by David Menard
“When that time comes we shall deal with it, but until then we need to just try to make it through” John replied. He walked over to his grills and grabbed a portable one. “I am going to cook some burgers that Marie bought. Gabe, bring me up the charcoal” John said while bringing his miniature grill up the stairs to his office.
Melody decided to keep herself busy, so she went over to a display basketball hoop and started to shoot using one basketballs in the sales rack. Although she was shaken up she was still easily making baskets. She was the power forward for her college team. She needed a distraction immediately. The sounds of the dead outside were causing her to panic more.
Sharon remained seated, looking down at the floor; she did not want to talk to anyone. Cindy decided to sit down next to her and see if she wanted to talk. Marie was already setting up sleeping arrangements for the survivors a few feet away. Cindy looked around and when she saw the clock she was very shocked to find that it said quarter past six. The clock seemed to be mocking her; with all the chaos around her she thought it was about ten o’clock.
After a few minutes of silence, Cindy decided to leave Sharon alone and go talk to John. Sharon wasn’t going to talk, not for a long time. Cindy walked away from the camping display, through the hunting aisle and up the metal stairs that lead to Johns Office. She looked from her vantage point at the survivors, these people were now her family. The upcoming days would be difficult.
His office was relatively clean; John Stenson ran a clean ship in his store. He had numerous file cabinets which contained receipts of purchase, gun license forms and numerous other licenses for the equipment he sold. The office was fairly small and the ladder to the hatch stuck out like a sore thumb. The yellow ladder was directly in the corner of the room. She walked over to it and opened the hatch and went out onto the roof.
“Hi, Cindy,” John said when he saw her emerge from his office hatch. He was cooking the burgers that Marie had bought and Gabe was leaving with the leftover charcoal. “What’s up?” he added.
“John, do you really think we will survive in this place? I don’t think it’s possible, especially since the lack of food and those things are persistent” Cindy inquired. The cool summer breeze blew her hair back out of her face, and the setting sun made her face glow.
“I really don’t know, the odds are against us. But I think we can survive because we are much smarter than those things,” John replied while flipping a burger. It sizzled and released an aroma that was heavenly compared to the blood and feces that filled the air.
They gazed into the parking lot and saw hundreds of zombies stumbling and making their depressing and horrifying moans. They wandered in different directions; some were walking into stores to find survivors, fresh meat. This sight reminded Cindy of the stories she read, a sea of the dead waiting for their dinner. Fucking Mondays.
Melody May was practicing free throws to keep her mind off things, but it wasn’t helping. She usually determined her shot percentage by taking 100-200 shots to the basket. At the moment she didn’t care. She looked at the basket and took a shot and it bounced off the rim and bounced away. She went to retrieve it and saw that Gabe was holding it.
“Here you go,” Gabe said handing her the ball, trying to be friendly. Everyone needed a friend in this new world. Despite the apocalypse he was smitten by Melody. Any chance to talk to her made him happy. He admired her when they were in High School. She was two years older than him, but that didn’t matter to him.
“Thanks,” she replied as she took the ball. She looked at him and smiled. “Do you want to shoot with me?” she asked taking a perfect shot. The sound the net made when the ball spiraled perfectly into it was magic.
“Yeah, ok” Gabe replied flushing a bit. Despite the chaos around them they were able to smile as they talked to each other. She was much better than him but he didn’t care, nor did she. Within in minutes of playing they were laughing and their minds were completely off the matter at hand.
Marie Stenson looked over and saw her son having the time of his life and smiled. She felt a sense of hope that if love could survive this nightmare then they could too. She just set up the last tent and decided to walk over to the distraught Sharon. Sharon had not moved since sat down, she was almost catatonic.
“Hi Sharon, how are you?” Marie asked softly. She tried to put her arm around Sharon but it was knocked away. “Sharon, you don’t need to keep this in, you can talk to me,” Marie added shocked from the hostility. She moved a little closer but Sharon just shrugged away, ending Marie’s attempts to comfort her.
Sharon then looked at Marie with sorrowful eyes. She opened her mouth and asked the last thing Marie would have expected. “Where is the bathroom?”
