The Survival Pact

by Christy Sloat

  Maybe what happened to the guy in the interstate was happening to her.

  I decided to call Emma, she would know. She was a Marine. If anyone knew what was going on it would be her. She was my go to for any and all information about the US. She was a badass.

  I got her voicemail. So much for that idea.

  I ate my sandwich and listened to the radio to drown out my worries.

  “We interrupt this broadcast with a special news emergency.” I turned up the volume to listen. “This is Carly Jacobs with an urgent report of sudden and violent attacks in our area. Many police are reported as seeing what they can only describe as, homicides in which we cannot at this time contain. Many are urged to stay inside and lock their doors. Do not approach the violent citizens. After many riots in the city lately, police are stating that this may be another rioting act or an act of terrorism. They are working with the state and the mayor to handle all calls. 911 centers are working hard to answer calls. If you see an attack, do not approach the attacker. These are violent people that are aggressive with no mercy and choosing what seem to be random victims. More information will be reported as it comes in.” Carly Jacobs was gone and the music came back.

  What the hell kinda information is that? What do I do with that? Call 911 or not? Random acts of violence? More like the dead coming back and killing the living. That’s the news for you.

  There was never anything real in it anymore, which was another reason I hated writing for the paper. I had to withhold information more than I cared to. Sure, I was a fiction writer at heart, but lying to the public about the truth gutted me. Emma and I had many discussions about how we both had to hide the truth. Her job as a Marine gave her detailed information, yet she couldn’t tell us a lot of it.

  But Lou, she respected us no matter what we had to hide about our lives. She didn’t hold it against us, but rather protected us from the haters of the world.

  Lou became a teacher and followed her life goal. In college I always thought she would change her mind and be something tougher, like a construction worker or something. Even as funny as it sounds, Lou didn’t strike me as the teaching kid’s sort of person. But when I saw her around her students, I saw what it was that she contributed to those kids, it was patience; a patience that I never had for little ones.

  When her mom got sick, she took leave to take care of her. She hadn’t gone back yet, and her mom wasn’t doing any better.

  The sun was going down faster than I wanted, but it gave me the will to get back on the highway and keep my car moving. As I got back onto the Eighty-One my phone rang and finally it was Lou.

  “Lou,” I said with relief. “Thank God you called me back. I’ve been freaking the fuck out here.”

  Lou laughed a little, but then she got serious. “Where you at, gal?”

  “I’m in Pennsylvania. Not far from Virginia actually,” I said as I passed the sign that said, Virgina State Line thirty miles. “I left with some stuff and the bag you packed me. And I saw some things. Scary things. Lou, what’s going on?”

  “Well, I ain’t gonna lie to you, it’s not good. It’s probably worse out there where you are right now. New York is getting hit hard,” she said honestly. “Although they’re not reporting it on the news, so you won’t learn much from that. Damn idiots. Out here there have been a few incidents but that’s it.”

  I told her what I saw and the lack of information I got from the radio. I also told her that I left Sam behind.

  “Well, he’d only slow you down, really,” Lou said, without her usual sass.

  Normally Lou would say something more along the lines of, “Good. He’s an asshole.”

  “I sorta told him I wanted a divorce first. And then he almost got attacked by this… dead guy. I’m still not sure about what he was,” I explained. “And Sam called me after I left to make me feel like shit for taking the car. I guess people are being murdered by… these things. Lou, I saw one get hit by a car and then get up and kill someone after.” I was assuming at this point that the guy on the freeway was dead. “What is going on?”

  She sighed and then said, “The only thing I know for sure is that they are not people anymore. Maybe they used to be, but they aren’t anymore. They are dead. I saw one climb up out of the ground in Ida’s backyard today. Freakiest thing I ever saw.” Whoa. Hold on one mother-effing second. I knew Lou would be able to tell me what was going on, especially since she was the one who told me to get out. But this was craziness.

  “You saw what?” I couldn’t fathom what she was telling me. Maybe I didn’t want to understand it. Maybe I wanted to believe that it was just random acts of violence committed by terrorists. What Lou was speaking about were dead people, coming back to life.

  4

  “What I’m speaking about is something that is literally supposed to be impossible. Yet, I have seen it with my own eyeballs. And Ida saw it, too,” she whispered. Ida is Lou’s mom, who I adore because she was so kick ass. “Ida is speaking about the end of the world stuff; the end times. You know my mom and how she gets. I can’t say I don’t disagree here.”

  I shook my head and tried hard to keep my eyes on the road. Focusing on this news and driving wasn’t easy. Besides, I was starting to feel exhausted and my eyes were going blurry.

  “What did you do to the thing? You know when it crawled up.”

  “Well, Ida shot it with Black Betty.” Black Betty was Ida’s .22 semi-automatic. I have never shot a gun, but I respected Ida and her guns. I wished I had one right then, though. It would make me feel a heck of a lot safer. “Shooting ‘em any other place than the head, doesn’t do jack. You have to hit it right in the head. We burnt it too, so that may do the trick.”

