'Til Death Do Us Part (9 page)

***

“
Do you think Mike will show him the way?
”
Gary asked as they quickly crossed the street to get to Mary
’
s neighbor
’
s garage.

“
What makes you think Mike knows the way?
”
Mrs.
Deneaux
asked.
“
It was a jok
e,
”
s
he said when both Gary and BT looked at her crossly.

“
Good thing you didn
’
t have to survive on your comedic talents, good looks
, or disposition,
”
BT said.

“
Done?
”
s
he asked.

“
Shhh,
”
Gary said
,
holding his hand up.
“
I thought I heard something.
”
He was pointing into the
smoke-
enshrouded street. Sounds were simultaneously dampened and
enhanced in the density of the choking smog. It was
becoming more
difficult to pinpoint what they were hearing or where it was coming from.

Gary was having difficulty breathing through the waves of smoke and haze
;
his eyes beginning to water under the assault. Mrs.
Deneaux
seemed unfazed as she plo
wed through another coffin nail. I
t seemed they had at least protected her from this toxic soup.

She pulled the hammer back on her revolver and spun
. S
he had no sooner brought the barrel up when she let loose a shot. A zombie dropped no more than two feet from where they stood.

“
Move!
”
BT yelled.
“
I think we
’
re surrounded!
”

Another shot rang out from
Deneaux
’
s
pistol
and
another zombie fell with a crisp
,
clean hole drilled through its skull. Gary had his rifle up but hadn
’
t found a target yet.

Deneaux
seemed almost precognizant with her shots, Gary was wondering if it was because
,
with her advanced age
,
sh
e was so close to death herself, that she could sense its approach.

“
Try to act more like y
our brother and shoot something,
”
Mrs.
Deneaux
said to Gary as she was shuffling along
while
dropping the spent shells out of her gun and reloading.

Gary wanted to shoot her to start with but she seemed to be the only one that could spot the zombies around them.

“
I can barely tell if I
’
m going the right way,
”
BT said as he kept them close. The smok
e was rolling in like high tide.
Mary
’
s neighbor
’
s house was merely an object that appeared somewhat more solid than the surrounding gray smoke.

A smal
l wind kicked up from the super-heated air of the burning town.
It
was just enough for Gary to catch the nightmare heading their way.

“
We need to move faster,
”
Gary said. H
is eyes
,
which had seconds earlier been squinting
,
where now nearly bugging out of his head. Hundreds of zombies were advanci
ng down the street towards them.
He
didn
’
t get the feeling they had been spotted
,
but they
’
d be found just by the sheer number of invaders.

“
We go any faster and we
’
ll miss the garage.
”
BT
kept
his attention focused to the front.

“
Any slower and we
’
ll be food,
”
Gary said.

BT turned to look as the small clearing in the smoke rapidly closed.
“
Shit.
”

“
Back to
Mary
’
s?
”
Deneaux
asked.

This was the
most scared
Gary thought he
’
d ever seen her,
it
almost made her seem human, but even reptiles ha
ve
a strong will to live.

“
Closer going forward,
”
BT said
, urging them along quicker;
the threat of tripping and falling rising with their increase in speed.

“
The
re
’
ll be noth
ing left here in an hour anyway,
”
Gary said
,
the loss of Josh affecting him deeply.
“
I couldn
’
t go back there anyway,
”
h
e said softly.

“
Shit, I
’
m bleeding,
”
BT cursed.

“
You alright?
”
Gary asked
,
alarm
ed
that BT may have been bitten.

“
Got hung up on thorns,
”
BT answered.

“
Really not the time to stop and
smell the flowers,
”
Deneaux
chortled.

“
Are the roses orange or pink?
”
Gary asked, his back to BT as he scanned the area. The sound of so many moving feet was unsettling.

“
Who gives a shit!
This
is one time I agree with
Deneaux
.
”

“
If they
’
re orange, they are grandiflora, if they
’
re pink they are climbers,
”
Gary said,

“
Gary…
come on
,
man, am I losing you?
”
BT asked.

“
No
,
the orange ones were on the left side of the house and the garage was right beyond it, the climbers were on the other side.
”

“
I
’
m not going to ask right now about how you knew the names of the roses, but we
’
ll talk later that
’
s for sure. They
’
re the orange ones by the way,
”
BT said as he skirted around the bush and towards the garage.

“
Gary
, just start firing,
”
Mrs. Deneaux said to him.

“
I can
’
t see anything clear enough,
”
Gary told her.

“
Doesn
’
t matter you won
’
t miss,
”
s
he told him calmly.

Zombies were nearly within reach of grabbing Gary
’
s rifle barrel as he fired. BT had
him
by the
waist and was steering him in the right direction as Gary watched their retreating back.
“
I
’
m out!
”
Gary yelled
,
thinking that the
ir
end
had finally
broken
through and found them.

It was then that Deneaux began to fire
. S
he had strategically waited for him to expend his
ammo
so
that
she could keep them alive while he reloaded. Gary realized quickly her tactic and began to throw rounds into his
magazine
. Her shots were more measured than his
,
but even so
,
he only had about
fifteen
seconds before she was out. The signal from his brain to his fingers was getting fouled through
the
panic
of nerves. H
e dropped at least three of the precious rounds
,
foregoing precision for haste.

“
Gary?
”
Mrs. Deneaux asked as she was pulling the hammer back on her final shot.

“
We
’
re at the garage!
”
BT said triumphantly.

Deneaux
’
s
last shot punctuated the momentous occasion. Phantom zombies raced by in the shadows, some drawn to the sound of the gunfire others heading to unknown destinations.  Gary finally drove the full cartridge home as a zombie came out of the murkiness into Mrs. Deneaux
’
s blindside.

He tried to pull the trigger, but it was frozen in place he had yet to chamber a round.

“
Duck down!
”
BT be
llowed as he brought his arm up. H
e shot the
heavy caliber hunting rifle one-
armed
, the weapon
not even braced against his shoulder. Even in the desperation of the moment Gary was able to appreciate the strength of the man as the recoil did little more than ripple his shirt.

“
Get in!
”
BT yelled as he physically picked up Deneaux with his free hand and put her in the side door of the garage. Gary was quick to follow
along with
BT after two more shots.

“
Twit,
”
Deneaux
said to Gary, her hands shaking as she placed another cigarette to her mouth.

BT propped up a small step ladder against the door as zombies began to run into it.

“
I
’
m sorry,
”
Gary said.
“
I thought I was ready to shoot.
”

“
You could have got me killed,
”
s
he spat.

“
Would that have been so bad for us?
”
BT said
, making sure his make
shift barricade was going to hold.

Mrs. Deneaux was silent for a moment before she began to cackle.

“
Oh no.
”
BT turned around
, confident the door would hold. I
t appeared that the nearby zombies had already departed for greener pastures.
Why hunt when a buffet was laid out? Somewhere there were people in much more dire straits than themselves.

“
What
’
s the matter?
”
Gary asked
,
fearful that something had found another way in or was already laying in wait.

BT pointed towards the car.
“
Besides the flat
tire
,
it
’
s a lime green P
into.
”

“
I had a
servant that drove one of these,
”
Mrs. Deneaux said.

“
Should we see if it starts before we change the tire?
”
Gary asked. He was afraid the engine noise would attract more zombies.

BT was thinking along the same lines.
“
Let
’
s change the tire first.
It’s
not like we can go anywhere if it doesn
’
t work, and those zombies will come back
if they hear this piece of shit.
I bet it idles as loud as a howler monkey.
”