Mad Swine (Book 2): Dead Winter (30 page)

On the low coffee table to my left, I spied a pint bottle of Ice Mountain water. I’m sure it wasn’t really the filtered water that originally shipped in the container, but I was suddenly so thirsty. Trying to sit up was a bad idea and I immediately fell back onto the sofa. Every bone, every muscle, every fiber of my being hurt so badly. I imagined this was how I would feel after being run over by a truck and then hit by a bus and dragged for three city blocks.

“Welcome back,” Lara said, appearing at my side. She knelt down beside me and put a hand on one of my cheeks. “You gave me such a scare.”

“I’m sorry.”

“How are you feeling?”

“Like a huge, dry turd,” I said.

She laughed and then fought back tears that formed in the corner of her eyes. “You have such a lovely way with words.”

“Water,” I said. “Please.”

She helped me into a sitting position, cringing each time I let out a sound of pain. She twisted off the cap and put the mouth of the bottle against my lips. The water was so good; I slurped at it, swallowing in gulps, but Lara pulled the bottle away.

“Small sips or you’ll be sick.”

“Just a little more, baby, I’m so thirsty.”

She let me have another small sip and replaced the cap on the bottle, setting the water on the table, out of my reach.

I lay my head back over the arm of the sofa. I was still very tired but I didn’t want to sleep anymore. I had no idea how long I’d been in and out of consciousness, so I asked Lara.

“Three days,” she responded. “Your fever was out of control. You were burning up and we didn’t know what to do. Everyone thought you were infected and they wanted us to...I don’t want to say, but Brian wouldn’t let them touch you. He threatened to kill them all if anyone even got near you. I think he meant it. I…I really think he would have killed them.”

“You’re babbling a bit, baby,” I said.

“I’m sorry, I just been so worried about you and I thought I was going to lose you. We really thought you were dying, that you were turning into one of those things.”

“Ravi said I was immune. She was wrong.”

Lara shook her head. Her eyes were stretched so wide she looked comical. “She was right. The infection tried to take you but it couldn’t. Your body fought the disease and won.”

I pondered that for a while. I had been exposed to Mad Swine many times in the past, but I’d never experienced the burning fever or the horrible pain that shot through my body. But I’d also never been bitten before. My hand went to my neck, my fingers probing tenderly for the spot where one of the crazies had torn into my flesh with its rotten teeth. The wound was covered in gauze.

“Do you remember what happened?” Lara asked, bringing me back to the conversation.

I shook my head. “Some, I guess. I remember pushing Ray in his chair and then those things attacked us. I remember being bitten and…I…I think Ray died.”

Lara took my hand and held it tightly in her own. “He did, honey. Brian said when he and Justin found you, you were carrying Ray’s body. He said you didn’t want to let him go, that you fought with him and Justin.”

I remembered the two figures coming out of the blizzard, trying to take Ray. I thought maybe that had been part of a dream. I didn’t remember fighting my brother or Justin.

“I don’t remember,” I said.

“Justin still has a shiner where you hit him. He told me you hit him so hard he almost couldn’t stand up again.”

“Where are we?” I asked suddenly.

“I don’t know exactly where, but this is the shelter that was on Brian’s map. This is where we were trying to get to when the snow came.”

“Where is everyone? Did we lose Al Sanchez?”

Her head nodded but she didn’t speak for a moment. Finally, she said, “Al and his family left after Chandra died, honey, don’t you remember?”

I closed my eyes, trying to compose my jumbled memories. Chandra was dead, attacked on watch. Brian had blamed Al and in the morning he was gone; he’d taken his family and two others and left. And Chandra was dead, by my hand. Ray was dead. Bruce Halverson and Anne Marie Lepore were dead, shot in the head as an act of mercy.

“We only lost Ray then,” I said.

“No, honey, Liam is dead. We were attacked, too. Liam didn’t make it.”

