Fountain of the Dead (30 page)

“One pistol, two extra clips, keys, and no pills.”

“So the answer is no.” Williams coughed and swallowed. Beverly watched the sweat bead on his head and roll down. “My leg. What’d you do to it?” Beverly felt the heat pouring off him.

“I used some of my own stores. It’s not like we had any anti-biotics. So there’s some honey from the hives and some herbs from my house gardens. I put some aloe on the skin too. When it’s time to change the bandage we’ll clean the wound and re-wrap it.”

* * * * *

They stepped over the corpse and into the building. The floor was littered with broken glass, papers, and file folders. Each footstep ground up the shattered test tubes and beakers on the floor. Empty clip boards hung from hooks in the wall.

“It’s like stepping into a new climate zone in here,” Frank said and tugged at his shirt, already soaked through from their walk. “It has to be at least twenty degrees hotter in here. And the stink...” Frank went for the door and stepped outside. Pierce was on his knees rifling through the papers on the floor.

“What are you doing?”

“Looking for the research notes on that water. It had the path I took to find it.”

“I thought you said you ran blind into the cave,” Frank reached for his gun. Catherine pushed his hand away. “Keep an eye out; I’m going to the next building.”

Frank eased the door open to the next shed. There was a broken skylight in the roof; the elements had ransacked the building. Moldy, stagnant water pooled on the floor; the place was alive with the buzz of mosquitoes. What papers there he saw were ruined by rain and mold. He glanced to the side, where a computer monitor had a bullet hole in it. Pierce joined him, clutching a stack of papers to his chest.

“Anything interesting?” Pierce asked.

“Shouldn’t you know if there was anything interesting, Pierce?” Frank glanced over at Catherine shaking her head at him. “Shed full of bugs and a computer that someone shot.”

“Let’s check out the main building.”

The lounge was similar to the other buildings. Nothing inside was left standing. Initials were carved into the side of the foosball table. The tables and chairs were overturned; empty soup cans littered the floor.

“We lived off canned food and dry rations. Sometimes we’d go fishing, but for the most part it was soup in a can or pasta and jarred sauce.”

“Great diet,” Frank said.

“Have to eat what’s going to last the longest and not go bad. If I never have powdered milk again, I won’t be sad.” Pierce pointed to a shelf on the wall. “Whoever owns those initials probably took the radio. We had a small store of batteries. Those are probably gone too.”

“I thought you said no one was around,” Frank said.

“I said no one in my team was around.”

“I hope you don’t fall through these holes in your story, Pierce. If Catherine ever gives the word--”

“You’ll shoot me in the head and leave me to the swamp?” Pierce said and stuffed papers into his pack.

“Something like that. Where are the other corpses? You’d think there’d be more. Snakes won’t eat what they don’t kill. Gators are hunters too.”

“There are other scavengers out here, Frank. Wild boars, the huge snakes. I saw a picture once of a snake that ate an alligator and exploded from the pressure.”

“Let’s finish up in here, Pierce.”

They went to the remaining buildings. Frank gave the generator a courtesy try; it was out of gas and the fuel cans were missing. It was the smallest shed of the bunch, barely enough room for one person to fit in. A broken single bare bulb hung from the ceiling.

On their way back to the front of the camp a large snake slithered out from the barracks. It paid them no heed. Frank waved to the others and they came into the camp. Pierce sat on the ground and started going through the papers in his pack.

“What’s the story, Frank?” Sam asked.

“Camp is deserted, realistically abandoned. Place has been ransacked, nothing left worth salvaging. Pierce is looking for his notes on the location of the water source,” Frank said.

“Can we use these buildings for shelter?” Catherine asked.

“There’s one building that’s habitable, need be.” Frank said. He swatted absently at buzzing mosquitoes. “I swear these things are coming after me.”

“We got some sunlight left,” Sam said. “But finding this thing, and trudging back through this swamp before night?” He shook his head. Sam gripped Frank’s arm tight and stepped in close. “I talked to Catherine. Ponce De’ Leon was a Spanish explorer, who was looking for the Fountain of Youth.” Sam whispered and let go. Frank’s eyes turned to slits as he glared at Pierce.

