The Living Dead Boy (10 page)

Chap
ter 17

“Arturo?”  Josh looked around for a weapon, fear gripping him tight, making his stomach twist into a knot.

His best friend’s face was turned toward the wall.

“Are you a zombie?”  Sam blurted out.

“Zombies aren’t real, stupid,” Roger responded.  His voice still sounded odd and slightly off key.

Arturo looked over his shoulder at the other kids, his eyes rimmed with red, fresh tears brimming.  “I’m not a zombie!  My leg hurts and I miss my mom!” Arturo shouted.  “Leave me alone, losers!”

Josh felt relieved for a second, but then the zombies in the alley began to moan loudly and beat on the fence again.

“Shhh, all of you,” Corina whispered urgently.  “We can’t be too loud.”

“I’m thirsty.”  Drake rubbed his eyes and, staring at his brother.  “I want water.”

“Me, too.” Yessica looked pale and tired.  Dry blood stained her clothes and her hair was a mess of tangles.

Josh crawled over to the ice chest in the corner and popped the lid.  There was no ice, but water bottles were lined up inside.  He handed out the warm drinks, each kid passing the bottles to the next child on until they all had one. Corina helped Drake open his, then gulped down her own.

“I’m hungry,” Sam complained.  “My stomach hurts I’m so hungry.”

“Of course you are.” Arturo glowered at the boy.

“I’m hungry, too.”  Troy slid off his perch and began to rummage through all the snacks they had stored in the hollow of the tree.

“We need to ration out the food just in case we have to wait awhile,” Josh decided.  “So everyone just eat a little, okay?”

Corina popped open a small can of Vienna sausages and handed one to Drake.  “Everyone eat something with meat in it.  Not just sugar stuff.”

“Yes, Mom,” Troy answered sarcastically.

“Don’t call her mom.  She’s not our mom.  Our mom is coming to get us,” Roger exclaimed, but remembered to at least keep his voice down.

“It was a joke, bro.”  Troy tossed Roger a small bag of chips and a small can of ravioli.

“What do you want Arturo?”  Josh held up some single serving cans of soup, ravioli and chili.

“Nothing.  I’m not hungry.  And my stomach hurts. When I was hanging on the fence it got all mashed up.” Arturo pulled his sleeping bag up higher around his face.

Josh realized his friend was shivering.  He looked back at Corina, his expression etched with worry.  She slowly chewed her own food before handing Drake and Yessica another sausage.  Sighing, she nodded her head and mouthed the word “Bitten.”  Arturo didn’t see the movement, but the other kids did.

“You can’t kill Arturo,” Roger suddenly shouted. “You can’t kill him, Josh!”

“Whoa!  Who said I was going to kill him?”

“This is stupid!  I’m not a zombie!”  Arturo protested.

“I’m not going to kill him!  Why would you say that?” Josh demanded.

“You killed my dad!” Roger screamed.

Troy slapped his hand over his brother’s mouth. “Dude, Dad was a zombie.”

Roger struggled against Troy, his eyes wide over his brother’s fingers.

“I just meant to trip him so we could get away,” Josh explained, rubbing his hands against his knees. He didn’t want to add in the part where he had planned to hit their zombie father over the head with his stick. “My plan just worked better than I thought.”

With some effort, Roger yanked his brother’s hand away from his mouth.  “You killed him!  You can’t kill Arturo!”

“I’m not a zombie!”

The groans of the zombies grew even louder outside as the kids’ voices rose. They began to bang their fists against the fence and gate again.

“Everyone, shush!”  Corina pointed her finger in Arturo’s face then in Roger’s. “Enough already.  We don’t need those things getting into the yard.  We need to stay safe until we get rescued.”

Looking up from the corner from where he was hungrily eating a bag of chips, Sam said in a loud whisper, “When they come get us, they can just shoot the zombies with guns.”

“My daddy doesn’t have a gun,” Yessica informed him.

