by Mason King
“No….” He looked down in what came across as shame.
“Well you have a choice to make now…”
Paul looked from Hunter to Kendall to her parents then back again.
Paul asked in a very reserved and polite manner if it would be at all possible for him to stay with them, “Just for a few days!” he promised emphatically.
They agreed, not at all hesitantly. They were obviously very giving and hospitable people.
Hunter began to gather his things, ready to get home to his fiancé. As he was bidding his goodbyes, Kendall piped up, “You’re not going alone are you?”
“Of course. I’ll be fine, I don’t even live 20 minutes from here.” He was adamant. He walked over to the door and picked up his book bag from where had dropped it on the ground. She was still looking at him as he began to try and walk out the door.
Apparently, Kendall wasn’t having it. “You’re not going alone.” Was all she said, before running up the stairs to, he assumed, her room.
Rolling his eyes, he looked to the others in the room for back-up.
Kendall ran back down the stairs, having changed out of her dress pants and blouse in to jeans, boots, a t-shirt, and a book bag of her own strapped to her back. She looked as though she was preparing for war.
Thankfully, her parents spoke up, “Sweetie, we would much rather you stay here with us, where it’s safe.”
She shook her head, “Mom, someone needs to go with him!”
They bickered back and forth for several minutes, but it was clear Kendall wasn’t budging.
His last attempt was to ask her, “So you’re going to go with me to make sure I’m safe, then I’m going to have to bring you back here? Only to, once again, drive back alone?”
“If everything out there is fine, then yes. What’s the harm in a little extra driving? My parent’s neighborhood is obviously fine for now. I doubt anything will happen in the next hour that it will take for you to go to your house, then bring me back. But if YOUR neighborhood isn’t fine, you’re going to need backup. And we can figure things out from there. Plus, your fiancé could ride back with you! Either way, I think it would be better for no one to be alone.” She finished, having somewhat rambled on.
She did have a small point, he admitted to himself. “Alright then, let’s go.” She smiled and bounced out the door.
“Part of you seems almost excited,” He turned towards her and gave her a deliberate look, once they were both seated and buckled in his Jeep.
“Not excited, just intrigued.” She looked away from him and out the window, “I mean, come on. How many times have you sat and thought about what you would do during the Zombie apocalypse? There are people out there who spend their entire lives waiting for this type of thing. Now I’m not saying I’m one of those people, but I’ve watched my fair share of The Walking Dead and my friends and I have had conversations on what we would do.” She finished.
She was a rambler, Hunter noted as he continued looking ahead on his drive.
“I don’t think I’ve honestly ever really thought about it. So?” He looked back at her questioningly.
“What?”
“What would you do?” He didn’t want to admit it, but he was suddenly curious.
While looking forward through the window, she smiled a mischievous smile before telling him her plan.
She told him all about how she would handle herself until they pulled into his and Allison’s condominiums parking lot.
“Okay. I’ll admit it. I’m impressed.” He responded once she was done, and they were both getting out of his vehicle.”
His and Allison’s complex looked normal too. All the usual cars were in the parking lot, and there were a few of his neighbors out on their balconies. He waved, as he normally would. He didn’t want to draw any attention or cause any unnecessary panic since it was unclear what, if anything, was happening.
Hunter led the way up three flights of stairs towards his and Allison’s condo.
As he used his keys to unlock the door, Allison swung it open, nearly pulling his arm with it as he was still holding on to the knob. As soon as he was in the door she wrapped her arms around him and gave him a long kiss. Hunter happily kissed her back, before realizing they had company and breaking the embrace. Kendall was looking around the apartment, only somewhat uncomfortable.
“Allison” He started, bringing her attention to his companion.
“Oh my gosh, I’m so sorry! Hi, I’m Allison” she stuck her hand out to the young woman, who smiled warmly back at her.
“Sorry, I know you weren’t expecting company but I didn’t want Hunter to make the drive alone just in case…” She trailed off.
Kendall actually felt somewhat silly now, having ridden with him all the way here when clearly nothing was wrong.
“Thank God you did!” Allison exclaimed.
Both Hunter and Kendall looked at her with confused expressions.
“Why? We had no issues getting here what-so-ever. There was still minimal traffic which is ridiculous for LA, but hey, whose complaining?” Hunter responded, making his way in to the kitchen to grab a drink. He was crazy thirsty, and starving, he realized.
Allison wordlessly turned on the television so the three could watch what was unfolding.
Hunter took a swig of sweet tea, again, his country roots were showing, as he watched what was happening at the airport they had been at just mere hours ago.
There was a helicopter flying overhead live reporting what was happening down below.
The airport that they had been at not too long ago was crawling with even more of those Things.
“Wow… Hunter couldn’t believe what he was seeing. Maybe they weren’t so crazy after all.
“Yeah.” Allison said, turning his way, “I’ve been waiting on you to get here so we could figure out what to do. They’re saying this…outbreak, or whatever, actually started at the airport. Before that news story from earlier aired people had still been going to the airport to catch their flights and it must have just blown up from there. You two are so lucky you even made it out.”
