by Lora Powell
It all added up to make me more curious about our new companion's background.
TWENTY-FIVE-DAY 12
A hair raising shriek from outside sat me bolt upright in the chair. The book that I had been attempting to read in the dark, both to pass the long night hours alone and to hopefully gain more useful knowledge, dropped from my hands and landed on the floor with a thump. Cringing, I froze, hoping that the sound would go unnoticed by the too close zombie.
Luck was not on my side. Another scream blasted the night and the zombie thudded into the side of the building. Soft footsteps from behind me sent my already racing heart into orbit, but it was just Shawn and Fallon emerging from where they had been sleeping in the nurse's room. The moon must have been especially bright out tonight, because more light than usual was making it's way through the window, making it possible to make out the worried expressions on both of their faces.
Other than the one zombie that had surprised us in the little cabin our first morning here, we hadn't run across any zombies way out here. The rugged terrain and low population seemed to be working like we had hoped, keeping the numbers of the undead low. Of course, we had known that we were bound to run into at least a few zombies. But that didn't mean that we were any more prepared for another run in with them than before.
"What do we do?" Fallon hissed, eyes locked on the door that was wedged closed with the other chair.
"Maybe it will go away?" I thought back to Evie, and how she lost interest in the bathroom door when I had been quiet for a while. The zombies didn't seem to have much of an attention span. If we all stayed silent, maybe it would go away on it's own.
Lapsing into a tense silence, we all waited to see what would happen next. Thumping and bumping it's way along the outside of the building, the zombie let out rumbling growls and the occasional scream that we could easily hear in the silence of the night. It seemed to have worked it's way away from the end of the building that we were in, the noises becoming more muffled, and I sagged a little in relief. Sure that it was only a matter of time before the zombie wandered off into the woods. It would still be out there, somewhere. And therefore, still be a danger, but I would feel better if it wasn't beating against the siding of the building that we were hiding in.
A particularly hard thump, followed by a splintering sound, made the hair stand up along my arms. That did not sound like anything that would bode well for the three of us. More thrashing and shrieking was accompanied by more splintering, and suddenly the screams were louder than they had been before.
Cursing, something that I had learned he did when things were not going in our favor, Shawn crept closer to the barricaded office door. He leaned close, pressing his ear to the surface, and listened. After a second, he pulled back and motioned to us to stay quiet. Completely unnecessary, but then again, I had been the one who dropped the book.
"It's in the cafeteria."
It sounded like a table and a bunch of chairs were knocked over as more low growling came from just on the other side of our flimsy office door. As much noise as the zombie was making, if there happened to be any more nearby, it wouldn't be long before they joined the party. I wasn't the only one that that thought occurred to, as Fallon whispered, "That thing needs to shut up."
It felt like an eternity as we stood there, huddled together in the dark, listening to the zombie trash the cafeteria. The creature worked it's way around the room, blasting shrieks and clanging chairs clearly marking it's path. When the noise from the outer room suddenly stopped, it was somehow even creepier than the sounds the zombie created.
Looking to the two standing beside me, their faces showed the strain of the last couple of minutes. We were all well aware of the implications of having a zombie roaming the building with us. And now, the thing had fallen silent, and it was even worse. Before, we at least knew where it was. The unknown, as it turns out, was worse than the knowing.
Several more minutes passed, but the zombie continued to keep quiet. Some small part of me began to hope that the best may have happened, and I finally couldn't help but to vocalize my thoughts. "Do you think it's gone?"
I saw hope light up Fallon's eyes at my question, but it was short lived as Shawn answered.
"It was at the wrong end of the room when it went quiet. Near the kitchen, not the door out. I don't think we can afford to assume that it's not inside anymore."
He was right, of course. I knew I certainly wasn't going to be getting any sleep until I was sure that more than a hollow wood door held closed by an office chair was between me and the zombies.
"We need to go out and check." Fallon didn't sound any happier with that thought than I was.
Nodding, Shawn eased closer to the door and pressed his ear to it to try to listen once more. He had emerged from the nurse's room already armed with his bat. Backing toward the desk, I picked up my knife from where I had sat it earlier. Seeing my action, Fallon gripped her own knife, one that she had lifted from the kitchen the day before, in an unsteady hand. Standing back up, Shawn looked over his shoulder to us. "Are you ready?"
The whispered words sent the knot of dread that had formed in my throat straight to my gut, but I nodded my head anyhow. Getting a like response from Fallon, he slowly eased the chair out from under the doorknob, trying to be as silent as possible. Setting the chair out of the way, he eased the door open a crack, just far enough that he could see into the cafeteria.
A couple of frantic beats of my heart later, Shawn pulled the door the rest of the way open.
The moonlight coming in through the high windows illuminated the outer room well enough that I could see the destruction caused by the zombie. The formerly neat rows of tables surrounded by their chairs had been bumped into. Tables had been shoved out of line, chairs toppled. The door leading outside, the one that had been closed, now stood open. Splinters of wood scattered over the floor nearby, letting me know that something about the door had failed when battered by the zombie, and that was how it had gotten in. There really wasn't any surprise there. Security had obviously not been a high priority when the camp was built. Whoever made those sort of decisions had probably thought that, way out here in the middle of nowhere, the risks of any sort of intruder were minimal.
