The rain came and went while the twins walked southward on I-81. It rained sideways at times before tapering off into a light drizzle before dumping on them again. By the time their tired legs finally led them to an exit, Zack was bordering on both mental and physical exhaustion. Too much had happened in the last twenty-odd hours and he was past the point where he could process any of it. Long past it. He trudged down the ramp and stared at a sign reading Hotel .4 miles on right and wondered why it was written in Hungarian. He wanted to ask Cody if he could translate it but it was too much of an effort.
Cody slipped his arm over his brother's shoulders and steered him the rest of the way. He looked over and swore that Zack was walking with his eyes closed and his legs on autopilot. He moved his arm from Zack's shoulders to his waist and let himself be leaned on. "C'mon, Zack, we're almost there," he said almost as much to himself as to Zack as he steered them into the hotel's parking lot. He was feeling it, too, but it was his turn to step up. Zack had done it for him more than enough in the past few weeks and it was his turn to repay the favor.
Walking the both of them up both parts of a set of switch-back steps while carrying their bags would have been impossible so Cody left them at the bottom of the stairs before picking Zack up. His eyes widened as he realized how much weight his brother had lost. "He's like a pre-zombie me," Cody mumbled as he started climbing. His legs were burning by the time he reached the last step and began checking rooms.
"Here we go." Cody pushed open the first unlocked door he found and sat his brother down at the foot of the bed. He listened intently for a moment, eyes flashing back to the open doorway and right hand dropping to the pistol in his pocket. "Just the rain, I think," he said as he began to help Zack out of his soaked clothes. Cody laid Zack down and pulled the blankets to his chin and stood up.
Cody pulled the door shut behind him, taking care to remember the 227 on the door, as he went to retrieve their belongings. He stopped at the top of the stairs and cocked his head to the side and listened again. He was all but certain he heard something close by but couldn't put a name to the low sound over the rain. Cody frowned and crept down the steps and slipped their bags over his shoulder. His skin began to crawl and he hurried back to their temporary room.
He'd gotten as far as taking off his shirt and shoes when the unknown sound began to gnaw at the back of his mind. What was it? Where was whatever was making it? Could it be a person? A lone zombie? He glanced over at his sleeping, no, comatose was more like it, brother and then to the door. He knew what he was doing wasn't the smartest thing he could do but he also knew that he had to do it. Zack wouldn't be hesitant about it. "Crap," he said as he picked the pistol up and cracked the door two inches.
All he heard was rain when he stepped into the hallway. It was still pounding on the roof and eaves and he could hear a creek rushing against its banks somewhere not too far away. Cody slipped out of the room and pressed himself against the wall as he slowly moved down the hall. He peered out from the shadows into the darkness but he didn't see anything. Cody crouched a little lower, gun ready, as he stepped around the corner. "Oh come on," he whispered as he heard his pulse throbbing in his ears. "Stop being so jumpy, Cody." He forced himself to take a deep breath to steady his nerves.
The hotel was laid out like a giant square, the doors on the outside walls while windows on the inside wall overlooked the center courtyard and pool. Cody's circuit around the building took him no more than three minutes. He heard the sound a handful of times but was no closer to figuring out what he'd heard than he was when he started. Cody briefly considered going down to the ground level to check further but threw that idea away. He wasn't going that far away from his brother while he was all but unconscious. Not a chance.
"It was irregular, I know that much," Cody said as he kicked off his wet shorts and underwear and sat on the side of the bed. "Like the wind occasionally blustering against something. But there isn't much wind tonight." Cody sighed as he pulled the bandage from his thigh and inspected the cut and stitches. A finger run over them quickly revealed that they were tender. A closer look under the flashlight would reveal that they were probably red, too, he figured. He felt around for it before realizing it was sitting on the table by the door. "Great. Might be getting infected. That's awesome."
