by Zuko, Joseph
He sat back up. The front of the truck rested on top of the pump that had been pushed over onto its side. He put the vehicle into reverse and didn’t even check to see if someone else was pulling out. He just stomped on the gas.
The station erupted into a colossal fireball. Cliff had been to Nine Inch Nails concerts that were not as loud as this explosion.
Inside the store the ground under Tina’s butt shook from the massive explosion outside.
“Come on girls. Be quiet,” she whispered, “Daddy will be right back. I promise.” Doubt crept in.
What if he didn’t?
What if he was dead right now?
How the hell would she get out of here safely with her three children? She couldn’t possible carry them all.
A set of bloody hands crashed down on the counter inches from her head. She vomited out a scream. The nasty creature pulled itself over the counter. It was about to drop down on her. Tina clutched the knife with both hands and forced the blade up into the jaw of the beast. She was blasted with blood. The warm sticky syrup drained down her chest and formed a waterfall of blood between her C-cups. Its body went limp and fell on the floor next to her. The three little ones cried and reached out for their Mama. Tina extracted the knife and rolled back over to her children, “It’s okay! It’s okay. Mama’s okay. Where the hell is your father?!” she wiped the blood off her face.
CRASH!
The backend of the van exploded through the sliding glass doors. The back hatch opened and Cliff climbed out.
“Tina!” he ran to the counter. She popped up and gave him another round of thankful kisses.
“You’re okay!”
“I’m fine.”
The dead body blocked the cart from getting out from behind the counter. Cliff grabbed the body by the belt and dragged it across the floor. It left a black streak across the tile. Tina and Cliff slipped a little on the slick surface as they maneuvered the cart for the back of the van. They crashed it right into the back bumper.
“Get in!” Tina pulled at her children. Eve got out first and climbed up into the back of the open hatch. She helped pull up her sister Alex by the wrist and got her into the van. Cliff pulled Brea out of the toy car and handed her over to his oldest.
“Get her in her seat!” he told Eve. Brea was terrified and cried uncontrollably. The children climbed over the back row and got themselves strapped in.
Tina and Cliff moved with haste and unloaded the cart into the back of the van. It took them no time at all to empty it. An infected shuffled toward them. It was the old man that owned the switchblade. Cliff hit him with a back kick and the old infected man fell over a display of beer at the front of the store.
Tina loaded the last bag of rice, “Grab some of those brews!”
“What?” Cliff pulled the cart away from the back of the van.
Tina had started to climb in herself. “It’s like liquid bread!”
“Good point.”
The infected old man got back to his feet. Cliff chopped down onto his skull so hard that it split it in two. He kicked the old body in the stomach again and pulled the cleaver out as it fell to the floor. Cliff muscled up four cases of the finest Tecate. It was a brand of Mexican beer that they both loved. Somehow he found room for them.
Once all of the food and supplies were secure, he pulled himself up and over the pile. He hit the button that automatically closed the hatch and made his way over the kids and dropped his tired body down onto the driver’s seat.
A group of infected scratched at the hood of the van as Cliff shifted into drive and smashed his boot to the floor. The infected were thrown off the hood.
Blood sprayed up onto the windshield.
Cliff hit the wipers and windshield wash. The van dropped down with a crunch off the sidewalk and sparks flew as the suspension system bottomed out.
“Get us home safe!” Tina grabbed his forearm and squeezed it tight.
The gas station fire had grown so big that it had caught the bank next door on fire. From inside the van they could smell the smoke. The gas fumes were undeniable, but there was something else in the air that their brains couldn’t identify. It was the smell of burning money. The other smell they couldn’t quite work out was the smell of cooked human. The infected stepped out of the flames. They looked like The Human Torch. The van raced past the structure fire. They counted at least thirty souls that had been set ablaze.
“Girls, keep your eyes down!” Cliff wished he could do the same, but someone had to steer. He weaved the van through the parking lot and tried his best not to hit a body straight on. The last thing they needed was to blow the radiator or to have a burnt body crash through the windshield. The front of the van crunched down onto the street as they pulled away from Safeway.
“What do you think this is?” Tina pulled her seat belt across her lap.
Now that they were sitting still they could feel just how badly the stress and horror was affecting their bodies. They were both trembling with fear. Their chests heaved as they struggled to catch their breaths. Cliff’s knuckles were blanched white on the steering wheel. He shook his head and thought about saying it looked like “The End” but the truth was it was only the beginning.
Chapter 5
Karen pressed end after her call from Jim. She fought the urge to cry. Crying would not help. Her mind raced. She needed to focus and calm down. None of this made any sense.
How did a dead person come back?
They are dead.
Dead is dead.
She turned off the TV and stepped hastily over to the sliding glass door, closed and locked it. She pulled the blinds shut and turned off the light in the playroom. The back of Karen’s place faced a fence made of tall trees. There was nothing else back there. No people or other apartments to look in on them. It was one of the few things Karen liked about the place. It felt private. Even though she lived with hundreds of other people in the complex, the trees made it so she could walk around the living room in the nude and not worry about someone seeing her.
