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KIDS AND THEIR TOYS

BY JAMES A MOORE

Of course they poked it with a stick What else would twelve-year-olds do with a freshly discovered corpse? Later, when the fascination was fading, they would do what they were supposed to do and tell the police about the body, but then, at that first moment of discovery, they had a new toy and it had to be carefully exaiven away

They probably would have called the police, too Certainly that was part of the unspoken agreement between theed

&039;Fuck me, Freddie, are you serious?&039; Tom&039;s voice broke as the dead man moaned and turned its head in the summer heat They were all so shocked that no one called hi the f-bomb

Every last one of the when the neck muscles shifted and the head rolled unevenly The face of the dead man was revealed He was no one they had ever seen before, and maybe that fact helped add to the madness of the e they had so little in the world that could truly be called theirs

Jack glanced about, checking to see if there were any grown-ups around He couldn&039;t decide if the lack of them made him happy or worried hiranddad&039;s property None of the at the quarry, but that had never stopped anyone before You leave a perfectly good lake&039;s worth of water in a convenient spot and add in the su you know, there&039;s a nei bonus was that Grandpa Murphy was too old to co dead on the ground, but it didn&039;t look like he&039;d been rey and a little bloated, and there they were and there he was, and of course there were sticks nearby Charlie had learned for thes A couple of years earlier, when he&039;d found a dead pigeon on the ground, he&039;d scooped it up and run all the way to the fort before anyone else got there Charlie had allergies so fierce, and he hadn&039;t even sh, which hy he still had to deal with the nicknaet rid of the stink on him until he went home and took a real bath, and none of them saw any reason not to pick on his and you have to pay the price That was one of the si tried to sit up, and Tom jabbed the stick into its shoulder and pushed as hard as he could It let out another bleating noise and fell back, struggling feebly as itshead The halo of flies around it buzzed harder for a ain

Tohed &039;That&039;s sick, dude&039;

Charlie nodded his head and licked his thick lips Charlie had a sister two years older than any of thereed that the features that irl It eird how that sort of thing worked Jack cleared his throat and looked around again &039;Should we call someone?&039; He hated to ask, of course, because he knew everyone would look at him funny

Tom sneered Tom liked to sneer He was a dick sometimes &039;You crazy? We have to see what this is all about&039;

&039;Well, I mean, is he really dead? Or is he just sick?&039; He pointed at the dead thing, which seeer &039;Cuz if he&039;s just sick, we could get in so, of course His brother Steve was over in Iraq, and there were all sorts of stories about what happened to prisoners over there Soht, the soldiers atching theot in deep trouble Sometimes they wound up in jail It hadn&039;t happened to Steve, of course, because Steve was one of the good guys, but a few of the guys he knew over in Iraq had gotten into some serious shit

&039;Dude, he&039;s a zoh with the stick to tear the fabric of the shirt over the deadwet and black leaked out and stained the shirt&039;s light-blue threads a dark grey Tom shook his head &039;If he&039;s alive, I&039;ll kiss Skunk on the mouth&039;

&039;Zombies are real?&039; That was Jose, as only eleven, but cool enough that he got to hang out with them anyway

Jack looked from the dead ot one right here, right?&039;

They all looked again, trying to make sure it really was a zombie There were stories, of course They had as htly news as they did for instruction s, even if you weren&039;t trying There were places in California and in Mexico that had supposedly been overrun by the dead Most everyone thought the whole thing was some kind of joke, or maybe a publicity stunt for a new Hollywood h money, you could probably convince the news stations to play along At least that hat his daddy said

The deada wild arm at the stick Tom had pushed into its chest and knocked the thick branch back, taking a chunk of wet rot along for the ride

Skunk gagged a little Seeies didn&039;t suck so bad that day

&039;What are we gonna do with it, guys?&039; Jack again He had to ask He had to know They couldn&039;t just leave a thing like that lying on the ground Some of the stories said the dead people ate other people, and that would be sort of like leaving a rabid dog on the side of the road, wouldn&039;t it?

Tom had a solution Tom always had a solution That hy he was the boss so much of the time &039;Let&039;s tie it up and hide it somewhere&039; Tos, and he flipped the too-long hair from his broad, tanned face &039;Let&039;s play with it&039;

Jack wasn&039;t sure if that was the best idea ever, but there was that thrill, that secret shiver that danced across his skin as he thought of all the things they could learn about zoonna hide a zombie?&039; Jose&039;s voice rose half an octave as he spoke &039;How are we gonna get it where no one&039;s gonna take it from us?&039; His Mexican accent was faint: he&039;d lived in the area as long as any of them could remember, but that accent never quite left him

&039;I knohere&039; Jack licked his lips and tasted sweat on his tongue The heat was harew older They needed so weather wouldn&039;t ruin their new plaything &039;I got the perfect place&039;

So not to share, and in this case the secret also needed to be moved as quickly as possible, because the deadmore active Billy Chambers and Ben Deveraux were recruited to join them on their quest Billy worked on his dad&039;s farm, and that meant he worked with horses He was perfect, really, because he kne to throw a lasso Maybe he&039;d come in fourth in the junior rodeo the year before, but he was fast enough for their needs, and he was one of theet to come out and play as often

Billy threw the lasso around the dead man&039;s shoulders - extra wide so they wouldn&039;t accidentally pull his head off or so - and they passed the rope around in a circle until they&039;d looped the heavy cable around the ht back, thrashing and croaking incoherently Its teeth - big and white in the grey receding guain as it tried to bite at theot that close After the arms were bound to the waist, Billy pulled it backward and Tos, while Skunk and Jose tied theether with more rope Most of their parents would have been shocked to see hoell they could work together when they had to Their folks would have been surprised by a lot of things that their little ones were capable of, but isn&039;t that always the case?