“Right over there dear” Marie replied deciding not to push the matter. Sharon Finley walked away from the display slowly. Marie looked as she walked away and thought she saw an aura of blue around her. She shook it off as a mind trick. Sharon turned the corner and went into the restroom. That was the final time Sharon Finley spoke to anyone.
Chapter 8: Into the Gray
The stench of dried blood and sewage was abusing his nose. He looked around for turns or possible exits but saw nothing, darkness enveloped him. Every noise he heard was met with the drawing of two guns in the direction of the sound. His nightmare just took an even more terrifying turn, he could not see the assailants or even brace himself for a possible attack. Anthony decided to take a break after fifteen minutes of wandering, he was thirsty.
He opened the bag and searched for water that his late comrade Jeff Lyons had supplied in his vehicle. He sat on the filthy sewer floor, the seat of his pants soaked in what was likely grey water. This was the most rest Anthony had since the car accident; if you could call being knocked out rest. He listened for any creatures stumbling around; his odds of making it out of the sewers were slim. He took a sip from the bottle and closed his eyes, keeping one hand on the butt of his gun. Anthony Garrison drifted to sleep.
….
He stood in the middle of Main Street, not a soul was in sight. He glanced to the buildings on his left expecting to see people in the windows but saw nothing. There was coldness in the air. His surroundings felt eerie, but what frightened him was that the whole town, the whole world, was gray.
Anthony knew this was not reality, yet this strange world felt very real. Too real. He navigated up Main Street and was accompanied solely by his echoing footsteps. The further he progressed down the haunted street, he realized just how dead everything was. His thoughts were heard, a chilling voice behind him whispered menacingly. “You will be just as dead as this town,”
He turned sharply, almost losing his balance as he reached emptily for his gun. His holster was missing from his side. He surveyed the empty street behind him; no ghostly figure from where the voice originated. To his surprise there was absolutely nothing behind him; the buildings he had passed had faded from existence. He was alone, nothing but that terrible voice accompanied him. He defensively backed up and eventually turned around, his steps no longer echoing.
His eyes settled upon a police station, his police station. It had not been there before, but now it was the only thing left in this dead world. A gray canvas with only a building inked onto it. He took careful strides towards the door but, before he could touch the handle, the double doors opened before him revealing a white light. This was the only escape from the empty town and he knew he had to go through at one point or another. Only the empty vastness remained behind him, and that mysterious voice. With a reluctant step he entered the light.
The station inside was filled with police officers; they were laughing, drinking coffee and enjoying some doughnuts. His relief was short lived as he noticed they were all gray and he could not hear anything but his own breathing. It was like watching a silent movie. His presence unnoticed.
He peered into the case room, which contained all the files of convicted criminals, and saw Jeff Lyons fiddling through wh
at appeared to be a manila envelope. He sipped silently from his coffee and reached for the desk phone and mouthed soundless words. Stanley Yetts was in the next room over, retrieving papers from the fax machine. Anthony turned his attention to the water cooler, where a mysterious joke sent the men into quiet hysterics. Glenn Dorsey and Guy Geeson were among them. Guy was eating a doughnut, no doubt a jelly, his favorite.
Anthony had enough of the silent police station and approached Guy Geeson to ask how to get out. This is fucking creepy. I need to get out of here. At this point Guy had turned around to grab another doughnut after he woofed down the first. Anthony tapped Guy on the shoulder and the whole station flooded with color.
What turned around was no longer Guy Geeson; it was now a grisly corpse. His once handsome appearance, now deformed. His eyes were glazed over while his left cheek was torn off, revealing his jagged set of teeth. His lip was split, leaving one side drooping. Anthony quickly averted his eyes downward to find that the doughnut Guy had been eating had blood as a gooey center opposed to jelly. He felt sick, turned around and found that the rest of the officers were also corpses. Jeff Lyons was among them holding his coffee cup filled with blood. As he sipped, the blood splashed onto his clothes and stained his dead lips red. There was no escape from the horror he was witnessing. He surveyed the station around him and could see nothing past the sea of undead. He was then grabbed by the shoulder; it was the undead Guy Geeson.
“There is no escaping us Anthony. You too shall perish,” Guy hissed through his tattered lips. He grinned, “The gray has taken us and it will take you to,” His grip tightened onto Anthony’s shoulder. Dead or not Guy was incredibly strong and for Anthony there really was no escape. The rest of the police force closed in on him, chanting ”Join us!” Anthony pulled back his arm and delivered a punch in the face of Guy, thrusting him into the water cooler.
