Stay Dead: A Novel (22 page)

This time she had no clue. She couldn’t
recognize the woman looking back at all. She was hardened, with
tight lips and sunken eyes, dirty skin, oily hair, thick eyebrows
and not a trace of make-up. The end of the world didn’t do her
looks any justice. She looked like a scrawny Sigourney Weaver from
the Aliens movies but without the strong will, and the nerves of
steel. She looked as dead as the things she ran from, and she was
just as hungry.

She cleaned herself off in the sink as best
she could. And when she returned her eyes to the mirror her
appearance wasn’t much better. She flipped herself the bird and
left the room.

Left alone, Clem had fallen asleep in his
chair. His head hung back and to the right, and any second he would
start to snore. Danni didn’t wake him. She just sat next to him and
crossed her arms over her chest, put her head down and quickly
joined him. In the span of a few minutes they were both snoring.
They managed about twenty minutes of sleep before Sheriff Davis
came in and dropped his notepad on the table, and pulled up a
chair.

“Morning,” Davis said sarcastically.

Danni lifted her head up and with squinty
eyes replied, “its morning already?”

“Might as well be,” Davis said.

Danni nudged Clem, who still hadn’t woken up,
on the arm. He’d never been a deep sleeper, but lately he’d been
able to sleep through just about anything.

“Whuh—Oh! Hey,” Clem said groggily, wiping
drool from the corner of his mouth.

“Now that you’re both up, I’m just going to
cut to the chase. If you’re staying in town, I need to know your
names and what you can do. If you can’t do anything then you can
leave. Every one who stays in New Haven does something for New
Haven.”

“I can respect that,” Clem said. “But I’m not
sure what use I can be. I’ve had every shit job under the sun, but
I ain’t getting any younger.” He looked genuinely saddened by his
own words. “Name’s Clem.”

Danni rubbed his arm gently as he spoke,
staring at Davis. She felt like she was being judged. “I’m
Danielle—everyone calls me Danni, though. There’s not much I can
do. I was going to school—didn’t really know what I wanted to do,
and now it doesn’t matter.”

“So I should put you down for nothing?” Davis
asked.

“I’ll try to do whatever it is you want from
me,” she replied, hoping any request would be within reason, and
hoping the world wasn’t as dark as the back of her mind.

“Can you dig ditches and learn how to
shoot?”

“Sounds easy enough,” Danni replied.

“Good, you’ll start tomorrow.”

“Okay.”

“Clem… I take it with all your shit jobs over
the years you’ve learned how to be handy?”

“I’d say so. I’m no MacGuyver, but I get by
all right,” he managed.

“Good, same deal—you’ll start tomorrow. Both
of you rest up today. Eat, drink, and clean yourselves up. I’ll see
if I can get you both some clothes and a decent dinner. Till then
have at whatever’s lying around. There’re holding cells in the
back, feel free to get some sleep in one of them till we can find
you both something a bit more permanent,” he said as he stood up to
leave.

“Thanks, uh…,” Clem muttered.

“Bruce—Bruce Davis,” he said, and then walked
out.

“Thanks Bruce,” Clem said, still with a sad
look etched into his face.

***

Davis brought clothes and dinner for his
latest guests. They were grateful, and showed him as much by
attacking the foil-wrapped plates with a ferocious hunger usually
only seen by the dead things stalking the earth. Davis wanted to
laugh, but choked it back and replaced it with something closer to
sorrow.

Davis apologized for taking so long, but with
all the running around he was doing he couldn’t be bothered by
thinking of dinner, and certainly not anyone else’s. They figured
he forgot but were happy to see him show up with two plates full of
food even if it was hours past any respectable dinnertime and
cold.

His face wore the beatings of the day and he
didn’t try to hide it. He fell asleep in the chair, and Clem and
Danni didn’t notice till they had licked their plates clean and
sucked the remains from their fingertips. They let him catch a nap
while they took a closer look at the clothes. Danni left to put
hers on, and after a second thought, Clem did the same. He’d hate
for the sheriff to wake up and catch an eyeful of Clem’s old ball
bag.