A large window sat above the couch in the living room. She dropped the blinds and closed the curtains. Karen turned off the floor lamp in the corner.
"What are you doing, Mama?" Valerie looked up at her from the couch.
What am I doing?
How do you explain this to her?
"We're going to play in the bedroom. You wanna play with the computer?"
"Yeah!" she perked right up. Valerie never got to play with the laptop. Karen knew that if she put on one of those kid’s games it would keep her and Robin busy for a while.
"Come on girls," Karen said as she picked up the computer and took them to the bedroom.
She set it up on the bed and got an Internet game going.
"You guys play sweet, okay?" Karen made sure the bedroom window was locked then she closed the blinds. She peeked out the window into the parking lot.
It looked clear. Nothing weird was going on.
Maybe it is only in Portland?
She clicked the Internet app on her phone and typed, “Portland infection” in the search bar. There were already thousands of posts. She clicked the first one. It was a photo from the top of a hospital. The shot was of the main emergency entrance. There were so many bodies lying dead on the ground. From this angle and height they were only human shaped blood spots.
The next photo was a close up from the inside of a car. A rage filled infected human was pressed against the other side of the glass. Its eyes were black and teeth stained red. The thing’s bottom lip was torn and hung lower than its jaw. She quickly read over the articles. Some said they couldn’t be killed. Others said to shoot them in the brain. The next photo was of a young girl, maybe ten and she was eating the guts out of a man’s stomach. He could have been her father.
Karen closed the Internet app. There was no need for her to see that kind of gore. Karen did not even like horror movies. After watching one, the intense imagery would keep her up all n
ight. She called her Mom. She had to warn her. The phone rang and rang, but Penny did not answer. Her call went to voicemail.
"Mom, call me right away. I love you." Karen’s phone beeped. The battery was at twenty percent. She clicked it in to the charger next to the bed. Karen caught her reflection in the full-length mirror. It was spring so she had worn a pair of shorts, a tank top and flip-flops. She needed to get more clothes on. She pulled her new jeans from the dryer. Grabbed a pair of Jim's athletic socks and her leather boots that covered her shins.
"Where we going?" Valerie noticed her Mama getting dressed.
"Nowhere baby. Mama needs to put more clothes on that's all. Play your game."
Karen put on her sports bra and a workout tank top. She wanted a thick shirt to cover her arms but all of her clothes were weak designer fabrics intended to only look good, not protect her from the harsh elements outside. She pulled down one of Jim's old thick cotton button up shirts. The shirt smelled like Jim and that made Karen feel warm all over.
High on the shelf in the closet was a black box. She pulled it down. The word Ruger was molded into the hard plastic lid. She popped it open. A handgun and two magazines rested on the foam padding. She had shot the thing twice at a range and it freaked her out.
Jim's brother Don helped them pick it out and get a good deal on it two years ago. Karen picked it up. It was heavier than she remembered. She grabbed the magazine and slid it into the bottom of the gun. It clicked into place. She remembered that she needed to pull back on the slide. Click, clack and it was ready.
She slid the other magazine into her back pocket. They had bought the holster that went with it. She hooked it to her belt and slid the gun into position. She pulled out her old leather jacket and two jackets for the children. Karen tossed them onto the corner of the bed.
She also found an old buck knife that her father gave her when she was a teen. She popped open the blade. It was a four-inch stainless steel knife that locked into position with a snap. Karen ran her thumb up the blade. It was still razor sharp after all these years. She closed the knife and slipped it into her back pocket next to the extra magazine.
Karen went around to the rest of the rooms and checked the windows and flipped off all the lights. She put the chain into the lock on the front door. The little chain would not do much to stop anyone. They had the apartment install it to make sure that the kids could not walk out the front door on their own, but Karen had broken it last summer. She had forgotten to take the chain off, pulled open the door and ripped it right off the wall. The only thing holding it together was a wound copper wire.
Karen and Jim did not have a ton of furniture in the apartment. When they had to short sale their home they knew they would need to downsize everything. The apartment was half as big as their old place so they put the big beautiful leather couches and chairs up on Craigslist. They parted with the entire kitchen table, eight matching chairs and the marble topped buffet that they were so proud of. It was just as heartbreaking to lose all of their prized possessions, as it was to lose the house.
In the front closet was an old backpack. She dragged it into the kitchen. She plucked canned fruit, chili, soup and the girls’ favorite snacks. She also took all of the vitamins out of the cupboard. There were a few ibuprofen and Tylenol bottles in there so she grabbed them too. Karen filled the bag, muscled it closed and dropped it off by the bed. The girls continued to play their game. They didn’t look up from the screen as she came and went. That was why they did not let them play on the computer. It made it so the children couldn’t hear anything you said to them. She would have to turn the damn thing off just to get their attention.
Karen checked her phone. No calls. Not from anyone.
Where the hell was her Mom?
Penny was in her sixties and had a bad shoulder. She could neither outrun nor fight one of those things and survive. Karen couldn't think like that. She had to stay focused and think about what she needed to get done next. Her purse was on the bed. She checked it to make sure the car keys and wallet were there. She put a few extra pairs of underwear and socks for herself and the children into the purse. No telling what Jim's plan would be. Did he want to stay here or make a run for it? Should she pack for a long trip or hang out with the kids?
