by Main, Lynn
‘pocalypse After Faith and I talk, the man in the room next to ours tells me Levi is in the office in the back. I creep down the hall to the last door and tap on it lightly, holding my breath.
“Who-izit?” Levi’s voice comes echoing out of the office.
“It’s Les.” I whisper to the closed door, hoping not to draw attention. I hear him get up and each footstep as he walks across the office to the door. Then the handle slowly turns and the door opens a crack, “Who…I can’t hear very good nomore? Ah, Leslie I was hoping you’d come’t see me.” He opens the door wide and flicks a light switch next to the door. He is standing there in vertical striped blue old-fashioned pajamas and white socks. “Come in; come in…b’fore someone sees you here.” He says in a much more hushed voice.
I walk in and he shuts the door behind me. The office is nice. There is a wooden desk with a computer screen sitting on top of it. There are two chairs that sit facing the desk but Levi walks to them and turns them toward each other. He sits in one and gestures for me to take the other one. “So let’s guess. You and that doctor lady are planning on scootin’ pretty soon. Maybe even gonna leave tonight.”
“We are.” I reply, knowing there is no point in lying to him. “Well I can’t say that I’m s’ prised one bit. Most people don’t take too kindly to bein’ told they can’t leave; most convicts up in the slammer don’t like it…I’m sure the doctor lady don’t like it a’tall.” He looks at his hands. “Well you gotta know that Mr. Petrova ain’t gonna like you two leavin’ and he expects it too.”
“I do, but he has to sleep sometime.” I say.
“That’s true ‘nough, but so do you.” Levi remarks, looking at me with a frown.
“I slept a lot last week.”
“There are gonna be guards, and the door will be locked but that won’t be a problem.”
“How many guards?”
“More than likely two.”
“Can you leave it unlocked for us? I will get past the guards but I can’t get past the door without a key.” “Mr. Petrova took the keys to the place from me. Can you believe that? I’ve ran this place of bereavement with dign’ty for 21 years, and then the janitor gonna insurrect an’all. He think he has the only key now, but he don’t.” He reaches in the center drawer and pulls up a key ring with several keys on it grinning.
“You’re going to help us then?”
“I’ma try. What time you plannin’ this little prison-break?” “Late; after Mr. Petrova and everyone else is sleep.”
“Hmmm…maybe I can get out the door, but the guards ain’t goin’ let no one else out after dark.”
“Why would they let you out?”
“I go out sometimes when it’s quiet an’ do little errands. Besides nobody believe I’d leave this place, seeing that it is mine.”
“So what should we do?”
“Unless I can talk ya’ll inta reconsiderin’…maybe stay on a while and actin’ cool…I guess we goin’ hafta try anyway.”
“We…you decided you don’t like your comfortable cell either?” “If’n I help ya’ll and stay , Mr. Petrova’ll skin me. I got a car parked across the street. It’s hidden. It’s a big ole boat so it should hold us all. If’n ya’ll folks don’t mind a few tag-alongs.”
“I’ll talk to Faith about it, but I’m sure she won’t.” “Well’s good then. We just need’t get everyone out safe and y’know...fight through the zombie ‘pocalypse.” Levi laughs at himself and I can’t help but smile. “What we need’s a distraction.”
“What do you mean?” “If’n I can get outside, I could let ya’ll out after you get by the guards.” He looks into my eyes and cocks his head, “How you plannin’ on doin’ that?”
“I’ll think of something. So what do I do to distract them?” “Hmmm…I’s thinkin’ ya’ll just need to stay upstairs a while. Stay in sight. He ain’t gonna take his eyes off of ya until he has to. If you two go distract Petrova…I get out.” He nods to himself in agreement with what he’s saying. I agree too. It should work. Mr. Petrova would never expect the bitter old man to help us get out.
“Sounds good Levi.” I say and reach out my hand. He shakes it vigorously as we stand and then looks down at it and turns my hand in his grip, looking at the multitude of scars there.
“You sure been through a lot.” He says quietly, more to himself. “It’s not over yet.”
