Respect for the Dead (Surviving the Dead Book 1) (28 page)

              “Hey, whatcha doing?”  Matt asked over Beth’s shoulder.  She had taken a grocery list from the fridge and was making a new list on the back of it. 

“I’m just trying to think where to start looking for my brother and…my boyfriend.”  The thought of Wes as her boyfriend was still so new and yet so right to her.  Having a moment to breath had made her start to think about where they might be and if they were looking for her. 

              “Makes you wish you had a rendezvous place huh?”  Matt asked sliding into the chair closest to her. 

              “A rendezvous place?” 

              “Yeah.  Remember when they taught us fire safety?”  The quizzical look on Beth’s face told that she did not.  “You know, when we were in like second grade or something?”  Matt smiled. “You were supposed to talk to your family about escape routes out of the house.  When everyone was safe you would meet at a tree or something.” 

Beth thought for a second and remembered the poster on fire safety from years ago.  “I remember yeah.  I wonder what the poster for this would look like.” 

“I don’t even want to imagine.”  Matt got excited at the thought.  “Hey!  Maybe we should have a place.  Just in case we go out and get separated.”  Matt suggested.

“Any ideas?”  Gillian asked as she sat down across from Matt. 

He shook his head solemnly the excitement fading from his face.  “I don’t even know where I am.” 

“There was a paint store a couple of building’s down.  How about we make that the place.”  Gillian suggested as she looked over at Beth’s list.  Beth chewed on the end of the pen looking at the short list. 

“Dude, that is gross.  You have no idea what the people who lived here were like.”  Matt said pointing at the pen. 

“Hmm you said you went to school in Ferndale High.  That is a pretty long way from here, but the distribution center isn’t too far away.”  Gillian interrupted noting the look on Beth’s face as she took the pen from her mouth.  She looked slightly sickened.  “When we go for food we might be able to swing by and see what it looks like.” 

A derisive snort came from a bundle of Afghans covering Stancy.  Devin on the other hand seized the idea.  “That is a perfect place to go.  There will be all kinds of things there we could use.  Plus we might be able to find some equipment to help clear some of the blocked roads.”  He spoke as he began to pace.  “We should see what Hector thinks.”

“How long does it take to loot a tiny apartment?”  Stancy grumbled.

“It’s not looting.  It’s called salvaging.”  Hector answered coming through the door.  He carried a box that was overflowing with blankets.  Max follow close behind with another box full of food, he also drug a duffle bag behind him.   

“There was not much that could be salvaged over there.  The bed was covered in blood so the quilt was no good.  We got some clean blankets so everyone will be able to have their own.”  Max stated as he began to hand out blankets. 

“All that time and we get a few blankets and some kiddie breakfast cereal.”   Stancy grunted.

“We did find something for you to change into.”  Hector said as he threw a pair of sweat pants and a sweat shirt at her. 

She gave the garments a scornful look. “Not exactly what I am used to.” 

Beth quickly brought the list she was making up to her face to hide her smile.  She was sure there was something better available but Max had picked out the most horrendous and stained garments available.   The sweat shirt truly was awful.  It was pink with a faded flower print on the front.  Beth remembered her grandmother had had a similar one years ago.  Stancy pulled the sweatshirt over her head grumbling the whole time.  Beth and Gillian took the time to smirk at one another. 

“What’s this about a list and moving vehicles?”  Hector asked. 

Stancy had emerged for the horrible pink collar and noticed the looks being shared around the room.  She regained her smugness almost immediately, “At least I am used to finer things unlike most.”  She commented.  Beth allowed herself to roll her eyes before completely ignoring Stancy. 

“Beth here was trying to think where her brother might be holding up.  One of the places is the distribution center, you know the one close to the highway.  I was thinking maybe we could get something to move some of the blockages and get out of town.”  Devin stated.

“I know they have forklifts.  That might do the trick, one of the bigger ones might be better.  Like a wheel loader.  There are a lot of them down at the distribution center.  They are actually pretty easy to run.”  All eyes were Beth, she beamed. “My Brother works at the center.  He got me a job in the office during the summers, but I liked running the forklifts.  He taught me.”   

“Great, how far is the center from the highway?”  Hector asked, excitement in his voice.  Beth could see the plan coming together in his eyes.   

“Not too far about a mile or two.”  Devin smiled, the smile faltered and died. 

“What?”  Matt asked.

