by Jimmy Bird
By the time I made it to the small town of Arcadia, I felt like I was in an old Twilight Zone episode. The usually busy town located right off the old highway known as Route 66, the same highway used to get to my hometown of Chandler, was eerily quiet.
I turned onto Division Street and followed it north. Our family owned over twenty acres on the north part of the town, which was purchased by my great grandparents, your grandparents. They then divided the land and gave each of their children five acres to do whatever they wanted with it. My grandparents, my uncle and his family, my great-aunt, and great-grandmother were living there. Once they were old enough, the rest of our family left the town to go out on their own.
Like I mentioned before, the town looked like something out of the Twilight Zone. Cars were either wrecked or turned upside down. The wrecked ones looked like they had run into trees, other cars, or into people’s houses. Some of the houses were burnt, as if someone had intentionally set them on fire. Maybe, to kill whoever or whatever was inside. Most of the houses were missing windows and their front doors were wide open. The oddest thing though was that there was no one around. No people, no zombies, no animals, no nothing.
The first house I came to, was my grandparent’s house. I pulled into the driveway and memories came flooding into my thoughts. Years before I was born, my grandparents had built their dream two story home on the lowest part of the land. It was in an open two-acre area.
I parked the car on a gravel area, close to ten feet away. Anytime I visited my grandparents this is the spot where I would park at. One of them would come outside with a smile to greet me. I half expected this time to be the same.
I slowly got out of the car and began walking up to the house. The house looked just like the last time I had seen it, except for a few differences. None of the windows were broken out like some of the other houses in town, but the door was wide open. The outer glass screen door was broken.
I walked up the wooden porch and reached out to grab the screen door handle but stopped. Fear gripped me when I saw a huge dark reddish stain all over the entrance floor through the glass door. Oh no!
I screamed out, “Hello! Is anyone in there?”
I waited a few seconds and listened. Nothing.
I yelled out again, “Grandma! Grandpa! Are you there?”
Again nothing. I took a step backwards and looked around. Their truck was missing. Could they have escaped? Did they go looking for me? Too many questions and not enough answers. One thing was for sure, I wasn’t getting any answers standing here. I needed to see if everyone else was around.
I turned around and walked to the car. The next closest house belonged to my great-aunt. I needed to see if she was okay.
I got in the car and drove to the next house. My great-aunt’s home was also a custom two-story house. It was built close to twenty years before I was born.
I pulled up to the house and saw that her car was gone. Her front door was closed, but I could see that a second story window had been broken out. With her car gone, I figured that she wasn’t there.
I continued up to the next house, which happened to be my great-grandmother’s house. I pulled into her long gravel driveway and slowly drove up to the house. Fear gripped me the closer I got.
I could see that the front door was wide open, and the lower part of the glass screen door was broken. Old reddished stained handprints of different sizes covered the top remaining parts of the glass. I immediately stopped the car.
I figured that it was useless to keep going up to the house. Even before my softball game in Yukon, before this zombie mess started, her health was not the best. She had stopped coming to my games because it became too much for her. It would wear her out.
She got to where she would rarely come out of the house and with her door like that, it meant that something bad happened to her. Stop it Makalyn! Stop thinking like that! Maybe, Grandma and Grandpa got her out! Yeah, maybe, she was with them.
Well, only one more house to go, my Uncle John’s. He had bought the land from another great-aunt and had a manufactured home put on it.
I slowly turned the car around and pulled back out of the driveway. Once I got to the street, I turned right. I followed the road for about a block until I got to my uncle’s house.
It looked untouched. It literally looked like it had remained untouched for a year. The front door was closed, shade covered the windows. Heck, tall weeds were all over the yard. My uncle and my aunt’s cars were gone. It looked like no one been there for a long time.
I began to cry. I.....I never felt so alone. Even when I was held prisoner by Serina, I had never felt this alone.
