Less Than Human (6 page)

Josh bolted into someone's backyard. The fact that the authorities had no control over the situation got him thinking about the government and what they were doing about this, if they were doing anything at all. Jersey couldn't have been the only place being ransacked by the dead. He'd seen the news reports. It was happening everywhere. Kentucky, Colorado, California, Florida, Pennsylvania—
shit, Pennsylvania,
he thought.

Josh tried concentrating on something else. Baseball season. Video games. The ceramic statue of a fire-breathing dragon where he kept his stash.
Olivia
.

Through all the madness, he had almost forgotten about her. Olivia, his ex-girlfriend of two years, was visiting her aunt in Harrisburg. It was a trip she took a few times a year. Josh had never been invited. It was mostly because Olivia's parents hated him, which was fine by Josh, because he hated them equally, if not more so. They forbade him to see her on countless occasions, continuously reminding their daughter that Josh Emberson was a good-for-nothing druggie, who offered her very little in life and would eventually leave her broken-hearted and penniless.

None of that mattered to Olivia Vander. She saw whom she was going to see and that was the end of it. She was twenty-two for Christ's sakes, capable of making her own decisions, however poor. Her parents pulled the old “if you're going to live underneath our roof” speech-slash-ultimatum, but that never worked out in the end. They never had the guts to kick their baby out. They knew this, and more importantly, so did Olivia. She didn't care. Fact was, she liked partying and getting high with him.

Josh thought about getting high again, as he did almost every other second. He almost thought about getting high as much as he did sex.

Josh crept around the corner of a quiet house. In the backyard, he spotted a child shuffling through the guts of her pet dog. The little girl brought handfuls of its innards to her mouth like it was the first meal she had in weeks. As she continued, Josh wondered if the little one could fit the whole dog inside her.

His movements drew her attention. She glanced up at him, her cheeks caked with the dog's guts, and snarled. She hissed as she rose to her feet. Josh looked ahead, seeing nothing but woods. He decided it was better than heading back to the streets. He sprinted, his lungs still burning for air. Josh's legs carried him into the wilderness, where branches and leaves met him with unwelcoming arms. He felt twigs brush against his face, scratching him as he flew by. He heard leaves being stamped into the ground behind him. The little girl's beastly outbursts motivated him to run faster.

Turning his head, he saw the little girl keeping pace with him.
Jesus, zombies aren't supposed to be able to run!

Josh heard the little girl let out a high-pitched yelp, something a wounded cat might make. He looked back and noticed the girl was no longer following him. Instead, she was on the ground, trying to crawl after him. Her foot had sunk beneath the earth. Josh stopped running, stared back at the little girl. She was snapping at him, growling ferociously. She dug her fingers into the dirt, trying to pull herself free from the small sinkhole that held her.

He watched her for a moment, analyzing her actions. She struggled to pull herself forward, her leg bending awkwardly out of place. It wasn't long before the bone snapped. Josh heard the break, reminding him of a thick tree branch being halved. He cringed as the sound filled the forest around him.

Then the girl was free. It appeared the leg had become detached, and Josh watched in horror as the little girl crawled toward him, stringing along red, gooey chunks of meat where her leg used to be. There was so much blood coming from the wound, Josh couldn't see where the dismembered part lay. He turned away, still sickened from what he had seen earlier.

Josh wanted to puke, but forced himself to run instead. He continued in the same direction, as far away from Pine Coast Village as his legs carried him. Up ahead, he saw a clearing. A road waited for him beyond the pines. Josh didn't know the area particularly well, so where he was going to end up was a mystery. Suddenly, Josh wished he had visited his mother more often. He thought about what a shitty son he'd been all those years, ever since his father left her for another woman, one much younger and with less problems. One who could remember shit. Josh failed her. Meridith needed someone, and her son was supposed to be that someone. This upset him to a certain degree, but Josh knew very well that if the apocalypse had not been triggered, he would not be at war with himself. He would've continued to feed off her, as he had done since he sucked the nutrients out of her nipples when he was a baby. He wouldn't have stopped until she had nothing left. Much like the way the zombies never stopped. They were always hungry for more. Only, they were hungry for the flesh of the living, instead of drugs, money, and sex.

