Benton: A Zombie Novel: Volume One Read online

  We’ve made contact with our CB radio. There’s a place in Memphis where people are going. But we have no interest in checking it out. We’d rather travel to Texas and make it on our own.

  We don’t know if the farmhouse is empty or not. If it’s occupied, we’ve decided we’ll ask whoever is in the house if we can hang for a bit. If the answer is no, we’ll continue on our way.

  We’re all in agreement that we should knock on the door and wait for someone to answer. But Gary suggests we take it over like we’re on some enemy mission. Everyone shoots down the idea.

  The farmhouse, with a wraparound porch, is big and historical with peeling white paint. Barns sit near it.

  When we approach it, it’s then that we see them. Zombies.

  “Ah, shit!” says Gary.

  “Those are the only ones I see around here,” says Mark. “I think we should go for it.”

  “No! I don’t think we should do it,” says Sara. “What if there are zombies in the house? Then we’ll have to deal with those zombies over there and zombies in the house and that would just be too insane!”

  “You’re worrying too much,” says Gary. “We got this.”

  “Gary, damn it! This isn’t a fucking game,” says Sara. “This is fucking serious!”

  “Shit, girl! Calm down,” says Gary. “It’s not my fault your little faggot friend died.”

  “Back off, man,” says Eli.

  I give Gary the dirtiest look I’ve given someone in a while, but all he does is grin at me. “Sara, it’s gonna be all right.”

  Sara just shakes her head and folds her arms.

  We’ve managed to sneak by zombies before by driving slowly and not making much noise. But this time, we’re not so lucky.

  “Let’s get out of here,” says Katie. “They’re coming!”

  Mark ignores Katie and stops the van. He gets out. Gary slides the side door open and leaves as well. I open my door.

  “Jennifer!” says Sara.

  But I keep moving. My rifle hangs from my shoulder, but I’ve got a machete in my hand. Eli owns two, and I asked if I could take one. A weapon, other than my rifle, would be an advantage to me. Our bullet supply won’t last forever.

  Gary has run onto the porch to the front door, but he doesn’t bother knocking. Without knowing who or what is inside the house, he kicks open the door like he’s a cop or something.

  Now, a zombie has made its way up to me. It growls at me, baring yellow teeth, and its smell is overpowering. My heart beats against my chest, but I know it’s now or never. I run up to the zombie and plunge the machete into its head. Blood splatters my face and clothes. I get queasy, but I don’t vomit. The zombie falls to the ground.

  After I kill the zombie, I hear a gunshot. Mark has shot one. “Get out of the van! Come on!” he shouts at Katie and Sara.

  I run up to the porch. Soon, Sara and Katie do the same. Katie screams the entire time.

  Gary runs off the porch to help Mark and Eli shoot one zombie after the other. One by one, they fall to the ground. After they’ve shot them all, the guys run to us on the porch and we rush into the house.

  * * *

  Sara, Katie, and I are in the farmhouse’s basement. An old washer and dryer rest against one wall. A rusty blue bicycle rests against another next to antique furniture and dusty barrels. An old doll that looks like someone hasn’t played with it in decades sits in a box. The walls are old with chipped paint and the floors are concrete and cracked. Light seeps in from the dirty windows.

  This place is so ancient, I assumed zombies lived down here. But Mark, Eli, and Gary checked it out beforehand. They’re upstairs, making sure the house is safe from zombies.

  I wiped the blood off my face with the shirt I’m wearing. Now I’m even dirtier, but I’m proud of myself for using the machete. I feel confident I could survive on my own if I had to.

  “I hear commotion up there,” I say. “I wonder if everything is okay. I should go find out.”

  Sara grabs my arm. “No! Why? Stay down here with us. You don’t know what the hell is going on up there.”

  “I appreciate the guys trying to protect us and all, but I can take care of myself. “

  Sara puts her hands on her hips and stomps one beat-up black combat boot on the floor. “You’re badass. We get it. But what are you trying to prove? Let them handle it.”

