by Crisp, M. L.
Allison scooted to the corner of the passenger side, just out of reach. Did they really think they could pull her out of one of those small openings she wondered. She was startled from her musings at the sound of a loud cracking sound. The windshield splintered, forming a tapestry of spider web like cracks in the glass.
Allison scrunched down, she decided to open the door and let them take her, she had at least that much control over her destiny, although, not for much longer. She had given it a good try, but it was the end of the line and she knew it. She hoped that with this many, it would be quick. Allison closed her eyes and said a prayer. Allison had never been religious, it was something Mike had always teased her about. His parents were strict southern Baptists. As nice as they were, it was clear they were disappointed their son married a woman that was, at best, agnostic.
The dead returning to life can play havoc on belief systems, or lack of one. She wasn’t praying for herself though, if there was a heaven and hell, she had no illusions as to where she was going. If the vengeful God her grandmother scared her with as a child really existed, a single prayer wouldn’t save her. She prayed for her parents, if there was a God listening, she prayed that He would help them survive.
Finishing the prayer, she took a deep breath and reached for the door handle. Before she could open it, she glanced to the side and saw red. A red truck, emblazoned with the words ‘Mangum Fire Department’ on the side. It wasn’t the big fire engine, but a smaller truck.
She stared in disbelief as it plowed into the crowd. There was a firefighter in full protective gear standing in the bed of the truck, wielding a fire axe. The truck stopped and he brought the blade down on the neck of the zombie on the hood of her truck.
It was a naked, obese woman. Allison recognized her from the town store, she was one of the checkers. The blow decapitated the woman, her head rolled onto the ground. The body went limp, Allison could see the eyes in the woman’s head darting around. Allison almost fled the truck right then, but the firefighter seemed to know what she was considering, and shook his head.
The fire truck inched forward, but was impeded by the sheer numbers in its way. Except for the ones in the bed of the truck, most of the creatures turned their attention to the crimson truck, and the man standing in its bed.
The firefighter swung again, this time, the axe blade became lodged in the shoulder of a man pounding at the passenger side window. Allison squinted, the guy looked like Mike’s supervisor at work, but she couldn’t be sure, his face was drenched in blood.
The firefighter struggled to pull the blade back, but finally let go. He reached into the bed of the truck and picked up another one. Allison wondered how many he had stashed down there.
Allison saw the firefighter abruptly drop the axe, and brace himself as the truck went into reverse, righted itself, and took off down the street. Allison’s eyes widened “No, don’t leave me here!” She screamed.
But when she turned around, she saw they weren’t leaving, but stopping at a large fire engine. The driver of the smaller truck clambered out, and began hooking up a hose to a fire hydrant. He was a portly black man, but moved quickly for a man his size. He climbed into the driver’s seat. The other one got out of the smaller truck and climbed onto the back of the fire engine.
The fire engine lurched forward, stopping just behind her truck. The man that had been in the bed of the smaller truck situated himself, and readied the fire hose. Jets of water exploded into the crowd. It was like a cannon, the force of the water beams knocked the creatures back.
The portly man motioned for her to join them, she dove out of the cab, and ran to the fire engine. She scrambled up into the cab, the driver looked to be in his late fifties, balding, with a big, bushy mustache. He held up a walkie talkie and spoke into it, “I’ve got the girl!”
“Copy that, now hurry your fat ass up and get us the fuck out of here!”
The man set the radio down and gazed at Allison, dried blood covered her chin and front of her white nightie, and he noticed her bare feet, blood pooled on the floor of the cab. “Were you bit?” He asked hesitantly. Allison shook her head, “no sir, I cut my foot while I was running, and my face…well, I broke my tooth.” She said, opening her mouth to show him.
Allison could hear the man up top screaming obscenities through the radio. The large man looked relieved and shut it off. “Howdy, I’m Melvin.”
“Uh, I’m Allison.”
Melvin smiled and kept talking as he drove forward, smashing zombies in his wake. “Allison huh? Hey, aren’t you that model that moved here a couple years back?”