“Another guy made it out with us, the Paul guy I told you about. He was at the airport too, he stayed back at Kendall’s. What should we do from here?”
The three looked at each other, and Kendall pulled out her cell phone. After listening to it ring for several beats, she looked up at them, her bubbly demeanor having turned cautious. “My mom didn’t answer her cell phone,” she hung up and dialed again. Once more, it continued to ring and she looked to Hunter and Allison. Kendall was starting to panic, “What if it reached them already?!”
“Hey, hey, I’m sure their fine. Let’s get some stuff together and I’ll take you back. That was the plan anyway, while we do that we can figure out what we need to do.” He looked back and forth between the two women.
He grabbed his book bag and went up to their bedroom to grab a few things.
He set the bag on the bed and began rifling through his drawers. The first thing he grabbed was his 40 caliber Glock 22. From there he got out all of the boxes of bullets he owned, regretfully only 2. He unzipped his bag and dumped the contents on to his bed.
“What the...KENDALL. GET IN HERE!” he screamed, not understanding what he was seeing.
Both women rushed in to the room, “What?” Kendall inquired, not initially realizing what she was looking at.
“Hunter…what are those?” Allison asked, moving towards their bed to run her hands over the dozens of tiny vials laid before them.
“Don’t touch them!” Hunter grabbed Allison and pulled her towards him until her back was flush with his front. “This bags not mine…it must have been Paul’s. What are these?”
Kendall stepped forward and picked up one of the vials as gently as possible. There was a label on it, but it was a combination of letters and numbers that she had never seen before. After examining two or three, she looked back at the couple and told them that she was a Licensed R
egistered Nurse, but had just started her first year in the Cellular and Molecular Pathology program at UCLA, to obtain her doctorate. She had been studying chemistry and biology for as long as she could remember and she had never seen any vials with these types of labels.
At that moment, Kendall’s cell phone rang.
“Thank god” she said out loud when she looked at who was calling, then “Mom!” she exclaimed in to the phone, “Why didn’t you answer?”
After a few seconds, her face went ashen and she put the phone on speaker.
Paul was speaking in a very calm and unnerving tone. “Well? Do you have my book bag, or don’t you?”
The way he was talking sent shivers down Hunters spine. The three looked at one another, and Hunter spoke first, “We do. Paul, what is this?”
“Where are you?” Was all he responded, but his voice had taken on a harsh edge.
“We’re not telling you until you explain what the hell was in your back pack.” Hunter stood his ground.
“Well then. I guess I’ll just have to find a way to make you come to me.” They heard nothing for a few seconds, then in the background, screams from Kendall’s parents caused her to gasp and drop her phone.
Hunter picked it up and continued, “Okay! Okay. We’re coming back to you. Stay there, and don’t you dare hurt her parents or I swear to God.” but at this point he was talking to no one. Paul had already hung up.
“Fuck.” Hunter quickly, but carefully, put all of the vials back in to the backpack.
The three exchanged a look, before they silently started to gather their things. His fiancé’ pulled out her own book bag and put a few things in it; one of those being her 9 millimeter Glock 19 and her one box of bullets. Good girl, her thought to himself, giving her a reassuring squeeze on her shoulder as they worked around one another.
It went without saying that they had no idea what to expect, from their trip back to Kendall’s parents, and from Paul.
Kendall nervously switched from foot to foot as she waited for Hunter and Allison to prepare themselves. She was getting antsy, but she realized they needed to get themselves together. Plus, she reasoned, Paul obviously really wanted those vials. There’s no way he would hurt her parents until he thought they weren’t coming back with his…whatever they were.
Allison told Hunter she would take over packing them some clothes and essentials, knowing she could do it faster and make sure they had everything they could need in a pinch. She sent Hunter downstairs to pack some food and drinks and to grab every last water bottle they had.
They were able to get everything they thought they could need packed and the Jeep loaded down before they made their way back to Kendall’s parents.
They drove in silence, none of them really knew what to say or do. Once they were about five minutes away Allison finally piped up, “So we’re just going to give these back to him? How do we know they’re not…poisonous or something? What if he’s planning to hurt people?” She looked at Hunter from the passenger seat, then into the back at Kendall.
Kendall just stared back at her, “It doesn’t matter. We can’t let him hurt my parents… I should have never left.” A tear slid down her cheek that she quickly wiped away, and looked out the window.
Allison looked back to Hunter for support, “Honey, what are we going to do?”
“There’s nothing we can do. We’ll just get there, give him his book bag and leave. Kendall, you and your parents need to leave too.” Kendall merely nodded her head in response.
The car went silent once more as they pulled in to Kendall’s driveway. All three walked up the front steps, Kendall leading the way. She swung the door open and saw the living room that they had been in, not 2 hours prior, was in shambles.
As they took in the scene, Paul emerged from the kitchen and stood before them. They could hear muffles coming from elsewhere in the house.
“Okay. Hand it over.” Paul said, staring at Hunter with a hateful gaze.
“Let Kendall’s parents go first. Then you can have your bag.”
Paul laughed, “I’m not falling for that. Give me the damn bag and no one has to get hurt.” He snapped open a pocket knife that had been unseen in his hand.