A horn honked, interrupting the peaceful silence around him. He found himself standing in the middle of the highway. A car barreled toward him. He could smell the rubber tires grinding against the asphalt, the squeal of the brakes slamming his eardrums. He had no time to react. 

Josh Emberson remembered his shoulder hitting the hood really hard before the world went completely opaque.

          
CHAPTER FIVE

“Y
ou awake?” Ross asked.

Ben twitched. “Yeah, I'm awake.”

“Can't sleep, huh?” Landry was asleep, his head resting on his father's shoulder. Everyone else was asleep with the exception of Josh. He sat with his back against the wall, counting the minutes until their captors revealed their master plan. “Me neither. My adrenaline is still going I guess.”

“
Thanks for doing that, by the way,” Josh said. “I would have done it myself, but...” Josh motioned to the four chain-linked walls around him. 

“
Yeah, well, it was my pleasure. Kid deserved it.”

“
So where you from, Ross?” Ben asked.

“
Carver's Grove, New Jersey. Not sure how far we are from home. What about you?”

“
Red River,” Ben said.

“
We're practically neighbors. I have a few buddies at work who live in Red River.”

“
Ben is trying to get to Pittsburgh. To save his son,” Josh told him.

“
Is that right?” Ross asked, rubbing Landry's shoulder.

Ben nodded.

“Damn. If I were in your shoes, I don't know what I'd do.” He peered down at his son, grimacing affectionately. “I don't know if these chain-link cages could keep me contained.”

“
Well, I don't plan on staying here very long,” Ben said.

“
Easier said than done, brother. You heard, Bozo. They had him in here for weeks.
Weeks.”

“
Well, we don't have weeks. We have a few hours. Maybe less. I don't know.”

Ross glanced over at Josh, who shrugged casually.

“What are you talking about, brother?” Ross asked, a trace of uneasiness in his voice.

“
Yeah, Ben,” Josh said. “What the hell
are
you talking about? Before our friend started shooting his mouth off, you were saying something really bad was about to happen. What is it?”

Ben's eyes darted around the room, surveying the other prisoners. “I didn't want to say anything before because I don't want to cause a panic. We're in enough trouble, and if we're going to get out of here, we have to have our wits about us.”

“Well, everyone's sleeping,” Josh said. “Tell us.”

Ben inhaled unclean air, then exhaled. “Okay. I got in touch with my ex. Things out there... aren't looking very promising.”

“What do you mean?” Ross asked.

“
I mean the entire East Coast is one great big ball of fucked.” He closed his eyes, wishing he didn't have to be the one to tell them. “The government has decided to contain the outbreak by dropping a bomb on us.”

Josh shook his head. “No.”

“Yes.”

Ross's eyes became glossy as they drifted toward the floor. “Shit.”

“Yup.” Ben stood up. “If we don't find a way to—let's say Ohio—in the next few hours, we're going to become awfully crispy.”

“
They're going to bomb us?” Paul Scott asked, removing his trucker's hat. He wiped away sweat from his forehead.

“
So much for everyone being asleep,” Josh muttered.

“
Yes, Paul—it is Paul, right?” Ben asked.

Paul nodded.

“Paul, we would like to keep this a secret. We don't need the others freaking out and panicking. Okay?”

“
The government...” he repeated, almost catatonic. “Washington. They'll bomb themselves, I suppose.”

“
For the greater good, Paul,” Josh said. “Or because they simply don't know what else to do.”

“
I thought the government was supposed to look out for its people. Not destroy them because they don't know what else to do,” Ross chimed.

“
I don't know,” Ben said. “But what I
do
know, is that my son is out there and I need to find him.” His eyes began to sting. “I
will
find him.”

Ross nodded. “I'll help you, brother.”

“I appreciate that.” Ben turned to Josh. “You in?”

“
Hell yeah. I'm not doing anything but waiting to become human charcoal.”

“
Paul, do I have your word you won't tell the others? Not until the moment's right.”

Paul shrugged. “When is the right moment to tell a person such a thing?”

Ben shook his head. “We'll know when it happens. Until then...”

“
My lips are sealed.”

“
Thank you.”

He wondered if he would even get the opportunity.

