by Stevie Kopas
“Yeah! I’ll be right in!” Samson looked out over the empty city one last time before heading inside. It pained him that he couldn’t stay back at the resort and daydream of being on vacation. It pained him even more that the world was what it was and he wouldn’t ever take an expensive vacation again. Samson shrugged as he walked. He was a coward. And he no longer cared.
X
The group parted ways on the 24th floor the following morning. Juliette remained with Clyde, assured by Andrew that he wouldn't turn while they were away. She was then reassured by Clyde who proceeded to cuss her and tell her in typical Clyde fashion how lucky she was to even have him there to keep her company. The rest of the group followed Gary down to the lobby and reluctantly back outside. They agreed on minimal to no gun use in order to keep their presence unknown to the dead as they snuck around Haven to reach Emerald Park. Gary had mapped out their route. "The absolute quickest way possible," he had told them. He led the way back out into the pool area, stopping momentarily to remove a padlock from a large white gate off to the side of their building. Even the outer walkways on the ground floor were secure. Floor to ceiling bars temporarily encased them in safety as they made their way to the front of the building. Veronica wrapped her hand around one of the bars as she passed and attempted to shake it. The white painted steel didn't budge and she found herself once more admiring the luxury of The Emerald City.
They passed closed office doors, utility rooms, various shops, and eateries along the gated path. The resort's amenities really were exclusive to its guests. It seemed as if even back before the world went crazy that they wanted to keep everything out that they possibly could, somehow preserving an elite and untainted paradise of tourism.
"Stay here, I'm going to check the grounds around the exit." He whispered to them before disappearing around the final corner. He quickly returned and pulled his enormous key ring from his pocket. "This is just a precautionary measure. We don't know what could happen out there." He walked over to a large fake potted plant and placed the keys amidst the white rocks. "The other precautions are the padlocks. There's only one key." He held up the padlock key which he kept separate from the others. A colorful plastic keychain dangled from the key that read 'Haven Is Home.'
"Where's that one goin'?" Samson asked him.
"In the dirt. Now let's get a move on before we all decide this is a terrible idea." They all followed Gary around the corner except for Samson. The day wasn't anywhere near as hot as it had been the last few days but he was soaked with sweat.
Veronica poked her head around the corner and motioned for him to follow. "Come on, we gotta go." Samson nodded and willed his feet to move forward.
Gary held the heavy gate open and ushered everyone through. He closed it gently and snapped the padlock back into place. He held the key up and jiggled it for everyone to see and made sure they watched as he pulled up a fistful of bright green grass and pushed a mound of dirt aside. He patted the area down once he was finished and cocked his head to the left as he stood, "Follow me."
The once pristine streets of Haven were littered with trash and grime. Local business storefronts were smashed and signs of uncontrollable looting were present everywhere. Samson wondered why Gary thought Emerald Park would be any different from the raided stores in the surrounding neighborhood. A gas station nearby had a car sticking out of its storefront, black char ran up the sides of the building, the remnants of a fire caused by the crash. Veronica took in all the emptiness and destruction, she hadn’t had the chance to do so back when she was in Columbia City. Maybe it was because she didn’t allow herself to accept that her home had been reduced to nothingness, or maybe it was just because she was too busy running for her life.
Under normal circumstances, the five mile walk would have only taken them just short of two hours on foot, but the world no longer offered any of its remaining inhabitants such banality. The group had to backtrack several times in order to avoid the eaters. About at the halfway point Ben suggested that they duck into one of the houses on a side street and take a break. The five of them jogged down the empty street in the direction of a row of multicolored townhouses and Ben chose at random the blue and green one. They padded up the driveway and Ben put a finger up, telling them to hold on as he smashed his elbow through the glass panel that ran alongside the door. Andrew shook his head as Ben cleared the glass from the pane and he reached forward, turning the knob. “Did you even check to see if it was locked?”
