by Mariah Lynde
“We’re calling to inform you that the building is being shut down for a mandatory inspection and regulations update. The building will be closed today and tomorrow, but you can return to work on Monday.” Not once in the delivery of his message had his voice changed. There was no inflection in the tone, or any tell-tale signs of emotion of any kind. There wasn’t even a trace of annoyance that most people would have demonstrated in having to make such a call.
“I…um…see. Will there be paid leave days?” I asked. That was me, ever the mercenary. If this wasn’t an apocalypse, I needed to get paid. I’d just put a severe dent in my rainy day/move back home budget.
“Yes, ma’am,” he answered, dead pan, and my mouth pursed a little. Maybe everything yesterday had just been a coincidence. It certainly seemed that might be the case…until he spoke again. “We also need to ask you about the events that took place last night in the lobby. You are aware of the attack that happened, yes?”
“Um…yeah. I did what security asked me to do and stayed to give my statement to the cops.” Immediately, I felt myself tensing. Something about this conversation was very wrong.
“I see. We need to know for our records, were you injured in anyway? Did the assailant bite or scratch you when you were removing her from Mr. McGinley?” It suddenly clicked in my mind as to why this phone call seemed so weird. While I did not know who I had the pleasure of speaking with, I definitely recognized that tone of voice. Whoever this person happened to be, they were skilled in speaking in a completely clinical manner that dealt in fact. They were fishing. For what, I couldn’t be sure yet, but I recognized it from my days as an EMT.
“Uh…no. The cops and the medics that came with them checked me for any wounds.” Deciding it would be in my best interest, I played dumb. “Uhm…is there a problem? Did they miss some paperwork or something?”
“No, nothing like that. We just have to make sure we have all our angles covered for insurance purposes. Thank you.” That stiff tone made the hair on the back of my neck stand on end.
“Oh…okay.” While I hated playing dumb for anyone, it seemed to be my best bet at the moment because something about this call seemed out of place.
“Last thing, did you see anything strange about the attacker in the lobby?”
“Uhm…not really. I mean, it all happened pretty fast and it was pretty odd that she just up and bit that guy like she did. Why? Did anybody else notice anything?” I could hear the shifting of papers on the other end of the line followed by the sound of several people murmuring.
“No, not at all. We’re just trying to understand what happened so we can avoid any such problems in the future.” If I had been anyone else, I might have actually believed that lie. I knew the ropes for these interviews. They were intended to get information about the person without giving anything away.
“Alright then. Is there anything else you need from me?” I asked. These types of conversations were not something to take lightly. There is only so long a person can play dumb before giving away the fact that they are aware of what is going on. I wanted to get off this phone before I gave myself away.
It didn’t take a genius to realize they were trying to make sure I hadn’t been infected. The call had only been the first step, the questions had been meant to ascertain just how much I knew or had figured out. Yes, it might be a little paranoid, but better safe than sorry.
“No, Miss Warren. I think that covers everything. We’ll see you Monday morning, then?” Hearing the lack of inflection in the man’s voice, I shuddered. I could only imagine who he might be and what he might be capable of. None of those thoughts were comforting to me due to my own overactive imagination.
“Yes, sir. I’ll be there.” Just as quickly as those words left my mouth, there was a soft click and the call disconnected.
Letting out the breath I’d been holding, I dropped my cell phone back on the bed. All things considered, things could have gone far worse. Still, I’d learned more in that quick phone call than I had sitting in the lobby; I had time. They were saying I would be back at work Monday, which meant there was every possibility I could make more preparations.
I no longer had any doubts about what I had seen. Things were bad and they would only get worse. However, it seemed like Brandon had been right too, things would be unfolding at a slower rate than we expected. This gave all of us time to get prepared. In a way, I could only be thankful for the added time. Something that the guys brought up last night had bothered me long after the call had ended: weapons.
I admit, this particular concern had me stumped. While I could have been angry that I’d never gotten around to learning how to shoot a gun, I wondered if perhaps that could work in my favor. On the whole, yes, firearms gave you an advantage as far as destructive damage was concerned. However, there were the realistic risks and factors to be taken into consideration.
Laugh all you want, but I can tell you that there were some shows that got it right. Guns were loud and could draw attention from both undead and humans alike. No matter how well you tried to keep yourself unnoticed, that never happened when firearms were involved. There was the fact I’d never handled a gun in my life and had exactly zero in training with one meant if I tried now I’d be cutting my chances of survival in half.
When shit hit the fan, I wanted to be comfortable in whatever route I chose to take. Eventually, I would be heading home and grouping up with my family and friends, and when that day came, the ability to move quietly from one location to another would be my ally. This meant I needed to make a decision on just what kind of weapons I was comfortable using. Then, I needed to acquire what I didn’t have so I was all set in case the world collapsed in on itself.
The last twenty-four hours seemed surreal, but I couldn’t really tell you why I knew that it would culminate into something greater. Under any other circumstance an outbreak would have just been a singular occurrence, nothing more or less. Sure, a few casualties might happen, but I couldn’t shake this feeling in my gut that it would be something more.