How could that person have known that, one day, a trio of people would rely on those doors to keep out the undead.
The zombie wasn't anywhere in sight. Staying close together, we worked our way across the cafeteria. Stepping carefully, I made sure not to bump into anything that would make any noise. The swinging door that led into the kitchen beckoned. If the zombie was still somewhere inside the building, the kitchen seemed like the most likely place it would be.
We reached the door and paused just outside. Unlike the kitchen door at the office building that Shawn and I had narrowly escaped from not so long ago, this door did not have any sort of window that we could use to see inside. The only way to know was to go in.
Looking at each other, in some sort of unspoken agreement, we moved towards the swinging door together.
TWENTY-SIX-DAY 12
What in the hell was it doing up there?
My first thought was confusion as I looked around Shawn and caught a glimpse of the zombie. It had managed to climb up onto the long center island that ran the length of the kitchen, and was reaching toward a set of pots that hung gleaming in the faint moonlight from ceiling hooks. This one had obviously been dead for a while. It's bloated and greasy looking flesh seemed like it wanted to slide right off of the bones. Most of it's hair had fallen out, leaving just a few sparse clumps to cling limply to it's scalp. Gore crusted it's ragged clothing, and I couldn't tell what was blood from any hapless victims it had managed to sink it's teeth into, and what was it's own leaking bodily fluids.
I thought that we had been silent, but maybe we weren't quiet enough. The creature slowly swung it's head in our direction and focused it's one remaining eye on where the three of us had frozen in the doorway.
Maybe we confused it as much as it standing on top of that counter confused me. Or, maybe it was just having trouble seeing. Either way, the zombie cocked it's head slightly to the side and went utterly still, staring right at us.
Then it's rotted lips peeled back from it's teeth and the zombie snarled, exactly the type of sound that one did not want to hear coming from the dark.
Lurching forward, the zombie crashed to the tile floor in an ungraceful heap. It took it a few seconds to disentangle it's limbs, but far too soon, it was clambering disjointedly back to it's feet. I didn't even realize that I had backpedaled back through the swinging door, until I was already back into the cafeteria. Behind me, Fallon was backing away too, and the door hadn't had a chance to swing all of the way shut again before Shawn followed.
I guess none of us was too eager to get anywhere near the zombie.
The door swung shut all of the way this time as the three of us regrouped near the center of the cafeteria room. At that point, we came to our senses enough to know that we were going to have to stop our retreat at some point. The zombie was going to have to be dealt with, like it or not.
A scream came from behind the kitchen door just before the door burst open. Lurching through the doorway, the zombie focused it's one good eye on us. It moved with none of the speed than I had come to expect from the zombies. Instead, it jerked along in those characteristic fits and starts, but much slower and almost uncoordinated in it's movements. The creature shambled towards us, paying no mind to anything that was in it's path. It tripped over downed chairs and bounced off of the heavy tables, intent only on reaching us.
The sight was horrifying.
As the zombie came within a dozen feet of our group, Shawn stepped forward and raised the bat. It's eye held the dead gaze of a predator, as it focused on his movement. Swinging the bat hard, he connected with the creature's skull. A wet splattering sound was followed quickly by the sound of the zombie hitting the ground. It was the for-real kind of dead instantly.
All of us breathing fast, we just stood there for a few seconds, staring at the rotting corpse that now lay just feet from us. A pool of blood began to spread across the floor. The hard hit had split the zombie's skull.
Hyped up on adrenaline, I hadn't noticed the stench coming from it, until now. The zombie smelled like an animal that had been killed on the highway, and then laid in the summer sun for a week. Fighting back a gag, I pulled the neck of my shirt up in a futile attempt to cover my mouth and nose.
Poking at it with the end of the bat, Shawn looked back at us. "It's dead."
Next to me, Fallon gave an audible sigh of relief. "Do you think it was just the one?"
"I think so, but we should probably look around. Just to be sure." He looked over to where the door was still hanging open. "Need to do something about the door, too."
I chimed in through my shirt, "We need to do something about the zombie. It can't stay in here."
Nodding, Shawn handed me his bat. He reached down and grabbed the corpse by it's filthy shoes, and began dragging it toward the door. The smear of blood that was left in it's wake looked nearly black in the limited moonlight. Trailing behind him with some vague thought of watching his back, I watched as he paused at the open door. Looking out, he looked around carefully before dragging the zombie outside. He dropped it's feet when he had pulled it a dozen yards away from the building. "When it's light out, I'll come back out and finish dragging it further away, but this will have to do for now."
Back inside the building, we found Fallon looking into every shadowy corner nervously. The bathrooms were still and empty, the kitchen now thankfully the same. There seemed to have only been just the one zombie.
