The Clock Runs Down: Half Past the Apocalypse

by Joe Kelly

  The officer got his gear loaded and the woman inside. “Probably going to get myself killed doing my duty one last time.” He told Jared. “can’t linger more of those things have shown up. Thanks for the help, If we ever meet again I owe.” The cop said extending a hand. “Good luck” Jared said shaking the mans hand. He felt guilty over not protesting about the woman going with the officer but he had Steph to get home and then his own life to save.

  A moment later he was back on the road, swerving around infected the land rover vanishing from sight as it headed in a different direction.

  “This is Wild… screw that crap folks. I’m probably going to die so I want to be known by my real name. I’m John Powers, and this is still WPK 103.4 at least till the power goes out or I have to leave. Here in East Nashville it’s a nightmare, Dusty Rose nursing home was overrun by the infected and the last word from the police was stay away if you had family there they are gone. I’m sorry. About twenty minutes ago my side kick Rose, you know her as the Lovely Jenni was killed out front.

  I’m supposed to give you the news but truth is we haven’t got a lot other than what we can see from the roof and out the windows. I say we, there are maybe ten of us left in the building. But a recap is okay I guess, stay away from the Stadium it was designated a shelter but it’s a death trap no one is left alive in there. And if your looking for hotels to hole up in forget it they are gone too and from what we were told by the last officer we saw, leaving town is the best idea but the highways and interstate are parking lots.”

  There can’t be that many of those things out there, there just can’t Jared thought. it didn’t make any kind of sense. Neither does the fact that whatever this is happened at the same time around the world or at least with the span of a few hours and that’s not possible either.

  “try calling your parents again” Jared told Steph. Hopefully they will be alive and waiting at the house when we get there, Jared thought, otherwise I guess I’m going to be responsible for helping a teen age girl survive the end of the world and boy wont that be fun especially with Ronny around. The Jokes will never end.

  He looked to the left and the sight of rising smoke and the orange glow of flames in the distance killed any humor he might have felt.

  “It’s not far now” Steph said an hour and a half later. It had taken far longer to navigate the mad house than Jared had assumed. At one point they had even found themselves on a strangely empty feeder road below a bumper to bumper highway as they skirted the area around the Mall. Jared nodded silently, he was too focused on the road ahead and his own fears.

  He had tried to stay away from the mall but the deteriorating situation had forced him closer and closer. Luckily, he had not been forced to close and he knew he did not want to see the chaos that was sure to be found in that heavily trafficked Mall area. For a moment his mind flashed over to that old hokey zombie movie that had been mostly filmed in a Mall, unlike the movie, holing up in a mall was not the brightest idea in the world.

  I keep coming back to that. Holing up somewhere, escaping, its like everyone is tuned into some kind of primal fear that is urging us to get out, there’s danger. Zombies and mass hysteria, what a combo. He suddenly remembered that Kelly, Ori’s on and off again girlfriend lived over by the mall somewhere. I hope she is okay, she’s a good person.

  Steph remained quiet except for when she told him when and which way to turn. She sat staring out the window watching as people fled the area, Fear tearing her apart after she was unable to get either of her parents on the phone. He felt for her, she should never have had to see the things she saw today. Society wasn’t just dying, Innocence was being strangled out of the world and that was something he would forever hate.

  Finally, Jared turned down a tree-lined street passing neatly kept homes. Most the homes had wrap around porches, expensive manicured lawns and well-kept flower beds. With the occasional decorative fountain splashing merrily in counterpoint to the fear he saw on every face they passed.

  People were rushing to load their Vehicles with supplies as they prepared to leave. At one home, a rail thin man stood guard on his porch with a shotgun while his wife and children packed supplies into a SUV in the driveway.

  “There, that’s it!” Steph said suddenly pointing to a restored Queen Anne Victorian, huge old oaks kept the manicured lawn in the shade and a huge new RV sat in the driveway. There was no other vehicle in sight.

  Jared didn’t need to look at her to know her eyes were filled with fear since there were no other vehicles in the driveway. He pulled up to the curb, hating the wasted time. He also wasn’t going to just rush off till he was sure the rest of her family wasn’t going to come back.

  He sat there feeling like an ass as she sobbed quietly. He wanted to assure her that it would be all right, but he couldn’t. He didn’t believe that it would be all right. Civilization, maybe even humanity itself was teetering on the edge of the abyss and it wasn’t looking good. Soldier up, it aint over while you can still fight he told himself.

  Finally, he slid an arm around her shoulders and let her cry against his shoulder. He felt uncomfortable having a teenage girl in his arms even if was only to cry. The minutes ticked by slowly, and the mental image of a clock running down came to him again. It was so real he sucked in a breath.

  Forty-five long minutes later he let her go and dug thru his bag for a pen and paper and started writing the note he was going to leave. Just as he opened the door to go put the note on their door, a ford explorer sped into the driveway and stopped with a squeal of tires. Steph shouted with joy and leaped from Jared’s truck to rush to her father who seeing her almost flew out of his explorer and hugged her tightly tears of relief streaming down his face.

