Eves of the Outbreak

by Lilith Assisi

  Judy looked around and realized they were approaching his street. She barely recognized the place with all debris and lack of upkeep.

  Linda slowed the car and pulled to a stop at the corner of the next street.

  “That’s his house there. The third one down on the left. The one with the green door. They rent out the second floor,” Greg said, pointing towards the place. Linda nodded.

  He surveyed the street.

  “Where should I go?” she asked.

  “I would drive down this street, take your second left, then another left, then again and you’ll be back here. Just keep driving that square. Hopefully the crew didn’t follow us,” Greg said this while he was looking through the windows nervously.

  “If I see any of them trying to sneak up on us I’ll blare the horn three short times,” Linda said.

  “Sounds good. Let’s go Mei-mei,” Greg said.

  Judy climbed out of the back of the Suburban and waited for Linda to drive ahead before crossing the street with Greg.

  A feral cat dashed out from behind some trashcans and ran in to a backyard, startling her a little. She found herself reaching for the pendant of the white tiger now around her neck, giving it a quick squeeze for moral support.

  The street seemed otherwise dead, though Judy could have sworn she saw movement behind some curtains.

  Right as they reached Daniel’s house they saw an infected coming up the street. He had stumbled out from between some houses at the same time that Linda turned the van down the second left.

  The infected followed the sight of Linda’s vehicle, while Greg pushed Judy down in to a crouch behind the front staircase.

  “Let’s use the back door,” Greg whispered, and they slipped behind the building along the narrow driveway on its side.

  Greg had a set of keys to Daniel’s place, making entry pretty easy.

  They opened the back security door and passed the bottom entrance to climb the stairs to the second floor, closing the security door behind them.

  Greg stopped before climbing the steps and walked over towards the recycling bin in the corner. He took out some empty cans and stacked them in front of the inside of the security door, hoping to give them some head’s up in case anyone, or worse anything, followed them in through the back.

  They climbed the stairs in silence and reached the second floor’s door. A sign hung on the front of it, one painted orange and black with cats and bats that said “Happy Haunting” even though Halloween had been over a month ago.

  Seeing the sign made Judy think of how long they had been traveling to reach here, to get to Daniel. It had been over three weeks. A trip that they had hoped to accomplish in three days had taken three weeks.

  Greg was finding the key to the apartment and Judy found herself wondering what they would find inside. Was there any chance of Daniel being in there? Would he be alive? Could he be infected?

  She reached out and placed a hand on Greg’s before he turned the key in the lock.

  He looked up at her, slightly shocked as she shook her head.

  She pointed to herself, then the keys. Then she pointed to Greg, and to his gun.

  It wasn’t too hard for him to get her gist. She should open the door and he should be ready with his gun.

  He did like she suggested, though much less enthusiastically than he might have in other situations.

  She swung the door open to silence. Greg rushed in, holding the gun loosely in front of him.

  “Daniel! Daniel are you in here?” he said urgently, rushing from room to room with much less caution than he normally had. Judy followed behind him, looking around the apartment. It was covered with a thick layer of dust and had the feel of not being used for a long time.

  Greg continued running around to the back rooms of the place while Judy approached the counter where Daniel and his roommate had left their phone chargers. She noticed a set of keys and a calendar on the counter across from the fridge.

  “He’s not here,” said Greg, exasperated.

  “But I think I know where he might be Ge-ge,” said Judy with a smile.

  He walked over to her, looking slightly defeated and curious at the same time.

  She pointed at the calendar.

  “That was the last day you reached him,” she said, pointing to the day on the calendar that she and Greg had been picked up by the police in California. Then she slid her finger to the next day. Her finger rested just below a note with Daniel’s handwriting on that day.

  Career Fair North Newbury High School 11-3 was written in red ink.

  Greg’s face lit up a little.

  “I didn’t see his car anywhere on the street. And those aren’t his keys,” he said, pointing at the keys next to the calendar.

  “He could be anywhere between here and there, but it’s worth a look, right?” Judy suggested.

  “I hope so. God I hope so,” he said.

  Part 12: Beneath

  “The world will not be destroyed by those who do evil, but by those who watch them without doing anything.”

  -Albert Einstein

  Chapter 59

  The basement. That was our mission. And one we didn’t have much choice in declining.

  It couldn’t be that bad, right?

  For some reason Travis and Danny seemed to think it was.

  At dinner the night after my first raid Anthony had made the announcement. There was precious equipment in the basement of the building that they needed to access. More canned goods and food. Then while we were at it, there was lots of science equipment in the biology wing. The high school was becoming more and more crowded, and we were going to need those supplies.

  Travis had suggested several times that we just keep going out on raids, but Anthony did have a point that we would have to be going further and further for these raids. Why not get all the supplies in our current location first, and then properly fortify the lower levels of the school so that we had more space and supplies.

  Travis also asked for a vote on the mission, but Anthony wouldn’t allow it.