Even in my darkest hour, hope found its way into my heart. Maybe, just maybe, they had all went to Chandler to be with my family. Yeah, all I needed was to get to Chandler, so I could find them. I looked down at the gas gauge. I had about a third of a tank of gas left. That should be plenty of gas to get me to Chandler. I could take Highway 66 all the way back.
With a new goal, I turned the car around and drove through Arcadia. Once I made it back to historic Route 66, I turned left and followed the road that led to the north east direction. I passed many abandoned cars on the side of the road, but I wasn’t about to stop. I had been away from home for far too long and nothing was going to deter me from getting back.
I can’t tell you how relieved I was once I made it to the city limit sign of Chandler. It had been so long.
The feeling of happiness I felt quickly left when I pulled into town. Just like everywhere else, this town had been another victim to violence.
I slowly drove through downtown, on the street that led to my house. It seemed like every building and house had busted out windows and doors. The local grocery store had abandoned cars in their parking lot, with their doors left open. Wrecked cars were everywhere.
The closer I got to my house, the worse I felt. I wasn’t sure why, but something didn’t feel right. I began to lose hope that I was ever going to find my family.
I pulled onto the block where my house was located. I drove up the street. Over to my right, it looked like one of the neighbors had tried to have a birthday party that failed. There was an old deflated bouncy house in the front yard. Over to the side, were knocked over foldable tables and chairs. Paper plates and plastic silverware littered the overgrown ground.
I turned my head. I tried not to imagine the horror that had went on there.
I arrived at my house. My mom and dad’s cars were gone, but my older sister and brother’s cars were there. Hopefully, that was a good sign.
I parked the car next to the curb and turned off the car. I took a deep breath. It had been almost a year since I had been home. I hoped everyone was inside and alright. At the very least, they should be able to tell my where mom and dad were.
I slowly got out of the car and looked around. I wanted to make sure that there were no zombies around. When I was satisfied that I was alone, I shut the car door and began to slowly walk towards the house.
I could see through the glass screen door that the front door was open. I didn’t know if that was a good sign or not.
A feeling of relief rushed through me when I saw the back of my nephew’s head through the screen door. Tears began to form in my eyes. Maybe, things were going to be alright after all.
I dropped to my knees right in front of the door. I wanted to surprise my nephew by knocking on the door. I wanted to see the surprise look on his face when he turned around.
My heart began to pound with excitement. I formed a fist with my right hand and reached out. I knocked on the glass twice. I smiled as I watched him slowly turn around.
When I saw his face, the excitement I was feeling quickly vanished. My heart literally stopped beating. Tears began to form as my world fell apart in that instant.
The left side of my nephew’s face was gone. It looked like it had been ripped off, exposing his eye and teeth. The exposed side of his face had brown dirt all over it. I
t looked like he had fallen face down onto the dirt and was never cleaned.
He opened his mouth and took a step towards the screen door. I reach my hand up and touched the glass just as he hit it. I fought against my feelings. I wanted to just open the door and let him out. I yearned to hold him one more time.
That feeling quickly vanished when another set of feet can into view. I looked up and saw my older sister. I jumped to my feet when she loudly banged on the door.
I looked at her. She opened and closed her mouth as she continued to hit the glass. I could see a small mouth size hole on her left arm and neck. She was joined by our brother, Justin. Is.....Could this be why he didn’t come to get me? Because, he’s a zombie! Just like my nephew, part of his face was missing. He joined them in banging on the door. My other sisters were no where in sight. Where were they? Where were my mom and dad?
I tried to think, but they’re banging on the glass made it tough. Where would they try to go where they could be safe? Arcadia? No, I just left there. It wasn’t safe! Could they have gone to some of my other family members homes? Possibly, but most of them lived in bigger towns or cities. They wouldn’t be any safer. I got it. Lake Eufaula. My family had a secluded cabin out there. I bet that’s where they went.