Cody slid under the sheets and pulled them up and willed himself to sleep. He envied Zack's ability to drop off at a moment's notice while he tossed and turned over the next ten minutes. The rain slackened momentarily and he heard the sound again and his eyes popped wide open. That was a zombie sound. It had to be. He heard it again a few seconds later and knew he was right. It was a zombie, that was certain, but this sounded different. He thought back, trying to replay the times he'd heard it earlier in his mind, comparing it to the sounds he'd heard the zombies make over the past weeks. His eyes darted to the curtains on the wall behind him and he knew where it was. He had a pretty good idea what the sound was and it was ridiculous. Preposterous. "No way. Absolutely no way."
Cody pulled aside the curtains and was squinting into the dim light in less than a second and saw almost exactly what he was expecting. Half in and half out of the baby pool was a zombie, laying on its belly with something large and obviously heavy pinning its legs in the shallow water. Cody couldn't tell if it was looking at him but he was certain it knew he was there. It could sense him. Smell him. Or something. The short hairs on the nape of his neck and arms stood up. It turned its face to the sky and moaned or brayed or whatever it was doing again and Cody felt, or at least imagined he felt, the low bass rumble of the call shake the pane of glass ever so slightly.
It was simply not possible for the zombie to be calling out to its kind but it was. Cody knew it was. "It's like that raptor from that Jurassic Park movie. It's calling for help." Or telling all his zombie friends that we're here, his mind added. Cody shivered at the thought while cursing himself for not checking the courtyard earlier. "Shit," he said, drawing the word out into a three-second growl.
He looked between the window and his brother a few times while he made up his mind. It all boiled down to the fact that Zack needed to sleep so that meant the zombie needed to die. It amazed him in a distant way how easily he decided to put the zombie down. Before everything went to pieces, he wouldn't have even considered picking up a gun, loaded or not. Cody looked around the room for his clothes but they had disappeared from view in the dark room. He started heading for their bags but stopped. Taking care of the zombie had to come before any modesty. "Didn't think I'd ever be doing this, either," Cody said softly as he walked out the door naked, gun in one hand and flashlight in the other.
Cody paused at the switchback and listened for a few seconds before finishing his descent. He walked along the wall again, edging slowly to one of the corridors that led to the courtyard. He poked his head around the corner and saw the same scene he saw from the window. As he made his way to the zombie, it turned its head in Cody's direction and he swore he could hear the creak of the tendons in its neck. He flipped the light on and the zombie looked ten times worse than it did in the dark.
The rain pounded against his body as he approached and he absently wished he'd thought to at least grab his hat before he came out. Cody pushed his soaked hair back out of his eyes and looked down at the thing before him. It reached feebly for him but he stood well out of reach as he shone the light on it and studied the creature. As much as he knew he should shoot the thing and be done with it, he couldn't. The zombie was as fascinating to him as it was revolting. This was the first time he'd had the chance to actually look at one while not running for his life.
Cody's gaze panned down its body and saw its feet sticking out from under a hunk of thick metal. He had no idea how the zombie had come to be pinned under it and rightly didn't care. He squatted down at its side and nearly fell backwards into the pool when its toes moved. "What? Your spine has to be crushed. How are you moving your feet?" he asked the thing as it writhed and tried to reach for him with a mangled arm. "And why haven't you rotted yet?" Cody could see mold growing in spots on the creature's body but it didn't seem to be affecting it in any way. He chewed on his lower lip as he studied it. Its pupils never changed when he put the light in its eyes, he noted.
Cody was debating the merits of trying to shift the metal and see how well it could get around when it let out another low, booming moan. His gaze darted to all the entryways to the courtyard as the echo died away. "No, that's not happening." He stood up and walked back to its head, aiming the gun before taking another ten steps backwards to hopefully avoid any splatter. Cody adjusted his aim and pulled the trigger, flinching as the handgun boomed in the enclosed space. Its head shattered and body no longer moving, he flicked the safety on and started back to the room.
He opened their door and expected Zack to be up and waiting for him but was surprised when he saw that Zack still hadn't moved. He gently closed the door behind him and, now that he wasn't in a rush, dried off and pulled his last pair of dry underwear on. He gave his hair a quick toweling before climbing into the second bed. He yawned once and turned on his side and was asleep before he knew it.
