Zombie Armageddon

by Max Lockwood

  “I think your shift is over,” Carl said, looking at his watch. “Let me take over.”

  “No, I’m fine.”

  “I insist,” he said. “What is it that you do on your watch?”

  Matthew shrugged. “There’s not much to do. I guess I just make sure nothing bad happens.”

  “We can do that,” Carl smiled, gently nudging Jennifer. “When the others wake up, we’ll have their sorry butts chip in too. It’s always nice to give Pip something to keep her occupied. Otherwise, she never stops talking.”

  “Have her spend some time with Ellie.” Matthew laughed. “They’ll certainly keep each other occupied.”

  Matthew waved at the other two before making his descent into the ground floor. He felt lighter than he had in weeks. He knew that the others were simply acquaintances and that they would not likely stick around forever, but for the first time in years, Matthew felt like he was making new friends.

  He returned to the break room to find the door unlocked. Since the arrival of the newcomers, everyone was feeling more at ease. Genevieve slept peacefully on one couch. Lucas lay on the floor by her side, his body pressed into the side of the couch. Ellie lay on the other, her breathing audible from the hall.

  Matthew snatched an unused pillow from Ellie’s couch and picked a spot on the floor near the door. He left it unlocked, just in case the others needed to come in. The bottle of sleeping pills he’d grabbed from the drugstore were missing, but he found that he didn’t need them. Mere minutes after settling down, Matthew fell asleep. For the first time since his wife was killed, he slept soundly. Though his dreams were still strange and fragmented, he didn’t see the face of anyone he cared about. It was as if his prayers had been answered after all.

  12

  Matthew was startled to see light coming from underneath the door when he awoke. His head pounded and his mouth felt incredibly dry and tasted horrible. He sat straight up to realize that he was alone in the break room.

  Panicked, he looked at his watch. He figured he slept for nearly eight hours, double what he had slept every day since arriving at the office. Feeling completely disoriented, he grabbed his bat and got to his feet. Something felt wrong.

  His heart pounding inside his skull, he jogged up the stairs, keeping his eyes out for any danger. It wasn’t like him to be so oblivious to what was going on. He just hoped his extended rest hadn’t put others in jeopardy. He knew how much the women depended on him.

  Matthew burst through the door to the third floor, much to the surprise of the seven sitting in the circle of furniture in the reception area. Sergio, Pip, Jennifer, and Carl sat on a sectional sofa, looking perplexed and mildly amused. Genevieve and Lucas sat on a loveseat, her injured leg propped up on his lap. Ellie sat in an armchair, her shoeless feet resting on the coffee table.

  “Is something wrong?” Ellie asked, frowning.

  “I–I didn’t know where anyone was,” Matthew panted.

  “Easy, killer,” Pip cackled, looking at the bat in his hand. “We were just hanging out, waiting for you to wake up. This reminds me of Carl when he was a child.”

  “Come on, Pip,” Carl warned.

  She ignored her brother. “My parents told me this story about Carl when he was three or four. He had just gotten a ‘big boy bed’ and was acting tough about it. Apparently, the first night in his new room, he got spooked and ran into my parents’ bedroom. But unbeknownst to my dear brother, they had gone to the basement to watch some TV in peace. When they weren’t where he thought they were supposed to be, he screamed bloody murder and pissed himself in the process. My parents had to sleep with him in his little bed that night.”

  Carl glared at his sister. “Funny story, Pip. I was a child.”

  Matthew was a little embarrassed to be compared to a toddler. He may have overreacted, but he couldn’t live with himself if something happened to the others while he slept.

  “I think it’s funny that your parents told the story that way,” Jennifer giggled.

  “Why?” Pip frowned. “He was a little mommy’s boy. I don’t think that’s remotely out of character for him.”

  “No, to say they were in the basement, ‘watching TV’.”

  Sergio started sniggering.

  “What?” Pip whined, not understanding where her friend was going with this.

  “What’s the age difference between you two?” Sergio asked.

  “Four years,” she said, still oblivious to their teasing.

  The room burst into laughter. Pip’s mouth gaped open and Carl’s face turned red.

  “Now that we’re all together, why don’t we discuss what we wanted to talk about?” Carl said, trying to steer the conversation in another direction. “Of course, we couldn’t have predicted that we would end up here. The five of us have done a pretty good job of making plans and backup plans to the best of our ability. Now that we’re in a place we hadn’t accounted for, it’s time to talk strategy.”

  Pip mumbled something under her breath.

  “No, he’s right,” Sergio said, defending his friend. “Even though our plans don’t work out half the time, it’s still a good exercise to be prepared. We’re much stronger fighters since we talked about what we were doing wrong in some of those attacks. Let’s talk it through.”

  Matthew felt confused. After speaking with Carl and Jennifer, he just assumed they would all stay in the building together. He didn’t understand what they had to discuss. Were they not happy with their accommodations or their new acquaintances? Matthew worried that he’d completely missed the signals they were sending.

  “Well, now that we’re all rested, we might as well go,” Pip offered. “When have we ever stayed in one place for more than a day or two? It seems like we’re the most vulnerable when we stop. If we don’t stop, then maybe we can ride this thing out.”

