The Birth Of Decay (8 page)

             
T
he days slowly past and we got comfortable in our new home.  Ricky, Ted and I reinforced the doors and windows of the church and spent days in neighboring towns getting water and supplies.  We got efficient with siphoning fuel and filled a couple of chemical drums with the lifesaving liquid.  We winter had faded and the spring was coming into full bloom.  The man on the radio had taunted us for a few days but eventually grew silent.  He told us the latest upgrades and new challenges we would face in this new world.  Nevertheless, there was one thing on our side, time.  The decayed would eventually fall too the ever-growing seasons and rot away, it would just take awhile. 

Nearly a month had past and we started barricading the town with cars and other loose items we could find.  I painted over the town sign and named it Johnville as a sort of joke.

              I carried in a few cases of water and set them on the counter next to Claire.  I stood behind her and kissed her neck.  “How was the trip?”  She asked.  Ricky walked in the kitchen, set down another few cases of water, and looked at Claire.  “We found a few more bags of soil for the garden.”  He said.  Claire smiled and hugged Ricky.  “Thank you, I was hoping you would remember.  The garden is doing great and the rain from last night will help.”  She said kindly and went back to cooking the girls’ oatmeal. 

I gave her a kiss and ran back out to the truck.  Ricky joined me and we carried the three bags of soil to the back of the church.  We set them down and Sandra came over and helped pour them onto the ground.  “Thank you guys.”  She said.  I looked over and noticed Ruth sitting in her car seat and playing with a plastic keyring.  I walked over and waved at her.  “Hello Ruth, what are you doing?”  I asked.  She laughed and flung the keys around.  I turned and looked at Sandra.  “You got you gun?”  I asked.  She pointed to her handgun tucked behind her belt and smiled.  “I sure do.”  She said proudly.  I smiled and Ricky and I went back to the truck.

              I lit a cigarette and Ricky did the same.  I looked at the alley and took a drag from the full flavored smoke.  “I’m glad we haven’t seen anymore decayed here since last week.”  I said, remembering the time when we found another decayed driving around erratically.  Ricky laughed and took a drag of his cigarette.  “Stupid bastards think they can live like us.”  He said.  I nodded and Ricky started to grow quite.  I realized after few minutes that he was in deep thought.  I looked at him curiously.  “What on your mind?”  I asked.  He shook his head and tossed his cigarette on the ground.  “I can’t say nothing man.”  He said.  I raised an eyebrow and stood in front of him.  “What is it Ricky, we can’t go around with crap in our head.  You know that kind of shit holds us back.”  I said with slight anger.  He shook his head and just blurted it out.  “Claire is pregnant.”

             
I was in shock.  Claire and I were using condoms and taking every precaution we could.  I would die for her, but it just did not seem the right time.  I heard Ruth crying in the distance and Sandra trying to calm her down by singing.  Was I really going to be a father? 

             
I walked into the kitchen where Claire was washing a few of the girls’ clothes.  I walked over and stood next to her.  “You could have told me.”  She dropped the shirt into the bucket of water and looked at me.  “I’m sorry John; I just didn’t want that one your mind right now.  You and Ricky do all of those runs and I just didn’t feel it was the time to tell you.”  She said with worry.  I hugged her tightly and rested my chin on her shoulder.  “I hope it’s a boy.”  I said proudly.  I leaned back and looked at her.  “Ricky and I were going to get more fuel later, I will grab you some vitamins and maybe start cleaning the clinic.”  I said.  She kissed me and I ran back outside.  Ricky turned around and looked at me.  “Let’s go.”  I said.  We jumped in the truck and headed off for the next town.

We drove about an hour and pulled into the small city; I knew it was far more dangerous with a cities population but we needed bigger stores.  I ran over a few decayed and pulled up to the large retail store and parked.  We did not waste any time, we jumped out and shot down the half a dozen decayed that ran toward us; yes they could now run.  A few of them carried primitive weapons and tried using them on us.

We managed to get in the store and turn our flashlights on.  The heavy smell of rotting food and the decayed filled our lungs and we started coughing.  I looked over at Ricky.  “Let’s get too hardware and grab some fumigators.”  I said.  He nodded and we ran down a few isles. 

