Decaying Hearts

Chapter 24

   We drove rapidly around the side of the building, the uneven hilly terrain of the field causing the van and those on board to jerk uncontrollably. Rosie, still sat against the back of the passenger seat, was sound asleep with her new born tightly in her arms and was oblivious to the scene that unfolded before her. The bite on Lenny’s forearm was deep, the indentations of wild teeth were clear and bright with the flowing scarlet liquid that now pooled on to the metal floor and stained my skin and the only pair of dirt ridden clothes I owned. Zak stayed beside me with his face a new shade of green, his blue eyes wide and terrified; he aided me the best he could, pressing down firmly against the wound to stop the bleeding, but nothing seemed to help.
   Lenny was constantly in and out of consciousness. Every time he came back to us, the only sounds he could manage was ear bursting screams or pathetic whimpers; similar to those of a helpless animal caught in a snare.  His whole body was like a furnace as the fever took control, beads of sweat visibly ran down his forehead and clung to the thickness of his beard. It was happening. If nothing was done soon, he would have turned before our eyes and Lenny would be lost to the world. He wouldn’t have wanted that, he would have wanted us to try anything to stop the process. I couldn’t let him turn; even as his body convulsed violently.
    “Howard, where’s that sword?” I demanded.
    There was silent conversation between us as he knew what I was about to do, what had to be done. He nodded gravely in my direction before he brought the van to a break-straining stop.
   “What are you going to do?” Zak almost whispered, even though his question was just a waste of air. By the look in his eyes, he knew what he was about to happen. He gulped harshly and his lips trembled, so much so I could hear his teeth clattered together in the heavy silence. I inwardly wished I was part of the group waiting for us behind the school, that way I wouldn’t be the one to carry out this atrocity.
   Quickly, I wiped the blade of the long katana and instructed Zak to position himself on top of Lenny, to keep his jittering body as still as possible and to hold him down once the blade struck. I winced as I crouched in position, my arm raise as the katana gave an evil glimmer in the corner of my eye. Lenny’s eyes opened just a second before as he screamed, “No!”
   But it was just a second too late. With the speed of light, I brought my arm swinging down and the edge sliced through its target just a centimetre or so above the elbow and the arm feel free. The blood gushed from the new wound and the most agonising scream imaginable erupted through the air like thunder that dominated the sky. Rapidly I pulled my shirt from body and tore at the sleeve, its thread ripping through the air seemed as loud as shattering glass and Itightly wrapped the fabric as close as I could to the new stump and instructed Zak to take hold, keeping it elevated – hopefully gravity would be on our side and help stop the bleeding.
  Lenny had passed out again, thank god. The pain that seared through his body was horrific to watch, it must have been excruciating as more beads of sweat and salty tears rolled down his face. His forehead had set with the wrinkled mask of pain, the vein in his neck seemed tighter than ever. Even in sleep his teeth stayed clenched, so tightly so I feared they would crumble into tiny pieces in his mouth.
   Zak was painstakingly pale as his fingers clipped around the arteries that had been exposed to the world. I had heard somewhere that it was the best thing to do in such situations, I probably took it from one of those survival shows that people watched but never took seriously. I desperately hoped it would stop the bleeding, as red seeped through the material of the make shift tourniquet. We were practically swimming in the blood. The metal casing of the van had been freshly painted with splatters and splotches of red and the floor had become home to crimson puddles that reflected the light of the street lamps. No doubt the red would be permanent stains we would never be freed from, it would forever remind us of the trauma we had all endured. The blood covered us like a second skin, it clung to the fibres of our clothing and hair stuck together with the scarlet juice. Even the bitter scent of the ichor haunted our senses and lingered on my tongue. Licking my lips I could taste the metallic liquid that had absently dripped in to my mouth; somewhere along the way I had bitten my lip, just too caught up in the action to notice. Blood itself seemed to haunt us all like a ghost that just can’t let go of a life left behind, its wailing voice reminding us of what we had lost and what we still had left to lose, what we had to fear.
   But looking at the new baby as it lay softly in Rosie’s arms, his tiny fingers wrapped around only one of hers reminded me of what we had to hold on to; hope. The hope that one day we would live through this nightmare and rebuild a life for us all. It reminded me that there would always be hope; as small as it might be it would always be there, as faint and distant as a star through the day, but on occasion would shine like a beacon through the dark.