* * *

Lara left me alone for a while. I closed my eyes and dozed in and out of sleep. It was difficult to get comfortable on the hard sofa. No matter which way I lay, my body ached or throbbed. After a while I sat up, taking great care and moving slowly.

The room was smaller than I imagined it, but I’d had an extremely high fever and I’d been unable to separate hallucinations and dreams from reality. A desk that looked like it had been built at the turn of the 19th century stood in front of a bay window. The thick curtains were currently drawn. The sofa was at the center of the room, positioned in front of a small fireplace; above the mantle hung a painting of a young woman sitting on the threshold of an open door, sunlight slanting into the shadowy interior, and beyond a field of tall grass. I thought I recognized the painting.

Behind the sofa stood a wide, rustic bookshelf filled with volumes of paperback and hardcover tomes. Although the bookshelf portrayed a rugged, aged look, it had been built recently and made to appear distressed by the craftsman. Beneath the pale green paint, portions of wood with a handsome patina lent a certain charm to the piece of furniture. The owner had created a cozy office.

The click of a doorknob drew my attention. I looked up to see Brian closing the door softly behind him. He saw me sitting up and a big grin spread across his face. Sitting down next to me he said, “Still among the living, brother. Not even the zombie apocalypse can put you down.”

I smiled. “They’re not zombies. And I got lucky.”

“What happened out there, dude? I mean, you and Ray…”

“I don’t remember all of it. And what I do remember, I’m not sure if I dreamed it or if it was real. They came out of the blizzard like sharks drawn to blood. It was like…like they could smell us. They pulled Ray down and one of them jumped me. After that I don’t really remember what happened.”

“When Justin and I found you, you tried to beat the shit out of us. You gave us a run for our money, and you were carrying Ray on one shoulder.”

“I thought you were those things coming back for us,” I said. “You guys shouldn’t have come back. You could have died out there.”

“We didn’t come very far. You were less than an eighth of a mile from here. Justin thought he heard your voice. We walked less than two minutes and there you were.”

Together we fell into a mutual silence. I shifted my position on the sofa, pulling one of my legs up under me. I braced for the pain, but it wasn’t so bad. Perhaps my body was starting to loosen up, to bounce back from the deadly infection.

“Lara told me about Liam. I’m sorry, man.”

“Jenna and Maureen took it hard. Ian pretends like he’s okay but I know him well enough to know that he’s hurting inside.”

“How did it happen?” Lara hadn’t told me the details. Or if she had, I couldn’t remember.

“Just like you said, they came out of nowhere. Two of them took Liam down. It was like they knew he was injured and they went for the weakest in the pack. But they’re not smart like that, are they? I mean, their minds don’t work like that anymore, right?”

I just shook my head. I didn’t have an answer for him. I was not an expert on the tactics and thought processes of the infected. In the last three months I had not had enough contact with the undead to know if their behavior was normal. But it was frightening to think that there was intelligence behind their feral eyes.

“How far are we from the farm, Bri? I don’t know if I can do this much longer. I can’t lose any more people out there.”

“We’re close, man, really close. This house belonged to Ian’s uncle Seamus. He moved with his brother in the main house when the news of the walking dead came out. The farm is no more than two miles away. We can make it in no time.”

“Why haven’t you gone yet?”

“The snow just let up yesterday. There was no way to travel in that mess out there. I’ve never seen a storm like this, not even when we were kids. You remember the blizzard of ’79?”

“I remember,” I said. I lay back on the sofa and closed my eyes, picturing that time in my life. “We used a ladder to climb onto the garage roof so that we could jump into the snow drifts.”

“When you got up there you were too scared to get down.”

“And you kicked down the ladder so I’d have to jump.”

“I made you face your fear,” Brian said. “If I hadn’t you’d probably be a little punk bitch.”

I turned to him and fixed him with my best serious gaze. I said, “You’re still an asshole. Mom would be proud.”

