My Dead World 2 Page 6

  The ride was only a couple minutes and conversation was nil, until we pulled over.

  “Where you from?” Corbin asked.

  “I lived a good bit of the year in New York.”

  “City?”

  “Yeah.”

  “Where are you from originally?” Corbin asked.

  “Edgewood. It’s a suburb of Pittsburgh,”

  He shook his head. “Not that. I’m trying to place the accent.”

  “I don’t have an accent.”

  He waved his finger. “Yeah, you do.”

  “You sound like Nila,” I exhaled. “I was born in Serbia.”

  “Ah, okay, makes sense. I knew I heard a Russian accent.”

  I stopped walking. “I’m not Russian.” I dropped my voice to a mumble. “Now for sure you sound like Nila.”

  “Smoke’s back.” He pointed.

  I looked to the sky. “It is.”

  “You ever been in the Boy Scouts?”

  I gave him an odd look, it was one of those questions Nila complained about. “No.”

  “I have. Then again, don’t you have to be an American citizen to be a Scout? Or is that not gay?”

  I followed the smoke and kept walking, we weren’t far from the camp. “I believe you can be either and be a Scout. Besides, I am a citizen. My father is American.”

  “Funny thing about the Scouts…”

  “Do you mind if we don’t talk?”

  “Oh, sure, yeah.” He mocked zipping his mouth.

  “Quiet is best in case there are a lot of people there.”

  His mouth tightly closed, he nodded.

  We approached the camp from the west, coming behind the rest rooms and showers that were near the community center.

  Seeing it brought back memories of the day my father was bit, and Lisa was attacked. A good bit of the community center was still secure, which told me bodies were still inside. They had turned violent and more than likely, turned into what we called corkers. It was quiet and I was trying to determine where the smoke came from.

  There was a smell about the camp; rotten and putrid. As we came around the front of the community center, Corbin pointed to the body of an infected. Some of his limbs were black, that was part of the virus. I could see those dark spider veins crawling across his cheek. He hadn’t begun to fully decompose so that told me he had been killed before the final stage, during the maddened stage, while he was still alive. Fresh blood encircled his head.

  “Looks like the new residents here are cleaning up,” Corbin said.

  I pulled out my weapon. I didn’t see a group of people, in fact, I saw only a horse. Stepping closer quietly, I saw a thin stream of smoke, and as I veered to my right I saw a man by the fire.

  I couldn’t tell his age, if he were injured or infected.

  Lifting my rifle, I cleared my throat.

  He sprang up and spun around.

  “Jesus,” he gasped and grabbed his chest. “Lev. Lev Boswick. Son of a bitch.” He came my way.

  I knew him. I had known him since school when he and his family used to spend weekends in the summer up at Big Bear. Admittedly, I was in shock to see someone I hadn’t been in contact with for ages. Scott Gilner. He looked the same, a little older, of course we all were. Last I heard he was married and living somewhere in Kentucky.

  Scott extended his hand with firm gratitude and stepped into me for an embrace.

  “You big son of a bitch,” Scott said.

  “Scott … What … what brings you here?”

  “This is crazy. I … was looking for my parents.”

  Finally, I relaxed. His parents. They still occasionally came to the camp.

  “I thought they may have come here,” Scott said. “They weren’t at the house.”

  I shook my head. “No, I’m sorry. They didn’t come here at the onset. I haven’t seen them.”

  Scott lowered his head. “Their house was torn apart. Lots of blood, I was hoping … I thought if I checked here, they might be here. That this place was far enough away. “

  “It is. It was a good retreat spot,” I said.

  “Where is everyone?” he asked.

  “They left. A lot got sick. The infection came with the people. We were never really safe.”

  “Shame.” He looked around. “This could be a great place to wait it all out.”

  “I agree. Are you alone?” I asked.

  “Yeah. I was at a Green area in Kentucky. It was overrun about six weeks ago.”

  “Six weeks?” I asked. “That’s not long.”

  “It held up, but the infection came back. I lost my wife and two sons.”

  “I’m sorry,” I said. “Really sorry.”