H
ours later, some of the other prisoners started waking. Ben dozed off a few times, feeling as he had the night before: exhausted and running on empty. The sickness was gone, but he was dehydrated and malnourished like he had been with the flu.

Ben awoke to the sound of two voices arguing over something his brain had not yet processed.

“Oh, here we go,” Josh muttered.

“
Here we go nothing,” John sneered. “Are we going to pretend that we don't see the obvious? That man is right,” he stated, nodding to Paul, “the government doesn't give a shit about us. If they did, they would've never let it come to this. Hell, they're probably the ones who created this shit, letting it spread across the coast to see how many people it infected. Just to see what would happen.”

So much for the right moment,
Ben thought. He scolded Paul Scott with his eyes, but the trucker intentionally dodged Ben's hard gaze. 

“
And why would they want to do that?”

“
Who knows. Maybe they're testing biological warfare. Or maybe, they're looking to thin the numbers. Population control, or something.”

“
Oh, yeah. That's believable.”

“
What do
you
know? You're just a pathetic junkie,” John grumbled. He coughed, softly at first, but grew louder in succession.

Josh smiled. “That's right. Choke, motherfucker.”

“Quit it,” Ben said to both of them.

Glaring at Ben, John's coughing subsided. “What? You didn't know your fellow road-tripper was a junkie?”

“I did actually. And you know what? He's well on his way to kicking the habit. So it'd be real nice if you got off his ass about it.”

John laughed raucously between another series of coughs. “Yeah, right,” he wheezed. “That'll be the day.” John turned to Josh. “You know what I wished for when the dead started coming back to life?”

“That they'd actually listen to anything you had to say?” Josh said.

“
That I'd be there to watch you turn into one of them. So when you came back to life I'd be the lucky one to put you down like a lame stag.” John Vander smiled hideously. “And the best part? No one would even give a shit. Not even Olivia. Because you'd be a fucking zombie!”

“
Well, I'll tell you what, whack-job. I didn't kill your little girl. You did. And she died long before the zombies came along.” Josh pursed his quivering lips. He gritted his teeth as he continued. “You smothered her, John. And you know who she turned to? Someone like me.” He giggled softly. “Yeah, I'm a liar. I've cheated. Stolen things. Did drugs. Lots of them. And you know what makes girls want to date scumbags like me? Overbearing fathers who try to control their daughter's lives, John. Like you. So do me a favor and kindly keep your fucking mouth shut.”

Josh exhaled. For a second no one said anything. He caught Ben smiling behind his hand. Ross smirked as well. Josh rested his head against the cage and sighed. Fishing for the smokes in his pocket, Josh remembered that the Three Little Pigs had cleaned him out before locking him up. He muttered an obscenity that no one heard.

“You disrespectful little sh—” John started to say, but another hacking fit interrupted him. The bundle of coughs was more throaty than the previous ones. John hunched over and retched blood onto the concrete, which alarmed everyone, bringing them to their feet. A wave of gasps circled the basement.

“
You okay?” Ben asked.

More blood splashed onto the concrete.

“Fine,” he said hoarsely. “I can feel it coursing through me. The sickness. Whatever we're infected with.”

At first, Ben didn't understand. Then, John rolled his pant leg. A good-size chunk of his leg was missing, about enough to fill the average mouth. Ben recognized the teeth marks around the hole that exposed bone. The skin around the wound had purpled, almost blackened. The smell that emanated from the chewed orifice was nauseating. Body odor and urine were no longer the dominant aromas. The stench overpowered the other disgusting smells that wafted around the basement. Ben tried to cover his nose with his arm, but it did nothing to block the putrid stink. Josh grimaced while Victoria heaved air. Emily quickly pinched her nostrils with her fingers. Brittany buried her nose in her arm.

Ross closed his eyes, wishing he were somewhere else. 

“
Jesus Christ,” Paul muttered, turning his head.

Tabby held her silent son close, fearing what was going to happen next. The poor kid trembled in her arms.

“I'm turning into one of them,” John said.

Ben shook his head, pressing his back against the cage. He realized John would come after him once the sickness ran its course. And he wouldn't stop until he he had Ben's flesh between his teeth.

Jake...
Ben thought. His heart sank into his bowels when John Vander opened his mouth to speak and froze, staying that way until his body reanimated.