End of the Line (25 page)

             
“Shit,” he said and began driving.

             
Tanya handed me a napkin. “For your head.”

             
I placed the napkin where I felt pain and it came away with blood.

             
I felt her pull my jacket off and I whimpered like the dog she killed. When she pulled it all the way off, I screamed. I felt like my skin was being ripped off. Instead of trying to pull off my shirt, she cut it open with tiny scissors from the first aid kit.

“Shirt and jacket are goners,” she said. I got that.

             
“Doesn’t look like you got bit,” she said. “Lots of bad scratches. I don’t think those were pets. Probably dog fighting which I hope means they don’t have rabies and it explains why they’re vicious. This is gonna hurt.”

             
I tried not to clench when Tanya poured peroxide on my wounds.

             
“Christ,” I screamed.

             
“Fuck,” Dave said. I didn’t need him freaking out.

             
“Keep drivin’,” Tanya said. “Jim, you got some deep scratches, and one looks pretty bad. You’re lucky you were wearing a jacket.”

             
I wore one if I went outside, anything that the zombies could latch on to that I could flee from. I never thought it would stop dogs from killing me.

             
“Is it really bad?” I said, between whimpers. It hurt like fucking hell.

             
“Take this,” she said, handing me a pill. I didn’t ask what it was just dry swallowed it. “You need to be stitched up, I can’t do it. I’m gonna use liquid skin instead. Sorry, it’s gonna hurt like a mother, but I gotta clean out the wound. Infection will be worse.”

             
“Just do it,” I said. 

             
I wish I hadn’t said that. As soon as the brush hit my skin it was like every pain center went off. I screamed out.

             
“Don’t be a baby. Birth was much worse even with drugs.”

             
“You have a kid?” Dave said.

             
“Had,” she said and didn’t elaborate.

             
“Oh,” Dave said and didn’t ask anything else.

             
I wasn’t paying attention. All I felt was pain and then thankfully blackness.

             
When I woke up my head was on someone’s lap. I felt something near my eye.

             
“Cam,” I said.

             
“No,” it was Tanya’s voice. I hoped this was a nightmare and that I would wake up with Cam’s arms around me.

             
I opened my eyes. We were still in the car but it had stopped. My back still felt sore but at least it was better than before. The pain killer was working. Something covered part of my eye.

             
“Where are we?”

             
“In front of Mike’s place. You passed out. I finished cleaning your wounds, put ointment on it and bandaged you.”

             
I touched my head. The thing I felt near my eye was a bandage.
             

             
Mike waited in the entrance. He opened the door and gate for us before we even got to the door.

             
“Jesus.” He said. Tanya and Dave had to carry me. The large bandage near my eye and the fact I wasn’t wearing a shirt, probably gave away I wasn’t alright.

             
“Just a little dog problem—“ I said.

             
“You didn’t get bit did you?”

             
“Neither by zombie or dog.”

             
“He’s got some deep cuts, and he hit his head,” Tanya explained, handing Mike the bag. “We got your stuff but didn’t get jumper cables.”

             
“I’m sorry.”

             
“You don’t have to be,” I said.

             
“Yes, he does,” Dave said. “Jim was attacked by dogs and Tanya was molested.”

             
Mike didn’t look happy. “Come upstairs. My wife can clean out those wounds. She's an EMT.”

             
Mike disappeared into the store while Tanya and Dave helped me up the stairs. I didn’t want to climb them but I did it anyway. Each step caused more agony in my back.

             
Ashley was sitting on the love seat reading an old magazine with a smiling thin blond woman on the cover. She stood up when we came in.

             
“Jim? Oh my god. What happened?”

             
Tanya and Dave dropped me off on the bed and explained to Ashley what happened. A moment later, Mike came with a woman about his age. She had glasses, and curly brown hair tied up in a ponytail.

             
“I’m Hannah. Lie on your stomach,” she said, sternly. “So I can look at the wound.”

             
“Wow,” she said, she pulled Tanya’s bandage off. “That’s some scratch. You’re going need to clean it every day for the next few days.”

             
“I’ll do what I can.”

             
“No, I mean it. You should stay here for a few days—“

             
I interrupted by screaming. She had flushed the wound with water.

             
“She’s ripping my back off,” I yelled. I wasn’t sure I was kidding.

“Don’t be a baby, Jim,” Tanya said. “She’s trying to help you.”

“I’m going have to stitch you up, okay. I have some antiseptic but it will still hurt a lot.”

I passed out again and when I woke I still was lying on the bed. I smelled pipe tobacco.

“There’s a vent here,” a voice said. It was coming from above me.

“Who’s there?”

“It’s me, Cameron.”

“Cam,” I said, but I couldn’t move. Couldn’t reach up to kiss him.

“I just want to eat you up, Jim.”

I opened my eyes. An old man with a pipe in his mouth was looking at me. His was thin, bald with wisps of white hair strands.

“You okay, son?” he asked.

My back was sore and I felt nausous. So no, not okay.

“Who are you?”

“I’m Mike’s father, Jason. My turn to be on watch. You been asleep for a while.”

“How long?”

“Most of the night.”

The sun was out, but I had no concept of time. “What time is it?”

“About 12 pm.”

“Jeez,” I had been unconscious all night. “We need to get on the road,” I tried to get out of bed but my back hurt too much.