I noticed a decayed standing at the far end of the hardware isle and holding a lead pipe.  He tilted his head to the side a growled at us; thick black liquid poured out onto the floor as he suddenly ran towards us.  He swung the pipe and hit Ricky on the arm and he dropped his gun.  I aimed at his head and fired a couple of shots; he fell on the floor and with a heavy thud.  Ricky picked his gun up.  “Damn that shit hurt.”  He winced.  I shined my flashlight down on his arm.  “Can you move it?”  He moved his arm around and looked up at me.  “I will be alright.”  He said.

              We found some fumigators and tossed a few in our backpacks.  We both put one on and inhaled deeply and it helped with the smell.  We continued down the isles and found medicine.  We shoved as many vitamins, flu medicine and other random bandages and things to treat wounds in the bag.  I put the backpack on, we ran over to the baby section of the store, and I grabbed a shopping cart that was lying on its side and rolled down the isle.  We shoved diapers and formula in the cart and I noticed the bottles at the end.  I walked over and an obese decayed suddenly ran out of the dark and swung its fat arms at me; meat and bone were exposed all over his body.  I ran back and fell on the floor.  Ricky ran up and shot him in the face; black blood exploded around him and he fell to the side.  Ricky reached his hand out and helped me to my feet.  “Thanks man.”  I said through the mask and it made my voice sound muffled.

             
I walked around the decayed man on the floor and grabbed several bottles.  We got baby supplies for Ruth a few days after they arrived at our church but we would obviously need more.  I tossed them into the cart and pushed it back to the front of the store.  We went outside and started loading the truck. 

“What do guys think your doing?”  A voice suddenly yelled out.  Ricky and I looked at the parking lot and noticed a couple of military trucks and a few men pointing their guns out the windows.  We ducked behind the truck and knelt down.  I looked at Ricky.  “I’m going to fire a few shots, so they don’t think we are just some unarmed victims.”  I whispered.

I pulled out my semi automatic, pointed it to my left, and fired a few shots.  “Shit they got guns!”  One of the men yelled.  I heard commotion, I peeked around the truck to see what was happening; their appeared to be about five of them, and they were now hiding behind their vehicles.  “Woo hoooo!”  One of the men yelled.  “Now were having some fun boys!”

             
I slowly stood up and quietly opened the passenger door of my truck and crawled in.  I grabbed my grenade belt and crawled back out.  I hid behind the large front tires and sat down.  I heard sudden gunshots and metal being struck.  Ricky crawled onto his stomach and took his hunting rifle out of his backpack.  He peered into the scope and I pulled one of the grenades out of the belt.  Ricky fired a shot.  “Got one!”  He whispered.  I hated having to go through all of this, but I started thinking about my unborn child, pulled the pin from the grenade, and stood up.  I threw it as hard as I could and it rolled under one of their trucks.  I ducked back down just in time as a few gunshots fired.  I heard the violent explosion tear into the vehicles.

Ricky and I threw the last few items in the truck.  “Help! Oh my god!”  A man cried out from the exploded vehicles.  We got in the truck and started to back up.  I drove out of the parking lot and noticed a large group of decayed heading towards the men and their vehicles.  I got back onto the road and Ricky and I drove home in silence.

Ricky and I unloaded everything into the church and gave Sandra some of the baby supplies.  She thanked us and went into her and Ted’s bedroom.  I walked in my room and noticed Claire  putting the girls to bed.  I gave both of the girls a kiss and helped Claire cover them up.  I really did not say much and kept replaying the man crying for help at the parking lot.  This world has turned dark and I had to find the light.  I layed down with Claire and placed my ear to her stomach; this was my light.

             
The following day I was walking around town with Ricky and checking on our barricades.  I looked at him as we headed towards the east entrance to town.  “I can’t wait until the killings stop man, let us live in peace.  I have a kid coming and I need to make this world as safe as possible.”  I said.  Ricky kept his head down as he walked.  “Maybe it’s it, you know?  The end of the world and we just keep resisting it.”  He said.  I stopped him with my hand.  “Don’t say that shit man, it is the end when we say it is.”  He nodded his head and took in a deep breath.  “You’re right.  We can’t loose this, not now.”  He said with confidence.

             
I heard a car suddenly honk in the distance and realized it was coming from one of the barricades.  Ricky and I ran over and noticed a small blue car parked a few feet away from our makeshift wall.  We hid behind a car in the middle of the street.  “What do you want?”  I yelled.  I looked past the window of the car I was behind and watched a woman get out of the driver side and wave her hands in the air.  “Cover me.”  I said to Ricky. 