“Pierce, how’s it going?” He got up; the papers spread on his lap slid to the ground. He headed back for the research building for another load. “You can’t remember a thing about where it is?” Catherine asked.

“I was being chased by zombies; I didn’t have time to leave markers or check for landmarks.”

“What do you remember of it?”

Pierce sighed and sat down with a new load of papers. Micah gathered up some of the discarded data sheets and stuffed them in his satchel.

“It was pretty deep in the swamp, I don’t know how far I ran. I only had a tranquilizer pistol on me.” Micah looked at him. “It’s how we caught some of the animals. There was a shallow cave and I ran into it. Going to make my last stand and all. I saw the source and I bent down for a drink when a zombie came in. It started chewing on my arm, but I crushed its skull with a rock. I stuck my arm in the water and the wound fizzed and bubbled.” Pierce rolled up his sleeve and pointed to a bite mark. “That’s the one right there.”

“So you ran back, got containers, filled them up and ran for the hills?”

“In a nutshell, yes. Every time I got bitten or chewed on I poured water on or drank and nothing happened.” Pierce stood up sending a shower of papers to the ground. He held it up for everyone to see. “These are my notes and a very rough map of the terrain. There’s a small river we’ll need to cross and a cypress marsh. It won’t be the easiest commute in the world.” Pierce handed Frank the notes.

“We might be able to get back here before night, depending what the scale is,” Sam said.

“Let’s camp here,” Catherine said. “We can find it in the morning.”

“We’re following you Catherine. But I think we need to get home soon as we can. It feels wrong, all of this,” Sam said.

“What about Beverly?” Micah asked.

“If she’s smart, she’ll push Williams out and drive back to Darien,” Sharon said.

“We’ll make camp in the lounge. Sleeping will be interesting. And we’ll need to set up watches again,” Catherine said. She stepped into the doorway and looked around the camp. A shiver crossed her spine despite the day’s heat. She looked as deep into the swamp as her eyes allowed, expectant of something to rush out and latch on. She took a deep breath when nothing latched on and started chewing. She spun to look at her flock. “Come one people, let’s get ready.”

“We can go looking for wood for a fire, or just suck it up,” Sharon said. She slid the rifle strap over her shoulder. “Smoke might keep some of the bugs way. Might be able to smear mud on our skin too.” Micah was looking at the papers with a confused look on his face.

“I am not rolling in mud,” Micah said.

“If we’re off the ground, we’ll be ‘safe’ from the ants and other crawling bugs. It’s not like we can build platforms in trees.” Frank looked around at the faces. “Discovery channel, survival shows. I can tell you how to kill and skin a snake if you want. But you won’t like it.”

“Someone better try to radio Beverly and let her know,” Catherine said. “The rest of you get some dry wood and some Old Man’s Beard from the trees; it will light up easily enough.” She turned and went into the lounge trying to figure a way to fortify the building for a night in it.

* * * * *

Frank squatted down by the small fire; piled stones marked the perimeter. Despite the night time heat, he still warmed his hands out of comfort or habit than anything else. Candles, found in the lab building, burned in the lounge and he could hear the muted sounds of conversation. The animal sounds grew in intensity when the sun went down. Beyond the crackling firelight, he heard and sensed movement. Nothing ventured too close to the camp. Pierce came outside and sat on the ground near the fire. His shadow rippled on the trees.

“Mind if I take up some space?”

“Not at all, but you’re blocking my view outside the camp and you may not want to have your back exposed like that.” He scooted along the edge of the fire pit closer to Frank. Intentional or not, Frank maneuvered Pierce to almost arm’s distance.

“Man, they won’t shut up in there. How is anyone supposed to sleep? Pierce looked around at the darkened swamp. “Swamp is noisier tonight, more than I remember.”

“This cave of yours, what’s around it?” Frank asked getting down to business.

