Thirteen
“My fellow Americans. I come before you a weakened man this morning. My convictions have been shaken to their core and I, like many of the people of this nation, am perplexed and deeply saddened by the events unfolding throughout this great land of ours. The dawn of a new day will bring us the opportunity to examine and build a suitable response for these horrific events. Throughout the night, I have had continuous updates from Military, National Guard, and State Law Enforcement officials from around the country. News agencies have reported smaller cities and townships being greatly affected and hampered by this phenomenon. I want to assure anybody seeing or listening to this broadcast, help is on the way. Military and National Guard units are forming and deploying as we speak. If you are witnessing this broadcast, whether through radio, television, or other means please stay tuned for further instructions following my address. I want you to know we will be strong and we will make this nation great again. Our work is cut out for us and it will be a long road to haul. Many questions will have to be answered and plans will be devised to assure this never happens again. We have been to war. We have been the victims of terrorist attacks. We have seen devastating illnesses wash across this land, and we have always stood up in the face of adversity. We will fight this and we will win. My fellow Americans, God is by our side and he will walk with us in our time of need. God bless.” The president stood up from the desk. He looked around the room and the screen went dark for a moment. A crawl began across the television screen.
Ty stared at the screen in the dark of his apartment. Sugar sat near her food bowl in the kitchen waiting to be fed. The crawl read… Stay tuned to this station for emergency procedures. Shelter and evacuation locations for your area will appear in a moment. Remain in your homes with all doors and windows locked. Do not let strangers into your home... Ty looked about his apartment suddenly feeling claustrophobic. The walls were closing in and the air was stale. He stood up and walked to the patio door. He debated if he should step out again. What if they see me and figure out how to get to my front door? He peered out at the nighttime sky. Dawn was still three hours away. He wondered what the morning would bring.
Sugar began to growl.
“Fuck. Shush, girl.” Ty waved his finger at Sugar stopping her growl. Ty listened closely for what set her off. Nothing. He walked slowly to the master bedroom and looked inside. The table lamp beside his bed was on softly illuminating the room. Nothing appeared out of place. Sugar walked down the hall towards the front door and stopped at the sofa’s edge. Ty looked down the hall and walked cautiously ensuring he didn’t make a sound. He didn’t know why, but it seemed a safe bet that staying as quiet as possible would help ensure his survival.
He stood listening for anything. The buzz of the outside light near his front door seemed to grow louder, drowning out everything else. Sugar rose to all four legs and began to growl loudly.
Knowing his door was solid wood and locked with a dead bolt, he stepped onto the sofa and inched closer. He reached the peephole. The fish eye view revealed a figure walking slowly by. The figure stopped and turned towards his door.
Jesse Clinton Childress, known as Jess, walked by Ty’s front door slowly making his way to his own apartment. Ty and Jess had spent several nights at the local Irish Pub around the corner smoking and drinking and complaining about their ex-wives. Jess had been the first person Ty met when he moved into his apartment after his divorce from Sandra. Jess ended up helping Ty move all his heavy furniture, which included one sofa and a bed up the three flights of stairs when the elevator broke down. Since that first night they had been friends in passing, sharing the occasional laugh and six pack. They weren’t the best of friends but they did share some good times.
Ty stepped down off the sofa and dragged it back from the door quietly. He walked back to the door and grabbed the dead bolt latch. The cylinder snapped open with a thud.
“Ty buddy, you’re home.” Jess was ecstatic to see his friend alive. He stepped inside the door and closed it quickly latching the dead bolt.
“Holy crap. Can you believe what is happening out there? It took me forever to get home. There’s a bunch of those things running around down there. I think I killed a man last night.” Jess looked the worse for wear but at least he was alive.
“The sirens woke me up. I thought for sure it was some idiots rioting or something.” Ty said as he led Jess down the hall to the kitchen.
“I was working last night at the paper when all hell broke loose. This vendor dude attacked my dock manager. This guy looked sick when he arrived and he complained he was cold. We just blew him off and went on working. The next thing I know Don is having his throat ripped out by this fucker.” Jess looked around the kitchen.
“You hungry?” Ty asked with an odd look on his face, waiting for the rest of the story.
“No man, do you have any coffee?”
“No prob. Go on with your story.” Ty walked to the cupboard and retrieved the generic coffee he had found on sale earlier that week.
Jess continued. “So Don is being attacked by this son of a bitch and I jump him from behind. The fucker throws me off and turns on me. The cunt tried to bite me so I stabbed him with a screwdriver. Man, it didn’t faze him.”
Ty listened intently as he prepped the coffee pot.
“This guy’s eyes were a fucked up shade of grey and I swear he didn’t blink once.” Jess said as he looked towards the sliding glass door.
“You said the screwdriver didn’t work on the guy.”
“No. No it didn’t. He kept trying to bite me.” Jess’s continued to stare out the sliding door. His body language began to waver as the scene replayed through his mind.
“Well, what the hell did you do?”
