by M. Evans
****
Frank finally found the two racing down Main Street. He had been driving in circles trying to find them, worried sick they had been killed, or worse--that they'd been turned. He pulled up beside them and signaled for Shaun to follow him. He drove, looking in his rearview mirror to make sure they didn't deviate again. To the three boys and teenage girl in the back, he enquired, "So ... pretty horrible day, huh kids? Is everybody alright? Nobody got bit or hurt? Nobody needs a doctor?"
The teens stared back in shock, all stunned by the events which had transpired. They mumbled yesses and nos, and Frank wasn't sure they understood the questions. He pulled up in front of Andy's Army Surplus and Bait Store. "Did any of you go to the school by yourselves today?"
Albert, a fifteen-year-old with a short cut haircut, was starting to cry just thinking about it. "My dad took me to pick my sister up! He got up early so he could still make the third shift start time at the plant! When he saw the bus flip and catch on fire, he ran to help save them! He didn't last two minutes from the time the first firemen entered the bus! They ripped him apart! I saw everything! I slid out of the truck and ran for the school gym!" He bit hard on his knuckles, just short of drawing blood.
Frank patted his shoulder. "That's enough, son. You don't need to say anything else." He didn't want to hear any more. He couldn't see any good from the boy having to repeat events of the day. He didn't want to hear the stories from the rest, so he asked, "Does anyone have anywhere I can take them? Do you have somewhere you can go that's safe?"
Tina looked at her phone and realized she had a missed text from her dad. It must have come in the morning, before everyone lost signal. She showed the text to Lucas and started crying. It read, "Hey kids, I got back from trapping early, meet you at school. Love dad, PS Lucas be good lol."
Lucas stared for a moment, then mumbled, "We got nowhere to go, either."
Frank turned his head and saw the ATV coming to a stop behind them.
Tina and Lucas huddled together on the back of the car. Tina wasn't dealing with it well and wept on her brother's shoulder. She couldn't stop the images of what she'd seen today, and what her dad might be encountering at this very moment ... that he might become one of them.
Ellie got off of the ATV. Coming up to Tina, she gave her a hug. "It's going to be alright, Tina. We're all going to have a rough time for a while." She gave Tina a hand down from the car and Lucas put his arm around his sister while they walked into the store.
Frank patted Albert on the shoulder. "It's okay, Albert. I'll have Greg get two of everything you'll need yourself. If you want to come in, we'll be buying enough for a small army."
Albert nodded, wiping his nose on his sleeve, and staring down at the dashboard. "Thanks."
Frank walked over to Shaun, putting some light pressure on his neck with his finger and thumb. He leaned in. "We are going to be having a little 'Come to Jesus' meeting very soon about your shitty listening."
Shaun winced, tightening up his shoulders. "Save the neck, Francis."
Frank squeezed a little harder. "Not a good time to use the eff-word, Shaun."
The nine of them funneled through the gated door. Andy, the owner, peered up from his urban warrior magazine, taking in the large group of teens accompanied by only one adult--half of them were covered with blood and grime.
Andy knew Frank by sight. "Franky! How y'all doing today?" Andy was old enough and crazy enough to not worry about what people thought about him, nor if they liked him or not. "What in the hell happened to you!?"
Frank realized he probably didn't have a clue about what was going on. Why would he? Frank figured anyone who went to the school and was lucky enough to escape probably went home or drove straight out of town. Some unfortunate few probably figured going to Des Moines would be the safest of bets. "Andy ... this will sound completely insane."
Andy cut him off. "Frank, quit blowing smoke, will yuh? Hell, yuh look like you're wearin' half the proof I'd need, and I ain't see this many teens looking so scared since the draft for 'Nam."
Frank took a deep breath, realizing that mentioning how he created this problem wouldn't help. "There was a mass outbreak. It started in Des Moines and now--somehow--it's here already."
Andy sat back, flipping up a gold lighter. The US Marine Corps crest and logo was engraved on it. Lighting an unfiltered cigarette from an old yellow pack, the old man sat under a red sign which read, 'If you like fresh air, there's plenty of it outside.' He nodded towards Frank. "Yep, I figured I'd be busy today. All these damn yuppies 'round here ... they went and forgot a good ol' gun in dangerous times can save yer backside!"
