BT placed his arm around Gary’s shoulder. He knew Anthony Talbot had actually demanded that Mike bring Gary back, but he wasn’t going to correct him…not now…not ever.
“This is war, Gary. There aren’t promises you can always keep. People are going to die, good men are going to die,” he added for emphasis.
Gary broke down for a moment, silent tears dropped from his face as his throat constricted.
“Don’t you say a fucking word!” BT said, pointing a meaty finger at Mrs. Deneaux.
She placed her hands up as if to say ‘I’m innocent.’
Mary was standing where Mrs. Deneaux had been moments earlier.
Gary turned to see her; his heart momentarily lifted when he thought she may have changed her mind.
“My neighbor across the street left his second car. He gave me the keys when he left, said I could have it if I wanted. They’re hanging on the peg in the kitchen.”
“Mrs. Deneaux said you had a car,” BT said.
“I do, but it doesn’t run and he knew it,” she said.
“You keep it, Mary. I’ll give you my father’s address, come up there when you have to,” Gary said.
“I’ve already told you we’re not leaving. We’re
BT shivered at her use of the word never, it left very little room for doubt.
“You don’t know that,” Gary intoned. “Things change.”
“It’s too late anyway,” she said in that far away voice.
“Too late for what?” Gary asked as alarm began to spread throughout his body.
“The whelp,” Mrs. Deneaux said blandly.
“What did you do?” BT asked. Gary was already heading up the stairs. BT was following.
“Too late,” she repeated as she sat down heavily on the couch.
“Josh!” Gary yelled. “Josh!” he yelled again as he ran into Mary’s room. The boy was in virtually the same position he had been when he first came up to ask Mary to leave with them. Gary took in the whole scene before him, an open bottle of pills and an empty glass of what appeared to have contained chocolate milk judging by the residue around the lip.
“Josh!” Gary said running to the side of the bed and grabbing the boy.
“What happened?” BT yelled.
“Pills,” Gary said, feeling the boy’s neck for a pulse. “BT, I can’t feel anything.” Gary was panicking.
“I know CPR, put him on the floor.”
Gary quickly did as BT said. BT had been around enough death to know when the Angel of Darkness had already come and gone. Josh had departed long moments previous, but he still tried for fifteen minutes before his arms and lungs burned from the effort.
“I’ll try now! Just show me what to do,” Gary pleaded as BT sat up against the wall, his hands tightly clasped together to keep them from shaking.
“It’s too late, Gary, he’s gone,” BT said while lightly smacking the back of his head against the wall.
“What? He can’t be. That’s impossible. Just show me what to do!” Gary yelled.
Gary started pressing on the boy’s chest, mimicking BT’s earlier efforts.
“Gary stop,” BT said calmly. “Put him on the bed, let him rest in peace.”
Mary had at some point come back upstairs and was leaning up against the door frame; heavy tears were dropping. “Don’t you see it’s for the best,” she was telling them.
“You’re insane!” Gary said, advancing on the woman who was shrinking back. BT stood quickly and grabbed Gary. “He’s the future!” he spat.
“There is no future,” she sobbed quietly.
Gary shrugged away from BT who cautiously let him go. Gary brushed past Mary without glancing at her. “I’ve got to get out of here,” he said as he headed down the stairs.
“It’s better this way,” Mary said pleading her case with BT.
“I’ll never agree with you, Mary. You just killed something beautiful in this world. I hope your God forgives you, because I won’t,” BT said as he left the room, Mary was still sobbing on the hallway floor when the trio departed.
***
“Do you think Mike will show him the way?” Gary asked as they quickly crossed the street to get to Mary’s neighbor’s garage.
“What makes you think Mike knows the way?” Mrs. Deneaux asked. “It was a joke,” she said when both Gary and BT looked at her crossly.
“Good thing you didn’t have to survive on your comedic talents, good looks, or disposition,” BT said.
“Done?” she asked.
“Shhh,” Gary said, holding his hand up. “I thought I heard something.” He was pointing into the smoke- enshrouded street. Sounds were simultaneously dampened and enhanced in the density of the choking smog. It was becoming more difficult to pinpoint what they were hearing or where it was coming from.
Gary was having difficulty breathing through the waves of smoke and haze; his eyes beginning to water under the assault. Mrs. Deneaux seemed unfazed as she plowed through another coffin nail. It seemed they had at least protected her from this toxic soup.
She pulled the hammer back on her revolver and spun. She had no sooner brought the barrel up when she let loose a shot. A zombie dropped no more than two feet from where they stood.
“Move!” BT yelled. “I think we’re surrounded!”
Another shot rang out from Deneaux’s pistol and another zombie fell with a crisp, clean hole drilled through its skull. Gary had his rifle up but hadn’t found a target yet.
Deneaux seemed almost precognizant with her shots, Gary was wondering if it was because, with her advanced age, she was so close to death herself, that she could sense its approach.
“Try to act more like your brother and shoot something,” Mrs. Deneaux said to Gary as she was shuffling along while dropping the spent shells out of her gun and reloading.
Gary wanted to shoot her to start with but she seemed to be the only one that could spot the zombies around them.
“I can barely tell if I’m going the right way,” BT said as he kept them close. The smoke was rolling in like high tide. Mary’s neighbor’s house was merely an object that appeared somewhat more solid than the surrounding gray smoke.
A small wind kicked up from the super-heated air of the burning town. It was just enough for Gary to catch the nightmare heading their way.
“We need to move faster,” Gary said. His eyes, which had seconds earlier been squinting, where now nearly bugging out of his head. Hundreds of zombies were advancing down the street towards them. He didn’t get the feeling they had been spotted, but they’d be found just by the sheer number of invaders.
“We go any faster and we’ll miss the garage.” BT kept his attention focused to the front.
“Any slower and we’ll be food,” Gary said.
BT turned to look as the small clearing in the smoke rapidly closed. “Shit.”
“Back to Mary’s?” Deneaux asked.
This was the most scared Gary thought he’d ever seen her, it almost made her seem human, but even reptiles have a strong will to live.
“Closer going forward,” BT said, urging them along quicker; the threat of tripping and falling rising with their increase in speed.
“There’ll be nothing left here in an hour anyway,” Gary said, the loss of Josh affecting him deeply. “I couldn’t go back there anyway,” he said softly.
“Shit, I’m bleeding,” BT cursed.
“You alright?” Gary asked, alarmed that BT may have been bitten.
“Got hung up on thorns,” BT answered.
“Really not the time to stop and smell the flowers,” Deneaux chortled.
“Are the roses orange or pink?” Gary asked, his back to BT as he scanned the area. The sound of so many