I looked from my older brother to my sister and finally at my nephew. My sweet, sweet nephew. Tears began to form in my eyes at the sight of him being this way. Could I have saved him? I would like to think so.
I mouthed the words, “I love you all.”
I turned around to walk away when I heard glass breaking behind me. I stopped and turned around just in time to see the glass screen door begin to shatter. The glass spiderwebbed outward from the middle.
I’m not sure why, but I could hear Serina’s voice in the back of my head, “You need to run Sweetie.”
I turned around and sprinted to the car. I got within a few feet and jumped. In order to save time, I did one of those ‘Duke of Hazards’ moved and slide across the hood. I landed and looked back towards the house. My brother and sister had tripped over the bottom part of the screen door frame. My nephew had been pancaked underneath them.
I wanted to run to him and see if he was alright. I had to fight back my emotions. I had to remember that they were no longer my brother, sister, or nephew. They were now zombies.
I opened the car door and immediately noticed a reflection on the window. Whatever it was, it moved. I turned around and saw a bunch of zombies coming around the corner of the neighbor’s house. I guess the banging on the glass door must have got the other zombie’s attention.
I jumped into the car and turned it on. I glanced over at my house one more time. My sister had begun to rise to her feet. My nephew was still trapped under my brother, squirming. I’m not sure why, but my brother wasn’t moving. Again, I fought back to urge to go help my nephew. With a broken heart, I shifted the car into drive and drove away.
I didn’t look back. I couldn’t. The images of my family were burned into my brain.
I shook my head to clear it. I had a new goal. I needed to find my mom and dad and my other two sisters. I needed to tell them what happened.
I knew Lake Eufaula was a few hours drive south of Chandler. I just didn’t know how to get there. I didn’t know the exact roads I needed to take to get there. It had been quit a few years since I had been there. With me playing softball pretty much year-round, we didn’t really have time for vacations. I was just hoping that if I just headed south, I would see road signs indicating that Lake Eufaula was up ahead. I was hoping for something that would tell me that I was heading in the right direction. I was wrong.
Oklahoma roads don’t all run north and south. No, some of them loop around, while others are winding, and some just end. That’s the kind I found anyways.
I tried to find roads that went north and south, but I eventually ran out of gas. I tried to find more gas but ran into that herd of zombies and if I wouldn’t have run into you when I did, I would have died. You guys saved me. Thank you.
Chapter 13: God’s Plan
Makalyn’s tale took along time to tell. So long in fact that we had made it all the way to Okemah, Oklahoma. Okemah was a small-town right off the highway. I knew that it would have a few stores that we could look for supplies in.
As we were getting off the highway, Seth sarcastically responded, “Great! We could save Makalyn, but not my mom! And, let me guess. We’re going to search for her mom and dad and not mine! Woohoo. Way to go Uncle Jimmy.”
“Seth. I’m sorry, but......”
JoJo cut me off, “Seth, stop it! If my dad hadn’t taken the time to save you, he could have been able to save Aunt Tina! He almost died trying save her!”
I looked in the rearview mirror at my daughter. I could see the anger in her face as she defended me. I was so proud of her. I knew that her mom would be just as proud. I could see the mixture of emotions in Seth’s face. I needed to intervene before they said something cruel to each other, something they would regret.
I spoke softly so I could get both, JoJo and Seth’s attentions, “It’s okay JoJo. Thank you for defending me, but it’s not necessary. Yes, Seth, I failed you! I failed all of you! I failed to save your mom and Bobby. I failed to save Nichole and my boys. I failed to save Nana Jean and your sister.”
I looked at Makalyn, “I failed to save your Uncle John and his family. I failed Danny and Austin and all my other friends. I’m sorry for that. I wish things could have been different. I wish that I could have saved them all.