Frank looked at him curiously. "You've already seen them? Were you at the school?"
Andy barked, coughing up a lung from laughing. "Like I give a damn 'bout a bunch of schoolgirls at a rally! Hell, no I wasn’t there! One of my ol' Marine buddies came by. Pat works up at E&T in security. He came in here lookin' stark ravin' mad, waving his arms and tellin' me all kinds of damn stories!"
"Really? That old guy saw ... them? And survived? That's amazing!"
"Hell, he's still a young buck! Pat spent his late teens mowin' down Charlie in the jungle--he can handle a couple of those things! He tol' me yuh got to put a bullet in their brain or they don't die. He said he shot one in the heart twice, but it jus' came runnin' for him, ready to eat. He wanted to buy one of my lever action rifles.... Now, don't get me wrong--it's a damn good rifle, but lever action in this day? You'd think an ex-Marine would be up for somethin' a bit more hard hittin'."
"Er ... what are you talking about, Andy?"
Andy shook his head, hopping off of his stool and limping over to the back counter. He came back with two very new-looking rifles. Setting the bipods of each up on the counter, he racked the magazine like any good Marine would do and released it to show he was presenting an empty rifle.
Frank took one up to his shoulder. Looking around the store, he knew the AR model platform like the back of his hand--except he was used to full auto models. "How many of these bad boys do you have?"
Andy smiled tapping the counter ... a few black holes were in his shining smile. "Well, I can stock yer army there, but do any of 'em know how to use one of these? Or am I just toolin' 'em with somethin' to blow their heads off?"
Frank looked around at the skinny teens, taking stock of his new family, looking at them one by one, and shaking his head. They'd need all the help God could give them or Andy could sell them. "No. Other than Shaun and Greg, I doubt the rest of them have been this close to a gun."
"So what're you plannin' on doin' with 'em, Franky?"
Frank's answer was short and hard. "Teach them."
He moved down the aisles filling a cart with everything they would need to survive. He had pocket knives, stiff military knives, socks, boxers, pants, jackets, sweatshirts, lined jackets ... he was stocking the carts with just about everything.
Kristy, a brunette who was a little shorter than Ellie and a freshman in their grade, started to cry as she tried on her coat. "How long do we have to stay up there? How will we know when it's safe to come back down from wherever you're planning on taking us?"
Frank shrugged, not yet having an answer. "Kristy, you're asking the impossible question. Those things were at the school for minutes and took it by storm. If they're in Des Moines, in a high populated urban area, then there's no telling what they'll do. It's better to live. I don't know what the Army will do, but if they move in, there's a good chance they'll assume everyone is infected and take no prisoners. There's an even better chance they'll be spending their time in big cities first."
Mike, a friend of Greg's with a cocky attitude, cut in. "So, what about our friends, man!? What are we going to do!?"
Frank was watching the clock, thinking about the spread of the X-74. "They might be alive if they're lucky. Hell, if they're smart, they might even stay that way."
Mike rubbed his hands over his shaggy haircut, looking at the ground.
"We could take all those guns and kill those things ourselves, you know...."
Frank took an AR off the table. He was losing patience. He handed it to him with a full magazine. "Lock and load, son!"
The boy stared at the gun like it was a metal jigsaw puzzle. Shoving it back at Frank, he retorted, "You're supposed to teach us, aren't you?"
Andy slapped the kid on the shoulder. "If yuh go out there and have to think about what you're doin', and if you get in a bad situation and jam up, those things'll tear yuh limb from limb! Now you've got a man here offerin' to take y'all somewhere safe, teach you to stay safe, and keep you alive. If yuh don't think that sounds like a good deal, then the door's behind yuh, and y'all know how to use it!"
Greg walked up, shoving him. "We don't have time for this! You guys need to get up in the hills with Frank and Shaun. It's going to be your only chance."
"What the hell are you going to do?"
"I'm catching up with my dad, stupid!"
