Drink in case of Emergency

by Oliver, Carl

  The whole town had changed. Everyone they interacted with on a daily basis was now gone, replaced with a zombie shell of themselves. Again, it was Chris who broke the silence.

  “No radio.” Chris pointed from the back seat at the radio dials on the dashboard. It was turned to ‘104.7 Kool-Water: Oldies to tap your feet to’. The volume was turned up to somewhere between “rockin’ out” and “mind numbing”. Despite this, the radio was silent. No loud static from a missing channel, just the hum of a silent signal came forth from the speakers. All the silence was starting to wear down on Justin’s frayed nerves.

  “Let’s just get to the police station, I’m sure someone there must have an idea of what’s going on.” Scott said quietly, almost in a whisper. His eyes never leaving the woman whose shambling had brought her within twenty feet of their vehicle. Tyler eased the car through the intersection and onto Claimont road. As the car accelerated westward, away from the intersection, the woman began shambling in the same direction. Within a few moments, her steps began to slow, and then stop.

  Ten minutes and five miles away, the blue Dodge Stratus slowed to a stop approximately one mile away from The Middleton Police Station. The drive was a quiet one, only a few words shared between the four passengers. Each looked silently out the window at the world frozen in time around them.

  Scott continued to try his cell phone during the drive. Every couple of minutes he would fumble with the phone, mumble something under his breath and sigh in frustration.

  Chris sat silently, looking out the window at the city lying silent. Was the world going to be stuck like this, forever? He thought to himself, pondering what a future civilization would think when unearthing the remnants of our culture, frozen at this one unceremonious Friday morning.

  Tyler had his eyes focused on the road, driving at a steady pace and swerving to avoid the few zombies stumbling into the street. Twice he had to change their route to avoid larger groups that had congregated in the middle of the street.

  The swerving back and forth was not helping the nausea that each friend felt to some degree.

  “Dude, just run ‘em down.” Chris mumbled from the backseat, as Tyler swerved to miss a blonde woman who appeared to be in her mid 30’s, wearing navy blue nursing scrubs.

  “I don’t want to hurt anyone.” Tyler responded distractedly, accelerating after the woman was avoided.

  “I don’t think it counts as ‘hurting’ anyone if they’re already dead. At least the Tina didn’t really seem to bleed much when she gashed her arm crawling through the window.” Chris was looking out the window again, eyes unfocused as he watched his memory of the older woman, purple gel oozing out of wounds that should have been crimson. He felt a roll of queeziness in his belly that was unrelated to the alcohol working out of his system.

  “We don’t know if this is permanent, or if it’s just a temporary thing. They might get better.” Justin joined back into the conversation. “It makes more sense to avoid them, just in case.”

  “Besides, we don’t want to fuck up the car. I know they don’t seem to be moving very quickly, but if we get stranded in a group of them, we might be screwed.” Scott suggested, having finally put his phone back into his pocket.

  “Fine, we won’t kill zombies or the stratus, unless we have to.” Chris conceded, not seeing the point in arguing.

  “I won’t kill the stratus. I’ve only got two more months of payments left until it’s mine, free and clear.” Tyler tapped the dashboard affectionately. “I don’t know if I could kill anyone, either. Even if they might be a zombie. They still have a family. And just as much right to live as anyone else.”

  “You’d be surprised,” Chris whispered, facing the closed window, keeping the rest of his statement to himself.

  When push comes to shove, you’d be surprised at just what you’re capable of.

  ****

  “Now what the fuck do we do?” Justin’s words sounded hollow in the front seat, as four hearts sank.

  The stratus slowed to a stop two blocks from the police station. The scene before them looked like a warzone. The majority of the cars lining the street had deep gouges along their sides. They had clearly they had been sideswiped, hard. It wasn’t hard to find the culprit.