Fake Fern When I got back to our room, Faith had already packed everything up. I tell her Levi’s plan. Then, we grab our few possessions: an old green suitcase with some medical supplies and a hidden gun that may or may not be loaded, and a shotgun.
I take the suitcase and Faith carries her shotgun cradled under her arm. We open the door and walk out into the main foyer. The hall is barren, though it’s early in the evening. Faith turns and walks straight for the big double doors, quickening her steps. No one’s around. I imagine she hopes they will just be open. She hits the elegant chrome bar across one and it shakes from her force but does not budge.
I shake my head, “He said it would be locked.” I take the suitcase and Faith’s shotgun and hide them in the corner behind a fake fern. We then we ascend the stairs and go into the main viewing room. There are very few people in here. Patrick and Mr. Petrova are among them. The pews have been brought back out and the tables removed. None of Mr. Petrova’s people are using them though. They are all in a group near the balcony doors.
Mr. Petrova is deeply involved in his conversation with them and doesn’t seem to notice us come in. Faith and I sit down at a pew and wait.
It’s late when he pats Patrick on the back and with some hushed final words starts walking to the doors of the room. He passes close by us and nods with his small smile. Patrick and the couple of gunmen whose names I never bothered to learn follow him out silently, emptying the room besides Faith and me. None seem to pay us any attention. Faith is laying her head on my shoulder with her eyes closed. She looks asleep, but I really hope she isn't. I wait several minutes after they leave in utter silence. Listening as hard as I can, but I can hear nothing outside of the viewing room.
“Faith,” I whisper.
She doesn't move, not even slightly. Her lips separate and she answers very softly, “Yes?”
“You ready?” I ask. “I am always ready,” She says sitting up. She looks exhausted but there’s fierceness to her. She’s ready to run or fight or whatever we have to do to get out of this place.
As quietly as possible, we leave the viewing room and walk down the staircase. It’s silent coming into the foyer and for a moment I let myself hope we are all alone. Positioned by the front doors are two of the gunmen that were in conference with Mr. Petrova. At least we were expecting them.
“Hey, what are you doing?” One of the guards questions as we approach them. I’m sure that when we came down the stairs the guards thought we would just turn down the hall between the staircases towards our room. They look at each other in a very agitated way as we continue towards them.
I hold my hands up as we approach. Both guns train up on me. “Everyone just relax. There’s no need for that.” I say pointing at the guns. “We just want to talk.” But we continue forward. The suitcase and Faith’s shotgun are still tucked neatly behind the planter and the gunmen are between it and us.
We had planned on meeting opposition when we tried to leave. We knew better than to expect Mr. Petrova to make it easy. He said this was not a prison but these two certainly look like prison guards right now. We stop a few feet in front of them. Faith and I are smiling and we are both confident.
“Look Doctor…you heard what Mr. Petrova said…no one leaves.” the one on the left stutters and then quickly adds, “…at night. So you just go on back to your room now.” The other takes a step towards me. I take a step back still holding my hands high in the air.
Night Flight
“You guys don’t want to give us any trouble. Just step aside, and you won’t get hurt.” I say. Faith takes a step to th
e side. The gunman who ’s a step back starts to turn his gun towards her so I step forward again and his gun snaps back to me. If what Levi told me is true then both guns still have their safety on. Apparently a gun went off in the viewing room two days before I got here. There are a great many rules here –Levi said- and one of them is that all guns must have their safety switched on unless given the order to fire by Mr. Petrova or Patrick. The penalty of any more accidental firing is ejection. Too bad, I don’t think it would be that easy for us.
Faith takes another step and the further back guard turns his gun straight at her. I move. The big doors behind the two people open slightly. The timing could not have been more perfect. Levi rushes through the doors silent and unnoticed and jumps at the one closest to me.
The old man grabs onto him and bowls him over in a head long dash that I wouldn’t have thought he could execute. Just as the other one turns to shout; I step by Levi, now toppled over the other guard and hit him square in the nose. I grab his gun by the barrel and jerk it from his hands. I plant the butt in his forehead. I turn on the other guard, holding the gun up by its barrel like a bat. He has shaken Levi off and regained his feet. He starts to pull his gun up and train it back on me.
