Careless.
That’s what ended up happening, to put it into one solitary word that really covers everything. We were careless. It’s just how we became. I suppose it’s easy to see just why we did. We all wanted the same thing, I think. All of us needed to feel like we were safe. After everything we’d been through, all the changes, the horrors, the nightmares that never let us ever truly have peace…
I suppose we needed to feel like we had a sense of control once more.
Like the world before the dead rose.
So, we let ourselves feel comfortable. We let ourselves become completely complacent. It was idiotic, moronic. We relaxed when all the signs and evidence were completely against it. It simply wasn’t logical. We knew the undead were far from gone. Even with the scattered encounters, the neverending moans in the distance, we somehow managed to get cocky.
I’m not an exception from this. I got this way, myself. I thought we could be safe; I thought we could handle it. I believed we, once again, had regained the control I desperately missed in my day-to-day life. Everyone saw the base as a safe zone. We felt confident. We even started feeling invincible.
We never should’ve forgotten the paralyzing fear we felt on The Day of Unholy Resurrection. No one should ever become accustomed to the horrors we now deal with daily. We should never, EVER feel safe.
Carelessness… before, it was just a simple mistake.
Now?
Now it can get you killed.
Friday, August 3, 2012
Week Fifteen
Howie stretched idly on the couch. They were in the living room of the home Nick and Brian shared with Gretchen and Riley. The latter two were in the kitchen, chattering away while they cleaned. Nick sat across from him, his face scrunched in deep concentration as his thumbs pounded the buttons on the old PSP they’d found during their recent mall raid.
“We should do something,” the blonde remarked, without even once letting his eyes leave the screen. His foot endlessly tapped the floor. This sort of thing used to bug Howie, yet Nick had grown on him, with his endless energy and ability to make everything seem better than what it really was.
“Like what?” asked Kayleigh, who was stretched out on the Persian rug beside the couch. Her hand turned the page of an old magazine casually. Her current mission to redecorate their own shared home hadn’t let up just yet. The magazine was for inspiration, now that she could just take what she pleased to make their home “less like a shrine to the current undead,” as she put it.
Gabby wandered in, munching on a few Oreos they’d grabbed from the store earlier that day. Howie wondered what they’d eat next, when the last of the packaged food was gone or too stale to eat. He suspected Kevin had a large store of freeze-dried food stashed away for that eventuality, but it made him miss things such as steakhouses – or steak, period, really.
“The base has some cool stuff,” he heard Gabby reply, as she flopped onto the couch next to him.
He felt himself smile a bit; the thirteen-year-old had become a walking map of the place, as much as she’d studied it the past three-and-a-half months they’d been there. He decided to speak up. “Isn’t there a bowling alley here somewhere?”
***
“Are you sure you’ll be okay?”
Howie suppressed a smirk, as Nick suddenly decided to show off his protective side. The girls had declined the idea of the bowling alley and instead had liked Kayleigh’s suggestion of finally checking out the library, in hopes they could find some new books to pass some of their endless idle time. So the girls would go, while the boys went bowling. They all knew they could handle themselves, but it looked like some still couldn’t help but worry. Riley smirked a bit herself as she leaned in to gently kiss Nick, her arms wrapping around his neck as she gave him a teasing look.
“We’ll be fine. Any ghouls come… we shoot them, right? Or do we let them eat us? I mean, we should invite them for a snack; it’s only polite…” Laughing at the look that crossed Nick’s face, she grinned. “Come on, we go on raids together how often? I think we delicate women can handle it without you big strong men. It’s just the library.”
“Yeah, and a couple weeks ago, it was ‘just the mall’ or ‘just the beach’…” Howie interjected, feeling the need to back Nick up. The girls probably could handle it, but it didn’t mean they shouldn’t still be careful. “Just be cautious.”
A frown crossed Brian’s face, as his eyes met Gretchen’s. “Maybe AJ should go with you guys…”
“Okay, y’all need to totally learn to chill.”
Riley shot a grin towards the others. “I never thought I’d say this, but you guys need to listen to Kayleigh.”
Kevin placed a hand on Nick’s shoulder, stopping him from saying anything more. “They’ll be alright.”
The girls made their way out. “I call the front seat!” Howie heard Gabby cry, as she ran toward their vehicle.
“Jo, you wanna drive?”
As Howie shut the door, he took in the others, each looking more pensive than normal. They were waiting for AJ to come downstairs; he’d said he needed to grab something before they left. Howie wondered why they seemed to worry more about the girls now.
Probably because one of us was always with them.
It was old-fashioned, and possibly – no, definitely, chauvinistic. Still, it felt a bit wrong leaving the girls to their own devices at the library while they went to go bowling. Logically, he knew the girls could handle themselves just fine. They’d all become battle-tested, and out of the females, he’d say Kayleigh was second in terms of skill only to Riley, with all her sniping missions. In fact, all but Jo seemed to have a better shot than he, himself, did. Despite all that, Howie had a gut feeling that something was going to go wrong. Nothing about this felt right to him.
Still, he said nothing.
“About time, AJ…” he heard Brian say, as he turned to see the former addict finally coming down the stairs.
“Sorry, just making sure I was loaded up. I left my stuff at my place; I’ll give you some ammo when we get back, Nick.”
Nick nodded, as the five of them made their way out of the house, walking slowly to the truck. They’d made the girls take the Hummer: another sign none of them were fully comfortable with this, even when they should have been. They’d swept the base clean again; they knew it. They were in control once more. They wouldn’t have anything like the church incident that felt like eons ago, never again. They’d find an occasional zombie now and then, but that would be it. That was the presumption, anyway, and he knew they desperately needed to believe in it.