  “I’m not trying to prove anything. Well, maybe I am. I want to make sure I can take care of myself if I ever have to. What if something happens, and we get separated? What will we do then?”

  Sara purses her pierced lips. “Don’t leave us down here.”

  It’s then I realize that she needs me. The Sara I know now is a stark contrast from the Sara I first met when I came to the garage. “Okay, I won’t.”

  “I’m gonna need to get a tampon soon,” says Katie.

  “We sure stuffed enough tampon boxes in the van,” says Sara. “I wonder what we’ll do when all the tampons in the world are gone. I guess we really will be on the rag.”

  We laugh, even though the tension is thick.

  Katie walks around the basement. “I want to leave. This place is creepy.”

  "Actually, I hope we can stay here tonight,” I say. “It will be nice to sleep in a house for a change."

  “What if the owners come back?” says Katie.

  I shake my head. “I don’t think they’re coming back.”

  Eli opens the basement door. I run up the stairs, followed by Sara and Katie. “Can we get out of here now?”

  “Yeah, all clear.” Sara and Katie rush over to Gary and Mark.

  “You’ve got blood splattered on your beard,” I say to Eli.

  “There was one more out there,” he says. “I ran out of bullets, so I smashed the heck out of it with a bat.”

  “Yikes! Your machete did the job for me.”

  “Yeah, I noticed. Maybe I should take some lessons from you. You’re pretty good at it.” Eli smiles and I smile back.

  Mark approaches us. “There are no zombies in the house. We killed all the ones around the house. We’re safe for now.”

  The men have pulled the drapes across the living room windows. Candles are on the coffee table.

  “What if the people come back?” says Katie.

  “I told you; I don’t think they’re going to come back,” I say.

  “For all we know, those zombies we killed could have been them,” says Gary.

  “We’ll deal with that if we need to,” says Mark. “Now, we’ve got to move stuff out of the van.”

  “I volunteer to go,” I say.

  Mark stares at me for a moment. “Okay.” It’s obvious he knows I’m serious.

  “Gary, Eli, you ready?” says Mark.

  Eli walks over to the sofa and takes a seat. “I’ll stay here with the girls. Jennifer can handle it.” Eli winks at me.

  * * *

  Mark slowly opens the front door. Gary is standing behind him and I’m behind Gary. It’s afternoon and it’s still light out.

  The first thing I see is a dead zombie lying on the porch with its face smashed in. Once again, my stomach gets queasy.

  “Don’t look at it,” says Mark.

  “I already did,” I say.

  Mark turns around. “You okay?”

  “Yes, I’m fine.”

  “Eli beat the crap out of that fucker!” Gary says.

  I see zombies scattered on the gravel driveway, all shot with the guns, and also the one I attacked with the machete.

  I look around me. Farmland is nothing like Waterbank. It’s wide open with fewer people. But the guys took out at least eight zombies, not including the one I destroyed. You just never know.

  We rush up to the van, get inside, and close the doors.

  “Grab what we need for tonight,” says Mark. “I’ll stand guard.”

  Gary grabs the water and I take one of the boxes of food. I also throw a package of tampons into it.

  Mark stands outside th
e van and watches as we run into the house with the supplies. As I run, I’m looking back at him, making sure he’s okay. Then we go back for the sleeping bags.

  Mark says that even though the house has bedrooms, it’s better if we all sleep in the living room together. Once we’re done and we’re all back in the house, I breathe.

  11.

  I’M SITTING HERE IN A ROCKING CHAIR. The thing about being in this farmhouse is the quiet. It’s as quiet as it was in the garage with its concrete walls.

  The furniture in this house is old and antique. Fading flowered wallpaper and framed family photos cover the walls. One photo is of a little girl. She looks into the camera, holding her pet kitten. I wonder if the little girl is still alive.

  It’s almost midnight, according to the watch I found lying inside a drawer. Everyone is asleep, except for me, sitting here in this rocking chair, staring at three lit candles. So many thoughts are going through my head. Sometimes, I look at Mark, who is tucked inside his sleeping bag.

