Ready for a little zombie action this Saturday morning? A little tale entitled:
Hell's Full
"When there’s no room left in hell, the
dead will walk the earth."
The quote drifted into my mind, some old line
from some old movie. I couldn't remember what movie or when I had heard it
even. Could be I was just becoming
forgetful at my age but more likely it was fear that was choking me and making
me forget.
"Glenn.. What are they?"
I knew the answer, so did she but maybe she
wanted someone else to say it, to hear it out loud so it wouldn't sound quite
so insane as it did inside her head.
"Zombies, Rebekkah." I stopped and let
the words sit in the room like an unwanted visitor. "Zombies. Or at least
what we know as zombies."
She started crying then, I knew she would. Becky
had been a crier since high school and fifty-eight years hadn't changed that
about her. I put my arm around her, the one arm that remained, and pulled her
next to me. She would be covered in blood, my blood, but I hoped she wouldn't
mind.
And besides, the bloodstains on her clothes
would be the least of her worries before long.
"Listen to me Becky, I am not going to make
it out of here. You know that."
"Whaaaat?" The sobbing stopped
momentarily as she looked at me for the first time since this whole thing
started. She was in shock or at
least appeared to be but I am no doctor, just a writer. A writer with one arm.
Useless. There would be no more typing for me and I wasn't into giving
dictation. My writing had been shit the last year anyway. Maybe this was for
the best.
"I've lost a lot of blood, Becky." She
glanced at the stump where my arm used to be as if she just noticed it now. Her
eyes grew wide and her fair skin paled even further. I thought she might faint then but the tough Irish genes in
her took over and she simply nodded.
That was better. She was getting it.
"Can we get out of here Glenn? Get you to a
hospital?
"It wouldn't matter, Beck. The poison or
venom or whatever the fuck it is is already in my body." The realization hit me then, too. The
truth. Better to say it out loud and give it up to the gods. "I am going
to die and probably pretty soon."
There was no wailing this time from my pretty
redheaded wife. That was good. Maybe she finally understood.
"Get the gun out of the safe, Beck. Do it
now."
She wanted to argue, she opened her mouth to say
something but shut it with an audible snap instead. She bent over next to the
bed, and I heard the heavy clank as the lid to the metal safe popped open, then
the click of the clip sliding in and a bullet being chambered. Good.
When I saw her face appear over me she was
crying again but her eyes were clear and focused.
"I love you, Becky. Always remember
that."
"I love you, Glenn. Forever and a day,
remember?"
"Forever and a day, babe. Now don't wait.
Okay?"
"Okay, babe. I won't."
The shot rang through the room and suddenly I
was falling. There was no pain any longer, just a sweet peaceful calm as if I
was slowly drifting into a deep sleep. It was okay. This was okay.
Somewhere in the distance I heard Becky once
last time.
"Forever and a day, babe."
Another shot ripped through the silence in the
room and I realized I was no longer alone.
Becky's small hand was suddenly clasped in mine
and we fell the rest of the way together, as one.
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