Chaos anw-1

by John O'Brien

  Jangling the keys, I walk out of the side door to see if they are indeed for the car outside. Inserting them into the driver’s door, the lock pops open and the dome light comes on. Good, the battery is still good. I wonder what drove the woman inside to come to the store. She must have been ill. I’m guessing she came for supplies or some sort, and transformed while within the store. At least I hope that’s the case and these things can’t drive. Unlocking the rest of the car, I open the trunk then start it. The fuel gauge shows just under ¾ of a tank. Alrighty then, I think shutting down the car. Back inside, I tell Robert and Michelle we are good to go on the car. Passing the keys to Robert, I tell him, “You’re driving.”

  The two of them pack the car with all of the canned goods, water, aspirin and other meds, beef jerky, nuts, plastic silverware, plates, cups, batteries, and other miscellaneous food items. There are several cases of both water and canned food in the stock room. The single items go into empty cardboard boxes we find in back. I grab several six-packs of Blue moon and hand them to Robert. “What’s this for?” He asks smiling.

  “Never mind. Just make room for them,” I answer smiling back. “I have one other thing to take care of. You two wait outside.”

  I walk over to the corpse and start dragging it by the heels to the back door and outside. We may need to use this store in the future and I don’t want to leave the body inside to decompose. The body leaves a wet trail behind for the first few feet like a mop that has been soaked in a dark liquid; the hair having soaked up part of the liquid pool lying around it. Hauling it outside into the shade, I head toward the trees on the hill. With the arms dragging above its head like it is reaching for the door and reluctant to leave, I see the body better in the light of the day. The skin does have a translucent aspect and is light gray in color. The paleness does not seem to be totally from a lack of blood. Darker splotches blemish the grayish skin tone with the surface veins clearly visible and of the same darkish gray.

  Leaving the shade of the store, the sunshine, streaming down from its afternoon westering position, illuminates the body. The exposed skin changes from a gray translucence into a reddish color. Because I am walking backwards with my hands pulling on the ankles, I see this transformation clearly.

  Stopping in the sunlight, I set the ankles down and kneel by the left side. Peeling up the blouse sleeve a little, I see the skin there is still the translucent gray but quickly changes to the red color once it is exposed the rays of the sun. Hmmmm, interesting. It almost looks like a sunburn. The skin is cool and dry to the touch. I reach my hand up the bottom hem of the pants to the skin there and find it is also cool but clammy as opposed to dry. Picking up the heels once again, I drag the body into the trees, leaving a faint trail of hair, skin, and blood behind as the body scrapes against the pavement, and leave it lying inside the tree line.

  The car pulls around the corner of the store and Robert parks by the Jeep. He sits behind the wheel with the window rolled down and with Michelle in the passenger seat. The light gray interior of the car and back seats are filled with assorted boxes. It is so strange to see him driving without me sitting beside him.

  “We need to get whatever gas is left in the truck,” I say grabbing the gas cans and hose from the back. “You get the gas. I’m going to see if some of those keys are for the store and lock it up. We may need it again and locking it up will keep others out. At the very least, we’ll be able to tell if someone is in or has been in because they’ll have to break in,” I say holding my hands out for the keys.

  Robert hands the keys through the window. He grabs the siphoning gear from the Jeep and heads over to the truck as I head over to the rear and side of the store closing the fire doors along the way. I am having a bad key day as it seems to be the last key I try works every time. Luckily though, there are keys that do work, even the front door.

  Approaching the cars, I see Robert has finished and is walking my direction spitting on the ground every couple of steps. I see we still have a little ways to go on the siphoning techniques. He has managed to fill one can and part of the other before the truck ran dry.

  “Time check,” I ask replacing the tanks, hose, and now almost worthless duct tape into the back end of the Jeep.

  “Ten after three,” Robert tells me.

  “Let’s head home then.”

  On the drive home, with the fir trees passing by on both sides, soaking up the afternoon sun, and the blue Honda in my rear view mirror, I think about the events at the store. How could I have done things differently or better? Should I have just left when I thought there might be someone in there and no one answered? Should I have allowed Robert and Michelle in? How many of these things are there? What happened to everyone else? No answers readily come to mind other than using this experience for the future. I start thinking about these “things”, I can’t think of any other way to put it. My mind ponders over what I have learned from the encounters putting everything into an almost list-like compartment in my mind.

  1. They are obviously extremely violent nature.

  2. They seem to have a cunning aspect as “it” didn’t attack immediately but waited for an advantage. I’m not sure of their cognitive ability as the food that was scattered inside was seemingly solely limited to what was in the open. The rest of the foodstuff on the shelves was untouched. I’m not sure whether “it” can use doors to go in or out. In both encounters, speech seemed limited to growls and shrieks.

  3. They seem extremely agile and strong, at least this one was. Pain also did not seem to affect it as it should as it was able to turn around and attack again so quickly even with a round in its leg.

