Joseph Talluto - Taking It Back

Charlie felt himself and confirmed a lack of ammo. “We could get these guys, but if another swarm shows up, we’re screwed.”

I was beginning to understand how the dead couple wound up where they were.

Suddenly, Charlie brightened. “I’ll be right back.” He headed down the ladder, leaving me wondering what the heck he was up to. Two minutes later he reappeared with two large bricks from the paving business.

I immediately caught on to what he was going to do. “Oh, you magnificent genius,” I said, relieving him of a brick.

Charlie grinned like a kid who found his dad’s porn. “It just came to me. Let’s see if it works.”

We went over to the front of the building and looked over. Two of the zombies were in sight, the other two were nowhere to be seen. Charlie waited until one was within range, then hurtled the brick down at the corpse. The brick slammed into the Z’s head with a sickening thud and the body dropped heavily to the ground. We waited for a few seconds to see if it would get up again, but given the serious dent the brink had put into its skull, I doubted that Z was going anywhere soon.

The small commotion caused the second zombie to come over and investigate and I launched my brick. The zombie, a grayish, older specimen that might have been a black woman once, happened to look up at the last second and took the brick right between the eyes. The impact knocked her completely off her feet and drove her head to the ground. She lay there with a brick sticking out of her head and moved no more.

“Nice one,” Charlie said as we headed back down to grab some more bricks.

It took the better part of half an hour, but we managed to bring up a number of bricks and paving stones to deal with the zombies. We had a good pile by the side of the building and looking over the side, it seemed like our little swarm was starting to disperse. We needed them to get closer to the building as I had no illusions about my ability to hit a moving zombie at thirty yards with a rock.

“Any ideas?” Charlie asked as he hefted a brick.

“Just one,” I said. Leaning over the side, I waved my arms and yelled, “Oh boys! Lookee what I got here!”

Charlie smiled and leaned over. “Where the white women at?”That worked. Zombies came shuffling over, moaning and grasping at the air. Charlie and I both took aim and started throwing bricks. Meaty thuds and smacks reached our ears as assorted zombies fell to our missiles. Some took more than one hit, as our aim wasn’t perfect on every shot and we learned you had to actually throw the bricks, just dropping them didn’t do sufficient damage to permanently put them down. It stunned them and took them a moment to recover, but they got up again and clamored for our flesh.

After about ten minutes of playing Whack-a-Zombie, Charlie and I found ourselves without targets. We waited for another ten minutes to see if any of them moved, but they were still.

We moved quickly, pulling the truck around and moving the boat into position. I was glad to have Charlie with me, I had no idea how to hitch a boat and watched intently as he went through the process. I was paying such close attention to Charlie that I nearly got nailed by the two zombies we hadn’t accounted for earlier. They came shuffling around the garage door and I only noticed them when I saw a shadow moving that shouldn’t have been moving at all.

I turned around and lunged back as the first zombie reached for me. Its hands grasped empty air as I backpedaled. The second zombie turned and made for Charlie as I moved to place some insulation between the first zombie and myself. It was a gruesome sight. Fat maggots wiggled out of gaping holes in its flesh as its dead eyes fixed themselves on me. Yellowed teeth bared from blackened lips and it’s groaning was hampered by a large chunk out of its neck. Bluish dead veins spider-webbed its greenish-hued flesh, and lank hair swayed as it lurched forward.

I threw a bundle of insulation at the Z, knocking it over and giving me a second to unhook my crowbar. As it unbent I took a baseball swing and smashed it in the side of its head, spinning it around and dropping it on the floor. I stepped up quickly and delivered another blow to its head, finishing it for certain. I stepped back, ready to engage the second one, but on the other side of the boat, I saw a tomahawk rise and fall, then saw a dead zombie slump to the floor with a caved-in head.

I stepped over to the truck just as Charlie popped his head over the bed.

“That it?” he asked, wiping off his blade.

“God, I hope so,” I said, wiping of my crowbar and re-securing it in place. “Let’s get out of here.”

We started up the truck and pulled out just as another stray zombie wandered around the corner of the storeroom. Charlie didn’t even bother to try to avoid it, he just drove, crushing it to the pavement. If it was still moving after the truck, it was finished when the boat trailer pulverized it.

We stopped briefly at the condo complex for a quick reunion and a chance to burn off the zombie glop from our weapons. We exchanged stories and news and found out that the group had been especially active in finding other survivors and killing zombies. The entire area south of the complex was clear and I could see for quite a ways, as many buildings had been burned down. The fence was still in place, as there was the occasional roaming Z, but the people were happy and prospering. I told them about the other towns we had encountered and shared the belief that there was no reason not to think that far more people had survived than we thought.

Joseph Talluto

Taking It Back

Charlie and I drove back to Leport after another argument about the best route. We ended up taking the same route we took when we first headed out nearly a year ago. We got nostalgic as we passed the little house where Dot used to live and we shook our heads when we passed the home where we first encountered Dane Blake.

We reunited with Duncan briefly and there was lots of well-wishing and wishing in particular. I told Duncan he was welcome to join us when he finished and he said he was sorely tempted. He gave us a letter to give to Tommy and we rolled on to Leport. We ignored the burned out home where we first encountered the lunatics from the home improvement store who had eventually killed Kristen.

Charlie and I brought the boat to the dock and unloaded it. We got some approving glances and a few envious stares. But no one said anything, as we were the ones who went out and got the damn thing.

By the next morning, we had packed up our belongings and were ready to head out. Jake and Julia were happy as clams to wander around the inside of the boat and Rebecca and Sarah had their hands full chasing those two little demons and keeping them out of the cabinets. Just as we were about to pull out, Tommy came strolling by, with Angela in tow. Those two had become closer as the time had gone by and Angela rarely left Tommy’s side.

“Ready to go?” Tommy called as I gathered up the lines and Charlie worked the controls.

“Just about,” I called back.

“Nice place you’re headed to?” Tommy said.

I looked sideways at him. “Pretty nice,” I said carefully.

“Safe?”

“Needs work, but I’m bringing my son if that means anything.”

“Big place?” Tommy asked.

I grinned. “If you don’t get aboard, we’ll leave you behind.”

Tommy whooped and grabbed his duffle bags, which he had stashed out of sight. Angela hugged me as she passed and climbed aboard. Charlie slapped Tommy on the back and Sarah hugged them both.

I climbed aboard and gave Charlie the thumbs up, settling back into a lounge chair.

“What made you decide to come with?” I asked Tommy.