“But my dad does.  He’ll come for us once I get a hold of him.”

“We need to go home,” Roger said to his brother in a softer voice.  “Mom is going to be worried.”

“Rog, just shut up.”  Troy shoved a bag of chips into Roger’s hand.  “Eat.”

Josh shook his head, trying to get his thoughts together. His friends were starting to get on his nerves. He wanted to yell at Sam that his dad was probably dead, scream at Roger that his mom was probably a zombie, and demand that Arturo show them his leg. Instead, he got up and peeked around the edge of the plastic doorway.

The small zombies were not visible from his location, but he could see some adult zombies wandering through the yards of the houses behind his. Drawing away from the doorway, he frowned.  There were no other living people visible.  The sun was beginning to set and he began to worry about Yessica’s dad finding them in the dark.

Crawling over to the window, he pulled back the shade a little and looked out toward the front of the house.  There were a few zombies in the front yard. They appeared disoriented as they wandered in circles or stood staring up at the sky.

“Okay, we have minimal zombies right now.  We got the dead kids in the alley and some adults wandering around, but not like a massive amount.  This is good. But we got to keep it quiet.  Maybe if we’re quiet enough they will go away.”  Josh settled down near the door and opened up a can of spaghetti.  He fished a plastic spoon out of a bag they had in their stash and started to eat.  Despite being cold, it was delicious.

Corina finished eating and began collecting all the trash. She stuffed it into the pillow case she stripped off one of the pillows and hung it from a nail.  Then, as the others ate, she began organizing the sleeping bags and pillows into sleeping areas for the little kids.

Josh couldn’t help but watch her.  She was so pretty and strong compared to most girls.  She even had Drake quieted down and obeying her.  She got the two small kids to share a makeshift bed with her in the middle of the tree house by handing them toys off the shelves to play with.

Josh tossed his trash into the makeshift trash bag and restacked the food in the hollow of the trunk.  Troy and Roger sat up in their area whispering in soft voices.  It was obvious they were disagreeing, but they kept it down.

It was growing darker and darker inside the tree house. Josh knew that soon they would be in total darkness. His gaze strayed to the flashlight he used to read when in the clubhouse at night.  Reaching up, he snagged it.  It was big and heavy. His dad had carried it during the war.

It was hard to swallow at the thought of his dad. Josh didn’t want to let him down, but he feared he was.  His mother was dead and he didn’t know how to take care of Drake.  If Corina hadn’t showed up, he wasn’t sure he could have kept the kid calm.  He was grateful Corina was with them now.  When he had seen her ride off with Brad at the school, he had feared he would never see her again.

“Where is Brad?”

Corina looked at Josh, startled.  “Huh?”

“Brad?”

“He left me at the community center and took off. He said he was going to go get his mom.”  She said all of this calmly. Her fingers made two Transformers fight an epic battle for Drake’s amusement as she spoke, but her gaze gave away her heartbreak.  They both knew what had probably happened to her boyfriend, his mom, and Corina’s own mother.

Josh sat with his back against the wall, his elbows resting on his knees and the flashlight heavy in his hands. This wasn’t really what he had imagined the zombocalypse would be like.  For one thing, he thought his dad would be with him and that they would have guns.  Instead, his dad was far away, his mother was dead, and the guns were locked up.  Josh had no idea where to even start to look for the key to the gun cabinets even if he could get into the house.

“I miss my mom,” Arturo’s muffled voice came from the depths of his sleeping bag.  He was shivering so violently Josh could hear his teeth chattering.   Maybe it was fear or maybe it was the zombie infection that was making Arturo’s teeth click together.

Josh sympathized with Arturo’s comment.  He missed his mom, too.  “I wish my mom was here, too.”

“Mama is a monster,” Drake said softly.  “I want my daddy. Mama wants to eat me.”

“He’ll come get you soon,” Corina promised.

Yessica rubbed her nose and looked around the tree house.  “It’s too dark.  It’s scary.”