He clicks the safety switch off and starts to grin but his face morphs into a stupid looking O of surprise as Faith steps around me with her shotgun trained on his face. He drops his gun and puts his big arms sluggishly in the air with his empty hands open and palms up. I drop the shotgun I’m holding. I don’t like the feel of it.
“We are leaving, all three of us. Get out of our way.” Faith says,
and the guy turns without hesitation and sprints for the stairs.
“He’ll tell Mr. Petrova straight away.” Levi advises. “Then we better get going.” I say , retrieving the suitcase from the corner. Levi then pulls open the big doors and we walk through. Faith first and I follow…and then I feel the gunshot. At first I think I have been shot. I feel it. I can’t move right away but quickly realize I couldn’t have been hit or I would feel pain or nothing. I turn around and Levi is directly behind me.
Levi falls forward into me and I drop the suitcase to catch him with both arms. Gunmen start to emerge on the stairs and immediately there is a continual cry to shut the doors. None of them seem to care that Levi is staring into my eyes and choking on blood because a bullet just shattered through his rib cage and tore through his lung. I hadn't wanted to stop here; it wasn’t part of the plan. But I clutch Levi, as I watch blood trickle from his mouth.
“Levi I’m…” I start to say but he shakes me off. He shoves his clenched fist between our bodies and hands me his key ring. “Blue Cadillac Seville” he utters, then his eyes shut and he trembles as if he is cold and all of his muscles seem to relax at once. Mr. Petrova shouts commands from the bannister at the top of the stairs. Faith is screaming for me to come. The other men are running at me and growing nearer by the second, but I hold onto Levi anyway. The old man saved my life and I don’t want to let him go and leave without him. He deserves to live and come with us. I know he can't though, because he’s already dead.
Cartoon Balloon
The zombies trickling in the open doors of the mortuary could easily blindside me. If it hadn’t been for all the people running towards the doors and shouting, I’m sure they would have. But all of them just trot past me. The shouts of rage turn to shrieks of fear and pain. I tenderly drop Levi to the ground and pick up the suitcase. I turn and watch Faith unload her shotgun on a couple of former construction workers trailing the pack that are nearly on top of me.
“Oh yeah, zombies…” I say and grab Faith’s arm pulling her away from the pack of savage undead cannibals that are now pouring into the open doors of the funeral home. We run across the parking lot and street to another tall brick building and press ourselves against the side of it, but there’s no pursuit. Hopefully Mr. Petrova will be busy for a while pushing them out of the mortuary.
I look up and down the street but see nothing. Where the hell is it? I can feel panic setting in as I frantically scan the alley. I can see our demolished van sitting not ten feet from the edge of the parking lot. There are a few other vehicles on the street and they are totally demolished too. My panic grows. Just as I start to lose hope, I can see a cars shape in the darkened alley. As my eyes adjust I can see more.
The car is at the other end of the alley. It could be the one. Looks kind of like a Caddy, but it could be anything in this dark and at this distance. I grab Faith's hand and say, “Come on, this way!”
She offers no resistance at all, as soon as our palms touch; she interlaces her fingers into mine. I lead her down the alley.
“Where are we going?” she asks as we run. I hold up Levi’s keys and jingle them. “Those are the old man’s?” She says with a little laugh. I nod. “Well then we should name our first born after him…Levi’s a good name, huh?” The crowd of zombies in the street is growing and some have started funneling into the alley. I run frantically into the blind darkness.
“Shit, they are behind us come on!” I say and immediately hit something hard and rough. It’s something that bends and crashes and makes a rattling thrashing sound when I hit it. It knocks me back, and I topple over Faith. I can't see anything but I can hear them coming so I pull Faith back up, then turn and swing my arms in the darkness until I find the thing again.
“There is a damned chain link fence!” I say. “Let’s climb it. Hurry.” “Wait!” Faith exclaims. But I don’t. I grab it with both hands and start climbing. I don’t think, I just climb. If I had taken a moment to think, I probably wouldn’t have. I can see the car just on the other side of the fence and I want to reach it so badly. It’s silly, but I think of it like when you get to home base as a kid. Then you are home free. It’s a Caddy alright, I think its baby blue, and I’m pretty sure it could be a Seville. The panic wanes. I climb higher as fast as I can then feel an icy and electric pain across the entire palm of my hand. I recoil and fall.