“That is a mile or two with slow moving, loud forklifts calling out to those things.” Gillian noted.

“What if we loaded it on a truck and drove it there?”  Matt wondered.

“You must have been top of your freaking class at stupid school.”  Stancy scoffed.

Beth bristled, “Wow, now that was brilliant.  Someone makes a suggestion, a suggestion that has merit and you come back with ‘stupid school’?  Wow, I mean wow, you really are a retched Bit….”

              “Ok that is enough.”  Hector interrupted.  “Matt that was a good suggestion, plus another vehicle wouldn’t go unwanted.  Stancy shut up, Beth let it go.”  Taken aback Beth shut her mouth.  “Now tell me if there is anything there that will haul a forklift.”   Hector demanded. 

              Stancy sputtered her anger while Beth, turning slightly pink, thought about the distribution center lot.  “Nothing I can think of, mostly just trucks delivering stuff.  They have the bigger loaders for the trailers that are shipping containers.  I don’t remember anything there to haul them.” 

              “Why can’t we use the smaller ones?  Ya know just load em in the back of one of the trailers.”  Matt inquired quietly.

              Hector stood in the middle of the room arms crossed occasionally scratching the stubble on his cheek.   Stancy sat up about to say something, Hector held up a hand, “I think that is a decent plan.” 

              The room was silent as every looked at each other.  Trevor finally asked the question on everyone’s mind, “What plan?” 

              Beth sat up straight in her chair, “Yes that might work.  We just have to get a couple of them in the back of a trailer and take it too the highway.  Oh, but how do we unload them?  I mean we’d drive them on the truck off the doc, right?”

              “We’d need to have a ramp of some kind with us.  There has to be something there.”  Devin added.

              Trevor looked around the room confused.  Gillian looked like she was also trying to work out what was going on. This made him feel a little better until she inquired, “That is all well and good but does anyone here know how to drive a big rig?” 

              Stancy immediately looked at Beth.  Eyebrows raised she waited for the confirmation.  Beth just looked back at her.  She then noticed several others in the group were also waiting for her to say something.  “What?”  Beth shrugged raising her hands.

              “Well it is just…”  Matt started.                Beth looked over at him expectantly.  He blushed, “Well you seem to be able to do everything else.  I guess we just expected you to be able to drive a truck as well.” 

              “I can.”  Came Bill’s weak voice from the bedroom.  “I drove a truck before I became a teacher.” 

              Max walked over to the bedroom door.  “You can barely move.”

              “Can’t walk easily and no I can’t run, but I think I can push down an accelerator.” 

              “Well, before the whole group goes out on the mission I think we need to do a little recon.”  Hector said walking over to Max and slapping him on the shoulder.  “Before that happens, Max and I have something we need to do.”

What is was that Hector had to do made Beth and Matt happy they weren’t asked to help.  They watched from the window as Max and Hector took out the bodies from the other room, wrapped in a rug and a quilt.  Beth gasped when the men reached the street, they grabbed the side of the rug and pulled, flinging the body of the girl out onto the pavement.  They did the same with the quilt’s occupant.  The two bodies lay close to each other, their hands almost touching.   

Beth met Hector at the top of the stairs a look of confused anger on her face.  “What?  I’m thinking most creatures don’t like the smell of their own dead.  Maybe that will keep them away.”  He shrugged. 

“Glad it’s not summer,” Matt said over Beth’s shoulder, “Then we’d be not liking the smell of their dead either.”  

              A map of the city lay out on the coffee table, several red Xs covered a small area around the downtown section.  These were small convenience store and a few specialty shops.  Any food that could be found in the apartments was sitting on the counter behind a group in the kitchen.  Several members sat at the kitchen table playing cards.  Beth looked around at the scene,  If she didn’t know better she would have swore this would have the makings of a party.  People playing cards and a counter full of soft drinks and snack foods.  However, after living off nothing but corn chips and snack cakes Beth was coming to the conclusion that this party sucked.  Matt on the other hand didn’t seemed phased by the lack of choice, making Gillian wonder if this was already his diet.     

Beth lay on the lumpy old couch watching the shadows grow longer across the ceiling.  She was barely listening to the conversation that was going on around her.  Matt was engaged in a debate with Trevor over what movies were better than others.  Beth covered her eyes with her arm and thought, “what is the point?  The electricity went out two days ago, we couldn’t watch anything anyway.”  A frown creased her lips as she remembered how disappointing the apartment’s books had been.  She rolled onto her side facing the back of the couch and grumbled about the former residence lack of literacy. 

