by Mason King
“Well?” Frank asked when Hunter offered no explanation.
“They seemed to believe me, somewhat. But I can’t be sure. We can’t let them know we’re here. I tried to stay on the phone less than thirty seconds, which I barely did, so hopefully they weren’t able to track our location. The biggest thing we need to do now is have any supplies we could need ready, and be prepared to hole in here for however long it takes until we can help Allison and get the hell out of dodge.”
At this moment, Hunters phone rang. He jumped at the sound, worried it was the FBI calling him back. It was Kendall, he quickly pressed Answer and was greeted by Kendall telling him he needed to get down to the basement, now.
Hunter needed no other indication, he ran out of the room without even explaining to Kendall’s parents where he was going. Once he was down in the basement he looked through the window to see the sad eyes of Kendall herself. She quickly moved out of the way, and far into the back of his limited field of vision, was Allison still safely in her contamination free room.
Only this time, she was not the devastated, crying Allison he had seen before he left the room. This Allison was banging on the glass and causing her fingernails to bleed trying to claw through the glass. Hunter noticed that his fiancés’ normally chocolate brown eyes were predominantly white. This Allison was not his Allison, and this Allison was pissed.
*****
Volume Two
Hunter’s heart shattered as the realization of what was happening hit him. Allison continued to scratch on the glass. As she got more and more frustrated the scratches turned in to bangs, and while he couldn’t hear her, he could see that she was screaming into the glass at Kendall and Dr. Lattimore.
Dr. Lattimore was continuing to busy himself looking in to various microscopes and writing in his notepad. When his eyes scanned to Kendall he saw that she was watching him with a look of pure sympathy and heartbreak of her own. That is what finally did Hunter in; he crumpled to the floor and put his head in his hands, letting the comprehension roll over him in devastating waves. Kendall’s mother bent down and put her arm around him, somehow enveloping the grown man like only mothers can do.
She let him weep until his shoulders stopped shaking. Hunter scooted himself back against the nearest wall and laid his head back against it. He heard Frank and Diana talking but the words meant nothing to him.
“Poor girl…” Diana was saying, her voice in a low whisper.
Frank pulled her towards him to offer some comfort. “Everything is going to be okay. They’re working really hard. Dr. Lattimore has barely looked up from the microscopes except to write. And we’ve been fortunate so far. We haven’t seen any of those…” He paused as he contemplated admitting the truth to what was happening, “Zombies.” He finished simply, the disbelief in his voice mingled with a sense of fear that meant regardless of what he believed, he was terrified of what was happening.
Hunter remained seated with his head against the wall for some time. Eventually Frank and Diana left, he wasn’t sure why and he didn’t care. All he could do was sit and think about what he could have done differently to prevent this entire situation. He also couldn’t bring himself to stand up and watch what was happening to his beautiful fiancé’.
They had only been engaged for a few months, they hadn’t even picked a wedding date yet. Would they even get to now? Deep down he realized that there were more important hurdles to jump at this moment then a wedding date, but that was the focus his mind chose to dwell on as he continued to drown in a sense of hopelessness and regret.
***
“Doctor, take a look at this. What do you make of it?”
Kendall had been watching Allison closely for several minutes. The only real change they had noted so far was that her irises and pupils were slowly but surely turning white, and her demeanor, which had changed from sadness to anger. Whatever she had been exposed to was obviously affecting her brain. For now, there was nothing they could do about that. However, Kendall noted, Allison had started pacing and, while her body still radiated anger, she was looking around the room.
Dr. Lattimore came over and began to watch Allison with Kendall. “That’s odd. Her fingers are starting to twitch, as well.”
Allison was completely oblivious to the fact that they were studying her. She walked over to the door and began running her hands up and down the slit of where it would open. From there, her fingers wandered over the glass and to the device that requires the badge to be opened. “Interesting…”
Dr. Lattimore spoke once more, furrowing his eyebrows, before he wrote down some additional notes. He spoke as he continued to write, “She’s trying to logically find a way out. It’s been closing in on 4 hours since initial exposure and the first stage was simply her human emotions realizing what had happened, resulting in sadness. Then she became angry, and now it’s as though the logical side of her brain is back in control and is searching for an escape. The question is, what is the motivation for that escape? To be out, or to get to us?”
Kendall had yet to move her eyes away from Allison, she couldn’t shake the feeling that Allison was working up to something.
Eventually, Dr. Lattimore calling Kendall for assistance required her to tear her eyes away from the wandering woman.
***
A sudden noise to Hunter’s left finally called his attention away from his own thoughts. After several moments the same noise was made again and Hunter begrudgingly stood up from his position. His knees ached from having sat without movement for so long. Hunter couldn’t bring himself to look in the window before heading to find the source of the commotion. He reasoned that he wouldn’t be gone long, and he wanted to dwell on some positive attributes of Allison for just a little while longer before he knew he had to start preparing for the worst; if for no reason other than to not get his hopes up.
Hunter walked up the stairs to the first floor to find Diana clutching Hunter’s golf club for dear life looking at her husband. Frank was standing at the door, his gaze intent on something unseen to Hunter. Hunter instinctively checked the waistband of his pants to ensure his gun was still safely in place.
