Zombpocalypse (Book 1): Contingency

by Mariah Lynde

  “Oh, I know. Which begs the question, what in the hell did she mean by that? What lesson that my father taught me is something she wants me to actually use?” Scrunching my nose, I closed my eyes, trying to get my body to relax so I could at least clear my head in order to figure out this little puzzle.

  “Meh. Did she tell you what Dad saw on post yesterday?” His question had the desired effect as I immediately went on alert status.

  “Yeah. You saw a soldier going bonkers and so did he. Do you think it could be a clue as to what’s going on?”

  “Maybe, but for the moment, let’s think of everything your Mom said to be a response to what your Dad saw yesterday. Now, assuming he’s not finally gone bat shit crazy, what would your Mom want you to remember that your Dad taught you? It would have to be something related to him seeing that attack.” There you had it, my best friend thinking in a logical way to help me get to the bottom of a riddle.

  “We can count out anything that deals with work. Most of that stuff was him trying to talk us into following him into the field of well-meaning, but crazy inventor,” I began, lifting one hand to rub slowly at my forehead.

  “I’m with you there,” Robbie agreed, but after a moment he drew in a sharp breath. “You think she meant for you to remember one of those times your Dad was intent on ‘family group’ time?”

  My brows drew together as I considered that, and lightning seemed to strike my brain. “Oh God,” I groaned.

  “I take that to mean it’s a yes, then.” He chuckled and I growled in annoyance.

  “I think so. You remember when he thought the best family bonding time we could share would be learning to fend for ourselves with Mother Nature?” I asked. That particular event had happened just after Robbie and I graduated from high school. It had also been the longest three months of my life.

  Robbie snickered. “Oh, Hell no. That had to have been the worst experience I’ve ever heard you describe.”

  “It was without question the most horrendous summer of my life. If that is what she’s referring to, I’m so totally screwed.” If there had been a black hole to swallow me up at that moment, I would have taken it.

  “Why? I thought you did pretty well. At least, that’s what your Dad said.”

  “No, I did not. If you remember, I told you he gave each of us kids a weapon to try and master.” I murmured, pushing myself up to a sitting position.

  “Oh shit, I forgot about that. Weren’t you pissed that Joe got the gun while you got something else?” Robbie asked.

  “Yep. My brother got the rifle and I got that stupid compound bow.” It had been a nightmare. My father, in all his eccentricities, had believed the bow was more suited for me because of my short stature. Honestly, I’d wanted to beat my brother with it to take the rifle, but that had never happened.

  “Well, they said you got good at target practice.”

  “Yeah, stationary targets. I could never seem to hit those every single time. So what? I’m supposed to think my mother wants me to pick up the ancient art of archery again? What the hell, dude?” I gave a soft snort.

  “Can you even do that? I mean, it’s been years. How can they expect you to still have−”

  “Because like all things in the Warren family household, we kept the stuff from those ‘family group’ moments in case my parents ever got that wild hair up their ass again.” Giving a soft sigh, I shook my head.

  “Ouch. Well, sweetie, I’m at work. Talk to you tonight?” Robbie’s voice became slightly hushed at the end, almost as if he were trying to be inconspicuous about being on the phone with me.

  “Yeah, I’ll be there. Be careful today. LURVES YOU!”

  Robbie sniggered as I yelled back as obnoxiously as I could. Hearing that, I could only smile half-heartedly at the phone when he answered.

  “Love you too, babe. Be good!” With that, I heard the soft click of the line disconnecting, leaving me to plan a whole day by my lonesome.

  Chapter Thirteen - …is Paved with Good Intentions

  If I were to be honest, the morning conversation with Robbie had set the tone for my day. Irritation plagued me about nearly everything. From the possibility of social decline to a zombie outbreak, stockpiling weapons I couldn’t use, or trying to shoot that stupid bow again. It became clear to me that today was not a day for me to be around other people.

  For a good hour I laid in my bed, trying to will myself back to sleep. When it became obvious that wouldn’t work, I decided to just give up on trying to rest and threw myself into preparation mode. I can admit, something that kept nagging atme was the idea of what Robbie and my father had both supposedly seen.

  True, I had a more upfront seat to this current ride, but even their distant perspectives on what had taken place back home had one variable that tied both incidents together: soldiers. Considering my hometown was host to such a large military installation, it shouldn’t have been a surprise that soldiers were involved. However, what did it say that two of the attacks that happened in their area were committed by soldiers but not civilians?

  More than that, both attacks had happened on opposite ends of the county. With that in mind, I had to entertain the possibility that whatever this plague was, it might have originated with the military. A theory I immediately dismissed when I considered my own experience the day before. Mrs. Gush and Flow had no ties to the military. Hell, there weren’t even military personnel in our area. By her own words, she’d been attacked by someone who likely worked in the McGinley building, so where did that leave us exactly?

  “…Up shit creek without a paddle,” I muttered to myself as I made my way into the bathroom. While this day might suck mightily and my brain could likely short circuit with all the thoughts running through it, there was one luxury I would not be skipping.

