I headed to the gas station first thing this morning and there was no sign of Kat. There was a sign of looters, however, as the store was trashed. Shelves were tipped over, and the cash register was yanked off its mounting and hanging from the counter by its cables. Most of the windows were broken, and not a single display was left standing. Obviously, no gas cans were in sight. I went out to the pumps and tried one of them, but nothing happened. There were eight in all, and systematically, I found the same results. My guess is they're computer controlled and when the grid went off line and the gas station lost power, the pumps locked away the precious gasoline. If only I knew how to open the lid on the ground that led to the tank.
I did my hardest push today, walking almost 25 miles without stopping. Along the way, I came across a child's car seat in the middle of the road. Out of curiosity, I walked to up it to see if it was occupied and I jumped back, more startled than I've ever been. In that seat, buckled in and everything, was a zombie toddler, probably no more than two or three. Zombies are horrible things, but when they're that young, it makes is so much harder to bear. It was such a gruesome scene, I'll save you the details
But seeing an undead child wasn't what was really horrible. What was horrible was why that zombie child was put in the street. It was a trap. While I was stumbling backwards from the scene, a couple of live humans came running out of the bushes between the two sections of interstate in an attempt to mug me. I raised my bat, waving it around like I was expecting a pitch, a clear warning sign to them that they were going to be hurt if they pressed closer.
They must have been the child's parents. They were destitute; dirty; disheveled; starved thin as skeletons. The man had a gun pointed at me, but I've seen this bluff before. I was pretty sure he wouldn't have any ammo, considering the state he was in with his wife or girlfriend or whoever. For them to live this long, I'm sure they've had spent their rounds long ago fighting off whatever draggers and freshies they came across. I'm not really a gambling man, though, so I made no moves and waited for their play.
"We don't want to hurt you, but we will! We want your food, your water and anything else you have!" The man had a seriousness in his voice that was betrayed by the trembling in his gun hand. Whether or not it was from anxiety or malnutrition, I don't know. I felt immediately sorry for the both of them, but I wasn't going to let these two just up and rob me. I need my things just as much as anyone else.
"You aren't TAKING anything from me. I would gladly SHARE what I have with you though." Apparently, that was something to be laughed at. What did he call me? Trying to remember the exact verbiage. I think it was "inbred cock sucking shit log mother fucker." They wanted everything I had, and he thrust the gun at me close enough that it was in swinging range, so I made my move. I took a step forward and leaned into the swing and batted the gun clear out of his hand. breaking a couple of fingers at the same time. His cry of pain triggered his woman into action and she charged at me. I sidestepped her, grabbed the back of her neck and flipped her over. The man was holding his hand and bellowing in pain too much to see his girl spread out over the ground. She got up again, this time wielding a knife, and I swung low, taking out her kneecap. She cried out, flinging expletives at me like daggers.
"You won't hurt me, because you can't hurt me, but as you can see I can hurt the both of you." The man tried to get up, and I gently tapped his head with the bat. Told him that wouldn't be a good idea, and I looked at her, and she remained still cradling her knee. I asked him about the child and sure enough, it was theirs. I told them to stay where they were and I walked over the gun I batted away and picked it up. I opened the chamber and removed the clip, and sure enough, it was empty.
Desperation brings out the worst in us. It makes us do things we would never think to do. Survival transforms us, makes us think unnatural things. Using their undead child as bait? Robbing people with an empty gun? Part of me wanted to end these living creatures that very moment. I now understood why people felt the need to "cleanse", to get rid of people like these. I wanted to put that zombie child out of its misery, such a ghastly thing to keep around.
I asked them if they saw a red-headed woman pass by on this road and I was told to "sit on my fucking bat until I fucked my guts out with it." Colorful. I figured I wasn't going to get anywhere with them, so I just walked away. Until the woman yelled at me, "She your whore? Yeah, we saw her! We tied her up and had our way with her and then ate her!" I turned around, feeling enraged and took a couple of steps towards them, but that only made them laugh. These people were insane. I didn't know if they were telling the truth, or just trying to get a rise out of me, but after that that last statement, I wanted to kill them both. I let the anger flow through me to the point where I almost lost control, but then I heard the high pitched screech of a freshie met in kind with at least four or five coming from the woods.
The couple heard it, too, so they got up and the man put his woman's arm around his neck and they hobbled off. I shouted at them, "Yeah! I hope those fuckers have their way with you and then eat you!" I didn't stay to see them run off, but I as I passed by the car seat they left abandoned, I thought for a while that as unpleasant as it would be, it needed to be done. Not going in detail about what I did, but I'll just say I did it. I was a half mile down the road when I heard a woman scream out in pain, then a few seconds later, a man did as well. It brought me no joy.
I can't stop thinking about what they said. Was there any truth to that at all? Did they trap Kat the same way they tried to trap me? Could they really have eaten her? I just... oh God.. if that's what happened, then it would have been my fault! The thought of that, I'm crying so much right now. It took away what energy I had left, so I found the nearest car and just crashed. All I can do is think about Kat now....
Until tomorrow, if there is a tomorrow.
No comments:
Post a Comment