“Frank?”
Out of the far corner, the tall slender man appeared. He walked slowly and held his lower back. His face was drawn and he looked much older than Ethan remembered. Although other than his troubled expression and a few obvious stains, he appeared rather ordinary—almost untouched by the events of the last five days. Sliding his jacket on, he stood inside the cell door and began to frown.
“Ethan, you need to get into the chief’s office and get something in front of the big window next to his desk. That’s how those things got in.”
He looked back at the man who he’d known since before he could ride a bicycle and shook his head. He was confused. By so many things. “Frank, how did you, I mean have you been here the whole time?”
“Yes, but we can catch up later. You need to get that window taken care of. Right now.”
“Show us,” Ethan said.
“I’m locked in.” Frank grinned. “Don’t ask, it’s a bit of a story. Just get that window taken care of. There is a large trophy case in the hall outside the office that should do the trick. Slide the big desk in behind it and we should be okay.”
Looking from Ethan to Frank and then scanning the floor inside the cell, Griffin was confused. “Wait, you been in here since the beginning? And haven’t gone looking for help?”
Frank moved back to the cot and sat down. “Go, take care of that window. Then you can let me out of here. Trust me, I’m safe.”
He wasn’t exactly sure why Frank was here or why he was locked in a cell, but that would have to wait. First things first.
Ethan asked Cora to help Ben pull the truck up against the building. He and Griffin then relocated Officer Tompkins’ body into an adjoining room and showed the others inside. Moving to the opposite corridor, they quickly sealed off the opening in the chief’s office, and finished up by checking the rest of the building.
Back into the darkened hall, the others had already introduced themselves, fetched the keys from the opposite wall, and opened the cell door. Frank was standing in the threshold when Ethan walked through the lobby.
“Yes,” Frank said. “Since just a few hours after—” He stopped speaking when he saw Ethan. Smiling, he walked over, opened his arms wide, and threw them around Ethan’s neck. He hugged Ethan hard as the others fought away tears. And Ethan let him. Because there were three things Ethan knew about this man.
Ethan knew that the former handyman had lost his wife many years ago.
He knew that since the loss of his wife, Frank had never gotten close to another human being.
And he knew that this was probably the only time in Frank Jarvis’s long life that he put his arms around another man. That wasn’t him; he didn’t need people the way others did. But maybe tonight he did. Ethan didn’t know exactly what had taken place in this building over the last five days, but it didn’t matter. Frank needed this.
And as Frank pulled away, he looked embarrassed. Out of sorts. Void of his usual calm and collected demeanor. But not for the reasons Ethan imagined.
“So,” Frank said looking around, “I’m sure you’re all wondering why I was locked in there and the keys were sitting fifteen feet away.”
Griffin stepped around Ethan, slid down the wall, and sat on the floor. “I’m betting there’s a pretty good story behind it.”
Frank nodded. “Yes, I’ll tell my story, but first I need to thank you all. If you hadn’t shown up when you did, I’m not sure I would have lasted another night.”
“Frank,” Ethan said, “I’m sure you would have been fine. You’re the toughest person in this town—my dad can confirm that.” As the words left his mouth, he lowered his head and looked away.
Frank was confused. “Your parents, they okay?”
Carly stood with her back to the wall, only half in the light spilling in from the lobby. “We really don’t know anything at this point.”
Frank turned from Carly to Ethan, raising his brow. “What… what do you mean?”
Nodding, Ethan said, “Haven’t been able to reach them or Emma. I got a few messages the first day, but nothing since.”
“So, what the hell is happening? I watched the news early the first morning and then came here looking for help. Everyone was gone and those people—the crazy ones—chased me inside.”
“They’re not people,” Ethan said. “Not anymore.”
“Okay, so what is it?” Frank looked to Carly. “Why are those people… or whatever, why are they acting that way?”
“We don’t really know. The hospital was overrun pretty quickly the first day. We were in communication with the Centers for Disease Control for a few hours, although they would only say that we needed to do whatever was necessary to protect ourselves from the infected.”
“Infected?” Frank said.
