Tales of Terror from Survivors (Zombie Apocalypse #3.5) Read online

  “What did it taste like?” Anders asked, speaking the first question that popped into his mind to get Bryan to keep talking. His eyes were wide and his hand moved rapidly across the page of his notebook as he jotted down notes. He had no idea what he was writing but he needed to be doing something with his hands or he’d be biting his nails like Bryan.

  “It tasted like life,” Bryan said, his eyes ablaze. “I’ve never tasted anything like it before. I wanted more.”

  “What did you do, Bryan?”

  “Nothing. I put the rabbit down and walked home.”

  “I thought you wanted more.”

  “I did, but I didn’t want the rest of the rabbit. It was…too pretty.”

  “Bryan, how did you feel when you got home? Were you happy you’d tasted the blood? Or were you upset and maybe a little guilty?”

  “Both,” Bryan said, no hesitation at all. “I was happy I finally knew what was wrong with me, what made me so different than everyone else who came back. But I felt guilty because it’s not right. It’s gross and wrong, and I shouldn’t have done it. It was so pretty.” His eyes took on a far away appearance, and Anders knew Bryan was thinking back to the rabbit, and probably the joy he’d felt at tasting its blood. The look of wonder on the boy’s face was almost serene, as if he’d never been happier in his life than when he found that dead rabbit.

  Bryan shook his head, snapping back to reality. He looked at Anders, his eyes going wide. “I should go,” he said hurriedly, jumping to his feet.

  Anders was right on his heels as he bolted for the door. “Bryan, wait! There’s a lot more we can talk about. I have more questions to ask you.” That was a lie, but Anders didn’t know what else to say to keep the young boy in his rooms. He wanted to make sure Bryan was going to be okay after revealing such a deeply personal secret, and from the panicked look in his eyes, Anders guessed the answer would be no. It was evident from his reaction that he was scared and still very confused. Anders wanted to reach out and give the boy a lifeline to guide him to safety, but he would need Bryan’s cooperation for that.

  And I’m not going to get it anytime soon. I’m amazed he opened up as much as he did. This must have been weighing on his shoulders for a very long time for him to open up about it in such a sudden manner. Almost like a dam bursting open in one fell swoop.

  The door slammed as Bryan exited his living quarters, and Anders was left alone, standing in the middle of his work space, holding a bunch of random notes he had taken that probably didn’t even mean anything. He glanced down at it and squinted, trying to read his handwriting. It was crooked and squished, just like a real doctor’s would have been. He almost smiled at the thought, until he got to the line where he’d written about Bryan’s excitement over tasting the blood. He’d jotted down the feverish glint in Bryan’s eyes, the surety in his voice as he spoke about the event, and the body language that unfortunately told Anders the boy would do it again if given the chance.

  He may be a danger to dead or dying animals, but I don’t think his problems extend towards other humans. I didn’t get a chance to ask him how he felt about the idea of tasting human blood, but I’m positive his answer wouldn’t have been bad. He’s confused and traumatized from his time as a zombie, but I don’t think he’s dangerous.

  Of course, he’d originally thought the same about Trey, and he’d been completely wrong. What if his skills lay in listening to people’s problems and offering advice, but didn’t extend to actually reading people like a book? What if he never learned to properly distinguish who could be helped and who was a dangerous threat? He’d be nothing more than a glorified diary, a place where people could vent without fear of being judged, but when it came down to it, he’d never be able to really help anyone.

  Perhaps he simply wanted to see the good in everyone, even when it was clear to others there was none to be found. He had sort of been friends with Trey—to some extent—and hadn’t wanted to believe he was capable of any real horrors. Maybe that was the case with Bryan now. He looked at him and saw a young boy desperate for help in understanding what was going on in his mind, but maybe he needed to be looking deeper, past the surface, to see the budding psychopath lurking beneath.

  I have to remain objective. Perhaps I need another opinion other than my own. Evan will know what I should do about him. He’s wiser than I am.