“Fuck!” I scream , after I land at the bottom of the fence in a heap, clutching my hand. We’re trapped. “Shit, Faith it has razor wire on top of it. I'm cut pretty bad.” I say, while Faith hauls me back to my feet. She rips part of my shirt off and holding her shotgun in her armpit wraps it around my hand tightly.
“Make a fist and hold it. Squeeze that fist tight no matter what.” I can already feel the blood loss making me sluggish and a bit sick. She is crouched over. Several zombies are right in front of us moving quickly. “Faith!” I scream. I crouch down ready and only a moment away from lunging at them.
“Wait, Dead Boy!” Faith says at the last second. She stands and pushes me behind her. Then I hear the click of her trigger and the boom. In the momentary red and yellow flash out of the end of the gun barrel, I take in the whole scene. I know there is a tall fence with spirals of razor wire running on top of it at our backs. There are brick walls at least 20 feet high on both sides of us, and zombies in front of us so thick that they cannot move quickly. Despite the fact that Faith just dismembered the few closest to us, it’s all a wash.
Maybe not though, I also see one of those big heavy city dumpsters with metal lids to the right and one of its lids is open, standing upright against the wall. Had we been running along that wall, we would have plowed into it instead of the fence. The dumpster is only a few feet from us.
I grab Faith around her waist and pull her toward the dumpster. I smack the metal can with my bloody fist and scream “In here, climb!” I throw the suitcase over the side and hook my balled fist over the wall as I grab the lip with my other hand. I pull and scramble and fall in, smacking Faith with my elbow on the way down.
I jump back up and pull the lid closed on us just in time to crush the fingers of the first zombie grabbing the can’s lip. The ghouls start banging on the lid and walls of the dumpster. If they had half a wit between them they would lift the lid and we would be a meal in a box, but they don’t seem to have any reasoning skills at all
.
“What the fuck? Why’d we get in here? We’re trapped!” Faith says, with more than a slight twinge of panic in her voice. “…didn't have any time.” I say feeling dizzy. “At least it’ s empty” I kind of laugh -I feel silly, like ridiculous- and my hand is swollen and looks like it weighs a hundred pounds, but it doesn’t hurt anymore. In fact it feels numb like a big cartoon balloon at the end of my arm.
The scratching at the dumpster grows louder and more intense over the next few moments. It cannot be this loud outside but in here it is like a sea of noise. Faith and I just cling to each other in the darkness. It subsides slowly, but it never quite diminishes. The majority of the mob probably got distracted by something else to chase, and is gone. Some still scratch and claw at the metal to get at us, but probably only a few. We could fight them, maybe, but I am exhausted and my hand throbs.
I feel safer now. I also feel incredibly emotional. I want to bawl from frustration and my mind is all mixed up. What I am thinking about; what I am really thinking about, is Levi. Not his death, but his life. His wife and the children he lost. I can feel the pressure of tears pressing against my eyes. I want to get my mind off of him so I try to walk back over the events since the zombie busted right through the wall and into my bedroom.
There has been so much blood, so many guns, so much wrong, it takes a while to rehash it all. Faith is silent throughout. I think maybe she is doing the same thing; logging the days now with a moments safety to think. It is several minutes before either of us speaks again. After I run my mind over the events in the mortuary, I finally get to my bleeding hand.
I can feel the blood smearing in between my fingers. I think I'm dying right now. Maybe it is best. It surprises me to think that. “Faith I am cut bad on my huhhand.” I stutter. I must have shut my eyes because there is a strange gap of space until I continue, “That fence is…”
I try to finish but the words won’t come. I try to think, to hear Faith, to see her, but…nope nothing. Just the blackness. I imagine Faith sleeping next to my corpse. Then I wake before her and I lean close to her neck. It is soft and not quite pink. There is an occasional deeply orange freckle in the pale skin and the tiniest little blonde hairs running in rows up the nape of her neck. I sink my deranged smile into her soft white delicious neck, and then there is only blackness.