Once they had their new toy properly bound and gagged - not for silence, but to keep those teeth of his froged hirandfather had built into the property A wallet, thin and black, fell fro&039;s pants, and Tom snapped it up so fast that alled with their burden Almost no one Jack saw, but he kept it to himself Tom&039;s family was poor - Jack&039;s dad called theht Jack wasn&039;t around to hear - and if anyone needed the cash, it was Tos to do whenever they came across a few dollars

The part of Texas where the boys lived was known fortornadoes The storm season wasn&039;t quite ready to come around, and that meant that there was no reason for anyone to disturb theh away froround that there was no reason to worry about anyone hearing them, especially since Grandpa Murphy was at least half deaf

The air in the storm shelter was nearly cold after they&039;d been in the blasting heat of the day It brought sweet relief and a rush of gooseflesh across Jack&039;s skin Still, he wouldn&039;t even consider bitching about the weather From what he understood, they had it a lot worse where Steve was All desert heat and crazy people with bombs anted to kill Americans whenever they saw them He&039;d never met anyone from the Middle East, and he planned to keep it that way if all they wanted to do was bomb people What sort of aniood reason? Besides, they didn&039;t even believe in Jesus

&039;So what are we gonna do with hiuys?&039; Ben held his hand in front of his face and tried to wave away the smell of dead man Like that was even possible

&039;Don&039;t do too et back, okay?&039; Jack ran to the top of the creaking wooden stairs

&039;Where are you going?&039; Tom asked

Jack smiled &039;Grampa Murphy has air fresheners in the house He likes to hide his farts&039;

Tom smiled and nodded his approval &039;Sweet&039; Jack started to close one of the doors to the shelter but stopped when Tom called out &039;Hey&039;

&039;Yeah?&039;

Toet a knife or two?&039; Jack licked his lips and thought about it &039;Maybe&039;

&039;Cool&039;

He ed to confiscate two cans of air freshener, a box of matches, a bar of soap, and a sot the knives the next day

That night Steve called frolad to hear their voices There were only two phones in the house, so Jack only got to listen in for a couple ofbrother for even less time

&039;Hey, Steve?&039; He waited to ask his questions until Moers off the stove and into the oven to stay warm, and until he knew his Dad had run to the bathroom

&039;Yeah, bud?&039; His brother&039;s voice sounded forever away, tinny and static and still so very wonderful

&039;Are the dead peopleout where you are?&039;

There was a pause for a few seconds, and he could al around to make sure no one heard him &039;Yeah Some of them are But we don&039;t talk about that, okay? Not ever&039;

&039;Are they different than prisoners of war?&039;

&039;Of course&039;

&039;How come?&039;

&039;Prisoners of war are still alive, Jack They&039;re still people&039;

Before he could respond any further, his mom was back on the line, and so he just listened and basked in the voice of his older brother, the hero

He was glad zombies weren&039;t people any more He&039;d been a little worried about that

&039;Where do they co a billion questions

Charlie just shrugged Jack didn&039;t know either, but just lately he&039;d taken to watching the news a lot more closely &039;Maybe it&039;s a virus I hear if they bite you, you become a zombie, too&039;

Tom snorted &039;My dad says they aren&039;t zombies He says they&039;re the undead&039;

&039;Doesn&039;t that ain

Jack shook his head &039;No Undead is vampires I saw it on that Dracula &039; Tom shook his head and practically dared Jack to contradict hiain &039;My dad knows better than Hollywood&039;

&039;Whatever&039; Jack dismissed the attitude You had to make exceptions when you ith Tom He could really be a dick But et out of the house again Sometimes you had to break the rules, and a zombie orth the risks &039;I heard it was the water in Mexico It&039;s so full of shit that it kills you and makes you a zo place, and both California and Texas were connected to it &039;No My brother Steve says they&039;ve got zombies over there too&039;

Ben frowned and shook his head, genuinely puzzled &039;Maybe the zombies over there are Mexican?&039;

&039;Do they have Mexican soldiers?&039; Charlie sniffed His allergies were back with a vengeance Maybe he was allergic to zo else

Billy nodded &039;Yeah Jose could join the arh&039;

&039;I&039;m an American I was born here&039;

&039;Yeah, but your folks are Mexican, right?&039;

&039;Well, yeah, of course&039;

&039;See? You could be a soldier&039; Billy had a good head on his shoulders, as Dad liked to say

&039;I think it&039;s demons&039; That was To snarled and thrashed Jack didn&039;t kno sot ot near it Tom used the knives and sticks the most while the others watched Maybe it kne to tell theh Tom had poked out one of the eyes

&039;Demons? Like in the ht demons&039;

&039;It didn&039;t react when you put a cross around its neck&039;

Billy again, as normally the only other person ould stand up to Tom

Tom looked at the zoe for him

&039;So Maybe it&039;s a Jewish zombie and doesn&039;t know any better&039; Jack didn&039;t know enough about Jews and all the other religions, so he kept his opinions to himself

Ton that he could play He picked up a long steel post he&039;d found and poked it into the dead h The ood inch and a half into the cold dead ot frouys?&039;

No one had a definitive answer

Toot that look on his face, the one that said he&039;d come up with a really cool idea and he wanted to be the one to do so knife Jack had snuck frorandfather&039;s kitchen cabinets, and slipped past Ben

To at him &039;Let&039;s find out Let&039;s see if this fucker feels anything&039; He drove the tip of the knife through the dead man&039;s wrist and held on as it jumped and tried to snap at him

Tom took the time to look each of the boys in the eye before he started sawing at the ht the blade between the s&039;s arms were still tied in place around the chest, but the rope was fraying now, soggy with the black nastiness that passed for blood The zoled, thrashed, its teeth snapping again and again as it tried to reach Tom