White Ash on Bone: A Zombie Novel (13 page)

Jack felt a slight weight on the back of his coat.

"Oh Jack, look at you," Karen said.

Jacked turned his head back and looked down to find the source of the weight, but he could not see over his shoulder.  He twisted to his left and right and looking down under his armpits to finally catch a glimpse of two legs hanging in the air. 

"Oh, she's so cute Jack," Karen sang.

"That’s my little Eclipse," the man said.  "She is one of my breeders, and as luck would have it, she had some of the kittens that I have for sale.  You two must be good people, if she is trying to get your attention to visit her babies."

"And we know cats are a good judge of character," Karen added.

“Is that seriously the best sales pitch the two of you could come up with,” Jack said.

“Be nice Jack,” Karen said, “Or you’re going to upset Eclipse.”

The man led the couple behind a glass enclosure to Eclipse's litter.

"Pick whichever one or
ones
you want," the man said.

The little cats ran and played in their enclosure, barely taking the time out of their games with each other to notice Jack and Karen.  The couple inspected the litter comparing temperament, gender, or anything else that could possibly distinguish between the nearly identical cats.  Jack looked down at his watch and realized an hour had passed while the couple struggled with their decision.

"Karen, you realize we have spent more time on choosing a kitten then it did for us to decide to buy our house."

"Well, we have to make sure it’s the right choice, and they are all so cute, but I think I know which one I want."

"Which one?" Jack said.

"This little one by the water dish has been watching you for the past five minutes,” Karen said.  She reached down and picked the little kitten up; she pulled the kitten’s tail back and smiled.  "She's a girl Jack, and the way she was watching you, she will keep an eye on you when I am not at home.  We'll call her Naomi," Karen said as she petted the kitten.

Jack reached out in the darkness of his house and petted Naomi.  I wish you were here Karen, he thought.  In the darkness, Donna had enough of the same features as Karen that he felt tempted to entertain the fantasy that she was his wife.

That wouldn't be fair, Jack, he thought to himself in his wife's voice.  He often thought of his wife talking to him in his head.  He recognized it for what it was. It was how a horribly hurt widower coped with the loss of his wife. 

Karen's voice continued on in his head, "It's been three years since I died. I told you I wanted you to be happy and move on.  This is an unusual circumstance, and she needs your protection, so don’t feel guilty about her sleeping next to you.  Just watch out for my Naomi and don’t worry about any feelings of guilt you may have."

It was nice to feel a woman beside him, Jack thought.

"I won’t hold this against you," Karen's voice said in his head, "I want you to be happy, Jack, and if a girl is willing to respect and love you like I did, then don’t you dare push her away."

Jack realized the strain in his face as muscles had been holding his eyes shut against the strain behind them.  He purged the thoughts from his mind and listened to the world outside while trying to focus on the day ahead of them.

Donna woke up beside Jack and his cat Naomi.  She enjoyed Jack's warmth beside her until reality rushed back into her mind.  They had barricaded themselves on the third floor of Jack’s home after an explosion down the street.  The propane depot took out a number of buildings around it when it went and caught dozens of homes on fire.  The direction of the wind saved Jack’s home from the blaze, but it attracted a number of zombies.

The explosion also took out the power leaving the two without up-to-date information.

Donna reached out and petted the soft fur of the cat. Naomi opened her eyes and purred at the attention.

“It's going to be morning soon,” Jack said, “We should work on getting out of here soon.”

“Do you think there are still people at the airport?” Donna asked.

“One way or another, we’re going to have to find out,” Jack said.  “I figure we throw what we can into my car and make it as far as we can.  I have an old .22 caliber rifle you can use.  It’s lightweight, and I have tons of ammo for it.  You're going to have to let them get real close though if you want the ammo to punch through a skull.”

“I can handle that,” Donna said, “My dad used to let me shoot his all the time.”

“If you want, I can try and get you to your family,” Jack offered.

“Thanks but they are on vacation in Mexico at the moment.  I sent then an e-mail on your computer before the explosion,” Donna said.

“Donna,” Jack said, “I don’t think what is happening is going to stop; it's going to spread like a virus around the world.”

Donna thought about the impact of that statement and how it would change her life forever.  There is no going home ever again she thought. 

“If that is the case,” Jack continued, “Then we need to think about where we can lay up and survive for years to come.  The roads are going to be a mess, but I have a pilot’s license, and we’re headed to the airport.  If we can make it there, then we can fly out of the region with anybody we can fit aboard. What do you think?  Are you in?”

“If it means staying alive, I’d consider just about anything at this point,” Donna said.

Donna heard a muffled thump sound from two stories below them.  It was followed a moment later by the sound of breaking glass.

“Hello,” someone called out from below.  “We know you’re up there, let us in before those things get us.”

“Shit!” Jack said “Grab what you can it’s time to go before we have every zombie in the city trying to eat these idiots.”

Donna grabbed Naomi and zipped her safely inside a shoulder strapped cat carrier.  Jack pulled the .22 and a shotgun out of the closet and filled up a bag full of ammo.

“Follow me,” Jack ordered as noise continued to sound from below.

He moved into the bathroom, in the back of the house on the third floor, and opened the window.

Donna looked down and saw that the window stood over the back porch roof.

“I’ll lower you and Naomi down, don’t fall,” Jack said.

Donna adjusted the cat bag to her back and eased out the window.  Jack took her hands and lowered her an extra few feet until she found purchase on the roof.

Jack lowered both guns to her.

“If you won’t let us up, we are going to burn the place down,” a man screamed from inside the house.

Jack dropped down beside her on the roof and produced keys to his car from inside his pocket.  He unlocked the car doors with the remote. 