  “Thank you.” He extended a hand and stroked the calm horse. “At least I have Seltzer.”

  “Beautiful animal.”

  His eyes shifted to Corbin. “I see you’re not alone.”

  Corbin extended his hand and introduced himself, but gave no other details.

  “Your father?” Scott asked.

  “Passed away.”

  “I didn’t know anyone was here. It didn’t look like it,” Scott said. “Were you out hunting?”

  “Yeah,” Corbin said. “We move around a lot.”

  It was strange to hear Corbin outright lie like that.

  “So were you in the Boy Scouts with Lev?” Corbin asked.

  Scott, too, gave a weird look to Corbin and replied. “Um, I don’t think Lev was in the Scouts with me.”

  “I wasn’t,” I said. “Actually, Corbin is new to our camp.”

  “Our?” Scott asked.

  “Nila.”

  “Holy shit. Is she at her old man’s property? I didn’t even think to check there. Then again, why would I? That place didn’t strike me as a long term place.”

  “We’re doing well,” I said. “We have a group. In fact ... Nila will be happy to see you if you want to come down.”

  “I … I would really appreciate that. I put my stuff in the office to make camp,” he said with a point over to the office. “I’ll grab it. Can I bring Seltzer?”

  “Absolutely and I’ll help you.” I started to follow him and noticed Corbin was still by the fire. He stomped it out and was staring down. “You coming?”

  “Yeah, yeah.”

  I took a step.

  “You know …” Corbin said. “I was in the Boy Scouts. The whole thing. Cub Scouts, Boy Scouts. You should have been a Scout.”

  Stopping cold, I grunted. “I wasn’t a Scout, so what, why does it matter?”

  “Cause you wouldn’t have been so quick to tell him about the camp.” Corbin shrugged.

  “I know him.”

  “Okay, but if you were in the Scouts …”

  “Corbin!” I snapped.

  He remained calm. “Lots of green in the fire, makes white smoke, two spurts of smoke every thirty seconds. That damp rug.” He pointed. “Two puffs of smoke, means location and safe. Had you been in the Scouts you may have noticed your friend was sending smoke signals. Just sayin’.” He walked by me toward the office.

  I looked down at the extinguished fire. Corbin was right, there was lots of green. Grass, branches with leaves and beside it was a thin rug. I reached down for it and sure enough it was wet. I was amazed, Corbin’s random questions actually held meaning. I didn’t know the technical aspects, and I wasn’t a Scout, but Corbin couldn’t be right. There was no way Scott was sending smoke signals. Why would he? The bigger question being, if by chance he was; who was he sending them to?

  TEN - SPACE

  I didn’t really know Sue Ellen. Two days on my property and my opinion of her was that of a weak woman resigned to staying in the shadows.

  That wasn’t the case. The sixty year old mother to Corbin, and grandmother to Sawyer was tired and cranky, and wasn’t a particular fan of Bens’. An opinion that wasn’t a recent one, they had been neighbors. Because of that she decided just to stay in the trailer. That was until Ben noticed E
di had started coughing. He attributed it to the humidity and heat and ordered her to rest in the back room with the AC.

  “It’s not very apocalyptic,” Ben said to me. “So take advantage of it. She needs to rest. I know she comes across pretty spry, but Edi is on the downside half of life.”

  I wasn’t sure what he meant by that. Was she dying? I asked him that. To which he replied, “She’s in her eighties, what do you think?”

  Suddenly I grew depressed. How could Edi be well one day and the next at death’s door? It was after my conversation with Ben that Sue Ellen came into the cabin.

  After a few minutes, she emerged from the back room and went immediately to the kitchen.

  “I have been informed,” Sue Ellen said. “In the best interest of your child, I should prepare lunch.”

  “Oh my God, I’m not that bad.”

  Sue Ellen just smiled. She had a warm face with short salt and pepper hair, yet her face sagged some, making her look worn. I attributed it to losing her husband, stress and possibly weight loss.