Frank cringed as he thought he still had one more person's life to ruin for the day. He looked at Andy. "If you can get those kids a couple seasons' worth of clothes, it'd be appreciated."
Andy nodded, picking out winter and spring clothes and everything they would need they wouldn't have time to go home and pack. He was a firm believer if it wasn’t zombies who would ruin the world than it’d be the government. In any case Andy had everything you would need to survive.
Frank walked Greg to the back. Greg was already staring at him suspiciously and he leaned against the wall anticipating the bad news. "What's up, Dr. Fox?"
Frank broke the news to the boy. Shaun and Ellie watched Greg go from scared to insane with rage, beating on the wall with his fist until he had nothing left, and collapsed to the ground with his head against the wall, crying and still punching it with his bloody knuckles.
Greg whispered, "I want to kill them. I want to kill all of them."
Frank patted him on the shoulder. "Son, if we don't get out of town soon, we might not get the chance to."
Ellie watched Greg, feeling worse for him than for herself. She looked at Shaun. "There's going to be a lot of new orphans after today."
Shaun looked at the crew walking around getting gear. He looked outside. "Hey, dad. Where are we going to put all this stuff?"
Frank did a double take at all the gear Andy had accrued. Andy had made sure they could eat for the summer and winter, and not have to worry about clothes or bullets. He also had enough survival items that Frank said a silent prayer hoping there were still people like Andy in the world to help others in true need. He didn't ask for anything in return and had no type of personal gain to achieve. Frank was happy for his ATV, or he'd spend the next week making trips up the steep hillside. "Andy, I can't begin to thank you for all the supplies. There's enough here to keep the group alive until next spring! We just have one issue here which is I don't have any way to get it home. I had to leave my truck in Des Moines."
"Well now, Franky," he began, grinning widely, "sounds like yuh need a different set of wheels. Christ, do yuh need me to maybe load the guns for y'all? Maybe I could wipe yer ass too. How's that sound?"
"Yeah, funny how I never have the right car with me every time a killer virus is unleashed and spreads like wildfire."
Andy pulled a set of keys from his overalls and tossed them to Frank. "There's a solid and strong runnin' van. It ain't pretty, but it'll run longer than any of them little import cans-on-wheels will," he laughed with a karate chop to the air, which Frank was pretty sure was meant to be taken as an insult of foreign cars.
"Is it in the alley way?"
"Yup. Just give 'er a little love as I haven't fired 'er up this week. I usually only take 'er to swap meets and gun shows, but she's reliable."
Frank looked at Shaun and Greg. "Boys, can you two get it loaded up? I want to be in the woods before dark if we can."
The boys complied without answering, baffled by Andy's amazing generosity, and pushed the carts for the back door. Mike ran up quickly. "Let me help you guys with that!"
Greg punched him in the shoulder. "You decided to stick around with us, did you?"
Mike shrugged. "At least he seems like he has a plan. Everyone else is going to hide in their houses, and by the time they come out those thing will be everywhere. I'll take my chances with you."
Frank secured the rifles in hard plastic gun cases. "Hey, Lucas! We're about done here. You got all your clothes?"
Lucas was zipping up a tan coat that would melt him outside right now, but in three short months would be a treasure. "Yes, sir! I got everything I'm going to need to make it up there, I picked everything Andy showed me. Bring on Mother Nature!"
Frank smiled and patted him on the shoulder. "Good pick, Lucas. Those coats'll keep you warm. They're probably tough as nails and can withstand taking a hell of a bite. Would you mind running out and getting Albert? We are ready to get out of here. I don't want him sitting out there by himself too long."
Lucas snapped off a half-ass salute and yelled to Tina that he'd be right back. She smiled and he disappeared out the doors. The bell rang as the steel door hit it.
****
Lucas walked out looking around warily. He didn't see anyone or anything on the streets. The tornado sirens made sure it was very difficult to hear anything else. All of the motorists driving by were going like a bat out of hell, trying to get home before any tornados hit.
