"Alright, guys, none of us want to, we've been putting it off long enough, but I think it's time we hit up the town." I told the group over breakfast one morning.
"Agreed. We've got fuck all food left, and I could use a few new tools." Dad agreed.
"So today's the day?" James asked.
"Unless there are any objections, yeah."
James and I went to see David, who was keen to join us. We decided on a team of seven, us five, David, and his nephew; one of the refugees. Two cars; Dad's SUV and the van David's nephew, Julius, arrived in.
Julius was a peculiar one. While he was David's nephew, he was Asian, and no one was ever clear on how they were related. He was small, barely 5'7, nerdy, talkative, and "a hacker by trade". Twenty-six, but he didn't act it. According to David he was also a crack shot with a rifle, though I wasn't convinced.
By eleven we were all ready to go. The people staying behind, worried, unsure of what we'd find in the town. I was to be driving the SUV, Dad got the van. James and Olivia went with him, leaving Heidi and I with Julius and David.
"Shotgun!" Julius called as we were about to leave. I ignored him and let Heidi take the front, while David chuckled and climbed in back.
"Get in the back, you dog." I said, rolling my eyes.
Driving down the road, Julius took it upon himself to prevent awkward silences.
"I mean, come on. The shotgun rule is everything. It trumps all. I don't care if you're on the way to the hospital with your pregnant wife, whoever calls shotgun gets the front seat. You know, there was even a Facebook group about it, the official rules of calling shotgun. It had shit like, um... Shotgun can only be called when you're on the same surface as the vehicle. And like-"
"Hey Julius?" inquired David.
He paused. "Yeah?"
"Shut up."
"Alright, but I get the front on the way back. That's only fair, yeah?"
"Hey Julius?" I said,
"Yeah?" he said, pleased that everyone was paying attention to him.
"Shut up."
Criticism of any kind was lost on Julius. Insult him, he'd just ignore you and keep talking. While he was annoying as hell, most of the time he was amusing, and at times actually quite interesting. If you could get him talking about something that wasn't pointless and arbitrary, it was possible to hold a decent discussion with him.
We rolled into the town slowly and carefully. It was eerie. The fires long burned out, the smoke mostly cleared. No one around. The occasional zombie shuffled along, oblivious to us. Few buildings were still standing, rubble littered the roads. Driving was difficult; it was impossible to take a direct route anywhere with so many roads blocked or destroyed. Scattered randomly throughout the town I saw large, foreign metal spikes sticking out of the ground, split open at the top. Some sort of incendiary?
It had been agreed we'd hit the hardware store first. The hardware store wasn't much; it was run as a side project of a demolition and salvage company. I'd worked there briefly several years back, operating machinery and sorting through rubble. It was a shit job, but the pay was good.
Dad, David, James and I all had particular things we wanted; Dad wanted electrical equipment, David welding gear, James and I just wanted general tools. While we were pretty well set up at the house, especially since we'd joined forces with David, you can never have enough tools. The main purpose of visiting the store was to see if we could steal a truck. Behind the shop was a demolition yard, where I'd worked, and large trucks of all sorts would frequently stop off there, to pick up or drop off materials and containers, for maintenance, cleaning, whatever. We weren't too picky about what sort we'd get; be it a container transporter or the type used to carry rubbish skips, as long as it was big, powerful, and could carry several tons of supplies. Since I'd worked there and knew the yard well, I was responsible for finding keys.
I went into the office alone, looking for keys. It had been several years since I worked here, but nothing had changed. The faulty lock on the office door hadn't even been replaced, saving me from sinking a round into the wood. Opening the door, I was hit by a stench I'd begun to recognize.
Slumped in a chair was a corpse. Ragged bullet hole through the temple, a torso stained with blood. A revolver lay on the floor below a limp arm, one round gone. I pocketed it, found the keys I was looking for and left silently. The man was my old supervisor. I never liked the guy, but I'd always respected him. He was tough, didn't take shit from anyone. It was rumored he was ex military, but he never talked about himself. And yet, in the end he took his own life.
No gain in feeling sad about it.