He walked with a purpose towards Frank to see what was happening outside. Frank sensed his presence without so much as glancing his way. “They’re out there.” The man that Hunter originally looked at as older and maybe even fragile, was standing completely calm and solid. There was not an ounce of insecurity or fear about him, and Hunter couldn’t help but look at Frank differently.
This family was continuing to surprise him. The two men exchanged a look, before Frank was the first to speak.
“There are four on the other side of your jeep. Two are wandering around about 50 yards out, and there’s one more that has disappeared from my line of sight. And those are just the one’s I have seen. There is no telling how many more may be out there at this moment. I walked around earlier but I saw that you had secured everything tight. Good man.”
Frank gave Hunter a look of esteem as he asked the man what he thought their next move should be. At this point, Diana made her way to them as well. She had lowered the golf club, albeit slightly, and was looking towards Hunter as well.
Hunters’ mind started toying with what the most logical next step needed to be. After several beats he looked to Diana first, “Go grab Allison’s bag, her gun is in there. We’re going to need it.”
He turned to Frank. “You know what we need to do.”
Frank shook his head in acknowledgment but Diana, who had been waiting to hear the rest of the plan before heading to do her part looked at Hunter with a questioning look.
Hunter turned his attention to her and explained, “Diana. Frank and I are going to have to go out there. We have minimal supplies, two guns, a golf club and a bunch of water. We need to go and get some additional weapons and hopefully some food. My vehicle is more than capable of making it through any Dead that may get in our way, but we have to get ourselves into a better place. We’re good for now, yes,
but if this place gets surrounded we need to be prepared to hunker down for a longer period of time than we are prepared for at the moment.”
He finished and waited for Diana to respond. It took her several seconds, but it was clear that she understood why they were going to have to make the trip. Diana turned towards Frank and hugged him tightly. Hunter turned around to give them a moment and headed back downstairs to tell Kendall and Dr. Lattimore the plan.
Once downstairs, through the window his eyes hit Allison first. It took him a moment, but when he found her she was on her hands and knees under one of the tables. Hunter scanned the room looking for Kendall. Kendall came to the window and, through the glass. Hunter relayed to her what he and her parents had decided upstairs. It was clear she was not happy about them leaving the building, but she acquiesced.
“Is there anything you guys need?” Hunter inquired.
Kendall thought for a beat before asking the Doctor if there was anything he thought they may want.
They both agreed that pretty much anything they required was located within the building, although the doctor did ask if they could get him some Dr. Pepper…or, really, any soda was fine. Kendall smiled at Hunter through the glass as she communicated the message. Hunter merely returned her smile with a nod, took note of a few things she asked him to grab, and headed back upstairs.
Within 20 minutes Hunter and Frank felt like they were ready to leave the sanctuary of the building for the outside. The tension began to mount as both men realized that no matter what they had respectively experienced in their lives, it was nothing compared to what they could encounter once they opened that door.
Diana gave her husband one last kiss, and gave Hunter a tight hug before the woman asked them to be careful, then took a large step back.
Upon opening the door, the lack of noise was the first thing that caught Hunter’s attention. It was unexpected and put his nerves on edge. For how many people Frank had initially noted he’d seen, Hunter assumed they would hear some…moaning? Shuffling? Hunter was truly starting to realize that everything he may have thought he knew about Zombies, his mind was still struggling with using that term in real life, was about to be completely reset. So far, it was nothing like what the movies led you to believe.
“Use as few bullets as possible.” Frank whispered so softly Hunter almost couldn’t make out the meaning of the words. The two men made their way to either side of the Jeep and Hunter slid his key into the driver side door as silently as he could manage. He didn’t want to use the clicker for fear of drawing attention, as so far none of the Dead had paid them any mind.
“Hunter, down!” Frank suddenly yelled, and instinctively Hunter dropped to squatting position while rotating his body so that his back was to his jeep.
At that precise moment he heard the shot fire from Frank’s direction. Hunter had turned just in time to see the bullet hit the Thing dead center in the forehead. Its’ head snapped back in a sickening manner before it crumpled to the floor without another movement. The men jumped in to the Jeep and Hunter started the car.
Thank god he’d let Frank use his gun for back up. Hunter had switched Diana his golf club for Allison’s gun so that there was a firearm at their disposal. Within seconds, every other Dead within the vicinity turned towards the vehicle and was running full speed straight at them. Hunter backed up and turned the vehicle towards the parking lot.
Three of them were already at the front of the car as Hunter started driving and he ran over them effortlessly. The sound of bone crunching underneath Hunter’s mud tires was enough to make his stomach roll. This was NOT what he’d had in mind when he put mud tires on his vehicle.
Hunter whipped his car out of that parking lot as fast as he could manage, deciding to avoid any more Dead they came across. He knew his Jeep could handle a lot, but he didn’t want to risk any unnecessary wear and tear so quickly under these circumstances. He pulled his way out on to Gayley Avenue to head north towards the 405. Hunter didn’t want to be out too long, but he had several stops in mind. Plus, he was extremely curious to see what the situation was like outside of the bubble they’d created at the university.
