Stay Dead 2: The Dead and The Dying (5 page)

“
Sweetheart,” he said, in
that calm, cool, collected voice he always had, “you need to stop
comparing yourself to your brother. You’re both different people
and years apart. You know, he wasn’t always the good man you’ve
known. He was a pain in the ass just like you once.”

“
I know, it’s
just…”

“
Shh, just let it go. And
please don’t worry that you couldn’t hit that thing out there. I
know when you’re life is on the line you won’t even be able to
think about it, you’re just going to do it. You have a strength
inside, and when you need it, it’ll rise up like a
phoenix.”

“
Yeah, okay.”

“
I mean it.”

He pulled his baby girl closer and she
nuzzled under his chin.

“
Besides, it doesn’t look
like any of us are going to have a choice. These…things, whatever
they are, don’t want to quit. You’re going to have to take one of
them down sooner or later. Let’s just hope it’s later.”

She hugged her old man, “Love you,
dad.”

“
Love you too, sweetheart.
Now let’s get the hell in, these things give me the
willies.”

Jeff carefully placed his boots down
on the rubber floor mat, being careful to not touch any wet spots
that could’ve been blood. Walter and Barbara did the same. They all
cleaned up in the kitchen using generous amounts of dish
soap.

“
Kills 99.9% of bacteria,”
Jeff said, “let’s hope that .1% isn’t a zombie
bacteria.”

“
What was that?”

“
I was saying the
soap--”

“
No, not that.
That!”

“
Oh, shit. They’re banging
at the door.”

They ran to the front door. It was
still locked. Walter walked up to the peephole and could see a duo
of zombies banging and scraping at the door. One of them was
wrapping its dead fingers around the doorknob and trying to turn
it.

“
Well, I’ll be
damned.”

“
What should we
do?”

“
Let’s go to the windows,”
Jeff said, turning and running.

The windows had been boarded up, but
Walter had suggested leaving a slit between some of the boards so
that they could still see outside, without having to run up the
second story.

“
Look! They’re drawing the
attention of some of the wandering ones!”

“
This isn’t good at all,”
Walter huffed.

At that moment Laura came down the
steps, the look of concern etched across her aging, yet still
beautiful face, “What’s going on?”

“
We’ve got company,
dear.”

“
Oh,” is all she could
manage, seeming to teeter on the steps. She looked as if she might
loose her balance, but then she steadied herself on the
railing.

“
Why don’t you just go back
upstairs with the kids? Maybe you and Maria can put them to
bed?”

“
They’re not tired, and
if…if you’re going to be making noise, then wouldn’t that just wake
them up? I think that might scare them, Walter.”

“
I think you’re right. Well
then just keep them from looking out the windows… and from coming
downstairs.”

Walter turned his attention back to
the window and paused a moment on the steps before returning to her
grandchildren.

“
Jeff, we’re going to open
the front door while it’s just the two of them and knock them the
hell off the porch.”

“
What should I
do?”

“
Go grab my rifle. If they
somehow get in, or overpower us, you need to put them
down.”

“
In the head,
right?”

“
If you can manage, if not,
maybe a knee, but maybe hitting them in the body will have enough
kick to knock them back and give us a chance to finish the
job.”

Barbara nodded her head, and ran to
get the rifle. Walter and his son suited up. The shovels were
outside on the porch, and now needing them, Walter realized that he
clearly didn’t put them in the right place.

“
Damn, the shovels are
outside.”

“
It’s okay, dad, we got the
baseball bats in the closet.”

“
Yeah, but the shovel
would’ve been better.”

“
You can always go outside
and get it.”

“
Smartass.”

Jeff grabbed the bats and Barbara had
returned with the rifle. She stood holding it barefoot in the
hallway while her father and brother readied themselves to open the
door.

“
Ready?”

“
Nope. Check the peephole
again.”

“
I’m opening the damned
thing. Get ready,” and Walter opened the door.

Jeff slipped passed and rammed the
first zombie in the chest with the bat, knocking it back and to the
side. Walter followed just behind as the next zombie was stepping
forward, ready to enter the home. The would-be intruder was caught
in the throat and Walter pushed him back. It’s hand flailed to the
side as it lost it’s footing and was sent down the front steps
tumbling down to the foot of the next zombie.

“
Get your shoes on!” Walter
yelled to Barbara.

She set the rifle down and slipped on
her shoes in a flash, jumping back up to grab the rifle and head
out the door. She stood in front of the door, bringing the rifle up
to her shoulder and pulled a bead on the zombie leading the second
wave.

Jeff was still struggling to knock his
zombie off the porch.

“
Need a hand?”

“
No, I’m good, I
think…”

Barbara ran over to him and smashed
the butt of the gun into the side of the tall zombie’s head, making
a cracking noise. Jeff seized the opportunity and pushed with all
of his might. The zombie was almost over the railing, then Barbara
hit it again and over it went.

“
Thanks,
Barbie.”

“
Whatever, dweeb, go help
dad.”

Barbara moved back to her spot by the
door and found the lead zombie again. Her father had already taken
care of him, so she sought out the next closest zombie. She pulled
a bead on a fat old lady zombie. She had curlers in her hair and
the remnants of a moo-moo. Her lower half was covered in bites and
rips. Her yellow fat hung out of the rips in her skin and Barbara
almost vomited after seeing it. She held the bile back and pulled
the trigger. Part of Fat Old Lady Zombie’s head exploded, but she
kept on walking.

“
Fuck,” Barbara said under
her breath.