  She had come to check on Edi and see if she needed anything. Not because Sue was a nurse, but because, as she put it, “Ben’s bedside manner sucks.”

  “Really?” I asked.

  “Oh, sure.”

  “Cade was so nice,” I said.

  “Brian, you mean?” she asked. ‘Oh, he took after his mom.”

  “What kind of doctor was he?”

  “A plastic surgeon.”

  “Ha!” I proclaimed loudly with a victorious slap of my hand to the counter. “I knew it.”

  “Don’t let the title fool you. He knows his stuff. Wasn’t always a vanity plastic surgeon.” She turned to search the cabinets. “He used to help people who had injuries. I don’t know what turned him to breast jobs. Ah, here, this must be what she meant.” She brought two jars and put them on the counter. One was dehydrated vegetables, the other was Edi’s dehydrated stock.

  “See, I could do that.” I pointed to the jars.

  “According to Edi, you tried once and the vegetables were hard and the stock salty.”

  I shrugged. “You’ll have that. If people are hungry, they’ll eat it.”

  “You’re fortunate to be in that position. This place is life,” Sue Ellen said. “But is it fair to just assume there’s no other life out there? I think Lev’s proposal has merit and I think Ben will change his mind and go along with it.”

  “So Lev talked to him about the search parties? He didn’t mention it to me, only that we had to try the radio again.”

  “They spoke early this morning,” Sue Ellen said. “Corbin wants to do that. Ben wants to go to Canada. Said we would have been there already had we not been looking for Brian.”

  “What about you?” I asked.

  “I want what’s best for my grandson and son. I’ve got to see a little of what’s out there and there’s nothing. Death is everywhere. Maybe in a few years things will grow again. Not now. Not with those things still there. We spent months on that boat. We had all we needed but it wasn’t a picnic.”

  “And Ben is convinced on Canada?”

  “For sure.” Her head turned at the same time the sound caught my attention. “Was that a horse?” she asked.

  I, too, had heard the ‘neigh’, and hurried to the front door. When I opened it, I saw Lev driving through the gate, Ben stood off to the side holding it, but already on the property was a man on horseback. After my initial thought of ‘where the hell are we gonna keep a horse?’ I recognized the rider.

  Seeing someone from the past not only was a shock, but a glimmer of hope. There were indeed more people out there.

  <><><><>

  Although I had known Scott since grade school, I wasn’t inclined to run to him and wholeheartedly embrace him like a long lost love. It was good to see him and I did give him a quick hug.

  I was, and then I wasn’t surprised that he went to Big Bear. It sat higher than my cabin and wasn’t as enclosed. It made sense he never saw smoke from our camp, then again, neither did Ben, and they were looking for us.

  The horse was beautiful, brown and silky. The kids were excited and raced out to see him. I kept them back because I wasn’t sure how the horse would respond to the kids.

  They all reached out timidly to touch his mane. He was very calm and gentle and I held onto his reins, surrounded by the kids, while Lev took Scott and showed him where he could clean up and set up his tent. Our fenced in property was a decent size, but it surprised me that Lev wasn’t even inviting Scott into the cabin.

  “Can I ride him, Mommy?” Katie asked.

  “Oh, I don’t know. He’s not mine so I can’t say. But if you’re allowed, let me take him out and judge.”

  Corbin asked. “You ride?”

  I nodded. “I’m not great, it has been a while.”

  At that moment, Lev returned. “I have him set away from Edi’s camper. Don’t want her chickens to bother him.”

  Both Lev and I looked quickly at Corbin, who snickered.

  Lev reached out and stroked the horse’s nose. “His name is Seltzer.”

  “He’s a thoroughbred,” I said. “We don’t have enough land here for him. What are we gonna do if Scott stays?”

  “We can build a fenced in area in the back but he’s gonna need turnout,” Lev said. “Most of the day he needs to be out. I mean, he’s pretty calm so I don’t see him running amuck. We can take him out or Scott can. Just have to watch the roads. He already made the trip hundreds of miles on concrete. I’m surprised he’s still walking good.”

  “Can take him up to Big Bear,” I suggested. “The trails are still there from when your father had horses.”

