Revenence: Dead Silence, A Zombie Novel (9 page)

"Just my mom," he said.  "I haven't seen my dad since I was three.  Walked out on my mom, my brother and me, so I don't even count him as family.  The chances of me ever seeing him are just as good now as they were before the zombies.  I do worry about my mom, though.  I hope my brother made it to her, because I'm obviously not going to anytime soon."  He looked down at his glass while he talked.  "I'm not really in denial, though.  I've prepared myself for the possibility that..."  He sighed heavily, gazing upward. "That everyone I've ever known or cared about could be gone."

"I know how you feel," Shari said.  "I was on my way to my parents house when all this happened.  I tried calling them the night I got here, but calls weren't going through.  It's the not knowing, that's what feels the worst.  You don't know if they're dead or not.  If you knew, you could grieve.  But you don't know, and you might
never
know.  Even if they're alive, will you ever find them?  The odds are slim to none, at least for now."

The sun was setting, casting an orange glow through the large western windows of the loft, illuminating the cloudy haze of smoke.  Shari stood up and began clearing the dinner dishes as Fauna and Nick retired to the balcony.

"Hey Shari, when you're done, bring your bow on out here.  Got a couple undead wanderin' around," Fauna said, poking her head back in the door.

"No, let me," Nick said.

"You ever shot one of these things before?" Fauna asked.

"A little bit, in high school.  I had a buddy whose dad had all sorts of bows.  I'd go over there every now and then, shoot at some targets.  I might be a little rusty, but some practice would do me some good."

"Alright, Nick.  Let's see what you got," Shari said, stepping onto the balcony and handing Nick her bow.

He had no trouble nocking the arrow and shooting, but his aim left a little to be desired.  The first arrow to fly landed on the grass, five feet from the nearest zombie.  He grimaced, taking another arrow and nocking it.  This one hit a teenage female zombie in the abdomen, knocking her over. 

"One more," he whispered, concentrating intently as he aimed for the other one, a thirty-something male.  The arrow sailed through the air and pierced him in the temple.  The female was struggling to get to her feet, rearing her head for Nick as he took another arrow, nocked it, and let it fly.  It penetrated her skull, knocking her back down to the ground.

"
Yeah!
" Nick shouted.  "That's what I thought, bitch!  Take your medicine."  He turned to Fauna and Shari, beaming.  "See?  I'm not useless."

Fauna was staring at him, her expression one of alarm.  "No, you're not useless.  Dangerous, maybe, but not useless," she said.  Her tone was very low, almost a growl, like a cat who's just seen something that scared the shit out of it, something it knows to be a threat.

He laughed nervously.  "What're you talking about, lady?"  His gaze panned to Shari, who looked confused.  "Do you know what she's talking about?"  Shari shook her head slowly, almost imperceptibly, eyes wide.  She didn't know where Fauna was going with this, but she knew the woman well enough already to know that if she said something like that, there was a good reason.

Fauna pointed.  "Nick, what's that on your arm?"  His face went white, and his eyes snapped to the horseshoe-shaped marks on the outside of his upper left arm, a couple inches from the armpit .  He had noticed that they were getting more discolored by the day, and had been making efforts to keep them covered.  He hadn't realized that as he held the bow, he had carelessly let his sleeve creep up just high enough to see two marks, and their surrounding discoloration, peep out the edge of the sleeve.  When he looked back toward Fauna, she was pointing a gun in his face.

"Fauna, let's be rational about this, okay?  Keep in mind, I'm still a person, not a zombie!  You don't kill people, that's what you told me!  I mean, yeah, I was bit...but I'm not a zombie, am I?  I survived, and I'm sure I'll be fine.  For God's sake, don't shoot me!"

"I ain't gonna shoot you, at least not now.  Not 'til you turn into one of them....
if
you turn into one of 'em.  I do have to admit, I don't know what's goin' to happen to you.  None of us do.  But I tell you what, I'll be damned if I don't intend to take some precautions."

"How do you mean?"

"We'll keep a close eye on your condition.  If it seems like..."  She lowered her eyes a little, sighing.  "If it seems like you ain't gonna make it, we may have to put you back in the panic room."

He looked a little relieved.  He had thought she'd put him in there immediately, no questions asked.  "I guess that's sensible enough," he said.

"And don't forget, Nick," Fauna said, gaze unwavering, "I'm takin' a big risk letting you have any kinda freedom.  I just hope you appreciate that."

"Yeah, I understand."

"Then you'll understand if I lock you up in the barn loft at night."

"But why?" he demanded.  "You girls are already safe up here!  I'm not getting in here when the garage is locked up, whether I'm a zombie or not!"

"No, but I don't want to wake up one mornin' and see a zombie version of you--which is bad enough as it is, havin' to shoot you in the head--and on top of that, find one of my horses dead.  Those horses, they're invaluable sources of transportation in a world fulla jammed roads and crashes everywhere."

"They eat animals?" he asked dubiously.

"Well, one of mine got bit.  Go have a look for yourself, if you don't believe me.  It don't seem no worse for the wear, but I don't assume that to mean that animals'll always
be so lucky.  I guess the horse is a test subject now, same as you.  We'll see what happens when someone, animal or human, gets bit with a non-lethal injury.  I don't like to think of you as a test subject, but this is a world fulla unknowns, and any information is useful," she said, looking him squarely in the eye, "even if we don't like the source of that information.  You follow?  I truly hope you're gonna be okay, Nick.  You're a human bein', and I care about you.  But we just don't know yet.  We don't know what this bite'll do to you, and it's best we all prepare ourselves for the possibilities as early on as possible.  To be honest with you, I feel I should beat your ass for hidin' that bite from us for this long.  You put us in undue jeopardy, but I don't really feel like holding a grudge.  Ain't no point, and I guess I can understand your apprehension."