He noticed one man driving a white pickup--his door was covered with blood and the man inside looked ill. He was holding a dark red towel to his neck, and his eyes were bleeding already. Lucas looked down at the street, kicked a rock, and was thinking what Shaun's dad had said about not letting anything bite or scratch him. He couldn’t stop thinking of the lady he tripped wishing he had done something differently now. He felt bad, wondering if the stranger driving was infected, if he had a family, and what he'd do to them when he finally got home. He hoped he would crash before he got there.
Lucas walked up to the squad car and tapped on the window. "Hey, Albert. We got new wheels. Let's go! Wait until you see all the cool stuff this old guy gave us...."
He looked around some more, and was startled when he heard the alley door scraping open. He leaned on the side of the door as he caught his composure. Still waiting for Albert to come out, he thought he could hear the boy whimpering inside the car. "Man," he started as sympathetically as he could manage, "I get it, but we're all having a tough time today. Frank said we need to get out of here, so get a move on."
Reaching down for the handle, he pulled it up and unlatched the door. He jumped a foot when Albert let out a guttural growl, tripped on the curb and fell on his butt. He screamed, "Help! Help!" He looked at the distance between the door and where he was sitting, and knew he wouldn't make it. He jumped up pushing on the car door with his back and trapped one each of Albert's hands and feet in the door.
Albert brought back his left hand and sent a hard punch into the frame, sending the door flying open and knocking Lucas back into the air. He landed on his back, cutting the skin on the back of his head, and warm blood flowed freely through his hair. He shook off the feeling of passing out and rolled to his stomach so he could push off of the sidewalk with his arms.
The thing that used to be Albert jumped from the broken car door, landing near a shivering Lucas, walking in a low crouch, and letting its hands drag on the ground. One hand scraped through the fresh, dark, sticky blood and it lifted its fingers, sniffing at them, and licked it off. It let out another growl‑‑this one of pure satisfaction.
Lucas brought his knee up to his chest, leapt and sent a foot flying into Albert's chest. Albert caught the foot with both hands, dragging him back behind the cruiser, ripping chunks of flesh from his calf and savoring the meal. Lucas cried in pain, screaming for help. He kicked with his other foot and tried sitting up, but Albert caught him by his coat, lifted him up and tore into his neck. The blood poured down Albert's chin and clothes, dripping
and collecting into a pool, running into the gutter.
Tina opened the door. She was smiling, not realizing the goofy salute of her brother would be the last time she saw him as the boy as she'd always remember. "What's taking you guys so long?" she called, looking towards the car. All of her senses met up at the same moment and she let out a blood curdling scream. "Lucas! No!"
This fully caught Shaun's undivided attention. He whipped his head around, let go of the cart and ran with everything he had before he could think of what he was doing. Tina had let go of the door, running outside.
"Tina! Wait!" Shaun yelled. From his angle, he could better see the mess with Albert eating what was left of Lucas' neck. Pieces of flesh fell from its mouth with blood dripping on its lap. Lucas was convulsing on the ground, shaking with his last human moments. Shaun caught up with Tina who had dropped to her knees.
She'd met her limit on emotional heartache for the day, and there was no more she could handle. She grabbed onto Shaun's leg and pulled the pistol from his holster screaming, "Die, damn you!" She fired at Albert, missing with every shot. Shaun tried to stop her but she was out of ammo already and threw the pistol.
Albert growled at them. He dropped Lucas, who was on the verge of death and therefore losing his flavor, and came running for the two of them.
Shaun waited for Albert to get within a foot of them, and caught the creature off guard with a forearm under its chin. Its head snapped back at an awkward angle, and when he brought it back down, Shaun introduced it to the seven-inch Marine-issue knife Andy had given him. It went through the bottom of his chin, buried up to the handle, and the top came out of its head a quarter of an inch. He let go of the handle and watched as the body collapsed to the ground.
Frank, hearing the shots, had kicked through the doors, running out with his AR rifle up to his shoulder and ready to blow away whatever he saw in his sights. He found the scene before him and looked at Albert with the knife through his brain, the bloody eyes and the bite marks in its own arms. He saw Lucas on the ground. He looked at Tina trying to see if she'd been bitten, then watched his son with his hands shaking by his side. "Shaun, are you okay? What were all those shots? What happened out here?"