"You should have woken me up," Zack told him as he recounted his adventure the next afternoon. The rain had passed over sometime while they slept and they were enjoying bright sunlight as they stood over the zombie. "And that was the third Jurassic Park, by the way."
"Whatever movie it was, that's what it was doing."
"That's insane."
"It might be insane, but it's true."
"I didn't say it wasn't true," Zack told him, "just insane. You might be wrong about some things, but your record is just about perfect when it comes to these things." Zack toed the remains of the zombie's head with his boot for emphasis.
"Thanks, Zack."
"No problem. You know more or have figured out more about these things than anyone else on the planet, I bet."
"You know what I was afraid of when I looked into its eyes?" Cody asked after they'd passed a few quiet seconds.
"That the zombie would see your junk and point and laugh?" Zack smiled and punched his brother lightly on the shoulder. "I'm kidding. What?"
"That I'd look into its eyes and see some remnant of its humanity trapped in there. I don't know if I'd have been able to pull the trigger if I had."
"Wow, like they were stuck in a monster's body? That's...awful."
"Tell me about it." Cody turned and started walking back to their room. "Should we move on today? I know we slept way in and it's already after four but there's still a lot of daylight left."
"I vote we take the rest of today off. We've traveled enough over the last few weeks and I'm honestly a little sick of highways. We can gear up today and head out tomorrow. There's got to be a Walmart or something in this little burg."
"It's hard for me to believe you want to go into one of those places now."
"I still don't but I didn't think it would be so hard to find the things we need laying around." The twins made a quick stop in the room to better arm themselves before beginning the walk into town. Their luck seemed to be on the upswing after the previous day as they found the giant box a little more than a mile down the street from the hotel.
Once inside the building, all their chatter died away and they got right to work. A cart apiece, they quickly loaded them with clothes, food, and all the water they could find. Their haul was larger than it had been at the last store but it still wasn't as much as either boy had been hoping for.
"We've really got to find something, a deer, a goat, a cow, a rhinoceros, or whatever, and shoot it," Zack said as he tossed a can of sausages into his cart. "I am dying for some meat that doesn't have an expiration date on it." Cody could only nod. They needed protein badly and he knew it as well as Zack did.
"Unless you're in the mood for dog, we're out of luck. That's about all I've seen over the last few days and there even haven't been many of them."
"Do you think the virus or whatever it is that causes people to turn into deadheads affected the other animals?."
"I'm not sure yet. I've been thinking about it but can't make a decision. We've seen a few deer in the woods and by the sides of the roads but I don't understand why there aren't more. I'd think that since there isn't anyone around to shoot or spook them, they'd be everywhere."
"Maybe they're all hiding from the zombies."
"That's the only thing I can think of that makes any sense. It's either that or they're almost all dead."
"Well, one way or the other, I want to shoot one. Hell, I'd almost even settle for dog right about now." Zack put a hand on his belly as it rumbled silently.
"I'd much rather have a deer myself." Eating something that he considered a pet wasn't high on his list of things to do.
They finished up their shopping spree by gathering the remaining few boxes of bullets and then headed for the front of the store. Zack spared the building one last glance over his shoulder as they walked out and Cody could feel the pent-up tension leave his brother as they crossed the parking lot.
"Did you grab any soap while we were in there, Cody?" Zack asked as they rolled the carts to the base of the steps.
"Um, no, because there's soap in the room. Shampoo, too. I saw them earlier. Why? Are you finally starting to smell yourself?"
"Not quite. Now lift up your end and we'll carry it up to the room," Zack said as he lifted. "I figured that since you said there's a creek somewhere around here, we can clean up and use it as a cooler at the same time."
"Use it as a cooler? What are you talking about?" Cody exhaled and set his end of the cart down on the second floor landing. They gave it a little push down the hall and returned for the second.