“Jack,” Donna whispered, “We have to go now.” 

A number of zombies were shuffling up the alley in their direction.

Donna moved to the side of the roof to lower herself and slipped.

Jack fell to his stomach and grabbed Donna by the arm slowing her fall.

She landed on her feet and fell to the side, Naomi let out a disapproving hiss from inside her bag.

“Get in the car and start it,” Jack yelled from the roof as he lowered the guns to her.

Donna raced to the vehicle in full view of the zombies coming down the alley.

She opened the door and put the cat carrier in the back seat and threw herself into the driver’s seat.

Jack dropped to the ground at the same time a man came out the back door of Jack’s house.

The man was pointing a gun at Donna in the car.  “You’re not goanna fucking leave me, girl,” the man said. “Get outta the car,” he shouted.

A bullet ripped through the man’s chest from behind.  Jack lowered his shotgun and picked himself off the ground from behind the man.  Stepping over the intruder, Jack put another round through the man’s head.

Jack ran to the passenger door and pulled it open.  He paused there and fired a couple of shots at the approaching zombies.  Two fell over when rounds hit them in the head; the rest moved forward.  Jack got in the car, and Donna pushed the vehicle onto the road.

Donna saw a woman emerge from Jack's house with a zombie clawing at her from behind.  The zombies in the alley rushed to join in on the kill.

"Head straight down the street to the blast area," Jack said.  "Hansen Avenue might be blocked off, so we can cut through the shopping plaza behind the gas depot.  The plaza should be clear enough to get us to the Pickle Gate Crossing Bridge."

Donna drove the car down the street; the tires sang and rumbled on the brick lined road.  The smoke from burning houses cut across the path in front of her, and she was forced to slow down so that she could see.

A zombie stepped into her path from out of the smoke and she cut the wheel hard to the left to avoid it.  The car smacked into the side of the creature and sent it spinning to the ground.

"Keep going, you’re doing fine," Jack encouraged beside her.

At the intersection where the depot had been, nothing of the former structure remained.  Donna drove the vehicle around a downed power line and cleared the blast zone.  The shopping plaza was in fact empty and provided safe passage to the bridge.  They drove past the empty stores and then by a number of buildings intended to be an industrial park.

The whole plaza they were driving through used to be the site of Pullman Standard.  The factory had built rail cars during its day. Many old timers remembered eating in the Pullman dining car on passenger trains.  The city had pulled down the factory in stages with the shopping center being Phase One.

"I jog through here every day," Jack said. "There is a service road straight past that building that goes underneath the bridge.  We should be able to drive up the ramp the wrong way and cross the bridge."

Donna moved the car up the road and onto the ramp.  She could see that Hansen Avenue had been blocked and the detour was worth it.  The bridge to her left had a number of stopped cars on it but seemed passable down the opposing traffic lane.

Donna turned the car on to the bridge and slammed straight into a ghoul as it came out from behind a car.  It rolled up on to the hood and fell off the vehicle on Jack’s side.  Donna kept driving while other zombies on the bridge tried to close in on the vehicle from ahead.

She pushed the vehicle into the left lane and hit the accelerator to get past the growing crowd.  The car squeaked past the group, but one of them managed to reach out as they passed.

Its hand smacked into Jack’s window and smashed the glass out.  Jack brushed glass from his shirt and pants on to the floor of the vehicle. 

Donna swerved to the left and the car scraped against the concrete barrier of the bridge taking out the driver's side mirror.  She pulled to the right and the sound of screeching metal abated.

At the end of the bridge, the intersection was partially blocked by an SUV that had wrecked into a compact car.  The vehicles sat like burnt out corpses smoldering from the fire that had consumed them. A zombie standing to the side of the road turned to face the approaching car.

"Jack watch out, I have to slow down."

The zombie stepped on to the road only feet away from Jack's side of the car.  Its hands reached out to claw its way into the glassless window and get to the passengers inside.

Jack raised his gun and fired a round at the creature nearly point blank.  The round penetrated into the zombie's jaw and sent it flying over backwards.

Donna hit the gas once again as they cleared around the side of the wreck.  The road ahead looked clear.

"Don’t go too fast," Jack said, "We might round a bend and come across another accident."

Donna eased up on the gas slowing the vehicle down to around 35 miles-per-hour.  She breathed out and felt her fingers aching from how hard she squeezed the steering wheel.  She let the blood flow back into them by relaxing her grip.

The road ahead was covered in a thick blanket of smoke. 

"Jack, I bet the shopping plaza by the sewage plant is on fire."

"It could also be the gas station or hotel," he replied.

A figure emerged out of the smoke; the man's clothes and flesh had been burned off, yet he still walked. 

Donna drove the vehicle by him and into the wall of smoke. The thick cloud poured into the vehicle.  Her visibility cut down to around ten feet, and she was forced to slow the vehicle.

She covered her mouth and coughed when smoke hit her lungs and her eyes burned.  She tensed waiting for the dead to emerge from the smoke and attack them. 

The vehicle punched through the ash to clear air.

Donna reached out and hit the window button on her side of the car to help clear out the lingering smoke in the car.

To the right they drove past a Burger King; an SUV sat half inserted into the front glass of the building.  A body hung inert out of the driver's side window.

Halfway up the hill heading south on Route 8, things got interesting.

They came across the first dead body lying on the road.

"Hold up," Jack told Donna.

She slowed the vehicle to a stop to the left of the body.  Jack opened the door and stood up halfway out of the vehicle. 

"Been shot", Jack stated.

Donna looked around the area, scanning for zombies.  Up off the road, and underneath a billboard, a zombie moved in their direction.  "Look by the billboard, Jack."