Ben looked at Andrew and shrugged. “Nope, but thanks.” He made sure they weren’t spotted by anything before closing the door and locking it behind him. The townhouse had most likely been a beach rental. The place was fully furnished with uncomfortable wicker furniture. An overabundance of seashells decorated the living room and tacky palm tree wallpaper covered everything. The cabinets in the kitchen were bare but luckily Gary had made sure they brought nourishment with them for the short trip to Emerald Park. Veronica pulled a bottle of water from her bag and decided to check out the rooms upstairs. The brilliant sunlight illuminated the entire house so she left her flashlight in the bag. She climbed the stairs slowly, running her fingers along the smooth surface of the walls. The place had been scrubbed clean very recently, the front door probably left unlocked by the housekeepers. She poked her head into the first bedroom on the second floor, two double beds in a room painted bright blue. She thought of the last time she had stood in someone’s doorway like this. The growls of Samson’s dead children crept back into her mind. The absolutely vacant look in his daughter’s eyes as she put a bullet in her head haunted her. Moira’s screaming suddenly filled the house. Veronica covered her ears and slammed her eyes shut, desperately trying to push the moment out of her mind again.
She gasped as a hand came to rest on her right shoulder. “What’s goin’ on up here?” Veronica spun around and wrapped her arms around Samson, burying her face in his chest. He was taken off guard by the emotion that Veronica was suddenly allowing herself to show. He slowly hugged the girl back. “Hey, it’s alright. What happened? What’s wrong?”
“I never apologized.” She was slowly regaining her composure as she whispered into his shirt, her eyes still closed. “I never apologized for what happened at your house.” She pulled away from him and looked up at his face.
He shook his head, pangs of guilt stabbing him in the chest. “Nobody needs to apologize for anything.” He took his hands off her shoulders and ran them over his unshaven face, as if wiping his cowardice away. “Don’t you remember what I told you?” She shook her head no. “You’re a bigger man than me, Veronica. Don’t you ever forget that.” Her face remained expressionless. Samson sighed. “Let’s just say I owe you. Big time.” She smirked and then laughed, rolling her eyes at him. A small part of her wanted to smack him, another part of her wanted to call him ‘Dad’.
He smiled back at her and in that moment, once again, Veronica and Samson bonded like only a fatherless daughter and a man lost in obscurity could. “Break time is over. You gonna be alright?” She nodded and closed the bedroom door behind her as she followed him. The rest of the house would be left undiscovered. Andrew, Ben and Gary were already ready to go. Veronica threw her water bottle back in her bag and zipped up, nodding at Ben who then led the way out.
The group made better time once they had taken a break and harnessed their anxieties of being in an unfamiliar city that was crawling with the dead. Gary was the only one who seemed to be enjoying the beautiful day outside. The closer they got to Emerald Park, the more eaters they were seeing. Most of the eaters stood around by themselves, looking as though they were simply lost patrons of the abandoned outdoor mall. The clusters here and there were what worried the group of survivors. As they entered Emerald Park’s streets, the small yet dangerous groups of the undead were getting harder to avoid. Yelps and growls could be randomly heard as the eaters bumped into one another and became agitated. Gary motioned for them to get off the streets of the store fronts
and move through the empty parking lots around the backs of the shops. They all crouched together by the side of an abandoned blue Tacoma.
“Alright,” Gary whispered lightly, “that’s the back of the building we want to get around to. We move around the building and make our way very carefully to the front.”
“Why don’t we just bust our way in through the back?” Ben wiped the beads of sweat from his forehead.
“Yes, let’s break down fire and freight doors. How remarkably simple and quiet.”
“Guys?” Veronica pointed in the direction from which they’d just come. A lone eater had spotted them and let out a wail.
“Fuck.” Ben cursed under his breath. The very slow moving eater started shuffling in their direction, moving its head around wildly, gasping and grunting as it moved, attracting unwanted attention from a nearby cluster.