Allison couldn’t help but smile at that. “That’s me, but modeling was a long time ago, and I was never a big time model anyway.”
The fire engine screeched to a halt, the man climbed down and undid the fire hose and quickly got back up top. Melvin hit the gas again. “Well I remember you, that bra layout you did in that catalogue was right popular around the firehouse, got a lot of use out of it.”
Allison blushed, “thanks…I think.”
It was Melvin’s turn to be embarrassed. “Hey, sorry, I didn’t mean nothing by it, I…never mind, we’re here!”
The fire engine slowed to a stop in front of the bay doors of the small fire station. The man up top quickly climbed down and pulled up the bay door. The fire engine backed into the bay, and the shutters slammed shut.
Both men helped Allison out of the cab, and she limped to a chair by a messy kitchen area. The other man huddled with Melvin, whispering, she assumed he was wondering if she was bitten. Melvin shook his head, and the other man relaxed a bit. The man that had been in the bed of the truck shed his protective gear, he was much younger than Melvin. He had short blonde hair, and a couple of days worth of stubble, which had become stylish these days. He sat across from her. “Let me see your foot.”
he said, patting his lap. She held up her foot, he examined it, wiping away the blood. She winced when he poured alcohol on it, “sorry.” he said, as he wrapped a bandage around her foot. “It looks a lot worse than it is, it should heal just fine.”
“Mister, a few minutes ago, I thought I was a dead woman, I’ll take a hurt foot over that anytime. Thank you guys so much!”
“Just doing our job ma’am. And you can call me Scott.” Melvin rolled his eyes at Scott’s obvious flirting.
“Well, thank you Scott, and thank you Melvin.” Melvin handed her a wet towel, and then went to the kitchen area and opened a small refrigerator. “Like my little buddy said, we were just doing our jobs. You hungry? One thing we got is plenty of food. Maybe we could go up to the roof and burn some steaks, who knows how much longer before we lose electricity, might as well cook ‘em while we got ‘em.”
“No, no need to go to any trouble, besides, all I would taste now is blood.”
Melvin looked mournfully at the steaks and closed the freezer door. “Ok, it’s getting late anyway, but tomorrow we’re cooking out.” He said, opening the refrigerator door, “you should eat something though, let’s see, we’ve got baloney, spam, and pimento loaf.”
“Pimento loaf?” Allison giggled, “does anybody really eat that?”
“I don’t think so, that’s why there was still a case full of it, even after the grocery store was ransacked. I’m afraid me and Gilligan here ate up all the turkey and roast beef.”
Scott winked at Allison and got up, “not so fast there skipper, I stashed some away where your fat ass wouldn’t find it.”
Melvin stood out of the way as Scott rifled through the fridge, and pulled out a baggie with a few slices of turkey inside it. “I’ll be damned, there’s only one refrigerator, where did you hide it?”
Scott grinned, “in the bottom drawer, underneath all the vegetables, I knew you would never look there.”
Melvin sneered, his mustache twitching, “that trick only works once Gilligan.”
“Once is all I needed it to work, and knock off the Gilligan shit, we’ve got company.”
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br /> “You guys can have the turkey, baloney is fine by me. Really, at this point, it sounds like gourmet food.” Allison said, their good natured ribbing was funny, but she really was hungry.
“Nonsense, baloney is something prisoners eat.” Scott said.
Allison motioned to the steel shutters, that were shaking from the pounding from the mob outside. Scott sighed. “Yeah, I get your point, but the turkey is yours. We’re all going to be getting by on pimento loaf and SpaghettiO’s soon enough. Might as well enjoy the good stuff while we can.” He said, and began preparing her sandwich.
Scott placed a paper plate in front of her, there was a sandwich cut into two triangles, with some potato chips off to the side. He had actually cut the crust off the edges for her. She didn’t have the heart to tell him that she really preferred bread with the crust. But it didn’t matter, it tasted like heaven to her.
