Apocalypse Asunder (17 page)

Jessica nodded again and crept carefully back across the rafters to Candice.  The girl hardly stirred as Jessica slid herself onto the boxes next to her daughter.

It wasn’t until Jessica was laying there next to Candice, feeling and drawing reassurance from the ten-year-old’s steady breathing, that she realized Austin had said “You’ll get through this.”

“What about us?”
she wondered as she lay there, trying to force herself to drop off into sleep.

* * * * *

Sun on her face was what made Jessica open her eyes.  No, not entirely.  The light had helped, but what had brought her far enough toward consciousness for the light to work had been the heat.  The attic was warm, even after the hours of cooler overnight, of no sunlight heating up the roof and house, and thus the air within.  Now that the sun was back up, things were getting uncomfortable.  She was already sweating.

Raising her head sleepily, Jessica first checked around the attic.  The hatch was closed, the stepladder folded up into a thick bundle on top of it.  Candice was right next to her, still asleep.  The girl lay a few inches from her mother, no doubt a restless attempt to get away from the body heat.  And Austin was still on his shelves nearer the trapdoor hatch, his chest rising and falling steadily as he lay on his back.

He’d been right, as usual; the sleep
had
helped her mental state.  Sleeping on the rafter supported boxes wasn’t the most comfortable spot she’d ever slept in – by a long stretch – but the rest had helped physically as well as mentally.  She was a little stiff and sore, but felt ready to tackle the issue of getting away from the zombie infested area.

And, as she’d decided in her less panic-edged state, that would have to be soon.  She was
thirsty
.  Jessica didn’t want to think about how long it had been since she’d had a drink.  A long time.  Perversely though, she had a strong need to pee.  Her bladder was full despite the cotton lining her mouth and throat, and that was another problem.

Jessica listened carefully, straining her ears toward anything going on beneath her.  The silence was oppressive.  She’d gotten used to that; power was out everywhere, and the last real news she’d heard back in Knoxville had indicated somewhere between half and three-fourths of the population, of seemingly
everything
, was dead.  Or undead.  Combined, it made for a suddenly very quiet nation.  Few cars driving around, no hums of transformers or air conditioners, no radios or televisions blasting away, no airplanes overhead.

But she also didn’t hear any zombies.

She sat up, then startled as Austin did too.  He was blinking sleep from his eyes, and his hand was on the holstered pistol on his belt, but he was awake.  They stared at each other for a moment, then he smiled slightly.  “Sorry.  Morning.”

“How are you feeling?” she asked quietly, matching his low tone.

“Sore.  Thirsty.” he replied, shifting carefully to a full sitting position to ease the strain on his midsection.

“It sounds quiet down there.” Jessica said, gesturing toward the floor.

“Yeah, but I bet there are still probably some stuck in the house.” he sighed.  “And getting out of here past them could be tricky.”

“We can’t . . . oh, right.” Jessica began, her hand drifting to the Taurus, then she frowned and nodded reluctantly.  Lots of noise would start attracting the zombies again.  She had no idea what had happened around here during, or since, the outbreaks to have caused so many zombies to stack up and swarm like they had yesterday; but it was a painfully academic reason that didn’t matter.  At all.

However it had occurred, there were a
lot
of zombies nearby.  Bad luck had landed she and Candice and Austin smack in the middle of them; and they couldn’t squat in here forever.  The attic was already uncomfortable; by noon it could be hot enough to be dangerous if they didn’t have water.  Food was a problem that could hold off for at least another day or two if it came to it; but water, especially under the Florida sun, wasn’t negotiable.

Her prior panic over the situation didn’t invalidate the conclusion; staying up here would kill them as certainly as getting caught by zombies.

“Are you up to some running if it comes to it?” she asked him.

“Some, but not much.” he admitted, feeling his left side, at the healing bullet wounds.  The last time she’d seen them, they’d looked a lot better, but she knew a
lot
of healing had to happen to knit all of the tissue back together within him.  Two holes clean through from front to back did not mend swiftly.  “I don’t think I pulled anything loose, but I definitely strained something that hurts.”

