Rotten (24 page)

It was surprisingly anti-climatic and I looked over to see Sully sliding the gun back in the holster.  Beth did not scream or cry out, she simply looked over at Ron on the floor and then back down at the table.  And Mrs. Williams said, “Oh.” 

“Damn.”  Moonshine sat back down on the barstool.

“Sarah, are you okay?”  Sully said, and Sarah ran across the room and threw herself in his arms. 

“Yes, sir.”  She nodded, her voice muffled against his chest.

“I’m sorry, Beth.  He was hurting the girl and I couldn’t let him do that,” Sully said.

“I understand,” she said, pushing away from the table.  “I’ll go if you still want me to, but I’m not like him.” 

“I think I’m speaking for everyone when I say you don’t have to leave.”  Rotten looked around at us.  None of us spoke, we were all still in shock, but a few of us nodded.

“You know he lied when he said we had sent my daughter off to Sunday school on the bus.”  Beth stood up and pushed the chair under the table.  “My daughter, Liz, was taken away by social services three months ago because Ron hit her.  She did come home, though, and he did kill her, he wasn’t lying about that.  I’ll help you get him out of here, it’s the least I can do.”  She walked over to her husband, picked up his feet, and looked over her shoulder at us, silently asking for help. 

Moonshine jumped up and went to help, as did Highland and Rotten, and no one spoke as they lifted the body and carried it down the stairs. 

“She took that well,” Princess said.  “Man, I need a drink.  Is there any wine left?”

“Yes, there’s some in the pantry,” Mrs. Williams said.  “I think we all could use a drink.”

Princess came out of the pantry with two bottles of wine and opened each, filling half a dozen glasses set on the counter.  “Thanks,” she said, handing Sully a glass.

He put Sarah down and took the glass, his hands beginning to shake.  “Well, now I’ve killed a man.”

“A dangerous man.  A bully,” Connie said.  “People in town cross the street when they see him coming.  When I was trying to get out of town and found that he was the one who rescued me, I almost considered trying my luck alone with the zombies; if he hadn’t had Beth with him, I would have.  May I?” She indicated a glass on the counter.

“Of course,” Sully said.

“Beth was always a nice kid, came from a bad family so she never had much of a chance.  Got pregnant with Liz when she was real young, fourteen or fifteen, but she loved that baby.  She and Ron got together a couple years ago, everyone warned her I’ve heard, but coming from the family she came from I’m sure she saw Ron as just a normal guy and probably not as bad as she was used to, plus he had a good job at the tire factory.  I’d often see her around town with bruises.”  She sipped the wine.  “Frankly speaking, Sully, you probably just did her a favor.” 

“We won’t be able to bury him until the morning,” Highland said, stepping into the room.  “It’s getting dark.”

Moonshine followed him and walked over to grab a glass of wine off the counter and downed it in a single gulp.  And then Rotten and Beth stepped in the room and we grew quiet again.

“Let’s have dinner.”  Mrs. Williams pulled a pan of biscuits out of the oven.

We moved to settle around the table in silence, the shock still fresh despite the alcohol we consumed.  Mrs. Williams served steaming bowls of stew, and we began to eat without speaking. 

“I can help y’all out with chores,” Beth spoke in a slow southern drawl, looking down in her bowl at first and then lifting her head.  “I was raised up knowing about guns and hunting.  I can help in the kitchen and with the chickens, I’ve killed, cleaned, and cooked more than I could count.  And when it’s time to put in a garden I’ve sure spent my time knowing how to work a hoe.  I’m not afraid of hard work or earning my keep.”

“Good to know, Beth,” Rotten said.

“And you don’t have to feel bad about killing him.” Beth looked at Sully.  “It was bound to happen sooner or later, and I’ve even thought about doing it myself a few times in the last few months.” 

Sully nodded.

“There’s a monster!” Sarah dropped her spoon.

“Which direction?” Will jumped up from the table.

Sarah pointed in the general direction of the river.

Moonshine and Will ran onto the porch, the rest of us grabbed our guns and followed. 

“Yep, one legged woman.”  Moonshine fired and the zombie collapsed.  “I kinda feel bad, she worked damn hard to get here.  Is that it?”  He turned to look at Sarah who stood in the open door and she nodded. 

“How did she know?” Connie said, as we settled back at the table to finish our meal.  I briefly thought how strange it was that we had grown so comfortable with our new life as zombie killers, and just plain killers, that we didn’t lose our appetite.

“It’s a mystery.  She’s never wrong, though.”  Mrs. Williams smiled at the child across the table. 

“So tomorrow I think we’re going to go into Arlington,” Highland said.

“Oh, no.  You don’t want to go there, Arlington is overrun with those things and the roads are blocked by cars going every which way,” Connie said.

“We know, but we have a secret weapon.” Highland explained the tone and its effect on the zombies. 

“What does it sound like?” Beth looked at the kids.

“It’s high-pitched and squeally and gives you a headache pretty quickly,” Rebekah said.

“Squeeeeee!”  Sarah mimicked the sound. 

“My people, my sister and her kids, lived out in Johnson’s Valley, and her kids were complaining of hearing some noise like that on and off.  Their father thought they were lying because he couldn’t hear it and tore their tails up good, but they swore they kept hearing it coming from the old Johnson place.”

