Rotten (3 page)

I drifted off to sleep, but I dreamed of back-flipping pregnant women and seas of blood. 

Day Two

Friday

December 12, 2014

Highland woke me with a poke of a boot to the ribs.  I sat up and swung at him.  “What the fuck!” I yelled.

“I know how you are about your sleep, Dove,” he said, moving out of the way of my hand.  “I ain’t bending down there to get my head knocked off.  What the fuck, indeed.”  He ambled off to the window. 

Princess sat on the floor and scratched at her scalp under the dreadlocks, while Moonshine jumped up and did jumping jacks.  Rotten stood with a groan and said, “Is there a john in this place?”

“Down the stairs, first door on the right.” Highland pointed.

“He shouldn’t go alone.” Moonshine picked up the two by four with nails.

“I don’t need a guard to piss,” Rotten snapped over his shoulder, heading toward the stairs.

“What the hell, Rot, you think you’re the only one with a bladder?  Get over yourself.” 

After we had taken our turns in the bathroom we gathered back at the window, well, everyone except Sully.  I think Sully was still in shock, I mean we were all in shock, but Sully seemed to have a really bad case as he sat on a crate and stared at the floor. 

“Okay, report what you saw,” Highland said.

“We didn’t see much, some guy rolling down the street like he was rolling down a hill.  And I mean all the way down the street, it was creepy,” I said. 

“We saw some guy running on all fours like he was a cat, he loped, must have covered five feet at a time.  That’s simply not humanly possible,” Moonshine said.

“Anything else,” Highland asked.

“No, not really,” Princess said, twisting the dreadlocks up on her head and stabbing a pencil through them to keep them off her back.  “We saw a prostitute get attacked by an old man.  He nearly tore her head off, but she got up, kinda listing to the left, and went in the same direction as her attacker.” 

“Well, I may have found the answer to our problem.  Look over there.” Highland pointed to the sidewalk on the opposite side of the street.  “See that thing that looks like old clothes or a bag of trash?”

We studied and then nodded.

“That’s a zombie.  I noticed a lot of them going up the street as the sun was coming up and heading to the parking garage on the corner.  They seemed to move with a purpose.  That guy was far behind and couldn’t move as fast as the others, probably because his leg was just barely hanging on.  Anyway, he stepped into a patch of sun, stood there for a second and then collapsed.  He smoked for a moment, and then he shriveled up.”

“So, you’re saying they’re zombie vampires?” I laughed.

“Hell, yeah!  Why didn’t we ever think of that?” Moonshine held out his fist for someone to bump. 

“So they won’t be out in the day?” Princess bumped his fist.

“That’s what I think, but we need to still be cautious.  Maybe he was abnormal.” Highland chuckled.  “As though any of them are normal.  But I thought we should try to go by Princess’s place and let her get better clothes and shoes and then head out to my place in the old neighborhood.” 

I looked at Princess’s mini skirt and platforms and down at my shorts and cowboy boots.  “I wouldn’t mind some better clothes.”

“Yeah, I know, Dove, but your place is the opposite direction and Princess’s is just a few blocks away.”

“I don’t know why girls wear miniskirts and shorts in December anyway, seems pretty dumb to me.  I don’t mind seeing cold girls walking around, if you know what I mean.”  Moonshine winked at Princess.  “But I sure don’t know why you do it.”

“You might have just answered your question there, Moon Man.”  Princess winked back.  “I’ll give you some clothes, Dove, we wear the same size.”

“Okay,” I said, not happy, but I figured in the zombie apocalypse you couldn’t have everything you wanted.

“Well, I’m going home.” Sully spoke.  “I am not spending anymore time with you crazy people.  Zombie vampires!  Jesus, the only thing that is more ridiculous is that you are actually serious.  This is not some movie on
Shock Theatre
,” he said, referencing the late night gore fest on a local cable channel.  “Those people are sick.”

“Says the man who cowered in a corner all night,” Rotten said.  “And where were those police you were so sure were coming?  Oh, that’s right, they didn’t come.  Just like we said they fuckin’ wouldn’t.  You haven’t even gotten off your ass all night; you haven’t looked out the damned window once.  Shit, if it hadn’t been for us, especially Moonshine, you would have been the next little morsel on Penelope’s menu.” 

“Sick or zombies, Sully, they will kill you if they get a hand on you,” Highland said.  “We’d all be better off sticking together, but if you want to go home alone, feel free.  It shouldn’t be too hard for us to find a car, I’m pretty sure those guys sleeping it off in the parking garage won’t miss their cars.  We need to move fast, though.  We have a lot to do before it gets dark again,” Highland went to the trash piled along the walls to seek out a weapon and pulled out a two-foot piece of rebar.  “This will have to do, we gotta go.”

“I’m going only as far as my car,” Sully said, as we piled up against the metal door that led to the street. 

