The Dead Hunger Series: Books 1 through 5 (148 page)

“Quick vote,” I said.  “How about we let these guys be.  I don’t see it’s worth the noise to break the window to kill them, especially since the red-eyed ones can probably hear.  So let’s not waste the ammo.”

“Fine with me,” said Nelson.

“I’m good,” added Serena.  “We just need to get the hell in a room and out of sight.”

We walked three rooms over and the curtains were open.  The room was empty.  Beds made, everything in order. 

“I got a good kick on me,” said Nelson.  “I don’t use it in Subdudo, and I guess you know why.”

“Be our guest,” said Serena, smiling at me.  “I suppose it’ll be quieter than a gunshot.”

Nelson took four steps back, then kind of skip-trotted to the door.  His left leg came up to place a perfectly landed kick just beside the doorknob.  It splintered and the door flew inward, slamming against the wall.

“Holy shit,” I said.  “Now I know why you don’t use that.  Wow.”

We all turned on our headlights and walked inside, and I inspected the door frame.  It had split, but the hook latch at the top was still intact, attached with very long screws, apparently.  We were able to push the door closed and flip it over so that the door could only open two inches.

Beyond that, we angled a chair beneath the doorknob, and we felt pretty secure as we settled in.

“Long day for me,” said Nelson.  “I’ll be out in just a few seconds after a quick bowl.  You guys?”

I waved it off.  “Not tonight, Nel.  Night, man.  Glad you’re here.”  I meant it.

“Night, Nelson,” said Serena.

He stripped down to his underwear, and I was glad he stopped there.  He checked the sheets for something – roaches or bedbugs, I presumed – and slid in, putting the pipe back on the nightstand, removing his headlamp, and putting it beside the pipe. 

“Night, guys.”

His soft snores came in less than a minute.  As soon as he was out, as tired as I was, I put my hand on Serena’s shoulder. 

“Hey,” she said.  “Tired?”

“I am,” I said.  “Nice not to hear the roar of the bikes for a bit.”

“I know,” she said.  “The silence of this new world is eerie and peaceful at the same time.  If only it was without … them.”

“Thanks for coming with me,” I said.  “I don’t know if I’d have come if you didn’t..”

I heard her soft laughter in the darkness, and I leaned forward to kiss her lips, finding them as though guided by radar.

“I wouldn’t have said no, David.  Not in a million years.  I think I fell in love with you in that little cinderblock prison we shared for a while.”

The prison she spoke of was a small block building that we got trapped inside, half surrounded by the hungry dead.  If not for some ingenuity on both our parts, we likely would have perished there. 

I had just witnessed the killing of my sister, and was a mess, ill-equipped to dig deep enough on my own to think of a way out.

“That’s funny,” I said.  “That’s where I fell in love with you.  You saved me.”

“You showed me your heart, David,” she whispered, and I realized she was crying.  “Your sister meant everything to you, and you weren’t afraid to show me that.  I’ve known many men in my life, mostly the type who didn’t show their emotions because they didn’t want to look weak.  But that is not weakness; to me it’s a strength I’m drawn to.”

“I worry about you,” I said.  “It’s that awkward moment when you realize you’re not Flex Sheridan, and you hope to God you can protect the ones you love.”

“Flex isn’t a superhero,” she said.  “He’s just a man who loves his family and friends and fights for them, just like you.”

I felt her hand touch my chest.  “In here,” she said.  “It’s where Flex’s strength comes from.  Yours, too.”

“Yeah, and I’m not all hairy there,” I said.  “Pretty sweet, huh?”

She laughed now, moving in beside me.  While it was warm in the room, I didn’t care.  I wrapped my arms around her and embraced the human contact, throwing the sheet off us and lightly caressing her back.

Serena must have felt some movement from a bit further south, because she said, “Tomorrow night he gets his own room.” Her tears long gone for now.  There was a smile on her lips that I could hear.

“Deal,” I said.  “If I have to build the motherfucker myself.”

