Derek Goodman - The Reanimation of Edward Schuett

“Yeah, I guess that’s weird,” the man said. “But just look at her. She’s not moving and she’s not talking.”

“She’s in shock, okay?” Edward said. “The entire rest of our team was killed. She hasn’t said a thing since then.”

The rifle lowered just a little more. That was good, but this was taking too long. If Horton was coming out here in a vehicle like this truck, he wouldn’t arrive that quickly. But if he had something better—and Edward had to assume that this truck here was the worst thing Horton had, just in case Edward really had been about to take it somewhere else—then going at a flat-out speed even over the rough road still wouldn’t take very long. For all Edward knew, Horton had already been on his way when the man called in. He had to hurry this up.

“Why didn’t you bring her with you into Laramie?” the man asked.

Edward decided a little bit of pretend outrage was in order. “Are you fucking deaf? I just said she was in shock. It was hard enough getting her this far. I saw this abandoned van and thought she would be safe here as I went into town.” He toned his voice down, going this time for pleading. “Please, just let us go. I’m telling you the truth. Why the hell would I lie?”

The man hesitated a moment longer, then lowered the rifle completely. Edward found it ironic that such a question was what finally convinced him. It never occurred to the guy that a lie could be more believable than the truth.

“Shit,” the man said. “I’m really sorry. It’s just Horton had this feeling about you, and his hunches are usually right. He thought you might be hiding something out here.” He climbed over the truck’s tailgate, leaned the rifle against the nearest tire, and bent down to offer Edward a hand up out of the ditch.

“Apology accepted,” Edward said. He grabbed the man’s hand and yanked. The man lost his balance and tumbled into the ditch. Before he could move from his landing spot Edward kicked him square in the ribs. Whether it was because Edward lost his focus for a second or the sudden action spooked her, Liddie came out of her calm moment and went straight for the prone man on the ground.

“Liddie, no!” Edward screamed. He used that same burst of random pheromones that had stopped the teenage zombie back at the CRS, and it was just as effective in stopping Liddie. But that didn’t feel like enough to Edward. It wasn’t enough to just confuse her. He felt like he had to appeal to that part of her he still knew was inside, to bring it closer to the surface. The man moaned on the ground, apparently not aware yet that a zombie stood right over him and wanted desperately to rip him apart. Edward pulled back slightly on his control of her, talking all the while.

“You don’t want to do this. You have it in you to resist all those urges. I know you can.” He didn’t want to add that he hadn’t been able to do that himself, mostly because he didn’t want to hear it. She could be the one that was different, he just knew it. “Just leave him where he is, and let’s get up to the truck. Can you do that? Can you follow me?”

He felt her own pheromones struggling against him, trying to convince him to join her in eating this thing, this prey. In fact, the honey scent was far stronger than it should have been. After a moment Edward realized what had to be happening. There were other zombies coming this way. He could smell at least two other sources of pheromones, and they themselves had picked up the traces of meat in the air. Between Liddie and the two approaching arrivals, Edward thought maybe it wouldn’t be the best idea to try letting Liddie be herself right now. The urge from the pheromones would be too great, and as much as this man had pissed Edward off, he didn’t want Liddie to get her first taste of human flesh just yet. In fact, if he had his way she never would. When she finally came back, she would be able to do it with a clear conscience.

That left him with a choice, though. He couldn’t take this guy with them, but did he really want to leave him here to possibly get eaten? Did he really deserve that fate? He could leave the rifle behind, far enough away that the man could reach it before the zombies got here but not before Edward and Liddie made a clean getaway. That meant, however, that the zombies would be the ones to get shot, or worse, get taken back to Horton’s hideous arena. They might not have been real people to anyone else, but they were real enough to Edward and they hadn’t asked for the fate this man would give them.

This wasn’t a decision Edward was ready for yet. Human or zombie? Where did his loyalties really lie?

Edward pulled Liddie up the side of the ditch, then quickly ushered her around to the passenger side of the truck. After she was in he ran back to look into the ditch. The man was just starting to get up, and Edward could now see the two zombies coming up over a hill about five hundred feet away. He grabbed the rifle, hefted it in his hands like it could tell him the right answer that way, then made his decision and threw the rifle in the back of the truck (although this time he looked to make sure there was nothing else back there other than the tarp the intruder had hid under). The guy could get away easily enough if he ran, but the zombies wouldn’t have a chance if he had the gun. It was the closest thing he could think of to a win-win.

Edward got in the driver’s side, ignoring the way the guy screamed at him from the ditch, and pulled a tight u-turn so he was headed back east on the highway. This time he ignored the way the truck creaked and groaned with every crack and hole in the road. He didn’t have time to worry about making sure the truck survived. Horton would be on his way, and in all likelihood he would be coming up this very stretch of road. If Edward had known anything about the local terrain he might have tried to find a way around that wouldn’t possibly result in a confrontation, but Edward couldn’t risk getting lost or stranded so close to Laramie. His time here had been brief, but he’d already worn out his welcome.

He could see something coming toward him from over a mile away, but he couldn’t see exactly what yet. Whatever the vehicle, Edward had to assume it was Horton and he wasn’t going to just let Edward go by easily. He briefly hoped for a moment that Horton would think he was the other guy coming to meet him, but Horton seemed to have told him to wait at the van, and Horton didn’t seem like the kind of guy that many people chose to disobey. Also, Edward realized, the guy back at the van had still had his phone on him. He’d probably already told Horton exactly what had happened, complete with lurid tales of Edward kissing a zombie. No, Edward realized, this was about to get very ugly.

He could see now that the other vehicle had started out its life as a truck, but it didn’t look much like one anymore. A cowcatcher had been mounted to the front, and it had been jacked up and given larger wheels. The whole thing still looked rusty and decrepit, but there was no mistaking that this thing had been built to not let anything in the road stop it. It was moving straight down the middle of the highway, and as soon as the two vehicles were close enough to see each other it moved over so it was heading directly at Edward on the right side.

It had to be Horton, but he didn’t look like he had any intention of playing nice. He was going to catch Edward in a game of chicken, yet Horton had no reason to be the first to back down. In a head-on collision, Edward would obviously be the one to lose.

Suddenly Edward was painfully aware that neither he nor Liddie were wearing their seat belts.

She heard and saw everything that happened around her, but comprehended very little of it. Only when the form with her, the one that always tried to stay so close to her side, talked or touched her did she feel like she could understand the unfamiliar world around her just a bit better. When he spoke, things came to her, things that she could no longer recognize enough to call memories, and she nearly felt something beyond just physical sensations. The sweet honey scent he gave off, which was so much more overpowering than any other odor, made her feel more grounded and calm. Even now, when this other form was obviously quite agitated, she felt slightly more lucid. Not lucid enough, however, to understand why the truck she was in suddenly tipped at a wild angle.