Alone (15 page)

She needed to find a place to hide before she just collapsed.

A loud groan sounded a lot closer than Trish had expected. The sound startled her.

She looked around now with more urgency. Her eyes rose up into the sky. She spotted a large “Y” thirty feet above in the tree she was standing next to.

She began to climb. The rough bark scraped her bare skin. It made all the other scrapes and cuts that covered her arms and legs scream out.

It however didn’t hurt as much as she had imagined having her legs shredded by the ugly black teeth of the dead.

Trish had finally made it up to the “Y” in the tree and wedged herself between the branches as the dead started to show up.

She hoped they wouldn’t see her and would just continue to pass by.

Ten minutes later there were twenty dead black lifeless eyes staring up at her from the ground below.

They stretched out their arms as they groaned and reached out hoping their hands would be able to grab hold of the flesh above them.

Trish wrapped her arms around the trunk of the tree in front of her. The stinging wounds over her body and the soggy underwear faded from her mind as her eyes closed.

She leaned her head against the bark. Her eyes closed and the exhausted Trish fell asleep.

Tony had been shooting for hours, desperately trying to kill all the zombies that had staggered out of the woods and to the warehouse.

Between missing so many shots from being impatient and having to wait until they were close enough for the pellet gun to be effective, it had taken him much longer to dispose of the dead than he had hoped.

The sun had set and the last of the days light was quickly fading.

Tony knew it was too late to go searching through the woods to find Trish. It would be dangerous enough to do that in the day time. In the dark he could walk right by her and never know it. He could also walk right into one of the dead. He would have to wait until morning.

He hoped that she was OK. Spending the night in the woods would be very dangerous. But he could never find her in the dark.

She might not even still be in the woods. As unbelievable as it would be, she could have run back to her family, if they were her family. Maybe she didn’t even want to be found. Maybe she went somewhere else. If those people weren’t her family and Tony really hoped they weren’t, maybe her family was somewhere else close by and she went back to them.

He had to keep his desire to find Trish under control and keep his head. If everything wasn’t as he thought, he could end up in trouble.

Maybe she didn’t want to be found, there were those creeps out there that wanted to rob him and there were the dead.

He would go out to look for Trish in the morning but he had a lot of things he needed to think about.

He had a lot to lose if he didn’t keep his head straight about this. He could end up walking into a trap. It was a possibility that he had to consider.

Chapter 18

“Do you think it is safe enough for us to go out and bring back the rest of that food?” Tom asked as he looked out through the opening between the curtains and the window frame.

Roy walked over next to him and took a look. He could see about four of the dead staggering around through the field across the road. “No, not yet. I can still see a few of those things roaming around out there. Let’s give them another hour and maybe they will go away.”

Tom looked again. “There are only a few of them. We could take them without too much trouble.”

“Yea, but who knows how many more of them are lurking around out there. If we get those things worked up we could end up with a hundred of them coming out of the woods. Be patient. They’ll go away before long.” Roy replied.

“We’re lucky they were so focused on the distraction you made that they didn’t see us work our way around the field.” Tom added before looking at Roy. “I guess we’ll have to come up with a new plan to get in that warehouse since we lost our bait.”

Roy walked back over and dropped down on the couch. “No, we can stick to our same plan. We will just have to use different bait.”

“Different bait?” Tom asked looking concerned. “Not me I hope.”

Roy laughed. “No, not you. If we staked you out in the field that guy would never come out to get you. He would probably just shoot you from that window of his.”

Tom looked relieved. “I don’t think Debbie is going to be too happy about being used for bait.”

“She’ll do whatever I tell her to do.” Roy said then he started to smile. “Besides as kinky as she is, I think she will enjoy being tied up in her underwear. It’s probably one of her fantasies.”

Tom laughed as he thought to himself. “Seeing Debbie tied up in her underwear was definitely one of his fantasies.”

“Why don’t you open up another can of that soup?” Roy asked.

Tom was staring at Debbie as she came down the stairs rubbing the sleep from her eyes. She walked over and dropped down on Roy’s lap. He didn’t hear Roy talking to him. He was too busy observing that Debbie was dressed perfectly for her role as bait.

“Hey Tom!” Roy said.

“What?” Tom asked finally looking at Roy.

Roy laughed. “I said why don’t you open another can of that soup?”