The water that once filled the jug was now crimson red. Anthony turned to the rest of the undead behind him, ready to fight. What he saw was perplexing, the dead officers opened a path for him. Each one of them had a menacing smile upon their dead faces and their hands extended outward, directing him to the door. He retreated out of the disturbing police quarters back into the gray world.
The landscape was still empty, all that remained of the missing town was the road Anthony stood on. He rotated to ensure he was not followed by his dead comrades, only to find the police station had vanished. In its place stood the children Anthony slaughtered on the road. They were not the monsters he encountered, but their original selves.
“Why did you kill us Mr.?” the boy in the backpack asked, with his gang behind him. A girl with long brown hair stepped next to the backpack boy, sadness in her eyes, the faceless girl from the road. They looked at Anthony with tearful eyes and approached him. They held out their hands to him as the stepped closer. The bullet wounds they sustained from Anthony’s gun appeared on their heads, bleeding onto their innocent faces.
“I am sorry! You weren’t you! Oh, God! What is happening?” Anthony cried as the ghost children continued to step towards him. He stepped back, tears flowing down his face, the road was now crimson.
“You are us! At least you will be! Hehehehe!” the squad of dead children giggled in unison. Their skin was now peeling away, decomposing as the approached. “Come and join us!” they added smirking as they pointed behind him.
Anthony spun around and came face to face with himself, his undead self. The doppelganger was missing its bottom lip, revealing chipped teeth. Anthony directed his gaze towards the torso of his twin. The undead Anthony was missing his left arm, shirt tattered with claw and bite marks carved into his stomach. The doppelganger soiled himself when he died, as indicated from his pants. Anthony tried to step back, he could not move.
“I am your future. Soon you will join us all! Everyone you meet will come here. They shall rot as will you, punishment for your actions. It is your fault! You killed them all! Your selfishness unleashed this horror onto the world. Now all will perish into the Gray!” The doppelganger hissed as he pushed Anthony to the ground. Anthony now realized that the mysterious voice he heard was his own. He laid, paralyzed, watching in horror as a sea of familiar faces stared down on him. Each face was that of a person Anthony killed. He screamed, no sound. His doppelganger knelt down and bit Anthony’s nose, ripping it clear off. The pain was unbearable. The rest followed suit and devoured Anthony, as he felt the teeth removing his flesh.
Chapter 9: A Death in the Family
Cindy and John emerged from the rooftop both holding a plate of burgers. John was smiling as he placed the food down on the store counter. Cindy figured this was just to make the rest of the group feel safe in this dismal predicament. “One a piece people, I want the food supply to last us a few days,” John announced as people started to stand up. He had chips and jerky available near the register so that his guests had something more than just a burger for dinner.
After everyone grabbed a burger Cindy noticed there was still one left. She looked around to see who was missing. It was then she noticed the absence of Sharon Finley. She had been so quiet throughout the whole ordeal that no one noticed her disappearance.She felt uneasy, and she could not explain why. Something is wrong.
“Where is Sharon?” Cindy asked nervously. Each person glanced to their left and right in perfect synchronization. Fear plagued their minds, the universal thought was whether she left or if she fell victim to the dead. Cindy was now surveying the rest of the store. Where is she?
“She must still be in the restroom,” replied Marie. She got up, leaving her half eaten burger on her seat. “I will go check on her,” she said as she walked away. She walked in a mini skip, the way she always did.
Cindy had a bad feeling in her stomach. She looked to John and saw that he too sensed something amiss. Melody and Gabe were too distracted to feel the ominous presence in the air. John stood, grasping his gun subtly so no one would notice. Cindy noticed and took a deep breath.
“Marie, honey, please come back here,” John announced as he started to follow his wife. His heart was pounding and sweat was now pouring from his face. Being seventy pounds overweight slows a man down. Suddenly his doctor’s advice was echoing in his head. “Marie!” he shouted, alerting Gabe and Melody.