  Lev nodded. “Could. Depends if Scott stays.”

  “Odd isn’t it,” I asked, “that he ended up at Big Bear.”

  “He was looking for his family.”

  “Yeah, but Scott? Maybe he changed. But he was a terrible camper. Hated it. Hell, he got kicked out of Boy Scouts.”

  Suddenly, Corbin laughed and shook his head. “Well he picked up something from it. Hey, do you cut hair.”

  “No.” I answered.

  “Didn’t think so. Maybe I’ll have the doc have a go at it. He’s good with shaping things. Or ….” He clapped his hands together once. “Hey, kids, I found a pair of clippers. Who wants to help me cut my hair?”

  Sawyer, Billy and Katie all screamed excitedly that they did.

  “Let’s go.” Corbin waved them to follow. “Hey, Lev, tell her about the Scouts.”

  I heard Lev groan as Corbin led the kids toward the RV.

  “Lev, he is so strange.”

  “You think?”

  “Out of the blue he wants a haircut. And he’s gonna let the kids cut his hair.”

  “I can’t imagine it would be any worse than it is. Walk with me,” Lev said, took the rein of the horse and led the way.

  I had to laugh at Lev’s comment. It was funny coming from a man who cropped his hair so short it stuck up everywhere.

  “What’s going on?” I asked.

  “Corbin wants to talk Ben into staying for a little bit. Maybe doing some scouting trips with me.”

  “That’s good,” I said. “Sue Ellen isn’t a fan of leaving yet. But this isn’t what you want to talk to me about, is it?”

  Lev shook his head. “Corbin thinks that Scott was sending smoke signals. It’s the top of the highest point, it could be seen for miles.”

  I stopped walking. “That sounds absurd. What do you think?”

  “I don’t know what to think. I mean, I don’t know about making smoke signals. Corbin seems to think he had the makings.”

  “Corbin?”

  “He was in the Boy Scouts.”

  “Okay. But why?” I asked. “Why send signals?”

  “Maybe he’s with a larger group. No radio and this was his sign to them that he found a place.”

  “If he was with a larger group, why come with us? Why not say something?”


  Lev stopped walking. “Because maybe Big Bear isn’t what they want.”

  It took me a second and then I laughed at the notion. “You mean this place?”

  “Yes. We have water, means of survival. Safety. We can sustain life here indefinitely.”

  “Lev really, who knows about this place and what we have?” Before Lev could answer, it came to me. “Oh, shit. All the radio contacts I made.”

  “Yep.”

  “I lost contact with them.”

  “We can’t rule it out. The last they knew, you were leaving. So …” Lev started walking the horse again. “We just remain diligent.”

  But Scott? No way. No how. He was just a lost soul, looking for his family and trying to survive.

  I heard Lev’s words, but the more I thought about it, the more I believed we were over thinking and possibly paranoid. Being neurotic about it was easy. Movies and books showed us there was no peace in a dead world. Where there was life, there was always someone who would want to take it. Our camp was secluded and small. Isolated and hidden. However, if by some chance Corbin was right and Scott was sending signals, our little haven wasn’t as secluded and safe as we hoped it would be.

  ELEVEN – TANGLED

  August 8

  It lunged with speed and energy like I had never seen an infected move. His head cocked and he sniffed loudly. He sensed we watched him and was trying to catch our scent. The man, who was about thirty was still very much alive, infected and had entered the rabid stage. His skin was pasty white, dark veins looked like a roadmap on his face. He was obviously infected through a bite on his arm. That wound hadn’t healed. The entire arm was black and seemed to ooze.

  He moved freely about the inside of a ten by twelve shed. We watched him through a small opening in the wall. It was a pre-fabricated unit Lev picked up from the home store on the highway south of us. Lev and Corbin put it together, erecting it outside the fence of my father’s property. Lev bitched because he had just gone down to that same home store, the day before to get a shed that he reconstructed to work as a small stall for Seltzer.

  “I swear to God, Nila,’ Lev said. “All I do is build things on this property.”