Reanimates, page 9
part #1 of Reanimates Series
Frank leaned in close to my ear. “How do you want to proceed?”
I thought for a second before I leaned in to answer him. “You circle around to the passenger’s side and I will go at the driver’s side. When you get to the door, duck down a rap on the glass. When I hear that I will jump around the door and surprise anyone that is inside.”
He looked at me and nodded. “That is a shit plan,” he whispered. He was right, it was a shit plan. The simple fact that he agreed to it meant that he did not have anything better in mind. Shit plan or not, it was what we were doing.
We broke from our huddle and went our separate ways. I reached the open door a few moments ahead of Frank and I stopped just at the edge of it. The interior was still impossible to see well so I crossed my fingers in hopes that there were no surprises to be found. I heard the sharp rap of Frank’s hand on the glass, and I sprang around the side of the door. The cockpit was empty of any people, dead or alive. I quickly side stepped and pulled open the back door and found that there was no one there either. It seemed as though the men that tried to boost the Hummer had either fled or met with a worse fate.
I reached into my pocket and withdrew a lighter that I had grabbed while ransacking the Mobil station. A flick of my thumb caused a flame to form which was just bright enough to pull back the curtain of darkness and exposed the interior of the truck. The back seats were covered in blood with pieces of gore scattered about for good measure. It appeared that one of the thieves met their end at the mouth of a reanimate back here. There was no other damage to be seen in the wan light, so we moved to the front seats. I was surprised to find little evidence that someone had died just inches away from the front seats. The only sign of it was a trail of blood that led from the back to the front and then over the driver’s seat.
The main difference from back to front was that there was some damage under the dashboard and to the ignition keyhole. It looked like the people had tried at first to use some kind on tool to turn the engine over and when that failed, they had started to try to hotwire the truck. They had clearly run out of time though and been interrupted. Frank and I withdrew from the Humvee and closed the doors as quietly as we could manage. I made sure my door as well as the back door on my side were locked and Frank followed suit.
We met up at the front of the truck and I leaned in towards Frank. “Something seems wrong about this,” I said.
Frank replied, ‘What do you mean?”
“Why would they have opened the door when they were surrounded by a horde of those things?”
Understanding dawned in Frank’s eyes. “You don’t think that the reanimates figured out how to open car doors do you?”
The very thought of that occurring chilled me to the bone. I only shrugged in answer. As I saw it, we had two distinct advantages over the reanimated bodies that roamed the world. The first being that once we were secured behind a closed door, they could not open it and the second was that they did not seem to be able to ambulate at any speed greater than a brisk walk. I would rather discover that they could run versus them being able to open doors. If they had discovered how to do that, then any door that was not or could not lock would no longer be a safety barrier between us and them.
“We have to get back inside the hous,” I said to Frank with some urgency. “We need to go down the road past the house a bit. I remember there were several cars that were abandoned on the road. Let’s hope that at least one of them has the keys still in it. We can grab the keys, get away from the car and then push the panic button, that should attract all of them away from the house.”
Frank smiled at me and said, “Now that right there is NOT a shit plan!”
I had a feeling in the back of my mind that time was running out, so I broke into a jog towards where I knew the cars were parked. Despite his age and lack of rest Frank kept pace with me. The first car we encountered was a late model blue Jeep Cherokee. All four doors were locked so we moved on to the next car. This one was a green Ford F150. It was not locked but the keys were gone. As we got further from the house the level of danger went up as swiftly as my hopes were crashing.
As we went to the next car, I started to think about heading back defeated. The red Chevy Cruise was unlocked and not only were the keys still in it, but they were still in the run position. Whoever had been driving this must have just thrown it in park and left. The car had run out of gas, but the radio was still playing. This was a good sign that the battery still had life in it. Frank opened the door and leaned inside and retrieved the keys. As he was exiting the car something lunged at him from the back seat and Frank let out a yelp of surprise. Without thinking he slammed the door shut which was tantamount to ringing a dinner bell.
We both stood there transfixed at the sight of what had tried to attack Frank. Standing on the driver’s seat and pounding on the window was the reanimated body of a child that could not have been any older than three in life. I am not sure why, given the fact that we were surrounded by death, but this sight made my heart shatter. To be so young and have your life taken from you and now to be cursed to walk the Earth as a reanimated corpse was just too sad to handle.
The tiny reanimate was clearly getting upset by the fact that it could not reach us. In an attempt to get out of the car it turned its attention to other parts of the cockpit and discovered the steering wheel. The horn sounded off once, then twice and then thrice.
“We better go,” said Frank in a voice that was far calmer than his face looked. He was right, a fact that was punctuated by the sound of approaching footsteps. We turned back towards the Humvee and broke into a run this time. When we got to the Jeep we stopped and crouched down in front of the grill. Frank pushed the panic button and the Chevy started to beep at a regular pace. We could not really see the small car anymore, but we could hear the sound of the reanimates pounding on the various parts of it.