Melvin went to the fridge again, “what would you like to drink, let’s see, we got Pepsi, Tab, how the hell did that get in there? Let’s see, Kool-Aid, Perrier…you know, water in a bottle, seemed kind of stupid before all this shit went down. I mean water came free from the tap, leave it to the French. Of course, it just might come in handy now, makes you wonder if those Gondola riding fucks had something to do with all this. I…never mind, we also got beer, the good stuff was gone, but we managed to snag some cases of this off brand shit. It tastes like a dead raccoon’s asshole, but it takes you to the same place.”
Allison smiled, “let’s save the beer for the cook out. Oh, do you happen to have a Coke?”
Melvin looked at Allison like she had just insulted his mother, Scott rushed over, “keep your mouth shut Melvin, now isn’t the time for that bullshit!” He admonished the older man, and sat a bottle of Perrier in front of her. Allison was unsure of what just happened, but Melvin stalked out of the kitchen and went upstairs.
“Sorry about that Allison, it’s a long story, for now, we can just say that Melvin can be a little eccentric sometimes.”
Allison nodded, “ok, I guess, but I do have a lot of questions.” She said, between bites.
“I’ll bet you do, I’m afraid that we don’t have many answers. But it’s been a long day, why don’t you finish up your dinner. Tomorrow, over steaks and beer, we can fill you in on what little we know, plus some hearsay, gossip, and theories, which will also explain what Melvin was upset about. Deal?”
Allison couldn’t argue, she was exhausted. “So where can I sleep?”
Scott pointed upstairs, we’ve got four bunks up there, I’m guessing Melvin is sacking out on his right now.
Allison bit her lip, “um, I don’t want to look a gift horse in the mouth, but I was hoping for something a bit more private.”
“Oh, yeah, I mean, of course. I was thinking that we could partition a bunk off for you, hang up blankets to give you some privacy.”
“Actually, I was thinking that if the bathroom has a lock on it, maybe we could move a mattress in there.”
Scott almost laughed, he thought she was joking, but the look on her face informed him that she wasn’t. “Oh, well, if you’re that worried, me and Melvin could sleep in the fire engine tonight…or for as long as you want, I guess.”
“No, no, really, I don’t want to put you guys out…it’s just…well, I’d really rather not go into it right now, I just think it’s for the best. At least for now.”
Scott nodded, “sure, but it’s kind of small, I don’t know how comfortable you will be in there.”
“Trust me Scott, it will be fine.”
“Ok, well, let me give you the nickel tour. I guess you’ve lived around here for awhile, so like everything else in this town, the fire station is small. I moved here pretty much right out of the police academy, so it was a little shocking to me.”
“You do look younger than just about everybody in Mangum, how old are you, if you don’t mind me asking.”
“I just turned twenty two, yeah, I know, most people my age want to move away from here, not to here. But my mom was scared her baby boy would get hurt being a policeman in the big city, so it was a compromise, I would take a job in a small town, and she would stop nagging me.
“How did you settle on Mangum?”
“My mom again, she researched it, and only one police officer has been killed in the line of duty in Mangum history, and that was back in the forties.”
“What killed him, boredom?”
“Nope, some drunk stabbed him to death in the town square when the cop tried to give him a ride home.”
Allison gasped. “That’s horrible!”
“You mentioned your parents, do you have kids of your own?”
“No, I’m infertile, didn’t find out until after I was married.”
The conversation had taken on a somber tone, Scott had tried to keep things light, otherwise, the situation would seem even more unbearable. “Anyway, here we are.” He said, as they reached the top of the stairs. There was a small row of bunks, all the lights were off, save one in the corner.”
“Oh, how sweet, Melvin left a light on for you.” Allison said.
Scott looked at the light, Melvin snored loudly, almost drowning out the banging coming from outside. “Oh, not really. You mean you live in the Mangum area and don’t know about ‘The Bulb?’”