I jumped out and pointed the gun at the woman’s head as I made my way to her.  I got close to the barricade and stopped.  She swallowed hard and noticed the gun pointing at her.  “Please don’t shoot.  My father and I need help.”  She pleaded.  I looked at her car and noticed and older man with gray hair, a sleep or dead.  I looked back at the woman.  “You have any weapons?”  I asked.  She shook her head and I looked back at Ricky.  “We’re clear!”  I yelled.

              Ricky ran over with his gun still pointing and he stood beside me.  “What’s going on?”  He asked.  I looked at him and then back to the old man in the car.  “She said her father is sick and they need help.”  I explained.  Ricky lowered his gun and relaxed his posture.  The woman started crying, we moved a few of the items to the side, and she drove through.  We set the barricade back up and guided her to the church.  When we got there, we helped her bring her father in and laid him down on one of the church pews.  Claire and Sandra came over and I explained the situation.  They got medicine and damp rags and started to tend to the old man.

             
I walked back to the kitchen and noticed Ricky hugging the crying woman.  I went back outside and sat on the ground with my back against the wall.  I stared off and started thinking about the man that had talked on the radio a while back.  He and his sick twisted people were the ones responsible for this mess.  Ricky and I put everything together and realized he was in the town of Ark City, Kansas.  I heard one of his men say that in the background and I replayed that a million times in my head.  A part of me wanted to head down there and find this group, but not now.  I may not be living a great life but it is my life and I planned to stay alive.

             
Ricky walked out and sat down next to me.  “That girls name is Jasmine.  She said they lived with a small group of survivors at a hospital in Howard, that’s just northwest of here.”  He said.  I crossed my arms and listened contently to him.  “She said that they wanted to check out Fort Carson, it’s a little over an hour and a half from here.”  I started remembering the military base back at the town we stayed at and the fact that we never visited it; there was just too much stuff happening at the time.  “Let’s do it.  Let’s go get the survivors and bring them back here.  After that we can start organizing a plan.”  I said.

             
R
icky and I loaded up the truck with some supplies and found out that Jasmine’s father was a doctor.  It had been three days since they joined us, and they were slowly recovering.  Her father David had flu like symptoms and we were giving him medicine to try and stabilize him; it was working and he was showing signs of improvement.  I gave Ted a shotgun and pistol and told him to keep an eye on things.  Claire and the others always had their guns at their sides and were willing to protect our home.  Jasmine told us there were six people at the hospital and four of them were kids.  The other two were an elderly couple that used to help around the hospital.  Claire kissed me and handed us a bag of food and water.  I plotted our trip on the map and we were off.

             
We were about half way to our destination when I noticed a car following us down the old country road.  Ricky and I watched the car swerve erratically and smack into other abandoned vehicles along the way.  The car came up to the side of us and passed us going well over a hundred miles an hour.  I noticed the driver covered in dried blood and knew what we were dealing with; decayed.  He continued to drive ahead of us until he nearly disappeared from view.  “You have got too be kidding me!”  I said.  Ricky shook his head and rolled down his window.  We kept the truck at a steady sixty miles an hour; that gave me a chance to maneuver the heavy truck around obstacles.

             
I noticed the car in the distance driving towards us; it obviously wanted a head on collision.  I started to slow the truck down and drove around a few dead cars as I continued down the road.  I could hear the loud engine quickly approaching us as the muscle car got closer to its target, us.  He got right up on us and I turned the truck sharply to the right; its car flew past us and slammed into an abandoned car.  I heard the heavy impact and slowed the truck down to a stop.  Ricky and I jumped out and ran back to the crashed car.  I covered my mouth and nose with the sleeve of my shirt and noticed the car had heavy black smoke rising from it.  The driver side door swung open and the decayed crawled out on the pavement.  Ricky and I fired our guns at it and one of our bullets hit it in the head.  I looked around and noticed small groups of the decayed were coming from the surrounding trees and heading our way.  “Shit, shoot out the tires of the other cars!”  I yelled.  Ricky and I ran up to a couple of the other cars and shot out some of the tires.  We quickly ran back to our truck and continued our trip.