“We better not turn on any lights.  It might make the zombies more riled up.”

“Yeah, they’re quiet now.”  Troy tilted his head listening.

It was true.  There was no more pounding or loud growls and wails.  There were soft moans filling the growing stillness of the night, but it was an almost peaceful sound.

Arturo burrowed deeper into his sleeping bag, softly crying, the sound of his teeth clicking together a frightening sound.

Josh sighed and looked back toward Corina.  Her gaze was on the heavy flashlight.  Flicking her gaze back to Arturo, then back to the flashlight, Josh understood.  It suddenly felt and looked like an instrument of death.  But he didn’t think he could use it as a weapon against his friend. He always thought it would be easy to kill zombies, but he hadn’t expected them to be his mom and best friend.

“I’m scared of the dark,” Yessica whimpered. “Please turn it on.”

Aiming the flashlight at the floor, just above the wood, Josh turned it on.  A small ring of light dimly illuminated the tree house.  Instantly, everyone was draped in shadows and darkness.  It was even more disconcerting than the deep gloom that had enveloped them as the sun set.

Corina slid off the makeshift bed to kneel next to Josh. In a soft voice she said, “I think we should sleep in shifts. Someone should always be awake, alert for either Yessica’s or your dad coming to get us.”

“Yeah.  That sounds like a good plan.”

“We’re all really tired and stressed out.  Sleep will be good.”

Josh was mesmerized by her big brown eyes and the way she seemed so calm when other girls would have been crying.  The one thing he was sure
of in life was that there weren’t that many cool girls.  He knew Corina was keeping them all calm and keeping the little ones from freaking out and crying.  She was the coolest girl he knew and he loved her.

“Do you want to take the first shift, Josh?”

“Yeah.  Yeah.”  He fished his cellphone out of his pocket and looked at the time.

“Wake me up in four hours?”

“Okay.”

Looking around, he saw that Sam was already dozing, his mouth hanging open.  Drake and Yessica still played quietly, but they both had droopy eyes.  Roger and Troy were silent up in their area.  Arturo was quiet in the corner.

It was not nearly as exciting as he had imagined.  He had thought of the tree house as their fort, their command center.   His former dreams about the zombies rising were washed away by the reality of seeing his mom become one right before his eyes.

“You’re doing really good,” Corina whispered to Josh, her hand resting lightly on his arm.  “You’re being a good leader.”

“I’m only twelve years old,” he answered.  “I’m just a stupid kid.”

The older woman of his dreams just smiled at him and pressed a kiss to his cheek.  Her hair still smelled of her shampoo and her lips were very soft.  The flutter in his stomach returned as he felt his face flush deeply. She grinned and started to crawl back to where Drake and Yessica were slowly falling asleep.

Settling back against the wall next to the doorway, Josh swirled the light from the flashlight around on the floor.  He considered turning it off when he hard a noise in Arturo’s corner.  Instinctively, he slid the beam toward his friend. The light hit Arturo square in the face, illuminating his cloudy green eyes, his snarling mouth, and bared teeth.

“Josh,” Corina gasped.  “He’s a zombie!”

Chapter 18

Arturo lunged his head forward, his teeth snapping as a terrifying growl emanated from his throat. He had been tucked so deeply inside of his sleeping bag when he died, the zombie version of him was entangled in the fabric. The zombified boy struggled to free himself as he groaned. The other children woke up, their screams sending fresh terror down Josh’s spine.

“Kill it!”  Sam screamed in terror.  “Kill it!”

Yessica and Drake began to cry as Corina shoved them behind her.

Again, the zombified Arturo whipped his head forward, gnashing his teeth at Josh.  Josh was the closest of the children to the zombie and he scooted backward away from it. Pitched too far forward, the zombie boy fell onto his face, his hands finally free of the sleeping bag and clawing at the wood floor.

Josh drew back in terror.

“Kill it!” Sam shouted.  “You gotta kill it!”