C
HAPTER 25: Dead
reckoning

New Haven.

The next day.

Dane had a few hours before he was due to
report to Davis. He and Susan remained comfortably entwined on the
bed and in between the sheets. Cher, the little cute and cuddly
mutt that she was, sat at the foot of the bed as usual. She watched
them with fond disinterest.

Dane rubbed Susan’s lower back and kissed her
shoulder. She moaned with that sleepy soft voice she so often woke
up with. She rubbed his hand, eager to relive last night’s brief
but still-damn-good escapade, and Dane took it as invitation to
something more. He leaned in closer to her, leaving a trail of soft
kisses from her shoulder to her neck. She giggled once he got to
her earlobe: she always did, and Dane loved it. His free arm
reached up her side, slithering ever closer to her breast as his
mouth found his way to hers, and just before he could start to work
her nipple she turned her head.

“Ugh, morning breath,” she groaned.

“Real nice,” Dane replied.

“If you want any more of this,” she spun
around, “you’re going to brush your teeth and get into the shower,
before I change my mind.”

Usually Dane would argue, or put up a fight,
or just throw her down till she herself wanted it bad enough to put
up with the bad breath or the stench of a long day. But these days
were different.

He hopped out of bed with a bounce in his
body that could only be brought on the by the promise of sex. He
tossed his shirt off and to the floor as he headed to the bathroom.
He grabbed his toothbrush and went to work.

“You could use some brushing to bee-yotch,”
he said as he brushed his teeth.

She joined him, and like a dog he began to
hump her leg. She put up with it, allowing him to grow hard, as a
dribble of foamy toothpaste fell from his mouth. A spit and a rinse
later they were both in the shower feeling each other up. Dane
rubbed his hard prick against her leg as he worked her clit with
his other hand. She held his hand firmly as his fingers probed deep
inside her and each time he was about to pull out she’d force his
fingers back inside. He stopped rubbing his member against her leg
and grabbed her breast. He grabbed it hard and pinched the nipple
so it stood at full attention. Susan spun around and grabbed his
prick, soaping it up and working his balls as he kissed her neck
and sucked on her nipples.

They worked each other hard till they were
both about ready to burst. Then Susan spun around again, giving
Dane her back. Being careful not to slip, Dane eased his member
into Susan. She took all of him, moaning and sliding back, sticking
her ass up. Dane pushed back, gripping the slope of her hips. They
both moaned and grunted, giving and taking. Susan kept pushing back
harder, her pussy started to throb. She gripped her breasts tight,
kissing her nipples as Dane slid in and out. Susan let out an
orgasmic scream, unable to hold out any longer Dane followed
behind. They both bucked and trembled as they came together, every
movement a tremor.

They came down from their sexual high
together, kissing softly under the quickly cooling water as Dane’s
cum trickled down her leg, spiraling down the drain.

***

Eddie scribbled his thoughts into his spiral
bound notebook of a journal. He tried to write in it as often as
possible, but the last few days had been so hectic he hadn’t even
given it a thought. Today was the first day in a long time he could
remember where he awoke calmly, and had some time to think instead
of just react. He thought about all he’d seen over the last few
days and wrote it down, hoping in some way that it would make more
sense on paper than it did in his head—it didn’t of course, but he
hoped it might.

Janice pretended to sleep. She had slept some
during the night, not much, but some. She peeked through her nearly
closed eyelids watching over her two boys—Eddie, as he wrote, and
Joseph as he snored. Joseph could sleep through anything, she
thought, just like his father. Her eyes started to tear with the
thought of him and she squeezed them shut tight.

***

Scott and Judy walked around the grounds of
the VFW hall trying to recapture a bit of their former routine.
They were walkers, walked in the morning, after lunch, and in the
evening. Anytime they could set their feet to pavement and make
them move they did. This morning was no exception. The sky was a
mix of magenta and morning blue with swirls of torn-cotton-like
clouds being pulled parallel to the horizon. The breeze was cool,
if only a bit putrid, and gently pushed the blades of grass as it
swept through the landscape.