The truck we liberated was a container transporter, the type with two crane arms to lift containers on and off. Could come in useful. There was already an empty container loaded onto it; perfect.
Next on the list was the hunting and fishing store. It took us little over an hour to load up all the fishing nets, bait, crossbows and hunting knives we wanted, in which time we had a few minor scuffles with zombies. I dispatched them brutally with my newly forged machete. The feeling of retribution gained from killing an enemy that came close to destroying you is one indescribable by human vocabulary, but needless to say the others were a bit startled by my reaction.
To the other's dismay, there happened to be a head shop next door, something James and I took advantage of; cramming all the bongs, vaporizers, pipes, herbal highs and other drug paraphernalia we could into the back of the SUV. Dad especially wasn't too stoked about it, but he let it slide.
Finished there, we closed up the container, saddled up and headed for the supermarket.
"Let's hurry this up, it's getting late and I don't want to be here when the sun starts to set." Dad ordered as we climbed out of our respective vehicles in the parking lot. "And be on your guard. Any survivors probably would have come here, and I'd expect this would be a popular place for zombies, too."
The building was still standing, but it hadn't survived unscathed. Every window was shattered, and getting inside, the place was an utter mess. Dad, David and Julius went to find a forklift and started loading full pallets of food and supplies into the container, while the rest of us took trolleys through the main store, looting to our heart's content. As ruined as the place was, and despite the danger of the situation, it was fun. The ability to take as much of whatever you want, without any risk of repercussions, is amazing. We filled two trolleys with booze alone; ten cases of the most expensive beer, rum, vodka, gin, wine. Chocolate. Potato chips. Cookies, donuts, all the stuff with no nutritional value whatsoever. Most meat and fish was out of the question; power had been out for days and it was clearly expired. The whole supermarket stank. We managed to find some vacuum packed jerky type meat, though, which we took advantage of, along with canned fish. Rats were everywhere, annihilating not only the rotting meats but the fruit and vegetables, too. Canned fruit would have to do.
But the best part of that scavenging mission was the checkout.
"Smokes!" I yelled, breaking open the locked cabinet. There were seven separate checkouts, it wasn't a huge supermarket, each with it's own tobacco cabinet.
"Take them all?" James asked.
"Got any other stupid questions?" I replied, ecstatic.
All the pouches, packs, papers, filters and other general items related to smoking filled another trolley. One trolley doesn't sound like much, but when it comes to cigarettes, it's a lot.
The container and the vehicles were almost full by the time we were done. We had enough food to last for months, along with dozens of packets of seeds to grow our own food. I was rolling a cigarette, waiting for Dad and David, when Heidi called out, "Hey, what's that?"
In the distance, wandering along in the middle of the road, was a person. They were small, and didn't look right, but I couldn't tell why.
"Zombie?" James wondered,
"Too small. Zombie kid?" Julius replied.
"Zombie kid... Don't know that I could bring myself to kill it..." muttered Heidi.
Julius lifted his rifle, looked through the scope. Cracked up laughing.
"Oh, dude, that's no zombie."
"What? What is it?" we all demanded.
"Look for yourself." he giggled, passing James the rifle. After looking for himself, he too started laughing.
"It's a fucking penguin!" he chortled, handing the rifle to me.
Sure enough, milling around in the middle of a tiny little town in the middle of nowhere, was an emperor penguin.
"No way!" exclaimed Olivia,
"I shit you not," I said slowly, lowering the scope, "But that's an emperor penguin."
"How do you know it's an emperor penguin?" James asked,
"I'm just assuming. Hey, I'm no penguinologist."
"Penguinologist? That's a new one..." muttered Heidi,
"Botanist, then."
"Still wrong."
"Well fuck you."
"Hate to break up the foreplay here, but what are we gonna do about this penguin?" asked Olivia, handing Julius the rifle back.
"I'm all for taking it with us." James suggested.
"It's a penguin, how are we gonna get it back?" Heidi said incredulously.
"This begs the question, of course, of what the fuck is a penguin doing here?" Julius, frustrated at being left out of the conversation for almost a minute.