  4. The reports and assumption of shying away from light seems accurate judging from the way they both hid in the darkness and the reaction of the skin to sunlight, however, I’m not sure how or in what way light affects them. One thing does seem sure, light from a flashlight doesn’t seem to affect them in the same manner as the sun or I would have noticed the redness appear when I shined the light on the exposed skin of the corpse. My assumption is night may not affect them at all so they can operate freely then.

  5. The best course of action appears to be avoidance and not drawing attention due to my limited understanding and knowledge.

  I pull up to the driveway and back in wanting the Jeep parked in such a way as to make a quick exit if needed. Leaving the keys under the seat, I notice Robert park in a similar manner and walk over.

  “We’ll leave the water and stuff here. Leave the keys on the seat. I’ll bring a case of canned food in. Robert, take Michelle, get the generator from the shed and put it over there,” I say pointing to the side of the house by the front door. “Oh, and make sure you bring the spool of cable that’s next to it.”

  Walking up to the front door with my arms wrapped around a case of chili, I notice four pallets lying on the ground at the foot of the small deck in front. Setting the case down to open the door, I look up and see the sun is about to touch the tops of the trees but there is still time before it heads down behind the hills lying between here and the coast. There’s a few hours of daylight left but there are a lot of things to do and time seems short. Walking through the now open front door, I step into a house darker than when I left and the sound of hammering coming from the living room area.

  “Hey there,” I say loudly setting the case on the kitchen counter.

  “Come on in,” I hear Mom say as the hammering stops.

  “You’ve been busy,” I say rounding the corner of the kitchen. Blankets cover the windows and doors. The only light in the house comes from lit candles placed throughout the rooms.

  Mom is standing on a step stool by the far window with a hammer in one hand and holding up a corner of a blanket across the window with her other. “How did it go?” She asks turning back to the task at hand.

  “We picked up Michelle, some water, and some food.” Mom nods and the pounding resumes as she hammers in the last nail.

  “Robert
and Michelle are getting the generator and I’ll wire it up here shortly,” I say also relating the events since we left, including my assumptions and thoughts about what we are looking at.

  “Are you okay, Dad?” Nic asks coming over to give me a hug.

  “I’m fine, babe,” I say turning toward the sound of the screen door shutting in front.

  “Done,” Robert says emerging from the kitchen with Michelle close behind.

  “Get the list out of the Jeep and you four gather the items and put them in the Jeep and car where there’s room. Leave the front seat of the Jeep open,” I tell them after Robert introduces Michelle. “And no arguing,” I say over my shoulder heading back outside. This has become a ritualistic saying with all of us knowing that peace will last perhaps three minutes at best.

  The next two hours are spent gathering the items necessary for the trip, wiring the generator into the house fuse box to the main fuse, breaking up the pallets, and nailing them across the windows and doors leaving only the front and side door clear. This will not stop anyone or anything determined to get in but will slow them down and give us warning. With the generator, we will have running water and electricity. That’s the nice thing about having a well. After a dinner of chili and a few cookies from our loot, we settle back into the living room.

  There is a load of wood brought in from outside but the wood stove remains unlit. Robert sits in one chair, Michelle in the other. Mom, Nic, and Bri are on the couch. I take a seat on the floor against the wall. A few bottles of water are against the inside wall and the sleeping bags we will be taking with us come tomorrow are scattered in the room.

  “We’ll have to turn off the generator in a little while. Our objective is to not to attract any attention through noise, smells, light, or movement tonight. Therefore, no fire or light, including candles, after the sun goes down. If you have to use the bathroom, wait until morning to flush. No running water. We need to make ourselves like a deep, dark hole,” I say looking around the room at each of them. “I want to be off early tomorrow morning but we should keep a watch tonight. Robert, you take the first watch and I’ll take the second. Wake me at 0200.”

  Robert is a night owl and I have a tendency to wake up in the middle of the night and not be able to go back to sleep so this schedule should work out. I still don’t have a watch. Need to rectify that tomorrow.

  “If something does happen tonight, we’ll form a semi-circle against the inside wall,” I say nodding to where the water currently sits. “I have toward the kitchen and back door, Michelle, the two windows, and Robert, the side door and hallway. Mom, Nic, and Bri, you stay behind us and down.”

  Mom gets off the couch and disappears down the hall to the back bedrooms. “I can help,” she says reappearing with a six shot .32 revolver.

  “Alrighty then. You back up the person who seems to need the most help. If things get too messy and we can, we’ll try for the Jeep and the Honda. I’ll lead, Robert in the rear. Michelle and Mom to either side, Nic and Bri in the middle. Mom, Michelle, Nic and Robert in the Honda, Bri, you’re with me. We’ll all move to the blue car and then Bri and I will head for the Jeep. The keys to the blue car are on the seat. If we can’t do both cars, the keys to the Jeep are under the driver’s side seat. Just pile in as best as you can from the passenger side door and we’ll sort it out down the road.”

