She slowed to go around a Prius, parallel parked in the middle of the highway. Misjudging her angle, the bike wobbled and fell from under her. Landing on her right foot, she stutter-stepped three skips backwards and fell back into the adjacent van behind her.
She turned around eyeing the butt shaped dent she had made in the paper thin fender. Mom would’ve beaten my ass if she…Catching her breath, she cursed the machine with two middle fingers flinging up at it. She cradled her face, putting her fingers through her hair and pulled at it roughly. This girl was starting to hate motorcycles.
“Really, Parker! Stupid chick! You are gonna end up getting yourself killed before you can reach her!” She took a harsh breath in, tears brimming. “Calm . . . down.”” She felt her lips sharpen as she said it. It reminded of her mother anytime she was pissed off with her.
She was way beyond speeding at this point; she had to get to her twin and the faster the better. The interstate was blocked with the abandoned vehicles of those who tried to escape the infection. The sickness had trampled them all, like a fallen waif at a heavy metal concert. No one escaped, she moaned. For all of their panic and racing away from whatever this was, no one escaped.
Their rotting and cursed corpses littered the pavement in spurts. She tried to keep looking straight. Pale and lifeless forms still seemed to creep up from around her in her peripheral. She slowed her pace on her bike in order to swerve to miss the remains of a state trooper, still in uniform.
She could never realize how small her world was just then, in that very moment. Six months back she partook in the unfortunate experience of being cited for a DUI by the same said officer. She couldn’t have recognized him anyway. His face was swollen and split, like overcooked microwave oatmeal. He had been transformed into nothing more than a speed bump in her way. Well, they all were.
She kept playing Phoenix's last message repeatedly locking it into her memory. First floor, right hallway, 8th door on the left, next to consultation desk, bang on door so I can hear u, battery dying. Hurry!
Her eyes widened, noticing a clear path through the cars. Quickening her pace once again, she flew toward her exit to the asylum.
***
The broken glass from the main windows was everywhere. The dimming rays of sunlight barely highlighted their maze of sharp edges. The main power line for the asylum was trapped in a bear hug with the towns’ only ambulance. The windshield looked as if it was curled back like when you pull the lid off a can of sardines. The glass was spider webbed throughout and blood congealed into its cracks. The driver was nowhere to be found.
There’s no way he could have survived that crash. The force alone would have sent him through the windshield. The walkers were impatient and did not want to wait for their meal to come crawling out, but instead peeled him from the vehicle.
Shredded pieces of what was left of the poor man’s uniform were scattered about the ground. Small grunts of discomfort were coming from the bushes to the right of the main doors. Best to make my entrance quick Parker thought as she rushed the steps and into the massive hole in the solid oak door. She stumbled with her first step but quickly righted herself. Letting her eyes adjust to the flickering of the overhead lights, she reached for the gun that was tucked into the back of her jeans. With the sound of the clip sliding into position and the click of the safety going off Parker released the breathe she was holding and proceeded down the right hall following her sisters directions.
First floor
Right hallway
8th door on the left
Next to consultation desk
BANG on door so I can hear u
BATTERY DYING
HURRY!
The gurney, with what she presumed was the ‘Ralph’ that Phoenix was talking about; left in the middle of the hallway prevented her from going any further without having to move it out of her way. Gun aimed at the bloodied lump in the center of the gurney, Parker brought her left hand to the back handle by the headrest and began to push the gurney down the hall towards the eighth door. Zombie meals on wheels, who would have thought it? God this is sick, she thought. The lump never moved so it was safe to say that ‘Ralph’ would not be joining the walkers anytime at all.
***
Phoenix
Get your shit together woman. Parker’s coming to get you out of this bloody mess. Stop shaking. Hold on just a little while longer, she will be here. She gave you her word. She’ll get here. She’ll get here.
Stop shaking Phoenix.
Stop shaking Phoenix.
BANG…
BANG…
BANG…
“PHEE, OPEN THE FUCKING DOOR NOW!” Parker screamed at the top of her lungs hoping her sister could hear her through the thick padded walls, which were meant to keep sounds out. More like the screams of those locked inside. The door widened open so quickly the air popped. An arm snatched outward and wildly and grabbed Parker by the chest of her shirt and ripped her wildly through the doorway.
A quick slap to her mouth pulled her face down and brought her to eye level with her violent aggressor. Her sight snapped into focus and even cut off her scream in mid-breath as she recognized the eyes she was looking into were her own. A twin set.
“Oh! Phee!” she grabbed her and pulled into bear hug. She pushed her off and scanned her from head to toe.
“Are you okay? Are you hurt anywhere? Scratched? Bit?”
Phoenix shook her head. “I’m fine. Just scared out of my mind. I can’t stop shivering. I am so glad to see you!” She threw her arms around her sisters next and held her until they both had to break the embrace for lack of air.
“Ok sis. We can talk later. First, I gotta get you outta here?”
