A New Night Ch. 8 Almost Normal
Closure.
The convoy twisted through Willard heading south along the main road past the high school where a now dead Cheryl Copeland lay staring up at the sky with a bullet wound in the back of her head. She was among the many that were shot down in the attack and now going onto the pyre as U.S. Army soldiers loaded her onto her fellow living dead cohorts. It wasn't long before the orange and yellow flames began to consume the edges of her dress as well as fuel beneath and around her.
The road toward the Ellis farm was just as bleak from the opposite end as it was when she first arrived. It was only a few of them still among the trees that snipers on the truck behind her picked off gleefully. The Jeeps sped ahead as the roof the farm was coming into view, a knot of dread in her gut as she tried to figure out what she was going to find.
The peaceful morning was suddenly broken by the howling shouts and roaring of engines as the now sparsely populated lawn was littered with falling bodies.
The things had but a moment to turn around before meeting their fate in a hail of gunfire, some falling beneath the huge tires of the Jeeps roaring over their decaying carcasses.
"Billy, get out there and get a bonfire going. I want this bodies off the lawn post haste." Michael roared as Barbra's ride came into view. "Danny, get into those woods and take'em down!"
Barbra jumped at the roar of semi-auto rifles chattering away in the woods as they claimed more of their numbers to make it safe for the people to get down. Barbra hurried toward the house her tail twitching anxiously as the men in front dropped to their knees and fired, clearing the porch of the undead menace as a pair joined them with chainsaws revved and ready to go. Barbra came into a blood bath, somewhere in the back she heard shouting and the chainsaws revving away as something squealed in dumbfounded horror.
"Watch it!" One of the man came through and sniped a pair standing up from what was left of Mr. Copeland.
Barbra wretched in her mouth as the operation continued into the basement with flashlights and more shouting and gunfire from below. She stepped past the remains as others came to claim what was now just a torso with some arms still attached from where Copeland had fallen. She ducked through the kitchen where men were already upstairs sawing through the door she had left Ben behind the night before. She hurried up the steps and stood by with her heart pounding away in her chest as the wood splintered and chipped under the saw's aggressive teeth.
With a quick kick the door flew open and flood of things came out of the doorway, howling and clawing as the men tried to escape the ambush. Barbra backed up to a wall as one came for her, forcing her into a fetal position against the wall as it's teeth gnashed so hard they were chipping. The heavy crack of the AR-15 was deafening in the small space as one of the hunters shot down her attacker, Barbra left huddled as they dragged it back downstairs.
"Clear," someone said as they entered and checked, Barbra gathering the nerve to stand as they hurried past her.
She spotted blood on the floor, though she couldn't tell whose it was by it's dark color, only that she was fearing the worst at that moment. She didn't remember how she got downstairs only that she had to get out of there as the men kicked their way into the barn and checked the gas pump. She sat in a Jeep dry heaving a moment before gathering herself up as the activity continued around her. She closed her eyes and leaned back in the seat, still smelling his aftershave and feeling his knot deep inside her again. She was aware of shadows closing in on her as she sat forward into a horrifying sight.
"Hey baby, how about a little head?" someone cackled holding the disembodied head which was chewing vehemently at the air as she screamed in horror.
The tiger's head was familiar enough, the burns on the right side of his face was just enough for her to recognize Tomas now as an undead head. She bit back the tears as someone came to her aid just in the nick of time.
"You raccoon shits! Get that fuckin' thing into the fire!" the grey muzzle roared herding the young boys toward the growing pyre in the middle of the lawn. "Sorry about that miss-"
He saw her horror and almost immediately seemed to become more soothing and charismatic like he was before.
"Did you know him?" he said softly.
Barbra blinked and nodded as hot tears ran down her cheeks, her eyes glued to the burnt out hulk on the side of the road where Judith met her end in a fiery explosion.
"Doesn't make it any easier does it." he said patting her shoulder absently. "We've looked all over and haven't seen anything, missy. I hate to say it but I think-"
"BARBRA!" a voice roared.
She turned and saw him coming toward the Jeep.
"BEN!" she choked out as the grey muzzle helped her from the Jeep.
They damn near crashed into each other rather than embrace, the cat looking so tiny and frail in his arms as he scooped her up amid the commotion. She wept long and hard into his dirty shirt, not caring if anyone was watching her make a spectacle of herself. Ben felt the relief wash over him in that instant, realizing had he left the ranch earlier he would have missed the fireworks that brought him back to the farm. He heard the gunshots a distance away and even had a few bullets ping off his truck as he pulled around to see people rushing about on the farm. When he heard her scream, he knew she had to be nearby.
All he knew was that she was safe even when their muzzles met for what seemed like an eternity of being apart. Tonight he would take her again, fuck her mercilessly in their hotel room before they ran in the morning, but for now, he was right here with her. The only thing that felt real in this insane world around him was her in that moment.
"You bastard," she coughed out, "I thought I lost you."
"I'm here baby girl, I'm here." he whispered as he held her tightly to him.
Even on the way back to McKeesport, he wanted to tell her about what he found just beyond the farm. Even when she came and clenched around his knot, digging her nails into his back and crying out as if in pain he didn't want to tell her about what happened the night before. Maybe someday he will, someday when the world is a better place. He cupped her small breasts in his hands, his knot buried in her belly like a dagger as he ravaged her, taking in her scent as the new world unfolded outside. All he wanted was her, here and now. Tomorrow, he thought, tomorrow we run for Canada. Tomorrow will be a new day and tomorrow she will still be his.