   With a piece of floss I had found in the bottom of my bag, I tied the ends of the bare arteries and poured half of my bottled water on the wound. It was the best I could do to clean the arm of infection and moved away from a sleeping Lenny. He stayed under the watchful eye of Zak who still held his stump high, the blood seemed to be slowing; at last little luck.  I popped my head through the gap between the passenger and the driver’s seat, brushing my hair back with a blood covered hand. Howard was leaning forward against the wheel, with a dirty finger and thumb pressed hard against his closed eyelids.
   “I don’t know what where going to do.” I sighed. My body seemed to be shaking, the fear and terror and hate surged through me like a deadly virus. It was overcoming me as a hate-filled tear rose in my eyes as I turned briefly to see Lenny, a character so strong and brave suddenly so weak and vulnerable; all because of one son of a bitch. Make that two, thinking of Tony’s deathly betrayal.
   “None of us do.” Howard started. “That dick! How could he turn on us like that?” And he slammed his hand fiercely against the wheel, the horn sounding like a bell summoning the animals to their lunch. Howard swore under his breath.
   I pointed to the field ahead, “Howard, look!” In the distance a cluster of shadows moved, staggered diagonally across the field. Heading for the tree that casted its shadow across the grave of our very own Nancy. Following the line of the clusters direction, two shadows stood amongst the grave. One shadow stood tall and ready to run, holding one to the arm of the other, slightly hunched over and seemingly resolute – I realised who. The crowd was beginning to approach them and they spread in a line of attack. Then one shadow, Jake, turned to run, the other stood still. He stood over the grave waving the flash light at the bodies hurtling themselves forward through the dark, distracting them long enough for Jake to run. The shadowed man was about to sacrifice himself.
  “Shit!” Howard cursed. He threw the hand brake down and shoved the van into gear, his foot struggling on the stiff clutch. But it was already too late. I could see even from a far the outline of pistol in his hand and watched as an arm rose - so the barrel rested firmly against his temple. Then just before the bodies were on top of him, about to tear into his skin, the sound of gun fire echoed against the darkness and his body fell to the ground. The dead were on him instantly, teeth tearing through his warm flesh before his heart had the chance to cease its beating.
   But the van was in motion, on its way to a fleeing Jake who was being pursued by a hand full of the teeth. He was much faster than they, but he would tire and they wouldn’t. The great disadvantage of being alive would be the death of us, if the plague was not subdued we would be killed by our own mortality. I pulled the side door open and held my hand out ready to catch the young boy as we drove; they’re would be no time to stop, I had one shot to save the boy’s life and it would be on my hands alone if he was taken from us now.
   The air of night hit me like a gale, its bitter chill nipping at my skin bringing the smell of the dead and the blood. The cloud filled sky, dark and haunting, seemed to mock us in our earthly realm as they watched from afar the horror unfold. They were observers from the heavens, notoriously unscathed.
  Just feet away from him, I leaned out as far as I could. My hand held tight to the handle just behind the driver’s seat and Zak stood firm behind me, ready to grab hold of Jake. Jake’s hand gripped mine and with every ounce of my strength I heaved, my back arched as I pulled with all my might and my hand holding me to the van grew pale as the coarse edge of the plastic dug harshly in to my skin. My arm strained against the weight of Jake, I could feel myself losing grip around his hand; the sweat and blood across both our hands made it almost impossible to keep a firm hold. I would have to use both hands to pull him up, otherwise we would both be dinner. 
   I moved my body quickly and firmly, placing one foot under the driver’s seat – hopefully this would give me a strong enough foot hold and threw my hand to the one that already clasped Jake’s. I pulled as hard as I could, using my foot that had slid to the metal wall of the van for support. In a few moments, Jake had jumped in to the air and he was in. I thought we had won. I saw him floating towards me as though in slow motion. His other hand was on the edge of the van and Zak was there to haul him up, but my foot was slipping. I knew what was about to happen before fate had a chance to seal the deal. As Jakes leg pulled him in, my foot lost all grip.