  I guess I should go to bed. I feel silly staring at the candles, in the darkness, while everyone else is sleeping. I’m feeling a little freaked out now too, even though I know no zombies are in the house.

  * * *

  It’s early morning. Everyone is still asleep. I leave my sleeping bag and crawl over to a window. Slowly, I pull back one of the curtains. As my eyes search the field, I don’t see zombies anywhere. Did we kill them all? I’m not sure why I tell myself that, because I’m a fool if I believe it.

  I walk into the bathroom and use the toilet. I don’t look in the bowl, because it’s pretty damn gross when you can’t flush it. Then I close the lid and brush my teeth with bottled water. I also wipe parts of my body down with it. If there’s one thing I miss these days, it’s a hot shower.

  I make my way to the kitchen. In a box is some fruit we got when we did our supply run. I grab an apple and savor its taste. I don’t know how many more fresh apples I’ll get to eat.

  As I’m standing at the sink, in walks Gary. We’re all dirty here, but Gary is even grosser. His body odor is mixed with cigarette smell. Plus, it would help if he brushed his teeth once in a while.

  “Good morning,” Gary says, taking a seat in a kitchen chair.

  “Hi. I was just leaving.”

  “Benton, can we talk? You’re always running away from me.” Gary lights a cigarette.

  I don’t say anything. I just stand there and look at the floor.

  “I don’t know what I did to you, but whatever it is, I’m sorry.”

  I look at him. I expect to see that grin on his face, but his expression looks sincere.

  “It’s nothing. I’m just . . . I’m on edge, and I’m not really happy these days. I guess none of us are.”

  “Well, all we can do is take it one day at a time. We got this far, and we can keep going farther and farther as long as we stick together and use our heads. Your boyfriend will keep us safe.”

  I feel myself getting mad at Gary again. “Mark is not my boyfriend. He’s just a friend.”

  “Am I your friend?”

  I roll my eyes. “Gary, I’m friends with all you guys. Like you said, we all need to stick together so we can survive this.”

  “Jennifer, look. I’m nothing special. I got no girlfriend. No wife. No kids. I had a good job working on a construction site. Then the damn apocalypse hit.” Gary pauses and stares at the wall. “It’s always been just me and my old man . . . but I had to shoot him.”

  “He became a zombie?”

  He looks at me. “Yeah, just like your mom. We’ve got that in common, you know?”

  “I left what was once my mother in Waterbank. She would stand outside my bedroom window. She knew I was in there.”

  “Were you scared?”

  “Yeah.” I stare at Gary. He still looks sincere. “Can I be honest?”

  “What?”

  “You’re always coming on to me, and I don’t like it.”

  Gary nods his head. “Eli says I shouldn’t go around treating pretty girls like meat.”

  “Eli is right.”

  “Hey, I’m sorry.”

  “It’s fine. Let’s just put everything behind us and start fresh.”

  Gary takes another puff of his cigarette. “That works for me.”

  “Okay, well, thanks for talking to me.” Gary smiles and nods his head, and I walk back into the living room. I appreciate him talking to me, but the uneasiness I feel around him will take some time to go away.

  12.

  WE’RE BACK IN THE VAN. This time, Gary is driving and Katie is sitting up front with him. We’re out in the middle of nowhere, and yet, we’ve seen more zombies. A pack of them were lined up along the side of the expressway.

  As we drove by them at sixty-five to seventy miles an hour, we were safe. Still, Katie screamed. Gary told her if she wanted to sit up front with him, she’d have to stop screaming.

  I’m sitting in the back next to Mark. Sara and Eli are in the middle row of seats. It’s the zombie apocalypse, and yet, I’m the happiest I’ve been in a long time. Mark is holding my hand and, every so often, he’ll look at me. There’s so much I want to tell him. I look forward to the day when I can get time alone with him, but for now, I cherish being close to him in this van.

  We’ve been traveling for a couple of hours, and now we have to stop to fuel up with one of our gas cans, and we also have to pee.

  “Let’s just pull over to the side over here,” says Eli. “It looks pretty clear.”

  “Yeah, good idea,” says Gary.