  He locked the door behind him on his way out and headed up to the farmhouse, where he had originally been going before. When he got there, he found that he was in luck. Evan and Mary were alone in the kitchen. Molly and Alyssa were nowhere to be seen, probably out back helping to feed the chickens or collect their eggs. They were usually hanging around the house while not working, since Mary had been gracious enough to give them the two twin beds upstairs that had belonged to their granddaughters.

  Mary smiled at Anders as he gently closed the kitchen door behind him, making sure to take off his shoes before stepping off the welcome mat. “Anders, you’re just in time for some lunch.”

  “I’m actually not that hungry,” he said, taking a seat at the kitchen table across from Evan. “I’m in a bit of a bind and I need some advice. I was hoping you could help me.”

  Evan raised an eyebrow, putting down his fork. “What can I help you with?”

  “I had a patient a little bit ago, and they’ve left me very concerned. I know I’ve said in the past I shouldn’t talk about any details concerning my patients, but I think I need to make an exception this time.”

  “This must be a very serious problem for you to come to me about it.”

  “It is,” Anders said gravely. “A young boy came to me and confessed to having unnatural cravings. He even went so far as to drink the blood of a rabbit he found in the woods. I’m concerned I might lack the ability to see past what I want to see, that I might be blinded to the severity of this situation. I want to help this boy, but I’m not totally sure he can be helped, to be honest. I don’t want to be wrong again, like I was with Trey. If I am, someone might get seriously hurt.”

  “He wouldn’t be the first to still crave blood,” Evan pointed out. “We’ve had others, and there have been rumors of it on a larger scale in the area.”

  “True,” Anders admitted, “but this is the first time we’ve learned about it before the person hurt or killed someone. What are we supposed to do about it? We have a duty to protect all of the people in our community, but we can’t ostracize someone that hasn’t actually committed any crimes yet, especially since they might not. I’m very conflicted about this, Evan. If he does end up hurting someone, I’d feel guilty that I didn’t do anything to stop him before he got to that point. But if we act preemptively, we’ll never know if he might have gone the rest of his life not hurting anyone.”

  “Everyone deserves a second chance,” Evan said. “This boy has gotten a second chance at life thanks to some very good people, and he deserves the chance to live it. I think we should just leave him be for now. I think it’s the most responsible decision to make given our choices. We don’t have rehab or a juvenile court system to get him any help, and if we did intervene, it would cause an uproar despite him not having done any harm yet. It’s safest for him if we just observe for the time being. We can punish him somehow if he does do something. That might not be fair to anyone he ended up hurting, but it’s the only real option I see as being somewhat fair.”

  Anders sighed. “I don’t agree with punishing someone that hasn’t committed any crimes, but I can’t help but think that any future victims should be protected just as much. There needs to be a way to reach some form of middle ground. What that is, I’m not sure, but we have to try and come up with something.”

  “It’ll never happen,” Evan said, matter-of-factly. “It’s just not possible, especially not in the world we find ourselves in now. Someone is always going to get the short end of the stick, so to speak. In this case, it’ll be any of his future victims—if there are any at all. You’re going to run yourself ragg
ed worrying about everyone here, Anders. You need to take a step back and be objective. Don’t look at this as a young boy who came to you for help; look at this as a potential criminal. He hasn’t done anything yet, so the law wouldn’t be able to punish him, and neither can we. Until he acts, all we can do is sit back and treat him as we do everyone else.”

  Anders sighed and rubbed his temples, feeling a headache coming on. “This isn’t going to end well.”

  “Probably not,” Evan admitted.

  “I have another appointment in a little bit,” Anders said, getting to his feet. “Thanks for listening, and for the advice.”

  “Anytime,” Evan said, digging into the salad in front of him.

  Anders gave a very worried looking Mary a kiss on the cheek and darted out the door. His next appointment wasn’t for another half an hour or so, but he hadn’t wanted to sit around that kitchen anymore. He needed some fresh air and a chance to think on his own. Even though Evan had spoken his piece, Anders knew the decision of what to do about the boy was going to be up to him. Whether he kept the boy’s behavior confidential or broke that faith and called a meeting to report it was going to be a hard decision, one that would probably haunt him either way.