Or else they’d all go insane.
“Shotgun!” Nick yelled, running for the cab.
Kevin climbed into the driver seat, and Nick blared the radio as soon as he started the engine. Howie was thankful the music was Nirvana, rather than Michael Jackson. Not that he didn’t like him; he was just on overkill from being around Nick. He tried his best not to look so disgruntled at not being able to sit in the cab as he hoisted himself up into the bed of the truck behind AJ and Brian. As the truck bounced along the road, causing the wind to whip his dark, gelled curls around his face, he kept to himself, simply wanting to think in peace.
I wish I could go to a stylist and have my hair done.
The thought was incredibly superficial.
But it was honest. He wanted to cut it short once more, as he used to. He hadn’t had his hair this long since college. Having his unruly curls, a throwback to his Puerto Rican heritage, touching his shoulders unnerved him in an odd way. Something as insignificant as a hair salon never seemed like a luxury before. These days, it felt like everything was. Maybe he’d ask Kayleigh to try cutting it for him later; if anyone was likely to do it nicely, he figured it’d be her. His mind continued to wander over everything that had happened in the last few months, as was his way. His birthday was in a little over two weeks, and he felt incredibly old, even though he was only turning thirty-six.
If he was honest with himself, he felt absolutely ancient. A result of all they’d been through.
“Howie? How-Howie? Yo… yo, D!”
His brow quirked as he glanced over at AJ, who tilted his shades down so that their eyes met. “D?”
Brian chuckled, speaking up before AJ could. “Well, you know, Howie Dorough… Howie D…”
AJ grinned. “Personally, I’m liking the idea of calling you D.”
“Is it your goal in life to drive me crazy?” Once, he would have sounded angry. Right then, he was just completely and utterly amused.
“Not my joy – just a hobby, between all the beheading and decapitation of rotting corpses.”
“Beheading and decapitation are the same thing.”
The truck pulled to a slow stop. Brian hopped out of the back. “We’re here.”
“Sweeeeeet!” Nick bounced out of the truck and bounded towards the bowling alley. Then he slowed to a stop, staring at the building. For an instant, a split second in time Howie was sure no one else caught, Nick’s faced darkened with storm clouds of concern, which quickly vanished into thin air. Howie wondered if he was thinking about the girls. Surely, he was.
Kevin smiled as he walked ahead of them. It was nice to see him relax, even if only momentarily. They headed inside, while their leader went to get the power running. Once he did, Howie couldn’t help but smile. It was only a bowling alley, basic and wide, but oddly, it felt like the world they’d left behind. He couldn’t really explain it.
Nick ran forward. “I gotta try something. I’ve always wanted to do this.”
“Oh yeah?” AJ asked, slamming his foot into the cigarette vending machine. Several packs fell down to the bottom, and he picked them up casually.
“Hell yeah…” Nick strolled over to the nearest lane and then backed away slowly, seemingly readying himself. He took a running start and launched himself upon the slippery, smooth floor, sliding speedily along on his stomach. He hooted wildly, cracking himself up before his head crashed into the pins.
“STRIKE!” Nick’s laughter echoed throughout the room, bringing life to the area.
Howie turned, chuckling to himself as he made his way over to the snack bar. A bottle of water sounded nice, and, logically, there should be some around there somewhere. If not, he’d maybe ask AJ to kill another vending machine. He could still hear Nick laughing, about to try it again, as AJ and Brian cheered him on.
He leaned over the clear counter, hoping to see something nearby. It’d save him some trouble, anyway. As he searched, a squalid smell slammed his senses. A quick look around revealed its source, as he caught sight of all the rotted food inside the half-open mini-fridge by the door. He gagged and held his breath, trying to overcome the reflex long enough to find his water.
Then… “What the fuck?!”
“Nick!”
Howie did an immediate one-eighty, just in time to see Nick getting pulled fiercely into the hole at the end of the lane he’d been slipping and sliding on before. His legs flailed where the pins should have been, as he fought it off, screaming for a gun. Before Howie could react and rush to Nick’s much-needed aid, an iron grip dug into his shoulder.
His eyes skipped down to see the dead, cold, almost-skeletal hand, only a split second before it pulled him back, causing him to slam hard against the counter. Howie winced as the pain shot along his back, making it hard for him to move. He tried to get up as the ghoul did it again, in its earnest attempt to seize its prey. Both hands held him tightly now, and he felt himself panicking in a wild search for a weapon within reach.
There was nothing of use there.
Howie’s gaze soon met the fogged over, distant blue eyes of his attacker. The eyes were forever unblinking, unmoving beneath the patches of scraggly brown hair. The skin was peeling away in sheets, revealing the stark white of the skull. The creature moaned deafeningly, a cry of victory over Howie, despite logic’s claim that zombies had no emotions. It moaned again, as it made a more forceful attempt for its meal.
His body flew back onto the countertop, which creaked and cracked and finally gave way under his weight. Shards exploded into the air, surrounding him in what felt like slow motion, as he fell onto the shattered remains of the counter. Howie could feel the glass stabbing into him like a thousand knives. Pain was instantaneous and all-consuming. It blocked out anything else. Pain was his everything.
Vaguely, he could hear the others yelling. He couldn’t quite see them, only the ceiling, along with blurred shapes. His vision had become fuzzy, the images fading as the blood spilled from his body.
“HOWIE!” A gunshot blast followed. “Howie, hold on!”
Blissful oblivion took him, and he knew nothing more.
