Undead Ally
Issue #7
by Tom Zjaba
Chapter Seven
By The Lake
With Crestwood behind them, the two head down the road,
hoping to find something. While they have enough supplies to last a week, they
are in need of a place to rest. The last few days showed them that staying on
the road is not the safest. Sure, it is the quickest way to get around, but it
is anything but safe. The undead are always a problem, but they pale in
comparison to the packs of wild dogs and the gangs of maniacs that travel the
roads. With this in mind, they make a decision. When they come across a dirt
road that veers off from the road, they decide to take it. Yeah, it is may lead
nowhere. But right now, the thought of nowhere seems pretty good. The less
traveled the path, the better. As they turn down it, dust is kicked up from the
road and they hear the sound of small rocks being kicked up. The road is quite
bumpy and they have to take it slow or they risk damaging the car.
The path goes through a thick patch of trees. The pathway is
crooked as it goes around some very large trees. But it is a path for a car as
there is ample room on the path. Trish does turn on the headlights as it is
darker in the forest and the path is overgrown in parts. "Wonder where this
goes?" she asks as she looks around at the woods. "Probably goes to a coal
mine." Fred replies as he is also amazed at how much darker it is in the forest.
The trees do a good job of limiting the amount of sunlight that gets through.
They continue on the dirt path for the next ten minutes as it moves through the
forest.
In the distance, they see a clearing. A big patch of sunlight
lets them know the forest is finally opening up. As they head near it, they see
a family of deer run in the path up ahead. "Guess all the deer haven't been
eaten." she says. Fred smiles too as it has been awhile since he saw a creature
that wasn't trying to kill someone. As they emerge from the forest, they find
themselves right in front of a lake. It is not a big lake, but it is a good
sized lake. Along the lake are a three log cabins. They are all spread and all
of them are within a hundred feet of the lake. The lake is calm and there is an
abundance of wildlife. As she pulls the car up to the lake, a handful of birds
fly off. She turns the car off and turns to Fred. "I know it looks too good to
be true, but let's hope it isn't." He looks at the postcard like view of the
lake and smiles. "Been a long time since I fished. Bet the lake is well stocked
with bass." She looks at him and says "I hope you know how to clean fish,
because I am not touching those stinky things." He laughs as he replies "Guess
you are not hungry enough."
With the car parked, the two of them get out and start
walking towards the first cabin. In the distance, they see a flock of geese on
the lake, calmly paddling around. They hear the croaking of some frogs in the
distance and there are dragonflies buzzing around. Both of them have their guns
out and ready to shoot. A place like this could be full of undead or some other
danger. As they walk up to the cabin, they see nobody around. The windows are
not broken and there is no signs of any danger. They look around the house for
any telltale signs of undead. Signs likes bloodstains, lots of footprints,
pieces of torn clothing, shell casings, stuff like that. But they find nothing
that looks like anyone has been here in recently. They both look at each other
with a look of relief. Trish crosses her fingers and smiles. Fred smiles back as
he slowly walks to the front door. He first steps on a wooden porch. The boards
creak as he walks on it. It startles him a bit at first and he stops. He then
goes up to the front window and looks in. Inside, it is very dark but he does
not see anything moving. Trish joins him on the stairs. She steps behind him and
takes a look inside. She doesn't see anything either. She pulls out a flashlight
she grabbed and shines it in the front window. She looks around and sees some
dusty furniture, a fireplace and something that scares her. She jumps back and
lets out a shriek. Fred looks at her and grabs the flashlight and shines it in
the room. He looks around a bit and then finds what scared her. Against the
wall, near the fireplace is a large, stuffed bear. It is standing up and has its
claws in an attack mode. Its mouth is open and it is snarling with its teeth
bared. The black bear stands about seven feet tall and does look imposing. Fred
looks at her and asks "What did you see?" She looks back at him with a scared
look on her face and says "A bear. A big, nasty looking bear." He waves her over
and shines the light on it. "See, it is only stuffed. The only way it can hurt
you is if it falls on you." She puts her hand to her chest and breathes a sigh
of relief. "Why do people keep such awful things?" Fred laughs as he says "To
keep out unwanted guests, of course." She gives him a glare as she does not find
it funny.
With the scare out of the way, Fred slowly opens the door.