  Two cars were tipped upside-down, blocking the street, smoke slowly rising from their undersides. At least three dozen zombies moved about, some slowly shambling, while others moved at what might be considered a comfortable strolling pace. The faster ones moved with purpose toward one of a few small groups of clustered zombies. These groups of five or six zombies were crouched over, each group huddled over a body lying prone. All four friends had seen enough movies to know what was happening. Feasting.Tyler felt his stomach lurch at the sight.

  “Well, clearly the police station isn’t a safe place to start. By the looks of it, someone else already tried that idea.” Scott pointed at the two vehicles blocking the street, but his eyes were fixed on the group of zombies pulling out what he assumed were entrails from a body. He felt a moment of detached fascination as he wondered what it would feel like to be disemboweled.

  “That could have been like the other cars we saw crashed. It’s like a lightbulb went out on the whole town. Someone flicked a switch and suddenly everyone falls asleep, no matter what they were doing. Then they wake up as zombies.” Tyler was putting the stratus into reverse as he spoke, checking his rear view mirror and backing up slowly.

  “It doesn’t look like that’s what happened here. Do you know how fast you have to be going to flip your car in the city? It’s not like country roads where a ditch gives you a headstart to rolling. You have to be going fast.” Scott, ever the scientist, Chris thought. “All of the other cars we saw just seem like they coasted into whatever was in front of them. These two were going fast and hit something hard in order to flip like that.” Scott locked eyes with Tyler in the rearview mirror. “Besides, we haven’t seen them eating any of their own yet. I have feeling that the breakfast they are enjoying was the drivers.”

  “So we think it happened all at once, whatever it was.” Chris noted, his voice full of detached observation, his eyes glued to the blood bath before them. “Just not to us?” Chris added rhetorically before going on. “Maybe some kind of conspiracy theory government secret weapon poisoning confidential cover up?”

  “Did you just throw together a bunch of big sounding words?” Justin commented. “I mean, I’m not disagreeing. Clearly, something has happened in our little town.” He gestured out of the windshield as he said this.

  Tyler had reversed the car into a side street and pulled forward to drive in the opposite direction of the police station. Justin spoke from his spot in the front seat. “My original question still stands. Now what the fuck do we do?”

  “In an emergency, your first job is to get yourself to safety.” Scott stated in a scripted tone, and paused before continuing. “After you are safe, then you find out the nature of the emergency, and respond accordingly.” Tyler felt like he had heard these statements before, but he couldn’t put his finger on where, when Chris responded.

  “Really Scott, you think the Wilderness Scouts’ guidelines are going to help us out in a zombie apocalypse?”

  “Still, it’s not a bad idea,” Justin chimed in, trying to cut off an argument before it began. “Should we go back to my place and lie low?”

  “No offense, Justin,” Chris began. “But a hundred and forty pound woman just successfully broke into your place on her first try. I don’t know if your place is exactly a fortress.” Tyler piled on.

  “Besides, there’s already one inside. If we have to defend your place from a horde of them outside, I don’t really want to have to worry about the one that’s in the closet too.”

  “Fine, not my place, where should we go then?” Justin went back to his original question.

  “My aunt and uncle have a nice place out in Campbell.” Scott offered, referring to the ritzy suburb of Middleton. “It’s a four
th floor condo, and my Uncle probably has one or two guns, he was in the Army for ten years when I was growing up.”

  “Do we really want to be stuck on the fourth floor if we have to evacuate a building?” Justin complained.

  “There’s a fire escape that runs down the outside of the building, so it’s a safe way down.” Justin went silent at Scott’s response, and everyone began looking out of the windows again, watching the broken world pass them by.

  “Any other ideas?” Tyler shouted from the drivers seat. Hearing sighs of resignation, he turned the car around and began driving East, toward Campbell.

  ****

  Thirty five minutes later, Tyler slowed the car in front of a large stone building. Scott had remembered when his Father’s sister, Mary, had moved out here with her husband, Richard. His dad always called Richard ‘Dick’, just never to his face.