  “Are there zombies around?” says Katie

  “I guess we’ll have to find out,” says Gary.

  I look at Mark. “I wish this trip was over.”

  “I know. Me too.”

  Katie, Sara, and I stick together as we leave the van and walk over behind a tree to squat and pee. Then, as we finish up, we hear gunshots. I see a zombie on the ground and I see Eli grabbing his right arm.

  We run over to where everyone is.

  “Oh my God!” says Katie.

  “That damn thing got me,” says Eli.

  “What? No!” I run up to Eli and look at his arm. Sure enough, he’s been bitten.

  We stand and stare at Eli in silence.

  “Dude, we gotta chop if off,” says Gary.

  “Hell no!” says Eli, still holding his arm.

  “For fuck’s sake, Gary,” says Sara. “Are you crazy?”

  “We’ve got a shit-load of alcohol,” says Gary. “We get you drunk and then remove your arm. Otherwise . . .”

  “Yeah, I know,” say Eli. “Otherwise, I’ll turn into one.”

  “How soon?” screams Sara.

  “A day. Two days,” says Mark. “I watched my sister change. It took about two days.”

  I look at Mark. It’s the first I’ve heard him talk about any of his family members.

  Eli walks over to a tree and sits down. “Just leave me here.”

  “No! We’re not leaving you here,” says Sara, her hands trembling.

  “I can’t go with you,” says Eli.

  “We’re not leaving you here!” she screams.

  “Okay, Sara, calm down,” says Mark. “We’ll stay with Eli and camp out here.”

  Sara nods her head. I can see the tension leave her body. “Thank you,” she says to Mark. Then she walks over to Eli and sits down next to him by the tree.

  “All right. This is our home for now,” says Mark.

  “You sure about this?” says Gary in a low voice. “I don’t wanna become zombie food.”

  “Yes, I’m sure,” says Mark. “We’ll have to keep an eye on him.”

  13.

  WE’RE SITTING AROUND THE FIRE Gary and Mark built. Sara is still over at the tree by Eli.

  Outside, at night, is one of the scariest places to be right now.

  Eli’s breathing is ragged and, often, he’ll open and close his eyes. Once, he vomited.

  Sara seems oblivious to it. She
’s poured bottled water on a washcloth and continues to wipe off his face, trying to cool him down.

  I feel horrible about what happened to Eli, but I don’t dare sleep.

  I whisper to Mark, “Who’s going to shoot him?”

  “We’ll worry about that later. We just want to keep him comfortable for now.”

  I can feel myself getting agitated. “He can turn at any time, you know?”

  “Yeah, I know. I’m watching him.”

  “Yeah, so am I.”

  Just then, Katie gets up and starts stretching and doing jumping jacks. It’s very unsettling to have this girl moving behind me and having to watch someone slowly turn into a zombie at the same time.

  “Katie, would you please just sit down?” I say.

  “Hey, you need to relax,” says Mark.

  “I’m sorry.” I sigh.

  Katie returns to her folding chair. “It’s okay. I’m used to you stressed out all the time.”

  My attitude toward Katie has never been great, and I’m not surprised she senses it. I do feel bad for yelling at her again. With Gary and Mark calmly staring at the fire, and Katie in her usual la la land, it seems I’m the only one worried. Even Sara, who stays by Eli’s side, seems less worried than I am.

  I lean back in my chair to relax, but I can’t even close my eyes.

  * * *

  It’s late at night. The fire is still blazing nicely. Except for the zombie that bit Eli, we’re in an area that would be unusual for any zombie activity. There’s literally nothing out here, but Eli is getting worse and worse by the minute.

  I grab Mark’s hand. “I have something to ask you.”

  “What?” Mark says to me with big, curious eyes.

  “We’re all fading fast. We’ll be asleep before any of us knows it. There’s that rope in the van. I think we should tie up Eli with it.”

  Sara hears me. “What? Are you crazy? He’s a human being.”

  “Sara, please. You’re not thinking clearly,” I say. “He’s getting worse. I don’t know if he’s going to make it through the night.”