Matt had pointed out the e-reader when she had voiced her discouragement.  The reader had been a godsend until the battery died.  Again with no power she now had no escape.  With a huff that no one noticed she rolled back over on the couch to watch the room.  Matt and Trevor continued to shuffle through the collected movies making stacks of good verses bad and what they could agree on.  Over in the kitchen Gillian was playing cards with Devin, Max and Hector.  Stancy was sleeping noisily in a chair across the room, and Bill was still recuperating in the bedroom.

Beth had been in to see him earlier and it wasn’t good.  His leg was swollen and hot to the touch.  He had been running a fever for a couple of days now.  Since the power had gone out the apartment got very cold at night, which Beth felt could not help matters.  Bill continued to put on a brave face but she could tell he was scared. 

She stared at the doorframe for a few more minutes, shook her head and got up.  Gillian lit a candle while Devin shuffled the cards.  Matt and Trevor didn’t look up as they intently discussed the merits of a Science Fiction Movie Beth had never heard of, and that was saying a lot since Wes seemed to have seen them all and forced her to watch most of them.  “Wes”, she wondered what he was doing right at that moment.  “I’m going out.”  She announced. 

Hector slowly held his cards down to the table and surveyed her.  “Just to the hall and maybe down the stairs.  Don’t worry I won’t leave the building and I won’t be seen.”  She defended.  Hector gave her a demanding look.  Beth reached behind her and pulled her gun from the waist of her jeans and waved the side of it at him.  He held his mouth as if he didn’t approve but didn’t say anything. 

“You want some company?”  Matt asked eagerly.

Beth tried to smile, it came out more like a grimace, “Um no, Sorry I…just need a few minutes alone.” 

Matt’s face fell a bit then he shrugged and grabbed a truly awful movie from the pile, “Now this is a classic.”  Trevor groaned.

Stancy gave a snorting grunt when Beth turned the deadbolt with a click.  Passing through the door, Beth pulled it closed slowly and quietly.  She didn’t want to wake Stancy up, which would annoy everyone else, plus she needed to not alert any undead that might be lurking in the streets below.  The silence in the hall pressed in on her ears.  Beth stood for a long moment listening to nothing, enjoying the solitude.  Moving quietly down the hall she thought about how long it had been since she had been alone.    She loved being with Wes and hanging out with her brother but she treasured the time she could just listen to the quiet and enjoy a good book. 

Her feet carried her to the end of the hall without her even noticing.  Standing at the door that led to the staircase, she realized her need to leave the apartment was now fighting with her desire to return to it.  The stairwell was already dark, the fading sunlight coming from the window behind her blazed deep orange.  Slowly she pushed the door open and stood listening.   Nothing, not a sound, save for her own breathing. 

“Stop being scared of your own shadow.”  She berated herself, yet did not take a single step forward.  “Fine, go forward or listen to Matt discuss the finer plot points of ‘Squirm’ again.”  She shuddered, a slight smile played on her lips.  Beth carefully made her way down the flight of stairs to the dance studio. 

Pushing the door open, her eyes immediately found the brownish red stain on the floor.  Skirting the spot she moved toward the doors in the back of the room.  Beth knew she had seen some books back there she just hoped they were not all dance books.  The door opened with a quiet squeak revealing little of the space inside to the fading light.  She moved into the doorframe and stopped, her body blocking what little light she had.  “Well this isn’t going to work.”  She grumbled.  Making her way back to the middle of the room she slid down the mirrored wall and sat on the floor.

How long had they been here already?  Was it just a week?  Had it been more?  She tried to remember what day it was.  It all started on a Sunday right?  She counted off the days, it had been about two weeks, they had been in that cramped apartment for about two weeks.  Why did they all have to be in that one, single bedroom apartment?  She really didn’t see how it was safer, honestly she thought there was more danger of them killing each other at this point than the undead getting in. 

“Well, we’ll need to leave soon anyway as our food is running out.”  She said to the gathering darkness.  “Maybe we can finally start looking for Steve and Wes.”  She punched the floor.  It thudded satisfyingly.  She drummed out a familiar beat for a few seconds.  Smiling she applauded her performance in her head.   