“Maybe you do have a little Flex in you,” she said, laughing.

Nelson snorted and rolled over, moaning something unintelligible.

“Night, Serena,” I said.

She didn’t answer.  I felt her steady, warm breath on my cheek and closed my eyes.

*****

             
Chapter Six             

When I awoke, Nelson stood at the window, staring out.  Serena still lay beside me, covered by the light sheet.  Light shone in from outside, but disturbing shadows broke up the purity of the light.  Nelson turned to look at me, his face grim.

I didn’t say anything.  I slipped out the other side of the bed and padded over to the window, peering out beside him.

“Shit,” I said softly.

“It’s full time work,” said Nelson.  “Gramps would tell me I’m up for it, though.”

“From what I’ve seen, you are,” I said.  “But there are a lot of them out there.”

“How,” Nelson asked.  His face held worry like I’d
never seen.  Normally the kid was excited at the prospect.  I wasn’t sure what was different.

“It’s been a while, Nel,” I said.  “Makes me wonder if they’re developing heightened senses.  There are three of us.  We have to combine for some good smells.”

Nelson shook his head and scanned the horizon.  It looked insurmountable.  Then I grabbed his arm and pulled him away from the window.

“WAT-5, Nel.  Fuck this, we’ll just take some WAT-5 and we’re good.”

A smile spread across Nelson’s skinny face.  “Shit, Davey, how come I didn’t think of that?”

“I can’t believe I got there so fast,” I said.  “
Okay, let’s get that done, like now.”

I went to the bed and touched Serena’s shoulder.  “Serena, wake up,” I said softly.

She stirred and rolled toward me.  Her eyes opened into slits, and she smiled.  “Good morning.”   Then: “What’s wrong?”

“You do know me,” I said.  “Thirty guesses, first twenty-nine don’t count.  There’s a hint in my hint.”

“Thirty of them?” she asked, her face horrified.

“Give or take,” I said, pulling the WAT-5 out of my cargo shorts pocket.  “Wanna trip the light fantastic?”

“I wondered when we’d need it,” she said.  “Sure.”

“
Okay, Nelson, you first,” I said.  “Sit down on that beautiful, striped couch from 1987 and take this.”  I held out the wafer, and he took it from me, popping it in his mouth.

“I feel like this is an invisibility pill, dude,” he said, chewing it.

He slid over onto his side, a smile still on his face.  Out cold.

“
Okay, you,” I said. 

“Shit,” said Serena.  “I just woke up.  I don’t feel like going back to sleep.”

“Look out the window, and you will,” I said.

She rolled her eyes and held out her hand.  I dropped it in her palm and she sat on the bed, then reclined.  “They better not be anywhere near my bike,” she said.

In another ten seconds, she was out cold.  I went over to Nelson and nudged him.  He groaned, but didn’t stir.  I immediately wondered if the pot had any effect when mixed with the wafers.  I wasn’t sure we’d ever really mixed the two.

I nudged him again.  Still nothing.  Finally, I leaned down and took him by the shoulders, and lightly shook him.

When he awoke, his hands started flipping around in Subdudo moves, but there was nothing behind them.  Two seconds later, his eyes focused on me.  “Whoa, Davey, I’m sorry!  I was out, man.  Did I hurt you?”

“Buddy, you were so ineffective, I was just trying not to laugh,” I said.  “You really should test a few moves before you get in the mix outside.  You seem rusty.”

Nelson got unsteadily to his feet, and stood in front of me.  Before I knew it, his right hand touched my neck, his left foot hit the back of my left knee, and his right hand knocked me off balance.

I was on my ass in a split second and I was laughing.  In fact, I was almost hysterical.  It had happened so fast, yet while I was going through it, it seemed like slow motion.  Nelson was stoned and groggy from his WAT-5 nap but I was still putty in his skilled hands. 

“Help me up, you prick,” I said, shaking my head and holding out my hand.  “I don’t have any idea how you do that, but you gotta teach me.”

