“You wouldn’t leave us here, would you?” Scott asked.
“No way. I actually like you guys. You make me laugh, and he is kind of a badass.” She indicated me.
“Not really a badass stuck in a cage now, am I?”
“No, but if I help you guys out, I think you might be able to protect my lily white ass from those things.”
Scott chuckled appreciatively. At her humor, I hoped. She may have been aged from the terrible life we were forced to live, but Haley was still just a child as far as I was concerned.
“Come on. We don’t have all day!” Was this the same girl who was shivering and wrapped in a ball the first night, afraid of my touch?
I shook my head and glanced around. With the rain pouring down, it was hard to see if any of the creatures were nearby. I hoped for the best. Scott and I lifted the cage as much as we could. We had to strain and reach down, letting go with one hand each time so we could grip the cage a bit lower. At last, it was about a foot off the ground, and my arms were trembling. I didn’t think I could hold it much longer.
But just like a snake, Haley bolted to the tiny opening and slithered out on her stomach. One advantage to being as starved as we were was that she was pretty far on the skinny side. In fact, she looked like one of those Hollywood starlets that ate a bowl of peas for dinner.
I nodded at Scott, and we lowered the cage as quietly and as slowly as we dared. I wanted to drop the damn thing, but I was afraid it would sound like a bunch of bells ringing. We managed to set it down with just a few grunts. When it had sunk back into the earth, I breathed a sigh of relief and stared at my friend. He shot me a quick grin, then his gaze darted to the girl.
The night folded around her as she scurried away. Eventually she came back around and looked at the lock, then at us. After she tugged at something, she disappeared. Scott and I waited for a minute, sure that she would reappear. A form walked toward the cage, but it was hard to tell if it was Haley. As the shuffling steps drew near, we both knew it was one of the dead.
It was a man this time. He was dressed in a gaudy red velvet shirt with blue pants. He looked like some ridiculous troubadour. Probably worked at a Mexican restaurant and was caught in the mess in his uniform.
“Friend of yours?” I asked Scott.
“Hey, fuck you, white boy. If I had a gun, I’d put him down with a single shot, Latino or not, bright puffy red shirt or not. Although I give him points for style. It’s hard to pull off that ensemble.”
Clapping my hand over his shoulder, I suppressed a chuckle. It was odd to think I had known this man for a very short time, and yet he was now my best friend in the world. He was currently my only friend, and I felt a fierce need to protect him even though he was more than capable of taking care of himself.
“I hope she comes back,” I said.
“You don’t think she will?”
“Would you?”
“For you? Nah, I’d rather haul ass out of here and take my chances in the woods all alone. Of course I would, dumb-ass.”
“Yeah? Well, I’d let you rot. You smell like death.”
“You’re one to talk.”
Scott walked over to the other side of the cage and stretched his hand out. He came back with the arm I had tossed aside the night before. He took it to the bars where we had lifted the cage and held it out to the zombie, hand first, like he was offering a handshake.
“Hey. Take this and fuck off.” He held the hand up and waved it around. The zombie didn’t have very good motor skills, but he managed to take the arm and sink his teeth into the rotted flesh. Then he wandered away with the morsel hanging out of his mouth.
“Do you blame me for this?” I had been afraid to voice this question, but it had gnawed at me since the day I awoke in a cave.
“I don’t, man. There were too many of them. They had that planned for a long time. They are getting smarter, the green guys.” He didn’t turn around, just kept talking into the night. “We noticed them changing a month or so ago. Getting more coordinated.”
“I can’t help but think it was me that brought them. I should have killed that ghoul when I had the chance.”
“Coulda shoulda. No way to change that shit now.”
I sighed and stared into the darkness around us.
We waited for what seemed forever, while the rain continued to hammer down. We discussed how to get the cage lifted long enough for the other to slip through, but I was already so tired I could barely lift my hand to my head, let alone hold the cage up long enough for him to slip out.
I sat down in the mud and thought about the meat they would offer in the morning. Should we give in? Give up our humanity? At least I wouldn’t be hungry and cold anymore. It would also give me a chance to see what they saw, feel the world the way they felt it. In a way, I felt sorry for the damned things. It wasn’t their fault they became they way they were. History was littered with tales of people eating the dead. It was a shame that we were being hunted to extinction by the ‘better’ humans. We are you. Only better. The ghouls words came back and chilled me to the bone.
To tell the truth, I would rather die than eat the rancid flesh. I would rather sit here and starve to death than become one of those things. Sighing, I leaned back against the cage. The rain had died down a bit, and the cover kept my back from getting more drenched. There was no way I could lay on the cold wet earth.
Scott sat beside me but didn’t speak. Weary, I laid my head back and closed my eyes. Without the girl here, we didn’t seem too concerned about huddling for warmth like we did before.
I was drifting off when a hand landed on my shoulder, which made me jump away from the bars. Heart pounding in my chest, I came up in a fighting stance, despite my foggy mind.
It was the girl, and she looked scared. Her hair was pushed back behind her ears, and her face was washed clean, so at least the rain had done some good. A bar sat in her hand—just a hunk of metal. I crept closer to her.
“I couldn’t find any kind of keys. There is a lock, but it’s dark, and I can’t see how it works.” She was standing by the door, feeling it with one hand. Metal clanked on metal, but she moved it gently.
“What are you planning to do?” I said.
“Not sure. I thought I could hit the lock, but I don’t want to bring anyone. Maybe I can wrap the bar in something.”
“Good thinking.” Scott unbuttoned his shirt and slipped it off. He handed it to her through the base of the cage, then stood shivering. His skin should have been dark, like he had a tan, but he was just as pale and white as me. I was probably paler. Glancing down at my hands and forearms, I realized that if I had red eyes, I would make a pretty good albino. I laughed at that thought, and Scott looked at me with a quizzical expression.
I was losing it.
She wrapped the bar in the shirt and then took a tentative swing at the other side. I couldn’t see what she was doing, but the sound was like thunder. It was softer with the padding, but to me it sounded loud enough to wake everyone in the camp.
The people in the cage across from us were on their feet, peering at us. They looked like desperate refugees, like something out of a movie about the Holocaust. The feed pit—that’s what they were in. If we got out, I knew I would have to take them with us.
She hit the door again, and a zombie wandered by on the other side of the cage. Scott used quick thinking, dashing over to that side and calling to the creature. It walked up to the bars, and he kept the dead man entertained by making faces and hand gestures. He held his arm out, and when the zombie went for it, he jerked it back inside.
If it wandered to the other side, we were screwed, unless she was quick enough to bash in its head.