“He’s infected! Don’t hurt him,” Roger exclaimed. He began to move toward Arturo  “We have to help him!”

“Shut up, Rog!”  Troy angrily yanked his brother back, keeping him safely away from the zombie.

Zombie Arturo lashed out at Josh again, grabbing for his ankle. Chomping his teeth together, the creature surged forward.

“Josh!” Corina screamed.

Josh swung the flashlight as hard as he could.  It impacted with the side of the zombie’s head, knocking him to one side.

Corina darted forward and yanked the sleeping bag over the zombie’s head.  Troy jumped onto the writhing zombie’s back, trying to pin it down.  Corina knelt on the small of its back as she placed her hands directly on top of the back of its head, shoving its face into the thick material of the bag and the floor.  It was surprisingly strong as it bucked and struggled under the two kids.

Josh stared at the struggle, fear and disgust tangled up in his belly.

“We can’t hold him down like this forever,” Troy grunted.  “Do something!”

Corina looked up at Josh, her fingers struggling to keep a firm grip on the zombie boy’s head beneath the thick fabric of the sleeping bag.  It was terrifying to see how the creature thrashed about beneath her.  The zombie managed to get its face turned, its cheek to the floor.  Its teeth snapped terribly close to her hand. Only the sleeping bag kept her safe from that terrible, desperate mouth.

“Josh, help me,” she pleaded, her gaze flicking to the flashlight in his hand.

Swallowing hard, Josh realized what he had to do. The ugly creature trying to get free to feast on him and his friends wasn’t Arturo anymore; it wasn’t his friend. It was something grotesquely twisted.

“Josh!” Corina gasped desperately as the creature began to tire her.

Troy continued to pin down the boy’s legs, but he too was struggling. The undead would never be tired. But the living would grow weary.

Josh’s thoughts whirled around like a tornado inside his mind before it snapped onto the only action he could really take.  Grabbing one of the covers off the makeshift bed Corina had made,  he flung it over the zombie’s head.  Lifting the flashlight high over his head, he briefly saw Corina’s big eyes glistening with tears.

“On three let go.”

“Okay,” she whispered back.

“One...”

“Oh, man,” Sam muttered, pulling Yessica and Drake over to him, making them turn their faces away.

“Two...”

“You can do it, Josh!”  Troy’s voice was ragged, but firm.

“Three...”

Corina yanked her hands away from the back of the zombie’s head.  The light left her face as he slammed down the flashlight.

Josh tried to pretend it was a watermelon under the cover.  Or a cantaloupe.  It wasn’t really a zombie that used to be his best friend.  He kept hitting the lumpy shape until the zombie stopped moving.  With his final blow, the flashlight broke.

Darkness filled the tree house as the children wept for their fallen friend.

“Is he dead?”  Sam’s voice asked out of the darkness.

“Yeah.  He’s not moving anymore,”  Troy answered.

Josh threw the broken flashlight out the doorway of the tree house and felt his way through the dark to find the smaller one he kept up on a shelf with some zombie bobble head toys.  His foot nudged Yessica’s leg and she let out a strangled cry.

“It’s just me,” Josh promised her.

His fingers desperately searched the shelf for the small light saber flashlight Arturo had given him for his last birthday.  The blackness filling the tree house began to fray his nerves as the bobble heads fell to the floor around him, making the other children gasp. Finally, his hand closed around the cylindrical shape.

He flipped it on and light filled the tree house.

Corina still sat on the zombie’s shoulders with Troy perched behind her on its legs.  They were both still pressing down on the body, afraid to let go.  There was no movement beneath the cover or the sleeping bag. Blood was beginning to pool around the shape’s head. Fighting back tears of despair, pangs of guilt, and terrible fear, Josh knelt down and set the light saber flashlight down at his side.  The light shifted, casting long shadows.  He could see Roger perched on the edge of the other level staring down at him with dark eyes.  His expression was unreadable.