  “I’m actually not sure what to say right now. I can’t believe we’re even talking about this.” I wouldn’t deny that I was scared out of my mind. Being in my car, outside in the open, made me feel exposed. I would feel much safer if I was with Lou and Emma.

  We’ve always had each other’s back since we met ten years ago. We were young but we needed each other so badly. All of us were eighteen and fearless then.

  I met Lou on the first day of college. We were roommates for four years and I met Emma through Lou. They’re cousins and they had each other longer, but they never once made me feel like a third wheel. Instead they included me in their family like a sister.

  “Believe it or not, it’s happening,” Lou said, pulling me out of my trance. “Have you slept at all?”

  “No. I’m feeling a little sleepy though.”

  “Well you get to a hotel. Make sure it’s safe and inside the bag I packed you, you’ll find something to keep you safe, if you need it,” Lou instructed. “Back in, so you can get out fast, if you need to. Don’t tell anyone anything. Use the lights in the bathroom only. They seem to like the light.”

  My hands shook at the notion of one of those things coming to my room and trying to attack me because it liked the light. I shivered.

  I hung up with Lou after promising her I would follow all instructions and that I would call her if anything happened. I found a little motel right off the interstate in Virginia. I backed in like she told me to and I didn’t speak to anyone besides the front desk lady. She certainly didn’t act like she knew anything anyhow.

  I flipped on the bathroom light only and closed the door behind me. I would have to get dressed in the bathroom as well as make my dinner, so that the light didn’t shine in the room itself.

  I felt like a covert spy hiding out from dead things.

  I made myself another sandwich and ate it while I pulled the backpack closer to me. Lou said she had something inside there to protect me; I was suddenly scared to see what it was.

  Lou said she made the backpack for me special and I was to never unpack it unless I had to.

  I recalled what I said to her when she gave it to me, “How wi
ll I know when to use it?”

  She told me, “You’ll know. Trust me.”

  She was right. I knew it was the right time, even if no one else knew about it. I knew and Lou knew. The world was changing. It seemed like every day there was awful news and terrible happenings even before today happened; shootings, mass chaos, and total unease. I read about it and wrote about it, despite the fact that I hated to.

  I knew the world wasn’t getting better any time soon, but I didn’t ever expect this to happen. The end of the world was something we spoke about in jest; never seriously. Of course Emma and Lou spoke about the biblical end of times frequently, but never really around me.

  They both knew I was never interested in talking about the end. It disturbed me. It scared me. I was married and I thought I wanted kids. So they backed off when I said that. Lou and Emma never wanted kids. They would talk to me about happy things, but Emma never brought up work and what she really did in the Marines. I think she wanted to protect me from it.

  If the world was coming down around us, I was happy I didn’t have kids to protect. I had myself. That was enough. Then again, maybe they would figure this out and things would be fine. For now I would just make it to Lou’s and we would see what the progress was.

  I unzipped the heavy bag, trying not to damage the perfect way she packed it. The large backpack was more suited for hiking and had tons of pockets and slots.

  I found a flashlight, extra batteries, rope, a map that was nicely folded, and a change of clothes. At the bottom of the bag was a wind up radio, duct tape, matches, and a space blanket. I didn’t see anything for protection in that pocket; two more to go. I placed everything back inside, neatly, and unzipped the front pocket finding peanuts, freeze dried food packages nicely put together, water filtration tabs, granola bars, trail mix, and a pocket utility knife which could be used for protection, but not likely what Lou was talking about.

  The side pouch held a canteen that I filled up with fresh water right away. The other pouch had another flashlight for easy access. The next pocket had all the essentials for building a shelter and a first aid kit. It wasn’t until I flipped the bag around that I found the extra hidden pocket. I reached inside and pulled not one, but two weapons. A large hunting knife that was sure to do some close up damage, and a handgun.

  I held it in my hand and realized that my fear of guns was deeper than I thought it was. Could I really shoot someone if I needed to? I liked to think so.

  If a woman like the one on the freeway attacked me, I wanted to think that I could shoot her. But without proper practice I was just an ill-informed person with a deadly weapon. I put the gun away and grabbed the knife, keeping it with me felt comfortable. I found the holster for the knife and the one for the gun, and saw that they were to be strapped to my leg.

  I shook my head and laughed. Lou was a badass. I couldn’t imagine where she got all this stuff and the time she spent on this bag must have taken forever. The fact that a sweet teacher had put this bag together made me laugh a little.

  I put everything back inside carefully and placed the bag by the door for easy access just in case. My head was throbbing as the adrenaline from the day’s events calmed down. I was feeling the effects of everything.

  It was time to shower and sleep. Tomorrow I would figure out what was going on.

  5

  After I showered, I sat on my bed and searched the news for any information regarding what was going on. News stories about attacks popped up on my tiny phone screen from all over the East Coast. I didn’t notice anything anywhere else. Typical that it was happening here first. It seemed like when shit hit the fan, the East Coast felt the full effects before anyone else. I read through the stories like a typical writer would, searching for clues about what the real story was, instead of what the writer was hiding from the reader. As I read the news articles, I compiled notes of similarities in all the stories. I left out what seemed like false statements or sugar coated statements. As a writer for a paper, I knew that my editor would have me change things that seemed like it could scare the public or unleash panic; so basically anything that was truth.