  Mary and Dick had moved into the large, luxurious condo right after it was renovated. The building had once been a furniture factory, until it was updated into condos a decade ago. Scott remembered wondering what Dick did for a living, that he was able to afford such a fancy place to live. It had three bathrooms, which seemed to adolescent Scott like the very definition of wealthy living.

  The four bedroom, two and half bath was located on the fourth floor of the five story building. Scott had visited his Aunt and Uncle at least twice per year since then, usually just for holidays. Last time he was here had been for Christmas. He had gotten buzzed on eggnog while listening to his Aunt tell embarrassing stories of his father from when they were growing up. There had been snow on the ground, and the building was buzzing with life back in December. Today the brick building seemed cold and lifeless, like everything else they had seen today.

  The car’s engine idled for a few moments, before Chris spoke up. “Ummm...Scott?”

  “Yeah, this is the place. Let’s go.”

  “Maybe...maybe you should wait in the car. Let us check it out first?” Chris offered. Scott’s head still pounded from the hangover that was coming back stronger than ever. Why on Earth would he stay in the car? His Aunt wasn’t going to let some strangers into their apartment, especially not with all of the weird things that had been happening. Dick might, but only because he would see it as a chance to take out a threat face to face, instead of waiting for a potential threat to come back in the future.

  There was a pause in the car, as Chris exchanged a look with Tyler and Justin in the front seat. Scott felt his frustration grow. “What the fuck are you talking about? Why shouldn’t I go first?”

  “I don’t want to make you worry, Scott.” Justin began, pausing, as if he was unsure what words to choose as he moved forward. “We’re just not sure what we’re going to find up there. I don’t know if it’s something you want to see.”

  Scott finally understood. “You think whatever this is got them too?” He saw the confirmation on Justin’s face. “No. If we’re all alive then they have to be too. I mean. It’s got to be a genetic thing or something.” Scott threw the words out, even though he didn’t fully believe them himself.

  Justin exchanged one last pleading look with Tyler, but it was Chris who spoke up this time. “How about this: Justin and I go in first, and you and Tyler take up the rear.” Scott could hear Chris scramble for a reason why this was a good idea. “Because, you know the building better than any of us, so you’d know the best way to get out if we have to run in a hurry.”

  Chris’s reasoning felt cheap and greasy on Scott’s exhausted and hungover mind, but he was too overwhelmed with everything that had happened to argue. “Fine. Let’s just hurry up and get in there. I really need some aspirin.”

  Climbing up the stairs to the front doors, the four friends encountered their first obstacle. There were two sets of doors, one open, one locked.

  The first door led into a small lobby area, filled with a few uncomfortable chairs, the mailboxes for the building, some fake plants as well as an intercom system next to the inner door. This inner door was situated next to a large window for security measures, so those coming out of the building could see into the lobby before leaving the safety of the secured hallway.

  Chris and Justin, taking the lead as planned, walked directly up to the inner door, and Chris pulled on it. The door rattled against a lock. Ignoring them, Scott walked to the intercom system, and pushed a small button labeled “Unit 504.” Unheard in the lobby, but five floors above them, a loud buzzing rang through the silence in Unit 504.

  Scott pressed the button two additional times, waiting for the familiar squawk of the intercom system being activated, or the buzz of the door itself being opened. In addition to the audio of the intercom, there was also a small digital camera that took video, which was displayed on the intercom screen of the unit you buzzed.

  Despite the buzzing and the photographic evidence of their nephew waiting on their figurative doorstep, neither Mary nor Dick pressed the button to unlock the building’s security door. It was at this point in time when Scott began to feel the first fingers of doubt creep into his mind.

  “Maybe they’re just not home right now?” Chris offered, trying to stay optimistic. Scott felt his own optimism dieing by the second.

  “Do you have a key, or know of another way in?” Justin said as he tried pulling on the door handle again.

  “No. They always buzzed me in before.” Scott’s voice fell, following his mood at the current predicament.

