Kirk Allmond - What Zombies Fear - A Father's Quest

All of a sudden, Leo burst out of the corn, covered in gore. She blurred forward, moving like Penelope back at the bridge, down the creek bed, machete in one hand, steel baton in the other. I saw her leap into the air, and then she disappeared over a small hill. The last thing I saw was her coming down with both weapons arced over her head.

“Magazine!” yelled John over the roaring of the engine, which was starting to sound rough. I’d lost my other headlight; the only thing lighting the path were the lights on the luggage rack. I reached in the center console, and tossed him the other magazine. He caught it with one hand, ejected the spent one, and slapped the fresh mag home in one movement. His thumb flipped the AK to full auto. He fired the entire magazine, and zombies fell like dominoes. I crested the hill, and slammed my foot down on the brakes. Leo was locked like a pro wrestler with Penelope.

I opened my door and drew a bead on them with the scope. From this range, it was an easy shot, but I couldn’t risk hitting Leo.

They both blurred, rolling and flipping around on the ground. When they finally stopped, Leo had Penelope on the ground, pinned by a baton on her forehead, and the blade of her machete pressed against Penelope’s neck.

“Tookes! Give the revolver to John!” she yelled. I passed it over to John through the car, and continued to watch, rifle ready.

“Ready, John?”

“Ready.”

With one sweep of the machete, Leo lopped Penelope’s head off. She picked it up, and threw it up into the air. In what sounded almost like one shot, John emptied all five rounds into the flying severed head, the remnants of which rained down in a fine pink mist coating Leo in bits of brains and an even layer of blood.

12. Home

“We’re close, and I want to get home! I want to be done with this trip, and I haven’t eaten all day.”

Leo ran around to the door, and started to slide into the seat next to Max. Her face covered in the remnants of Penelope, bits of skull and brain matter forming lumpy mats in her hair, which had fallen out of its bun during the fight.

I thought better of her jumping into my truck immediately. Even though my truck was wrecked, I didn’t want that much zombie near Max. “Hold on, Leo,” I said. I opened the rear door, grabbed a liter of water and a tee shirt out of the back of the truck and handed it to her.

“Rinse off with that, I don’t want to run the risk of you getting infected.”

She dumped about half the bottle of water over her head and face, and I tossed her my shirt. She pulled her top up over her head, tossed it and her blood covered bra on the ground, and rinsed off her face and chest, and used my shirt to dry off.

“Do you mind?” she asked, making me realize I was staring at what had to be the most perfect breasts I’d ever seen.

I quickly stammered, “Oh, sorry!” as I turned around and got in the front seat of the truck I thought to myself, ‘ Tookes, how, in the middle of all of this, having just lost your wife, could you even be the slightest bit interested?’

I glanced up into the rear-view mirror; Leo dug into her bag and pulled out another tank top, identical to the first one she had on. She slid it over her head, and pulled it down, leaving a slight gap at her midriff, before hopping back into the truck.

“Thanks, I feel much better.” She said, closing her door.

We were less than two miles from the house now. I started my battered, dented, gore covered truck, and we started off back down the creek bed. The clock on the dash board read 1:00 am. It had been around ten yesterday morning when I saw my first zombie. Fifteen hours later, my wife was dead, my life was irrevocably altered, my son was different, but still the same sweet, easy going boy I loved with every cell in my body and every ounce of my spirit. I could identify with my truck, I’ve been beat up, shot at, robbed of everything, but I’m still running, undeterred from my mission of getting Max to relative safety.

When we reached the Lawson farm, our nearest neighbor, I pushed through a wire fence, and bounced out onto a dirt road that would bring me to my family property. I followed the dirt road back to Route 15, made a right, and an almost immediate right into the driveway.

As I drove up the half-mile driveway, I flicked my lights as I have done every time I’ve come home for the last fifteen years. We circled around in front of the mansion, built in the early 1700's, now turned into a bed and breakfast, and pulled onto the parking area. The lights were on and my mother was standing on the ancient brick sidewalk holding her shotgun. I reached back and unbuckled Max, and pulled the sleeping child between the front seats so I could exit the truck with him. My mother practically ran to us, wrapped the two of us in a giant hug, and kissed us each on the cheek.

“Victor,” my mother said, “Thank god you’re all okay. Where is Candi?”

Tears welled up as I fought to get the words out “She was killed, mom. She was shot just outside of Frederick, Maryland at a road block.”

My mother started crying, I started crying, and Max, still mostly asleep patted both of us on the shoulders. After a moment, I felt the presence of Leo and John, and pulled away from the family hug.

“Mom, this is Leo, and this is John. I wouldn’t be here if it weren’t for them. They need a safe place to stay; I promised them that I would deliver that.”

My mother stepped up and hugged Leo, then John, and said, “Hi, I’m Sharon, pleased to meet you. Thank you for whatever you did to keep my son and grandson safe on the way here.”

“Pleased to meet you Missus Tookes,” said John.

“Ma’am, it’s a fine family you have. I’m pleased to make your acquaintance.” responded Leo.

“Mom, did you have any Inn guests?”

“Just one couple, they’re still here, they’re down in Madison Cottage,” she said, referring to one of the free standing rooms, “but they said they were leaving any time now. They’re headed south to be with their family.”

“We need to get you moved up here as well. I need everyone in the main house, until we can fortify the top of the hill. I’ll start that work in the morning. Mom, have you spoken to the others? Where are Marshall and Renee?”

“Marshall’s on his way. He was in Tennessee this week, and Renee is heading up with the kids and Eddie from Atlanta. Let’s go get Max in bed.”

We walked inside the beautifully appointed bed and breakfast, through the commercial kitchen. John, Leo, and Mom stopped off in the small dining room; I carried Max upstairs to the master bedroom suite. I laid him down in the full size bed under a quilt, and kissed him goodnight.

“Max, we’re at Gramma’s house, we’re safe here. If you wake up, I’m right down stairs. I love you; you were such a good boy today, thank you for being so good.”

“I love you, Daddy, I’m sleepy. Where’s my binky?”

“It’s right here in your bag.” I said handing him his blue pacifier. “Okay, buddy, go to sleep, I love you!” I kissed him on the cheek, gave him a hug, and walked out of the room. What kind of child wouldn’t have nightmares after today? How would he ever be normal? How would I ever give him a childhood? I walked down the stairs, and into the small dining room.

“John, Leo, I think I owe you a bit of an explanation.” I related the entire story for my mother, Leo, and John. We ate dinner while we talked and got to know each other. We laughed at how normal the day started, we cried at the story of Candi’s death, and we began to get worried as we put the pieces together.

When we were done, I asked Leo to tell me her story. We all leaned towards her as she began to speak.