"Harry, any ideas?"
"No clue in hell."
Olivia began walking slowly toward it. We followed, keeping some distance between us and her. James rifled through the food and took a few cans of tuna.
"Penguins eat fish." he justified.
When she got close to the penguin, Olivia stopped, held out her hands and began talking softly to it. It watched her cautiously. James opened a can of tuna and passed it to her. She slowly showed it to the penguin, scraped some onto the ground, and moved back. The penguin stared, and shuffled slowly toward the tuna. Prodded it with its foot (flipper, paw?), then bent over and nibbled on it before looking back up at us.
"This is honestly the buzziest thing I've ever witnessed." I muttered.
While Olivia coaxed the penguin, I kept a watch around the area. Strange that we had been left alone, weren't zombies supposed to converge on humans like flies around shit? The only ones we'd encountered had been when we were clearing out areas.
There were a few around, but none closer than a few hundred meters.
"Can I borrow that, bro?" I asked Julius.
"Hm? Oh, yeah, sure." he passed me the rifle, more interested in a penguin than his own wellbeing.
I raised the scope, brought the closest zombie into view. It had just shuffled out of a building maybe seventy meters away. The rifle was a good one, the scope powerful. The host was clearly a man, dressed in a bathrobe that hung loosely off him and stained in blood. I couldn't hear the muffled screaming from this distance.
Aim.
Squeeze the trigger.
The corpse dropped to the ground.
"Harry! What the fuck?" demanded James from a few meters away, all of them startled by the gun shot.
Another zombie, not too far from the first, must have seen or heard what happened and began stumbling slowly this way.
Aim.
Squeeze the trigger.
More shouts from the others, pissed now.
I heard David and Dad run over. "We heard gunshots! Is that a penguin?"
Several more zombies turned their attention to us.
"We've got to go, now!" someone ordered.
"What about the penguin?"
"Fuck the penguin!"
"Harry, get in the truck!"
Squeeze the trigger. Another zombie fell.
Fifty meters, give or take, a cluster of zombies.
Two more down.
"Harry, you stupid prick! Get in the fucking truck!"
I put the rifle down and drew my machete.
Thirty meters. Another gun went off, another zombie went down. More shouts from the others. Some were running for the vehicles, others yelling at me.
Twenty meters. I began striding toward the group, swinging the machete.
Decapitated one. Another grabbed at me with bloody, shredded hands which quickly turned to bloody stumps. It kept coming.
Kicked another in the thigh, it collapsed. Sliced the headcrab off another.
I heard maniacal, barbaric laughter.
Oh god, was that me?
I killed them all. Seventeen in total. I would have kept going, but in the brief lapse in conflict I was tackled by James and had my weapon knocked away. Through the struggling and shouting, Heidi put her hand on my arm and told me, "It's time to go, Harry."
They got me into the truck. James driving, me sitting silently beside him, rage burned out.
"Come on." he said, "Let's have a session."
He passed me a baggie, and I rolled us a joint. Took a hit.
"So what happened there, man?" James asked, accepting the joint and toking.
I shook my head. "Beats me. Something about seeing those things shuffling around. That could have been me."
"Good thing you've got a girl like Heidi around."
"Jesus." I muttered, "Aliens, zombies, Asians who don't shut up, now a fucking penguin. Shit's fucked."
"Don't worry man, we've got enough cigarettes, booze and weed to last the next three life times. I'll probably have a look at planting some seeds tomorrow, if that's all good."
Spirits were high at the camp that night. We had another big campfire to celebrate the arrival of the supplies. Smoked, drank, ate, talked. Traded stories; pre-war, post-war, their escape from the cities, their life stories, wherever the conversation led.
I sat with the others, drank with the others, occasionally threw in a comment, but I was relatively sombre, thinking about things. The zombies. My rage. The destruction in the town. Why the Combine had zombified it instead of taking over.
"So Harry, how'd you and Heidi end up an item?" came someone's voice, snapping me out of my thoughts.
"Hey?"
"You and Heidi." one of the other refugees, Cam, said, "How'd you get together?"