             
The sun was overhead and the cool air blew through the vents, I liked it cool.  I turned on the CB radio and put it on auto scan; I knew the odds were low but I needed proof there was no one on the other end.  Ricky opened a bottle of water and took a drink.  He put it back into his backpack and watched the scenery from his window.  “Maybe we’re dead.”  He said to himself.  I looked over at him and then quickly back to the road.  “Dead?”  I repeated.  He looked over at me and shook his head.  I could tell he was bothered by the recent events but I always tried to keep his mind straight.  “What if we are dead and in hell?”  He asked.

             
I kept my eyes on the road and his haunting words settled in’ causing me to shiver.  I looked over at him and smiled.  “Then let’s show the devil what we can do!”  I said.  He laughed and looked back out the window.  The random house or barn we passed seemed to be from a bad dream or horror movie.  I even started to notice the sky had slightly changed into a greenish hue; perhaps the dead were causing smog. 

I started thinking about the people that had died and continued too both walk and rot.  Their flesh started peeling from their faces and exposed their bones.  I used to watch movies on this kind of stuff but this was far more disgusting.  The air not only filled your lungs with the decayed but it also reminded you with each breath that you were a survivor in this world of decay.  Ricky and I both learned how to fire a gun and how to stay on our toes.  We could have lay on our back and let the world take us away but that was not going to happen, not as long as I am still breathing.

              I watched the lines in the middle of the road and the pattern became almost hypnotizing.  I then thought about Claire and my unborn child; what was I going to do?  I knew what this world had become and how hard it truly was.  I know the world had never been perfect but this was just ridiculous.  When I was young, I knew that when you died, you died.  Now these things were walking around and they did not need a heart too do it?  I have become a soldier in this hellhole and was ready for the challenge, but was I ready for a child?  I knew from that moment on that I would not only survive; I would thrive.

             
  We managed to find the town we was looking for and slowly approached it.  We noticed the decayed walking around the streets and going in and out of buildings.  A man ran in the distance and hid behind a green dumpster.  He suddenly jumped out and started shooting at a group of the decayed.  He emptied his clip and they ran violently towards him.  He threw the gun at one and tried to run away but they jumped on him.  “Shit.”  I said to myself.  Ricky looked over and shook his head.  “There are a lot of them decayed here.”  He said with concern.  I nodded my head and looked at the horizon.  “The hospital has to be some where out there, just hope we find it quick.”  I said.  My eyes wondered back at the man being attacked and realized he was now surrounded by blood.  I shook my head and looked at Ricky.  “I can’t slow down when we get down there.  If this truck stops we are going to be surrounded.”  I said.  Ricky reached over and fastened his seatbelt.  “We will just have to pray that this truck can hold up.”  I said.

             
I put the truck into drive and slammed down on the gas.  I turned and avoided a couple of cars and ended up at an intersection.  The large tires squealed loudly as I turned right and headed down the street.  I noticed the decayed started running from all directions at our truck.  A few stood in the middle of the road and I drove into them.  “Ricky, keep your eye out for a hospital sign!”  I yelled. 

I hit the back bumper of a car and it went rolling to the side of the road and knocked over a few decayed.  I soon noticed the stench that covered the city and started gagging.  “I see the sign for the hospital!  Turn right on the next set of lights.”  Ricky said.

              I kept as calm as I could and noticed the street I needed to turn down and slowed the truck down.  I noticed a large pile-up of cars ahead and slowed down.  “Shit!”  I yelled in frustration.  Several decayed ran up to the sides of the truck and started climbing up to the doors.  I pushed the bumper up against the pile of cars and pushed the gas pedal to the floor.  The truck growled loudly as it slowly made its way through the obstacle.  I turned right and broke through the barrier.  Ricky rolled down his window and shot one of the decayed in the face; it flew off the truck and landed on the street. 

“Roll down your window!”  Ricky called out.  I rolled down my window and Ricky shot the decayed woman at my door.  I noticed the hospital coming up on the left.  “Grab our bags!  We got to get in as soon as possible.”  I said to Ricky.  He grabbed our bags and rolled up his window.  I skidded to a stop and jumped out.  We locked doors, ran up to the sliding glass doors, and squeezed our way through.  Ricky and I quickly slid it shut and turned the lock.  We heard grunting in the distance and a few seconds later a few of the decayed walked up to the door and started scratching the glass. 

Ricky and I spent a few minutes pushing benches over and pile them against the door.  I knew hospitals were safe but I am not sure if the glass is shatter proof or not; I pray it keeps them back.