"For the beer I've been carrying around for the last week. It hit me while we were shopping. The water will be cold, hopefully, at least, and it can chill the beer while we clean up."
"That's not quite what I was expecting but yeah, it should work. I was wondering why you hadn't drank it yet."
"You don't drink warm beer, Cody. It has to be-ouch! Shit. Hang on, I'm not ready yet. Now lift." They maneuvered the second cart up the stairs. "As I was saying before you hit me with the cart, it has to be cold." Zack rubbed his shin before pushing the cart to their room.
A short while later, they were waist deep in a cold stream. They'd found the stream and, after walking along the bank for a few moments, found a wide stretch with slower water. Their filthy clothes were strewn about on the ground while their pistols rested within easy reach on two piles of clean towels. Soap film and bubbles drifted lazily away downstream and the beer chilled in a deep pocket Zack discovered a few feet from the bank.
"You know, times like this can almost make me forget that there's zombies everywhere," Zack said as he swam over to the bank and put his arms on the warm earth. He laid his head on top of them and looked over at Cody.
"It's no Tipton pool but it'll do, that's for sure," Cody said before he dunked his head and rinsed the shampoo out. He flicked all his hair back and sank to his knees and let the water lap at his chin.
The twins laid around and generally relaxed for the next hour, soaking in the sun until it started to set behind the trees. They climbed out and wrapped towels around themselves, more out of habit than anything else, and returned to the room with guns and beer in hand.
"Eww gross!" Zack said later after his first mouthful of beer. "People actually drink this stuff?"
"That bad, huh?" Cody asked, covering a smirk with his hand.
"Yeah that bad. It tastes like...pee water with an extra helping of rat snot." Zack took another sip. "And some yak asshole mixed in for flavor."
"It tastes that bad, yet you take another drink." Cody rolled his eyes.
"Beer is an acquired taste, Cody. I just haven't happened to acquire it yet." Zack took a third gulp and grimaced.
"Well, you've got five and a half to go, Zack. I like your descriptions, by the way."
"Thanks," Zack said around another gulp. "That one tasted like a sweaty jock strap with a side of Mom's pork casserole."
"Okay, I lied. Your descriptions are nasty."
"You sure you don't want one of these?"
"I'm good. I have to drive later," Cody laughed.
Cody wasn't wild about the idea of Zack drinking beer with zombies running around. To him, it sounded like a recipe for getting bitten since it would be much harder to defend yourself with alcohol running through your system. However, despite his reservations, he eventually relented. They hadn't seen more than a handful of zombies all day and Zack had promised to pace himself and not actually get drunk. "I figured I'd end up doing this eventually but I didn't think it would be until we were at least sixteen," Cody had told him when Zack popped the first bottle.
"Cheers," Zack had replied and clinked his bottle against Cody's water glass.
While Zack drank and made horrible faces, Cody busied himself with their new supplies. Sorting clothes was much easier as they were both essentially the same now. He put half the pile on Zack's bed and carefully placed the other half in his bag. Once that was done, Cody put together the largest meal they'd seen since they'd left the hotel. It wasn't five-star dining by any stretch of the imagination but it was still quickly inhaled, potted meat and all, and they sat back on the threadbare beds with full bellies. They talked the night in and neither boy noticed when they fell asleep.
They were well rested the next morning. The lethargy and mental fatigue that had consumed them over the last days was gone, scoured away by a full day of rest and recovery. They ate and packed up their possessions and were ready, perhaps even eager, to move on.
The twins left the hotel, as well as three unopened beers, behind and set out for town again after trying all the cars in the hotel's lot and coming up unsuccessful in their search for transportation. Zack peppered their walk with random questions and comments, leading Cody to believe that the day of rest had done his brother far more good than he knew. He hadn't been this lively in...Cody wasn't sure. Maybe since the first day or two out of Boston. He made a point to eventually bring up occasionally taking a day off during their travels to recharge themselves.