I chuckled and looked over at her.
"The year was nineteen sixty nine. Nah. I dunno, about '04?"
"Twenty second of February, 2004." Heidi said, shaking her head slightly.
"Yeah. I knew that. Just been dumped by this other chick, Brooke. Met Heidi through a mate of mine, at a party or something. I wasn't sober, so naturally I was shamelessly hitting on her.
"As it turned out, she had a boyfriend. This absolute cunt by the name of Greg. Fucking douchebag."
"He was." Heidi admitted.
"Anyway, that didn't stop me. To be honest, I'm not all that proud of it, because I'd been in the reverse situation before, but I'm still glad I did, otherwise I mightn't have ended up with Heidi."
"Proud of what?"
"Continuing to hit on her. In reality, at the time Heidi was just a rebound girl. I was really cut up, but after things actually worked with Heidi, I began to really like her, she eventually ended up with me, and we've been together ever since. That guy Greg deserved what he got, he was a cunt. All's fair in love and war."
"You'd be surprised." Dad said. He'd been quiet much of the night, too, but now spoke up.
"What?"
"I neglected part of my story. During my escape I happened to meet a man by the name of Greg. Said he knew you."
"How do you know it was the same guy?" I demanded, suddenly intrigued.
"Because he called you the most pathetic, dishonorable motherfucker he's ever met."
"OK that was Greg. Fucking douchebag. He had the balls to say that shit to you? Drug fucked, scrawny little hippie!" I really hated that guy. "That fucking dog, I ought'a fucking hunt him down and beat his ass for disrespecting you and I like that!"
"No need."
"No?"
"He died getting the convoy that saved your life up and running."
That stopped me in my tracks.
"He died?"
"Knowing fully well that he was giving his life to save people he didn't know, he'd never know, and some who hated him."
"I have to go." I said quietly. I stood and walked away from the group. Couldn't be around people right now.
A short walk away from the house, down one of the paths my father had built through the forest there was a small lookout. Nothing major, just a break in the bush. It looked over the road, though was quite elevated. From there you could see for miles, over David's property and toward the few farms dotted across the land. On a nice day you could see all the way to the sea. Dad had planned to build a proper lookout here eventually, but I doubted whether that would happen now.
I took a seat on a small boulder, rolled a joint and looked out into the darkness.
Greg had saved my life.
His girlfriend had cheated on him, with me. Something I largely incited. I'd hated the guy since the day I met him, and he'd hated me. We'd had a lot of conflict in the short time we knew each other; we both bore the scars. He'd lost his job, I'd lost a lot of friends. I'd never regretted it, never felt bad.
No forgiveness for this.
I don't know how long I sat there. I should've gone back; this wouldn't be easy on Heidi either.
After maybe two hours I was roused from my thoughts by the unexpected sound of engines. Refugees? Couldn't be. I watched the road intently, trying to spot something. Too stoned to be worried.
There! Two vehicles. Those Combine tanks? Too dark to tell. Whatever they were, they were heading this way. No headlights; no surprise. They were getting closer.
They looked almost like the moon rovers from the Apollo missions; open topped buggies with big wheels and low to the ground. Made out of the same material as their guns and tanks; a dark, shiny metal looking substance.
Four Combine sitting in each, all armed with their usual rifles.
Heading this way.
Maybe if we were quiet they'd just pass by?
Wait. This road doesn't lead anywhere else.
They were coming for us.
Well, if I was quiet...
Far too stoned for this shit.
Shit.
Combine!
I leapt up, sprinted back down the path. Drew my handgun. Didn't have my shotgun; stupid! I'd dropped it by the house on my way down the path.
"Combine!" I yelled, emerging back at the house. "They're coming!"
Everyone clambered for their weapon. We'd all encountered these forces before and knew all too well what they were capable of.
My shouts only gave us a few seconds of warning, but that made all the difference. With the roar of engines and wheels skidding on gravel, the Combine buggies sped into view and screeched to a stop. The troops leapt out and without hesitation fired wildly at the group.
