by Stevie Kopas
“Oh you didn’t think I was gonna sit back here and play house with blondie over there did you?”
“Man, we can’t leave her here by herself.”
“No, you can’t, so nobody is going to go anywhere. Give that man some of your stupid bullets for your stupid guns and send him packing!”
“No, I’m going. That’s the bottom line. Clyde, you’re staying with Juliette. End of story.”
Andrew noticed Ben standing in the doorway and nodded a greeting. Ben stared directly at Juliette, it made her a little nervous and she walked over to Andrew. “Excuse me if I’m a little too forward, I don’t know any of you at all, but ya’ll like to argue pretty loudly and it’s not hard to hear what you’re discussing.”
Andrew started to apologize but Ben waved him off. “I understand, Juliette, that you have some sort of problem with all of this, but I just think you should keep in mind that one day you might not have a choice in leaving Clyde’s apartment. And if it just so happens that you don’t, then you never will, and that will be because you have died here. And that’s the harsh truth for all three of you. I didn’t want to think about it when we were all holed up in my place, but sooner or later we were going to run out of food, or run into those things, or hell, even better yet, get attacked by some thievin’ pieces of trash who end up killin’ everyone in my group. But it’s not the type of world where we get to sit around and wait for the sun to come out. Help ain’t comin’ and you gotta do things a little bit differently.”
Clyde clapped his hands together, breaking the tension. “See? I like him. Tellin’ it like it is. None of this pussy footin’ around waiting for all that mess out there to blow over.”
“I like the idea of having somebody tag along that knows how to handle himself and a weapon. Two of you? Well that’s even better. And no offense, I don’t so much like the idea of having you out there with us, but it’s a bad idea for you to stay here alone and rot. Do you think that sounds like a good plan? To sit here and rot if they can’t or don’t somehow make it back?”
Andrew opened his mouth to say something but decided against it, he liked where Ben was going with this. Juliette looked sheepishly at the floor, avoiding eye contact with Ben. “I’m gonna just let you go ahead and think about all that. What are ya’ll using for a bathroom?”
“The shop downstairs. It’s nasty as hell too, just a warning.” Clyde scrunched his nose up at the thought of the smell.
“Don’t worry, I think I can handle it.” Ben shared a laugh with himself. They at least had a bathroom in common. Between Pisano’s, the shoe store under Clyde’s apartment and who knows what other shops in the area, the dead wouldn’t be the only overwhelming scent in the city after a while. He opened the shop’s door and pulled his shirt up over his nose. The familiar smell of urine and feces greeted him and he did his business as fast as he could.
He returned upstairs and nobody was talking, everyone seemed to be pretty deep in thought and keeping to themselves. Andrew packed a huge duffle bag full of weapons and ammunition while Clyde cooked some sort of stew on a camping stove. “Yeah, it’s not the best idea to use one of these things inside, but it’s all we got” he’d said when Ben questioned him on the safety of it. Juliette did yoga or some kind of exercise Ben wasn’t sure of and he decided he would go back into the bedroom and stay out of everybody’s way.
Andrew followed him into the bedroom and shut the door. “Listen, I normally wouldn’t be okay with some crazy white boy comin’ in here and talkin’ to my girl like that, but what you said, it was true. And I think she needed to hear it. She’s not that bad. She’s got some problems.” Andrew seemed hesitant to continue. Ben held out his pack of smokes and Andrew shook his head no. “She was on some medication, ya know, those types of problems.”
Ben raised his eye brows as he lit a cigarette, “Well, sounds to me like she should probably still be on medication.”
“She ran out of her house so fast that she didn’t bring a single thing with her. It’s taking its toll on her too, she hasn’t been herself since all this happened.”
“Yeah, it happens.” He blew a puff of smoke up toward the ceiling. “So what then? Do we need to stop into a pharmacy on the way and steal a bunch of pills? I really don’t care, I just want to get out of the city as planned.”
“Thank you. Yes. We need to try and find her some medication.”