  “Is it possible to ride it out?” Jennifer asked nervously. “Do these things die on their own?”

  “If I may,” Ellie said, butting her way into the conversation, “I think I can answer that.”

  “Please,” Carl said. “We’d like to hear your opinions too.”

  “I think we’ve noticed that these zombies feed on healthy humans. I suspect they might eat their own if desperate enough. Once they’re out of a food source, my theory is that they’ll slowly die off.”

  “That’s good news,” Jennifer said.

  Ellie shrugged. “I don’t know if I find it that promising. Have you ever heard about cats and dogs eating their dead owners if there’s no one around to feed them?”

  “Yeah?” Pip said, crinkling her nose. “What does that have to do with zombies?”

  “I’m just trying to make a comparison to something we can all understand. Zombies and household animals have approximately the same amount of agency. If a dog’s beloved owner dies, it’s not as if they forget everything their owner did for them and chow down the second their heart stops beating. It’s just something done out of animalistic desperation. If we were in a similar situation, would you eat someone you loved?”

  “Not a chance,” Pip replied. “I’d just off myself.”

  “Well, zombies don’t think like we do. They’ll go to the greatest lengths to get their kill. That means that they’ll become even more vicious. I think things are going to get a lot worse before they can get better. Besides, think of how many people there are in this country. It’ll probably take the zombies as long to eat through all the citizens as it would take for you to eat through an entire grocery store. Point is, this situation is not going to resolve itself any time soon.”

  “Thanks for the optimism, Ellie,” Matthew said sarcastically as the room went silent.

  “I’m not saying it isn’t possible for their race to die out,” Ellie added. “It helps that we’re doing our part to cut the population down. I think we just want to keep these things in mind.”

  Carl nodded. “I agree. What do you guys think?”

  Sergio shrugged. “If we
leave now, we’ll have to find a gas station and fill the car up. We’ll also have to stock up on food and drinks.”

  “We have food,” Genevieve said.

  “We’re not going to take your supplies,” Lucas said, first in French, then in English. “You guys worked hard for them.”

  “Where would we go next?” Carl asked. “I’m thinking somewhere sparsely populated. If we wanted to wait it out, we could go somewhere like Montana. We’d probably have a better chance at getting supplies. Plus, we would run into fewer zombies.”

  “But it’s a long drive,” Sergio argued. “Who knows what would happen on the way there?”

  Matthew bit his tongue. He wanted to urge the others to stay, but he didn’t want to sound needy or self-serving. While he knew that the others, especially the soldiers, were a huge asset, he didn’t know if they felt the same about the group of three. Matthew believed that there was greater safety in numbers, and he felt like he could trust them.

  “Why not stay here?” Matthew asked, trying to think of a good way to present an argument. “I mean, we have more than enough supplies at the moment. Anything we need can be found within a block of this building. I understand if you don’t want to hang around strangers, but we’re rather resourceful. The girls are super-smart scientists and I’m not completely worthless with a knife. No pressure, but we’d love to have you stay.”

  Ellie and Genevieve voiced their agreement too. They knew that life would be easier with more people to watch their backs.

  “Is it safe here?” Pip asked.

  “Is it safe anywhere?” Jennifer returned. “Maybe it would be best to stay here for a while. I would love to just hang out and not have to worry about being chased by zombies on a daily basis. Even if we stay in the car, we’ll have to stop in the middle of the street every now and again. Here, we don’t have to go outside at all.”

  “I guess,” Pip said.

  “It would be great to have some help kicking zombie ass,” Matthew added, smiling shyly.

  “Oh, we’re pretty good at that.” Lucas laughed. “I’d like to see a crew that can take down more monsters than we can.”

  “I’m already imagining going on food runs,” Sergio said. “The more I think about it, the more manageable it seems. Some of us can stand guard while the rest of us clean out a store. With our numbers, we can fill bags in minutes. It’s always risky, but it’s easier with a little help.”

  Carl looked around the room. “So, have we reached a consensus?” he asked. “Our current plan is now to stay here until we decide otherwise. Is that okay with everyone?”

  One by one, everyone in the room nodded their head or voiced their approval. Matthew eagerly waited for everyone to agree. Once the vote was taken, Matthew relaxed in his chair. Their group had suddenly grown by five.

  “I think this will be good for all of us,” Matthew said. “Before you came, Ellie and I were talking about how this space felt wasted on us. I know it’s probably too early yet, but it would be kind of nice if we could use this place to house all the displaced in the city.”

  “Can we just focus on ourselves for a little while?” Pip asked. “I think we could all use a little rest before running our very own homeless shelter.”

  “Of course,” Matthew said, feeling a little embarrassed.

  “Well,” Ellie said with excitement in her eyes, “welcome to the team!”

  Carl stood up and shook Ellie’s hand, much to her delight. Matthew followed suit, formally welcoming the others into their recovered building.

  Genevieve said something to Lucas, causing him to laugh.

  “What?” Ellie asked.