I was lucky; I was at the other end of the pad, covered by the house. The soldiers hadn't seen me, though our people knew where I was. I recovered my shotgun, cocked it and went to take them on.
Sprinting around the back of the house, I emerged meters from the vehicles, with the Combine's backs to me. Two had been killed, but the other six fired on regardless. I'd have to be careful, dodging the gunfire from my people. There were a lot of us, so there was a constant hail of bullets. I took aim and blasted one of the soldiers in the back, a millisecond too late; he'd already been struck in the head by a rifle shot. Five remaining.
Two more were cut down with a burst of submachine gun fire, and I picked off two from behind. The final soldier took cover behind his buggy, no doubt knowing the end was near but making no attempt to retreat. He crouched there, occasionally letting out a burst of rounds toward the group.
I approached from the rear and pressed the barrel into his back.
"Give it up, cunt."
The Combine froze. Dropped his gun.
"On your feet."
He stood slowly, pulling something from his boot. I pulled the barrel back a bit, cautious.
"That's a big knife you've got there." I said quietly.
The soldier pirouetted, up swung his leg and around came the knife, trying to slash me across the neck. Without hesitation I let loose both barrels. He fell, knife still in hand. I picked it up and looked at it. It was nice.
"Good job, mate." said David somberly, having come over.
"You alright?" Dad asked, joining us.
"Fine." I told him, handing him the knife and hugging Heidi, who'd followed.
"What's the damage?" yelled David.
"Jim's down! Jesse took a round to the shoulder. Julius is bleeding from the leg." someone called back.
"Fuck. I'd better deal with this." Dad said, passing the knife to David and rushing off.
David, Heidi and I went to look at the vehicles and deal with the corpses. We dragged them into a pile, removing all their weapons and clips.
"Harry! That one's moving!" Heidi called, pointing at the last corpse. Sure enough, the Combine was alive and trying to crawl away. I aimed my shotgun, but was too slow; David lobbed the knife and caught him in the back. I rushed over and pressed my foot down on his neck, shotgun pointed at his head.
"Speak quickly or you'll never speak again." David commanded, "What are you doing here?"
There was a garbled, unintelligible reply.
"Heidi, go grab some rope." I said, then to the Combine, "I'm not going to kill you. Yet."
"You think he could be useful?" David asked,
"Perhaps. But then, perhaps not."
Heidi returned with a coil of rope. While I was distracted, the Combine jerked, grabbed my leg and pulled me to the ground, rolled away and pulled something from his belt. It looked like a small revolver. David shouted and leapt at him, not before the he pulled the trigger. Not at either of us; I at first thought the shot had gone wild. A small, red ball shot out and into the air, glowing brightly. Some sort of flare. David ripped the thing from his hand and tossed it away, twisting the soldier's arm, kneeling on his back. He struggled, but I shoved my knee into his neck and held it there. Heidi unwound the rope and together we hogtied him tightly.
The flare hung in the air for a few minutes before burning out and fading from view. Not good.
"Now, let's see what's behind that mask." I said, tearing the thick white plastic from the soldier's head.
His face was not unlike that of a regular man. He had long, matted black hair and milky white eyes. No iris. There were bright red circles around his eyes; the eyepieces in the helmet clearly attached to his face. His skin was pale, almost albino. There were two large protrusions on his neck, ending in raw, bloody stumps. The inside of the helmet tapped into these, though for what purpose I couldn't fathom. His nose was flattened and insignificant, ears almost nonexistent. The mouth was essentially the same as a normal mouth, except that his teeth were all sharpened. They clicked when he talked.
He spat blood and teeth, glared at the three of us.
"My brothers will be here. You will all die, they will give you no mercy. I will return a hero. Fuck you." he said, breathing heavily.
"We'll see about that." I said, whacking him in the forehead with the butt of my shotgun. He went out cold.
"That flare will have lit up the place for miles. They know we're here now. They'll send more." David said gravely.
I put down my gun and moved back to the fire, where the rest of the people were sitting, bandaging their wounds and trying to calm down.
"My friends," I said, "Eat, drink, and be merry. For tomorrow we shall surely die."