  I personally don’t think it would have mattered. It seemed somehow Anthony and his cronies had influenced tons of people in the high school. Most of the people there were best at just nodding their heads and falling in line.

  Anthony announced that the mission would take place in two days. In the meantime he and his cronies would head up to the facility where Dave had trained to become a fire fighter to get some potential gear to help with the mission, like night vision goggles and survival kits.

  He had been nice enough to initially ask for volunteers, and a couple people had signed up. Travis sat back grumpily in his seat and I figured none of us would be volunteering, but then some younger kids started volunteering.

  We watched this unfold and realized these children were likely to serve as bait and body guards for Anthony. Then Daniel raised his hand to volunteer.

  I followed suit. I could handle myself better then a 12 year old, of that I was sure.

  Travis looked at us with astonishment, but then added his hand to the mix, shaking his head all the while.

  By the end of the meeting there were eight adults and six children signed up for the mission, not including Anthony and his cronies. Anthony said he would divulge the plan of attack the following night after dinner.

  Travis stormed out of the meeting down the hall but made it clear that we were supposed to follow.

  He holed up in an abandoned classroom and we followed, River hopping in to my lap the moment I sat down with my back against the closed door to the room.

  “What the hell? Why did you two volunteer?” he asked.

  “You saw all those kids raising their hands at the end? Anthony doesn’t care how old people are to sign up, or how skilled they are. There are so many kids here without parents or guardians, and so many of them idolize that creep. But rather than take on a parental role for them, Anthony will treat them like cattle to the slaughter. At least if we help
with the mission we can protect some of those kids,” Daniel explained.

  Travis still seemed pissed, but his shoulders sunk with reservation.

  “He’s right Travis. I think the people at this school have been following Anthony because he gets things done, no questions asked. But maybe if we start stepping it up, then we can set some better examples. Maybe some people will start to realize we can be better leaders. I think that’s the best way to win this high school over, to lead by example. It’s that or leave and let Anthony continue to rule with his dictatorship.”

  “Besides, it doesn’t make us look good if all we do is object all his motions. Granted, we have reasons for not liking a lot of his ideas. But I think the better approach is for us to come up with our own plans and present them to the group,” suggested Daniel.

  “Ok. Fine. So what do you suggest about the lower levels of the schools?” said Travis, leaning against the wall and slowly sliding down to sit.

  River jumped out of my lap and went to Travis. He started to pet her reflexively but it did seem to relax his mood.

  “First off let’s get all the people that are going on the mission together tomorrow and give a refresher in weapon use and self defense,” suggested Daniel. “We can do it when Anthony is out on his mission to the firehouse.”

  “That should probably be you running that session. You’re the one with the black belt,” said Travis.

  “Do we have maps of the lower levels? Or an idea of what is where and what we need to get?” I asked.

  “I bet Ricky has something. And if not, he and Maria would gladly draw us a map,” suggested Daniel.

  “Maybe I can meet with them tomorrow and we can try to come up with a plan on how to strategically approach this,” I thought out loud.

  “Actually, that’s not a half bad idea. I should probably help with that. I know the volunteers better then you do. I could help you figure out who could do what,” Travis was sitting forward now, looking a little less angry.

  “And then hopefully people can see that Anthony is not the best leader, and maybe start taking others more seriously,” Daniel said with a smile.

  I looked across at these two young men, two people I barely knew two days ago and now seemed to trust incredibly. I chuckled to myself, getting some raised eyebrows in response but just shook my head.

  It seemed so interesting to me that in this new, broken world full of horror you could form stronger connections with people than ever before. I felt bad that I hadn’t had time to get to know these two on a more personal level, all I knew was that they were good, kind, caring, and brave. That was frankly all I needed to know. I found myself wishing that we had more time to get to know each other the conventional way, rather than being forced in to a traumatic and life-threatening situations we potentially faced every day.

  I glanced at my watch.

  “It’s only 7:30. I don’t know about you, but I am not tired at all. Seeing as how we are going to be a team tomorrow, why don’t we get to know each other a bit better. Tell me more about yourselves,” I said with a smile, hoping to understand these two more than I already did. As the minutes ticked by and I learned more and more about the two I found myself saddened that we had not met sooner.

  Chapter 60

  It was a great feeling, like I had a purpose again. For the last several weeks my only purpose had been survival. That was still the goal, but it was nice to put my creative mind to work. Now I could plan again, and I loved planning.

  I thought about this as I looked at Daniel and Travis. Who knew where this new world would lead us? In the past, relationships and friendships felt like they would be fleeting: people passing you by or through in your life. Now we didn’t know where life would lead us, and career goals or the American dream were less of a priority. It might be just what people like me need to start cultivating deeper friendships.