  Lucas shook his head. “It’s nothing, really. She was just saying how official this is. She’s right—I’m pretty sure I just joined you guys without an official handshake. If I remember correctly, someone grabbed me by the back of my shirt and pulled me into the Jeep.”

  “I think that was me,” Pip said. “I know you were scared, but the look on your face as you were lifted off the ground by your collar was pretty hilarious. It was like you were a cat being lifted by the scruff of your neck.”

  Genevieve suppressed a giggle. Lucas playfully nudged her and they conversed in rapid-fire French. They seemed to have hit it off remarkably well in the past day. They spoke and laughed in secret while the others were as formal as could be. Seeing them interact gave Matthew a weird feeling in his stomach that he couldn’t quite define.

  “I’m going to make sure the barriers are still in place,” Matthew said, excusing himself from the meeting. “I’ll catch up with you later.”

  Matthew jogged down the stairs and made a beeline toward the break room. Lucas had figured out how to change the settings on the coffee machine so it poured hot brew without the use of money. Matthew made a cup and sat on the edge of the table while the steam warmed his face. He was fairly confident that the barriers were still perfectly in place, but he needed a little time to himself.

  Once his mind felt calm again, he strolled through the atrium, double-checking each door and window. The bodies against the door were beginning to decompose beyond recognition. An empty bottle of air freshener lay on the ground, a failed attempt at masking the smell. However, Matthew got a kick out of the way Ellie rigged the canister’s trigger to go off like a grenade. But now, the pile of bodies smelled like death and artificial scent. He would never be able to appreciate the smell of Hawaiian Breeze again.

  Eventually, they would have to find a more permanent solution to their barricade. But that was a task for another day. For now, he would try to enjoy all the new changes happening around him. He felt as if he should feel happier about getting what he wanted, but it still didn’t seem quite right. Perhaps that was a problem for the bottle of tiny green pills tucked deep into his pocket.

  13

  Life in the high-rise was starting to feel like the lamest reality show in the world. For nearly a week, the newly-extended group did little but sleep, eat processed foods, and keep themselves entertained by any means necessary. Matthew was starting to go a little stir-crazy. Perhaps his plan to stay put and ride out the storm wasn’t as foolproof as he’d once imagined.

  After an extensive search, Carl found a deck of cards in a desk drawer, prompting the group to play the longest game of Pitch ever played. Everyone paired off and played together, meaning Matthew and Ellie were paired together.

  A poster board sat in the conference room where they played their games, keeping track of the running scores. Carl and Jennifer were in first place, followed by Sergio and Pip. While Ellie was intelligent, she and Matthew lacked teamwork and often fell flat in their play. They might have even taken last place if it weren’t for Genevieve and Lucas, who giggled more than they paid attention to the card game. They even had the opportunity to employ table talk, but they were too interested in their private conversations than the game.

  When Ellie suggested another round after they had their lunch of tuna on crackers, Matthew nearly banged his head against the table. He had the strong need to be productive. The group decided that they would play again, but they would first wait for Jennifer to return from the vending machine on the fifth floor with their snacks.

  She returned with a few bags of chips and a couple of candy bars, a concerned expression plastered on her face.

  “What’s up?” Carl asked.

  “Do we have more food in the other machines?” she asked.

  “The break room is tapped out,” Matthew said. “What about the tenth floor?”

  “We cleared it out yesterday,” Sergio answered.

  “Then we have a problem,” Jennifer said flatly, dumping the snacks on the table. “This is it.”

  “What do you mean?” Matthew asked. “I thought we had enough food to last us a while.”

  “How long did you expect?” Ellie asked. “We’ve been here for over a week now. We haven’t been stuffing our faces, but we haven’t been rationing it either. We have eight people here now. Besid
es, this is hardly real food. It’s hard to stay full when a bag of chips is mostly air and the sugar in everything is burned almost instantly.”

  Matthew sighed. He was disappointed in himself for not being more careful with their supplies. He felt somewhat responsible, as if he were the building manager.

  “I knew we would have to do this eventually,” Matthew said. “From what I can tell, there are a few different shops across the street. The pharmacy has some food, but those are mostly supplements and snacks. The bodega next door should have some better options for food.”

  “When should we do this?” Ellie asked.

  “Today?” Matthew wondered, looking at the others for input.

  “Might as well,” Carl said. “It’s better to get it over with now than to wait. This way, we know there’s a good chance of getting what we need.”

  “I agree,” Sergio said. “I think we need to consider the fact that resources will eventually become scarce. I don’t know how long this crisis will go on, but we have to assume all production will stop. Then, once the zombies are all gone, it’s going to take a while for the nation to rebuild. We can’t expect anyone else to save us.”

  Carl nodded. “I think you’re right. We aren’t the only survivors, so we need to stay on top of things.”

  “How many days’ worth of food should our goal be?” Matthew asked. “Should we aim for a week or two?”

  Sergio shook his head. “I think we need to go bigger. Just get everything you can physically carry back to the building. We’re not the only ones playing this game.”

  “We don’t want to be so weighed down that we can’t fight off zombies,” Matthew reminded them. “I had to kill a few zombies just to get a single bag of supplies. I have to be able to carry a weapon.”