  I rarely, if ever, got a chance to soak in my bathtub. Today, I planned to rectify that situation.

  The oversized tub, complete with jets, had been one of the reasons I had agreed to getting the little duplex apartment. Seeing as how I didn’t really have to worry about going to work and I had spent the night parked in my nerd cave chair for sleep, I planned on making every use I could of the decadent amenity.

  God knew if the world went to hell, I wouldn’t be likely to experience such a pleasurable thing again anytime in the near future.

  Making my way into the bathroom, I shut the door and left the rest of the world behind. My cell phone, the house phone, and my computer world were forgotten in favor of the bliss offered by a nice, long soak in the tub. As much as I might have wished to just slip into a vegetative state, my mind had already begun to turn the events of the last twenty-four hours over and over again.

  There were so many pieces to this puzzle that didn’t quite fit together yet. The incidents back home weighed heavily on my mind far more than what I had witnessed for myself here. While I probably should have been more concerned with the fact that a civilian had apparently gone on the fritz near me, there was something about the fact both attacks I knew of back home had involved the military.

  The idea that those attacks took precedent remained in my head. While I couldn’t say that what I had experienced seemed acceptable, it seemed a far cry more manageable than what I had heard in the stories from Robbie and my mother.

  Slipping down into the tub, I closed my eyes, letting the jets beat against my body and massage away the ache of the previous day. My arms had protested the use of the fire extinguisher and my night spent in the computer chair had my whole body resonating with the same dull ache.

  The day had only just begun, and I had already let a few precious hours slip by without accomplishing a thing. I knew that I should be out there, garnering supplies or collecting things which could be seen as useful in the event I needed to defend myself, but I just didn’t want to.

  The world around me, the events taking place, even the conversations that I had been having in the past several hours seemed almost surreal. In some ways, it was like I
was living inside some bad movie that I couldn’t quite figure out the plot to. I can say that I never thought there would be a day where I could find myself in a position where a long soak in the tub couldn’t wipe away the thoughts bothering me. Then again, I never thought I would be facing possible annihilation by zombies.

  I had so many questions that I wanted…no, needed answers to. What had caused all of this? Were the people that changed really zombies, or just infected humans? (This particular thought bothered me most of all.)

  Those questions, more than anything, helped to perpetuate my almost stagnant nature for the day. When faced with the option of going out to acquire tools and weapons I would need, or staying at home to figure out just what happened to be going on, I found myself leaning towards the staying home bit.

  I would have much rather have taken a personal day for myself, but it wasn’t something the group had agreed upon. While I could have easily cast it off and pretend I had forgotten, there was an underlying sense of urgency which seemed to stay with me. Sure, there could have been scores of other things for me to worry about. Despite years of scares dealing with West Nile, Ebola, and countless other outbreaks – I knew this one would be different.

  Rationally, I knew that the things I had been doing could be seen as signs of insanity. Anyone who could be considered ‘normal’ would likely think I had long ago lost my marbles and it was just now catching up to me. None of my actions would make sense for a normal, everyday life. On the other hand, if this gut feeling I had been experiencing was right, everything I had done and would do today increased my chances of survival. A part of me prayed to be wrong, but another piece hoped that I had read my situation correctly.

  Don’t get me wrong, I never would have wished for a full scale apocalypse, but I was tired of false starts. Time after time, there had always been some new disease or concern to worry about. You would spend weeks letting the news fill your head with ideas and spend money in preparation for an emergency that never came. This time, we had no warning. All of the preparations we were making came from our own observations and experiences. If we…If I was wrong, it meant that I had finally crossed the line from genius to insanity.

  If you were to ask me what I found more disturbing between a zombie apocalypse and the possibility of going crazy – I would have told you insanity won. As a person who thrived on having the use of my faculties so I could exercise a good deal of control in my life, losing my mind happened to be something I considered to be a fate worse than death.

  Which brought me right back to where I sat now, debating the pros and cons of the possibilities before me. It didn’t matter that I was buried up to my chin in vanilla scented bubbles, all I could see in front of me was where the varying paths my life could take in the next several days. All of those thoughts seemed to crowd into my mind like a horde of unwelcomed guests. No matter where I tried to steer my thoughts, those creeping fears remained, ever silent and waiting for my attention.

  It seems almost funny now – realizing just how important those dark thoughts would be in the time ahead. Yet, in those quiet moments that could easily be deemed the calm before the storm, I resented the turn of my thoughts. I hated the fact that these plaguing images seemed to pull at my mind, stabbing against my consciousness to demand attention.

  With a sigh, I lifted myself out of the tub and grabbed a towel. It had become readily apparent that I would not be given any kind of relief from the dark turn my mind had taken. While the heart may have been willing to lie in my tub as if I had not a care in the world, the flesh was weak. My mind and body were working in tandem to put me on edge, making it difficult for me to sit in one place too long.

