The Contaminated: Where Were You When The Pandemic Hit?

by Kypers, Ryan

  I ran out to the road and signaled behind him. My arms moved and flailed in whatever best way I could convey for him to pull all of the way up to the backyard. He beeped once and pulled away from the street to turn around through a side street, but the contaminated did not follow. Instead they turned around and began to walk towards the start of the street, trying to cut him off.

  I barely had enough time to make it back to the porch without them noticing me. I poked my head above the porch wall to see the three contaminated moving quickly by.

  “What happened?” Chelsea began.

  “Sorry, no time,” I said as I ran inside. I needed to find a way to distract the group of contaminated before they cut off Zach and damaged the car. I bolted into the kitchen, “Where is it?” I yelled to Chelsea.

  “Where’s what?” she yelled back, making her way inside.

  “The air horn!”

  “Drawer,” she pointed next to the stove.

  I ripped it open to see the white air horn with a red nozzle. I grabbed it and a roll of packaging tape and ran outside. My fingers fumbled with the tape, trying to find an edge to pull. Once they did I ripped a big piece back and cut it with my teeth.

  My legs carried me through the neighbor’s yard and the one after that. When I was two houses over, I planted the tape on the base of the horn. Looking around to make sure that I was alone, I pressed down the nozzle, an obnoxiously loud screeching breaking the dim day. I closed the two ends of the tape together around the top, forcing the nozzle down to release the noise. I made my best Nolan Ryan impression and threw the horn as far away from the house as I possibly could.

  Not waiting for it to land, I sprinted back to the house and onto the porch. Chelsea was there looking out onto the street, “Did you see where the contaminated went?” I said through shortened breath.

  She nodded, “They went through the yard as soon as you used the air horn. No hesitation either, just – oh here’s Zach!” The green sedan had just turned the corner to the street and was making its way towards us.

  “I’ll be in the back,” I said, the air horn still echoing a few hundred feet away. I ran to the back yard and into position. Zach pulled the car in and was waived forward by Chelsea. Catching on quickly, he moved the vehicle right next to me.

  “Thanks,” he said as he got out. “That was an excellent distraction.”

  I nodded, “No time for compliments. If these things are intelligent, then we have to cover this car so they don’t see it. Here,” I said, handing him an end of the wrinkled blue tarp. “Over the car, then use the stones to hold it in place.

  We pulled the tarp over quickly and without a hiccup. Once the stones were placed, we quickly ran back inside, sitting at the kitchen table. “Glad that’s over,” Zach said.

  It took every restraint in my body not to yell at him for his actions. We were nearly given away because he had to go out and do things on his own again without thinking. I swear, if he did not get us killed, I was going to kill him myself for the stress he put us in.

  “You can say that again,” Chelsea said as she sat on my lap. She must have known that I was annoyed. “How was your little joy ride?” she asked Zach.

  “Well, about that,” he began.

  “About what?” I asked. It did not sound pleasant.

  Zach sighed, “I don’t think this area is a safe place anymore.”

  “It was never a safe place, but we made it safe with our lifestyle,” Chelsea said.

  Zach shook his head, “No, not like that. If it remained how you guys were used to, then you would probably be fine, but it’s not. While I was driving, there were so many of them. Like, they just swarmed here, and the numbers have just been growing. I don’t think they’re starving because there’s no food, but because there are so many of them, the competition is too great.”

  “What are you saying, Zach?” I asked.

  He was looking at his feet, as if he was afraid of what he was about to tell the two of us, “The town, it’s overrun. I don’t think that we can stay here anymore. It’s time to go to Kansas.”

  Chapter 19

  “What?” Chelsea said. “We can’t just leave. We need to prepare or something.”

  Zach shook his head again, “I know, and I wish that we could have, but I don’t think that’s an option anymore. They’ll find us eventually. Hiding out here won’t do us any good if we can never leave. Going on runs for food and other things will be too difficult. We’re overrun. That’s all that there is to it.”