Grimacing, I looked down at my phone, seeing that I had missed another call from my mother. I knew I should call her back, but the thought of her had me thinking over the conversation we’d had the night before.
It had been a typical enough conversation, but I kept rolling back around to one of the last things she had said to me. ‘Remember what your Daddy taught you.’ While to most people that would seem typical enough, in our family it wasn’t exactly a conversation staple. Most of the time, my mother would roll her eyes and tell us that we had enough common sense to know some of my dad’s antics were just flat out crazy. Still, for her to say I needed to remember something he taught? That seemed…strange.
I admit I was tempted to call just to get an answer to her cryptic message. My mind was already a useless pile of mush, so I figured it could be better to just let her tell me. However, I had made my stand last night. I knew if I called my mother now, she’d start her campaign to get me to come home and that was a big risk. Call it paranoia, call it madness or an inflated sense of self, but after the call I’d just had, there was a distinct feeling of being watched. If I up and left town, there was every possibility I’d be followed.
So, that left me with only one option – to sit here and figure out just what my mother had meant by that little gem.
I flopped back on to the bed and closed my eyes with the intent of sinking into the oblivion of sleep for a couple of extra hours. I had just started to drift off when the phone next to the bed rang. Rolling over on to my side, I groaned. Refusing to open my eyes, I lifted one hand to clumsily slap at the charger base for the phone until I found the intercom button.
“Hello, Grand Central Station.” While it had been meant as a joke, the words came out more like a garbled ‘Heeerrrpphh, GraaahhhCenmppphhhStashhhnnnggg’.
“Heya, sweetie.” Hearing Robbie’s voice, I cracked one eye open to look at the phone. “Long night?”
“You’d
know,” I muttered as I rolled over onto my back.
“We ended kind of early for us. Didn’t you get any sleep?” It said a lot that Robbie lacked his normally cheerful disposition. I really didn’t like when he was somber, but at this point, I don’t think there was any help for it.
“I fell asleep in the chair. Paying for it today.” My replies were short and clipped, even for me. While things could have been worse, the possibility of what could be in our future cast a dark cloud over our normally relaxed call.
“I’m sorry, sweetie. Have you heard anything else? Are you feeling alright?”
“I’m alright, just stiff from sleeping in the chair. Otherwise, I feel fine. As for learning anything else, I got a call a little while ago that you’ll be interested to hear about.” I relayed the whole conversation to Robbie. When I had finished, he was silent for several long moments.
“So it is happening…I can’t say I’m happy to hear that.” Robbie’s voice dropped to a near whisper.
“That’s pretty much what I had been thinking. They aren’t quite sure what I know, but with the closing of the building paired with the questions they asked, I’m thinking we had it right last night. At least about what’s coming. I think Brandon is right.”
“Yeah, it would seem that way. At least it gives us time.” Robbie’s voice trembled slightly but it was the pause in his words that let me know something more was troubling him.
“What are you thinking, babe?” My voice was a mere whisper of sound and I only hoped my concern was enough to get him to answer.
“I’m thinking that even if we have time to prepare, this could go really badly. We’re talking about staying separated during the craziest times of this outbreak when it all goes to hell. I’m debating the wisdom of that decision,” he admitted. I could hear him idly drumming his hands on something in the background. I could tell that this whole plan, despite how logical it sounded, had him ill at ease.
“Don’t start second guessing things now. I know it seems unorthodox, but the math on this seems sound. It might be a bit hard to accept now, and I get that. But we have to look at the long term, hun. We’ve discussed before how people react in a crisis, this plan keeps us out of the immediate danger associated with all of that.” While I have been trying to comfort him and set his mind at ease, even I had to wince at how clinical that sounded.
“You seem pretty calm about all this.” Robbie dodged the current topic effortlessly.
“I think I have to be. You know how I am if I get too worked up, I don’t think straight. Right now is not the time for me to be flitting every which way.” Turning over on my stomach, I sighed. “Don’t worry. I’m sure I will fall apart as soon as we all meet up, but until then I’m wearing my game face.”
“Just don’t get too wrapped up in it.” Robbie warned, and for a moment, everything went silent. “Tell me honestly, Angel. Do you think there is a chance we will survive this?”
“I wish I knew.” I rolled onto my back, this time staring up at the ceiling like it would give me the answers I was searching for. “I think that from a logical standpoint, what we’ve decided to do is sound. That doesn’t mean it will work out that way. I’d like to tell you we’ll survive it, but I really don’t know, sweetie.”
“This is going to be rough, you know that right?” This time that waver in Robbie’s voice was more prominent and I felt my own throat begin to tighten. Tears were threatening, and there was not much I could do to stave them off. God help me, my best friend and I were talking like we’d never see one another again. The worst part of that was knowing that it could be true.
“Yeah, I know.” Difficult as I found it to speak, those words passed my lips in a choked little breath of sound. In five years, I had never felt as lonely as I did just then. Despite the distance, I’d always been somewhat at ease with my life. There had always been the thought that going home was only a short three hour trip away. I’d have time to get there when and if I needed to.