She took another shot and the big
bitch dropped.

Jeff ran over to his father, “You
okay?”

“
My back is killing me, my
allergies are acting up, and these damn zombies stink to high
heaven.”

“
So…?”

“
Shut up and hit one of
them, will ya?”

Jeff swung at the knees of an
approaching deader and knocked it right to the ground. The crack of
rifle fire intermingled with the sounds of heads being shattered
into piles of ruined mush.

6 SCAVENGERS

(back to
top)

They continued to scavenge the cars on
the road, every once and awhile someone would return back the
convoy with whatever usable goods they found. They still found no
hose, or spare gas canister. Jon-Jon was losing hope that they
would find one, but the idea of getting a new vehicle was growing
on him and when he laid eyes on a van that looked to be in good
condition he forgot all about the damned hose.

“
Look at this
baby.”

“
What’s with you and
vans?”

“
What do you mean? Vans are
cool. I’ve always had a van, and I’ve never needed a hotel room, if
you know what I mean,” Jon said, grinning like a
juvenile.

Eddie shook his head, “So we’ve been
traveling in your sex den, is what you’re saying.”

“
Well, not lately, but
sure.”

Eddie turned to his brother with a
look of disgust, Joseph simply said, “It’s better than riding in
zombie goo.”

“
Look around back, while I
check the driver’s side?”

Eddie just nodded.

Jon-Jon peered inside the driver’s
side—it looked clear. Eddie looking around the back and side of the
truck found nothing, so he called out to Jon-Jon, “Looks
good.”

Jon-Jon then opened the door, he
smiled that it wasn’t locked, and climbed in looking behind the
seat to make sure there were no passengers—living or otherwise. It
didn’t smell like anything was dead inside either and it smelled a
hell of a lot better than his old Astro Van. There was no key
conveniently in the ignition so he checked all the usual spots; the
visor was empty, under the floor mats was clear, cup holders were
empty aside from pennies and nickels, the glove compartment looked
like a file drawer, and just as he was about to give up he heard
the sound of keys jingling as they fell off the seat he was sitting
on.

“
Son of a gun,” he said to
himself, snatching the keys up.

“
Got ‘em?” Joseph asked,
disbelievingly.

“
Hells yeah. Look at this
sweet ride.”

“
Man, I’d rather be rolling
around in that Lexus.”

“
Keep looking.”

Scott came over and threw in his two
cents, “If we don’t need it, we should leave it, and get the hell
out of here. I’d rather get as far north as we can, and then go car
shopping.”

“
I wasn’t serious, man,”
Joseph said, “I want out of here as soon as possible. I was just
saying.”

“
No, I know, hell I’d
rather find a Hummer, but as long as it’s gassed and good to go
I’ll hop in and push the pedal to the metal.”

“
So are we good to go
then?”

“
I don’t see why not.
Unless we need anything else, we should keep moving.”

Eddie stepped closer to the others and
said, “How is everyone on food and water? So long as the coast is
clear it can’t hurt to find out what we have and search a few more
cars to see if we can find it.”

Scott nodded in agreement, “Sounds
good. Let’s tell the others to at least move forward, though.
Anyone want to run back and give the word?”

“
I’ll do it, I want to move
the van up so I can swap out my shit.”

“
Ask everyone to check if
they need anything,” Scott called after.

Jon-Jon threw out a thumbs-up and kept
walking.

Chung-Hee and Chuck—an odd couple if
there ever was one—hopped back in the van as Jon-Jon had notified
them of the pending trade-in.

“
Do you mind I continue
riding with you?” Chunge-Hee asked.

“
Not at all, man, unless
you want out of course. Having everyone taking shifts driving, and
just having people to talk to is great.”

“
I agree. I hate taking
long trips by myself. I tend to get pretty sleepy after an hour or
so in the car.”

“
Damn,” Chuck chimed in,
“maybe you shouldn’t be taking any shift then!”

The three of them laughed at
that.

Jon-Jon had pulled the van to the
grass median and drove it to close proximity of his new van. The
three of them got out and started carrying over what few supplies
they had left. They were able to bring it all in one
shot.

Dawn had met them as they were putting
the supplies in the back of the new van and she had acquired some
new things from scavenging through the cars.

“
You can shop just about
anywhere, huh?”

“
You better believe
it.”

The rest of the convoy shortly
followed after.

Alexis walked over to Joseph. She
smiled warmly at him and he couldn’t help but smile back. His
cheeks grew warm and reddened a touch.

“
How are they holding
up?”

“
They’re a bunch of tough
little kids, but they’re looking pretty beat up.”

“
Anything I can do to
help?”

“
Actually, yeah…if you guys
are still looking around for stuff, can you keep your eyes open for
kids vitamins, maybe some kids medicines, Pedialyte maybe. You
know, stuff like that.”

“
Sure, I’ll keep my eyes
open. How about you? Do you need anything?”

“
A cozy pair of slippers,
pj’s and a bottle of Riesling.”

“
I know you’re kidding, but
I can probably find those before I come across the stuff for the
kids.”

“
Then don’t let me stop
you.”

Eddie followed his brother as he
scavenged forward, looking for any number of the things that
everyone needed, but he was more concerned with finding something
for Alexis.

“
Don’t loose your head,”
Eddie said.

“
I’m not man, I’m just…ya
know, I want to get this shit and get out of here.”

“
I know. I do too, but we
can find your girlfriend some slippers when we’re someplace she can
actually were them, you know?”