“When was this?”  Rotten said.

“This last year, their parents didn’t believe them, but I did especially after the kids got sick.  The little one, Joseph, died of a brain tumor about six months ago, and then the older one, Jill, was diagnosed with the same cancer.  Liz said she heard it too once when we were visiting, the kids had no reason to lie about such a thing.” 

“Where’s Johnson’s Valley?”  Highland retrieved a map and spread in on the table, moving the dishes out of the way.

Beth pointed at the area.  “It’s in the foothills, a couple years ago some corporation bought up tons of land, and a few of my kin sold their property and moved to town.  I won’t say they got rich, but they sure had more money than any of us had ever had.  Then this corporation fenced acres and acres, tall fences with bobwire on top. They even cut their own road in and put up a gate so no one could get in.  There was a lot of rumors of what they were doing in there and sometimes you’d see big black SUVs and sedans pulling in and out of there.  My cousin Willie said he saw soldiers dressed in black patrolling the grounds.”

“Well, well, the nest of the men in black.”  Moonshine laughed.

“So they drop their zombie bomb and then hide out in their bunker and then what?” I said.

“And if they have a bunker out here in backwoods South Carolina, where else do they have one?”  Princess set her bowl on the floor for Ginger the cat to eat the leftovers.  The cat was rarely seen by anyone except Sarah and Rebekah, but it did regularly make an appearance during the dinner hour. 

“And what are we going to do about it?  We can’t let them get away with it.  They’ve killed the whole damned world,” Moonshine said. 

“Undoubtedly they have plans for the survivors, although what those plans are is anyone’s guess,” Sully said.  

“Total control,” Rotten said.  “I imagine their plan is to rebuild the world with them being the leaders.  Isn’t that what most crazy dictators want?  To control every little thing?” 

“And to think they’ve had the ability to stop the zombies the whole time, but haven’t used it is the scariest, most disgusting, part of it, all these people dead for no reason,” I shook my head. 

“Oh, there’s a reason.  Population control.  I read once, I can’t remember who said it, that it’s easy to control a million people, over a million it’s easier to just kill them.  This wasn’t an accident, and there is definitely a plan, and as close as we are to their nest I’m sure we’re first on the list.”  Rotten sat back in his chair and sighed. 

“Then we have to hit them before they come for us,” Moonshine said.

“I’ve seen some of those guys around town,” Connie said.  “In a town as small as Arlington you know everyone or at least know of everyone and these guys stood out.  They didn’t wear uniforms, I guess they were trying to blend in, but they stood out.  They were different, and not because they had crew cuts or were big and overly muscular, there was just something off about them.”

“I’ve seen them, too.”  Beth set her bowl on the floor for the cat.  “Liz called them the scary men.  I worked at the Stop and Go and when I worked on Saturdays she’d go with me.  They stop in and fill up the black cars, always paid cash and Connie is right, there was something off about them.  One thing I noticed is that they all, every one I’ve seen had bright blue eyes and not natural looking at all.  Almost fluorescent or something.”

“She’s right.  Did you ever hear them speak?” Connie said.

“Nope, not once.  They’d come in with the correct change and never said a word.  People would stare at them, though, they were really out of place.”

“Those guys that loaded us on the bus and killed everybody looked like that too, and they didn’t talk a lot,” Will said.

We looked at each other without speaking until Moonshine broke the tension.  “I won’t say it’s aliens, but shit, Rotten, I think they’re aliens!” 

We laughed and then grew serious. 

“We have to make a plan,” Sully said.  “We don’t know how long they’ll wait before they start rounding up or killing the survivors.” 

“Is there a gun store in town,” Highland asked.

Connie nodded.  “Corner of Main and Stanton.” 

“So after all this, we’re going to war?  I hate the world,” Princess muttered.

“That’s ‘cause you’re not part of the world.”  Sarah patted Princess’s arm.

“What do you mean?”

“My Daddy used to say we were to be in the world, but not of the world.  He said God chose some of us to be outside of the world, Daddy said we were those chosen people and I think y’all are too.”  Sarah smiled at us all.

“Your daddy was a very wise man, Sarah,” Mrs. Williams said.

“I know.”  She nodded. 

“We’ll need to be even more careful when we go into town and not only watch out for zombies, but men in black, too.  They are probably lurking around and watching,” Highland said. 

“Is there an electronics store or a pawn shop in town?” Rotten rubbed his naked chin.

“There’s a pawn shop on the same block as the gun store.”  Connie began clearing the table.

“We need to be able to create that tone ourselves because we sure don’t want to be dependent on their broadcast and have it suddenly stop. ”

“Good idea.  We’ll head into Arlington at sun up and start getting ready,” Highland said.

“I’ll go with you if you like, I know my way around.”  Beth picked up the bowls from the floor.

“I’ll have to make you a zombie proof outfit,” Princess said.  “I’ll do it tonight while I’m on guard.”    

“Do you know how to access the fence to the Johnson place without being seen?”  Rotten said.

“Heck, yeah.  I grew up in that area and played in and around the Johnson place as a kid.  Old man Johnson died way before I was born and it sat empty for years, I’ve played cowboy and Indian there more times than I could count, and we also hunted up there before they fenced it.”