Lovin' in the Apocalypse Ch. 07

In an empty warehouse, two blocks away from the hotel, Kenneth stood with a crowbar in his right hand. The claw of the weapon was dripping bloody gore and Kenneth was breathing hard. Sweat streaked down his red face but he still looked angry. He glowered at the man in bulky combat armor. "Another."

The guard gave Kenneth an appraising look before nodding. "Okay Bossman. Just don't over do it now."

"You worry too much, Stephen. Open the damn door." Kenneth stood straight and shook some of the debris from his weapon.

Stephen opened the metal door and ducked behind it like a rodeo gate master. The two infected humans shuffled out into the wide room. "Hungry?" The one that used to be a woman asked. "Please?" The walking dead man pointed a shaky hand at the only living person they could see. At once, both the infected creatures ran for Kenneth.

Kenneth saw that with how even paced they were, he would only have time to swing at one. No matter. He sidestepped and the infected changed course as predictably as they always were. He took a few steps back to give himself some more room and loaded the crowbar over his shoulder as if he was at home plate and waiting for the pitch.

"Hungry! Hungr-eeeee!" The infected male lost its balance and fell face first over the body of another infected. The very one that just had its head beat to a pulp with a crowbar.

With one of the infected distracted, Kenneth put all he could into a swing that would have sent a ball out of the stadium. The contract sent a jarring reverberation up his arms but Kenneth barely noticed. He was used to the shock of delivering heavy blows. The thick, rope-like muscles on his arms and shoulders bulged with the exertion. The blood spray on his face was like war paint.

The infected's head spun violently with the impact, making it pirouette on the spot. "Huuuggg! Huuuuuuuuggg!" It groaned as it tried to right itself. The lower half of its face was just gone and even though it would no longer be able to bite, it lunged for Kenneth anyways. He finished it with a well aimed spear thrust, sending the sharp end of the crowbar through one of its milky eyes.

The infected male was trying to crawl for him, too impatient to stand up first. Kenneth stood over the creature as his lip twisted in disgust. He kicked the thing's arms out from under it and made its face smack the concrete floor. From there, without any trace of pity for what the monster had been before, Kenneth began to rain down blow after blow with the crowbar.

Gore dripped from the curve of the weapon as Kenneth stood hunched over, breathing hard. He cut his eyes up and looked at Stephen with the face of the devil himself. The guard took an involuntary step back, afraid the Bossman might mistake him for one of the infected. He tried to swallow but the look on Kenneth's face was too frightening. Was this man even human?

"Another." Kenneth growled through clenched teeth.

It took most of Stephen's mental fortitude to keep eye contact with Bossman and the rest of it was used to keep the stutter from his voice. "That's all of them. You killed them all."

Kenneth's eyes narrowed as if he thought the man was lying to him. Then they slowly moved around the room, seeing all the open doors and broken bodies. 10 of them in all. Kenneth stood up straight while taking in a huge breath. He closed his eyes and let the air out slowly. As he relaxed, his right hand just numbly dropped the crowbar and it clattered noisily to the concrete. "If only that were true. It'll be a while before I've got all of them."

Kenneth took his shirt off and tossed it into the pile of bodies. Stephen handed him a towel to wipe the rest of the grime off. "You know, there are a lot of ways to blow off steam that are more cozy than this. Jess's Place in particular comes to mind."

Kenneth chuckled in good humor. "I'm not just doing this to blow off steam. It keeps me sharp and focused. But maybe you're right. A trip to Jess's would be nice." Kenneth threw the soiled towel on the pile.

"You wanna go tonight?" Stephen sounded excited about the idea.

"No, sorry bud. I got to get cleaned up. Besides, I'm always too edgy after this kind of stuff. Hard to cut it off entirely."

"Yeah, I feel ya. Just don't go without me!" Both of them laughed as they walked away from the carnage.