  I think this was the closest thing that I have ever come to being in a state of shock. I knew that we had to leave, we all knew it. As soon as Zach showed up on our doorstep, we knew that Kansas was in our future and was the one direction that we were going to have to go in, but that is why we were preparing. The amount of work that would have to be put into preparing over a weeks’ time was more than enough, and doing it so quickly could be potentially dangerous.

  “How long do you think we have, Zach?” I asked. Chelsea put her hand on my lower arm and squeezed lightly. I knew that she did not want to leave, but what choice did we have? If we stayed, we were doomed to die through the means of the overpopulated contaminated. It was just something that could not be fought against.

  Zach was still staring at the ground, “I don’t know. Maybe three days, tops. I’m no good guesser on the matter, but that’s what I think about it right now. The numbers, you didn’t see them. They are too great,” he said it in a way that made it seem like an accomplishment, as if the contaminated had risen up from the ashes to reclaim what was once theirs.

  “Alright,” I said, drawing a deep sigh from Chelsea. I knew that it upset her, the whole Kansas thing, but it is what we needed to do. “We’ll need information. Use the internet to get maps, directions, places that we could possibly stop at to refuel and get food, all of that stuff. That’s your job, Zach.”

  He nodded and walked off. I heard the folding door to the other side of the house slide shut.

  “Shit,” I said. “Shit, shit, shit. This whole situation is a pile of shit.”

  Chelsea kissed me on the forehead, “We’ll be fine, I promise.”

  I shook my head, “I knew that we had to leave, I was prepared, mentally anyways. I was really hoping just for a week, maybe two, to get ready for it. We’re going to have too much risk if we get enough food for a trip. I have no idea how we’ll get gas and what happens if we run out. Where will we stay? How do we even-“

  I felt Chelsea’s lips on my own. It was a deep, calming kiss. “Shh, we’ll figure it out.” She kissed me once more. “There are three of us, Daryl. We can do this.”

  “I love you,” I said, then kissed her. “Let’s take inventory on the stuff so that we can find out what we need.”

  We made our way into the basement where we stored all of the food in cans. Chelsea had brought a pad and pencil to mark down what we had in store. I doubted that we would be able to take anything perishable; therefore, the cans would be the only thing on the inventory list.

  “We have sixteen cans of green beans, three cans of corn, two spam cans, and a can of carrots. That’s all of our stores,” She counted off.

  “Why do we have so many green beans?” I asked.

  “Because you hate green beans, so I never make them,” she said. “We both like corn and I guess we just didn’t have a lot of spam or carrots to begin with.”

  “This is bad,” I said to Chelsea.

  “I know. We need more food, especially proteins if we’re going to travel. And we have to account for the car breaking down, and-“

  “No, we’ll be fine with that,” I cut in. “I just really don’t want to eat green beans.”

  “Oh stop. You’ll eat them if you have to,” she said.

  “I’ll go cannibal first.”

  “Don’t joke.”

  “Too late,” I smiled back. “But we will need to make a run to somewhere. We do have to account for the car breaking or something.”


  “What if we take two cars?” Chelsea asked. “I mean if we’re going to run the risk of breaking down then why not take two? If we find a gas station that works, I’m sure that it will have enough gas for two cars. Besides, it’ll give us better gas mileage if one holds the heavier stuff and the other car carries the extra person and the lighter food.”

  “That’s not a bad idea,” I replied.

  “I know,” Chelsea said with a smug look on her face. “My ideas are never bad.”

  “What about that time in chemistry where you decided to mix two beakers of-“

  “Okay fine!” She interrupted. “Most of my ideas are not bad. That bit with the sulfur doesn’t need to come up again.”

  “That class room smelled like ass for the rest of the week.”

  “Shut up? Good,” I received a playful smack on the shoulder. “Come on, let’s go see what Zach has found out.”