  My natural tendency was to be protective and a caretaker. I was always that professor that all the students liked, or the one that the residents liked being on clinics with the most. I had been the intern and resident mate that everyone could depend on. I had been the co-worker that probably took on more than I should, but tried to make sure that everyone was happy. And now I could try to be caretaker at the school. I didn’t have animals to save, but I had a whole school full of people, especially children, and a mad man in charge that I needed to protect them from.

  Ok, so my imagination was exaggerating a bit. Anthony was not a mad man. But he was a bully, and deep down he never had everyone else’s best interest at heart.

  So it was now the job of my like-minded friends, Travis and Daniel and I, to show him that his abuse of authority would not be tolerated. Our goal today was to come up with a plan for the basement mission to keep everyone as safe as possible.

  In addition to getting to know Travis and Daniel better last night, I had spent much of today getting to know the other members of the high school. Daniel had run a self-defense course in the gymnasium starting right after Anthony left. Travis and I got a decent map of the lower levels of the school we met individually with the other volunteers for the mission and got to know them a bit better.

  Then the two of us sat down head to head and came up with our plan.

  I enjoyed every moment of it. I didn’t want to think of the whole situation as like playing games, since so much more was at stake, but it reminded me of planning out strategies for man hunt or capture the flag when I was a child.

  Plus Travis wasn’t exactly good at hiding his crush on me, and I’ll admit it, the more time we spent together the closer I felt to him.

  He was four years my junior, and his enthusiasm could run laps around mine. But it helped motivate me. His constant optimism and hunger for knowledge was contagious and uplifting. And my wisdom and compassion seemed to be rubbing off on him.

  Not only did I find myself quite happy being around him, I felt a sensation I hadn’t in a while: butterflies in my stomach, the good kind.

  Anthony had just arrived back from his trip outside the school. Travis and I had brought Daniel up to speed on our plan over dinner. I also noticed that Anthony spent a lot of the meal glaring over at our table. I figured someone had told him we had been scheming all day. We really had devised a great plan.

  Half an hour later everyone was returning their dishes to the kitchen and those of us planning to be on the mission went to the back of the cafeteria to meet. Anthony continued to glower when a bunch of people sat near Travis and I, chatting and smiling.

  “Ok kids. So tomorrow we raid the basement. First we have to clear the stairwells. Then Vince, Bill-“ Anthony was cut off by none other than yours truly.

  “Actually Anthony, we came up with a plan today. One that we wanted to run by everyone and see what everyone thought,” I interrupted.

  For a few seconds you could tell Anthony was really struggling not to shout at me, or tell me to F-off, but he just pinched his mouth closed and nodded.

  I pulled out my drawings and laid them on the table in front of Anthony.

  They all seemed a little shocked. Here I was the newest member of their group and I had a lot of information about their school to share.

  “So everything labeled with a pink star are things that we definitely need to obtain. On the first floor there is the nurse’s office and medical supplies there. And there are materials from the biology and technology classrooms. Things we might be able to use for building or making medicine down the road,” I stated, pointing to the classrooms starred on either end of the L-shape of the building.

  “Then here in the basement are extra generators, canned foods, bottled water, and other supplies,” I pointed now at the basement below the elevator.

  “Rather then pull all those carefully placed desks and chairs in the stairwell out, we figured we could tackle this from the two points of entrance we already have: the main entrance to the building and the elevator,” I explained.

  I continued to point and draw arrows a
long the pathway, describing our plan.

  The kids that had volunteered would mostly be lookouts on the roof, keeping them out of harm’s way. They could inform every one of any zombies heading our way from the outside, and they could try to draw the attention of those zombies to the opposite side of the building if need be.

  Vince, Bill, Anthony and Dave could do the first sweep of the building via the main entrance. They would try to attract any zombies in the building out and take care of them. Then they could do a sweep of the first floor and take out any zombies stuck in the building in the various rooms. I figured keeping the goon squad together would make them happy, and I noticed Vince was nodding with a look of approval as I explained this. That is until Anthony glared at him.

  Continuing on with my plan, I explained that then Walter, Mary, Marcus, Raquel, Lance, Ricky, and I would go in after them and start using our carts to wheel the supplies we wanted out to the waiting truck. Since I had the strongest background in medicine I would help them determine what was worthwhile grabbing out of the biology labs and the nurse’s office. Lance, being the engineer, would do the same for the technology labs.

  Travis and Daniel would be outside, one with the truck and the other with their SUV to load supplies in to.

  Next we would send an elevator down to the basement with an alarm clock going off in it. That way we could hopefully attract any zombies there in to the elevator, and carry it back up to floor one where we could dispatch of them.

  Then we’d travel down to the basement and take out whatever else waited down there, until they could all take turns loading the supplies up and traveling with them directly to the third floor.

  We could all make it back to the cafeteria after that, turn the elevator back off, and start storing our new supplies.

  I finished with a deep breath and sat down.

  “Ok…I guess that’s a good plan,” conceded Anthony. “But what about fortifying the new levels? It makes most sense for us to go down via the stairs to do that so we have access points in the future that way.”