Whistlers

Michael Talbot — Journal Entry 8

“There you are.”

I’d been walking for miles when I came across a bridge that crosses over the top of the highway. Sitting in the shade and eating a meal sounded like a splendid idea. I just had to make sure nothing was hiding behind the huge cement stanchions. After a quick perimeter check, which didn’t even yield graffiti, I got behind one of the columns and opened up a meal. I ate a reasonable facsimile of tuna casserole and some sort of sponge cake that would have been more aptly named ‘brick loaf’ instead. I took a big swig from a canteen I’d pilfered and peered around the edge. Lucy was coming. She was a good five hundred yards away. She would walk a little bit and then stop to look at the bridge. She could sense the inherent danger lurking in the shadows. I just hoped the pull of her stomach would bring her in closer.

She was moving agonizingly slow, her hesitation was causing me precious minutes I didn’t have. I moved slowly, getting into the prone position, resting my rifle on the ground, and clearing some grass right in front of me. She was somewhere in the neighborhood of three hundred yards now. I’d feel a whole lot better if she got within a hundred. I couldn’t afford to spend too much time playing this game, and Lucy needed to die. Even though I had goggles, she would still have the advantage over me at night, and that just wasn’t going to do. Plus, I’d yet to prove it, but I was fairly convinced zombies had some sort of telepathic means of communication, and I did not want her friends Ethel, Fred and maybe Desi Jr. showing up.

“Come on, Lucy. I’ve got a pie with your name on it.”

The closer she got, the slower she went.

Does she hear me? Smell me maybe?

Lucy started looking around for a place to hide, I think.

“Screw this.”

I pulled the trigger just as she collapsed to the ground. I saw a puff of her hair blow away from the top of her head.

“Did I get you?” I asked, looking over my sights. She seemed to have been falling before I’d even got the shot off. She was still moving and staying low to the ground as she started crawling towards the grass.

“Are you kidding me with this shit?”

I got up quickly and started running with my rifle.