“Your friends plan to wait until tomorrow. Give you a chance to heal. My daughter in law wants you all to stay here for a few days. The wound was ugly, son.”

“I’m okay,” I said, although bed was rather comfy. “We have a schedule.”

“It’s not a problem. My son feels terrible about what happened. If you don’t want to stay for a few days, we’ll make sure you leave bright and early tomorrow. At least my daughter in law can look over the wound before you leave.”

I didn’t respond.

“Let me tell her you’re awake.”

I watched him leave the room. Tanya replaced him. She took a chair next to the bed. “Hey sleepy head.”

“We can’t leave them that long in Oyster Bay.”

She shrugged. “We shouldn’t leave the others back at the house but we should be home before the week is up. Dave thinks we can get to Albany and back in three days. I mean the roads shouldn’t be as bad once we get out of the city. We should be back a day before the deadline.”

She paused. “We were thinking of leaving you here when we go to Albany, then dropping you off back at CostKing. Mike’s okay with you staying here. Not in this apartment, with them next door.”

“No,” I said, lying. “My back’s already feeling better. I’ll be okay.”

Tanya seemed to accept my answer. The truth was I felt like shit. Dead husband and attacked by dogs but the last thing I want to do was leave the others alone.

“Are you hungry?”

“Famished.”

“Let’s get you some food—Oh, and Mike gave us four rifles and a shotgun and two duffle bags filled with ammo. He makes his own. Dave and I’ve been talking. We want to invite them, even his old man to CostKing. That good with you?”

“I think that would be a good idea. Mike has the guns, and Hannah is an EMT. Dave was pretty mad before, do you think he’ll raise hell?”

“I doubt it, Mike ain't so bad and you should fucking see his storage room. He’s got guns stacked to the ceiling. Enough ammo to kill all the zombies in India.”

Chapter 16

“So that’s it,” I said, explaining the situation of CostKing, while we ate the dinner Mike bought. “Rachel is our leader and we all work to survive. We farm on the roof, we have a sharpshooter, and we could use your entire family.” Mike bought all of them to the apartment: his father, Jason, wife, Hannah and daughter Dena. Dena looked about 15, pretty, and despite the zombie apocalypse, seemed like the typical sullen teenage. He never mentioned again the son he lost.

“But what about this deal with the old folks? Are you driving Ashley away?” Mike asked.

“I choose to leave,” she explained. “To find my son. Trust me, everyone tried to talk me out of it.”

“Your dad can come with you. We won’t turn him away. I’ll write a letter to Rachel tonight about your situation and that she should let your dad in. We need people like you. No more dealing with slimeballs like that the leech man.”

“Leech man?”

“The one at Shop Smart.”

“Yeah, he’s kind of a leech. He’s propositioned my wife and my daughter more than once but they really need my bullets.” He looked at Tanya. “Sorry about what happened.”

“Not a problem, happened before.”

“And this woman, Rachel, is she a good leader?”

“As good as we can get. No one’s committed suicide on her watch. The guy before did off himself.”

“He was still a good man,” Dave added. “I can’t say Rachel is perfect but we’ve only had one bad incident since she took over.”

“What happened?”

“A vindictive mental woman who didn’t get in deliberately infected a little girl--“ I didn’t want to think of that day. “We take in all kids. We didn’t know she had been infected. When she changed, she killed two of our people.” I paused. “Mike, CostKing isn’t perfect but I think it might be better than living here.”

“Dad,” Dena said. I can hear the excitement in her voice. “That sounds cool. We’ll have some room. We could have more time outside. We could run instead of using the treadmill.”

“Sweetie, we can’t take this decision lightly,” But he didn’t look convinced. “I’ll have to sleep on it, okay.”

“Sure,” I said. I ate my food.

“This is very good,” I said to Hannah.

“Talk to my father in law,” she said.

“My wife is awesome in every way,” Mike said and laughed, “except for cooking.”

I couldn’t sleep. Tanya was lying next to me on the bed while Dave slept on the loveseat and Ashley on the couch. The night was quiet and I could see first light in the distance. I decided to write my letter to Rachel. I turned on my flashlight, careful not to wake Tanya and got some paper and a pen out of my bag.

Dear Rachel,

I hope that everything is well and that this isn’t the last time you’re hearing from me. I am writing this letter because I’ve invited the McDonalds into the CostKing. There are four of them, all good with guns. The wife Hannah was an EMT and her husband Mike knows guns better than Princess, although he may not be a better shot. They have a teenager named Dena. Jason is Mike’s father. I told Mike we wouldn’t have a problem with his age.

He has a lot of guns and ammo plus he knows how to make his own. Even so, not only are they useful, they are good people. They are survivors but not monsters. They gave us food and shelter, and only asked to run errands for them.

I miss you, and hope you are doing well.

Love, Jim.

I didn’t mention what happened with the dogs or Ashley. I heard the sound of footsteps on the alcove then the window opening. I folded the paper into thirds. I knew it wasn’t a zombie because the sound wasn’t chaotic and zombies don’t open windows. I looked out of the room and saw Mike coming in. I got out of the bed and greeted him in the living room.

“Hey,” he said. “I thought about it.”

We walked into the other bedroom. It was the master bedroom and it overlooked the Avenue. When I had looked closer at it, I noticed several binoculars. This was a surveillance area. That’s how Mike knew we were coming.