The horde was closing in
fast and hot on his heels as he stepped up quickly into the driver’s side. He
slammed the door shut and a set of monsters crashed into the door. The beasts
pounded at the window as he struggled to get the key into the ignition. Finally
the engine roared alive and the wheels began to peel out of the lot. A zombie
smashed in the driver’s side window and clawed at the man. Cliff and Tina lost
sight of the action as the SUV passed by the garbage and recycling center in
the middle of the lot. The SUV swerved suddenly as it passed the garbage bin
that blocked their view. The SUV was now heading straight for a parked car.
Half of the zombie’s body was up inside the window of the vehicle. The man had
his foot to the floor and was screaming along at thirty miles an hour. They hit
the parked car so hard that it pushed it from one parking spot all the way over
to another. The airbags blew, the bodies inside the SUV hadn’t buckled in and
they crashed around the interior.
“We have to do something!
We have to help them! Right?” Tina pulled at Cliff’s sleeve. Cliff wanted to,
but there were so many infected outside it seemed impossible to survive the
rescue.
“We can’t!” The words felt
rotten in his mouth.
The muffled sound of the family’s
cries could be heard even from Tina and Cliff’s bedroom.
The horde shuffled over to
the scene of the accident. Thirty seconds after the crash the SUV was
surrounded. They punched and head-butted at all of the windows.
“We can’t just sit here
and watch them die, Cliff!” Tina’s panicked voice cranked up her accent and the
words zipped out much faster than normal. “Get the guns and the saw! We have to
try!” Tina stepped away from the window and bolted towards the front door. She
got five steps away when she noticed that Cliff hadn’t moved. “Come on!”
“We can’t!” Cliff kept
watching even though he didn’t want to.
“Why not!” Tears had begun
to form at the thought of something horrible happening to those young children.
“What if we get bit? Who
would take care of the girls? I want to save them too, but we can’t risk it!”
Cliff was full of rage. He hated that he couldn’t save them, but being a father
meant doing things that you hated to keep your girls safe.
Tina didn’t want to admit
that he was right. Her hands twitched and her mind raced. She became extremely
anxious and was trying to think up some way to run down there and save them.
She was on the verge of a full blown meltdown. “I can’t just sit here and do
nothing!” She took another step toward the front door.
Cliff closed the blinds
after the sound of broken glass echoed through the parking lot. “It’s too
late!” he said as he stepped away from the window.
Tina plummeted to floor.
The tears came and her shoulders shook as she sobbed. Cliff joined her. He
draped his arms around her and embraced her as the two of them cried.
Shrieks spilled out of the
busted windows. The cries of someone being gutted cursed the air around the
apartment. The young mother called and begged for someone to help her.
No one came.
Tina pressed her fingers
against her ears to stifle this fresh nightmare.
Leon dried his face with
an old towel. The kitchen felt dark and cavernous with the main window all
blocked up. He twisted a corner of the towel and used it to get it in the nooks
and crannies of his ears.
That kid’s blood got
everywhere.
Leon felt emotionally
drained. Killing that infected boy was harder on his troubled mind than he
thought it would be. He had plowed over that horde with the police Charger and
that was no big deal. He put the axe into a few of them too, but that was to
save his and Karen’s life. Splitting the kid’s face down the middle with the
circular saw was so…. personal. He was having a hard time shaking the way it
sounded and felt when the teeth of the blade ripped out of the top of its
skull. Leon dabbled in crime, stolen cars, commandeering white and brown goods
but stealing electronics and home appliances was easy and fun. Sometimes you
get pinched and you do a little time, no problem, but he had never committed a
violent crime before. He had daydreamed about committing murder, sure.
Who hasn’t?
Your girlfriend is
driving you nuts and you’re at your wits end. She’s going on and on about how
great her new girlfriend is and that as a man you can never compare. So you
think to yourself what if I dump her body in the woods somewhere? Mother Nature
can take the bitch back!
I bet I could have gotten
away with it too. You pour a couple of drinks down her throat and have her sign
a Dear John letter that you typed up on her behalf. Run down through the
checklist, rubber gloves, plastic bags, shovel and a pocket full of cash so
there are no records of your trip on your credit card account.
You take a nice
leisurely drive, followed by a healthy hike and your woman problems are in your
rearview mirror. No more wisecracks from her about how her pussy must be like an
impossible Rubik’s cube that you could never figure out.
Oh god, I should have
killed that woman!
Leon laughed a little to
himself in the kitchen. He loved it when the dark side of his thoughts took
over and replayed that scenario. He never did it and never ever would have, but
it was a fun thought. As his laughter died off, his thoughts turned to Karen.