Back in suite at the top of the hotel building, Kenneth chewed a tough piece of meat that did not want to break apart. He chewed it anyways, enjoying the pressure he was able to use against the stubborn meat. He looked across the table at his son who was spooning the stew into his own mouth. He felt annoyed by the boy's placid face and silence. Samuel had not uttered a single word since that night in the sewers and instead of getting used to it, Kenneth grew more frustrated by the day. "How's your stew?"

Samuel only nodded as he watched the spoon move from the stew to his mouth as if he needed to concentrate on it.

"Well, what do you like about it?"

After a second, the boy's small shoulder rose and fell in a quick shrug.

Kenneth slapped the table hard with an open hand. The boom startled Samuel and he finally looked at his father with huge, scared eyes.

"I don't know what the fuck you want from me, boy!" Kenneth let his frustrations flow out. "You can't keep your mouth shut and expect me to guess! Whatever the fuck is wrong with you, get over it!" Kenneth was breathing hard.

Samuel's eyes widened in shock and filled with tears. Kenneth felt instantly sorry but could not let go of his anger entirely. "Go to bed," he finally said. "We'll try again tomorrow." Kenneth watched his son sulk off to his room and had to loosen his aching jaw.

A fish made of light swam around the boy's room in a constant loop. The battery powered night light ticked softly as it moved the lense in a circle. Like the beam of a lighthouse, the cartoon fish momentarily illuminated random items in a seemingly normal child's room. A bookshelf loaded with colorful spines, a toy chest overflowing with plastic action figures and fluffy animals, a big looping toy car race track. It all looked normal. But as the fish swam over the face of the boy, the image of normality shattered.

Samuel's small, doughy face was a flat void of emotion. His bright blue eyes did not flicker or move with the light, he barely blinked at all. It was as if he was in a trance. He was just waiting for the right time. When he was sure that no one was listening, Samuel got out of bed and pulled one of the picture books off his shelf. He opened the book and pulled out a wallet sized photo of a beautiful blonde woman. He ran his little fingers over her face tenderly. He wished this is how she would look when she talked to him.

Samuel ran back to his bed and jumped under the blankets. He used the rotating light to stare at the picture of his mother until he heard the sounds of her harsh breathing. Samuel swallowed hard and pulled his head out from under the blanket. His mother was in the room with him. She was laying face down on the floor but was holding herself up on her arms and staring at Samuel with huge eyes. Her normally yellow and wavy hair was blood soaked and plastered to her skin. She made no sound but Samuel could hear her words. They were in his head, breathy words full of pain like the last ones he heard her speak.

"Hey mama. Daddy yelled at me again. It's okay though, he's just worried."

...

"No, I did like you said."

...

"Nope. Not one word." Samuel twisted his little mouth. "But mama, why can't I talk to daddy?"

...

"Why are you mad at him?"

...

"No mama!" He whispered and felt shocked. "The monsters did, not him!"

...

"It was his fault? Really?"

...

"Oh." Samuel began to cry and wondered how he would face his father now that he finally knew the truth. She just told Samuel all the details a child would miss. He did not remember the night his mother died but she reminded him. From her perspective, Samuel saw his father running fast. He was outpacing her as she clung to their child. She was tired, her legs too heavy but she refused to stop. She was sobbing his father's name but he just kept moving. Samuel saw from her eyes as his father threw together a makeshift ladder to a platform. He saw his father look back at them and the look of utter terror in his eyes. His father scrambled up the pile of debris and just as he reached the top, it collapsed.

Samuel did remember how his mother squeezed him tight before roughly shoving him up into his father's reaching arms. He remembered the way she begged the evil people to stop and the terrible scream that followed. His father tried to save her too, he pulled her up with them but the monsters got her first. Now that the rest of the picture was clear to him, Samuel realized his father left his mother down there. He was the reason she was dead.

The mother-thing that showed up to talk to him at night nodded her terrible face in affirmation. Samuel finally got the message she had been trying to show him. With that finished, the mother-thing looked over its shoulder at his closed door. She turned her body with her hands and began to drag herself away. The torn, boney remains of her useless legs dragged behind, leaving no obvious sign of passage. Before going through the door, the mother-thing looked back over her shoulder to look at Samuel.

...

"I love you too mama."

*