“Years, bro,” he said.  “That would take years of intense training.”

I was back on my feet, checking myself.  I was fine.  No soreness, nothing.  I’m sure I was blushing a bit.  “Okay, Chuck Fucking Norris, let’s wake up Serena, and I’ll take my dose.”

“Allow me,” said Nelson.  He went to her bed and sat beside her.  He reached down and brushed the hair away from her face, then lightly slapped her cheek.  Her eyes fluttered open.

“Hey, Nel,” she said.  I thought it was strange that she shortened his name, but she never shortened mine to Dave.  I think she looked at him almost like a pet or a child.  She had a genuine affection for the kid.

“
Okay, sunshine,” I said.  “My turn.”  I pulled out a wafer and re-zipped the bag, sitting on the striped sofa.  I popped the wafer in my mouth, therefore cannot chronicle the next minute or so.

*****

When I awoke, Nelson and Serena were standing over me, smiling.  I stared up at them.  They stared back, still smiling.  “Yeah?” I said.  “What’s so funny?  Did I fart in my sleep or something?”

“No,” they said, turning away.  “We’re good to go when you are,” said Serena.

“I have to pee,” I said.  “You guys should go if you need to.  How’s the toilet?”

“It
was
sanitized for our protection a year ago,” said Serena.  “Not so much now that Nelson got through using it.”

“Holy shit,” I said.

“Exactly,” said Nelson, smiling meekly.

“Maybe I’ll go in the sink.  Pardon me, Serena,” I said.

“I won’t watch,” said Serena.

As I walked toward the mirror, both Nelson and Serena followed me, laughing.

“Seriously?” I said, staring at my reflection in the mirror.  They stood beside me admiring their work.

Obviously while I was out, they had split my beard into three twisted points and secured them with rubber bands.  My hair was done in two kinky braids and then ponytailed high on my head, like a Rob Zombie-Pippi Longstocking hybrid.

I whirled around and tried not to smile.  “Really?  You’re so comfortable with Hemp Chatsworth’s little wafer that you thought you could fuck with me while I was out?  What are we, fourteen?”

“We are just children in this crazy, new world,” said Nelson, holding out his hands.  “Babes in the haunted woods, as it were.”

I rushed toward him, and he shouted, “Hey!  Subdudo!”

I pulled up short and held my palms up.  “
Okay, okay.  Now I really have to pee.”

I went back to the sink and considered leaving the hairstyle in place, but knew it would not feel good under my helmet.  The beard work, however, might actually minimize tangling.  That would stay for now.

I decided to use the bathtub rather than the sink.  It was more civilized, and I was used to it.  I went in, said a prayer of thanks that Nelson had closed the lid of the toilet, and slid back the shower curtain.

I know what you’re thinking, and no – nothing jumped out at me.  Just a tub and a fiberglass surround.  I peed for a long time, all the while wishing Serena wasn’t in such close proximity.

Walking back out and closing the door behind me, I grabbed the bathroom bag from the counter and held it up.  “Brush, or you’ll both have rotter breath.” 

“Are you stalling?” asked Serena.

“Nope,” I said.  “Complete faith in WAT-5, and the situation outside is exactly why we have it.”

Nelson worked on his front teeth and walked to the front window.  He pulled the curtains apart and looked out.  “Wow,” he said.  “Half as many now.”

I spit into the sink and rinsed again with a small drink of water.  “Really?”

Serena finished up and we put our brushes and the toothpaste away.  Nelson came back over and did his final rinse.  “Really.  WAT-5 works fast,” he said. 

“Yeah, but they’re not all gone,” said Serena.  “Right?”

“Let’s be careful, but let’s get going,” I said.  “We’re gonna try for another 300 miles today if nothing goes wrong.”

We tucked everything into Nelson’s backpack, which he then shrugged into.  “I’m ready for Freddy, man,” he said.