  When he neared the barn, he stopped in his tracks as the sounds of a fight reached his ears. He ran towards the barn and shouldered open the door farther, finding a ring of boy’s encircling two more boys. All of the boys were in their early teens, but he only recognized one of them. Bryan was at the center of the fight, grappling with a boy a year or two older than him. They were wrestling on the ground while the others all cheered the older boy on, and Anders knew immediately this wasn’t a friendly match but a planned attack.

  He began wading through the boys, demanding they move aside and let him through. Before he could reach the center of the ring, the boys began to scream and scatter. When the area cleared, Anders saw the older boy on his back, blood pouring from his head where his left ear used to be. Only a portion of it remained, and he stared in horror as Bryan spit the older boy’s earlobe from his mouth and wiped his mouth with the back of his hand.

  He stared down at the blood in fascination, and as Anders watched, frozen in horror, Bryan reached out and flicked his tongue against the back of his hand, tasting the older boy’s blood. A shudder ran through his body and his eyes closed as he enjoyed the experience, and Anders felt his stomach roll. Anders snapped out of it and rushed to the older boy’s side, trying to ignore the scared boys huddled in the back of the barn, as far away from Bryan as they could get. The older boy was in bad shape, missing half of his ear and panicking, still screaming in pain.

  Blood smeared across his face and drenched the ground beneath him. Anders didn’t have much medical training but what he’d read in books, and immediately stripped off his shirt, folding it up into a thick pad and pressing it against the boy’s face. Hoping to calm him as much as he could in his position, he tried to get the boy talking. “It’s going to be okay, I’m here to help! Can you tell me your name?”

  “His name is Tyler,” one of the braver boys said, coming forward. He knelt on the ground next to Anders, his eyes wide, as if he were a deer caught in the headlights of a semi-truck. “Is he going to be okay?”

  “He’s going to be fine. But I need you to do something for me,” Anders said. “I need you to run up to the house and fetch Mary and Evan. Get them here as fast as you can, do you understand?” When the boy didn’t move, Anders pressed. “I need your help. None of the other boys are in any shape to do this. Please, if you want to help your friend, tell Mary and Evan what happened. Go!”

  The boy got to his feet and vanished, darting out of the barn and rounding the corner. Anders turned his attention back to the boy on the ground. “Tyler, can you hear me? Everything’s gonna be alright, I promise. You’re gonna be just fine. Just look at me and take a deep breath, okay? In and out.” He took a deep breath, and Tyler followed suit, sucking in a ragged lungful of air. He was still crying and he choked, but he was finally quiet and Anders could work with him better.

  He turned Tyler’s head to the side and pulled away the makeshift pad, looking at the damage. It was bad, worse than Anders knew how to fix. The boy was losing a fair amount of blood, but he didn’t think it looked life threatening. He was more worried about infection than the blood loss, but there was no telling what might happen. Gently, he replaced the pad, and Tyler hissed in pain. He sniffed, trying to remain calm, making Anders’ job easier. Looking over his shoulder, he saw a horrified Bryan huddled in a ball in the opposite corner of the barn. His head was down and Anders could hear him crying, even over the sound of the other panicked boys around him.

  The barn door opened even further and light poured in. Mary came at a run, crouching down beside the boy with a first-aid kit in her hands. She moved Anders’ hands aside and examined the wound herself with a grim expression on her face. Evan came a minute later, his leg dragging across the ground. The boy sent to fetch them was with him, helping Evan to move faster than he had probably moved in years. Evan stopped in the doorway, his eyes finding Anders’, and he shuffled in.

  “The community is in a panic.”

  “Already?” Anders asked, a sense of dread growing in his stomach. Word traveled fast, especially in a small, tightly knit community like this, but for word to have gotten out in only minutes? It didn’t seem possible.