  I grab some duct tape and string from the laundry room and empty tin cans from dinner and the recycling bin. Rinsing eight cans clean to get rid of food smells so the raccoons don’t rummage through and displace them, I head outside and place pieces of gravel from the driveway in the cans. I measure lengths of string that will stretch across the stairs leading up to the front, rear, and side decks. Two sets of stairs in front, and one each in the back and side. Cutting the string with my folding blade, I tape the string to the cans and set the cans on the railings with the string across the stairs. The string is about torso high and, should something or someone approach the doors, we should have some warning. Throwing the tape in the Jeep to replace the shredded one, I make a circuit around the house checking every window and door to make sure they are locked up tight, and then head back inside.

  The rest of the evening is spent rehashing our list to see if we have everything, the day’s events, speculations about what happened, making sure Mom has enough supplies, trying to talk her into coming with us to no avail, and our planned flight.

  The sun sinks behind the hills bringing on that summer twilight, the orange hue showing behind and above the hills fading to a darker blue on the opposite horizon as I head out to turn the generator off. The summer day temperature is falling to that warm, summer evening making me think of late BBQ’s and friends; sitting outside feeling full, drinking beer, and watching the stars slowly appear in the night sky; that feeling of contentment and peace. A melancholy feeling settles inside thinking those days are now gone. No more. The world moves on and doesn’t seem to care. I look up at the sky overhead and think about Lynn looking up at the same sky, hoping she is and is okay. “I’m on my way, hon,” I breathe into the deepening twilight sky.

  I Hate Flu Shots

  In almost total darkness, we unroll our sleeping bags on the living room floor that is lit only by our flashlights. Mom has plenty of flashlights so we each have one that we will keep by our side. Mom is getting the couch ready for her with the remaining blankets from the spare bedrooms. The flashlights play around the room like the light flashing off a disco ball on the walls in slow motion. Moving, coming to rest, and moving again. Bri and Nicole climb into their sleeping bags like they are part of a synchronized swim team. Michelle appears to be having trouble undoing one of the strings on her bag so Robert crawls over to help before sitting once again against the inside wall. I climb into mine after laying my gun on the floor by my side. It’s a lot harder climbing into a sleeping bag with your shoes still on. We are all sleeping with our clothes on with a flashlight handy. My light is the last one shining as I settle myself in. I switch it off and stare upward into the darkness that is now the room. My mind goes over the day’s events before drifting off to replay the beginning…….

  Cape Town, South Africa — Health officials expressed concern about a new flu virus that has infected more than 1,000 people in Cape Town. The concern stems from the fact that so many have fallen ill in a short period of time.

  “This situation has been developing quickly,” said acting WHO director Dr. Tom Alderson. “This is something we are worried about. This could quickly escalate into epidemic proportions.”

  A team of World Health Organization doctors and staff are preparing to depart to the South African resort town after many reported coughs, fever, sore throat, aches and pains. Dr. Wilhelm Schoff comments that…..

  Oh my God! Why do the media have to be such drama queens? Everything has to be such world-ending news. Perhaps in order to keep the masses looking one direction and having to look out for themselves; part of the ‘keep the masses in order doctrine,’ I thought looking through the headline news while waiting for my sweetheart to come online from the Middle East. We talk most every night and morning waiting for her deployment back to the states.

  Cape Town, South Africa — The World Health Organization has issued an alert for South Africa for what is now being dubbed as the ‘Cape Town flu.’ Medical teams from WHO are reporting more than 2,500 deaths from this new flu virus and an estimated 30,000 cases most of which are in the Western Cape Province in which Cape Town sits.

  “The majority of cases are occurring in adults between 25 and 44 years of age,” reports Dr. Wilhelm Schoff, the leading WHO official responding to this crisis. This new strain of flu has resisted most antiviral drugs.”

  Most of the reported deaths are occurring amongst the elderly, young children, and the malnutritioned. “I can say with 100 percent confidence that a pandemic of this new flu strain will spread,” Dr. Schoff continues to report.

  Reports of outbreaks are being reported in Johannes
burg and in the capital of Pretoria. Schools in the Western Cape Province have been closed……

  Wow! First there was the Hong Kong flu virus that was supposed to reduce human existence, then the Avian flu, and the Swine flu not that long ago. Although it seems like a lot of cases, we have been here before. But that is also what happens when we hand anti-viral drugs out like they’re candy. More drug resistant viruses come into play.

  Atlanta, Georgia — The Center for Disease Control today issued a travel warning for all of South Africa…. outbreaks of the Cape Town flu virus have been reported in Amsterdam, Paris, and London.

  Pretoria, South Africa — The South Africa government issued a notice that all government services will be operating in an emergency capacity. The statement issued by the government in Pretoria included, “Only those services necessary for the essentials of government operations will be functional. All public schools will remain closed until this epidemic passes.”

  Yeah, like I was planning on going to South Africa to begin with. I really don’t know why I continue to read this. It only enhances the reason why I stopped watching and reading the news in the first place. It seems like the same old news; just insert new name and place in the old news and call it new, I thought downing the rest of my coffee and getting ready to start my day. I had just finished talking with Lynn and was getting ready to head out to run some errands before dialing into clients’ servers and doing my daily work. I had the kids that evening and was looking forward to seeing them. I had a new movie for us to watch. The thought of what to do for dinner crossed my mind as I grabbed my keys and headed out of the door.