“I killed that motherfucker. I pulled the screwdriver out of his chest and drove it deep into his skull. He slumped over like a bag of shit. That’s not the weirdest thing though. Don died on the ground not twenty feet from me. I saw him take his last breath. Man things were nuts. One of the packers had tried to call 911 and couldn’t get through.”
Ty looked over at his friend. “Coffee should be up in a moment. What time did this all go down?”
“Between eleven and midnight. The fucked up thing about the whole situation was the absolute silence. For a minute or two I swear the world stopped then we could hear sirens, screams, gunshots and all kinds of shit happening in the industrial park. We tried to call for help but couldn’t through. Then it happened.” Jess looked pale.
Ty knew what he was going to say. He had seen enough horror movies in his life and could predict the outcome of Jess’s story.
“What happened?” Ty asked as he grabbed a couple of coffee cups.
“Don came back and he was pissed. He growled like an animal. He stumbled around for a moment while we all watched and then attacked this young girl who just started last week. Man, he tore her apart. I was the only one who tried to help her while all the other fuck heads ran. But hey, I lived out every working man’s dream. I got to bash my boss’s head in with a wrench. That was kinda sweet.”
Ty looked over at Jess and smiled slightly.
“I always knew there was something wrong with you. How did you get back here?” Ty poured the coffee.
“Carefully.” Jess snickered. “Real carefully.”
“Fair enough. Any ideas of what to do to keep safe until the Army gets here?”
“Well, we should stay off the streets. Those things are out there and some of them are fast. I think we should hold up in our apartments. Hell, yours only has one way in.”
“Yeah, and one way out. It dawned on me it’s a tomb waiting to happen. I was thinking of going to the building I work at. It’s easily secured and the bottom windows are tempered glass thanks to the former credit union on the bottom floor. A drop down steel gate protects the parking garage and the backside of the building faces the river. The main entrance is nearly impenetrable and the two emergency exits don’t have o
utside handles to grab, just key holes.” Ty completed his pitch.
Jess looked about the apartment weighing the safety factors of staying as opposed to leaving.
“You know they say the grass is always greener, but I’m not sure I want to risk it. I mean I saw a bunch of those things on my way here.”
“My concern is being trapped in here with no escape route. The only way out is that door unless you can fly.”
“I got you dude. I just think we need to sit tight and wait for the Calvary to arrive.”
Ty walked over and picked up his .357. “Do you have one of these?
Fourteen
“Listen up, ladies and gentlemen. The past twenty-four hours have proven beyond a doubt the most trying time any of us have ever seen. The last word I received, the National Guard will not be coming. All assistance is headed to Sacramento including the Army. We are on our own for at least the next 72 hours.” The Watch Commander glanced around the room, knowing several of her officers failed to check in and were missing.
Ten police officers sat in the briefing room looking around at one another. The normal deployment for a typical day shift was six. The officers in the room, unbeknownst to them, were the entire representing force remaining for the Redding Police Department. Most of the force had been decimated. It was hard to tell how many deserted their sectors and how many had perished. James sat in the back of the room trying to get his cell phone to work. The lines in the station were all down. He didn’t pay much attention to the watch commander as she spoke. He knew he was there to stock up on ammunition and would be on his way home just as soon as he was dismissed. After what he had witnessed in the last several hours, James knew the best place for him was home with his family. He reached up and scratched his chest.
The hall leading to the supply room was void of activity. Briefing had ended several minutes prior with James being assigned a sector near his home. Most of the remaining officers were given sectors near their homes allowing them the opportunity to check on their families. The watch commander made this her top priority knowing full well the officers could abandon their posts at any time. James neared the armory and stopped.
The rash forming around the small wound was growing and beginning to itch even worse than before. James felt a sudden shortness of breath. He leaned against the wall and clutched at his vest. Finally, he made his way to the men’s room. Inside he removed his uniform shirt and bulletproof vest. His T-shirt was stained with blood and puss from the growing wound. Dark purple streaks spread across his chest and down his left arm. Sweat was beading on his forehead and he could feel the sickness coursing through his body. He splashed water on the wound and used paper towels to clean the area. With his vest and uniform shirt back on, James took a deep breath and regained his composure. Ammunition and home were the only things on his mind.
The duffel bag was almost too heavy to carry on one shoulder as James made his way down the hall towards the secured parking area. 9MM, 12gauge slugs and #4 buck shot filled the bag along with several loaded clips for his Sig. The armory was virtually empty as most officers going back out into the field had the same idea. Along with the ammunition, James grabbed first aid supplies, intending on dressing his wound once home.
“James, Sgt. Lane has new orders. All outgoing units are to report to Turtle Bay. Apparently there is a large citizens brigade there and they’re armed to the teeth.” Lou Johnson, relief dispatcher said, catching James as he walked by the cage.
“What the fuck can we do? We’re probably outmanned and outgunned. I’m heading to my sector.” James turned and walked down the hall. His shoulder was aching from the weight of the duffel bag.
