by Gary Chesla
The second man also stopped moving.
The doctor walked out of the hanger, handed Hower back his rife and without saying a word, walked away.
He needed to inform the Captain what he had determined and arrange for the men in Hangar Four to be destroyed.
“Have these men freed from this hell,” Doc thought and corrected himself.
It had to be done for the safety of the base, but freeing the men from this hell sounded a lot better than just having them destroyed.
Chapter 20
Monday, May 10th, Cherry Tree, Pennsylvania
Mike turned his head to get the light coming in through the space between the window shade and the frame out of his eyes.
It made his eyes hurt and woke him out of an uneasy sleep.
He was now fully awake.
It had been a restless sleep last night as his mind couldn’t pull itself away from the nightmarish images of Linda and little Jamie, surrounded by zombies.
He had wanted to leave for home last night, but he knew Tony was right.
They had to use their heads or they would not make it very far.
They tried to take turns looking out the window, hoping the moon light would be bright enough so they could see if or when the dead would leave the area, giving them a chance to get out to the car and start their journey home.
Unfortunately, the sky had been overcast and it had rained for most of the night, making it impossible to see if the dead were still outside or if they had moved on.
They would have never made it to the car if the dead had remained out on the streets around the house.
It was too much of a risk to take.
As much as Mike wanted to go home to help Linda and Jamie, he wouldn’t be much help dead.
Mike jumped up and ran over to the window and pulled out the corner of the window shade.
He anxiously pushed his head up to the opening.
The streets outside the house still had a few staggering figures moving around, but it was a lot better than is was last night.
Mike opened his mouth and turned towards Tony, but Tony wasn’t in the room. Mike wanted to call out, but decided to go look for him instead.
The zombies had not discovered that the two of them were in the house and Mike knew it was important to keep it that way.
He walked over to the bedroom door and slowly opened the door and carefully looked out into the hall.
Tony was lying on the floor, looking down over the ledge to the main floor below.
Tony heard the door latch click as Mike opened the door and looked up as Mike stuck his head out into the hallway.
Tony put his finger over his lips and then pointed down stairs.
Mike got on his hands and knees and quietly crawled over next to Tony.
“How many?” Mike whispered.
“I don’t know,” Tony whispered back. “I just came out and was about to go down the steps to see what I could find for breakfast when I heard something get knocked over. I was trying to see what was down there and then I was going to come back and wake you up. I’m glad you didn’t come running out like a bull in a china shop.”
“Being quiet has become a way of life the last few days,” Mike grinned. “Have you seen any of them move past the steps?”
“Nothing, I just heard something being knocked over. It sounded like a plate or something being knocked off the table or cupboard,” Tony whispered. “I haven’t heard another sound the last couple of minutes.”
“Maybe there is only one of them,” Mike whispered, “I wonder how the hell they got inside?”
“I don’t know. I fell asleep for the last hour or so on my watch, sorry,” Tony replied. “But I’m sure with the way this house is built, I would have heard something if they broke down the door or a window to get in.”
“We could take the slats off the bed frame to use as weapons and go down. If there were more than one of them, I’m sure we would be hearing a racket. They aren’t the most graceful things,” Mike said.
“Let’s give it a few more minutes,” Tony replied. “I’d like to know what’s there first.”
They waited a few more minutes, but the house remained as quiet as a tomb.
Mike finally tapped Tony on the shoulder, reached in his pocket and pulled out a quarter, then pointed down over the ledge.
Tony nodded.
Mike looked over the ledge and tossed the quarter over the edge.
The quarter bounced off the last step and rolled out into the living room.
They both watched to see if the noise the quarter made would attract any attention.
After a few minutes, Mike leaned over to Tony, “There can’t be more than one of them down there. I looked outside before I came out of the room and I think it is clear enough outside for us to make a run for the car. I think we need to go down and take care of this so we can get the hell out of here before more of them show up.”
Tony nodded, “OK, go get a bed slat and I’ll take the chair I brought up last night. I’ll keep watching while you go get the slat. Just be careful and don’t make any noise. I’d like to sneak down and club it from behind before it knows we are here.”
Mike nodded, backed away from Tony, then went back into the bedroom.
Mike came out a minute later with Tony’s chair in one hand and a bed slat in the other.
Tony looked down over the ledge, then got to his feet and took the chair from Mike.
“I’ll go down first with the chair,” Tony whispered.
Mike nodded as Tony turned and started down the stairs, holding the chair out in front of him.
Mike followed closely behind, holding the bed slat firmly in front of him with both hands as he listened for any sounds coming from below.
When they reached the last step, Tony looked at Mike to make sure he was ready, then turned and slowly looked into the living room, focusing on the old man’s dead gray body lying on the floor under the window. Then he turned and slid his head around the corner of the wall so he could look out into the kitchen.
Mike looked curiously at Tony as he saw a slight smile spread across Tony’s face.