Allison looked at him quizzically. “It’s a light bulb that’s been on since…I think they said 1925, which means it’s been burning non stop, aside from the occasional power outage, for over fifty years.” Scott said, reciting what he had been told the first time he was shown around.
“Are you shitting me?” Allison asked, genuinely intrigued.
“Hey, that’s what they told me. Random tourists passing through used to stop by the station occasionally and ask to see it, so I guess it’s no bullshit. I guess we could turn it off now, but who are me and Melvin to fuck with tradition?”
“That’s wild! Well, I guess we better get the mattress, I’ll be careful not to wake Melvin.”
“Pffft, nothing can wake that guy up, not even his own snoring.” The two picked up the mattress from the bunk, it was thin and light. It wasn’t really meant for much more than sleeping on more than a night or two at a time. They carried it downstairs, and Scott opened the bathroom door. It was small, with a commode, a sink, and a shower stall. But the mattress fit inside, even if it scrunched a bit against the wall. Despite the fact that it was used exclusively by men, Allison thought that it was surprisingly clean.
“If either of you need to go, don’t be afraid to knock, I’ll gladly get up and step out for a little bit.”
“Nah, if we need to go, we’ll just piss out a window.”
“What about if you need to go number two?”
Scott laughed, “not really, there’s a smaller john upstairs. One of the first things we did when we raided the market was grab up as much toilet paper as we could carry, so, um, feel free to use as much as you want…I mean, I know girls need more sometimes, I’m just saying…” Scott fumbled with his words, wishing he had thought before he spoke.
“I know exactly what you’re saying, thanks. Um, Scott, do either of you have a key to this bathroom?”
“No Allison, we don’t.”
Allison nodded, and started to close the door, “but we do have fire axes.” Scott said. “Kidding Allison, I’m kidding.” Scott was just trying to break the tension, but he knew he had made a bad joke. He heard the bathroom door lock, and went back upstairs.
Allison gazed at herself in the mirror, she was only thirty one, but she thought she looked old, noticeably older. The broken tooth didn’t help.
She double checked to make sure the door was locked. She knew Scott had been joking. Except it wasn’t really a joke to her, she knew that if either of those men really wanted in, they would get in. It was probably a little silly to segregate herself like this, she risked making herself seem ungrateful. But hopefully her rescuers would understand, she needed more than anything to feel safe right now.<
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Allison turned off the lights, laid down on the thin mattress, and pulled the blanket over herself. Soon, despite the incessant pounding from outside, she was fast asleep.
CHAPTER 5
Allison awoke in the dark, she fumbled around and turned on the light. She pulled up the mattress and leaned it against the wall. She took a quick shower, she wasn’t too thrilled with putting back on the now filthy nightie, but it was all she had.
She unlocked the bathroom door and ventured into the firehouse. Scott and Melvin weren’t around, but she did smell the aroma of cooking meat. She went upstairs and saw a smaller set of stairs leading to a door, it was open.
The door led onto the roof, she stepped into the sunlight. Melvin was at an old charcoal grill, turning steaks over. Scott was sitting in a folding chair beside an old card table. “What time is it?” Allison asked.
Scott looked at his watch, “fifteen ‘til two, we figured we’d let you sleep in.”
“Thanks, I needed a good night’s sleep. Say, I know it’s a long shot, but do you have anything I could wear?”
Scott got up, “yeah, actually, we should have some coveralls lying around, and I can spare you one of my T-shirts, they’ll be kind of big on you.”
“That would be awesome, anything is better than this blood drenched nightie” Allison said.
Scott went down below, Allison walked up to the side of the building and looked down. The banging was one thing, but seeing them all down there, it was terrifying, and they weren’t that far up, it was only a two story building. “This is so weird, I recognize some of those people.”
Melvin looked up from the grill, “I pretty much knew all of ‘em. I guess you never came into town much.”
Allison looked back, “no I didn’t, just mostly to go to the grocery store. And Mike usually did that, since he worked at the brick plant, it was just easier for him to get what we needed before he headed home.”