by Frost, Scott
“Melanie, do you like Harry Potter?”
“Yes I do. Can I read with you?”
Emma gave her a big smile and sad yes. She was herself again. They sat next to each other at the table and read. The darkness came early that night. We lit several candles and while Emma and Melanie read Harry Potter the rest of us developed a new plan. Harry Potter kept Emma and Melanie entertained late into the night.
Chapter Nine
I had a hard time sleeping that night. I kept having nightmares that Emma was infected and while we slept, she woke up and attacked us one at a time. She saved me for last, and as she sank her teeth into my arm, I didn’t resist. It’s as though in my dream, I had given up. And so she ate my flesh. She was nothing but a pile of bones. I closed my eyes and that was the end. That nightmare haunted me the whole night. I woke up several times, but when I was able to fall back sleep, Emma was waiting for me, waiting to taste my flesh.
I woke up before everyone else and left the kitchen. I wanted fresh air, but I knew it wasn’t safe to go outside. I could hear them outside. The infected still pounded on the door.
I walked around the banquet hall. Sunlight came in through the windows in small streaks. I walked around thinking about Natasha, trying to think about Natasha. I had a hard time forgetting about my nightmare. Before I left the kitchen I looked at Emma. She and Melanie fell asleep lying next to each other. They read late into the night. They were both on their sides; Melanie had her arm around Emma. Melanie appeared safe, but I still had a funny feeling about her. She still hadn’t told us what had happened to her. She kept quiet most of the previous night. But I was thankful that she was good with Emma. She genuinely seemed to enjoy Emma’s company. And vice versa, Emma was glad to have someone closer to her own age. She had a new friend.
As I walked around the empty hall, I came to the men’s bathroom. I checked the handle, still locked. I thought about trying to kick the door open, but decided against it. I didn’t want to wake everyone. They needed their sleep. We had a long day in front of us. Though, we hadn’t decided on a plan, I knew we couldn’t stay. We were now a group of five. Looking at our supplies the previous night, I knew we didn’t have enough supplies to last. And I still wanted to find Natasha.
Clyde woke up next. He found me sitting against the wall, watching the main door. He didn’t say anything for a while. He took a seat next to me. Finally after about thirty minutes he turned toward me.
“I’m scared. We won’t be able to stay here longer than a week and maybe not even that long. And I have no idea where we should go. I know you want to find your wife, but Alex, what are the chances she is still alive?”
He didn’t wait for a reply. It was a rhetorical question. He didn’t need an answer; he knew what my response would be. And I knew that trying to find Natasha was pointless. Too much time had passed. There were too many places to look. And in the long run, I think I had started to accept that she couldn’t have survived. The majority of the infected chased after her when we got separated.
“I think the two of us should scope out the area, and leave the girls here. Mary can take care of them. And it looks like Melanie is capable of handling things. She looks like a tough girl. We can try and find more supplies and maybe some gas.”
He paused, unsure what to say next.
“And maybe once we have supplies and gas, we can try and find your wife. Maybe after we look in Bradley we can head south and find a safe farm house that has a generator, and well water. I think that is the best idea. We need to get out of populated areas. The further south we go the better. The only problem is that getting supplies will be more difficult. I think if we find gas, we load the Jeep with everything we can fit it and haul ass out of here.”
“I don’t know what we should do. All I know is that I miss Natasha. I don’t know if I can leave this area without looking for her. Yes, she might not be alive. But, there is a chance. I think we should go and check out the town and find whatever we can. The girls will be safe in here. And if we find supplies, mainly, if we find gas, I think everything will be ok. If not I don’t think we are going anywhere.”
We sat in silence, and stared into the emptiness of building. All was quiet, except for the occasional pounding on the door. I closed my eyes and saw Natasha standing next to me as Father George read from the bible. I didn’t hear most of what he said. I couldn’t take my eyes of my beautiful bride. She was wearing a simple white wedding dress, her hair curled. I watched her, as she watched me. We held hands, and whispered I love you to each other while the Father talked. She cried throughout the ceremony. Her tears fell from her cheeks onto her wedding gown in perfect harmony. When it was her turn to talk, her voice was a mere whisper.
“I, Natasha, take Alex….”
She finished the vows, and smiled, relieved that she was able to finish. I winked at her, and she started laughing. I couldn’t resist, I laughed with her, loudly. Her laughter was contagious. We stood there, hand in hand, not yet married, laughing. I have watched our wedding video many times, and I know that I was lucky to have Natasha in my life. And though, she is not here with me, with us, she is in my heart. My love for Natasha will never fade. I hope she is alive and surviving.
“Daddy, what are you guys doing out here?”
Emma’s voice startled both of us. We both jumped, which made her laugh. She looked so thin, and dirty, but still beautiful. Her bright blue eyes made me smile.
“Nothing. Just sitting here, are you hungry?”
“Yes. Melanie wanted me to ask you if we can have something to eat. I would’ve asked Mary, but she is still asleep.”
“Yes, why don’t you guys each have a can of something and share a bottle of water or juice. How do you feel?”
“I’m hungry.” She replied.