They didn’t talk much, but walked hand in
hand. There wasn’t much to say, and the quiet was a welcome change
of pace compared to the last few weeks, and the last few days in
particular. Scott looked around, taking in the parts of the world
that were still full of life: the trees, the sky, the leaves that
were beginning to change. The birds were still beautiful and didn’t
seem to mind humankind facing their darkest days. They chirped as
if spreading the news—‘Did you hear? Man’s time is at an end.’
Scott grew angry at the thought. Fucking birds, what did they know?
Scott thought about how easy life could’ve been if he’d had wings:
he could’ve just flown away when life got hard.

Judy stopped walking and gripped Scott’s hand
tightly.

“Shit,” she said, “look, up by those
trees!”

Scott looked toward the tree line, just up
the hill. “Is that the only one?”

“Can’t tell.” Judy scoured the tree line for
more of the deaders.

“It looks like its just standing there,”
Scott commented. Then he noticed that it was moving, just very
slowly.

“Let’s go tell the others,” Judy said.

“Fuck that! Let’s go blow its brains out.” He
walked forward, pulling Judy.

“Come on. I think you’re starting to like
this shit,” Judy said.

“Like it? Really? Judy, that’s bullshit. I
just don’t think we need to tell everyone that there’s one dead guy
up the hill when we can take care of it ourselves. How many of
these things have we killed on our own?”

“A lot, but still—it doesn’t mean you have to
like it.”

“I don’t like it, now stop saying that. It
makes me feel like a creep or something.”

“You are a creep,” she smiled.

“Ha ha, very funny.”

As they walked closer to the dead thing, it
noticed them and stumbled away from the tree line. It nearly fell
as it shambled down the side of the hill, stepping out from behind
the long shadows of the trees.

“Damn! I can smell him from here,” Judy
complained, waiving her hand in front of her face.

“Yep, we got a ripe one.” He pulled a handgun
from his waistline.

Scott took a firing stance. He had enough
time to aim his shot properly as the deader stumbled closer. He
fired, and the dead thing fell. Scott walked closer to it, the gun
in front.

“Scott! Get back here!” Judy screamed.

Scott spun around to look at her as she stood
with one hand over her mouth and the other pointing at the tree
line. Scott followed her finger up the hill, and staggered backward
as hundreds of deader things shambled out from the shadows of the
woods.

“Holy fuck,” he said, and ran toward
Judy.

They both ran screaming down the hill and
back toward the VFW hall. The dead things followed in their slow
meandering way.

The deader Scott shot stumbled to its feet,
unimpressed by the man’s aim, and rejoined the horde of dead that
staggered down the hill. Many of them were naked and burned—all
were grotesque. The morning sun lit the hillside beautifully. It
would’ve been picturesque if not for the dead things shambling
through the tall, lime-green grass, some dragging intestines gone
black and leathery. On top of the hill, from out of the shadows of
the trees staggered many more. In only a few short moments the hill
was covered with the living dead.

The doors of the VFW hall burst open as Scott
shouldered through them with Judy right behind him.

“We’ve got to get out of here and get the
Sheriff!” Scott yelled.

“What’s going on?” Dawn asked, half asleep
and stumbling to her feet.

“No time—everyone out! Deaders everywhere,”
Scott hollered.

“Hundreds of them, coming from the woods,”
Judy panted.

“Fuck! Fuck! Fuck!” Joseph grumbled as he too
shook off sleep, along with everyone else.

Eddie and his mother looked at each other.
Eddie wrapped his arm around her shoulder and made for the door,
escorting her out. Joseph followed behind, grabbing whatever stuff
they had lying about. Frankie ran for the door, shotgun in hand as
Scott and Judy held the doors open, continuing to yell.

By the time Frankie made it outside, the dead
things were halfway toward the hall. Frankie didn’t have time to
think, only to act. He ran toward the shambling dead, standing
between them and the row of vehicles.

Eddie rushed his mother into their car,
started it and moved forward. He popped the trunk, and he and
Joseph grabbed what guns they could and ran to Frankie’s side. They
began to take shots at the creatures, but only when they could make
them count. Their hands were shaky, but after firing a few rounds
their nerves solidified and their aim improved.