  “The young boy you sent to fetch us was screaming it at the top of his lungs,” Mary said quietly as she worked to stop the bleeding from what was left of Tyler’s ear. “We heard him calling for us before he was even in sight of the house, and we met him in the driveway. There were girls taking care of the chickens and a few workers near the fence doing some repairs. When they heard what happened, they all took off, flocking together like scared people oftentimes do. It couldn’t be helped.”

  People burst through the open barn doorway, and a woman dropped to Tyler’s side, sobbing wildly. She put her arms around his shoulders, burying her face in his neck. He began to cry again when she touched him, and Anders guessed that it must have been her mother. She whispered soothing words to him, trying to calm him down once more. While Mary cleaned and bandaged his torn ear, Anders noted that a young man stood in the open barn doorway, his face dark with fury. He was a couple of years younger than Anders, but still nearly a man, probably an older brother.

  His eyes roamed the barn, taking in the scene in front of him. When they settled on Bryan huddled in the corner, Anders saw the decision on his face. He sprung to his feet, reaching Bryan before the older boy did. Anders grappled with the older boy, pinning his arms behind his back to keep him from swinging violently at Bryan. He fought Anders, but he was much smaller and Anders had been a farmhand—he didn’t have a chance of breaking free. So he settled for flailing out with his legs. One wild kick hit Bryan square in the chin, knocking him back against the wall of the barn with a crack.

  Bryan crumpled to the ground in the fetal position, sniveling as the older boy continued to try and kick him. Anders hauled him away from Bryan but he went kicking and screaming, hurling profanity after profanity. He called Anders every name in the book, demanding to be let go so he could “bash in the little fucker’s head”, but Anders held firm, refusing to budge even an inch. While he held the older boy captive, another woman rushed into the barn, her eyes zeroing in on Bryan immediately.

  She dropped to his side, gathering him in her arms. His eyes were red and puffy from crying, but when he recognized the woman, he threw himself at her. A small audience had gathered at the barn door, and Anders could hear the fear as it circulated through the group. Other parents came and collected their terrified and traumatized children from the barn, and eventually, there was nobody left but Anders and Evan. Mary had taken Tyler up to the house to help him recuperate, and the older boy had finally quit fighting Anders long enough to be released so he could follow his mother and brother up to the house.

  Anders and Evan stood together
in silence, staring at the pool of now dried blood on the barn floor. It had mixed with straw dust and dirt, but there was no mistaking what it was. Anders felt his stomach roll again at the sight of it, and when Evan put a hand on his shoulder, he flinched. “What’s gonna happen now? Everyone in the community probably knows about this by now, and they’ll want vengeance. What are we supposed to do? Give them Bryan’s head?”

  “That’ll be the only thing to satisfy some of them,” Evan said. “Bryan won’t be safe here, no matter what we decide. We may have to just banish him from the community.”

  “He’ll die out there on his own!”

  “And he’ll die in here, too. You saw how Tyler’s brother reacted. Others will react the same way, you can be sure of that. I hate to say this, but he probably stands a better chance of surviving out there. There are other places he can go, and I doubt his mother would let him go alone. He won’t be totally helpless. But if he stays here, he will die. You and I both know it.”

  “We’ll put a guard on him at all times so nobody can get close. At least until we figure out what to do.”

  “There’s nobody here we can trust to watch him.”

  “We’ll find someone,” Anders said, hating the desperation in his voice. “There has to be someone here that will guard him until we have a meeting. Someone that came back and understands the trauma they’ve experienced, that it isn’t their fault. Bryan isn’t the only one here that used to be a zombie.”

  Evan sighed, and Anders could tell he wasn’t hopeful. “I’ll ask around and see if there are any volunteers, but I can tell you, this isn’t going to have a happy ending. There’s going to be a meeting within the hour, and everyone is demanding you speak. Be prepared to take some of the blame when they found out you spoke to Bryan about this and didn’t immediately notify the people.”