MedicineLand: Chapter Fifty

Tim Murphy stared at the zombie.  “So he’s like the girl?”

“Not exactly.”  Adam caught another scent in the air.  “This one was the real thing.  Hey how about getting these cuffs off of me?  We have more company.”

“Where?”  Tim cut Adam’s cuffs with a switchblade.

Adam cocked his head.  “I can’t be sure.  I think there are two, one is close.”

“I can’t see anything.”

Adam felt the hand on his shoulder and jumped in fright.  He turned to find Julia  behind him.

“What’s going on?” she asked.

“Zombies.  Long story.  Hey, how about you punch in the code that opens the door.”

Tim Murphy scanned the StarLight across the yard and picked up the second zombie about ten feet away, coming towards the pool.  This one was older with long gray hair and wore a biker jacket like the other one.  “Am I shooting you too?”

The man came at him slowly, lumbering.  No eye contact.

Tim picked up a lawn chair and swung it at him, knocking him into the pool.  “Hope you can swim, biker dude.”

“There’s one more,” Adam pointed toward the garage

Julia punched the entry codes and stepped inside the house.

The man in the pool was flailing.  Adam found a life-preserver and threw it at him, connecting solidly with the side of his head.  “Sorry,” he called out.

“Hurry,” Julia called out.  “There’s one back here.”

“Help me,” came the voice, slow and slurred.

“Oh, I’ll help you, all right.”  Tim Murphy shined the light over by the garage.

This one was different.  He was dragging himself along the ground, heading straight for the back door.

“No you do not.”  Tim raised his gun.

“Wait.” Adam pushed the gun.  “That’s not one of them.  There’s one more out here, but it’s not him.”

Tim moved closer.  “Shit. I think that’s the crippled kid.”

Adam ran over, picked Carson up like a doll and carried him into the house.

Tim Murphy followed.  Once inside the house, Julia got the lights back on.  The front door was open, so she slammed it closed, then turned on the house alarm and the perimeter fence, closing the gate.

Adam lay Carson down on the couch in Rocky’s den.

Rocky yawned and rubbed his eyes.  “Hey baby,” he said.  “I think I just had a little nap.  What’s up?”

Julia held the cool facecloth on Carson’s forehead as Alice wandered into the study.  Like Rocky, she had slept through the recent events.  Tim Murphy checked the rest of the house, then lined up some impressive-looking weapons on the table by the window.

“I guess your little brew didn’t work out,” Alice said.

Adam shrugged.  “It appears to have had some unintended side effects.”

“So she blew this powder right in my face,” Carson continued, telling about the incident with Millicent Sorrows.

“And you’re saying it had no effect?” Julia asked.

“None.  It was a little disorienting at first but I think it didn’t work.”

“Then how come you brought her here?”

“I didn’t,” he said.  “I think she was expecting something to happen.  She kept staring and me and then made these little tsk tsk sounds.  But it really didn’t have any effect.  And I wasn’t about to tell her where you lived.”

“But apparently you did,” Rocky said.

“No I didn’t.  She put her purse strap around my neck and started choking me.  Then she made me take her to the van.  Once we got inside she found my DayPlanner and looked up your address.”

“Clever girl,” Alice said.

“So then what?” Julia asked.

“So we’re in the parking lot and she has me in the back seat, right.  She taped my mouth shut and turned the radio high, and we drove right out of the garage.”

“You couldn’t have kicked out the window or something?” Rocky asked.

“No I couldn’t kick out the window,” Carson said.  “Do you know why I couldn’t kick out the window?”

“Sorry,” Rocky said, remembering the wheelchair, remembering his paralysis.

“Yeah.  Then she drove to this little bar in Galt, one where the bikers hang out.”

“Petunias,” Tim Murphy called from the window.

“Petunias.”  Carson nodded.  “These three guys are sitting outside having a smoke.  So Mrs. Sorrows walks over to them, takes out this cigarette case again, and blows the powder at them.  And this time it works.  They changed instantly, started stumbling around.  She opened the door to the van and told them to get in.  And they did without saying a word.”

“And they just sat there in the van, saying nothing? “ Alice asked.

“That’s right.  And we drove here.  When we got here, Mrs. Sorrows left me in the van and told the others to follow her.  She went right up to the door and started singing.  Then Karen came right out and took her hand.”

Karen opened the door?” Rocky asked.

“Yes.”  Carson nodded.  “Then Mrs. Sorrows brought her back out to the van and told us all to get out.”

“She told you to get out.”

“Yeah.  The zombies all got  out and sort of stood around, but I couldn’t move.  Karen opened the door and held my hand.  She even smiled at me.  Then Mrs. Sorrows pushed me out the door of my own van.  I was so pissed, I crawled up and took my Swiss Army knife and stuck it in my own tire.  Then I crawled around to the other side of the van and  cut the other front tire.”

“Nobody saw you?”
“Yeah.” Carson added.  “She saw me. She was pissed.  I think that was when she decided to take the LandRover.”

“So that’s all of it? Rocky asked.

“Basically, yes.  So me and the zombies are just sort of hanging out, watching them drive off.  Then we heard the back door open and the zombies started heading that way.  I dragged myself after them.  And if it wasn’t for Adam, your dude would have shot me.”

“Can somebody please do something about him?” Alice asked, interrupting the flow of conversation.

“Who?” Julia frowned.

“Him.”  Alice pointed to the window where the zombie rocked back and forth staring at them.  Another lay in cuffs on the patio while the third floated in the pool with the life preserver.  “He’s creeping me out.”

Advertisement