Rotten

by Hardy, Victoria S.

  Mrs. Williams immediately got busy and opened the refrigerator. She glanced inside, left the door open, and used the light to see well enough to start a pot of coffee. I opened the pantry, turned on the flashlight to investigate, and laughed. The pantry was huge and looked like a well organized grocery store, there were can of vegetables, fruits, and meats, dried and canned milk, bags of rice and pasta, tubs of oats and grains, cases of water and beer stacked on the floor, and in the back of the room, tucked against the wall, was a massive freezer. “Was Grady some kind of survivalist,” I asked, spying boxes of Little Debbie’s Snack Cakes.

  “I guess. His house in Blacksport has just as much stuff. He always said it was best to be prepared, of course Dad said that it was a great idea if you could afford it, but most people couldn’t.”

  “We could stay here for years, too bad it’s so close to Arlington,” I said.

  Mrs. Williams stepped into the pantry, borrowed the flashlight, and began choosing items. “We all need a hot meal,” she said, grabbing a bag of pasta. “And you girls should get out of those wet clothes, I’m sure there is a washer and dryer here somewhere.”

  “Yes, ma’am, it’s downstairs. You want me to show you?” Will started toward the stairs.

  “Not yet, why don’t you show the girls where the bathrooms are and I’ll wash the clothes after everyone has showered.”

  Will led us through a huge master bedroom and stepped into a luxurious bathroom. “You probably don’t want to turn on the lights in here, there’s a skylight in the shower.”

  “I can shower in the dark,” Princess said and dropped her backpack on the counter. “Dove, I only have one more set of clothes, maybe you can find something of Grady’s that will fit.” She lifted a giant bathrobe from the back of the door and laughed. “Maybe Mrs. Williams has some extra clothes that will fit you.”

  I took the robe figuring beggars couldn’t be choosers. “Is there another bathroom?”

  “Yeah, downstairs.”

  “Lead the way, sir.”

  I followed him downstairs and he turned on the light in a bedroom. “It’s in there.” He pointed. “The lights are okay down here, and there might be something that fits you in the drawers.”

  I rummaged in the dresser and found a pair of sweats with a drawstring and some t-shirts. “This will work.”

  I found Princess standing in the bathroom when I opened the curtain. She was still in wet clothes and held a pair of scissors in her hand. “Help me,” she said and lifted a dreadlock and cut it off, dropping it in the trashcan beside the toilet.

  “Are you sure?” I dried off and wrapped my hair in a towel. “That’s four years of growth.”

  “Don’t I know it, it’s heavy and a pain in the ass and I’m done with it. Who needs dreads in the zombie apocalypse anyway? Help me.”

  I pulled on the clothes and took the scissors. “If you’re sure …”

  “I’m sure, seems kind of silly now. Plus, if they are looking for witnesses, it wouldn’t hurt to change my look.”

  “Good point.” I lifted a rope of hair and snipped it close to her scalp.

  It didn’t take long to work through the rest of the dreads and she stood, staring in the mirror, and running her hands through the short golden crop. “I don’t even own a brush.”

  “You look smaller.” I smiled. “Less intimidating.”

  “I’m still a bad-ass,” she said.

  “Yep. A bad ass named Princess.” I laughed. “Take a shower.”

  I found a pair of thick socks in the dresser, slid them on, and walked back into the office where the TV showed the same footage and the reporter was repeating what he had said earlier. “Is that on a loop or something?”

  “Maybe, and it’s the same on all the channels. You’d figure with all the helicopters in the air there would be tons of footage, but I guess with only one camera filming it’s easier for them to define the story for us. They don’t want any inconsistencies and are probably getting rid of the survivors, if there are any, as we speak.” Rotten flipped through the channels, each the same as the last.

  “I’m going to need everyone’s banking info, passwords, and identification,” Highland said from behind the computer. “And we also need to pool all our cash together to see how much we have on hand. Mom and I have a few thousand, so that will keep us for a while. When it’s safe we’ll use Grady’s cars to go north.”

  “Wow,” Rotten said when Princess stepped in the room.

  Highland looked up from the computer and stared. “That looks nice, Princess.”

  “Damn, girl! That’s hot,” Moonshine smiled, looking her up and down.

  “Y’all quit looking at me, you’re making me nervous. It’s just a hair cut.” She blushed.

  “It looks good,” Sully said.

  Mrs. Williams called us for dinner, and smiled when she saw Princess. “Very pretty,” she said, pulled Princess into a hug, and stepped away with tears in her eyes. “I’m so proud of all of you,” she said. “My kids are all grown up.” She wiped her eyes delicately with a dishtowel and sniffed. “Everyone sit down,” she indicated the set table with a wave of her arm, “this is all out of cans, but it’s hot. Tomorrow when it’s light I’ll see what’s in the freezer.”