They could see the roof of the Walmart they'd visited the night before and Cody was running a checklist of important items through his mind, ensuring that they had all the little things they could possibly need before they set out again. A small detour back to the store now would only take them a few minutes and potentially save them a lot of trouble if they couldn't resupply again for a while. He came to the conclusion that they were good to go and was about to tell Zack so when his brother stopped dead in his tracks. Busy looking across the street instead in front of him, he ran into Zack's shoulder and bounced back a step.
"How about a little warning next time?" Cody said and peered at Zack's face. Zack was standing completely still and looking past a line of hedges and into the parking lot. Cody followed his gaze. "What the hell is that? A tank?"
"It sure is," Zack nodded and started walking again. He stopped by its massive slab side and ran a hand lovingly over the warm metal. ""This is an M1A2 Abrams...wait, no, not quite. It's a little different."
"That's right, it's a prototype A3," a voice called out from above them. Cody stumbled backwards and fell on his rear as he struggled to pull the pistol on the man, young man, he noted, that popped up in the turret.
"Easy kid, put the gun down," the man told him, putting his empty hands out in front of him. "I watched you both walk all the way down the street. If I was going to do something, this girl could have done it long before now." He patted the turret while Cody lowered the gun and dusted his butt off as he stood up.
"What are you doing here, Mr. Riley?" he asked, having read the name on the man's patch while Zack was busy fawning over the enormous vehicle.
"Right now I'm babysitting this hunk of zombie-mashing metal while my buddies try to find some fuel to feed her."
"Out of gas?" Zack asked absently, his voice still full of amazement and awe.
"Close enough, anyway," the man told him.
"Where'd you get it?"
"We were hauling ass south after our unit got chewed to pieces and decided to go through Philly. We'd heard sporadic radio traffic that there was still a functioning force holding out in the city and thought it would be a good place to go. It wasn't. Everyone was dead, we got trapped, escaped, and found this bad girl sitting in a lonely depot."
"How'd you escape?" Cody asked him, finally trusting him enough to put the pistol back in his pocket.
"We burned down Philly."
"You burned down Philadelphia?" Cody's eyes bugged out.
"Most of it."
"How?"
"Aviation gas is incredibly flammable, kid. Add in a lot of wind and no rain for who knows how long, and you've got one hell of an inferno."
"Holy crap," was all Cody could reply.
"Yeah, that's about the same thing me and my buddies said as we were leaving. And speak of the devil, here they come now." The man pointed down the street and a sand-colored shape began to resolve itself into a Humvee as it approached. "How'd it go, fellas?" he asked when it pulled to a stop a few feet away.
"We found a tanker about five miles down the road so we're good on gas now. Who're your new friends, Riley?"
"They're, uh, I don't know. We didn't get that far yet."
"I'm Zack and this is Cody," Zack told him, not taking his eyes off the machine gun sitting atop the Humvee. Cody was just waiting for the first rivulet of drool to roll down his chin any minute now.
The three men on the Humvee went silent and looked at the twins and then at Riley. Riley looked at them and then his friends. One shook his head and whispered to the driver.
"What? What is it?" Cody finally asked when the silence reached five seconds.
"It isn't possible," one of them said.
"Zombies aren't supposed to be possible either," Riley retorted. "Okay, I'll ask. Boys, would your last name happen to be Martin?"
"Yeah," Zack told him, "it is."
"No fuckin' way," came from the Humvee. "No fuckin' way. Someone go get me a lottery ticket."
"How'd you know that?"
"Because we met your mother in New York," Riley told them.
Don't you just hate cliffhangers? I sure do. Somehow I posted the last two times without the notes on the end of the chapters. Not sure how I managed to do this twice but oh well. There probably wasn't anything important in them anyway. What is important is that the story is now two or three chapters past its midpoint. I'm going to do my damnedest to get it finished in the next six weeks because I don't want it hanging over my head while I'm laying on the beach at the end of June.
And for the record, Zack was drinking Bud Light. I've never actually tasted pee water with rat snot added in, but I'm pretty sure it would taste exactly like Bud Light. Also, I really hate Philadelphia.