We took that as a sign that it was safe to return to the house. We ran back into the driveway and discovered that we were right. We could not see a single walking corpse anywhere. As we climbed the steps, the door to the house flew open and Karen came storming out.
“Where thein the hell have you two been?” she screamed.
It was obvious that we had taken too long, and the group had gone looking for us. We both made a shushing sound which only infuriated Karen more.
“Don’t you shush me,” she yelled. “You can’t just go running off and not tell the rest of us!”
Frank was not fooling around. Not wanting her yelling to attract any of the undead that we had just sent on a wild goose chase, he stormed the rest of the distance to Karen and put his hand over her mouth. Her face made a shocked expression before he bodily moved her back in the house. I followed closely behind him and closed and locked the door as I entered.
I looked Karen in the face and ordered her to go upstairs. She made no sign that she was willing to comply, so Frank again moved her. After a few steps she wrested herself free and finished the trip of her own accord, grumbling under her breath the whole way.
We entered the boy’s room which seemed to be the unofficial meeting space to a chorus of happy greetings. The relief that Frank and I were unharmed was evident even from Karen. She was acting like a mother that had lost track of and then found her children. Once everyone had quieted down, I told the group about what we had done.
“First,” I started, “any sort of yelling, be it inside or out is a terrible idea. These things are attracted by sound. Let’s try and keep our emotions in check and think before we act.” I paused to let that sink in before continuing. “Yes, Frank and I went on a run without telling you guys. We figured we would be back before anyone noticed and for that I apologize. However, if you wish me to lead then you cannot question my every choice. Our run bore several fruits. First and foremost is that it appears that the Humvee is still drivable, though the interior has some blood and bits of flesh in it. Second, we proved my theory that the reanimates could be easily distracted by loud noises. You all can hear the honking car. That acted like a lightning rod for them. This means that in the morning we can use both that car and the van in the driveway to distract them and make our way safely to the Humvee. I suggest we all turn in for the night and get up before the sun and make our escape. The master bedroom has a king-sized bed that if we lay strategically enough should hold all five of us. If not, I will take the floor. The bottom line is I want us all in the same room.”
I neglected to mention the fact that there was the distinct possibility that the reanimates could learn to open unlocked doors. As everyone gathered up whatever things they wanted to bring to the master bedroom I had Frank push the panic button on the car key. This would silence the horn and preserve whatever power the battery still contained.
We all made our way to the bedroom and filed in the door. I made sure I was last in and closed the door behind me. It was upsetting to find that the knob had no lock, but I did not want to say anything, so I made a show of checking the dimensions of the bed.
“It looks like it will only fit four of us comfortably, so I am just going to sleep on the floor,” I said perhaps a little too exaggeratedly. My group all climbed into the bed, alternating by gender. I could see the logic to that. Even though we all knew each other I would prefer to be sandwiched between two women instead of two men. I went over to one of the dressers and pulled out some soft shirts and rolled them up to give myself a makeshift pillow. I laid down in front of the door in the hopes that if we were invaded during the night, my body would act as a door stop and an alarm.
It was not long before the room grew silent, the only sounds were those of people snoring. The day had been long, and taxing and I had not slept much the night before, yet sleep eluded me. I was responsible for three deaths so far and I did not like that fact. Memories of the three people that had passed kept running through my mind dragging me down deeper into a pit of sadness. I am not sure when I fell asleep, but it was tormented by terrible dreams of being eaten alive.
Chapter 9
The sound of water woke me up. It was still dark in the room, but the slightest hints of dawn were poking in around the curtains. I felt refreshed which signaled to me that despite my dreams I slept well and deeply. I was encouraged by the fact that we had survived to another day and not been attacked by anything in the night.
My bladder alerted me that it was in need of voiding, so I got to my feet and headed to the bathroom. Though the sound of water running came from there, the door stood open, so I figured someone was brushing their teeth or washing their hands. I was not prepared to find Michelle naked and climbing into the tub. Her head turned to me and a look of shock followed by embarrassment formed on her face. She dropped so her body was hidden by the tub. I stood there transfixed for a minute before I averted my eyes.
“You are not Julio,” she said.
With all that was going on I had missed the fact that she and Julio had formed a connection. I shook my head no and turned to leave. “I’m terribly sorry,” I managed. “The door was open, so I did not think.”
I left the bathroom hurriedly, my full bladder forgotten for the moment and met Julio in the doorway. He smiled slyly at me and I gave him the thumbs up.
“Don’t be too terribly long,” I said. “We need to get going soon.
I gave him a quick pat on the back and decided to go down the hall to the bathroom that used to belong to the house’s children. I made my way to the alternate bathroom fairly oblivious of my surroundings. I entered the small bathroom and was hit in the face by a mixed bag of smells. The kids were clearly slobs and their parents were not very fastidious about cleaning this bathroom.