Hunter held up the bag and shook it, letting the vials rattle together. Paul flinched.
“They’re all in here. Let them go, or I’m smashing whatever these are to the ground.”
The two girls gasped behind him. When Paul didn’t say anything, Hunter turned towards Kendall, “Go find your parents.” He instructed her.
Kendall looked from Hunter to Paul, tentatively taking a few steps out of the living room. When Paul made no move to stop her, she hurried off to find her parents.
Paul continued to stare stonily at Hunter. Kendall came back down with both of her parents in two. It was clear by the way they were rubbing their hands and mouths, they had been tied up and probably duct taped. What kind of crazy psycho was in my damn jeep?
Kendall and her parent’s rushed out the door without a second glance.
“Allison, go.” Hunter said, not looking away from Paul.
She hesitated, but Allison knew Hunter well and she could tell he had a plan; so she did as he said. Once everyone was safely outside, Hunter laid the book bag down softly beside of him. He took a step back, to show Paul that he wasn’t trying to play any games. As Hunter continued to step backwards, Paul began to slowly step forward. Hunter quickly turned his back towards Paul and made a dash out the front door. He ran as fast as he could towards his Jeep. Everyone, including Kendall’s parents, were seated inside his vehicle. Hunter jumped in the front seat, started the car and peeled out just as they all looked behind them to see Paul running out the front door, book bag in hand, yelling at them to “Stop!”
Everyone collectively looked to Hunter for an explanation.
“I may, or may not, have given him a book bag full of spices instead of the vials.” Hunter explained, unapologetically.
Everyone in the car spoke at once, collectively telling Hunter that he was insane.
“Enough.” Hunter said calmly, yet a hush fell over the car.
“Has no one else considered the possibility that maybe whatever this is started with Paul?” he looked in to his rearview mirror and locked eyes with each person before looking to Allison in the passenger seat. “There is no way that it is a coincidence that he just happened to survive the airport like we did, only to have a bag full of God-knows-what, then he gets pissed when we have it? Come on. That’s all too creepy to not be linked.” He stopped, allowing a moment for someone else to give their input.
Only Kendall spoke up, “So where are we going?”
Hunter purposefully looked at her this time, “You’re going to tell me how to get to your college. It sounds like whatever this is right up your alley, and surely one of your professors or someone can help us figure out what are in these vials before this spreads too far.”
Kendall shook her head, agreeing. Since they had gotten her parents away from Paul, she was getting some of her spunk back. She pulled out her cell phone and started texting. After a few moments of yet more silence in the car, there was a ping from her phone.
Kendall looked at the message and relayed it to Hunter, “My professor, Dr. Lattimore, is not at his office but he said he can be there in 20 minutes. He would be the most likely to offer us help. Partly because he is brilliant with all things bio-chemical, and largely because he is one of those people I was telling you about earlier who loves to talk about this stuff. We’re about 30 minutes away.” From there Kendall directed him towards her campus.
Kendall had him pull in to a parking space in front of a very prestigious looking brick building. Everyone got out of the car and shut the doors. Hunter made sure to grab the backpack, his gun and even his golf club before following Kendall’s confident walk in to the building. Once they were inside they walked up 2 flights of stairs and to a door almost at the end of the hall.
“Dr. Latt
imore, Head of Bio-Chemistry” the door read. Inside they could hear someone moving around and talking to themselves. Kendall knocked lightly 3 times before a strong male voice advised her to come in. His office was extremely large with bookcases covering both walls on either side of his desk. The large desk was sitting in front of a large window overlooking the side of campus they had not seen coming in.
Dr. Lattimore, greeted Kendall warmly with a firm handshake. Dr. Lattimore was an older gentleman, older than Kendall’s parents. However, he carried himself in a very confident manner, as most Doctors do. He was tall and still quite muscular, with stark white hair and a white beard. Dressed in khakis and a button down shirt, with glasses slipped into the shirt pocket; he introduced himself to everyone and Kendall introduced everyone back to him.
“So let’s get down to business, shall we? You seemed extremely worried and adamant in your text, but I’m not 100% sure what it is you are hoping I can assist you with?” He spoke very eloquently, articulating every word. His level of education was obvious, and Hunter began to relax, hoping they had come to the right place. Hunter slipped the book bag off of his shoulder and carefully placed it on his desk.
Dr. Lattimore raised his eyebrow at Hunter, clearly he wasn’t used to seeing potentially harmful chemicals stored in a backpack. Hunter unzipped the bag and slowly spilled the vials on to the doctor’s desk. Dr. Lattimore immediately straightened, taking his glasses out of his pocket and slipping them on. He went around his desk to have a seat, before reaching in to one of his desk drawers. He slipped on a pair of white latex gloves and one by one examined the labels on each individual vial.
The waiting was killing Hunter, but he didn’t make a sound as he let the doctor examine the objects. He finished with the last vial and looked up towards Kendall, “I’ve never seen anything with these sorts of labels before.” Kendall agreed, stating that she had thought the same thing. They spoke for a moment about different ways of examining them, before decided that the lab in the basement was probably the most secure place, since they were unsure of what they were dealing with.