On that note, a thousand questions started asking themselves inside Phoenix’s head all at once. She wanted . . . needed to know, what the fuck what going on. Was her mom and dad ok? Was this happening everywhere? Questions spurned even more maddening questions. The what-if’s piled up dizzyingly and it made her head hurt.
“Ok Parker. Let’s just get out of this place now. I can’t stand this anymore!”
“Shhh, shhh, shhh. It’s going to be fine. We are going to be fine.”
Parker looked back over her shoulder at the door. Was that . . . did she hear footsteps? Impossible. There was no one in the corridors when she got to this room. Nobody could have gotten up there that fast. She grabbed her sister’s hand and peered out in to the hall.
The lights in the building flashed off and on, like the electricity could not decide whether on was in fashion today or not. The grids are unreliable. There is no telling what damage was done where. There could have been any number of accidents, knocking down power lines, hitting base stations. Moreover, she seriously doubted if there were anyone left in any crews trying to put the damages right again.
The halls were clear of anyone or anything moving. Gurneys lay helter-skelter laying atop folders with a starburst of papers scattered in and around them. The power kicking on and off would make the central air stutter to life as well, pushing papers around the floor in mini tornados that lasted only a few moments before they rested again. Their courage bolstered by its emptiness, they stepped out into the hall.
A low guttural growl rose to their ears vibrated from the ground. Farther down the hallway, a figure sitting on the floor against one of the walls pitched forward. It caught itself on its hands and very slowly pushed itself up onto its feet.
“Oh no.” Phoenix sharply whispered.
It moved in slow motion, but its gait was sure and deliberate. It started walking toward the girls, moaning hungrily with every step.
Parker leaned in to whisper into Phoenix’s ear. “Look, they are slow and stupid. Well, most of them. Just follow close behind me and don’t let him touch you.” She stood up and reached for a nearby gurney. The zombie beheld his next meal popping out from its hiding place. Invigorated, it doubled it pace.
Parker attempted to push the gurney, but the wheel
s did not spin, only scraping across the floor. She looked down at kicked at the wheel stops, failing miserably to find them in the poor light. The monster cleared half of the hall, and Parker spun swiftly into panic-kicking at the brakes. Two brakes finally released, she spun around the bed with only enough time to release the third before it was upon her. She spun the gurney around making a wall between the two. Her hands grasped at the restraining side bar and she braced for the impact.
The zombie slammed into it hard nearly knocking Parker over and it on top of her. She slid the bed side to side, fighting desperately to keep it between her and the clawing hands that came up to swipe at her after it had shook off its crash. Up close, she could see that this ‘person’ was in some kind of nurse’s uniform; the blue hues highlighted with red splotches and smears. Rips and holes where someone or something else had already bit through, displayed in various spots on his top and bottoms. Nurse no more, this monster was just another inhuman in a weak human disguise. Halloween gone wrong. Parker’s horror overflowed as she wrestled with the bed, playing chess against a lunatic and the gurney was her only chess piece.
Patience had never been one of Parker’s virtues. Her strength lied within her impatience. Especially when her back was against the wall, and with her opponent this was literally so. Her fear and horror burned away as her blood boiled and her temper broke through her paper thin imperturbability. She timed the monster’s lurches, spun the gurney, just like she was backing up a car. She kangarooed the bed backwards enough to give her a running start, and barreled the front end of it directly into the Zom’s sternum. He collapsed off his feet, still raging, still screaming his song of hunger. She refused to let up, sprinting forward, even past her sister who remained shivering down against the wall. She put all of her brute force into one final shove, and the animated body cracked hard against the magazine rack. The cracking of its bones echoed across the hallway.
She stopped only a moment to gasp a heavy breath and ran back to Phoenix and immediately wretched her up by the hand and ran for the adjacent corridor.
“We gotta go! Now! The noise is bound to bring more of them.”
Whipping around the corner, more animate bodies greeting them like family at the Thanksgiving dinner table. Several were dragging themselves along with their loose and broken bit trailing behind them. One was slapped again the wall, sliding across barely upright as it was scraping across the tile with one broke ankle. The girls dropped back down behind a wheelchair, out of what they hoped was the monsters’ line of sight. Phoenix started praying in earnest to herself under her caught breath that none of them had seen them. Her ignorance of the walker’s sense of smell being their most heightened sense was something Parker shared. Either way, they still came to the same conclusion that staying in the same place for more than a few moments was a signature on their own death sentence.
Okay, I can do this. I can do this. Don’t look at them.
Phoenix kept chanting repeatedly in her head while averting her eyes every time she saw a just a hint of red. Red was in abundance. Parker kept ahold of her hand in a vice grip. She was ready to hold steady for the monsters coming to yank them violently apart. She refused to let go for anything. The halls were no longer the warm cream color she was used to. Congealed blood was splattered across them in Jackson Pollock fashion. Parker had said the only body she saw in the building was the leftovers of Ralph. The others she said were either at in her words ‘recess’ or ‘converging on the buffet’’ she saw on the way up the drive. They never scented her or even turned to follow the sound of the bike.
“Where’s your bag at, sissy? You need to change. Get something warm on and you need something to cover your mouth. I don’t want you inhaling any more of this shit than you need too.”