“If we can get out and clear of any immediate threats, the rest of it should just be regular walking.  Maybe a little power walking.  But you saw how many are in the area.”

“Right.” Austin said, moving carefully and shifting around on his hands and knees.  He winced, and moved slowly in deference to the discomfort, but still with most of the customary grace she’d come to expect from him, as he made his way across the rafters to the rest of the shelving wall rods.  Picking one up, he examined it experimentally.

“I think I can convert these into something usable as a weapon.”

“Hand to hand?” Jessica asked, wincing herself.

“Quieter than a gunshot, and easier on the ammo too.” he shrugged, reaching into one of his pouches and extracting a roll of black tape.

“Great.”

“Wake Candice up so she can shake the sleep off.  We need to keep from using the guns unless we’re out of options.” he told her as he started picking up more of the shelf mounting pieces.  “Shots could put us right back where we were yesterday; pulling a horde down on us from all directions.”

Jessica nodded as he got to work.  She put her hand on Candice’s shoulder and shook once, then had to clap a hand over the girl’s mouth quickly as she startled.

“What’s wrong?” Candice cried out, muffled just in time by Jessica’s hand.

“Shhhhh, quiet.” Jessica whispered urgently.  “It’s me, it’s mom.  Quiet.”

“What’s wrong?” Candice repeated, lowering her voice to a barely audible whisper as she stared wildly around at the attic.

“We’re okay for now.  We’re going to try and sneak out of here.”

“I’m thirsty.  I have to go to the bathroom.”

Jessica sighed, not in exasperation, but just from unhappiness.  There was no water.  That seemingly simplest of things, she couldn’t provide for her child.  And Jessica had to go too.  That had come up last night though.  They’d designated the far side of the attic, over next to the other window, as the bathroom spot.  The smell was barely noticeable, but that was probably because it had all dried overnight.

“We still don’t have any water; that’s why we’re going to try and move soon.  And we’re going to have to pee on the floor again too.” Jessica said calmly.

“Ick.” Candice said, her voice unhappy.

“Nothing for it Candy Bear.” Jessica replied, trying to brace Candice up.  “Come on, you want to be running from zombies with me and pee your pants?”

“No.”

“Okay then, so you go over there and do what you need to.  And be careful; remember, stay on the boards, not the floor.”

“I remember.” Candice nodded reluctantly.  “The floor can’t hold us.”

“Right.” Jessica nodded back.  “Come on, get going.”

Jessica helped the girl shift onto her hands and knees, then watched as Candice started crab walking across the rafters.  After seeing that the girl was staying off the plasterboard, Jessica slid the flattened boxes aside and picked up the shelving rods before making her way over to Austin.

“Bathroom?” he asked without looking away from what he was doing.  He was busy turning a handful of the shelf rods into a big bundled metal stick, using the tape to bind them together for added heft and strength.  She wasn’t sure how much that was going to help; they weren’t really designed to serve as levers or weapons.  The metal was easily bent.

“Yeah.”

“You should go too.”

“What about you?” Jessica asked him.

“I’ll go last.”

“Why can’t this be like the movies?” she sighed.

“What, where no one ever has to take care of bodily needs?”

“Yeah.”

He shrugged.  “Right now I think I’d trade that one for the endless ammunition guns movie stars always seem to have.”

Jessica stopped herself from laughing just in time, settling for a quiet chuckle instead.  “That would probably be more useful, yes.”

“Don’t worry about the bathroom thing.  It’s not our house, we’ve got no choice, and trust me; I’ve done far worse in the field before than pee in the corner of an attic.”

“I don’t want to know.” Jessica said quickly.

“No, you probably don’t.” he agreed as he finished with the tape and checked the constructed stick over.  “What do you think?  Good enough to knock some zombies around?”

Jessica reached out and ran her hand over the rods.  The tape had wound them firmly together, and they seemed solid.  Surprisingly.  The bundle was quite thick now, thick and heavy.  She wouldn’t want to be hit by it.  Maybe it would work okay.  “Should do some damage.”