   Before I knew it, I was hurtling through the air and my body hit hard against the ground, my head smashed in to the floor with strands of dying grass scratching against my skin. My stomach was in agony from the landing and knew instantly that if I survived tomorrow would welcome me with the mother of all bruises. Pain surged through my left ankle, broken or sprained I might have never known, but the pain was imminent and so was death. I had only just been able to turn myself over on to my back when the first corpse was on me like a vulture. Its arms flew wide like wings and tried desperately to pull me closer. Another hand was gripping tightly around my aching ankle, the pain overwhelmed me as I desperately kicked out at the teeth, with its rotten teeth bared.
   This was it. Blood trickled down my face from the open wound that now had its own twinge of pain just above my eye. Darkness was setting in, my vision obscured. The dead were swarming around me now, I was just gazelle amongst lions, injured and trapped and surrendered. I could hear the ripping of my clothes as rotten hands tore through my futile shield, just clearing the path to my skin - to my warm flesh with its heart still beating.
   Bangbangbangbang!
   The sudden sound of gun fire rolled from a hidden barrel and the bodies on me fell limp, one pair of teeth barely an inch from my bruising cheek. Through the crowd of the dead I couldn’t see which direction the bullets came, but one by one the dead were put down and they crumpled to the ground in piles of rotten flesh and bones. I could barely focus. The rolling sound of a gun turned in to an infernal ringing in my ear and the colour of black took control of my vision, my body was numb as though it no longer belonged to me. I closed my eyes and let the events unfold; destiny would take its course. I would die eventually, why not now?
   In a matter of moments, a coarse hand was around mine pulling me to my feet. He wrapped one of my heavy arms around his neck whilst the other fell limp and tired at my side. I opened my eyes briefly, with the light of the street lamp dazzling me through the dark and saw a mop of blonde hair. I had expected Lenny, he had saved my arse so many times, but with my mind slowly coming back to me I knew it couldn’t be – I couldn’t remember why. Zak had fought through the crowd with only a gun that now smacked against his thigh in his free hand and had shot them dead, some still staggered behind us as those who had grown bored of the body by the tree was coming this way. Who had it been?
   More gun fire exploded in my ear. It seemed that the scream of the bullet whooshed past just centimetres away from the side of my face, I was sure the draft blew at my blood tattered hair. Howard was running towards me his pistol outstretched in front of him, the bullets soaring one after another, each one hitting its target in the centre of the forehead. His huge arms were around me and my feet barely even touched the ground as I was dragged away from the teeth behind me.  They threw me carelessly in to the back and Rosie was by my side, a hand stroked my face slowly. Her small thumb caressed my bleeding wound that wept still.
    My eye lids fluttered open and closed as Zak jumped in to the van, just as reaching claws grabbed hold of the van floor ready to hoist itself in. Rosie gave a loud gasp as Zak slammed the door shut quickly, the harsh bang made the ringing in my ears louder and callous. A finger jammed into the side of the door and with two more slams, the finger fell from its owner and rolled into the van, only stopping when it reached the Moses basket that sat empty in the corner. Howard, already in the driver’s seat, through the car in to motion.
   “The others are still round the back. There wasn’t as many, but I don’t know what state they will be in now!” Jake struggled through worry. As we drove past the tree and the body that was still being mauled, I heard him whisper, “Robert.”
   Robert! I felt the shame come over me as I realised I had forgotten his death. I pushed myself up to rest on my elbows and I felt sick lurch in my stomach, my head spun as though it had been severed from my body and thrown in to the violent depths of a blender. Robert had sacrificed himself. He had killed himself so Jake could live. It took courage to surrender yourself to the darkness so another can live. He had stood amongst the teeth, allowed them to encompass him in a circle of decaying hearts. He waited until his predators were ready to pounce and put the bullet in his own skull. That man was a fallen hero. We would live through this horror and the revived world would know of men like Robert. We would tell the tale of Robert and Nancy, because they allowed us to live.
   I tried to keep my eyes open, but the darkness beckoned. It was as though stars whispered to me, calling out my name. It felt as though everybody I had everybody I had ever known and lost was crying out me, urging me down a path that would lead me to them. I could hear my mother and father, my sister and nephew, their voices were warm and inviting. I heard Oscar’s horrible guttural guffaw and still I was drawn to it as much as I hated it. Rosie was whispering to me too; she told me it was okay now, that everything was fine. Her voice sung a distantly lullaby, a song my mother used to sing to me as a child, but I couldn’t remember the name or the words. It was lovely though and I let it lull me in to the darkness that summoned.