The door creaks as it opens. As light fills the room, they can see the dust
floating in the air. It is everywhere. "Doesn't look like it has been used in
awhile." she says as she tries to shoo away the dust. Fred looks at the cobwebs
in the corner of the room and smiles "That's a good sign." She walks over to the
fireplace and wipes her finger along the top. A trail through the dust is left
by her finger. "Must have been one of those summer cottages. Too bad they won't
be using it this summer." The flashlight shines across the room as they look for
any danger. Feeling secure, he walks over and pulls the curtains all the way
open. More light shines into the cabin. Trish goes over to the couch that is
along the wall opposite the fireplace and smacks it. Dust flies up from the
couch. She coughs as the dust chokes her. "We really need to air this place
out." Fred walks over to the bear and looks at it. "Bet they shot this bear from
a distance." She walks over to it and punches it. "I want this thing out of
here." He gives her an odd look as he says "Why? We can put it in the front
window and it should hopefully keep out any intruders." She crosses her arms and
glares at him. "It can do the same thing from the front porch."
After they are convinced the cabin is safe, they head outside
to begin checking the other cabins. The last thing they need is any surprises.
The second cabin is nearly identical to the first one, minus the stuffed bear.
"I like this one better." she says as they look around the cabin. Fred smiles
and says "Why because it doesn't have a bear?" She smiles back at him and says
"Precisely." He just rolls his eyes.
The third cabin turns out to be different. It is much larger
than the first two. It has a second level, which has an outdoor deck coming off
from a door on the second floor. Fred marvels at it. "I never seen a two level
log cabin before." Trish also looks at it in amazement. "Barring any zombies, I
think this is the winner." As they walk in, they find the familiar dusty room.
But in this cabin, the furniture is nicer and there are numerous animal heads on
the wall. As they look around, they see the heads of a deer, big horn sheep,
mountain lion, black bear, wild boar and a moose. Draped across the back of the
couch is a polar bear hide. Fred is amazed at all the animal heads on the wall.
"Now this is a serious hunter." She looks around at all the stuff and replies
"More like a homicidal maniac if you ask me." Fred laughs as he responds "Let me
guess, you are a former member of Green Peace." She gives him that glare once
again. "Don't get started with me or you will be sleeping in your own cabin,
mister." He laughs out loud at that comment.
As they move to the other room on the first floor of the
cabin, they make a discovery. Fred points down at a door in the floor. "Look,
this cabin has three floors." She looks down at the big brass ring that is used
to pull it open. "That is probably where he stores the rest of his dead
animals." He grabs the handle and begins to pull it open. "Only one way to find
out." The door is fairly heavy as it made of solid wood. He strains a bit but
manages to pull it aside. It is pitch black in the basement. He shines the
flashlight down there and sees wooden stairs leading down. The light shines back
and forth across the dark basement, when something moves through the light. "I
saw something move." he says as he tries to find it again. "I knew this was too
good to be true." she says as she takes a step behind him. "I'm going down to
investigate." he says as he walks down the stairs. With each step, he shines the
flashlight with one hand and aims his gun with the other. He hears something
moving around and quickly turns the light to see what it is. The flashlight
searches through the darkness, until it comes upon a pair of glowing eyes. He
stops for a moment, unsure what it is. But realizing it is low to the ground, he
knows it is not any undead. The creature freezes for a second, startled by the
light. As Fred looks closer at the animal, he sees it is a raccoon. The raccoon
sniffs the air and realizing he is undead, quickly runs off through a hole in
the wall. Fred quickly turns to Trish and says "It's only a raccoon." She
exhales and makes a sign of the cross. "How did they get in?" she asks. Fred
walks over to the hole and looks at it. "This wall has a hole in it. Not sure if
they made it, but they are probably using this place to hide from wild dogs." He
shines the light down the hole, looking to see if anything is in there. He does
not see anything. "I think they are gone. We will have to fill this hole if we
want to keep them out." he says as he keeps peering in the hole. She takes a few
steps down the stairs, still very hesitant. "Is it safe down there?" she asks as
she reaches the bottom stair. Fred turns and shines the light on her. "Yeah, I
don't think anything else is down here." As she steps down, she goes next to
him, not wanting to be alone in the darkness. He then begins looking around the
basement to see what is down here. He sees a large wooden table in the middle of
the basement. As he looks over it, he sees blood stains on it. "This is probably
where he gutted his animals." He shines the light on a large blood stain on the
table. Trish steps back as it gives her the creeps. "Let's get out of here, this
place is creeping me out." Fred turns the light to the walls and looks around.
As he goes around the room, he stops on a large metal cabinet. "What do we have
here?" he says as he looks at it. Slowly, he walks over to the cabinet and tries
to open it. There is a lock on it that is still secured. "Must be something
valuable to lock it up." She laughs as she says "Probably full of money, which
would do us allot of good right now." He smiles at her and says "We could burn
it." He then turns to Trish and says "Head up the stairs, I am gonna blow the
lock off and I don't want you to get hit by a stray bullet." She looks at him
and nods in agreement. Then she heads runs up the stairs, getting out of harm's
way.