Tony moved his head further into the kitchen and took a quick look before finally lowering the chair and stepping down on the floor.
“Come take a look,” Tony said.
Mike stepped off the steps and looked out into the kitchen.
On the floor in front of the sink was a broken plate, in the sink was a gray tabby cat, frantically licking at the remaining plates in the sink.
“The old guy must have had a pet,” Tony said. “It was probably hiding from us when we came in yesterday.”
“The poor guy must be starving,” Mike replied. “He probably hasn’t had anything to eat since the old guy turned into a zombie.”
“Maybe it was hiding from the old guy so the old guy wouldn’t eat him,” Tony added.
“If I remember, there is something in the cupboard that should make this little guy happy,” Mike said as he got down on his knees and opened a door on the cupboard. He stood and held up a can of sardines.
Mike opened the can and sat it down in front of the cat.
“The little guy was definitely hungry,” Tony smiled.
“I figured we would find something hungry down here, I’m just glad it was a cat.”
Tony and Mike went over to the window and looked outside.
“I say we get the hell out of here, there isn’t too many of them out there right now,” Tony said. “You have the keys?”
Mike tapped his pocket, “I have them, but give me a second, I want to go see if the old guy had a car charger for his flip phone. Maybe I can charge the phone as we
drive and call Linda to be sure the girls are OK.”
“OK,” Tony replied, “While you go find the charger, I’ll see if there is something we can take to eat when we leave.”
Mike ran up the steps and looked in the nightstand drawer hoping to see the charger for the p
hone.
He was half right, the charger to charge the phone by plugging it in to an outlet was there, but that was of little help since the electric was out.
“Older people are usually packrats, they never throw anything away,” Mike thought as he began to scan the room.
When he spotted the door for the bedroom closet, Mike ran over and opened the door.
Mike looked at the neat row of suits and trousers that hung in the closet.
The bottom of the closet had four pair of black dress shoes lined up on the floor.
Mike turned his attention to the shelf near the top of the closet. At the bottom of a pile of neatly stacked boxes, Mike saw a box for the LG flip phone.
He reached up and pulled the box out of the pile, then turned and dumped out the contents of the box on the bed.
Mike smiled as he picked up the car charger and started out of the bedroom.
Tony looked up as Mike entered the room.
“I found a box of Sugar Pops,” Tony said. “We can munch on these until we can get somewhere and get a decent breakfast. Did you find the charger?”
“Yeah, I got it,” Let’s get the hell out of here.”
“What should we do with the cat?” Tony asked. “Should we take it with us?”
“If you want a cat, you take it,” Mike replied, “The last thing I need is another cat to take care of.”
“I don’t want it,” Tony laughed. “It would probably be better off staying here with the old guy.”
“Then we’ll leave him here,” Mike said. “Cats can take care of themselves. We can just leave the door open. He can go out and catch mice and come back to the house to get out of the weather. It will be fine.”
Tony grabbed another can of sardines, opened it and set it on the table.
“Let him fill up before he goes out on his own,” Tony said. “I’ll feel better about leaving him on his own this way.”
“I’m glad you feel better now,” Mike said as he reached in his pocket and pulled out the car keys, “now let’s go.”
Tony looked out the window, “OK, there are about a half dozen out there now. I hope the car starts. Let’s say the car won’t start, we should have a plan B.”
“I’m betting the old guy kept his car well maintained. I think it should start, but if it doesn’t, look around out back and see if you see any other cars sitting by a house. I say we try for another car the same way we found this one. We go inside and find the keys for the car,” Mike answered.
“I would prefer not to go through this again,” Tony said. “I see another car sitting outside a house down the street, but I’ll leave the door to this house open for both us and the cat, just in case we have to come back here.”
“Think positive,” Mike said as he slowly opened the door.
Tony slipped out the door and stood beside Mike as they moved slowly out into the back yard.
Tony looked out around the corner of the house.
“There are three of them about twenty feet behind the car,” Tony said. “Get the keys ready to unlock the car, we’ll need to work fast.”
Mike pulled out the keys and handed them to Tony, “Here you drive. You know the area better than I do and I want to plug in the phone so I can call Linda.”
“OK,” Tony said as he took the keys from Mike.
Tony looked at the keys, then leaned around the corner of the house and stared out at the car.”
“Let’s get moving,” Mike said.
Tony leaned back and looked at the keys again.
“I think we have a problem,” Tony said and held up the keys as he looked at Mike. “These keys go to a Buick, the car at the side of the house is a Ford.”
“Are you sure?” Mike asked.
“I know a Buick from a Ford,” Tony replied. “No wonder you had problems selling cars.”
“Screw you,” Mike replied and added, “Shit!”
“Let’s slide around the back corner of the house and see if the old guy has a garage,” Tony said.
Keeping their backs to the house, they slid around the back side of the house.
