“Fuck!” When I hear the second explosion in the distance I know it
means my brother was still alive when I left & might still be now.
I park the car on the side of the road. I tell Jennifer to drive
the car to her old house & that I’ll meet her there in a few hours
& not to get out of the car. I give her a pistol & take my
shotgun & rifle & other pistol with me & walk through the woods
the half-mile back to the motel.
I didn’t really have the time to see how many of them there were when I
drove out, but I’m shocked I made it out. They must’ve mistaken our
car for one of theirs. I count twenty-three cars plus a Ryder moving
truck & two motorcycles. There’s probably about 70 of them.
At least half of them seem really bored with what’s going on. The
main entrance is caved in from one of the explosions. I stay in the
woods & go around to the back entrance. There’s a gunshot &
I see my brother lying down halfway out of the motel propping the door
open. A man comes up from behind him & steps on his arm &
I shoot the guy in the head with my rifle. I go up to my brother
& he’s not moving & he feels cold, but he still has a pulse.
His jumpsuit is soaked with blood & his wounds seem to be leaking blood
more than bleeding. I pick him up in my arms & take him into
the woods & he still hasn’t moved at all. After about a quarter
mile I get to a house & I kick the door in & lay my brother down
on the kitchen floor & make sure there aren’t any zombies inside.
My brother looks broken. He looks more like an unstringed marionette
than a man. I get a roll of gauze & tape & hydrogen peroxide
from the bathroom & I take off my brother’s jumpsuit so I can treat
his wounds. I cover the wounds on his back & chest & shoulder
& leg & hand & start cleaning his blood off his body with the
peroxide. His jumpsuit feels cold & wet from the blood, so I
get some blankets to cover him & I sit holding him on the floor trying
to keep him warm, but he just gets colder & colder. He opens
his eyes for a second & looks at me & smiles & blood runs out
of his mouth & his eyes drift back closed. I try to check his
pulse, but there isn’t one. I put my pistol in his mouth & fire
it & keep holding his body until I fall asleep.