Now, faced with a possible catastrophic event and making the decision to hunker down to avoid being caught in panicked anarchy – that three hours might as well have been three weeks. When you took into account the conversation from earlier, I had to face the realization things were going to go bad. When that happened – not if – there would be problems in trying to get myself back home. Robbie knew it. I knew it.
“Hey!” His voice suddenly cut through the sudden dark thoughts which had started to plague me. “Don’t you do that. No matter what happens, you will be coming home.”
“Robbie−”
“Nope. Don’t you even go there, Angel.” Each word began to resonate with a spark of determination that would have been impossible for anyone to ignore. “We made this decision and by God, you promised me you would get home, and you will. It just won’t be today.”
I smiled a little as Robbie spoke. No matter how dire I might have thought the situation was, he was right.
“I know. We’ll just chalk it up to the fact I’m tired.” I chuckled and shook my head a little before burrowing down into my pillow. “So what are you planning to do for today?”
“Have to go to work, the main office says there is paperwork to be done. Then I figure I’ll head out to the sporting goods store out near the mall, and then maybe a grocery store.” He sounded more than a little shaky on his plan.
“Just remember, in the long run, it could pay off even if we don’t have an apocalypse right now.” Giving a small snort, I lifted my arm to lay it over my eyes as I finally went still.
“Yeah, I know. What about you? You going to play G.I. Jane again?” Robbie’s voice held a small trace of amusement.
“Hell, no,” I shot back. “The plan is to go back to sleep for a couple of hours and when I finally get up, try to figure out the cryptic message my mother gave me last night.”
“Do what?” Robbie asked, sounding just as confused as I felt.
“Yeah, something my Mom said last night before we got off the phone has been irking the hell out of me. Probably will keep bugging me until I figure out what exactly she meant by it.” Huffing a little, I lowered my arm and turned my head to bury my face in the pillow as I groaned. So much for sleep. This conversation had just set all my neurons to firing again.
“It can’t be that confusing, I mean, I love your mom, but all conversations with her pretty much go the same way.” Robbie was the only person outside of my immediate family to know about my mother’s tendencies. Hearing that, it dawned on me just why he mentioned conversations with my mother.
“Holy shit! She called you, didn’t she?” My head whipped around to shoot a death glare at the phone, as if it would really do any good.
“Yep, about half an hour ago.” Robbie snickered. While he was amused, I was annoyed my mother had tried to call in reinforcements.
“Damn it! I’m sorry, Robbie.” Muttering, my hand blindly crept across the bed searching for my cell phone. Finding it, I picked it up and moved to swipe my finger across the screen and bring up my contacts list. I had my finger hovering over my mother’s name when Robbie distracted me.
“Don’t do it.” He chuckled and my ire turned away from my mother to my friend’s amusement.
“Don’t do what?” I snapped.
“You were about to call your Mom to yell at her for calling me. If you make that call, it’s not going to go the way you want it to. You’ll start out angry and yelling, but then your Mom will snap back at you. After about ten minutes of her reminding you to respect your elders, she’ll have you backed down and then she’ll strike with her next attack on why you should come home. When it’s all said and done, you’ll consider caving and then we’ll be back on the phone discussing why you shouldn’t.” Robbie outlined it all in such perfect detail that I knew he was correct in exactly how all of it would play out.
“Grrr. What’d she ask you to do?” Snarling, I flung my cell back on the bed to avoid temptation.
“Pretty much ask you to come h
ome. Try and convince you that risking the trip now while everything is just revving up is the best way to go about things.” He answered nonchalantly enough so that my suspicions were heightened.
“Oh my…God! You were actually considering it?” Surprise had me locked in place as I stared at the base where the intercom light blinked obnoxiously. I couldn’t decide whether to be flattered or insulted.
“I did,” Robbie admitted. “I don’t like the idea of us not being together when this shit goes down. We’ve always worked better as a team, no matter the circumstances. We ground each other out, Angel.”
Even as he spoke, I understood why Robbie would consider anything my mother had said. I honestly didn’t think I could blame him on this one, but that didn’t make it any easier to swallow. He was right, we did work better together. Sadly, that did not change the fact my family lived near one of the largest military installations in the United States. Trying to get around the post would have been difficult under normal circumstances. With everything that was unfolding now, heading home would definitely throw up red flags somewhere.
“I don’t like it either, but the truth is, we’re still in this together. We’re just adopting a long distance policy until we figure out a feasible way to make all of this work.” Answering him, I moved to push a hand through my hair and cursed when my fingers got tangled in the heavy mass of curls.
“Anyway…” Robbie rolled out a long, exasperated sigh. “…What exactly did your Mom say that has you in such a tizzy?”
“You’ll love this. She said, and I quote, ‘Remember what your Daddy taught you.’ I don’t know about you, but when in the history of my family has my mother wanted any of us to remember the things my father comes up with in that crazy head of his?” I squirmed down into my pillow once more just to find myself staring at the ceiling again.
“Yeah, that’s kinda weird. Be fair though, your Dad was trying to help you with your engineer project of the bottle rocket catapult when you were five,” Robbie snarked.