Upon closer inspection, we found that the door had been forced open when some of the screws in the jam pulled free. Shards of wood from the door frame still littered the ground. Fixing the door properly with what we had on hand wasn't really an option. Surprising me, Fallon was the one who came up with an idea that at least allowed us to keep the door closed. It was by no means secure. But anything was better than letting it hang open for any passing zombies to stroll right on in, and the fix was as good as it was going to get, anyhow.
By the time we were finished, there wasn't a lot of the night left. No one wanted to go back to sleep, so we all sat in the office, sharing a bag of beef jerky and talking about what had just happened.
"Why was it different from all of the other zombies I've seen?"
Fallon asked the question that had been mulling around in my mind. I shrugged before answering. "I don't know. Maybe it was so decomposed that it was starting to have trouble getting around. I've not seen one like that before, either."
She nodded. It made sense, anyhow. Who really knew anything about why the zombies were the way they were. I was convinced that the Flu vaccine was what had started this whole disaster, but the why still escaped me. Was it some random fluke, or had someone engineered the apocalypse? I wasn't sure that we would ever find out the answer to that question.
TWENTY-SEVEN-DAY 14
The rain had been pounding the metal roof over our heads for over a day. At first, the sound had lulled me into the best sleep that I had had in weeks. But now, the constant drumming had started to wear on my nerves. Our already gloomy hide out was even darker, the rain clouds keeping the sun's light from even making it to the trees above. With no way to really get dry quickly, and no spare clothes, we all stayed indoors even more than usual. I was starting to feel trapped.
Wandering to the door that led outside, I fiddled with our makeshift fix. It did the job, but wasn't going to keep out anyone who was determined to get inside. Looking behind me, I found Shawn and Fallon playing cards at one of the round tables. The discovery of the well worn deck was giving them something to do to pass the time, but I'd never really liked card games. I was on my own. Suddenly unable to stay cooped up in the dark building for another second, I opened the door.
Outside, the rain still came down in wind driven sheets. The small overhang above the door kept the worst of it off of me as I stepped out. Leaving the interior was just what I had been needing, and I instantly felt lighter. I didn't even mind that I was already wet from the knees down, the wind carrying the rain to me despite the roof.
The entire world looked grey. The rain kept me from being able to see it clearly. The dense underbrush that marked the start of the forest appeared blurry, even though I knew that it wasn't all that far. Leaning back against the open door frame, I crossed my arms and settled in to watch the rain.
I had been standing there for several minutes, lulled into a semi trance by the repetitive sights and sounds of the storm, when movement in the distance caught my attention. Standing up straight, I focused on where I was sure something other than the rain had moved. I didn't have to wait long before I saw it again. Down the road, far enough away that I couldn't make out anything clearly, a distinctly human shape emerged from the gloom.
"Guys."
I kept my voice down and my eyes trained on the figure. They moved along slowly. I couldn't tell if it was a zombie or someone who was still alive.
My low level of worry ratcheted up to blatant alarm when three more figures took shape in the rain. "Guys!" I hissed louder and dared a look behind me to see if they had heard me this time. When Shawn looked up with alarm, I knew they had heard, and swung back around to watch the figures in the distance.
I backed back through the doorway, keeping my gaze locked on the four distant shapes, as Shawn appeared by my side. Raising an arm, I pointed, drawing his attention to what had alarmed me. We watched them draw slowly closer for a few seconds, before closing the door and securing it the best that we could.
"What is it?" Fallon asked.
"I don't know. Maybe people. Maybe zombies."
"Zombies, as in plural?" She looked at me with alarm.
"Yeah."
"How many?"
"I saw four." Shawn answered her as he began to drag one of the heavy
tables toward the door. "We need to be ready. If they're zombies, our best bet is to stay quiet and hope they don't figure out that we are in here."
I cringed at the screech the table made against the floor. Moving to it, I grabbed one side and lifted. Shawn followed suit, and we carried the table the rest of the way to the door. We set it down up against the door. I didn't know if it would be any help, but it seemed better than doing nothing.
I couldn't see out of the high windows that this building had. Pulling a chair over, I used it to gain the needed height. Shawn and Fallon were already looking out another window. It took me a second to locate the figures because I was looking in the wrong area. They were much closer to the building than I would have figured. Silently, the three of us watched as they drew closer.
As the four figures turned off of the little back road and into the camp driveway, they finally were clear enough to start to make out details. I didn't think that they were zombies.
They moved like people. The one in the lead was taller and broad shouldered. Close behind him, two smaller figures huddled close together, and a tall thin figure was in the rear. All of them seemed to be doing their best to avoid the wind and rain, while moving steadily toward our building.
I practically held my breath, worried absurdly that they would somehow be able to hear my breathing. At the next window over, Shawn and Fallon both held completely still, warily watching the people approach. When the closest figure drew within a few feet of Shawn's jeep, he paused to look in through the windows. He appeared to say something to the people behind him, but I couldn't hear what it was over the roar of the rain on the roof. As one, the group looked back to the door of our building. They seemed to huddle closer together as they watched. I could only guess that they were probably looking for any signs of life, unsure if whoever drove the jeep would still be among the living.