  We made our way up the basement stairs and into my grandmother’s apartment side of the house. “Wadda ya got feh’ me?” I asked, sounding like a detective from a nineteen fifties movie.

  He shook his head, “Not much, yet. All that I know is that if we drove straight there without any stops, we could probably get there in about twenty hours, so that’s less than a day. And I doubt we would have to adjust for traffic unless there’s a blocked highway or three, but I figure the chances for that are slim.”

  “Very good,” I said. “What about any powered zones? Somewhere to fuel up?”

  He shook his head, “Nothing so far, and it is very aggravating at that. It isn’t as if I can just put the words ‘powered zone’ into a search engine.”

  “Why don’t you take a break? Maybe you and Chelsea can go find some supplies from the mart or deli in town,” I said, looking to Chelsea. “Would you be okay without me?” I tried to phrase it to insult her honor.

  It worked, “Oh please, I am more than enough for those contaminated to handle.” She reached out and pulled Zach out of his seat, “Besides, it will give Zach some good real world experience.”

  Zach looked confused, “Why don’t you just come with us? Power in numbers, right?” he asked.

  “I thought about it, but if you guys get into a pinch, someone should stay here to help you out,” I replied. And I had thought of that. I wanted to try and keep someone in the house at all times. “Actually, one of the most important things that we will need is communication. There should be an electronics store right off of the highway. See if you guys can stop there and pick up some radio communicators. You know, walkie talkies.”

  Zach nodded in agreement, “What about batteries?”

  “We have those,” Chelsea said. Zach’s face indicated that he was looking for an explanation, “Long story, don’t worry about it.”

  “Alright, go. Take the car in the back,” I said, pulling out the keys. “Maybe we will get lucky and the contaminated won’t notice.”

  “Or they will and will follow us all of the way back,” Zach said.

  “No reason to damage any other cars or use other gas,” I countered.

  Before he gave a response, Chelsea pulled him out the door. She kissed me on the cheek, “Be careful,” I said. She winked at me and went out the door.

  I watched as the car hummed with a start and was pulling out onto the roadway. Zach was driving with two hands on the wheel at the nine o’clock and three o’clock proper-ish hand positioning. The engine roared as they took off down the street, Zach honking all of the way. He either really liked the sound of the horn or was trying to draw some of the contaminated out of town with him. The horn kept going for a minute or two then stopped. I imagined that was when they hit the highway and would not want any more of the contaminated following them there.

  I went upstairs to my room and pulled out my laptop. My browser opened to my homepage and the forum popped up. Before I had a chance to click off of it, I received a message:

  ZmB1EbtR: Daryl man!

  Darylsaurus: how did you know that I changed my name?

  ZmB1EbtR: Dude, there’s only so many of us here. It was either you or Buffalant.

  ZmB1EbtR: Then I noticed the ‘Daryl’ part of the name.

  ZmB1EbtR: Work on your stealth.

  Darylsaurus: Ha fair enough.

  ZmB1EbtR: Speaking of Buffalant, I haven’t seen him on here in a while.

  Darylsaurus: He’s with us. Said that Buffalo got overrun and tracked us through our IP address

  ZmB1EbtR: Damn. Smart wizard he is.

  Darylsaurus: yeah tell me about it. He knows where everyone is.

  Darylsaurus: Speaking of everyone, have you seen Contamin8r around?

  ZmB1EbtR: He just signed off literally five minutes ago.

  ZmB1EbtR: Why?

  Darylsaurus: He lives in Indianapolis, right?

  ZmB1EbtR: Yeah.

  ZmB1EbtR: RE: why?

  I was hesitant to tell him about us planning on going to Kansas. Not because he would not believe us, but because I was afraid that he would try to meet us there and be killed on the way. There were three of us here, and only one of him out where he was staying near Denver Colorado. I finally decided on the truth.

  Darylsaurus: We’re on the move, or will be soon.