Phoenix quickly pointed to small brown duffle in the corner of the check-in desk’s little cubbyhole. “Okay, hurry up and change out of your candy striper so we can get the fuck outta here. It’s a bit chilly out tonight,” Parker ordered her sister as she turned around to give her some privacy and to stand guard in case of a surprise attack. Never in her life had she felt so out in the open and exposed to danger.
Soon they found themselves outside with no obstacles between the sisters and Parker’s motorcycle. They clambered on so quick Phoenix bruised her inner thighs on the bulky seat.
“Thought about you sis,” she smiled and handed her a second bike helmet she had produced from her side compartment. Parker started the bike without waiting for Phoenix to don the helmet strap. She pulled away from the sanitarium, senses heightened to both sides of the road. On and off. Phoenix held her sister tight. The taste of fear still trapped on her tongue. The cold air ripping across her hands and sneaking in behind the back of her neck under her helmet only seemed to augment her dread. She began to wonder if it would ever level off. Just how bad was this virus thing anyway?
“Did you see any survivors on the way here?” Phoenix queried on a whisper afraid she would disturb the remains of her boss who was no more than twenty feet away. Parker grimaced.
“No Phee. I didn’t. It’s like the whole world is dead.”
(May 1, 2015)
The skin on his feet felt tighter with each step he took on the deserted road. The light from the morning sun was almost blinding as it crested over the horizon. The trees filtered its warmth to cascade across the blades of grass lining the barren road. As the sun’s rays danced from drop to drop, glistening off each one, they beckoned his parched feet to join in as they welcomed the new day. Another day had come and he was yet alone and wandering into a new town. Eating his way through those left behind, those whose bodies had missed the memo that they were indeed dead.
Licking his lips at the memory of his last meal only a few hours ago, triggered the hunger to rise up from the bottomless pit he knew as his stomach. Its muscles contracting with mini spasms of delight, pleading to be filled. His stomach rumbled in protest as its master ignored it. The food choices were sparse, the animals had all but fled, leaving only the birds to fight over what remains. As he passed the farm land the other day, its fences were broken as the animals stampeded to their freedom, some only to become dinner for the infected. The ravens watched the walkers attack a few day old calf. Leaving behind its almost meatless carcass. Some did not wait to swoop down and gorge themselves on the now diseased leftovers.
Spreading the virus far and wide as they seemed to be the only other carriers besides man himself. He had yet to see any other animals with death lurking in its eyes. It seemed only he and the birds liked to feast on rotting flesh. Or in his case the walker’s brain. For the walkers he had come across couldn’t walk anymore. Most of their bodies were split in two, some were even smashed between cars, leaving them to be taunted as anything with a steady heartbeat passed them by.
Then there were those that would lay in wait, baiting a trap for some moron to walk by thinking it was safe. The smell of blood would awaken the zombie within, twitching it back to life seconds before it reaches out and brings its prey to its poisoned mouth. Its teeth sinking into idiots flesh, dooming him to the same fate.
Walkers.
Twitchers.
Zombies.
They were all the same no matter what you called them. The walking dead, reanimated by a single bite and forever trapped with an agonizing appetite that will never be curbed. Now what did that make him? His meals were way passed their expiration date and had long since tasted the warmth of fresh blood. No he was an anomaly. He wasn’t dead…anymore. But the urge to kill, to eat, was getting stronger with every twitching corpse he passed.
They never looked his way as he walked by. And pass them he did, more and more, their brains weren’t satisfying his hunger. He needed more. He needed something fresh.
Oh yes, fresh indeed.
With each step Patient Zero took passed the walkers, who were lost in their hunger, passed the twitchers baiting their time, did he realize what was happening to him. He was different, he could
feel his thickened blood moving about his body. Healing him from the inside out. He was stepping away from being just another zombie to becoming something much much more.
He watched the smoke as it was bellowing from a building in the distance. Signaling to those whom could see it that someone was there. Someone capable of giving chase to a ruthless predator, making the hunt all the more worthwhile. His feet quickened their gait, no longer scraping their tender flesh against the heated pavement as a pair of black work boots now adorned his feet. A souvenir from his last meal. The laces he left loose, flapping with each step he took. The plastic tips beating against the boot like a drum, announcing his presence to his dead subjects.
Their king had arrived.
***
The fire burns for all who can see.
As the walkers chase those who flee.
Broken flesh will not mend
As Every One Dies in the end.
Town after town
City after City
I search.
It seems…
Alone is how I will always be.
Fayte Reynolds 4/28/2015
Something about that name jogged a distant memory, he had seen it before. He was in another town, and her words graced yet another building. But the image of a little girl’s silhouette painted beneath it had caught his eye. Forcing him to stop and stare. Mainly it was the dead flowers in one hand and a burning teddy bear in the other, but still its message was clear. Something in her words, in her drawings, called to him. Maybe it was their desperation, or maybe just like her he was alone. Kindred spirits, he thought.
Zombies Don't Ride Motorcycles Page 5