What was he going to do with her now that she was mad, disappointed or scared?
He was not quite sure what that woman was feeling towards him. He never knew
what any woman felt about him. He couldn’t get a solid read on his own mother
for that matter. Yes, she raised him and cared for him, but did she love him?
He couldn’t remember a time that she said it.
Classic Leon, dragging
your dead mother into your current woman problems.
Every time he clashed with the opposite sex his mother
would spring up.
He ran the towel over his
scalp to make sure he had removed all of the big chunks from his hair. The
towel came back clean so he rinsed his hands off one more time and used the
excess water to slick back his hair.
Be cool, Leon.
He told himself. He was safe and no longer in that
jail cell. Even if Karen was mad at him she was much better company than
Sergeant Poole. Her cold shoulder was nothing compared to walking the streets
with those monsters on the loose.
Karen hauled lumber out of
the sewing room into Penny’s spare bedroom. She had not said a word to Leon
since they left the blood soaked backyard across the street. The sound of the
saw hitting the boy in the face played over and over in her mind. It sent a
horrible shiver down her spine, like the unwanted touch from a stranger’s icy
hand. Karen kept working and tried her best to shake it off. She was used to
having an unspoken language with Jim. They had been together so long that they
could pick up on what each other wanted and needed. She had forgotten that
dealing with most men was like dealing with another child. They need direct
instructions. They need to be told what to do and when to do it. You can’t
assume that they know what you mean, because most of the time they have no
fucking clue.
Karen did not have the
time to hold a grudge. She knew that she couldn’t give him the silent treatment
all day. She asked him to take care of the infected boy and he did it with very
little hesitation so she was grateful. Karen knew she couldn’t board up the
rest of these windows by herself and she needed help from this stranger to keep
her girls alive.
Leon entered the spare
bedroom with his head down like a sad puppy dog. He had cleaned most of the
blood off of his body, but Karen could still smell the stench of death on him.
Then it hit her, was she mad at Leon for killing that infected boy so horribly
or was she afraid of a man who’s first thought was to drive four inches of
spinning steal into a child’s face? At this point in the game it didn’t matter
and she had to bury the hatchet quickly if she wanted to keep her girls safe.
“Leon?” she called to him
softly. His head raised a little. “Thank you for stepping up and taking care of
that…infected…boy.” Karen moved closer to him. “I really appreciate how much
you have helped the girls and I today. We’d be dead right now if it wasn’t for
you. So, thank you.” She forced a very believable smile onto her face. Her good
hand reached out and gently touched his forearm. Leon registered her sincerity
and smiled his big bright smile back at her.
“You’re welcome,” he said
softly and just like that he was back in. Leon would walk to the ends of this
god-forsaken earth for a woman that talked nice to him and made him feel
special.
“You ready to get back to
work?”
“Yeah.” Leon grabbed a
chunk of lumber and the drill. He was ready to get this place locked down.
They finished barricading
the bedroom window quickly. All of the windows facing the street were now
covered. They also secured the sliding glass door that led to the backyard. It
was too big for a single sheet of plywood so they used seven of the twelve-foot
long two by sixes. They bolted them up horizontally with a five inch gap
between each of the lengths of lumber. At that point they felt dizzy and
exhausted. It had been too many hours since either of them had eaten and they
were burning calories like crazy today.
“We need a break.” Karen’s
voice was lethargic. Only Penny’s bedroom windows and the ones in the living
room remained. Thankfully they faced into the backyard and there was a fence
around the property. On the other side of the fence was a thick lush forest.
Evergreen trees stretched out of the earth and towered forty-feet in the air
over Penny’s home. It might have been a false feeling of safety but the woods
behind the house somehow made it feel protected. As if the evergreens
themselves wouldn’t allow the evil to pass.
“I need food. I’ve only
had jail food for the last week. Three meals a day of near spoiled milk and dry
bologna and cheese sandwiches.” Leon stuck out his tongue in disgust.
“Girls, are you hungry?”
Karen already knew the answer.
“Yes, Mama. I’m hungry.”
Valerie called from the living room.
“Me hungry too,” Robin
could not be left out.
Of course they were
hungry. The girls were always hungry and Troy needed some food too. No rest for
a mom though. Who else was going to fix a meal for everyone?
“Let’s see what we have got
here,” Leon led the charge into the kitchen. He nosed around in the
refrigerator and the cupboards. Penny loved to stockpile food so there were
plenty of choices. The dream of making a big fancy feast was appealing, but
they still had a lot of work to do so Leon knew he needed to keep it fast and
easy. He pulled a loaf of bread, a couple of jars and some cans out of the
pantry and set them on the counter next to the range. He quickly found all of
the dishes and utensils he would need to make diner and got to work.