With her out of the way, he aims the gun at the lock and
shoots. The bullet hits it and snaps it open. After the bullet hits the lock, it
ricochets off and hits a wall. Fred ducks
instinctively, but is not hit by the bullet. With that out of the way, he takes
the lock off and opens the door. His eyes grow wide as he takes a look inside.
"Holy mother." he says with his jaw agape. Inside the metal cabinet is an
arsenal of guns. There are numerous hunting rifles, shotguns as well as various
pistols. There are at least twenty different guns and hundreds of boxes of
shells. The cabinet is quite deep and the bottom is just lined with boxes of
shells. The guns are all neatly hanging on racks along the top. There is also a
shelf full of various knives, from hunting knives to paring knives. "Looks like
we found the mother lode." he yells out to Trish. "Is is safe to come down?" she
asks from the top of the stairs. "Yeah, the bullet is done flying around." She
walks down the stairs slowly. When she hits the bottom, he shines the light into
the cabinet and she stares in disbelief. "I have never seen so many guns." she
says as she looks at them. "This guy must be some kind of psycho survivalist or
something." Fred looks at the guns and even sees a silencer on one of them.
"That or he may be a poacher." She looks at him with a shock look. "A poacher?
Here in the US? What could you possibly poach? Raccoons?" Fred looks at her as
he replies "Bears. Their gall bladders get good money on the black market." A
shocked look comes over her face. "Are you serious? What use could someone have
for a bear's gall bladder?" He takes the camera and shines it back on the
cabinet. "They are made into an aphrodisiac." She breaks out laughing. "You have
got to be kidding. What is wrong with Viagra?" That comment makes Fred laugh.
"Nothing, I guess. But in the far east, different animal parts are used for that
purpose. Ground up rhino horn, tiger organs, you name it and someone is using it
to get hard." She is completely shocked. "I had heard about poaching elephants
for their ivory, but I had no idea so many animals were killed." He shakes his
head in disgust. "At least now, they have a chance to come back. That is if the
undead don't kill them first."
Before he goes back up, Fred grabs a shotgun and a few boxes
of shells. He also grabs a rifle with a scope on it and a few boxes of shells
for it too. He wants to be ready in case they get any visitors. He also grabs a
knife that is in a sheath. He then heads up the stairs behind her. When the
reach the upstairs, he closes the door. He then walks over and grabs the polar
bear rug and lays it over the door. "That stuff is too valuable to not hide." he
says to Trish. Walking over to the dining room table, he lays the guns down. He
pulls up a wooden chair and sits down. He starts with the shotgun and puts two
shells in it. He then places it on the table and grabs the hunting rifle. He
opens it up and starts putting in bullets. Trish watches him with amazement.
"You really know your way around guns. Should I be scared?" He looks at her and
says "My family was full of hunters. We learned to shoot a gun like other kids
learned to ride a bike." She gives him a worried look. "Your not a poacher, are
you?" Fred laughs "No, not me. I read about that in National Geographic. I just
hunted deer, ducks, stuff like that. And I always ate what I killed." A look of
relief comes over her face.
With the guns loaded, he heads outside. Trish tags along
behind him. "What are you doing?" she asks as she sees him heading out with a
loaded gun. "I am getting us some dinner." he says as he turns to talk to her.
"You mean you are going to kill something?" He laughs at that statement. "Yeah,
just like the slaughterhouse kills the cow before they turn it into steaks." A
disgusted look comes over her face. "I think I will wait inside." She then turns
and heads back into the house.
Fred heads out by the lake and looks for something to eat. He
spies a dozen geese on the far bank. They are coming out of the water and
waddling along. He pulls out the gun and aims it at the geese. Looking through
the scope, he easily sets the sights on the goose's head. "You'd have to be
blind to miss with this gun." he says as he aims at it. He then pulls the
trigger and the gun lets out a loud bang. The bullet flies off and hits the
goose square in the head, killing it instantly. The rest of the geese fly off in
fear. Fred smiles as he says "Guess we are eating roast goose tonight."
Deep in the woods, a few undead are feasting on a fallen
deer. When there are no live prey, the undead are turning to becoming
scavengers. These undead found this deer body and are ripping it apart. The two
undead, a man and a woman, are covered in blood. He is dressed in a tuxedo and
she is in a wedding gown. Her white gown is torn and stained with mud and blood
across the front. Her long black hair is tangled with random sticks and other
debris caught in it. Her lips are stained red with blood His tuxedo is ripped on
both arms and his bowtie is missing. While his tuxedo is also stained from mud
and blood, it is hidden better as the tuxedo is black as opposed to her white
dress. Her veil is falling out of her hair, but still barely attached. When they
hear the gunshot, they both stop eating the carcass and look towards the sound.
Immediately, they rise up and begin walking towards the noise. In unison, they
groan as they head towards the sound.
Undead Ally ©
Tom Zjaba 2008