“Ok. Go eat. But try not to wake Mary.”
“Okay.” She said as she walked back into the kitchen.
“She’s lucky to have you as a dad. I know many people that ran out on their family when the virus started to spread. Most people panicked and wanted to save themselves and said fuck everyone else. You’re a good man. I haven’t seen many kids since the outbreak.”
“Thanks. I’m trying to be a good dad, but most of the time I feel like I have failed. I mean look how skinny she is and how dirty she is.”
“You’re doing a fine job. She is alive and that’s all that matters. And I swear to you that as long as I’m alive, I will do everything in my power to keep her safe. Kids are the future of the world. Old folks, like me and Mary, won’t last much longer. The younger kids, like Emma and Melanie need to survive. They are the hope of the world.”
I hadn’t thought about the future, beyond surviving day by day, but Clyde was right. Children are the future of the world, even more now than before the virus. Emma has to survive.
The pounding got louder. Clyde looked at me, and we both had worry in our eyes. We knew that we were safe inside, but the problem was that we had to leave. And with the infected outside the door it would be impossible. We had two doors that we could use to get out. We got up and walked to the door on the other end of the building. It was still barricaded. We stood there and listened. It was quiet. The infected hadn’t noticed this door or at least weren’t pounding on it.
“Well, I guess we’ll be leaving form this door. The girls will have to lock the door and quickly barricade it. I don’t know if they will be able to. Mary is strong, but she isn’t a spring chicken anymore.”
As I listened to Clyde, I looked at the door. Very little sunlight came in this end of the building making it hard to see the door. But it looked like the other door, steel and safe.
“I think once they get it locked, they should be ok. I don’t think they will need to barricade it. Maybe just push a couple of tables in front of it. The other problem is that they will have to unblock the door when we come back. How will they know it’s us? For all they know, it could be the infected pounding on the door, trying to get in. And
what if we are being chased, if the door is blocked from the inside, they might not be able to get the door opened quickly enough.”
It took Clyde several minutes to reply.
“To be honest I hadn’t thought about that. I think once the infected see us come out they will follow us so I don’t think the girls will have any problems. Maybe just locking the door is a good idea. And maybe Mary can stand guard and listen for us. We could always come up with a code. Maybe knock three times fast, pause, and knock another three times fast. And if that doesn’t work we can just yell.”
“Sounds like a good idea to me. The hard part will be not being followed when we come back. I mean I feel safe in here but I don’t like the fact that they know we’re in here.”
“That makes two of us.” He laughed, and started walking back toward the kitchen.
“Are you coming?” He asked
“Yes. I was just thinking. How much ammunition do we have left?”
“Not much but enough.” Clyde replied.
“Well, think about it. There has to be at least twenty or thirty infected trying to get in. I know we can outrun them. But if they follow and we run into more are we going to have enough fire power to spend time searching. I mean we might have to shoot our way out of this building.”
“We’ll have enough. But the problem we might have is that once we empty our clips, we will have to reload them. And that will take a couple of minutes. Let’s just hope the clips that are loaded will be enough. If not, we will have to find someplace safe and refill the empty clips.”
“Okay.” It wasn’t a positive okay. I wasn’t convinced that we had enough firepower. But we didn’t have a choice. We couldn’t stay. Eventually we would run out of supplies.
We walked back into the kitchen. Mary was sitting at the table eating a can of peaches. Melanie and Emma sat opposite of Mary reading from the Harry Potter book.
Melanie looked up when she heard us come in. She quickly looked away when she made eye contact with me. She looked better after a night of sleep and food. Her hair was pulled into a tight pony tail. She had on a yellow t-shirt that was stained. The words on the shirt were barely readable. In the middle of her shirt was the word, Flirt. Her shirt made me think about walking around the mall with Natasha. When ever we went to the mall, she would always read people’s t-shirts. Her favorites were, ‘I’ll sleep with you if you ask nicely’, and ‘The Government screwed me, literally.’
During one trip to the mall we stopped at Spencer’s. She looked through several racks of t-shirts and her hand finally landed on a pink t-shirt. It was a classic Natasha shirt. It was a black shirt with the words, ‘Devil in Disguise‘, printed in bold red letters. Natasha is one of those people that are sweet as can be, but if you piss her off you better watch out. Luckily since we met, I’ve only seen that side of her several times.
Clyde sat down next to his wife, put his arm around her and gave her a kiss. Emma made a funny face, and giggled. Melanie was expressionless. I took a seat next to Emma. I hadn’t eaten, but I wasn’t hungry. I wanted to conserve our food supply. I took a drink from Emma’s water bottle, and then told the group about the plan.
Clyde interrupted several times and after about thirty minutes the plan was approved by the women. Both Mary and Emma didn’t like the idea about us leaving them, but eventually Mary agreed that is was the best idea. Emma didn’t see it that way. She didn’t want me to leave. When she started crying, I picked up her and set her on my lap. I held her and told her that everything would be ok.