“That’s what they were calling them. As a group, the CDC only referred to them as,” Carly held her finger in air quotes, “the Infected.”
“You say that they
were
referring to them as infected, what are the saying about it now?”
“They aren’t. We lost contact with the CDC and everyone else that first day. And then sometime later that afternoon, we received one last message. Something about us doing whatever was necessary to survive. I think I remember them calling this a Global Event.”
“Okay, so why hasn’t help shown up? Where is everyone?” Frank looked around the hall and into the lobby. “The chief and the others, no one was here when I walked in, well except for Tompkins.”
Ethan leaned in. “He was already gone by the time you got here?”
“Yes,” Frank said. “Looks like the poor kid just decided he didn’t want to deal with it.”
The group sat quiet for a long moment.
Then Frank moved away from the door and walked back into the cell. He picked up the wrappers and cardboard containers from his last five days and shoved the mess into a plastic bag. He looked around as every eye was glued to him and tossed the bag into the trash can. “Okay, so now what? I’m sure you all have figured something out; it’s been five days.”
“Wait,” Ethan said as a grin began to slide across his face. “We know that you came here looking for help and haven’t been outside since the first morning, but there is one thing that you still haven’t explained, and I think I know why.”
“What do you mean?”
“Okay, you grabbed the keys from Tompkins at some point and opened the cell… right?”
The others watched like it was a tennis match, their eyes darting from Frank to Ethan, and then back again.
Frank saw where this was going. He knew Ethan was having a bit of fun at his expense. He decided to play along. “Yes, I opened the cell door with Tompkins’ keys.”
“Right,” Ethan said. “So why were the keys laying in the corner fifteen feet away… but before you answer, let me guess.”
“Sure, have at it.”
Everyone was smiling at this point.
“If I know you and I think I do, my guess is that you locked the door after entering and then pulling the keys out from opposite side, dropped them. Then you had to watch as they slid into the corner.” Ethan held his hands in the air. “Am I right?”
“The first part, yes. I got the keys and locked myself in, but I didn’t mistakenly drop them. I tossed them into the trashcan on purpose.”
Shannon spoke for the first time, unable to hold back her question. “Why would you do that?”
“I saw what was happening out there and didn’t trust myself. I figured that if I kept the keys, I’d be tempted to walk out there before I should. I just thought that someone from the department would show up, tell me everything was handled, and then let me out. That never happened.”
Ethan leaned in and slapped Frank on the back. “Until tonight.”
The city was dark and quiet. They hadn’t seen or heard anything from outside the building in the last two hours. It was as if they were the last seven people on the entire planet, and for all they knew, they were.
The group had taken to arranging the blankets and sleeping bags around the inside of the cell. With the door open, they brought in what little food and water they’d scavenged over the last several days and placed it in the center. They sat around candlelight and spoke about their separate pasts and their current lives together.
Ethan spoke about waking up that morning and the confusion felt by most everyone. He recounted how he and David attempted to leave town, only to be blindsided by the massive fire truck and how they watched people they knew turning into what was being referred to as “Feeders”.
“Feeders?” Frank asked.
Griffin laughed. “Leave it to the media.”
The group told Frank about the first few brutally cold nights and how they had more than just the undead to worry about. They talked about how they slept huddled in the corner of the armored vehicle and the inability to actually sleep at all.
They talked about waking the second morning and attempting to find other survivors, while at the same time searching for a section of the city free of those things. About how they moved from house to house and apartment building to apartment building in search of food. And about never staying anywhere for more than a few hours.
“And the storm didn’t help,” Ethan said. “But then again, I guess maybe it did.”
“What do you mean?”
“For the last five days, we’ve been trying to leave. Mainly because of me. We’ve driven to the edge of town more times than I can remember. But not once has the pass been clear. So we’ve waited. And waited. It finally stopped dumping on us earlier today. We decided to push on tonight or tomorrow. To find out what’s out there. If there’s anyone left. And the whole time, there was someone. My dad’s best friend was right here under our noses. I guess it’s a good thing that storm kept us here.”