“Alright. Sounds like we’re gettin’ somewhere. When’s dinner?”
“He’s finishing it up now.”
Clyde served everyone his very bland, very simple stew, but Ben thought it was way better than canned meats and stale bread. Plus he hadn’t eaten hot food since the power went out. It was dark outside so no one was able to see the clouds, but unfortunately for them they would not be leaving in the morning. The sky opened up at around 10:30 that night. A downpour of rain and a sky full of lightning lasted through the night and by morning it hadn’t let up one bit.
“No way we’re leavin’ in this.” Clyde was making breakfast by the window in the kitchen.
“Let’s just wait it out, we’re prepared to go anyway. As soon as it lets up, we’ll head out.” Andrew looked at Ben who was at the window with his brother. The guy was itching to go and Mother Nature decided she had other plans for them.
Ben watched the wind violently whip the rain around, sending it splattering into the window in a rhythmic spray. Trash flew around in the streets and he found himself staring at the bodies lying motionless, rain washing away all the blood and gore, making them appear simply as sleeping people, not as the undead monsters he put down the day before.
He repeated Andrew’s words to himself. “As soon as it lets up, we’ll head out.”
IV
The entire day was wasted as the rain persisted. The winds howled and thunder boomed in the sky. Ben was getting antsy and feeling trapped. Juliette took every opportunity to start a fight with Andrew or find something to yell at Clyde about. He didn’t know if he could take one more day of it. As he went to bed that night on the floor of the living room, Clyde on the couch and the others in the bedroom, he couldn’t help but hope that Veronica had found somewhere safe to wait out the rain. The first bit of weather hadn’t lasted long, but this second storm felt like forever. The only thing the rain was good for that night was helping him drift off into a sound sleep.
Ben opened his eyes the next morning and heard nothing but the sound of Clyde snoring loudly. He jumped up and ran to the window. The streets were still wet but there was no rain and the sky was a beautiful blue with not a cloud to be seen. The early morning sun was still rising and he thought he’d never seen something so beautiful in such an ugly place. He walked over to the couch and gave Clyde a shove. “Rise and shine sleepin’ beauty, we’re already burnin’ daylight.” Clyde yawned and waved a hand at him. Ben knocked loudly on the bedroom door. Andrew almost fell out of the bed trying to get up from the tangled purple sheets around his legs.
“What’s the matter? Everything cool?” He swung the door open and was greeted by Ben’s smiling face.
“Everything couldn’t be cooler. Round up your lady friend, it’s time to go.”
Clyde had a hard time deciding between what needed to be taken with him and what he didn’t want to leave behind. He gave Ben one of his tacky bed sheets at his request, an odd one, but he didn’t have any use for it. Juliette nervously packed her things. Andrew had let her know they were making a pit stop at the pharmacy and that she’d be back to feeling like her old self again in no time. She still hadn’t spoken directly to Ben since he’d arrived. Ben had made a lot of sense, and she knew she couldn’t help the way she was behaving, but he’d made her feel like a complete selfish waste of space. Maybe I am, maybe we’re all just kidding ourselves, it doesn’t matter where we go, we’re all rotting, we’re all just waiting to die. Her toxic thoughts raced around inside her head as she finished getting dressed.
Everyone had an enormous bag stuffed to the brim with
supplies, food or guns except for Juliette who wore a simple small backpack with just a few of the things she wanted to bring.
They trudged down the stairs, Clyde bid his apartment farewell and closed the door. He almost thought about locking it but figured if anybody ever needed a place to stay, his door was always open. They cautiously stepped out onto the street. It was one of the quietest days in the city any of them could remember. Distant random sounds could be heard but they were too far off to be concerning. Ben unfolded the bright purple sheet he’d been carrying and shook it out. He walked over to the decaying bodies of his friends and delicately draped it over them. The king sized sheet was perfect for the three and he silently said his goodbyes, making a promise to Isaac that he would find his sister for him. He knew that’s what he would have wanted to hear. Clyde was slightly moved by the scene and wiped a single tear from his eye before anyone could notice. Andrew bowed his head in a silent prayer for the dead and Juliette piped up, ruining the moment. “Alright, any day now. I thought we were in a rush to tie up your loose ends or whatever. I’m not very excited about standing out in the open like this.”