There was a stand-up only shower, a small sink that was covered in old toothpaste, and a toilet that had dried urine on the seat and face. Clearly the boy had terrible aim. The walls were standard white with stickers of some feline cartoon character that I did not know placed randomly across them.
I am not a germaphobe, but I did lift the toilet seat with my foot. I freed myself from my pants and the flow of urine was immediate. As the sound of it splashing in the water filled the room, I could have sworn that I heard a noise from the first floor. I shrugged it off to the people in the master bedroom and the way noises carry in old houses and finished my business. I reached for the lever that would flush the toilet and paused. If there was someone downstairs a flushing toilet might alert them to my location.
I was now spooked, be it my imagination or not, I was certain that there was someone on the first floor of the house that should not be. I opened the door to the bathroom and went back in the hall and waited at the top of the stairs. I focused all of my attention on my hearing to see if I could detect any movement downstairs. I stood there for several minutes before I decided to give up. As I turned back towards the master bedroom something moving in my periphery caught my eye.
On the first floor, moving past the stairs was a reanimate. My heart sank. Where there was one there was more than likely many. I quickly moved from the head of the stairs in the hopes that it would not see me and entered the master bedroom as quietly as I could. I must have had a look of alarm on my face because Frank jumped up from the bed.
“Danger?” he asked.
I nodded. “There is at least one of them downstairs. We need to leave now.”
I went to the bathroom door and opened it an inch. The noises that were coming from the area of the tub informed me that Julio and Michelle were not done, but I did not have the time to let them finish. “You two, we need to leave now,” I said with as much urgency as one could muster when talking in a low volume. I heard a groan come from one of them, so I knew that my message had been received.
I returned to the other two members of my group and helped gather up any supplies that we needed. We had not taken everything from the Humvee when we fled yesterday, and I hoped that the people that tried to steal it did not look in the trunk. Julio and Michelle rejoined us before everything was packed, a look of frustration on their faces. Even in these circumstances this made me chuckle a bit. I gathered my group up into a huddle.
“Ok guys, there is at least one of them roaming around downstairs. I don’t know how it got in, but we need to assume that there is more than just one of them. We are going to have to leave through the door in the driveway though, so here is how I want us to move. Frank will take the lead and I will bring up the rear. Julio, I want you in the middle so you can help out in either direction. When we hit the landing at the bottom of the stairs Frank will trigger the panic button on the car that we found last night. Once we are outside, I will do the same to the van and then we will all run like crazy to the Humvee. It’s locked and I have the keys, so let’s all try to stay as close together as possible.”
I looked around at the faces of my people. They all looked determined. “Make good choices and we will all make it to the Humvee. OK? No one lose their shit out there,” I added.
We all formed up in order before opening the door to leave. I made sure that Frank’s hands were free of anything except for the blade. It was still our only weapon and had saved us multiple times. I also wanted both Julio and me to have at least one hand free so that meant that Karen and Michelle were tasked with carrying the majority of our supplies. This was not a stance of men being superior to women, or like the newest and greatest catch phrase, a display of toxic masculinity. Michelle was the second oldest of the group and Karen was not very far behind her. I figured, and science backed me, that we younger men were going to be faster in responding to a threat and Frank’s military experience has been paying off so far. Neither of the women was complaining anyway.
We slowly made our way down the stairs. When Frank reached the landing, he held up his left hand to signal us all to stop. I was still three quarters of the way up the stairs so I could not see or even guess at what he was seeing. I could hear the car horn off in the distance which meant that Frank had pushed the panic button. After what seemed like an eternity Frank started to move again and at a much faster pace than before. I was at the landing in a matter of seconds and stopped to look both ways to ensure there was no immediate threat. I could see none and withdrew the van keys from my left pocket. I placed them there so if we were forced to rush there would be no way I could confuse them with the keys to the Humvee which were residing in my right pocket.
I was lagging a bit behind the rest of the group and caught up with everyone at the van. So far, our plan was working well. We all formed up along the side of the van that was closest to the Humvee. What I saw on the road was nothing if not awe inspiring. Before us was the largest parade of people that I had ever seen, though these were not really people. Zombies, the undead, walkers, or reanimates, whichever name you chose to call them by, there were thousands of them. It looked as though the entire population of Milton was walking by us, though I knew that that was an exaggeration. I just hoped that there was enough room between the car that was honking and the van so that we could slip on by them. It was also painfully clear to me that we could not continue along the path that we wanted and would be forced to drive through the islands. This meant that we would not be able to hit the gun shop like I had wanted.
I just hoped that one of us had a smart phone that still had enough power to search the internet for a different store. Of course, that went hand in hand with the hope that the internet and the phone networks were still up. That was an issue to be tackled later in the trip.
I cannot tell you for how long we all waited by the side of the van, but by the time the last of the reanimates went by the sun was fully up in the sky. The horde was so large that it extended from the Chevy to the corner of the house.
