My Dead World (23 page)

“Do you really think he will?”

“Yes.” I leaned back in the driver’s seat and exhaled. “With everything, I believe he will.”

“I don’t think he’s coming,” Cade said.

Another straggler, a woman, joined the group of stragglers that encircled the SUV. I was focused on her. She was young and probably fit. In fact she was still wearing what looked like gym clothes. Dirty, tattered and bloody clothes. She probably had just walked out of the gym when she got that bite on her neck.

They peered inside the car, slowly hitting their hands against the window. Some didn’t have hands. Every time one of them hit too hard, they left a smeared trail of rotted flesh.

“Did you hear me?” he asked, speaking slowly.

“I hear you. He’s coming.” I brought the pint of bourbon to my lips and took a small sip.

Where did they all come from?
  I wondered. If it wasn’t for the sunroof we wouldn’t have any air. I was so glad Edi gave us the barter box. We had supplies, days worth to wait out until the stragglers fell apart and dropped to the ground.

“It’s been five hours.” Cade said.

That I knew. Aside from the barter bag, I was also grateful that Cade wasn’t throwing up or moaning in pain. The virus was holding off making him physically ill. He was, however, slurring and dragging out his words.

I peered over to him. He held a small bottle in his hand. He held it to his mouth and pumped a couple times.

“Does your mouth or throat hurt?” I asked.

“No. Why?”

“That’s the third time I saw you do that.”

“Oh.” He chuckled. “No, it’s Sativex.”

“What is Sativex?”

“It’s a oral form of medical marijuana.”

“You keep on squirting medical marijuana in your mouth?”

“Yeah.” He opened his mouth again.

I took the bottle. “So you’re stoned?”

“Yes.” He nodded. “When I grabbed it, I didn’t think I’d need it for something like this.”

“Okay so no wonder you’re not showing symptoms.”

“Probably why.” He sat back. “I think if we ever get out of here. If the Russian ever shows up...”

“He’s Siberian.”

“No,” Cade laughed. “He’s Serbian. You don’t pay attention. Anyhow, I think I should go to Erie and find my family, I’m gonna die anyhow.”

“You’re not gonna die.”

“Stop. I was bit. You know I am. And I feel like I’m gonna die.”

My heart sunk and I turned in my seat to face him. “I didn’t know you were feeling so badly.”

“I’m trying not to show it,” Cade said. “Plus that …” he pointed to the infected stragglers. “Is annoying.”

“I agree.”

“You know. I know this sounds silly. But I’m gonna tell you. I had this thought … that you and I were … well… I thought we would end up being this couple in this post apocalyptic world. Making babies. Having lots of sex because there was nothing else to do. I know …” He lifted his hand. “Your husband died not long ago. But I think rules on grief length have changed.”

“Is that so?”

“It is. I knew it since I first met you.”

“While my husband was dying?”

“I was a dog before all this, I don’t mind telling you.”

With an, ‘ah ha’ I nodded. “You don’t think you’re a little young for me? You’re like eight years younger.”

“Oh my God!” He slurred out and grabbed the bottle from my hand. “New rules in a new world. Age doesn’t matter.” He squirted more in his mouth.

“You are so stoned.”

“I am.” He lifted a finger. “Want some?”

“No, I have this.” I showed him the pint.

“Your loss.” He put the bottle down. “Yeah, that was what I thought. Then Lev showed up and that’s done. He will never let you be a couple with anyone. He’s like a human chastity belt.”

I couldn’t help but laugh.

“We could have sex now,” Cade said.

“What a wonderful invitation,” I said then winked. “I’ll pass. Not gonna take a chance since the virus is passed through bodily fluids.”

“I get ya. Hey.” He snapped his finger. “Where’s your phone?”

I pointed to the center console.

He lifted it. “Come here.” He pulled me closer.

“What? You want to take a selfie?”

“Yes.” He leaned his cheek against mine. “First and last picture together.” He raised the phone and snapped. After doing so, he looked. “Hey, not bad.”

“Oh my God.” I inched back after I realized it and then I touched his face to be sure. “You’re not hot.”

“Ouch. That hurt.”

“No. I mean, you aren’t fevered. Let me see your ankle.”

“It won’t be pretty. I can feel … feel the necrosis climbing up my leg.” Cade shifted his body and lifted his leg. With his back against the door, he put his foot on the console.

