of there.”

“Don’t thank me. Thank your little pal over there, Anderson. I had no idea he threw you on top of the truck. In full
disclosure, I would’ve left you there. Nothing personal.”

“Oh… okay.”

Ortega abruptly walked away.

“So, what now?
Are you going to leave me here?”

“That’s iffy right now.”

Dave fell silent, found a log and sat down. He started counting the men that were around him. There were six, seven including him. Seven military men and one man with ten years experience working in an advertising firm. Dave had never held a gun in his life. He had a tattoo with a little coyote holding a gun on his shoulder blade. So there was that.

Anderson hopped out of the Humvee with a flat expression on his face. “Sir, I got news.” Ortega stared at him. “We cannot get more men out here right now. They say all available reinforcements are being sent to New York. All inland reserves are being diverted there for containment.”

“And…what about the target?”

“They estimate it is within a 25 mile radius of our current location but they can’t pinpoint it. There hasn’t been visual confirmation yet.”

“And just what in the hell do they expect us to do? Start a search party?”

“Sir, they really want to talk to you for more direct instruction.”

Ortega jumped into the Humvee, put on a headset, and started muttering to someone on the other line.

Dave looked around at the men surrounding him, amazed at how all of them were gigantic in stature. They were dressed in army fatigues crammed full of equipment, wires and antennas in every available pocket. From only his limited experience of playing video games, he guessed they were each carrying M16 automatic rifles with an extra Desert Eagle and scope on their hips. Looking across the
way, he saw another soldier delicately balancing the tip of a machete blade on a log with his fingertips lightly balancing the handle. He realized that they were all equipped with the same blade nestled in a sheath diagonally crossed on each of their backs.

“I didn’t know they were giving you guys those huge blades
,” Dave said to Anderson with the inflection of a question.

“
Oh, yeah, they’re new. They gave them to all us guys. Like, ah… for crowd control or riots.”

“What’re you
doing, cutting hippies’ heads off?”

“Ha, well no. I haven’t been cutting off any hippie’s heads
, although I’d like to sometimes.” Anderson let out a little laugh.

“Yeah.”
Dave looked down at his own clothes that consisted of shredded slacks with his hairy thighs showing through twin gaping holes in each pant leg. Somewhere along the way, he had lost his dress shirt and was wearing a deeply brown stained under shirt. His shoes were simply gone. Realizing only now how ridiculous he must look, he turned again to Anderson.

“Hey, uh, you guys got any more clothes?
Fatigues? I’ll take anything over here.”

Anderson looked him up and down, “Yeah, just give me a minute.”
Without another word, he suddenly ran off into the woods.

“What the
…” Dave gestured to another of the men expecting some sort of reaction but he just swung his machete into the side of a tree. After several awkward minutes, Anderson returned with a set of army fatigues and black boots.

“Here you are.” Anderson presented him the clothes, neatly folded with the boots resting on top.

“Where did you get these?”

“We lost a man a little ways back. He got
bitten in the city but we took him along with us when we got outta there. He turned into one of the sick, so we had to, well… put him down. Damn, that sounds bad. Damn like putting a dog down but that’s exactly what we did, isn’t it? Put a couple in him and left him by a tree. I know it was shitty but we just didn’t have time to bury ‘em. At least, I took his dog tags for his family. I think he’d be happy if someone else could use his clothes. I mean, I don’t know, didn’t personally know the guy too well myself. We only met up with him in the city today. Seemed like a good enough guy.”

“Do you think it’s safe to wear them? Do you think I could get infected or something?”

“Buddy, did you see the stink that we pulled you from? You were covered up to your ears in blood and guts of those sick bastard people and you aren’t sick now. I’d at least put those boots on, cover up those nasty toes.”

“Yeah, I guess you’re right.” He reached out for them and quickly dressed himself. He cinched the belt tight, crinkling the waist of the pants around his belly. “They’re
big, but man I’m happy to not be wearing torn up office clothes.” He patted the breast pocket and felt a clinking of metal. Digging in the pocket, he discovered the dog tags with the name Joseph “Boomtown” Troucher. “Boomtown,” he blurted out.

“Say what?”

“This guy’s dog tags. He went by ‘Boomtown’”

Anderson gave him a soft chuckle and returned to Humvee where Ortega yanked off his headset. “What’s going
on, Captain?”

Ortega pushed Anderson out of the way, “Alright
everybody, listen up!” He yelled as the men circled in. “I just got off the line with D.C. with updates about Manhattan and our current orders. It’s believed at this point that either some virus or bacteria of unknown origin infected patient zero somewhere on Manhattan either early this morning or late last night. They basically don’t know what the hell is going on and to us at this point, it doesn’t really matter. Manhattan is a dead zone. The Mayor is presumed dead and it is now under martial law. All efforts are now directed at containing the infected people within the city borders. Rescue efforts have been abandoned.” He paused, looked around into the woods and silently stared for a moment. “This thing spreads much faster than we’re used to. And I mean fast. Over the course of approximately 24 hours, half of one of the nation’s biggest cities has been decimated.”