She looked again at her phone and wished he would give her another call or get his ass here quick. Her phone was fully charged and she had both kids dressed. Robin did not think about taking her clothes off as long as the game was on the computer. Karen sat next to the girls on the bed. She smiled at them as she ran her hand through Valerie’s soft hair.
“It’s a fun game,” Valerie said as she leaned into the gentle touches from her Mama.
“That’s good,” Karen gave each of them a kiss on the top of their heads.
A scream from outside sent ice down Karen’s spine. She hustled over to the bedroom window but the screams were not coming from this side of the building. It was from the back of the apartment.
“Girls, stay here!”
Karen raced out into the living room and tried to peek outside without moving the curtains. It was the maintenance man, Steve. He was on the ground fighting two men. A ladder lay on its side at Steve’s feet. Karen watched in horror as one of the men bit into Steve’s forearm and the other bit his leg.
Steve shrieked.
Before she knew it Karen had popped the lock, removed the dowel from the sliding glass door and pushed it wide open. Steve kicked the guy off his leg and its body rolled across the grass. The infected man’s incisors ripped deeper into Steve’s flesh and they ground along the bone in his forearm. The infected man was like a rabid dog. His jaw was locked and would not let go.
Karen’s body was turbo charged with adrenaline. She pulled the gun from its holster and desperately tried to remember her lessons from two years ago. Her thumb clumsily found the safety and clicked it off. Steve was only ten feet away but as juiced as Karen was with excitement it might as well have been a hundred. The gun shook outrageously in her dominant hand. She raised her other hand to the bottom of the gun to support it. Steve punched his attackers face over and over, but it would not let go. Karen focused in on the black eyes that sat lazily in the dead man’s face. She tried to calm her breath and squeezed the trigger.
BOOM!
Karen’s ears stung with a high pitch whine. The recoil was so shocking she almost dropped the damn thing, but she hit her target. The bullet ripped in and out of the man’s skull. Steve pried the mouth off his arm. The other infected man was back on his feet. Steve pushed the dead body off of him and looked to see who fired the shot.
“Mrs. Blackmore!” he cried as he fought to get off the ground.
“Come on!” She called to him as she tried to line up a second shot, but the infected walked with such a bad limp. Its head bobbed and weaved so much she couldn’t get a bead on it. Steve got to his feet and he leaped over the short fence into Karen’s back porch. She got him into the apartment, slammed the door shut and locked it. The infected man stumbled over the doggy fence and fell to its face. Its nose smashed against the concrete.
Karen dropped the dowel into the track of the door. It crawled over and pounded its bloody hand against the glass. She knew it was there but it still made her jump.
“I gotta get this cleaned!” Steve clutched his wound.
Karen stepped away from the door and pulled Steve into the kitchen. She fired up the faucet and yanked the towel drawer out of the cabinet. The towels fell to the floor. In her haste she laid the gun down on the range and picked up two handfuls of towels. Steve splashed water on his face and carefully dipped the open wound under the faucet.
“What was that?! I was working on a vent and out of nowhere those guys pulled me down off the ladder!” He took a towel from her and ran it under the water.
“You haven’t seen the news?” Karen asked. She watched the blood run all over the linoleum. The bite on his leg drained blood everywhere.
“I’ve been f
ixing stuff all day. What the fucks going on?!”
“Mama?” Valerie stood at the edge of the kitchen with a baby doll tucked under her arm. Her face showed just how confused she was. She might be young but she knew what blood was and she had never seen that much before.
“Go back to the bedroom!” Karen pointed for her to leave, but kids never listen. Robin was right behind her big sister. The monster at the backdoor was up on its feet and it pounded at the glass with both fists.
“What happened to his arm? Why is he all red with blood?” Valerie’s tongue stuck out as she said blood. The sight of it made her start to gag.
“It’s okay. I’m fine. I hurt myself with a work tool and your Mama is nice enough to help me clean it,” he said as he struggled to smile.
“What was that loud noise?” Valerie looked to the back door. Karen rushed the two children back to the bedroom.
“Mama is he okay?” Valerie dragged her feet on the carpet.
“Yes baby. He is going to be okay. I need to help fix him up.”
“Who’s at the door? Why won’t you let him in?”
Karen pushed the two children back up onto the bed, “Hey, question box. Stay in here and play your game okay?”
“Why Mama?”
“Because I said so!” Karen couldn’t help but yell it. She just shot someone in the fucking face. Plus a man was bleeding to death in her kitchen.
Karen gasped.
She just realized he was infected now and that she had to get him out of the apartment!
“Mama, are you okay?”
Karen took a big breath and battled the urge to scream. “Mama’s okay,” she lied, “I need you to be a big girl and stay in here with your sister. That way I know where you are and that you’re okay. Okay?” her faux smile shined brightly at the little ones.
“Okay Mama. Mama, I got a secret,” Valerie called her mother closer with her index finger so she could whisper it in her ear. Karen complied and leaned forward. Every second that passed made Karen anxious. Her ear sat next to the little girl’s mouth.