“We need to move.” Gary tightened his backpack’s straps. A piercing screech erupted from one of the eaters in a group off to their right, alerting the rest of the undead in the area. “Now! Follow me!” He sprinted off toward the large cream colored building in front of them. There was a loading bay area with a breezeway through to the other side. Veronica headed straight for the loading bay, passing the rest of the group, her speed unmatched. She leapt up onto the elevated platform and stopped when she reached the end of the breezeway’s hall. She tried to remain as silent as possible, breathing through her nose. She scanned the street before her; the eaters here were absent mindedly milling around, the presence of humans still unbeknownst to them. She spotted the half open sliding doors of Target almost immediately. She heard the slapping of pavement as the rest of her group caught up to her.
“Over there! You see?” She pointed at the bright red framed outer doors of the department store.
Gary looked passed the others and grimaced, the quick of the dead were almost upon them. “I don’t see any other options. Let’s get out of here.” He was gone almost as soon as he’d arrived. Andrew and Ben were right behind him; Samson was hot on their heels. Veronica knew she was the fastest so she made sure everyone was clear of the breezeway before she took off. She followed Samson just as the first of the eaters made their way into the hall. She made it across the street and into an adjacent lot, making the grave mistake of looking back at her pursuers as she ran. She lost her footing on a cement parking block and went down hard on the pavement. Her chin struck the surface of the lot and ripped open. Pain shot through Veronica’s body and she cried out, blood running down her neck from the freshly opened wound.
Gary and Andrew hadn’t heard her when she fell. Ben stopped to go back for her. “I’ve got her! Get inside!” Samson called out and rushed to Veronica’s side. The girl was almost in tears, a flap of skin hung from her chin and she was covered in her own blood. “Jesus Christ.” He couldn’t help but cringe at the state she was in. Samson pulled the Remington from his shoulder and blasted an eater to the ground as it ran up on Veronica. He threw his bag to the ground and ripped his button up shirt from his torso. He balled it up and shoved it into her trembling hands. “Hold that against your face and go.” She immediately took off toward Target. Ben was waiting at the door, firing rounds into the dead around her as she made her way to him.
Samson met an eater with a kick to the chest, launching it to the ground. It growled angrily as it landed on its back. Samson brought his boot down hard onto its head, caving it in and then taking off after Veronica. He knew there was no way he could use the shotgun and run at the same time. He swung the gun up and knocked an eater to the ground when it got too close for comfort. Veronica was almost to the door when Samson heard Gary screaming and cussing. The interior doors of the department store were locked and they couldn’t get them open.
“Pile up the carts!” Samson yelled through exhausted breaths. “Use the carts! Move the fucking carts!” He hoped to whatever Gods still existed that Gary and Andrew had heard him, that they would listen to him. An eater plowed into him unexpectedly, bringing him to the ground. He cried out, struggling with the undead beast on top of him. With a surge of adrenaline, he shoved the decomposing eater off of him and scrambled to his feet. Its head exploded, the remains splattering out the back of its head in a red mist as Samson pulled the trigger on the shotgun at the last second.
Ben grabbed Veronica’s arm and tossed her into the vestibule. Andrew began pulling the red shopping carts from their place and tossing them aside, he shouted at Gary to help him. Ben called out to Samson and an expression of complete confusion took over his face as Samson stopped running just a few feet short of the door.
“Dude! What are you doing? Get your ass in here!” Andrew pushed Ben to the side, placing a cart where he stood. Gary followed up by strategically placing another on top of it.
“Samson!” Veronica screamed his name repeatedly. Samson raised his weapon and shot another approaching eater. Ben fired out at the undead from inside the vestibule.
It was only when she stopped screaming that Veronica noticed what Andrew had already seen and Ben had not. It was only when she stopped screaming in fear and started yelling in anger that Ben then realized what happened to Samson.