“We’ll see.” he said, starting on another with the rods she’d brought over.

Candice finished in the corner, and Jessica took her own turn, then Austin.  None of them mentioned the strong smell of urine that was wafting through the attic.  Jessica was just counting her blessings that no one needed to void their bowels; there wasn’t any toilet paper, and she wasn’t sure if any of them had enough clothing to spare for that use.  Austin finished, then crawled over the rafters to the hatch.

“Okay, you back me up.  Shoot only if I tell you to, or if there’s no choice.” he whispered.  He had the makeshift sticks in his right hand, leaving his left free for the moment.

Jessica drew the Shield and nodded.  He took hold of the pull cord for the hatch, which they’d made sure was still up after they’d gotten into the attic, and carefully pushed the hatch itself down.  It was weighted and hinged to just barely have an upward bias; so it didn’t take much to open it.  Austin used the cord to hold it open only a few inches and leaned down to take a look as best he could.  Jessica waited, Candice huddled behind her.

After ten seconds, Austin tipped the hatch open some more; enough to get his head all the way out.  After taking a long look around, he sat up and caught her gaze.  Pointing in the direction of the far end of the hallway, he flashed two fingers.  She nodded.  He pointed to himself, then at the taped up sticks, and mimed swinging.  Jessica nodded again.  He returned the nod, then lowered the hatch the rest of the way.

The step-stairs unfolded quietly on well-oiled hinges, but they creaked under his weight as he went down.  Jessica shifted across the rafters to follow him, but she heard a heavy and almost hollow sounding thud come from below before she could get her feet on the steps.  Another thud followed by a more muted rolling thump then sounded. Then a third thump before she could descend far enough to duck below the level of the attic and see what was happening in the hallway.

Austin was just past the stairs down to the first floor.  A zombie was sprawled out on the floor ahead of him, with a second slumped sloppily against the wall.  As she watched, Austin stepped back and swung the rods like a baseball bat, angling his swing somewhat vertically to have enough room to sweep his weapon around in the fairly constricted hallway.  The metal slammed into the partially upright zombie’s head; compressing it against the wall sickeningly.  There was a crack of something breaking, but the zombie was still moving, trying to push itself back on balance.

Winding up again, Austin hit it once more; this time in the side of the neck.  She heard another crack, the zombie’s head rolled sideways sickeningly, and this time it collapsed.  Jessica made it down to the second floor and looked behind her.  There was a bathroom and a bedroom very close to the attic access.  The open bathroom door she simply closed, but the bedroom door had been battered off its hinges.

She raised her left hand over her head and made a stay back motion that she hoped Candice was watching for.  Stepping into the doorway with the gun outstretched before her, Jessica saw a knocked over and smashed table lamp, and smudges on the carpet from lots of dirty feet, but no zombies.  She double checked, then turned back into the hallway.

Austin had drawn his knife, and as she watched, he went down on one knee next to the remaining zombie and stabbed with the blade.  It was a ‘Rambo’ style knife; nearly as long as her forearm.  She flinched as it entered the zombie’s head through one of the eye sockets.  Austin twisted the weapon savagely, then pulled it out and stepped back as he rose.  The zombie lay motionless on the ground.

“Candice!” Jessica said quickly, her voice barely above a whisper.  “Let’s go!”

Austin pointed at himself, then downward.  When Jessica nodded, he pointed at her, then with two fingers at his eyes before gesturing broadly at the rest of the floor and finishing with a jab of the knife blade down at the floor where he stood.  Jessica nodded again, thinking she caught his meaning.

As Candice clambered down from the attic, Austin ghosted down the main stairs, past the shattered boards and wreckage of the blockading furniture.  Jessica moved near the mess, clear of the two zombies, keeping an eye on the upstairs hallway.  The zombie he’d hit in the neck was still moving; at least, its jaw was.  It was making chewing motions as its eyes fixed on her and Candice, but its arms and legs were motionless.  Jessica shuddered as she took that image in, trying to put it out of her mind to focus on the rest of the hallway.