* * *

For what remained of the night, I visited with my friends in small groups, three or four at a time. It was a strange evening and I felt like I was an animal on display at the zoo. Everyone was nice, and they all seemed genuinely happy that I’d pulled through, but the way Brian and Lara escorted them in and rushed them out just made me feel uncomfortable.

I gave my condolences to the Finnegans when they made their tour of my sick room. Maureen hugged me and kissed my forehead. Ian shook my hand and told me I was the toughest bastard he knew. Jenna broke down in tears and could not even talk. She had to be pulled away by Maureen and Ian. I watched the poor girl being carted away. My face was hot with embarrassment.

Stan sat down next to me but didn’t shake my hand. He told me he was glad that I’d pulled through and that he’d been praying for me. I didn’t tell him that I’d overheard part of his conversation with my brother during one of my moments of consciousness. I thanked him for his concern and his prayers and I found myself relieved when he finally left.

My spirits rose when Wesley and Cody came for a visit. The golden retriever ran straight for me and launched himself onto the sofa, his large paws digging into my sensitive areas, but I couldn’t help but laugh. His tongue was warm and he left my face wet. Wesley finally talked the dog down off me and told him to lie down and the dog obeyed.

Taking a seat next to me, the boy looked shy, reminding me of the day long ago when I found him and his parents in the parking lot of Kappy’s. I’d offered him a bottle of water and his eyes would not meet mine.

“Hey big guy. Are you taking good care of Cody?”

He nodded his head and looked at the dog that lay nearby. “I think he misses Mr. Ray.” When he looked at me he had tears in his eyes. “Were you with Mr. Ray when he died?”

I nodded.

“Good,” the boy said. “I know people thought that Mr. Ray was a mean man, but he was just lonely.” He looked at me again as he wiped tears from his eyes. “I miss him.”

I choked back my own tears, just barely, but inside my heart was breaking for Wesley. He’d been through so much. He’d lost his parents, then he left the women who cared for him and now he lost his friend. As strange as that sounded, Wesley had been Ray’s friend, perhaps his only friend.

“I miss him, too, pal. And that’s okay.”

“When my mom and dad died, Reverend Reggie told me that as long as I kept them in my thoughts and my prayers that they could live forever. He told me I just have to remember them. I pray for Mom and Dad every day. And I pray for Mr. Ray now, too.”

Hot tears stung my eyes and rolled down my cheek. Wesley got up from the sofa and came to me with his arms extended. I hugged him tightly as he cried against my shoulder.

“No matter what happens, Wesley, you’ll never be alone. I’ll take care of you, kiddo. You believe that?”

I felt his head nod against my neck. When he let go, I held him at arm’s length away and looked him in the eyes. “Those things can’t kill me, Wesley. They tried and they failed. I’m not going anywhere.”

“When you were sick I prayed for God to save you,” Wesley said. He started to speak again, and then hesitated. Finally he said, “Last night I had a dream about Mr. Ray. He told me that I had to take care of you and Cody now. He told me that you would be okay. He said…to thank you for not letting the…things have him.”

I studied the boy for a long time, unsure how to respond. I didn’t believe in the afterlife, that our loved ones spoke to us in dreams. But I knew that Wesley was telling the truth. Perhaps he’d heard some of the others talking about what happened. Perhaps he’d heard that I’d carried Ray’s body and his subconscious put that together.

“You should sleep, Mr. Danzig. We’re leaving in the morning. I think Cody’s going to like living on a farm.”

“I know he will, buddy. I’ll see you in the morning.”

“Come on, Cody!” Wesley called out and the dog responded immediately. He trotted beside the boy as they took their leave.

Although I’d been sleeping for nearly three days, I felt still felt tired. My rest during those seventy-two hours had been fitful and turbulent, and my body needed true rest. The sofa seemed to have grown more comfortable, or more likely I had gotten used to the stiff, scratchy fabric. I curled up on my side and put my hands under my cheek.