Frank smiled. “Yeah, and it only took you five days to come by here. I almost starved to death.”
“We tried,” Ethan said. “We tried.”
“I think I remember hearing you all drive by here at least a dozen times in the last few days.”
“We did—maybe even more than that. But this part of town has been way too crowded, well that is until tonight. We’d always planned on coming by to look for supplies, but our defenses were pretty much nonexistent.”
Frank peered out past the lobby into the adjoining hall. “Did you check the weapons locker in the back?”
“No, not tonight—too dark. We’ll have a look in the morning.”
Nodding, Frank turned back to his food, taking a few mouthfuls and chewing quickly. He was starving, but still wanted to show a sense of gratitude and felt no need to lose his manners. He was enjoying their stories and after swallowing another mouthful, looked up expectantly.
Shannon met his gaze and smiled. She took a moment and then began recounting her story of leaving the house that morning. Without having watched any of the news reports and walking into the bank for her morning meeting, her world was forever changed. She told the story mainly to Frank, although she also took comfort in having something in common with the other six people sharing in this new reality. For the first time in months, she felt like she had friends.
Ben sat quietly listening to the others. He quickly finished his plate and set it aside. Leaning back into the wall, he drifted in and out as they continued getting Frank up to speed. The effect of only having slept a few hours over the last several days had begun to take its toll.
Griffin took his turn to tell about how he and Cora had met out on that snow-slicked mountain road and how they’d saved one another multiple times before ever finding their way into Summer Mill. He told of the accident with the bus, although in this new updated version, he left out the part about it being a prison bus. There was no reason for anyone to not trust Cora, especially him.
Carly quickly ran through the story everyone had already heard and let Frank know how this new group had fought to stay alive for the last five days and nights. How they moved from house to house and from one side of the city to the other, always trying to stay one step ahead of the increasing number of those wanting to do them harm. She finished with an attempt to reassure their new friend. “Frank, we don’t know what this is or when it’s going to ultimately end, but we do know one thing—we are now a family and are going to fight this thing together. You’re not alone anymore. You have us.” She looked through the dim light at Ethan. “All of us.”
Frank let their stories wash over him for a moment and then looked around the cell. From Griffin to Carly, over to Shannon and then to Ethan. They had touched on it, but hadn’t directly addressed it. He figured he knew what had happened, but he felt he had to ask. “So, David?”
Having turned back to his plate and caught off guard, Ethan slowly looked up as the others went quiet. He didn’t know where to start and having just reopened the wound, the pain of his friend’s loss was still fresh. “He’s dead.”
Catching Ethan’s eye, Frank nodded and then turned to Carly—she’d already begun to wipe a tear from her cheek. “I’m so sorry, I can’t imagine—”
Ethan stopped him mid-sentence. “He died saving us. Carly. Ben. Me. He put himself in the way of harm so we could live. If it weren’t for him, I don’t think any one of us would be here.”
“Then he saved me too.” Frank reached out and placed his hand on Carly’s shoulder. “I’m not sure what comes next, but I would be grateful if you all would consider letting me—”
As the others settled in, Ethan stood. “Frank, you’re coming with us. There really is no other option. Not to mention the fact that I’d catch hell from my dad if I showed up at his front door without you.”
“Thank you.”
. . .
With most everyone fast asleep and Ethan stationed at the rear exit, Griffin and Cora moved to the opposite side of the building. They set up for the night outside of the chief’s office to safeguard against another incident. A faint light spilled in from the lobby as they sat opposite one another wrapped tightly inside individual sleeping bags.
She closed her eyes multiple times, but sleep just wouldn’t come. Finally, she took to staring at Griffin as he also attempted to nod off.
He felt her eyes and opened his. “What?”
“Nothing—can’t sleep. You?”
“Maybe, but you gotta quit staring at me.”
“Sorry.”
“It’s fine, just go to sleep. You need it, hell we all do.”
“I’ll try, but I have to ask you a question. It’s been bugging me since the first night.”
“Okay?”
“Why’d you lie to Ethan?”