“I’ll be damned,” Mike said as he saw a small brick building near the alley behind the house. “I think your right, come on.”
They ran back to the garage to find the door padlocked.
Tony nervously picked through the keys on the key ring.
“Master Lock,” Tony said. “This should be it.”
Tony put the key in the lock and turned the key.
He then pulled the key out of the lock and tossed the lock on the ground.
“Oh Crap,” Tony said as they opened the door and looked inside the garage to see an old black 1952 Buick Power-glide inside. “I hope it’s an automatic.”
“Get in and start it while I open the garage doors,” Mike said as he ran behind the car.
Mike pried up the board that held the two doors closed.
He pushed open the doors as he heard the Buick spring to life.
The three zombies they had seen earlier, were now standing right outside the back of the garage.
Mike ran to the passenger’s door and hopped inside, “Let’s move we have company.”
Tony pushed in the clutch and pulled the gearshift down into reverse and hit the gas.
The old Buick slowly backed out of the garage.
They heard two thuds as the Buick hit the bodies coming into the garage,
The car bounced as it ran over something.
Tony put the car into low gear, the gears ground loudly when Tony forgot to push in the clutch, when he finally got the car into gear, he hit the gas.
The car shot down the alley that paralleled Front Street.
At the end of the street, Tony struggled with the wheel and turned left onto Cherry Street and took the ramp onto Route 219 south.
“Nice driving,” Mike smiled.
“I never drove a car without power steering before,” Tony said. “This is worse than driving a truck.”
“It runs, that’s all that matters right now,” Mike replied as he began pulling on knobs on the dashboard. “Do you see anything that looks like a cigarette lighter.”
Tony glanced down at the dashboard panel, “Maybe this thing was made before cigarettes were invented. See if you can turn on the radio, maybe we can get a news report and find out what the hell is going on.”
“Good idea,” Mike said as he continued to pull and turn the knobs scattered across the panel in front of him.
Chapter 21
May 10th, Fallon Naval Air Station, Nevada
The doctor removed his hazmat suit, boots and gloves and headed for the Captain’s office.
His hair was matted to his head, soaked from sweating in the hazmat suit in the one-hundred degree temperature.
The heat of the Nevada desert, coupled with the pressure of the last few days was taking a toll on the remaining crew at the base.
The doctor walked into the Captain’s office.
“Hi Doc,” the Captain said as the doctor came in. “Christ, you look like hell. Sit down and cool off.”
When the doctor sat down in the chair in front of the Captain’s desk, the Captain added, “I hope you have some positive news?”
“We’ll, I’ve determined why some of the infected were killed by standard gun fire while most of them appeared to be unaffected,” Doc replied.
“It’s a start,” the Captain replied. “It might also be the first good thing we have learned since this all started. What did you find? Did it have anything to do the length of time between becoming infected and then being shot?”
“No,” Doc replied. “It’s nothing that complicated. The ones that were stopped by a bullet were simply shot or suffered a major head injury.”
The Captain looked surprised, “So let me get this straight. Once a person becomes infected, he dies and becomes a zombie, and you can kill them by shooting them in the head. It sounds like something out of the zombie manual, Zombie Basics 101.”
“Zombie Basic’s 101?” Doc asked looking puzzled. “There is a manual for how to deal with zombies?”
“You apparently never watched any zombie movies,” the Captain said, smiling slightly.
“No, in college and medical school I was always too busy studying. I never was much for science fiction stuff,” Doc answered.
“Well, in all the old zombie movies, about the only way to kill a zombie was to shoot it in the head,” the Captain said. “I sort of find what you told me a little ironic. Did you come up with anything else after examining the bodies in hangar three that might be of help?”
“Maybe you should consult your zombie manual for a solution to our problem,” Doc replied, “because, I’ve come to the conclusion that I’m either getting old or my mind is just not what it used to be.”
“The absurdity of the situation we find ourselves in is enough to make us all to start doubting everything we thought we knew or believed in,” the Captain said. “The normal laws of nature seem to no longer to apply to what has been going on around us.”
“But that’s just it, from what I have seen, the laws of science have applied to everything that has happened. It just seems that my mind has been slow to see it,” Doc replied.
“How so?” the Captain asked.
“First, when Doctor Anderson called me when our people first started to become infected. He identified the Russian Z virus right off while I missed it completely. It was right there in front of me, but I didn’t see it.
Then when the virus killed the body, I focused on how the virus effected the body. The original virus was designed to affect the human mind. If I would have started with the brain, as I should have, I may have known at the start of this why some of the infected seemed to be affected by gunfire while others weren’t. It is my theory that part of the brain remains under control of the virus, like the virus was programmed to do, and sends out low impulse signals to control the body. How it does that, of course I don’t know, but the first place I should have looked when the dead began to move, was the brain. The brain is the control center of the body. The body cannot do anything unless the brain instructs the muscles to do it.