Gripping the sleeping bag in both hands, Josh motioned for Corina and Troy to get up.  They obeyed and helped him scoot the heavy burden to the doorway.  Together, they pushed it out.

The body of their friend hit the ground below with a horrible
thunk
. Corina grabbed up another small blanket and began mopping up the blood.

“Arfurro was a monster,” Drake whispered to Yessica.

“I know,” she answered, her voice catching on her sobs.

Troy grabbed some water and an old towel someone had donated to the tree house back in the day.  He helped Corina clean up the last of the blood then helped her wash off her hands.  They tossed the soiled cloth out of the clubhouse.

Josh sat silently near the door, looking at the light saber flashlight.  He remembered chasing Arturo around the backyard at night with it, pretending to slash at him like a Jedi.  They were best friends from the first moment they met.  Josh was the calm one, Arturo the smart aleck.  It had worked perfectly.  Now Arturo was gone just like his mom.

Just like the rest of the world.

“Listen,” Sam said.

Josh raised his head, focusing his senses outward. Listening, he realized he only heard one solitary moan and a single hand beating against the fence.

“The zombies gave up,” Sam decided.

“Or they found someone else to eat.” Troy shrugged his shoulders and shook his head.  “That’s probably it.”

Drake crawled into Corina’s arms and cuddled up against her.  He stuck his fingers back in his mouth, seeming more like a baby than he had in a long time. His former babysitter rocked him and kissed him, holding him tightly.

“He lied,” Josh said finally. “About being bitten.”

“Yeah,” Corina agreed.

“Or maybe he was in denial.”  Troy rubbed his hands over his hair again.

“Or both.”  Sam sat back in the corner, Yessica leaning against him.  They both looked exhausted and their faces were stained from crying.  “Poor Arturo.”

“You didn’t even like him,” Troy snorted.

“No, that’s not true,” Sam answered defensively.  “I wanted to be his friend.”

Josh felt like his insides were shaking.  He felt like he might throw up, but it wasn’t his stomach that was quivering; it was his heart.  Deep inside, he knew he had done something he would never forget. Even though he had killed a monster, he couldn’t feel proud of himself.

“He was my best friend,” Josh said at last.

“You saved us,” Corina reminded him, her fingers gently stroking Drake’s blond curls.  “You saved all of us, including Drake.”

In his sick, quivering heart, Josh knew his dad would be proud of him.  His dad would cry with him over Arturo’s loss, but would tell him that he had done the right thing. That he had been a good soldier.

“We should sleep,” Josh decided. “Four hour shifts.”

“I’ll go after you,” Corina offered.

Troy climbed back up next to his sullen brother. “I’ll go after her.”

“I’ll go after Troy.”  Sam settled into the corner, sitting up, pillows behind his back.

Yessica leaned back against his beefy side and he didn’t shove her away.  They almost looked like brother and sister.

Corina lay down with Drake.  Josh noticed her hands were shaking.  Looking down, he saw his were, too.

“I love you, Josh,” Drake said unexpectedly, holding out his arms.

“I love you, too, lil’ bro,” Josh answered.  He crawled over to his brother and hugged him.

“I need to poop,” Drake informed him.

“Ugh!”

It took a few minutes to figure out how to do the deed. Corina held onto Drake while he hung his little butt out the window and did his business.  Wet wipes that Josh’s mother had insisted on him bringing up so they could clean their hands before eating snacks were used as toilet paper.  As soon as Drake was done, Yessica had to go.

For the next twenty minutes, the kids had their moment of either sitting with their rear over the edge of the window or standing as they peed out of it.  The boys had it easier and Corina had to help Yessica by herself while the boys stared firmly in the other direction.  Roger came down long enough to pee, then immediately climbed back into his refuge.

Josh was the last to take his turn.  The low moans in the night seemed far away and he felt awkward looking over the neighborhood as he relieved himself.

As he stood listening to the ordinary sounds of the night mingle with the groans and cries of the zombies, he wished with all his heart he would wake up and find out it was a dream.