  “Thank you mister.” He said with profound relief. “God I was so worried about her. I was stuck on the interstate trying to get to her job and get her out of that coffee shop when I saw you pass on that side road-heading north. Took me damn near twenty minutes to just get off the interstate and head back this way.” He kissed the top of Steph’s head, smiling from ear to ear then noticed Jared’s eyes sweeping the area constantly. “It's real bad isn’t it?” Steph's father asked quietly.

  “Worse than you think, “Jared said. “She saw some nasty crap, Sir, stuff that it won't be easy to get over. I think we will all see some really bad stuff before it's all said and done”

  “Thank you, I mean that. You saved her life getting her out of there” He held out his hand. “I'm Arthur damned glad to meet you,” he said, tears brimming at the corners of his eyes again. “I can’t even think of how to repay you for what you did.”

  “Jared Stone” Jared said as they shook hands. “and you don’t have to repay me for anything.”

  “My wife's at the store with friends buying more stuff, and then we are going to load up the RV and head out of here” Arthur said, looking nervously in the direction Jared assumed the store was located. “ Not sure where we might go, but anywhere is better than here. Do you need any help?” Arthur asked suddenly.

  “No, but thanks, I have a place up on the plateau that me and my friends are going to head to.” Jared looked at the girl and suddenly felt the urge to tell them where the camp was. Could he feed them all, would they even be useful? He felt ashamed to even think like that. But it was a serious consideration. But more importantly, could he live with himself if he didn’t try to help them. The true test of a man, his father had told him once, was sticking to your beliefs and convictions even in the darkest times.

  “Look you folks need to strip every bit of food and medicine out of your house and load it up in that RV, don’t leave a thing behind that you might be able to use and keep an eye out. One minute the area can be clear and then suddenly one of those things just shows up.” Jared said, thinking of how fast that parking lot at that gym had filled with the things and how quickly they had appeared on some of the streets he had driven through.

  Arthur looked worried at that idea. But didn�
��t seem to panic either, which was a good sign. “Do you have a gun?” Jared asked. Arthur actually went red with embarrassment as he shook his head. Jared walked to his truck and pulled a Remington 12ga pump action shotgun from behind the seat and a box of shells then walked back to Arthur. He had his pistol and plenty of other weapons back at the house he could part with this one.

  “This is a 12ga it can be pain in your shoulders but it's pretty easy to use. Point this end at what you want to kill and aim for the head. Don’t panic, they are slow and you can stay ahead of them pretty easy. A group will probably be more dangerous, so try to avoid those,” Jared said then took a few moments to show Arthur how to load the pump action shotgun, where the safety was, and not much else. Arthur was going to have to be responsible for whatever happened and judging by the way he held the shotgun, the man wasn’t going to go swinging it around wildly.

  “Avoid the interstate, it’s a parking lot. When you get to the next town or the one after that if it seems safe. Stop at any store that’s open and load up on food, water, supplies like toilet paper and ammunition. Buy a pistol or two. Spend every cent you have and max out the credit cards. I don’t think you'll end up having to pay it off, not if this gets as bad as it looks like it might and keep on an eye on the people around you in this situation they can be as big a threat as the infected and keep people in that RV when you stop or someone might steal it out from under you.” Jared said then made his decision. “Look if you find yourself on the Plateau, near Pickett park or the Big South fork. Give me a call on Cb Channel ten. I might be able to help you out can't promise though. But if I can, I will. Keep them safe Arthur.” Jared said, turning and climbing into his truck as the man thanked him tearfully. He said a quick prayer for the family and drove away

  CHAPTER 4

  The living room was full of people, gear, and nervous conversation by the time he had gotten home, Ori had been waiting for him his truck loaded with gear. Steve who had left earlier to go look for Bridget had shown up thirty minutes after Jared, his cell phone plastered to his ear as he tried to reach his wife.

  There had been no infected in sight, but that didn’t mean much as far as Jared was concerned. Jared had opened the company gun safes in his basement, first thing, and the small group had armed themselves with their personal weapons and loaded up on ammo from the Safes. Assuming no one missed a lot, there was enough ammo in the basement to keep a small army going for months. And there was much more ammo in the secure storage building he had rented on the northeastern side of town.

  Ori stood at the window keeping watch for late arrivals and any zombies that might wander by. His thick blond hair sticking up wildly from running his hand through it constantly a nervous habit that he couldn’t stop even when he wore a high and tight. He looked down at the heels, Jared thought. Not finding Kelly was really eating at him.

  Steve looked about to break as he paced the room waiting for Bridget to arrive “ What if something happened to her, ” he said for the millionth time. Nervous sweat gleamed on his shaven head. Steve started to reach of his cell phone again then stopped. The system had crashed two hours ago, cell phones were just so much junk now. “I should never have let her go alone.”