Ben spit on the corpses of the street creeps who’d attacked them and never gave them another thought. He began walking without another word. He tried to give Juliette the benefit of the doubt but still disliked her immensely. He wondered how long she would make it out here before someone else would have to start carrying her weight. At least that someone else would be Andrew. He didn’t have time for coddled, spoiled women. Especially not coddled, spoiled women on meds. “So where to big guy?” He looked to Andrew.
Andrew thought for a moment before responding. “There’s a CVS not too far from here. It won’t back track us much from the highway. I don’t even think it’ll take us a mile out of the way.”
“Wouldn’t it be better to just get the hell out of here? Franklin’s got pharmacies. All sorts of rich people like takin’ pills.” Clyde chewed his finger nails, spitting them out as he talked.
“Well, the only thing about that is Franklin’s only got one pharmacy. What if we get there and it doesn’t have anything that we need? At least this way we hit up two of them and increase our odds of getting what we need.”
Ben nodded. “That’s a good point. Let’s hope one or both have something useful or else we’re just wasting time.”
They followed Andrew closely, weapons always ready, but guns holstered. Using the guns on the street like that yesterday was one thing; the eaters were already riled up and out in the open. This morning the streets were clear and there was no use in sending the masses their way over one or two of them. Most of the street level windows in every building they passed were smashed to bits. Where there wasn’t glass littering the streets, there were bloodstains, garbage and pieces of what were once people laying around. With each turn they took back east, it seemed as though the gore on the streets was worse, the destruction of the city showed more and the smell of the dead grew stronger.
“I can’t believe we’re headed back here. You could have just gone and then come back for me on your way out.” Juliette mumbled to Andrew as she walked.
“Ssh. There’s no time for this right now.” Ben quickly shut her up as they continued down the street and made a right, coming to an abrupt stop. Andrew’s hand shot up and he brought the golf club in the other hand up slowly, motioning for Ben to follow his lead. Clyde stayed with Juliette, hand over her mouth, keeping her quiet once she noticed why they had stopped. One eater was shuffling around by itself. It wore a long blue bathrobe and curlers in its hair. Its exposed body was gray and full of black, festering wounds. Almost her entire right breast had been ripped off and Ben couldn’t stand to look at her half eaten face. The two moved very slowly around so that they could both take a swing if the other missed. A piece of glass crunched under Andrew’s boot and the eater swung around in his directions. A low, almost lazy growl escaped its lips as she began shuffling toward him. With a loud crack, it dropped to its knees and onto its face. Ben wiped the bat off on her already stained blue robe and nodded to Clyde.
“See? They got everything under control.” Juliette was shaking, but quiet. Clyde took his hand away and pushed her forward to catch up with the others. A few feet ahead, Ben heard the familiar hiss of an eater and readied his bat. When he finally saw where it was, he noticed it was in a red pickup truck with busted out windows. The thing still had its seatbelt on. He couldn’t imagine that being a justified demise for anyone and put it out of its misery. They continued, even more cautiously than before, up the block and stopped before making their final left onto the street where CVS was.
“Ok, the drug store is right up there, gonna be on our left.” He spoke directly to Ben. “I don’t know how well you know the city, but if we cross the street and go one more street up when we’re done-“
“That’s the road that leads to the highway. Yeah, I got ya. Straight shot back west and we’re golden. None of this creepin’ around corners shit.”
“Alright, Clyde you good?”
“I’m just fine.” He was sarcastic in his response, still chewing his nails.
Juliette seemed like she was far off, somewhere else inside her head. Andrew touched her face, “You good baby girl?” She nodded although she never looked at him, she stared off into nothing behind him. Ben couldn’t help but hope she would go catatonic.