Focused only on his leg, I unwrapped the bandaged. A part of me was fearful, then again, another part of me was hopeful.

Once I got down to the wound, I exhaled so heavily, I wheezed.

“How bad is it?”

I looked down to the wound. The butterfly sutures had come off from all the moisture but it was just a wound. No spider veins, no blackening, it wasn’t even swollen. “Cade…. Cade…. It’s fine.”

“It’s what?”

“It’s fine,” I said brightly.

“You mean like Katie fine?”

“Yes.” I smiled.

“Okay.” He held up his hand. “Let’s not get too excited yet. We know we have thirty days and that dead guy got me good.”

A bell went off in my head.

A huge mental ‘ding’

Dead guy.

“Holy shit,” I said. “You’re not gonna get sick. It just hit me. The one that bit you was dead. A virus … a virus needs a living host. The fast ones, the infected, are still living. The pharmacy worker, his body was decaying. He didn’t bleed. He was by all intents and purposes … dead. If he’s dead the virus can’t survive. Living host. He wasn’t one.”

Suddenly, the man who slurred his words, who swore he was on death’s door was invigorated. He sat up and grabbed on to me. “Oh, God, I hope you’re right.”

“Bet me I am. Time will tell. But bet me I am.” I grabbed on to him tightly. “Now all we need is to ….”

Bang. Bang. Bang.

The triple slam sound of something hitting against the roof of the car, caused us both to scream and spring apart.

I spun in my seat to see Lev standing at the driver’s door. I unlocked it.

Lev flung the door open. “Could you two have possibly broken down somewhere any harder to find?”

I was so filled with relief, both on seeing Cade not being infected and Lev showing up, that I laughed emotionally.

“See.” Cade nudged me. “Human chastity belt. What’d I tell you?”

I jumped from the car and immediately into Lev’s arms. For Cade, me and the medication we had for Manny, I was so grateful that Lev showed up. He said he would come, and it didn’t surprise me in the least that he hadn’t let us down.

A lot of things happened in the moments after our rescue by way of Lev. Not only did we have to listen to him bitch about how we pulled down a small street, but also how we missed the traffic strip that caused our multiple flat tires.

It was bright orange. Really, I should have seen it, but I was far too concerned with making sure that Cade was okay.

He was, at least for the time being. I held high hopes that my theory was correct. Cade was in pain. He took a bite to a very tender area.

Both of us were glad that Lev was so obsessive. He had been in Evans City for two hours before he found us. Walking every single street. He even passed us twice because he saw the orange traffic strip and thought no way would we go down that street.

After giving us an earful, he then proceeded to tell me, “your brother called.”

“What?” I blasted with excitement. “Bobby’s alive?”

“Yes, he is.”

“Why didn’t you tell me right away?” I asked.

“Because I wanted to get all that off my chest. It was building while I searched. I figured you were stuck or hiding somewhere.”

Cade looked over to him. “Did it occur to you that she might have been hurt or worse?”

“No.” Lev shook his head. “I knew she was fine. I figured you were the one hurt. I found the busted radio and the bloody bandages.”

“How did you know it was me and not her?” Cade asked.

“Because you’re a medical professional and when I saw the empty box, I knew you wouldn’t use Bactine.”

“That’s actually pretty smart,” Cade said.

“So… back up,” I said. “Bobby called.”

“Yes. He was in that quarantine. When everything shut down, him and four others were trapped in there. He said it was like a prison on lock down. He doesn’t have his phone. He found a working landline. He said he’s on his way. It probably would take him some time since they moved him to Delaware.”

“But he’s coming?”

“Yes.”

I felt so relieved. I was convinced that something happened to my brother. Hearing that he called was great news. It probably would take him a while to get here, considering cities were blocked off.

I was happy Lev waited to tell me. It made my mood a good one when we got back.

Despite being hurt, once we arrived back to the cabin, Cade made his way to Manny and started him on those medications. He grabbed some pretty big bottles. For at least six months, Manny would be okay on his meds. As long as he made it through the congestive heart failure incident. Cade was confident he would.

I shared with my father and the others the map we picked up at the police station.

“Bobby specifically mentioned The Green,” I said. “He never got into it.”

“Makes sense,” my father peered at the map. “A lot of these areas are low population.”