  “Nothing happened to her” Jared replied emerging from the kitchen.

  “Don’t do that Jared, you can’t guarantee she’s all right.” Steve said almost angrily.

  “your right I can’t Steve, but she can take care of herself and you need to stay positive. The streets are a nightmare, wrecks and traffic everywhere not to mention the infected. So give it some time;” Jared replied. “at least she wasn’t going into Nashville.”

  “And if she doesn’t show up?” Steve asked, his hand unconsciously moving to rest on the butt of his pistol.

  “Then we go look for her” Jared replied. Not thrilled with the idea, but he wasn’t going to ditch Bridget without making the effort to find her she was his friend as well as Steve’s wife and he owed her and the others that much. They were a team no one else was going to have their backs.

  Steve relaxed slightly not doubting Jared's word. Jared clapped Steve on the shoulder and said “Chill brother, she’s fine.” though both of them knew that it was more than possible Bridget had already been killed. A lot of people had died already according to the news.

  Steve paced around the foyer almost angrily stopping to peer out the window with each complete circuit.

  Mark and Sharon didn’t look up from the map they were pouring over while talking quietly neither wanting to get involved in the conversation about Bridget. Sharon was still dealing with the disappearance of her parents. They had found only blood on the floor in the kitchen and living room when she and Mark had arrived to check on them and offer to take them to Jared's and then on to Jared's Camp.

  She knew what had happened to them no matter how hard Mark tried to give her hope. Sharon was also determined not to say anything to Steve that would make him feel as hopeless as she felt.

  She had shared at least some of what she had seen and overheard at work with all of them and that had made the situation seem even worse.

  Mark looked tense and kept rubbing the bridge of his nose, he had spoken very little for the past hour. Well who in the hell could blame him, Jared thought. Marks parents and his brother and sister lived in New Mexico and he hadn’t been able to reach them.

  Jared frowned as he looked around the living room. His friends were on the edge of losing it. Hell fire, he was on edge too, and that wasn’t a good thing when everyone was heavily armed. He had to do something about it, if he could. “Look, we expected the cell system to go down, and we all know what the roads are like. And you can bet the roads have gotten worse since you got here. So chill out. They are just having to take more time to get here” Jared said.

  Ori turned to face the room and pushed his glasses up with one finger. “We can't afford to sit here till a sea of undead surrounds the place either” he said calmly. No one argued with the term Undead, not even Steve who was usually the most skeptical of the group. No one even joked about his using a full sentence, they were too stressed out.

  “He has a point.” Mark commented as he rose from his chair and stretched. Steve looked like he was about to explode Jared placed a calming hand on his shoulder. Jared knew that Ori wasn’t suggesting they leave Bridget or anyone else he was pointing out what should be obvious.

  “That’s why we will go look for Bridget, Chris and Ronny if they don’t show up by morning. That way we can have everything loaded and ready to bug out when we come back.” Jared said to calm them, and give them a purpose to think about.

  Four other couples that were their friends were not showing up, three of them were rounding up family and determined to wait it out, the fourth couple Dave and Sabrina had never answered their phones both worked downtown and that worried Jared a lot. Ronny’s fiancé, girlfriend, Dominatrix, Mary worked downtown as well which meant Ronny had probably headed downtown to make sure she was all right. Jared didn’t mention that to any one, they were all busy enough worrying about what was happening and where it all would end up.

  “Jared, I can’t wait till morning” Steve said angrily.

  “Steve, those things will head towards running vehicles and if it’s after dark the head lights will draw them in for miles.” Jared said thinking of what he had seen in the parking lot at the Gym and along the way home. “You’re not heading out alone and we can’t risk drawing a huge crowd of those things down on us either. Think okay. It took me two hours to get home once I dropped that girl off at her house and it normally takes anywhere from half an hour to an hour to get home from that area. Lets just give her some more time to get here before we go rushing off look for her. Hell she would probably show up while we were out there looking for her.”

  Steve subsided but from the set of his jaw and the tense set of his shoulders, Steve was determined to go back out and look for his wife sooner rather than later. Jared couldn’t blame him eithe
r. For a moment he thought of Jill then pushed the thought away. He would probably never see her again. That thought hurt far more than he would have thought.

  “Think Allen will show up?” Mark asked quietly as he pulled a Beer from a cooler. Jared made a mental note to make sure that no one got drunk, that was the last thing they needed if things got hairy. Heavily armed, stressed out and drunk was not a good combo.

  “Not really, but I offered” Jared replied glad for the subject change. Allen was well liked in the tight-knit group and had come to many of the BBQs and other get togethers when he wasn’t at the Gym or teaching a Martial arts class. They all had hoped Allen would show up, he was a good man all the way around. There was silence in the room for a while as they all began to realize just how many people had died and were dying as they sat here.