  ZmB1EbtR: What?

  Darylsaurus: This’ll sound weird. Buffalant, or Zach, found out that Kansas City and the mid-west is free

  ZmB1EbtR: Free?

  Darylsaurus: Yeah. Like free of the contaminated. Or as free as a place can get.

  Darylsaurus: We’re also getting overrun here. We’ll be forced out sooner than later.

  ZmB1EbtR: Bummer

  Darylsaurus: thanks for the sympathy.

  Darylsaurus: Indianapolis is on our way to KC.

  Darylsaurus: Was hoping that Contamin8r could help us out and us him.

  ZmB1EbtR: Sounds like you guys have a plan. I’ll let him know if I see him on

  Darylsaurus: Thanks. I appreciate it.

  ZmB1EbtR: Yeah

  Darylsaurus: I want to come for you after him. I really do, but it’s going to be hard.

  ZmB1EbtR: That’s what she said!

  Darylsaurus: Hahaha, no.

  Darylsaurus: The problem is that you’re only one and we’re three.

  ZmB1EbtR: I know, I’m not stupid.

  Darylsaurus: If you had a car of some sorts, you probably could get there with a full tank of gas or so.

  ZmB1EbtR: It’ll be too far.

  Darylsaurus: Maybe. But if KC does turn out to be free, I’ll see if we can come for you.

  ZmB1EbtR: Thanks man. I’ll have Contamin8r send you a message if he goes on.

  Darylsaurus: Thanks.

  I signed off of the forum, ending our conversation and leaving ZmB1EbtR in the cold desolate world of the quieted internet.

  I looked at the map of the directions to Kansas City: I-70 west pretty much summed it up nicely. That would be the easy part, following the directions on the map to get there. That did not mean that it would be particularly easy though. We would need to find a place for gas or horses, though I did not know if horses would be a totally good idea. I guess if our cars died then it would be okay, but that’s a long time to travel with the scent of horse shit.

  Deciding to take my chances, I typed ‘powered zones’ into the search bar. The results showed about as useful as expected, but after a bit of scrolling, one website showed up.

  It was a dot gov ending site, which hopefully meant that it was legitimate. It showed little colored areas all across the United States, though there were not very many of them. I counted sixty-seven total powered zones across the United States, and none of which remained in any large city, save one. Kansas City was fully lit and so was the area around it. I guess Zach knew what he was actually talking about.

  Looking it over again, I saw that three areas were in a powered zone and were directly on our route. The only problem was that the third powered zone was not too far outside of Kansas City. This meant a couple hundred miles of
driving without knowing when the next gas stop would be. We really would not have any actual guide pretty much the entire way other than the map. No gps or anything of that sort, actually maybe we could, but I did not own one nor did I think that there would be any that were not looted.

  My email notification suddenly lit up. (1) New message. I clicked on it and opened it to see a link to the forum and clicked on it.

  Contamin8r: You’re finally back

  Darylsaurus: Yeah, thanks for getting to me. Did ZmB1EbtR fill you in?

  ZmB1EbtR: Of course I did

  Darylsaurus: Why are you here?

  ZmB1EbtR: Creeping. Sorry, my social life is kind of nonexistent right now

  Contmain8r: Fair enough. What do you need Daryl?

  Darylsaurus: Power! UNLIMITED POWER

  Contmain8r: Hahaha I get it

  ZmB1EbtR: I don’t

  Darylsaurus: this is an a and b conversation, why don’t you c your way out of it?

  ZmB1EbtR: Old dad jokes don’t work on me

  Contamin8r: Anyways, there’s a powered zone about thirty miles from here.

  Contmain8r: Been seeing some military vehicles going back and forth, but they’re not taking people.

  Darylsaurus: That’s fine. We’re coming your way.

  Contamin8r: When?

  Darylsaurus: We leave in three days. We need your address assuming you want to come.