We studied and talked about what it would take to get there and how long.

I was pretty pumped to talk to my radio buddies for the final daily check in. Each time we spoke I longed to contribute something of value, or at least entertaining.

Everyone always had a story to share, how they left to do this or that. Not me, I was at the cabin.

I started my tale with. “We had to go to Evans City.”

Which made Lev cringe because he said it gave away our location. In my opinion over the course of a few weeks I gave away our location a lot of times and no one showed up.

The others started calling in.

“I think KA66ROO was out of Evans City. He didn’t check in.”

“That’s because it’s a dead town,” I said. “We didn’t see many infected at all, or people. I think they left.”

Hal replied. “If Roo was aware he led them out. Any Corkers?”

Corkers were what most of my radio buddies called the stragglers. It was a combo name for Walking Corpses.

“Several,” I replied.

“Did you at least go see the Night of the Living Dead Museum?”

Man, was I the only one who didn’t know?
“Negative,” I responded. “Cade got bit … which is another thing I wanted to mention.”

I then told them my ‘A virus needs a live host’ theory.

Hal was receptive to that. He commented that he too, was bit by a Corker and never got sick. He believed he was immune.

KA454 from Kentucky, whose real name was Helena added, “we still aren’t convinced there’s not an immunity factor here. Even though I never saw anyone get bit by a Corker and get sick. So we may be on to something.”

Then I brought up, The Green. Had anyone heard of the term?

“Never heard it called that,” Helena said. “But we have heard reports of FEMA style camps set up in areas with low infection. I wouldn’t go to one.”

“Why?” I asked.

“Cause Sweet Pea, why do you need the government to take care of you? Obviously, you guys are holding on well.”

“What about other people? Civilization? Children?”

“If you need that,” she said. “Anyone one of us will be glad to take you in. We have seven kids here at this camp No, in my opinion, The Green will be brown because they started it too soon. Wait out the outbreak, after everything that is gonna die is dead, then emerge. Just the rule we’re following.”

“For how long?” I asked. “Does anyone have a guess how long?”

“Why does it matter?” she asked. “You’re safe, you’re little one is safe, you got food and water and even someone that knows medicine. That’s if he don’t die. What does it matter how long? What do you have to go to?”

That actually spawned a huge debate that went over our typical twenty minute check in time. I was fine with that, I enjoyed our evening chats.

I missed dinner though, and when I went in, Edi had already prepared a meal. She made biscuits and a hearty broth made from stock which she thickened with instant mashed potatoes and added canned vegetables. It was really good. I wanted to learn to make something so simple taste so wonderfully.

While I did the dishes, she showed me a new drawing Katie had done and proceeded to tell me she appreciated what me and Cade had done.

“No, I wanted to. I’m glad we did.”

“Cade, he’ll be fine.” She patted my hand. “He will. I prayed for him.”

“Thank you.”

“Just know … if Manny doesn’t make it …”

“He will.”

She smiled gingerly at me. “He is not going to make it. My Manny and I have been married sixty-three years. Sixty-three. I know him. I know how he looks. Even with the medication, he will not make it. We are at peace with it. Know that. Now …” She took the dish towel from my hand. “Have some pudding. I made pudding.”

“You made pudding? Aw, I want to learn to do that stuff.”

“I will teach you it all. I promise. I made enough for everyone.” She moved to the edge of the counter and lifted a cloth, exposing two small bowls.

“Can I eat it after I get Katie in bed?”

“Yes. But do not let it set.”

“I won’t. There’s two. Who didn’t have theirs?”

“Lev. He is so busy, that Lev. Maybe you can make sure he gets his desert.”

“I will.”

Edi leaned forward and kissed me on the cheek and patted my hand. “I listened to you talk on that radio. Just know … your garden grows. Where a garden grows there is life.” She gave another pat to my hand and walked out the back door.

I found her words puzzling as if she wanted to say more. I watched as she made her way back into her pop up camper. The chickens made noise like watchdogs.

I finished the dishes, extinguished the lantern and walked into the living area. Cade was sprawled out on the easy chair, while my father cuddled with Katie on the couch reading from a newspaper.

“Where did you get that?” I asked.

“Dillon’s General Store. March 31, 1981. Day after Reagan was shot. I had it put away,” my father said. “Thought maybe I’d read some history to Katie.”