Karen’s thoughts had wandered
off and she was thinking about Jim. Hoping he was safe and on his way home. She
remembered her phone in her pocket. She hadn’t checked it in over an hour. She
dug the device out of her pocket and swiped it on. To her delight there was a
message from Jim. She clicked play and held it to her ear. Jim’s voice was strained.
The recording sounded like it was done in a bathroom or closet. He talked rapid
fire. He said he loved the girls and that he was almost home. He begged her to
be safe and reaffirmed how much he loved her. It lifted her spirits to hear his
voice. Jim leaving for work that morning felt like a lifetime ago. He said he was
close to being home and that was over an hour ago.
Maybe he made it home
and saw the note I left on the counter.
Maybe he’s on his way
here right now!
These happy thoughts
filled her aching heart with joy. She pressed Jim’s name on the screen of her phone
and held it up to her ear.
Maybe he would answer,
just maybe.
The phone made a strange
beep sound. Karen looked at its screen and it said the call could not be
completed. She tried a few more times but it was always the same result.
“Great.” She said
sarcastically.
“What?” Leon said over his
shoulder.
“Phones are down.”
“Well, I’m sure it will
only be temporary. Don’t worry about it,” Leon said as he kept working.
Karen rested up against
the counter and sipped at a fresh glass of water. It looked like she was off
the hook for preparing the meal. Leon dipped a butter knife in and out of the
jars and spread the contents out onto the slices of bread. He stirred at
something on the range. Steam rose out of a hot pot of food and it filled the
kitchen with a wonderful smell. The amazing odor hit Karen in her gut like a
sucker punch and her belly ached. It wasn’t until then that she realized just
how hungry she really was. Knowing that food was on its way and that an hour
ago Jim was still alive put Karen into a zoned out state of mind. She was in a
tiny happy place and Leon’s actions in front of the range had become a blur.
“Everyone take a seat,”
Leon said as he carried plates out of the kitchen and into the dining room.
Karen snapped out of her haze and helped the girls up into their chairs. Troy
dragged his feet over to the table and dropped down in a slump.
Leon had whipped up a
round of peanut butter and jelly sandwiches and some canned chicken noodle
soup. They devoured their dinners as if they had never eaten before.
Karen sat down with her
girls at the dining table. After their first bite Robin and Valerie had a ring
of jelly and peanut butter around their mouths. Troy slowly nibbled at his
food.
“Mama, why dat?” Robin
pointed at the two by six’s blocking the exit to the backyard.
“Why did you make all that
noise and why did you build all that stuff?” Valerie raised her eyebrows at her
Mama.
Karen worked a bite of
food down her throat so she could speak, “It’s to keep the bad people out, baby.”
“Bad people can’t get in?”
Valerie tried her best to process what her Mama was saying.
“Nope. They can’t get in
that way. We fixed the door to keep them out.” Karen rubbed her baby’s back to
comfort the little one.
“What if they have a key?”
Valerie’s wheels were turning now.
“Only Mama and Uncle Troy
have the key.”
“What about Daddy? Can he
get in?” the little one asked.
“Yes, we would let Daddy
in and he has a key.”
“Key!” Robin shouted and
then she slurped down a noodle from her bowl.
Valerie looked over the
room and did a head count. She noticed someone was missing. “Where’s Ganny?” It
was something she asked all the time. Where was this person and where were
these things? All day long with the questions. She was a question machine with
no off switch and Robin was Question Box 2.0. The new and improved model with
twice as much question asking power.
“Where Ganny?” Robin seconded
her sister and then filled her mouth with another bite.
Troy looked around the
room too. He was perplexed by her absence, “Where is Mama? I just dropped her
off from her work.” His brain was still scrambled and like a needle on an old
warped record it was skipping over grooves of time.
Karen wasn’t ready to
answer the question. The bite of chicken tasted sour in her mouth now. She
choked it down and searched for the right way to tell her children that their
Ganny was lying dead in the backyard. She didn’t want to start crying again. She
had already filled her quota for crying today. She was sick of it. Her poor
tear ducts had been squeezed dry and were on strike. They refused to produce
anymore tears until their demands had been met and they had an excellent union
rep so it was going to take a while to come to terms.
Leon saw Karen struggling
to find the right words. He decided to lend a helping hand, “She’s gone.” Their
four heads snapped in his direction and now he was on the spot. “I mean, she
has stepped out and will be gone for a long time.” He hoped that would be
enough and he stared down into his soup.
Valerie thought about what
he said for a moment, “But where did she go? She was just back there,” she said
as she pointed out into the yard. She was still out there, just on the other
side of the blinds. Her body getting colder by the second.