  No, there were tasks to be carried out, and none of that would get done if I laid around my house all day. While some people would argue I should take that time for myself, I had a promise to keep to my friends. Many would never understand the bond that had formed in our little group, so they couldn’t understand why this was so important. Some might have said that since we’d never really interacted with one another outside the confines of the internet we had no real obligation to one another in any form or fashion.

  But there was something to be said for the loyalty that could be born out of gaming with a small group of people. Unlike larger gaming groups, there is a more intimate atmosphere that exists in such a small circle of people that learn to work together in high pressure situations. Over time, you learn how to read one another. Whether you were in a game, in reality, or just differing forms of communication – you learned who among these people you could trust and rely on. While all of us could be states or even countries away from one another, when push came to shove, I knew that I could rely on all of them to support me if I needed it.

  I had no doubt that if my worst fears became a reality, we would all be relying on one another in the coming months.

  Those who remained in our little group had proven to be people that kept their word – no matter how small or seemingly unimportant. If someone seemed out of touch or out of step, the game was set aside in favor of sitting down and figuring out what exactly was going on with that person and if we could help in anyway. Everything from unemployment to homelessness, and in one particular case a little bit of a psychotic break. In the end it boiled down to the fact that the members of our group offered support in any way we could manage.

  That is not to say all the problems we had faced were major, life-changing events. Far from it; a majority of the time they were small, unimportant little things, like someone’s video card going out on their computer or trying to figure out where someone went wrong on making their dinner. Those moments were the ones that defined the relationship we had with one another as true friendship. There were some things that were almost sacred, and carried our affiliation past the pixels of the internet.

  Now, facing a situation that could likely put us in peril within a few months, there would be no time to waste on personal indulgences. If there happened to be a group decision made, then it fell on all of us to hold up our end of the deal. Today, that meant forgoing my desire to stay in bed and heading back out into the city to get some provisions.

  Pulling the towel in against my body, I made my way into the bedroom quietly. Since I didn’t have to show up for work today, I could willingly ignore the khakis and polo shirts that had become my daily uniform. Much as I worried about what we could be facing on the horizon, the idea that I could wear whatever I pleased in the middle of the week suited me well.

  Choosing a set of denim shorts and a graphic t-shirt depicting more of my nerd-like tendencies, I felt ready to begin my day. First thing was first: if I had any intention of grabbing more supplies, I needed to unload the Explorer.

  Making my way back outside, I popped open the tailgate of the Explorer to peer at the Tetris-like amalgam of groceries and stared – it was still impressive.

  Proud as I was of my accomplishment, it couldn’t change the pain in my ass that unloading the Explorer would be.

  I set about my task, beginning with the camping gear and equipment. It was barely mid-morning and the sun was beating down from overhead, the air becoming a humid mass that made it hard to breathe, yet I continued on. Carrying the gear up the small walkway and into my duplex apartment, there was a bit of indecision on my part. Did I just drop all of it in one place or did I take the time to break it down and separate everything to organize later?

  In the end, I wound up doing a little of both. The camping gear was left in a pile in the center of my living room, the groceries I’d acquired piled onto the kitchen counters, and the incidentals kind of strung out in a line of bags between the two until I could organize everything later. While it may not have taken more than twenty minutes, I felt like I’d just run a marathon. Between the heat and the humidity, just that small bit of effort had taken its toll. My body felt as if it had been drained of energy and left as a dried up husk to be blown away with the next stiff wind that came along.

  Seei
ng the piles of unopened goodies spread between the living room and the kitchen, I could only shake my head and sigh. The obsessive compulsive side of my personality wanted nothing more than to break everything down and prepare for any unfortunate future events. Along with that came the urge to catalog everything I had acquired to make an inventory list for this next round of errands. Sadly, I also knew that time was not on my side to undertake such an endeavor.

  Humidity or not, there were things that needed to be done and promises to keep. Until I got that particular list out of the way there would be no falling down to relax or sleeping on the job. With that thought in mind, I dragged myself back up and moved to grab my keys in order to head out into the world.

  I can’t say that I was pleased about the idea of venturing back out there. Yes, I needed…we needed weaponry for the coming months, but as I stood just outside my door, I wondered about the risk. I’d already seen one convert to the side of the living dead – being out in the open only made it a very real possibility I could see it again. There could be no help for it, but I wondered for a moment if I needed some kind of plan just in case I encountered another rampaging corpse situation.

  Opting out on making a plan so I didn’t find yet another excuse to delay my outing, I snorted and made my way down the sidewalk. I hated the fact that my first day off in months was going to be spent trolling through sporting goods stores. I hated them with the heat of a thousand angry suns. Still, if you were going to look for weaponry of any kind, it was about as good a place as you could find to start.

  There was one notable bonus to the current situation. Firearm restrictions. While yes, I had no experience with guns, there were a lot of other people in the same boat as me. That meant the chances of facing off with anyone that had such a weapon and wasn’t trained with it was almost non-existent, at least in the early days of the epidemic. Well, if there even was one. I found some comfort in clinging to the idea that maybe, just maybe, I could be wrong about what was coming.