Samson winced in pain from the bite on his left shoulder. When the carts were in place and he knew Veronica would have enough time to get out of danger, he walked up to Andrew’s barricade and pushed the shotgun through. He screamed out in pain as the surrounding eaters latched onto him and tore into his flesh. Veronica slapped the shotgun out of his hand and to the floor, crying out for him. She grabbed onto his arm and pulled it through the space in the carts, her tears mixed with her own blood, stinging her wound as they flowed down her face and onto her neck. Samson’s blood sprayed in every direction; the dead feasted upon him, his screams of agony seemed endless. Veronica didn’t realize her companions had crawled through the shopping cart opening, and she didn’t hear the interior doors suddenly open behind her. She fought and kicked with all her might against Ben as he wrapped his arms around her waist and dragged her inside. She elbowed him in the face and ran back out toward the barricade.
Samson’s cries no longer filled the air, only the horrific slurping and chewing of the eaters. Samson’s arm lay limp, still in the same place it was when she last held it. She reached out to grab his hand one last time but Ben once more wrapped himself around her. She cried out for Samson, the tip of her middle finger grazing the tip of his only for a brief moment before she was thrown to the tile of the department store floor, the interior doors slamming shut.
Part II: And Now We’re Here
I
Michelle’s eyes fluttered open and she groaned as she felt the warmth of a body lying next to her. She cringed and very carefully rolled out of bed. She wiped the sleep from her eyes as she crouched down on the floor, searching for her clothes. She pulled her panties up and figured she’d make a mad dash for the bathroom and find a shirt on the floor somewhere in there.
“Good morning.” The man in her bed mumbled as he propped his head up on his hand and looked at her.
She quickly covered her breasts with her arms. “Hey.” She looked down at the ground and noticed her bra peeking out from underneath the bed. She swooped it up and turned around, pulling it around her body and fastening the clasps. “So, yeah, I’m gonna let you get dressed.” She decided she’d use the hall bathroom and let the man in bed use hers. She ducked into the bathroom and slammed the door shut, hoping she wouldn’t wake her roommate, Lulu. Lulu’s long purple robe hung on the back of the door, she pulled that around herself and washed her face in the sink, swishing water around in her mouth and spitting, watching the water circle in the drain before disappearing.
A light knock at the door was followed by a high pitched and comical “hello.” Michelle yanked the door open and pulled Lulu inside. Her jet black hair was pulled back in a tight pony tail and her face looked fresh, she’d obviously been up longer than Michelle.
“Ssh! I don’t want him to hear us.” The two women
giggled like little girls.
“Oh, ya big slut!” Lulu couldn’t help but crack up at her roommate.
“Jesus,” Michelle’s hands went up to her head as she looked at herself in the mirror, her long curly hair looked wild. Lulu opened a drawer and handed her a hair tie. “I don’t even remember his name. Holy shit, Lu, what is his name?”
Lulu shook her head and sighed. She opened the bathroom door, the man from the bed had just walked into the hall from Michelle’s room. “Good morning Zach.” She gave Michelle a look and winked before leaving the bathroom. “I’ve got coffee made, why don’t you grab a cup with me?” The two wandered down the hall toward the kitchen and Michelle put the lid down on the toilet and sat, pulling back her wild mess of hair and shaking her head in disapproval.
“I can’t believe myself sometimes.” She said aloud to no one and went back to her room to shower.
Lulu poured Zach a cup of coffee at the breakfast bar. “I don’t know how you like it, milk is in the fridge and sugar and stuff is next to the coffee pot.” She handed the cup to him.
“I’ll take it black, thanks.” He raised the cup to her almost as in a cheers and sipped it lightly. He looked at the television in the living room and noticed it was on mute. “Do you mind?” She looked up at him holding the remote in his hands.
“Oh, nah, go ahead, I just got sick of hearing about the same thing over and over again. The nut jobs are out in full effect today apparently.” She moved a strand of hair from her face and tucked it behind her ear as she stirred her coffee. Zach stood behind the couch facing the TV and listened to the news explain in great detail the dramatic increase in rioting and violence over the last 24 hours.