Marie took the 25 steps to the women’s restroom. For some reason she counted her steps, she didn’t know why. She remembered Gabe’s first birthday, an odd time to remember such a thing. After her 25th stride she was in front of the bathroom door. She reached the door and heard scuffling on the other side. This frightened Marie, she had no idea what Sharon could possibly be doing. “Sharon? Is everything okay?” she asked cautiously. John was waddling over, calling her name, but she paid no heed. There was no answer so she knocked. “Sharon?” she called again turning the knob. The door opened and Sharon attacked. “Shar- eeek!” she screamed.
Cindy sprinted towards Marie. John was a few steps ahead, but she caught up with him. Sharon was on top of Marie biting and clawing at her. Five deep gouges ran down Marie’s face from the lengthy nails of the undead hairdresser. Cindy knew she had to get Sharon away from Marie. When Cindy was within range of Sharon she lifted her foot abruptly. A click echoed in the store from the connection of Cindy’s kick to Sharon’s jaw. Upon contact Sharon’s body flew back into the wall. They all saw her eyes; they were milky, she had a scowl on her face as she hissed and growled. Melody and Gabe were now behind John, terrified. Melody placed her head into Gabe’s shoulder to avoid seeing anymore.
John stared at Sharon and knew what he had to do. She made eye contact with him, her jaw dislocated and likely broken. “I’m sorry Sharon,” he whispered as he pulled the trigger, placing a bullet in the middle of her forehead, painting the wall red. It took John a few moments to process that Marie was injured; once he realized it he nearly toppled Cindy over as he rushed to her side. “Marie!” he screamed, tears streaming down his face.
Marie was shaking and gasping for
breath. She had four bite marks in her neck, with a large chunk missing. She sobbed and grasped her husband. Gabe soon sat beside his father and looked down at his dying mother. “Dad, will she be okay?” Gabe asked his dad, fighting back tears. Marie couldn’t speak, she was seizing and foam was coming from her mouth. The father and son looked sorrowfully at her, unable to move.
Cindy knew what was going to happen next. She will turn John. I am going to need you to understand that. We need to kill the brain. Cindy touched Johns shoulder with one hand and with the other she picked up the gun from his side. She walked to Melody and whispered in her ear. “Take Gabe and John and bring them to the tent,” Melody nodded as she walked to Gabe and lifted him to his feet. He offered no resistance, John was a different story.
“What the fuck are you doing with that gun Cindy?” he angrily growled. He made no eye contact with her, only looking at his wife. The tears had ceased, he was numb. “You going to shoot my dead wife seconds after she passes? Because she might turn into a ‘zombie’?!” he snapped, mocking her theory. He stood and faced Cindy, intimidating her.
“John, if you care about her and Gabe, then-” she was cut off by painful slap across her face, bring her to the ground. He hovered over her, a man broken. Gabe ran over to Cindy, shielding her from his dad. She glanced up defiantly at her friend. If you were not a friend I would fucking end you right now. You are fucking lucky she just died. Cindy stood up, holding her pink face.
“Dad! What the fuck are you doing?” Cindy is trying to keep us safe!” Gabe fired furiously at his father. He was in between the both of them now, he was not going to allow that to happen again.
“She has no FUCKING right to tell me how to feel! How to act! NO FUCKING RIGHT TO QUESTION MY LOVE FOR MY FAMILY!” John bellowed, his face a scarlet red. His hands now fists.
Cindy brushed past Gabe, her inner fire awoken. “YOU FUCKING HIT ME AGAIN AND THE NEXT BULLET IS FOR YOU!” she screamed at the top of her lungs, clutching the rifle. “I AM SORRY FOR YOUR LOSS, BUT THIS IS NOT MY FAULT! I AM TRYING TO KEEP US SAFE! YOU GET ONE, ONE STRIKE FOR BEING AN ASSHOLE! BECAUSE I LIKE YOU! WE WAIT! YOU AND I, TOGETHER! WHEN SHE TURNS, I EXPECT A FUCKING APOLOGY!” Cindy hollered some more, causing John to slink back, frightened. She took a deep breath, looked to the rest of her comrades and sighed. “I am sorry for having to bring it up so soon. I have seen it happen quickly, and by that time it is too late. I don’t want any of you to die. We are a family now, regardless if this ends tomorrow or never,” she added calmly, her red face returning to a normal shade.