“Lane’s going to be pissed… You look like shit… Check my house for me!” Lou yelled as he watched James move down the hall. James threw a quick wave with his free hand.
The sun peered over the mountains and began its slow crawl across the valley floor. The new light of day revealed the chaos from the night. Fires raged throughout the city. Fire fighters gave up the battle as the dead started attacking them. James passed abandoned cars, some fully engulfed and others smoldering with burnt remains still sitting inside. He drove on witnessing the carnage from the night before. The butchery left behind was unfathomable. More blood than in any scary movie James had ever seen, bar The Texas Chainsaw Massacre, was everywhere. Body parts, lined the streets and parking lots. A dog ran down the street near James’ police cruiser with a severed foot in its mouth. James accelerated up the street towards his recently built sub division. His breaths grew more shallow and rapid.
Fifteen
Ryan James Dillion, Son of James and Janet Dillion, was a seventeen-year-old former honors student, turned regular shit-head, rebelling against anything you could name. The product of workaholic parents, Ryan spent the majority of this night texting, skyping and smoking Buddha grass, as he liked to call it, from his basement bedroom The Internet was flooded with breaking news regarding the events unfolding around the states and abroad. Ryan skipped all of them and continued to chat with friends and watch YouPorn, a site he had heard about while listening to Howard Stern.
Ryan heard his mother come home. It sounded like she was dragging something across the kitchen floor. Normally she would have been home no later than 10PM, but tonight she stumbled in well after midnight. Ryan stared up at the ceiling and returned to the computer. The basement door leading down from the kitchen was closed.
“My moms home. Sounds like she’s dragging something across the floor”
“Probably a dead body. Told you she was moonlighting as a hired gun”
“Fuck off. She’s having an affair with that Robertson dude a block over”
“Robertson’s daughter is going to be hot. I’d like a piece of that.”
“Pedophile, she’s 13. My mom’s banging around in the kitchen. I gotta clear out the smoke.”
“Whatever loser.”
Ryan pushed back from the computer, set his phone down and listened for a moment. He couldn’t quite figure out what his mother was doing upstairs. She banged around loudly and at one point Ryan could have sworn he heard her moaning. He reached over and turned on the fan. He walked into the bathroom and grabbed a can of Lysol Fresh Scent. He opened his window and began spraying the room down. He could hear sirens in the distance.
That’s good. Dad will be late as usual.
The noise from upstairs subsided and he sat back down at the computer feeling somewhat guilty for not helping her with whatever it was she was doing. She would have asked if she really needed help. Ryan looked for some friends online. No luck. Youporn kept him preoccupied until the power flickered on and off rebooting his computer. Ryan stood up from the computer and cautiously tucked his half swollen member back into his jeans. Between the pot and the sessions with himself Ryan felt spent and a little hungry. Up the stairs he went pulling his black T-shirt over his head.
The kitchen was dark and a strange odor filled the air. Ryan wrinkled his nose as he walked to the refrigerator. His bare feet slipped on something wet causing him to fall hard on his back. Gasping for air, Ryan rolled to one side. The kitchen remained dark and still. He placed his hands on the floor to push himself up feeling the wetness. He scooted on his ass to the counter and used it to help him stand. He reached for the light switch.
Blood was smeared on his hands and pants and led to the front room, or show room, as his mother liked to call it. Ryan was never allowed to sit on the furniture in the show room.
“Mom, you OK?” No answer.
Ryan started into the show room but was distracted by sounds coming from the opposite hall. It sounded like someone clawing at a door. Ryan continued to turn the lights on in the house as he made his way to the three bedrooms at the end of the opposite hall. The trail of blood became less and less as he made his way down the hall but the scraping on the door became louder. The trail ended at the closed door of his parents bedroom. The scraping continued on the other side.
&nbs
p; “Mom. Are you OK?” The scraping ceased.
Ryan looked down and could see the light was off. Slowly he reached out and grasped the doorknob.
“Mom. I’m coming in OK?” Moaning from the other side of the door kept Ryan from opening it. He backed up and looked down the hall debating if he should just go. The moaning didn’t sound like two people involved in some sexual act. Ryan was an expert from the hours of porn he had watched. He stepped closer to the door and placed his ear to it. The moaning was raspy and suddenly there was a bang on the door. Ryan sprang back from the door and hit the wall hard.
“Damn mom, what the hell is wrong with you?” Ryan said in his own strained voice as he reached out and grabbed the doorknob again.
The door opened into the room. The light from the hall way flooded in and revealed his mother. Her grey eyes stared straight ahead. The blouse she had worn to the office was no longer. One breast remained, while a gaping hole sat where the other breast should have been. Dried excrement and blood lined the inside of her thighs just below her torn skirt. She limped forward holding her arms out. Bits of flesh and hair protruded from under her manicured nails and her mouth opened wide anticipating the meal.
Ryan backed down the hall allowing his mother to step out into the light revealing her new form.
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