A creak outside the door caught her attention.  She slipped a hand around her back and pulled out her gun.  Pulling back the slid she made sure the weapon was ready to fire.  “We would have heard them break in.”  Her mind reassured, then another voice in her head,  that sounded a lot like Wes’ countered, “Unless they were already here and we didn’t find them.” 

“But we have been here, what was it?  Two weeks.”  She replied out loud.

“Could have found a way in we missed or been stuck in a closet.”    The Wes voice countered.

“Stop it.”  She muttered.

The door to the studio slowly opened.  Beth did not raise the gun thinking it had to be Matt or Hector coming to look for her, “Matt most likely.”  She thought. 

The hand that came around the door to grasp the side was not Matt’s, not Hector’s.  Beth used the wall for leverage to push herself to a standing position, raising the gun to eye level as she did.  The noise was sure to attract others, and if this one found a way in what would stop them.  The greenish grey hand held the door with a torn away finger next to a whole one with a brilliant diamond ring.  Beth did not move, holding her breath, waiting for a clear shot.  The hand did not move. 

Anger began to rise up in Beth.  “If this is someone’s idea of a joke, I might still shoot you.”  She hissed.  The sound of her voice, as hushed as it was caused the hand to move.  It curled around the edge, followed by a sleeveless grey arm.  A leg clad in a ballet slipper and tights came into view.  The light was fading fast as the head appeared around the door.

The woman would have been middle aged, her long graying hair was falling out of the tight bun that was held loosely now on the back of the creature’s head.  What Beth noticed was the hair had literally fallen out of the bun and hung with a part of the scalp still attached. 

The creature spotted Beth.  The lips withdrew in an angry sneer revealing brown broken teeth.  It groaned and raised its wasted thin arms.  It would have been comical as the zombie lurched across the room, arms outstretched, screeching as it moved.  Beth pulled the hammer back on the gun, she hesitated and let it return, she quickly flipped the safety back on.  She turned the weapon around and held it by the barrel.  The room seemed to dissolve around her as Beth quickly closed the distance between herself and the ghoul.   She was barely aware of more movement at the door, she would deal with that after she took care of this one. 

Beth swatted the arms away.  With all the strength she could muster she brought the butt of the gun down on the zombies head.  It staggered for a moment, several of Beth’s hairs parted from her head caught in the prongs of the diamond ring.  Beth lunged sideways but her legs were caught in the dead woman’s.  Crashing to the floor, Beth was stunned.   Pain swirled through the side of her head.   She felt nausea swell as she blinked repeatedly, trying to clear the stars from her vision.

  Beth was aware, through her pain that the ghoul couldn’t be far away.  Her vision swam before her.  Unstable and dizzy Beth tried to regain her feet.  Falling over again she scrambled along the floor trying to get a little distance between her and the dancer of death.  Several confused and muted grunts and thumps met her ears.  Through the pain and darkness she made out at least three pairs of legs.  It was then she realized she had lost track of her gun.  Something heavy fell close by her.   

A pair of strong hands grabbed Beth’s shoulders.  She kicked at the legs in front of her and opened her mouth to scream for help.  A rough hand covered her mouth, “Shh shh its ok!”  Devin grunted through Beth’s impacts with his shins.   She could make out Hector’s shoulders silhouetted against the door frame.  His foot was raised for a second.  A heavy thump and crunch announced the end of the zombie’s skull. 

“What the hell were you thinking?”  Hector demanded, “Why didn’t you just shoot her?”

“I thought it would draw more….oh god I’m gonna puke.”  Beth had risen to her feet with Devin’s help.  The pain in her head became overwhelming, mixed with the stench of the corpse, her lunch threatened to escape.  Black tunnels appeared on the outside of her vision getting steadily larger.  “I think…I…might…”  Beth staggered,  Devin caught her. 

Hector stared and the unconscious young woman.  “She will either be the best asset we have or die trying.”  He grabbed her feet, Devin grunted his agreement.  The two men carried her up the stairs. 

“We better do another search of this place.”  Devin said when they reached the top of the stairs.  Gillian was hurrying down the hall.   “Any ideas where it came from?” He asked. 

Beth stirred, her eyes fluttered.  The world spun as she tried to see so she decided not to.  Gillian was looking at the bruise on the side of Beth’s head.  Beth kept her eyes closed but was able to answer Gillian’s questions.  Hector was watching the two interact. 

“We missed something.  Let’s barricade the top of the stairs and search this place top to bottom tomorrow.”  He whispered, Beth only nodded.