Once they were on the highway it was clear that the situation had declined immensely throughout the day. The sun would be setting soon; it was crazy to think that just this morning Hunter had been on a plane worried about his job. That all seemed so trivial now. Frank broke the silence Hunter hadn’t realized they’d been in by turning on the radio.
This time, it was everywhere. Some were calling them Zombies, other’s claimed they were “sick”, and a few stations hadn’t figured out what to call them yet. A mass evacuation was occurring throughout Los Angeles and it had been starting to spread outward for the last several hours, or so they were gathering from flipping through several different stations.
Another huge difference between now and earlier in the day, were the cars on the road. There were still no abandoned cars, why was Hunter so set on there being abandoned cars? But any cars that were on the road were going a hell of a lot faster than Hunter was. Twice, Hunter was nearly rear ended by people that were obviously in a hurry to be a part of the evacuation process.
Several miles ahead, Hunter could see why: traffic was backed up. If you didn’t know any better, you would think that it was just normal LA traffic, but there had already been signs put up directing people how to get to the evacuation sites. Hunter and Frank were hyper-aware, but they had not seen any Dead since they had left the university. The traffic was at a complete stop 20 minutes before it started to inch forward ever so slightly. Hunter prayed that it would let up enough, they were mercifully only 2 exits away from Hunter’s first destination in mind.
Frank and Hunter started noticing some things that did indicate they weren’t the only ones who had run into some of the Dead on their way. There was a Toyota Camry directly in front of them with blood smeared on the back bumper. The Honda Pilot to their left had glass broken out of several of the windows, and a man with a bat sat firmly in the passenger seat, seemingly ready to fight off an attack. Other cars had windshields broken, one even had a door completely taken off.
After the longest 30 minutes of traffic Hunter had ever endured, they were able to pull off the exit. He and Frank had gone back and forth on where to go first, but Hunter won out in wanting to visit his go-to pawn shop to see what they could do by way of weaponry. He figured, and Frank ended up agreeing, that unless they could handle themselves against these Things, nothing else ultimately mattered.
Frank and Hunter did their best to engage in some small talk until they pulled into Hunter’s friends’ pawn shop, but it was forced and they were both relieved when they pulled in to the parking lot. Hunter explained to Frank that the Pawn Shop belonged to an old friend of Hunters’ that he’d known from his younger days living in North Carolina. They’d both moved to California for different reasons but had stayed in touch. Anytime Hunter needed any target practice, bullets or weaponry advice, he always came here.
The sign read “Al’s Pawn” and it looked like his friend had closed up shop. The smart man that Hunter’s friend Jake was had boarded up his windows. Paranoia was one of Jakes best, and worst, traits. Hunter made his way to the back and knocked on the wooden old-school cellar style door 4 sharp times.
“Who’s err’?” Jake called right after Hunter finished knocking.
“Jake, it’s Hunt. Open up.”
There were several varying noises emerging from the other side of the door before it finally opened up to reveal Hunter’s longtime good friend, in a complete disarray.
“Quick! Quick!” and with that, Hunter and Frank hurried down in to the unknown back entrance of Jake’s pawn shop.
“The hell you two think yer doin!” the man squawked at them as he made sure to lock all 6 varying locks located on the inside of the door.
“Comin’ up in here when I don’t know y’all are comin. You coulda been Dead uns’ for all I knew!”
&nbs
p; “How many Dead uns’ know your signature knock, Jake?” Hunter answered dryly, friendly mimicking his friends’ vernacular.
“Well. Still. You coulda called!”
“We were kind of in a hurry. Jake this is Frank. Frank, Jake” Hunter quickly introduced the men as they shook hands.
“Well I know why y’all are here so let’s get to it.” Jake had an unmistakable southern twang to him. Hunter considered himself a country boy, but his speech didn’t evoke that about him as Jake’s did.
Jake turned without another word and led the men up the stairs to the main floor of his pawn shop.
“I already got pretty much er’thing I need down in my bunker, so y’all feel free to grab a good bit of whatcha need, within reason.” Jake encouraged.
Hunter and Frank took a little while looking through the handguns and quickly picked several out. Frank made sure to ask Jake which ones were good for small hands. Jake made his suggestion, and Frank grabbed two; one for Diana and one for Kendall. Once they had their handguns, they each picked out a rifle and grabbed a few long guns to spare. After getting as many bullets and a few knives to go with their guns as Jake would allow, Jake had them follow him back downstairs. This time, he led them in a different direction.
Jake showed them his bunker, handed them a duffle to store all of their gear as well as a few holsters, some ready to eat meals, and a few camping supplies he felt he could spare. An old CB radio hummed quietly in the background, continuing to provide information on what was going on outside. The military branches had banded together and were head starting the evacuation process.
There was a mall not far from them that was apparently originally intended to be the Evac site, but it had gotten overrun and was the site of the most deaths so far. The death toll was, according to the person talking, less than 50. Hunter scoffed at that number and walked towards the radio to listen more closely. It made sense to him once the person commented that that number was only based off of the Dead that had been killed. Since any person that dies turns in to one of them, they don’t have an accurate toll of how many have been lost.