"See, Nick?" Shari said.  "You can't say we're not understanding or that we don't care."  He nodded slightly, head down.

Fauna closed her eyes, breathing in deeply.  "I'm exhausted," she said, exhaling.  "Let's get you back to the barn.  I need some rest."

"Remember those zombies that Shari pinned to the ground with arrows last week?  One of 'em got an arrow to the gut, the other in the leg, and I went out with the sledgehammer, remember?  You girls saw me fall, and I told you I was okay.  But I didn't just fall, one of those fuckers pulled me down when I wasn't expecting it.  Caught me off-guard.  I didn't even feel it when it bit me...I didn't notice it 'til later.  So technically, I wasn't lying when I yelled back that I was okay.  I just didn't realize it yet.  I remember looking into that zombie's face.  It was a plain-looking middle-aged woman.  Didn't look like anything special, no one you'd ever remember when the world was still normal.  And I looked into that cunt's face, and I thought,
You?  You're what might do me in?  Some forty-something who I never would've given a second glance if it weren't for this fucking apocalypse?
"  He sneered, snickering.  "I know it's a little sick, but I gotta say...it felt
good
to bring that sledgehammer down onto her face."

A week later, he was well into the process of unraveling...unraveling both physically and mentally.  He had been talking to himself for a couple of days, at least when he was alone.  When he heard Fauna or Shari coming, he pulled himself together enough to hide the state he was in. 

It was Sunday morning, a couple hours before dawn.  He had been sitting up all night, absent-mindedly caressing the four-inch-long shard of glass he had found.  He was arguing with the voice that had menaced him all night long.

You know those bitches are a threat to you, right?  You've known it since your first night here.  You said it yourself--"They're going to be the death of me."

"Yeah, I know," he said, sweating and delirious.  "I want to get out of here.  But what the fuck do you suggest I do?"  His eyes darted back and forth around the loft, as if looking in vain for the source of the voice.

Well, you're a man, aren't you?  It should be easy enough to put those bitches in their place
.

"You don't get it.  Those girls, they can handle themselves.  What is it you expect me to do?"  He jabbed the air with the piece of glass as if it were a knife, laughing maniacally.  "Stab them to death?"

The voice was quiet for some time.  Nick laid down on the air mattress, and was almost asleep when he heard the voice whisper, almost inaudibly.

There's another way out of here
.

Fauna had begun the nightly habit of closing the overhead garage-style door over the doorway leading from the barn out to the corral, and locking it from the outside.  There was another door on the opposite side of the barn, this one a regular-sized door, that she kept locked with a padlock.  Nick sat straight up.

"What do you mean, another way out of here?"

That window over there.

Nick looked up, puzzled.  The window sat ten feet above the floor of the loft.

"Dude, how am I supposed to get up there?  And on top of that, it's easily thirty feet off the ground from the outside."  He shook his head, scowling at his unseen companion.  "I don't know what you expect me to do with that."

There's a rope ladder going to the first floor, right?

Nick sat for a moment, thinking intently.

"I don't know if I have the energy for any of this.  I don't feel so good lately."

Then time's a-wastin'.

She had been reading for about an hour when she heard Fauna shuffling around inside.  She joined Shari out on the balcony, carrying a cup of coffee.  "Mornin', ma'am," she said sleepily.

"Good morning," Shari replied.  "Did you sleep well?"

"Yeah," Fauna said with a laugh.  "As well as one can with one eye open.  I keep wonderin' if Nick is gonna turn overnight.  Can't stop thinkin' about it.  That man is knockin' at heaven's door, ain't he?"

Or Hell's,
Shari thought bitterly.  "Yeah, he looks like shit," she concurred.  "And I think he's starting to slip a little, mentally...he was pretty incoherent yesterday.  And I could swear I heard him last night out in the barn, laughing like a hyena.  Scared the shit out of me, to be honest."

"Yeah, I thought I heard that, too.  Hard to tell if it's the sickness doin' it to him, or if it's just the way he's always been.  Seems like he's the type to be a little unhinged regardless of circumstances, if you ask me."  She sipped her coffee.  "I guess we should go check on him, after we finish our coffee.  I got a feelin' it's time to put that boy back in the panic room.  I don't feel safe even keepin' him in the barn no more."

Shari took the last sip of coffee from her mug.  "Ready when you are."

"Nick!" Shari called. 

"Nick!"  Fauna sighed, shaking her head.  "I don't have a good feeling about this.  We gotta be careful.  God knows what he's up to.  Let's have a thorough look around down here, make sure his dumb ass ain't hidin' somewhere, or layin' dead."   They looked through the two storage closets, all around on the floor in case he had fallen.  There was no sign of him anywhere on the ground floor.

"Do you have another ladder?" Shari asked.

"Yeah, out in the garage.  I'll need your help carryin' it over here.  And I don't think I have to tell you again...we need to be careful."  Shari nodded and they started for the garage, looking around as they went.

"I knew we couldn't trust him," Shari said.

"Yeah, and I never argued with you.  We just didn't have a legitimate reason to lock him up.  Not 'til now.  Who knows?  Maybe he took off.  He was obviously dyin', maybe he wanted to try and make it to his family again, see about sayin' goodbye.  Might've figured he had nothin' to lose."

"Yeah, somehow I don't think we'll be so lucky," Shari said, looking around nervously.  "His car's still there, and I can't see why he'd go out on foot.  He's here somewhere, most likely hellbent on fucking our world up."