Mary tried to calm her down, but it didn’t help. I was hoping that Melanie would try and calm her down, but she sat there and didn’t say a word. Maybe she felt that it wasn’t her place to help. After a while Emma stopped crying and just held me. I took it as a sign that she knew I had to leave. Eventually she said she had to use the bathroom. As we walked to the bathroom I told her that I would be back very soon, and then we could leave and find mommy. Her smile returned.
Clyde and I had cleaned the bathroom as best as we could during our first day in this place. Mary stood guard as we took the bodies outside. There were seven bodies. The smell slowed us down, each of us gagging at times. But finally once the bodies were gone, we used disinfectant cleaner that we found in the kitchen and cleaned everything. We tried to go outside when we had to use the bathroom, but unblocking and blocking the door had gotten to be a pain in the ass. If we had to pee, Clyde and I went to the far end of the building and pissed into a drain. The girls used the bathroom. But after a few days, the first toilet was full. We decided that we would need to drain the toilets, which was not a fun task. We took turns, everyone except for Emma.
We slowly drained the toilet and emptied them into the drains. It was to hard remove the smell of urine and shit from the bathroom, but we did the best we could. Removing the smell of death was impossible.
I opened the door and gave Emma the flashlight. She walked in and went into the first stall. I stood at the door, and waited. I knew better than to close the door. She would have started screaming. So I listened to her bladder drain and when she finished I sprayed her hands with a disinfectant spray and she dried her hands with her shirt. We were down to our last bottle of disinfectant spray.
We walked out of the bathroom, and she started to cry again.
“Em, it’s okay. I know you don’t want me to leave, but I have too. Plus, Mary and Melanie will be here with you.”
She cried for a few minutes.
“But what if you don’t come back like mommy?”
“I promise I will come back. And we are going to find mommy. She didn’t want to leave us, she did it to save us. She made the infected follow her, which allowed us to escape.”
“I don’t want you to leave. What if they attack you?”
“We are going to be very careful. And both of us have guns. They won’t get us. We’re much faster. I promise I will come back. I love you so much and I’m never going to let anything happen to you.”
We walked back into the kitchen. Clyde was ready to go. It was late morning and he said he wanted to get back before dark. I only put a box of ammunition and a bottle of water in backpack. I wanted to leave plenty of room in case we found supplies. Clyde did the same.
The girls walked with us to the door. We told them that once we got outside to lock the door, but don’t barricade it.
“I don’t know how long we’ll be gone. It shouldn’t take us but a few hours. We will be back before dark. When we get back, we will knock three times fast, pause, and then knock another three times fast. Make sure that either you or Melanie is standing guard. Hopefully we won’t be followed, but if we are, were going to need to get inside quickly. Okay?”
Mary and Melanie both said yes. Emma stood in between them, and started to cry. Clyde and I slowly moved the barricade and listened for movement. The infected were still pounding on the other door. The doors were about three hundred feet away. I gave Emma a kiss on the cheek and Clyde kissed his Mary on the lips.
“Be careful.” Melanie said, meekly.
“We will. Thanks. Clyde, are you ready?”
“As ready as I’ll ever be.”
We took one last look at each other and Clyde unlocked the door. The sunlight blinded us as we ran out of the building.
Chapter Ten
We ran out of the building, blinded by the sun and into an army of infected. We stood there and listened to the door close and lock behind us. I looked around. We were surrounded. I expected to run into trouble, but I wasn’t expecting to be completely surrounded. I scanned the quickest escape route and counted as fast as I could. I counted about twenty five. They were on both sides of us, but the bulk of the group was standing at the other door, still trying to get in. They had spotted us and were slowly coming at us from all directions.
“Clyde we need to get out of here.”
He just stood there. He didn’t respond.
“Snap out of it!” I yelled as I grabbed his arm and pull
ed him to follow me. He came to his senses and we ran. After we ran out of the park, I stopped and turned around. They were following us, which is what I wanted.
“Alex why are you stopping? We need to get out of here!”
“I know but we also want them away from the building. I want to make sure they follow us. We will lose them after they’re out of the park. I can’t believe there are so many.”
Clyde dropped to one knee and caught his breath. He slowly raised his rifle and took aim.
“Don’t waste your bullets. We might need them. They won’t catch us. Once they walk out of the entrance we can leave. I know this area so follow me.”
Clyde kept his rifle in a ready position for another minute, but then slowly stood up and slung it around his shoulder. We watched them come at us. Some of them looked like they had just been infected. They walked faster than the rest. The majority of the group were older people. I didn’t see any kids. They reached the fence just in time for us to turn around and see another group of infected coming straight at us.
“Shit!” I yelled.
I looked around and knew that we would have to cut in between houses. We couldn’t go straight. And we couldn’t go back to the building.
“Now what?” Clyde nervously asked.
He kept his eyes on the group behind us as I watched the group in front of us.
We stood there as they narrowed the distance.
I couldn’t believe that these creatures had once been alive. The sight made me think of the classic horror movie, Night of the Living Dead. The things resembled the zombies in that movie.
“Time to leave, follow me.” I said as I started to run to our right, in between two houses. Clyde followed closely behind me. We ran in between two houses, and jumped a fence. Once we were in the alley we turned around and sure enough they were still following us.