They turned the corner one by one and made it to the front of the CVS. “Shit! Just great. Only fucking place in the city with the gate down.” Andrew exhaled and shook his head.
“Maybe there’s a back entrance?” Ben looked around, making sure they didn’t miss an alley entrance.
“Nope, but everybody relax.” Before anyone could react Clyde had already pulled his .45 out and shot off the lock. The shot rang in everyone’s ears and Andrew almost punched his brother in the face. There was no time for freaking out though, everyone was too concerned with getting the gate up and getting inside. The door was also locked but Ben handled that one with the bat. A ferocious scream was heard not too far away and everyone rushed inside. Clyde pulled the gate down and shut the door just in time to see two eaters tearing down the street in their direction. “Are you stupid?! How stupid are you?!” Andrew had his brother by the shirt and was hollering at him in a whisper.
“Guys, stop, it’s over and done with. Please, let’s just get this over with and take care of those two things we got out there now.” Ben peered over a make-up advertisement in the window. It hid his body so he wasn’t worried about being spotted. The two eaters just stood there, looking around, not knowing where their prey had gone. Three more suddenly appeared. He shook his head but figured they were safe for the moment and took this opportunity with a fully stocked store that hadn’t been looted for some wonderful reason. Maybe it was because this really was one of the only places he’d seen so far in the city that the owner had enough sense to pull down the gate before they left. He knew that even at Lucy’s pharmacy they all just ran out like scared animals. They lucked out with this in a huge way. There was a ton of food and beverage options and first aid supplies, it was like an oasis.
He met the others in the back. “We’ve gotta find keys. I’ll go check the office, they locked the pharmacy up just as good as the rest of the place. But I know the office door won’t have as good a lock on it.” Andrew disappeared between the shelves and the rest just stood there, taking the store in. There were rectangular windows near the ceiling in the corners of the room that allowed natural light in and also allowed them to appreciate the luck they’d run into. As long as the eaters didn’t know they were in there, they could take some extra time to evaluate the situation outside, examine their supplies and replenish with better things and Juliette could rummage through the pharmacy all she wanted. Andrew returned a few moments later jingling keys in his happy hands. He tossed them to Juliette who went to work opening the pharmacy’s door and Clyde grinned at him.
“See? Shootin’ that lock off wasn�
��t such a stupid move after all.”
“No, you still did something stupid, but either way, I guess a thank you is in order.” They embraced each other, almost sharing a brief unspoken apology.
“What do you think Ben?”
“I hate to say it, but I think we need to wait out those things and Juliette might need to chill out for a few. Let’s stick around here for the time being and head out again when it’s safe. If we’re smart about it, we make it to Franklin by what, tomorrow night?”
“You got it man.”
“And CVS got wine. Don’t mind if I do.” Clyde hurried off to the non-working refrigerators on the other side of the store and helped himself to an unopened bottle of Pinot Noir. He came back with a warm six pack of his brother’s favorite beer, Yuengling. Warm beer never tasted so good.
V
The three men enjoyed their warm wine and beer, no matter how much better they might have had it in the past, it was the finest tasting alcohol on the planet at that very moment. Juliette popped a few Xanax and stocked up her backpack with the antipsychotics she had been previously prescribed for her mild schizophrenia. The disease ran in her family and although she was only 23, if it was left untreated it would definitely take its toll on her. Andrew met Juliette a year ago when her mother had a nervous breakdown and needed to be Baker Acted. It was by no means a romantic situation but Juliette followed his police cruiser to the mental health center and proceeded to have a sort of nervous breakdown herself. Andrew and Clyde had a very mentally ill mother themselves, so Andrew knew how to handle that sort of thing. He didn’t want Juliette to end up in the loony bin like her mother so he convinced her to calm down and have a coffee with him. They’d been together ever since. Sure, it was an exhausting relationship but Andrew was the type of helpful caring person that only came around once in a lifetime for girls like Juliette. He found no reason in not fighting to keep something you loved especially when that person wasn’t always responsible for how they treated you.