  “Hey, someone’s coming.” Tyler said, looking through the glass and into the secured hallway. Justin and Chris came to his side, while Scott was studying the intercom system, hoping with his last bit of optimism if it might be broken.

  “Fuck. Change that. Something is coming.”

  ****

  After joining Tyler and Justin to look down the hallway, Chris felt his blood run cold for the second time that day. The secured hallway was well lit, and the glass pane showing into it was crystal clear. Because of these facts, there was nothing to obscure what was coming down the hallway, directly towards them. The sight was the most terrifying thing that Chris had ever seen.

  The figure that moved down the hall was moving differently than the zombies they had seen earlier. It was moving differently, but somehow still the same. Chris realized with fear that it was moving in the same jerking fashion, but with significantly more poise and grace. He said a silent prayer to himself.

  Please, god, or the universe, or whatever benevolent force is out there in the world. Please don’t let this be a super fast zombie situation. I really don’t think I could handle that, especially not with this particular one.

  This particular zombie was having a much stronger effect on all three young men who looked upon it, because this particular zombie stood approximately three and a half feet tall. She wore a long tee shirt that had apparently been her pajamas, and her blonde hair was done up in a long braid.

  Christ, she must be ten years old, Chris reflected. He looked over and saw the same mixture of fear and dread on Tyler and Justin’s faces. Scott was still behind them, pressing the Unit 504 button over and over again.

  The ten year old zombie moved gradually down the hallway, until she caught sight of the three young men staring through the window. Upon seeing them, she paused for the briefest of moments, as if her brain had to process this unique situation. Then she took off at a run toward them.

  Her run wasn’t as graceful and Chris was worried it would be, but in the narrow hallway, even her small stumbles were easily recovered from. In five seconds she covered the distance between herself and the window.

  Chris wasn’t aware of it at the time, but his brain was cataloguing as much information as he could. While he was aware of feeling fear, for the girl had not broken her stride, even when she was less than a yard away from the window, there was a part of his brain that tracked this.

  She didn’t go for the door right away, she went for the direct attack. She is faster than the ones we saw earlier, but not smarter.

/>   The little girl lunged at the window, her nose and forehead cracked into the glass with a slap and crunch, it reminded Chris of the sound that cockroaches make when you step on them slowly. Crisp, and juicy at the same time. A small crack formed in the glass, and a large patch of purple gore stuck over this crack.

  Despite the damage inflicted, the little girl did not fall. Her nose and forehead oozed purple goop from the wound she had just inflicted upon herself, but she continued to stare at her prey.

  “Holy shit.” the sound came from behind Chris, this was Scott, only now seeing their tiny attacker. After staring for what she deemed an appropriate amount of time, the tiny attacker shot out with her hand, attempting to grab her prey through the glass. Her fingernails hit the thick glass, a few of them bending painfully backwards.

  Justin instinctively reached for the security door’s handle, intending to hold it tight so the miniature nightmare could not get through. The fast motion caught the little girl’s attention, and she too went to the door, throwing her weight into it. She was just tall enough that her head and shoulders connected with the crossbar handle that unlocked the door.

  “Shit!” Justin called out in surprise, not expecting the door to unlock so easily. The door had opened far enough for the little girl to get an arm through the opening before Justin was able to throw his weight into the door and keep it from opening any further. Her skinny, pale arm thrashed around. Her tiny fingers seemingly locked into a claw shape, rending the air for her prey.

  “She opened the door. We can get through.” Scott shouted.

  “Yeah, except for the whole zombie girl in the way.” Tyler called back.

  “Don’t you have another closet you can lock her in?” Justin’s sarcasm thick in the small lobby. Chris knew he was joking, but he still looked around, just to be sure. No closets, just the door they came in, and this one. In addition to the wall of mailboxes, there were two overstuffed chairs, presumably to make the lobby more friendly looking. Between them stood a five foot fern looking tree that Chris was about fifty percent sure was fake.