He began walking back to the front counter in awe. His eyes filled with liquid and he knew his eyes were as red as the evening sunset. A tear fell and raced down his cheek. Not only was the bat intended for his real son Eddie, but he was now about to give it to his new son, his
“What do you have there?” Victor asked, sitting on the ground next to the now- extinguished fire.
“Something for you.” Kyle reached into the box and grabbed the bat by its rubber handle. “Are you ready to take a few practice swings?”
Victor rose to his feet and walked wobbly toward Kyle. The medication Kyle had given him earlier had made the boy unsteady. Victor reached for the bat handle.
“Grab the rest of your things.”
Victor turned and began picking up everything he needed to take with him. He stumbled a few times as he tried to keep balance. Maybe leaving so soon was a bad idea. But Kyle had already wasted too much time. Jasmine was probably suffering at that very moment, or tomorrow could be her last day on Earth.
They gathered the rest of their things and walked outside. Kyle looked up. It had not begun to rain again, but there were still clouds in the sky. A small patch between one of the clouds allowed a sliver of sun to stream down.
Victor saw the truck parked next to the post office sign and then noticed Chet’s body lying face first on the pavement. He looked at the bat one more time then looked at the body coming closer with each step. It wouldn’t take a rocket scientist to figure out Victor’s thoughts. Chet was to be a human pinata.
“It would have been better if he was still active, but I think the Existing Dead are dying off,” Kyle commented.
Victor didn’t respond. He dropped the rest of the items in his arms and raised the bat into the air. Without any hesitation, he brought the weapon down onto the body, making contact with the back of Chet’s leg. He raised it again and hit the same spot. The bone cracked after the third swing. Without stopping, Victor continued to pulverize Chet’s lifeless form while Kyle watched. In his mind, even this was too good for him.
“Stop swinging,” Kyle said, walking toward the body.
Victor took a few more swings at his back before stopping. The boy’s panting seemed to grow now that he was no longer swinging.
Kyle put his hands under Chet’s shoulders and rolled him to his back. He backed away from the body to put more things into the truck.
It didn’t take long for Victor to continue. His first swing made contact with Chet’s groin, then moved toward his face. It took three swings before Chet’s face was no longer recognizable. His head dug farther into the pavement as it began to liquefy. All that remained was a mess of flesh and bone. In any other situation, this would probably have made Victor vomit, but not now. Victor finally dropped the bat, exhausted.
Kyle sat inside the truck, waiting for Victor to finish with his revenge. He stared out of the rearview mirror and saw Victor climbing up onto the bed. He loosened the noose that was keeping Chet in place and tossed it to the ground. He jumped out and entered the truck. He buckled himself in and waited for Kyle to start the engine.
“Do you feel better?” he asked.
“Let’s just go, I’m ready to go home.”
Kyle knew that Victor was in no emotional state to deal with any more bad news, but he had to make sure that Victor understood that there was a chance that his mother was dead.
“Listen, I know we talked about this before, but I need to make sure you’re not going to go suicidal on me if we get to your house and your mom is dead, or worse, one of
Victor’s face squinted as though he couldn’t believe what was being said to him. “What about you?” he spat. “You’re the loser who’s driving to California to find some stupid girl that’s probably already dead. Talk about a waste of time. Oh wait … your wife killed your son then killed herself, so I guess it looks like you have nothing else going for you.”
The words spoken from Victor’s throat pierced Kyle as though he were being shot a hundred times by an automatic gun. At each syllable, a bullet broke through his skin. Who was he to judge about Victor’s motives about going home? He was basically in the same situation. Kyle didn’t know what he’d do if Jasmine were dead. She was all he lived for now. Mary and Eddie were both gone … the only other person that he would consider family was sitting next to him. He would do anything for this kid; even chase down his rapist, get him infected and bring him back for the boy to turn into a liquefied mess in the middle of a post office parking lot.
“You’re right,” Kyle said, breaking the tense silence. “I can’t judge. All we can do right now is go and see what we find.”
“Good. Let’s go. My face feels like shit and I have to take one.”
Kyle didn’t know whether to laugh at the comment or let it pass over his head. He stayed quiet and turned the engine. He figured it would be safe to laugh about the situation once Victor did.
The vehicle lurched forward out of the parking lot. Chet’s body remained on the ground like a piece of discarded trash. Kyle turned right and they continued their journey.
“Are you hungry? Maybe you should eat something with the pills I gave you.”
Victor searched the bag at his feet and picked out a large slice of beef jerky. He cut the slab of beef in half and handed a piece to Kyle. Kyle looked at the jerky, then to the disgusting, blood-covered hand holding it. It wasn’t like Kyle cared about hygiene while eating food; hell, he’d eaten pudding off of a public restroom on a dare. But staring at the blood-soaked hand, Kyle recoiled.
“Are you going to take it?” Victor insisted.
Kyle pulled the truck over and looked at Victor. “Grab one of the bottled waters and wash the blood off your hands.”
“Why?”
“Because that blood is probably infected. I don’t need you catching whatever the fuck is happening.”
Victor hopped out of the truck and took a bottle out of one of the water crates in the bed. The box was soaking wet. He opened the bottle and poured the water over his hands.
Kyle remained in the truck and began flipping through the AM radio stations. The message from Doctor Greenly was still being looped. If he knew how to track radio signals, he would consider finding the source of the message. It was intriguing, especially the part about the Existing Dead evolving. He didn’t know what that meant, but he speculated that the dead dropping simultaneously had something to do with this ‘evolution.’
Victor came back in after his hands were clean. He showed them to Kyle like a child would show its mother after washing up for dinner. The speakers in the car blared out white static, only coming clear when Kyle passed a station broadcasting the message.
“Listen to this,” Kyle said.
The message Kyle heard played back for Victor.
“… All over town I have been seeing them collapse. I dragged one of them into my lab for research. What I have discovered is astonishing. The Existing Dead have begun to evolve … I am broadcasting on every AM frequency …”
“Is that what you saw?” Victor asked.
Kyle nodded after rubbing his eyes with his thumb and index finger.
“What do you think he means by ‘evolve’?”
“I’m not a science-bright person. But what I remember from some classes I took in high school is that life evolves to adapt to the surroundings and in some cases to solve problems within life. But like I said, I’m just a welder. I can’t even explain it right.”
“Well, that doesn’t help. Let’s just go. Whatever comes we’ll figure out on the way.”
“I need something to drink,” Kyle said unbuckling his seat belt and opening the door. The sky had finally started to clear up with specks of sunlight, and no heavy dark clouds loomed. But the wind blew wildly, as if God himself was blowing from the heavens above.
He took a bottle of water out of the crate and began to drink it slowly. There was no sense for him to rush. The streets were clear of all Existing Dead. It was probably like that around the world. Doctor Greenly said that all of the dead around his area were falling to the ground. It wasn’t just Kyle who had witnessed this. He really hoped that he would hear the remaining part of the message. Most of his questions would be answered.
Finishing the bottle of water, Kyle threw it to the ground. The entire world was now more or less a landfill,