“That is so cool.” I turned to Cade. “Why don’t you go up to bed?”

“I’m fine here. I’m listening to your father translate history.”

I leaned forward to check out his wound.

“I just looked,” my father said. “It’s fine. No infection.”

“Me and Cade are zombie proof,” Katie said with excitement.

“You can make that claim,” my father said. “But let’s hold off on declaring stoner boy over there zombie proof, he can still turn and eat us all.”

“Whoa. Dude, wow, for real?” Cade lifted his head.

“Take some more of that liquid marijuana,” my dad said. “I’m reading to my granddaughter.”

Cade didn’t hesitate, he lifted his pumping spray bottle and I sat on the couch.

My father returned to reading to Katie. I knew exactly what Cade meant when he said my father translated the news. He had done that to me when I was a little girl. Right then and there I realized I missed that. I snuggled up to my father and Katie, and savored the moment.

<><><><>

The Reagan assassination attempt, Indiana winning the NCAA, a hostage situation in Bangkok, we relived it all. My father nearly made it to the obituaries when Katie fell fast asleep, so had Cade.

He handed me the newspaper and carried Katie to bed, then said goodnight.

“Don’t touch that crossword puzzle,” he told me as he left to go to bed.

Out of curiosity, I read my horoscope for that day. It stated that I was going to find much needed answers to question and a new job opportunity was on the horizon.

I laughed and really contemplated on starting that crossword puzzle. Then I realized I hadn’t had my pudding and I went to the kitchen to retrieve it.

It looked like egg custard, yet smelled like coconuts. I opened the cabinet above the sink, grabbed the pint of bourbon and put it in my back pocket. After grabbing two spoons, I took both puddings outside.

I knew Lev was on watch and could use the treat.

We had moved the ‘sick’ RV to a different position on the property. It gave Lev, Cade or whoever was on watch a good vantage point. I peered up to the roof of the RV and didn’t see him. That was when I heard the familiar sound of hissing mixed with a gargle. Peering around, I saw Lev at the fence. There was an infected there. Not straggler, which was somewhat frightening. The infected raged toward the fence and tried to climb.  Using his foot, Lev kicked it back and when the infected returned, Lev hurled his hammer down into its skull.

He watched it for a moment to make sure it was dead and then turned around. He seemed stunned to see me.

“Every time I see you do that,” I said. “I wonder if you found your inspiration from Thor.”

“Come on, Nila, you know I did. What Marvel Comic did I not read?” he smiled.

“I forgot about that.”

“Yeah. I was Team Captain America, before Captain America was cool again.” He walked up to me. “What brings you out?”

“Dessert.” I held up the bowls. “You missed it.”

“I was busy.”

“I know and thank you.” I extended the bowl to him.

“I need to go back up there.” He pointed.

“I’ll join you, since I’m never allowed to be on watch.”

“There’s a reason. You have a child. Number one priority.”

“I’m the best shot.”

“You are.” Lev took one of the puddings and climbed up the ladder to the roof of the RV.

It was pretty impressive to me, and I realized how difficult it was climbing up with one hand. When I was half way up, he extended down a hand, I gave him the other pudding and finished the climb to the roof.

“Oh, this nice,” I said.

“It is.” He nodded at one of the folding chairs on the roof. “Sit?”

“Yes.”

“Did you bring spoons or do we lap this like dogs?”

I reached into my back pocket and grabbed the spoons, then reached into the other and grabbed the pint.

“You’re prepared,” he said then smelled the pudding. “I bet she used the canned coconut milk.”

“She’s so inventive. She says she’s going to teach me.”

Lev laughed.

“Why is that funny?”

“I just know many have tried to teach you and many have failed.”

“Yeah, that’s true.” I dipped my spoon in the pudding. “Hey …”

Lev looked over to me as he brought the spoon into his mouth.

“Thanks.” I said. “I mean it. Thank you for coming after us today.”

“I came after you.” Lev pulled the spoon from his mouth. “He just happened to be there.”

“Oh, stop. You like him.”

“I do. He’s a nice guy. But I would not have left the camp vulnerable or Katie alone if it was just him. You are my priority.”

“Why is that?”

“Because it’s you, Nila. Because we go way back and I also promised my father we would never separate again in this world.”

“Well, thank you for coming for both of us.” I took a sip from my pint and handed it to Lev.