'Til Death Do Us Part (6 page)

I placed my gnarled hands under my right thigh and pulled up, the toe of my melted boots
rubbing up against the backstop.
I almost got stuck on the small lip of the stair that jutted out. Fried skin around
my knee snapped apart as I over-flexed it.
Oily
blood flowed freely,
but
I sighed in relief as my right leg was now one step closer.
T
he next t
est woul
d be if I had the power to stand completely up
right
, then I
’
d be able to drag my left leg
up.

I placed the heels of my hands against the railing and
,
combined with my leg
,
I was indeed able to get my left
foot onto the top of Mount McKinley—
or the first step, however you want to interpret that is fine with me. Now I just had to deal with K2 and Mount Everest and I
’
d be home free. If you
’
ve had the opportunity to read my other journals
,
you
’
d realize I have a flare for the dramatic, but that doesn
’
t mean what I was feeling wasn
’
t right.

The moans were either increasing in volume or zombies were ge
tting nearer as I was
strategizing the complexities of my climb. I wondered if just falling forward onto the landing itself would be the best course of action
;
but unless the door was unlocked AND open so I could push it in, I would be fucked. Once I hit the turf
,
there really didn
’
t seem any sort of chance that I
’
d be able to get back up.

“
This blows,
”
I whispered, as I once again reached behind my right thigh for an assisted lift, but now it was coated in my juices and it was difficult to get any sort of grip, especially since my fingers were curled up like claws.

I jumped when I heard gunshots no more than a street away, then
I began to hear human shouting.
It
was too far to catch the words
,
but I
’
m sure it revolved around the zombies and how they needed to stay away from them. Life had
become vastly easy in one sense;
you really just needed to survive, no shopping lists, errands, chores, meetings, project due dates, all the bullshit of modernity had been stripped aw
ay. It was now a one word world.
Sure,
how you went about that one word was difficult as all hell
,
but at least you onl
y had to focus on the one thing.
That’s
got to count for something
, right?

Yeah
,
I know it
’
s bullshit.
I
’
d rather be driving to Walm
art
with the missus shopping for dreaded curtains than this crap. At
least at the end of the errands
I could have gone home and got my ass thoroughly
whomped by Travis in any Wii game we played.
Survivalism isn
’
t nearly
as much fun in reality as opposed to when you are prepping
.
I’d hoped
and secretly dream
ed for this day
whilst I prepared for it. It really did seem so simple back in the day, but I
’
ve had my fill of death and destruction.
Right now I’d gladly take unclogging a plugged toilet in a strangers home, maybe even without rubber gloves than this waking nightmare I now found myself in.

“
It worked!
”
I said maybe a bit to
o
loud under the circumstances. I had been completely able to occupy my mind elsewhere as I
climbed
up onto the second step. More gun fire and definitely more human sounds, but the latter was more of the screaming variety. It sounded like a woman was being torn
to shreds,
but I
’
m testimony to the fact that once your body is being wrenched apart
,
even the biggest
,
beefiest males can scream much like a woman
;
especially if a particularly tender part is being dined on. Images of that poor bastard Cash, with April back in Colorado
, rushed to the forefront;
that thought alone spurred me onto the top step quicker than anything else
had
thus far.

I was beginning to hear footfalls, it sounded like wet s
almon being slapped across some
one
’s face. They were getting close.
I could only hope they weren
’
t necessarily hunting me down.

The remnants of the screen door hung
by my feet.
I eyed the door handle and then my hooked fingers. I didn
’
t have the hand strength to crush a gnat
, so
this was going to be interesting, and now I had the added bonus of them being covered in my own gore. I moved closer so that I would not have to stretch my arm, I didn
’
t think I could
deal with
another part of my anatomy leaking. My feet tangled up in the alumi
num runner from the screen door;
I was falling forward
,
but I could not
get my arms up to brace myself.
My
head struck the door first with a solid thud, I was grat
eful it was not a hollow sound—
my head not the door.

I was falling into the
house;
I hoped that there wasn
’
t anything too destructive on the floor, like protruding
nails, broken glass or bacteria-
encrusted old chicken. I think I
’
d take the glass over th
e chicken
, not the nails, but definitely the glass.
It was none of the above.
I fell into a crinkling mass of tin foil. The noise of the foil was
a
small distraction as my head bounced off the hard tile entry way
.
My
vision was blackening,
and
now my fucking head ached to go along with the rest of the shit storm I was going through.

Zombies were still coming and I wasn
’
t much safer than I
had been a few moments earlier.
I wriggled my body the rest of the way into the house out of sheer necessity. I managed to push the
door closed with my left leg, and
was able to see strips of tin foil hanging
everywhere as I faded to black—
pretty much just like the old movies or even the Bugs Bunny cartoons where you see the shrinking black circle go all the way
down to a pinprick and wink out.
Luckily
there was no fat pig telling me
‘
Th-th-
that
’
s all folks!
’

E
liza
&T
omas

“
Your face is priceless, brother,
”
Eliza exclaimed.

“
It is a shame
,
dear sister
,
that the only time you show anything remotely similar to a sm
ile is at the expense of others,
”
Tomas
replied
sadly.

“
Come
,
brother
, share in my happiness…
our
victory,
”
s
he stressed.
“
With Michael Talbot out of the way
,
there is now nothing that can stop us. And yet you still pine for him and his family, don
’
t you? We will meet up with his family soon enough
,
y
ou can say your good-byes then.
”

“
What? I thought we were done with the Talbots, let them be, they have lost their father, what more could you possibly do?
”

“
You cannot be that
naïve,
Tomas
,
can you? Michael has left spawn behind
.
I will not let them walk this world any longer than necessary, he has two boys who could spread their seed far and wide
and even n
ow the girl swells with another.
No,
they are like vermin
. I must
snuff
them out while I have them at their lowest and most vulnerable.
But first things first, I believe that some of his traveling party are still in this city. There is time enough that we can stay and watch the festivities.
”

“
What have you planned
,
sister?
”
Tomas asked.

“
I am going to wield my full might upon this accursed hove
l
of humanity.
”

“
Eliza
,
have you stopped to think what you will do for sustenance once you have wiped out the humans?
”

“
Relax
,
brother, I cannot stand the hairless monkeys
,
but I respect their
ability to adapt and survive.
Right
now I just want to have some fun.
”

“
Having fun means laughing, being with the ones you love, go-karts.
”

“
I do not know about the go-karts
,
Tomas, but I will laugh as the humans run
fruitlessly for
their pathetic lives
and you at least love me, is that not enough?
”

“
I think you
’
re missing the point
,
Eliza.
”

“
M
y zombies will be in place soon. C
ome
,
let us find a better vantage point that we can watch from. And I
’
m starving anyway
…
this will flush some of them out.
”

Tomas paled.

“
And I know that you are hungry, you have not eaten in days.
”

Tomas could not deny the fact that his gut was twisted in knots as it begged for food. He was repulsed every time he fed
,
but he could not control himself, the hunger was too great.
He could feed off animals in an emergency but it was equivalent to a human sustaining life by eating lettuce.

“
I see that you are not disagreeing. Soon
,
brother
,
you will be able to drink to your heart
’
s content.
”

“
I curse you for what you have done to me
,
Eliza.
”

“
You sh
ould have stayed home with papa,
”
s
he sneered, recalling their days in Germany some
five hundred
years ago.

“
You were all I had
, Lizzie,
”
Tomas said as he bowed his head.