“OK.” Tom replied. His eyes lingered on Debbie for a few seconds longer before he turned to get the soup from the case on the table.

“Soup sounds good.” Debbie said sleepily.

“Hey babe. I have a job for you today.” Roy smiled.

Debbie looked at Roy.

He leaned up and whispered into her ear.

Debbie’s eyes widened, then she smiled. She leaned in and whispered into Roy’s ear, then she giggled.

Roy laughed out loud.

Tony was up with the first light as it shined through the window and woke him out of his light fitful sleep. He hadn’t slept very well during the night. He kept thinking about Trish spending the night alone in the woods. In the woods being hunted by the dead. He had known the feeling from his many nights on the run in Uniontown.

Maybe Trish had become used to the feeling, if she had been on her own for the last year.

But Tony didn’t feel anyone could ever become used to that feeling. No one could ever come to accept the terror one felt when being hunted by the dead.

Not unless you were safe within the walls of a secure warehouse, but Trish did not have the luxury of being inside a warehouse.

Tony jumped off his inflatable mattress, cringing at the squeaking sound it made as he got up.

He walked over to the window, hoping that all would be quiet outside. It had taken him forever to kill all the dead that had followed him back to the warehouse yesterday.

He wanted to get an early start today.

Tony didn’t know for sure, but those people had come to the warehouse the last few days around high noon pretending to trade Trish for food. If they came back today he wondered what trick they would try now that they no longer had Trish. Whatever it was, he needed to be back at the warehouse if they came back.

He picked up the walkie-talkie and slipped it in his pocket so he would have it in case they tried to contact him before he came back. Somehow he doubted they would try to talk to him. He felt they would try something more devious and more dangerous.

Tony looked out the window. He started to curse under his breath when he saw what had once been a woman, roaming around beneath his window. She was wearing what once had been a long white gown, at least what was left of it and it was no longer close to still being white. At one time she had had long dark hair, but now she only had hair on the right side of her head. The hair and the skin were missing now on the left side of her head.

He felt relieved when he didn’t see anything else in the parking lot or the clearing. He picked up the pellet gun and started to shoot.

He breathed an impatient sigh of relief when after the sixth shot, the zombie went down and stopped moving.

After taking another look out the window, he left the office area and climbed down to the floor.

He picked up one of the back packs he had prepared and slipped it on his back, grabbed the bow and arrows with one hand and the pellet gun with the other and went out the side door.

He made sure the door was locked behind him and ran into the woods at the end of the parking lot. After making sure nothing was moving, he started out around the clearing, staying back behind the trees for cover.

He forced himself to keep his excitement under control.

He had to stay focused and alert. The things he had to be concerned with seemed to be growing by the hour. Every day his life had become more and more complicated. He hoped he was ready for whatever today threw at him.

Trish’s eyes shot open. She hugged the tree tightly to steady herself. She had almost lost her balance when she was jolted awake.

She closed her eyes and leaned her head against the tree. The first thing she noticed was the sound of the groaning dead below her. She opened her eyes and looked down between her arm and body to see the dead staring up at her from under the tree.

She could barely remember climbing the tree last night. She slept soundly last night. She was amazed that she hadn’t fallen out of the tree during the night.

The second thing she noticed was the wet itchy feeling in her panties. She looked down to see the water marks on her underwear. She didn’t have any memory of doing that.

As far back as she could remember, she had never wet her pants. Not even as a little girl.

Her gaze moved past her wet underwear and down to the dead below. She guessed having wet her pants was the least of her problems right now.

She tried not to move her head too much. She didn’t want to get the dead worked up. It was all she could do to handle the eerie sound of their groaning. If she moved they would get excited and start to get loud. The way her head hurt and the way her body was shaking, she didn’t know if she could handle that right now.

As she looked down she saw her blood covered feet and the scrapes on her legs.

She closed her eyes and leaned her forehead against the tree. Tears ran down her cheeks as everything that happened yesterday flooded through her mind.

“All of that and now I’m stuck in a tree surrounded by the dead!” Trish cried quietly.

Thup! Thup! Thup!

Trish’s eyes opened as she heard the unusual sound. She held still and didn’t move.

Thup! Thup! Thup!

She glanced down under her arm that was wrapped around the tree. She could see two of the dead lying face down on the ground below her.

Thup! Thup! Thup!