“From the looks of it, I hope it’s Freddy Kruger,” I said, pulling the chair away from the doorknob.  I stood there, one hand on the swing latch and the other on the knob.  I flipped the latch free and took my gun from my drop holster.  Serena followed suit, and Nelson held up his hands in fighting position.

I smiled.  “Nelson, get a star or something.  You don’t need to be touching these bastards.  Too risky.”

“Good call,” he said, pulling two brass Ninja stars from his cargo pants pocket.  He raised his eyebrows twice fast, smiling.

Serena and I, despite the situation we were about to walk into, both smiled.  Genuine smiles.  Nelson was nuts.

“Alright,” I said, opening the door.  We all stepped back.

*****

The rotting, former men and women shuffled inside the room as the door opened wide.  Not all of them; some walked right by the open door and toward the office around the corner.  Others just stood in front of the window as if they hoped the smells they had detected earlier may return if only they were patient.

A skeletal man with leathery skin that hugged protruding ribs and pelvic bones barely brushed me as he moved by, and I held my breath; not so that he wouldn’t smell me, but so that I did not have to take in his odor. 

I had grown used to the smell of the walking dead things, but in close proximity it was still overwhelming.  Decay was an odor that could
never be completely accepted by olfactory senses, nor did I want it to be.  I would resist it until there was no longer a need to do so.

“Let’s move,” Serena whispered.

We moved.  I went first, walking through the door slowly, my gun held with the barrel facing upward.  With a slight turn of the wrist I could put a bullet under the chin and through the brain of any one of them.

Serena came directly behind me, and Nelson, walking backward – I wasn’t sure why – followed her.  I kept glancing back, but he seemed pretty surefooted, so if he chose to walk like he was The Sundance Kid following Butch Cassidy out of a saloon full of bounty hunters, it was his call.

“Dude, they’re following us,” he said.

“What?” I said, turning.  Then I saw exactly what he meant.  The group was back, only they now numbered forty or more.  They did not appear to be focused on us, but they were definitely staying
with
us, as though they had taken on a pack or flock mentality.

I didn’t like it at all. 

“I wish they would back the hell off,” I said.  “It feels like they’re boxing us in.”

Serena leaned toward me and said in my ear, “There have to be red-eyes around, David.”

I nodded.  “I agree.”  I turned and said, “Nelson, keep your stars handy, but grab the urushiol canister.  You might need both.”

Because we were concerned the bikes would draw ill-intentioned strangers to our exact room at night, we decided not to park them right outside.  The bikes weren’t far – just on the other side of the pool fence – but it was impossible to see exactly how far we had to go with the flesh-hungry creatures bunched so tightly in front and beside us.  There was no view beyond their filthy, rotting bodies.

I jumped up in the air to see over the mass of zombies.  “We’re about twenty feet now,” I said to Serena.  I turned around and told Nelson, “When I duck down and push through, I want you to start spraying that shit for all it’s worth, Nel.  Something is up with this crowd.”

“Okay, chief,” he said.

“Serena, get ready,” I said.  She nodded.

“Go!” I shouted, ducking my head and throwing my arms out in front of me.  I pushed between their rickety legs and head butted them out of the way.  They fell aside, unsteady and taken by as much surprise as they could be taken by.

Three seconds of full running and we were completely clear.  I heard and saw in my peripheral vision the zombies melting behind me as Nelson sprayed them with the killer zombie repellent, and as I reached the bikes I saw how this had happened.

The female stood, completely nude, her lower jaw broken or rotted away.  Only her black, rotted tongue flapped and licked the inside of what was once her mouth.  Her eyes were a vivid red, even in the brilliant light of the morning.

The swell of her belly would have been enough to tell me she was pregnant; the small hand that had broken through the skin, just below her belly button, drove it home.  The little fingers clawed at her skin, and had apparently been doing so for a long time, for the skin was raw, rotted meat where the unborn infant’s hand scratched incessantly.

She charged toward us at speed.  I raised my gun and she stopped and dropped down immediately, apparently unaware that Serena held her gun on her too, and fired when she reached the bottom of her crouch.