“Nothing really, it’s not like it’s on an island in the middle of a lake or near a giant ornate fountain,” Pierce laughed nervously and looked at Frank. “It’s just there, there are trees and water and everything else in a swamp.”

“But the cave is on dry land?”

“Yes.”

“What’s the outsource for the water? Where does it go? Does it run off into a stream?”

“It’s a small pool on the cave floor. The water bubbles up, it doesn’t go anywhere.”

Frank was quiet for a moment. “I know about your book. I promised Catherine I wouldn’t do anything,” Frank said quietly and stirred the embers with a stick. He stared at the orange ashen end of the stick until it cooled. “I will kill you, Pierce. If anything happens to her or anyone else on this trip.” Pierce dry swallowed and looked away. Through the canopy of trees, the moon was almost visible.

“Do alligators eat zombies?” Frank asked.

“As far as I know, gators won’t eat undead meat.”

“Zombies only eat flesh, far as I know. So what would happen if a gator chomped down on a zombie leg, death rolled and dragged it under water?” Frank poked at the fire again and dropped the stick into the flames.

“I wouldn’t think it’d be able to digest the meat. It would just let it go.”

“Theoretically we should have a horde of crippled zombies crawling along the swamps coming for us.”

“Theoretically, Frank, we could have zombies walking on the bottom of the lake coming for us, or whoever else is stupid enough to be out on a boat.”

“I hate theories,” Frank said. They both turned in unison at the loud crack of a branch. “Everyone is inside? No one snuck out for a piss?” Pierce shook his head. “I need you to get Sharon and Sam out here ASAFP.” Pierce sprinted back to the shed. Frank took out his guns and got ready to shoot. He stepped away from the fire and hoped his eyes would adjust. He heard Sharon and Sam come up behind him.

“What is it?” Sharon asked and slipped the rifle into her grasp.

“Heard something, something big out beyond the camp.” Frank pointed out beyond the perimeter. More crashing came from beyond the pathway in.

“Not noisy enough for a boar,” Sharon said. She looked for a second at the shadows thrown off by the fire. The darkness was coming for them. She shivered in response.

“And it’s too noisy for a snake, even a big one,” Frank said.

“Skunk Ape?” Sam asked.

“Swamp bigfoots are the last of my concern. I don’t know what it is. I might be paranoid, but something is out there. It’s not noisy enough for a wild boar,” he said and looked at Sharon. “But that at least would be some good food. And it’s not constant like a snake going through branches and leaves. If it were a person, you’d think they’d call out, and I don’t think Crenshaw’s man would be that noisy, even in the dark in a swamp. If we heard him coming, we’d be falling over dead. He’s a sneaky son of a bitch.”

“So something stepped on a branch and stopped,” Sharon said at looked the scope. “I don’t see anything. I wish I had night vision on this. Or better moon light or less of a tree canopy.” She swatted at the mosquitoes buzzing around her.

“Could it be Crowe?” Sam moved his hands to his guns.

“Again, I don’t think we would have heard Crowe.” Something crashed through the trees. Sharon lowered the rifle, not bothering with the scope. Frank wiped sweat from his face and cleared his eyes.

“Whatever it is,” she said. “It’s coming for us.” A low dark form moved fast into the camp, headed for the fire and the noise. Sharon fired a warning shot in front of it. It didn’t stop.

“Are you fucking kidding me?” Frank asked incredulously. The beast came into the fire light; grey veined eyes stared forward for a moment looking for a target. It took off at a run. Sharon fired two more shots into its back; it wasn’t fazed. Frank unloaded his first clip into it. They backed up towards the shed firing as they moved. Micah stepped out of the shed and lowered the shotgun; he blew off one of the alligator’s legs. It listed forward with momentum and went snout first into the dirt. The massive jaws opened, a zombie hand was impaled on hind teeth.

Frank looked at Pierce and then took aim on the alligator. The chamber clicked. Sharon stepped forward and put two shots into its head. The bullets punched through the leathery skin and it fell motionless. Sam shone his flashlight out beyond the fire; the light reflected off more sets of eyes.