She saw a third body fall to the ground.

Thup! Thup! Thup!

She heard a thumping sound as another body fell to the ground.

Thup! Thup! Thup!

Someone was killing the things that were staring up at her below the tree. She didn’t know what kind of weapon they were using. She had never heard that sound before. It was a quiet sound. The dead didn’t seem to notice it.

Her heart started to beat faster. At first she felt excited that someone was trying to help her. Then she froze. Did Roy come back to get her? She would rather stay in the tree surrounded by zombies than go back with him. She had a better chance to survive with the dead then she would have with Roy and Tom.

Maybe whoever was killing the zombies didn’t know she was up in the tree.  If she just stayed still and quiet, maybe after they were done they would go away.

She held the tree tightly and squeezed her eyes shut, trying to make herself invisible.

Thup! Thup! Thup!

Tony used the pellet gun and picked off the dead one by one from behind the large oak.

He had been searching through the woods for an hour seeing nothing until he heard a low groaning sound coming from further in the woods.

He inched closer to the sound. He soon saw about a dozen of the dead standing under a tree, staring up into the branches.

He followed their gaze and spotted Trish desperately hanging onto the tree thirty feet above them.

He had watched her for a few minutes before he started shooting at the dead. He saw her looking at the dead below and watched her body tense as she tightened her grip on the tree.

He crept up as close as he thought safe before he started shooting. He was worried at first that even as quiet as the pellet gun was, it would still be too noisy this close and would attract the dead’s attention.

Just in case, he had picked out a tree that he would be able to climb quickly if the dead noticed him and started to come for him.

He was pleasantly surprised that the pellet gun didn’t attract the dead. There were times when he thought the dead had heard him breathing. Maybe the sound given off by the pellet gun was in the range the dead couldn’t hear. Whatever the reason, Tony was grateful it didn’t attract attention.

Finally the last of the dead fell. Now there was silence. Even the birds and crickets were silent. Dead silent.

Tony walked slowly up to the tree and examined the dead.

“God these things were gross.” Tony thought as he studied the decayed bodies of the dead that had all died the first time many months ago. He breathed in short bursts to limit the heavy sickening sweet smell of the dead from assaulting his nose.

Tony slowly raised his eyes and looked up at Trish.

She didn’t move a muscle.

For a moment he thought something was wrong, but then he remembered seeing her looking around before he started shooting at the dead.

Then he noticed her toes wiggling. He looked at her bloody feet. Then he saw her body shudder.

He realized she must be scared to death.

Tony spoke softly. “It’s safe now if you want to come down.”

He saw her head move slightly and could tell she was looking down under her arms.

“Trish. It’s OK.” Tony said. “You can come down if you want to.”

Trish finally moved her head and looked down at Tony.

Her red bloodshot eyes looked down at him and met his gaze. A tear escaped her right eye and ran down her cheek.

“You’re safe Trish. No one is going to hurt you.” Tony smiled. “Come on down.”

Trish looked around nervously. She looked at the dead lying motionless around Tony. She looked at Tony.

Finally she started to move slowly. She began to slide down from branch to branch, winching at the pain as the rough bark scraped against her skin.

Finally she reached the ground and stood nervously on the ground in front of Tony. Her arms were wrapped around her body.

She thought about running, but she was so tired and sore that she thought. “What’s the use?”

Tony reached out and took her hand. “Come over here and sit down.”

Tony led her over to a large rock and asked her to sit down. He knelt down in front of her and opened his back pack. He took out a pack of partially dried out wet naps. He pulled one from the pack and reached for her left foot. At first Trish pulled her foot back, but after Tony smiled at her, she let him take her foot. He began to clean the blood off of her foot. He gently wiped at the cuts and scratches. When he was done with her left foot, he took her right foot and wiped it clean.

He took out a clean wet nap and slowly reached up and wiped her face.

When he was finished he began to dig around in the back pack as Trish watched him closely.

Her eyes widened as he took out a new pair of yellow, green and black tennis shoes. He again took her left foot and gently slid the shoe on her foot and began to tie the laces. “I hope these fit. I took a guess as to the size. If they don’t fit, at least they will make it easier for you to walk through the woods. If you come back with me to the warehouse, you can pick out a pair that fit better.

Tears ran down Trish’s face. She was scared, but she loved these shoes.