“Fine,” Princess said.  “You were always a weak-kneed, Viagra sucking bastard anyway.  We don’t need you.” 

“You guys ready,” Moonshine asked, his hand on the knob.

“Yeah,” I said, looking around at all of my friends with their recycled weapons.  “I think we’re good.”

“All right, we move fast.  Up to Green and down to 5
th
Street.  Stay in the road, away from shadows and buildings.  Put Sully in the fucking middle cuz all he’s gonna do is whine.  Unless…” Rotten chuckled, “we want to let him go play with the little flu sufferers.” 

“That’s mean, Rotten,” I said. 

“Mean, but funny.” Princess laughed with too much gusto.

“Ready?” Moonshine yelled and threw open the door.  We followed, Highland behind Moonshine and Princess and I on either side of Sully.  Rotten took the rear. 

Moonshine ran to the corner and stopped, looking both ways.  “There’s nobody,” he said.  We stood for a moment and listened to the silence.

“Good.  Move.” Highland pushed him in the back.

Moonshine jogged in the middle of the road, jumping over a few smoldering zombies who couldn’t find the dark in time.  There were cars parked along the curb, but no one was hurrying to work.  It was quiet and the usual line outside of Slug of Joe was non-existent, just a handful of smoky heaps of plaids, grays, and pinstripes could be seen on the sidewalk outside the door.  

“Weird,” Princess muttered, jumping over a pile of what was once a human, and I have to admit, I admired the way she jogged in four-inch platforms.

We entered the intersection of 3
rd
and Green and Moonshine stopped in the middle of it. “There’s nobody,” he said again.

“The ones who survived are hiding – move!” Highland pushed him forward. 

We jogged on. 

“Fuck!” Moonshine yelled and jumped, coming to a hard landing on both feet. “Fuck!”  We stopped behind him and looked where he pointed.  “What the fuck!” 

It was a head, a woman’s head.  She still wore earrings, lipstick and eyeliner, and actually, she looked perfect except for the fact that she was missing her body.

“What the fuck!” Moonshine said again.

“She’s dead,” Rotten said from the rear of the pack.  “Zombie one oh one, Moon.  Gotta take off the head to kill them.”

I laughed, I didn’t mean too.  I mean it was a head, with earrings and make-up!  Shit, I wanted to sob, but I laughed.

“What the fuck, Dove?”  Moonshine yelled.

“I know,” I said, laughing harder.  “I’m sorry.”  The tears came.  “It’s a head! With make-up!” 

Princess burst out laughing and then Highland chuckled. 

“Shit!” Rotten fell to his knees, clasping his belly and laughing along with us.

Okay, we knew it was wrong, but it was either laugh or completely freak out, lose hope, and give up.  It was a head, in the middle of the street, wearing make-up.  I know, I can’t explain it, but we laughed.  Moonshine looked at us for a moment with wide eyes and then fell into his classic giggle that almost sounded like a donkey braying and we laughed harder. 

“You’re all insane!”  Sully broke from the pack, ran to the corner, and the laughter left us in an instant.  

“Stay out of the shadows,” Highland snapped.

“There’s nobody!  They’re all dead!” Sully bellowed.

“He’s dead,” Princess muttered.

“Yep,” Moonshine agreed and moved toward the man.

“Stay away from that doorway!”  Rotten yelled and began to run in Sully’s direction, his metal stick held high.

Sully turned and ran into the alcove of the National Bank.  He pounded on the thick mesh that separated him from the glass doors and peered inside to see no one.  He turned, saw Rotten running in his direction, and looked for a way to escape.  He glanced to his left and then he saw them.  Four of them perched on a little marble bench out of the sun.  Two were children and their eyes reflected the light back at him as when your headlights cross a cat or raccoon in the middle of the night on a lonely road.  It was night shine - on a city street - at seven in the morning.  He looked to the right and saw three more, one an old lady in a housecoat that looked like his grandma.

Sully screamed and ran toward Rotten. 

Rotten stepped to the edge of the alcove and looked inside.  “Go, go, go!”  He took off in the lead. 

Sully was in the rear and looked totally beat up.  “I never… What …. Jesus …  Really …. No, I …. What ….”  Sully moved up to the middle of the pack, but kept muttering barely formed thoughts. 

Princess laughed.  “Who isn’t speaking in complete sentences now?”

We passed another head beside a Porsche and Moonshine ran and puked on the sidewalk.  This head didn’t have make-up, or an eye, and half of its scalp was missing.  This head was not funny. 

“Come on, Moon,” Rotten said.

Moonshine wiped his mouth on the sleeve of his shirt.  “Let’s go.”

We continued to run.

“Got your key, Princess,” Highland asked.

“I don’t have a key.”

“What the hell!”  Moonshine stopped.  “You don’t lock the place.  Really?”  He jumped up and down and grabbed his hair.  “We’re so doomed.  Every damned zombie vampire is gonna be in there.  Jesus, Princess!”