I looked over my shoulder at Seth, “When I saw you lying on the ground hurt, my first instinct was to help you. I think that when your mom saw that I was helping you, she ran to help Bobby. As me and JoJo were helping you, your mom screamed out. I swear that I tried to get to her as fast as I could, but I was too late. Bobby had turned and attacked her. In my own grief, I failed to take down your mom and Bobby. It almost cost me my life. If it wasn’t for JoJo saving me, we would have all died. Look, Seth, I know you’re hurting, both mentally and physically. I wish I could say something inspirational to you. Like, the pain you feel gets easier with time, but it won’t. It never will. Trust me, I know. I miss my wife and my boys everyday. I know that your foot hurts and it’s probably affecting your thinking right now. That’s one of the reasons we’re stopping here. I’m hoping that we’ll find something to help with the pain and maybe a brace to help support your ankle.”
I turned back around, “I’m truly sorry, Seth.”
Seth spoke up. His voice was cracking, “No, Uncle Jimmy. You have nothing to be sorry for. I’m sorry. You’re right. I’m in pain and it’s making me irrational. Thank you for everything that you’ve done for me. It won’t happen again.”
“Seth, stop. It’s fine. We’re fine. Everything’s fine. Let’s just see if we can find the supplies, we need to help you.”
“Okay, Uncle Jimmy. Sounds good.”
I knew that something was still wrong with Seth. He stopped referring to me as uncle months ago. In fact, the only time he’s called me Uncle Jimmy was when he’s upset. I knew that he would clam up if I pushed him. I would just have to wait and see if he indicated what was wrong.
We pulled into the supercenter parking lot. It was empty except for a few untouched cars. When I say untouched, I mean that they hadn’t been vandalized. It was a good sign. It could mean that the store hadn’t been touched either. I stopped in the middle of the almost empty parking lot.
I looked out the windows around the car, “Well? What do you think?”
Makalyn looked over at me, “About what?”
JoJo spoke up, “He means about the situation.”
Makalyn looked over her shoulder at my daughter, “What situation?”
JoJo rolled her eyes in annoyance at Makalyn, “Well, you see those two cars in the parking lot?”
Makalyn looked around, “Yeah. What about them?”
JoJo was getting frustrated, “You see how they look untouched?”
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br /> I couldn’t tell if Makalyn was this naive or playing, “Yeah. So?”
JoJo’s annoyance became apparent, “If those cars are untouched that means that the inside of the store could also be untouched. Which means that we can find supplies and whatever weapons we need in there.”
Makalyn asked, “That’s a good thing, right? Why have we stopped? Why aren’t we going to the store?”
JoJo responded, “Because, it could be a trap.”
I smiled at my daughter. She’s so smart.
“JoJo’s right. It could be a very good thing for us or a trap.”
Confused, Makalyn asked, “So, what are we going to do?”
I let out a long sigh, “Well, one thing’s for sure. It’s too big of an opportunity to pass up.”
I lightly pushed on the gas and cautiously drove up towards the front doors. I parked parallel to the concrete barriers located in front of the doors. I shifted it into park and turned off the ignition. I wanted to make sure that if we had to leave quickly, we could.
I looked around again, “Okay, Makalyn you’re with me. JoJo, stay out here with Seth.”
Both began to protest. I held up my hand to indicate one at a time.
JoJo spoke up, “Dad, why do I have to stay? You need me to watch your back. We take care of each other.”
As soon as she was done, Makalyn spoke up, “Why do I have to go? My story should have indicated that I’m no good at this sort of thing.”
I answered JoJo first, “JoJo. I need to out here to watch over and protect Seth. If zombies come, I know that you would do everything you could to protect him.”
Seth spoke up, “I can take care of myself. I don’t need a ‘babysitter’.”
I glanced over my shoulder at Seth, “I know you can Seth, but I also know that you can’t put any weight on your ankle right now and therefore, would be a liability. It could mean the difference in life and death for us all. Besides, if this is a trap, I’ll need you both as backup.”
I turned to Makalyn, “Makalyn. You survived out here on your own after escaping imprisonment. I know you can do this. I have complete faith in you.”