“Who is she?”
“She didn’t tell me her name, but she was married to that guy.” Thomas taps the window, and the black guy attempts to bite his finger, but manages only to drench the glass in saliva. “The old hack was her mother-in-law. Oh, and she’s not a witch, by the way. The old woman, I mean.”
“No?”
“Nope, she was into voodoo.”
Dan gazes out the front window, looking thoughtful. “Well, that makes sense.”
“What?”
“Voodoo originated in Haiti. We learned about it in school. That’s where the zombie myth came from. Did you know that?”
“I had no idea.”
“There have been several accounts of voodoo priests waking up dead people.”
“Seriously?”
“Yeah, I mean, it’s only rumors, of course. But the voodoo people believe something about the human soul being split in two. One part keeps the body alive, and the other one is our personality and thoughts and stuff like that. So, in theory, the body can live on, even if the other part of the soul dies. You’re just …” Dan searches for the right word.
“Braindead?” Thomas suggests.
“No, not quite. You’re a body completely without a brain. Without anything of that which made you a human.” Dan sips his Coke. “It can’t happen naturally; it requires someone to mess with the forces of nature.”
“Then why would they eat other people? And why do they contaminate others?”
Dan shrugs. “The teacher didn’t say anything about that.”
A moment of silence passes by. The boys are both looking out at the zombies.
“So, you think the ritual in the basement …?” Thomas mumbles. “And all that nonsense we found in the book …?”
Dan breathes deeply. “Well, I think the girl died. Perhaps she fell down the stairs or whatever. And then the woman tried to bring her back to life. In a way I guess you could say she succeeded.”
Thomas raises an eyebrow. “I don’t think this was quite what she was hoping for.”
FIFTEEN
The night grows steadily dimmer. The time wears on at a painfully slow rate. Thomas slips in and out of a light doze.
“What do we do if they suddenly give up?”
Thomas opens his eyes and looks at Dan. He’s on his fifth Coke. He already had to pee once, and managed to fill one of the empty cans. It’s now in the trunk.
“What do you mean?”
“If they just decide to walk off? To find someone else to eat?”
Thomas looks out at the zombies. The man and the girl are still right outside, and the old woman is still by the other car. It’s difficult to see clearly, due to the drool and dirt and blood smeared all over the windows, turning the zombies into vague figures in the twilight.
“I don’t think they’ll quit anytime soon. Not as long as we’re here.”
“No, but what if?” Dan persists. “I mean, we don’t know for sure they won’t get tired of trying to get in here. And if they walk away, won’t we have to …?”
Thomas nods. “You’re right, we can’t let them get away. It could mean the end of the world if they—” He grinds his teeth as a sharp pain suddenly jabs the sole of his foot. “Goddamnit!”
“What is it?”
“My foot,” Thomas groans, pulling off his shoe. “I stepped on a shard of glass in the bedroom. It went right through the bottom of my shoe.”
He hasn’t really thought about it, but the puncture wound on his heal has been throbbing for at least the past hour. He pulls up his leg, looks under the foot, and finds a bloody stain on the sock the size of a big coin. He carefully pries off the sock to reveal a tiny, V-shaped wound.
“I think you need to clean it,” Dan remarks.
“There’s a first aid kit in the trunk. Grab it for me, will you?”
Dan climbs to the back of the car—Thomas notices how the zombie girl follows along on the outside of the car—and comes back with the kit. He opens it and goes through the content.
“I can only find these,” he says, handing Thomas a packet of wet wipes. “It says they’re disinfectant.”
Thomas bites open the packet and pulls out the wipe. He carefully pats the wound, grinding his teeth as it starts to burn. “Goddamnit …”
“Does it hurt badly?” Dan asks. “Maybe the piece of glass is still in there?”
Thomas hadn’t considered that possibility. He reaches up and turns on the small light in the ceiling. He gently opens the wound using two fingers, causing it to begin bleeding once more. “I don’t see anything in there. I don’t think there’s any glass.”
“Right. You want a Band-Aid? There’s also gauze.”
“A Band-Aid’s fine.”
Thomas covers the wound with the Band-Aid and puts his sock back on. His heel is throbbing warmly. He tries to ignore it and turns off the light again.
They sit for a little while in silence. Of course, the zombies make sure there isn’t any real silence. Thomas leans back his head and closes his eyes.
“You still want to go get help?” Dan asks quietly.
“Yeah.”
“Sure you can run with that foot?”
“I’ll be all right. It’s not that far.”
“The town is miles away.”
“I only need to get to the nearest neighbor. Or perhaps I’ll meet a late-night car.”
Dan looks out at the zombie girl who’s snarling back at him. “They’ll probably follow you.”
“I’m counting on it. But they don’t move very fast. I just need to keep ahead of them.”
“And what then, when you find someone who can help? What about the zombies?”
Thomas shrugs. “I’ll call the police. They’ll have to deal with them.”
“You think they’ll get what’s going on?”
“I have no idea. That’s a problem I’ll have to deal with if it comes to that.” He runs his palm across his forehead. “Damn, I’m still sweating.”
“That’s weird,” Dan says. “I’m actually freezing.”
Thomas notices he has put on his sweater. “Grab me another Coke, will you?”
Dan has fetched the whole box