  We sat down at the table in front of the windows and ate in the dark, watching the lights of the air traffic pass overhead. We finished the food quickly and then I stepped into the pantry and grabbed a couple boxes of snack cakes, while Mrs. Williams made another pot of coffee.

  “I need everyone’s information,” Highland said again, opening a box of oatmeal pies and spilling them on the table. “I’m going to try to transfer all our money into the account of David D. Gibson of Atlanta.”

  “Who the hell is David D. Gibson? Not that it really matters to me because I don’t have a bank account,” Princess said. “I’ll throw my commission in the pot, though.”

  “I’m David D. Gibson,” Highland said and smiled. “The D stands for Donald. I created him a couple years ago just to see if I could, and it worked. He has a checking and savings account, a social security card, some credit cards, an address in an unfinished subdivision, and a PO Box where I pick up his mail. It was surprisingly easy to do and I figure no one will be looking for him.”

  Princess and I looked at each other and shrugged. “I got about two hundred in my checking account, my wallet’s down stairs,” I said.

  “I’m busted,” Moonshine said. “Today was payday and due to the zombie apocalypse I didn’t get my check.”

  “There’s about a couple thousand in mine, I hadn’t paid rent yet.” Rotten reached for his wallet and slid it across the table.

  Will set his dad’s wallet on the table. “I don’t know if we have any money.”

  “There’s not much in my checking account, but I have other accounts.” Sully tossed his wallet across the table.

  “Can you access them online,” Highland asked.

  “Yeah.”

  “That’s all we need.” He stacked the wallets in front of him. “And Will since you’re sure Grady is dead, I’m going to move his money, too.”

  “If it was the shot, then he is definitely dead,” Will said.

  Highland nodded. “Okay, then. Let me take a shower and I’ll get started. We’ll stay here tonight and figure out what to do in the morning.”

  Later we gathered in the office around the TV, which was showing the same footage as it had earlier. The experts had gathered in the studio to share their opinions of the event, most agreeing that South Carolina was well overdue for a strong earthquake and cited the 1886 earthquake in Charleston as an example.

  Highland sat at the desk with all our wallets, credit cards, and passwords and funneled our money, and Grady’s money, into the account of David D. Gibson, and no one bothered him or even peeked over his shoulder at the computer screen. That was the thing about Highland, even though we never felt like we really knew him, we trusted him without question.


  “There should be different footage in the morning.” Rotten yawned. “We should get some sleep and I guess we should take turns on guard. Who wants first shift?”

  Moonshine and Princess volunteered and we divvied up the beds and couches, and I went to sleep under the beat of helicopter wings. Or at least in my dreams the noise of the rotors transformed into wings of small and noisy dragonflies.

  Day Three

  Saturday

  December 13, 2014

  No one woke me for my shift and I stirred well after sunrise to the scent of coffee. On the main floor everyone else was up and quietly staring at the huge TV, I turned to look and even knowing what I knew, and having seen what I had seen in the last thirty-six hours of my life, I gasped when I saw the footage. If it hadn’t been for the out-of-place Litchfield building I wouldn’t have recognized my hometown at all. Looking harder I could make out what was left of the Chapman building that housed the National Bank and the alcove where Sully had seen the night shine, and then I saw the steeple had broken off The First Baptist Church and had wedged in the alley between the church and the school. The Litchfield leaned precariously over the surrounding smaller buildings and the glass of the penthouse was mostly gone. And the outlying areas, the suburbs with their strip malls, movie houses, and fast foods, had been completely flattened.

  “Wow.” Moonshine broke the silence. “I knew it was bad, lifted us up and dropped us about two feet, and we weren’t even in the center of it, but damn, that’s unbelievable.” He shook his head. “Everything’s gone.”

  It’s hard describe the complete devastation we saw, but you saw it on TV, everyone did - it was treated like 9-11 and hurricane Katrina rolled into one. But this time it was our family and friends, our homes, our jobs, our schools, our memories, and our town and when the dam above Blacksport and Freemont gave way the cameras were rolling. The river washed over the banks and took down the few remaining buildings that the earthquake had left leaning this way and that way, and we watched them crumble in slow motion into the flow of water. If you didn’t see it live, it was played over and over again for those who missed it the first time or the hundredth.

  “There’s no way my family survived that,” Moonshine said, watching the water wash our town away. “Their trailer was only about fifty feet from the river.” He rubbed the tears from his eyes, and Princess wrapped her arms around his waist and held him.

  There were no local news stations anymore and the anchors at the affiliates in Greenville and Charlotte could barely control their excitement with being at the center of such a major event. The handsome newscaster, who I’m sure was imagining himself as the next Anderson Cooper or Shepard Smith, held his somber expression and announced the road closures for Blacksport, Freemont and surrounding areas. Highland pulled up a map on his laptop, made notes on a scrap of paper, and called Will over to look at the satellite imagery.

  “I think we’re here, is that about right?” Highland pointed.

  Will studied. “No, that was the first dock we passed. We’re here.” His finger moved over the dirt road that led to the highway.