  I hated where I worked and what I wrote, but I had bills to pay. Mostly college loans that I accrued before I met Sam. It wasn’t like he wasn’t willing to help me pay them, but I felt like I needed to work. If he had his way, I would never work and would sit at home all day and cook for him, while popping out babies.

  I was writing a novel and I secretly hoped that it would be my meal ticket out of writing for the paper and Sam. I wanted to move back home to Virginia and write full time, but Sam didn’t. I hated the idea of being in a state that I hated, writing shitty news articles, and living a life that was false.

  I had gotten out, finally, but as I read the news, it wasn’t looking like I got out at a good time.

  I sat back against the headboard and looked over the notes. There were three things that I found consistent in each article.

  The attacks were random.

  The attackers hardly left survivors to leave a statement.

  And finally, witnesses described the attackers in each state as; violent, relentless, brutal, evil, and worst of all lifeless.

  It was the last word that stuck in my head the most. Lifeless.

  One without life. Or basically, dead.

  ****

  I awoke at every single sound, and after I woke up, it was impossible to get comfortable again. The bed was paper thin and the pillow was no thicker. I wished that I could turn on the TV and fall asleep to the sound of a dull movie, but I couldn’t turn on lights. The glow of a TV would surely be just as bad.

  I thought about pulling out my cell phone and turning on some light music, or reading a book on it, but I was too tempted to look at the news to see what else was happening. I already shut off my WiFi so I wouldn’t be tempted to sneak a peek.

  To make it worse, every time I closed my eyes I saw the guy attacking Sam or the woman on the freeway slowly shuffling along the road. Even with the knife strapped to my leg I was scared. Weapons didn’t give you security, you had to do that. I had to believe that I was strong enough and brave enough to use the weapon to protect myself. And that I was able to do some real damage to someone if I wanted to live.

  I know I would, without a doubt, protect my friends, but when it came to me; I only hoped.

  I pulled my cell off of the side table and texted Sam.

  Hey, did you make it out of there?

  Guilt of leaving him behind was another thing eating away at me. If I had only stayed and took him with me, I could’ve at least dropped him off somewhere safe.

  Who was I kidding? I didn’t know safe places for myself, let alone Sam. And I would never have gotten out of there if I stayed behind. He would have held me back and I could be like the victims these Lifeless were taking; dead.

  I got out. Hotwired a car and met up with my dad in Jersey. Where r u?

  I laughed. He was with the perfect person. No doubt his dad had an arsenal of guns, illegal mostly, and would protect him.

  I’m okay. In VA in a hotel. I’m on my way to be with Lou. Sam, be careful. They are not like us. They are not…

  I paused. What was I going to tell him that he would believe? He already called them zombies, which I had a hard time classifying them as.

  They are not alive. They’re not exactly zombies. IDK what the hell they are. But you have to shoot their head or burn them.

  His reply was immediate.

  I know. I saw some. They aren’t zombies, not really, like you said. Zombies eat people, these things just kill people and move on. I haven’t seen many here in Jersey, yet. This is super weird to be texting about this.

  I miss you. If you were here I could protect you.

  It was so like Sam to play the hero he definitely wasn’t. I didn’t doubt that he missed me, I even missed
him a little, but he didn’t love me anymore. That was a fact. And I didn’t love him either.

  Not like a wife should love her husband.

  I had spent the last year missing him as I tried to figure out what was happening to our marriage and in that time I had grown less dependent on him.

  There was no doubt he was stronger than me and could probably fight off anything, but I didn’t want to spend my days with him if this was going to be bad. If this was really what Lou thought it was, I wanted to be with the people I trusted. Sam lost my trust a long time ago.

  Sam, you’ll be okay. Just be smart and be safe. I’m going to be fine.

  There wasn’t anything else I could say that would make Sam not worry about me. So I shut off my phone and plugged it back into the charger.

  Somehow I drifted off to sleep.

  ****

  The sound came from far away and then rushed toward me in an instant. And with it came a thunderous shaking that didn’t stop. I jolted awake, confused. What was it? Thunder?

  No, thunder wouldn’t shake the hotel like this did.

  I tried to stand but the ground was actually moving, and when I did stand, I fell back onto the bed. I got my footing and rushed to the windows. Outside wasn’t any better. The street was actually rolling, like waves.

  Earthquake.

  I had never felt one, but I knew that was what this was.

  I had to get away from the window, fast.

  I wobbled to the bathroom and stood in the doorframe, listening to advice that I read long ago in a book. It was the best place to be in an earthquake.

  I watched as the window shuddered and the telephone poles swayed. Finally one fell over, causing sparks and a transformer to blow somewhere in the distance. The power cracked and went out, but it was daytime so I wasn’t standing in the dark at least.