What the ass did succeed in doing was to pull my knife from my blood soaked hand. Not sure who finished the blade stealer off, but he let go of my knife at the same moment a bullet pierced his skull. The backward push on his brain bucket sent my knife into the air, not far mind you, but I was in a little bit of a sticky wicket. You know, being in the middle of a battle with nothing more than my wits was not a great place to be, considering my wife would probably tell you I’d be wholly unprepared for such a confrontation.
As I reached out to grab the knife and came back up to defend myself, I felt the press of teeth on my shoulder. ‘What a way to go,’ I thought to myself as I came completely up. “What the…!” is what I yelled.
Staring back at me, tongue lolling all over the place, was Red Neck Number One. Of course if you remember correctly, he was missing his jaw due to some heavy facial reconstruction from Henry. So Redneck Number One, for the third time, almost got the best of me. “Third time’s the charm,” I told him as I shoved the knife up through his soft palate. There would be no fourth encounter.
“Sorry man,” BT said, “I missed him completely!” he shouted, blowing a few more zombies to their version of Kingdom Come.
“It’s alright, this one was personal,” I grimaced as I pulled my knife free. RN#1’s cowboy-boot-wearing feet twitched a couple of times and then I lay to rest at least one of my nightmare s . And then I prepared for more. The zombies stopped their approach at precisely the same time I heard my name spoken.
“Michael,” Eliza’s voice came silently but with force.
“That Eliza?” Paul asked.
“You heard that?” Justin asked him.
“I thought that was in my head,” I said.
“Conversing with the enemy?” Alex asked.
If I thought we were tightly packed beforehand, I was now able to tell who had Chapstick in their pockets and who was just happy to see me.
“That’s her?” Perla asked, the whites of her eyes more abundantly exposed as fear pulled her features taut.
“She doesn’t sound so bad,” Cindy said, trying to bolster her flagging spirits.
Just the sound of Eliza’s voice was enough to suck the soul from a preacher and not many of us looked pious just now.
“Why are you keeping her waiting?” April asked anxiously.
“If you’re in such a rush, why don’t you go say ‘Hi,’” BT told her heatedly.
Like a little kid April hid behind the petticoats of Mad Jack. That is, assuming that he had petticoats on, but you get the picture.
“See, I told you she only wanted him. El Diablo!” Marta screamed.
“El Diablo,” Mrs. Deneaux mirrored. “That’s rich!” as she took a puff off her cigarette.
“When the hell did you have enough time to light that?” I asked her.
“If I was to die I thought it only dignified that I do so with a Chesterfield in my mouth,” Mrs. Deneaux said smoothly.
Not a bad ad campaign I thought. Pretty sure Chesterfield wouldn’t have agreed.
Travis stood up precariously on the lip of the wall so that he could get a better angle over the tops of the zombies’ heads. He blasted two rounds through the open door. We all hoped he got lucky.
Eliza’s echoing laugh in the stairwell soon answered that question. A lone cataract-eyed zombie fell face first through the portal, his tongue hanging out inches below his open mouth. I was instantly transported back to Day One and Sir Licks A Lot. That was back when a zombie invasion was what it should be, all slow shufflers with no one to lead them. Ah, the Good Old Days.
“If your spawn deigns to live through the day I would suggest that he does not fire his rifle again,” Eliza said, her voice traveling elusively in the acoustic laden stairwell, making it difficult to get a fix on her. But what do I know? It could be some Vampire trickery.
“Still though, it is a damn shame he missed,” I told her.
I think she hissed, either that or a cat got its tail stepped on.
“I’ve got a surprise for you Michael,” she lilted.
I quaked as I realized what her surprise most likely was. ‘Oh, poor Tommy.’ I was already mourning his passing.
“Michael?” a labored voice asked.
I looked over towards Tracy, whose interest was piqued as was BT’s.
“Is Lawrence with you?” the voice struggled to ask.
Questioning looks passed throughout the group. This was a gravely serious time, but still I couldn’t resist a small dig on my friend. Who knows? It could be my last time, might as well do it while you can… no regrets! “Hey Doc, yeah, BT is with us.” “BT’s name is Lawrence?” Alex asked me.
BT looked at me like he was going to rip my spleen clean from my body.
“I’m here Doc,” BT said.
“She’s killed my wife,” Doc said, choking back the tears.
“What about the kids, Doc?” I asked hesitantly.
“She… she hung her upside down and then slit her throat. She made Tommy drink all of her blood as it fell… oh God!” The doc was having a very difficult time reliving the event, but he kept on going.
“She turned Tommy,” Justin said bowing his head in grief.
“Then, when the boy was done, she just let the zombies have the rest, like my beautiful wife was a side of beef.” Doc was full on crying, “She made me watch the whole thing. She swore she would do that to my kids… I believed her. I had to do it!” The doc was needlessly asking for our forgiveness. He did whatever he needed to do to protect the rest of his family. Who am I to judge, and I told him so.
“Doc, you did what you needed to,” I said, putting as much commiseration into my words as I could.
“Mike…” he paused. “I saved her. I saved Eliza.” He started crying again, or had he ever stopped?
“Are you not happy, Michael? I once again walk among the immortals,” Eliza said gleefully.
We could hear the doc being removed from the scene.
“Where are those kids, Eliza?” I said menacingly.
“Where I wish them to be,” she answered cryptically.
That ranged from a room downstairs to a zombie’s belly.
“Eliza,” I started.
“Silence!” she yelled. “I owe no answers to you!”
The force of her words pushed us all back a step or two. I noticed April looking down the wall again as that was a potential avenue of escape. Hell, so was I. Maybe the zombies would break our fall and we could run on top of their heads. It could work, I saw something like it in a cartoon.
“This ends tonight Michael,” she said in a more even tone.
“About fucking time!” Travis yelled.
Tracy and I both turned to him. “No swearing!” we said together.
“Just get on with it Eliza. I figured you to be above the theatrics,” I told her.
She was quiet. Any chance I ruffled her feathers? I could only hope.
“Very well, but one more thing. I have someone here who wishes to say hello.”
“Hello Mr. T,” Tommy said in the voice we had all come to love but that no longer carried any warmth within its timbre.
“Tommy?” I asked, hoping above and beyond any recognizable chance that it wasn’t him.
“It’s Tomas,” he answered. The cold response sent shivers through me.
“Is there anything from the boy we love still in there?” I asked him unsteadily.
“Tommy died alone and in the dark, Mr. T.”
“I’m sorry for that Tomas.”
“So was he.”
“What a touching family reunion,” Eliza said, her voice as brittle as broken glass.
“Any chance of a one-on-one Eliza, me against you for the fate of our souls?” I asked. Rage burned through the fibers of my being like a wildfire sparked from a lightning strike.