  Highland set a digital pin over our location and zoomed out. He glanced down at the scrap of paper, back to the screen, and said, “We’re hemmed in. The road out of here is closed at the intersection, so we can’t go that way, and the other way is the Arlington Bridge which fell in the earthquake according to Cooper Shepard there.” He nodded at the giant TV. “All we can do is head up river.” A helicopter flew over following the river and we watched it pass through the bare trees between the house and the water. “After dark. Grady’s has boats, right?”

  Will nodded. “A couple Jon boats.”

  I didn’t want to go and said so. “If they find people trying to get away today or tonight, they’re going to know we know. I don’t think they’re going to be worried about people in their house watching the news - they want us to watch the news. But if y’all want to hit the river again tonight, I’ll go with …”

  “I think we should see how the day unfolds before we decide.” Mrs. Williams said, stepping over to the coffee pot. “Come get your coffee, Dove.” She poured a fresh cup. “I think we should definitely be ready to go and have our bug out bags, as Reginald calls them, packed and ready, though. We really need to rest, we’ll all in shock and mourning.” She rubbed my shoulder, handed me the mug, and looked at Moonshine.

  “All I know is that we need to stay in the house because anyone looking down from those choppers could see us clear as day if we’re outside.” Moonshine sniffed and Princess handed him some tissues.

  We agreed on the wait and see, but be-ready plan, and turned back to the TV. We spent the day doing normal things, or as normal as can be had in our particular situation. Sully read, Mrs. Williams cooked and washed clothes. I found this journal in Grady’s desk and started writing down our experience, Princess lingered in front of the mirror as though she hadn’t seen herself in a very long time and played with her hair, and Rotten spent the day searching the dark holes of the Internet, while everyone else napped and watched the TV.

  We did have our bags packed and ready, and Moonshine, Will, and Highland did go outside to make sure that the Jon boats were gassed and ready to go, but the decision to stay came in the late afternoon when Rotten called us into the office to show us what he had found in the rabbit holes on the web. “It’s happening,” he said as we gathered around the large desktop screen. “The zombie apocalypse is happening, it got out. Remember that wildfire I told you about out west somewhere? It was in Montana and this is a video taken last night in Billings.” He clicked a video titled, “Weird rolling dude” and we watched a man roll down the street, just as he and I had seen outside the warehouse windows in Blacksport.

  “Here’s another from Cheyenne.” He clicked a video entitled “What the fuck!!!” and we watched a woman back flipping through traffic, growling, and trying to break into car windows.

  “That gas explosion in Texas? These were shot in Dallas and Houston.” A naked man hopped across the tops of cars parked along a residential street as though he had springs in his feet. He bounced from one to the other with seemingly little effort and then landed, crouched down like an animal, before he bounced out of the range of the camera. The next video was short, shaky, and deafening with screams and showed a man attacking a woman and tearing into her violently, her white shirt quickly turning dark.

  “The videos are disappearing from the web, being yanked by the censors I guess, right after they are uploaded and I lost a few of them before I started downloading and saving them. And this is Atlanta, Columbia, and Charlotte.” We watched the videos of people loping like cats, hopping over cars, rolling and back flipping through streets, shopping malls, and beaches, and tearing the flesh from other human beings that heralded the beginning of the nation-wide zombie apocalypse. “I don’t think they planned this, they lost control of their monsters and these zombies aren’t burning up in the sun.”

  For the rest of the day and into the evening more states were added to the list of where it had spread - New Mexico, California, Colorado, Idaho, Nebraska, Florida, Alabama - and our plans changed again and now our fear was focused back on the zombies instead of the soldiers in unmarked black uniforms. We unpacked our bags, distributing the guns, and then sat around the table having dinner and planning for the zombie apocalypse with both seriousness and laughter.

  Day Four

  Sunday

  December 14, 2014

  Sunday morning the television news still focused on the devastation of Freemont and Blacksport until an anchor was attacked on live TV during one of the morning talk shows. The cameraman must have also been attacked because the camera fell and filmed a little longer, showing the chaos of running feet. We heard the screams, the panic, and then a head rolled to a stop in front of the lens. No one laughed, as this head was definitely not funny, and then the feed switched to a pre-recorded broadcast of the Super Bowl.

  We spent the rest of
the morning and afternoon fortifying the cabin as best as we could and luckily we had to only concern ourselves with the front of the house as it was built into the hill. We found some fishing wire and strung up noise makers of pots and pans and fishing bells and other odds and ends through the woods as an early warning system for an incoming zombie horde and divvied up the hours to make sure we had an armed guard stationed twenty-four hours a day. We couldn’t do much about the wall of windows, but we closed in the deck and the small patio outside the downstairs door with wood and barbed wire that we found in the shed. And then Moonshine climbed on the roof and covered the skylight with a piece of plywood. After that there wasn’t much to do except wait, watch, and keep up with the updates on the TV and Internet.