The Chronos Plague (Book 1): No Time Left

by Talluto, Joseph

  I backed out and closed the door again, figuring the bedroom can be their tomb. I went downstairs and took out a decent dinner of canned goods, and then took the rest to my vehicle. The garage had three cars, and I siphoned enough gas out of one to fill my tank and a five-gallon jerry can I had in the back.

  I went back inside and ate dinner, not worrying about the bodies upstairs. It wasn’t the first time I had slept with dead people nearby, and the chances of it happening again were pretty damn high, all things considered.

  I started with a can of corn, seasoned with a package of salsa from a fast food restaurant. I was nearly finished when I heard a thump. It wasn’t loud, but it was enough to catch my attention. I waited for a moment then I heard it again. I went to the top of the stairs, wondering if I had missed a relative somewhere. The thump came again, and this time I realized it was coming from outside the house.

  Curiosity got the better of me and I went outside, walking through the tall grass of the backyard. The thump happened again, and I identified the direction it came from. Not having much else to do before dark, I figured I’d check it out. Knowing my usual run of luck, it was probably a horse rubbing up on a water tank and the thump was the water settling the tank back down.

  I walked further out, going through some deeper brush toward what looked like a pond. Not a bad thing to get some water from, especially after the rain we had. A river would have been better, but I wasn’t about to be choosy.

  When I was about one hundred yards from the pond, I distinctly heard the sound of voices. They were loud and harsh, and I could hear some coarse laughter mixed in. Something was up for them to be making this much noise this close to the night. I tried to see something with my scope, but I was too deep in the grass. I approached carefully, and as I did the voices got clearer.

  “Hit it again!”

  “Let’s get her out of there, back the car up.”

  “I get first crack.”

  “Why you?”

  “I saw it first.”

  None of this was reassuring, and there were a lot more suggestions being tossed out, most worse than the next. I began to understand what it was I was walking into, but I was having serious reservations about whether or not I was going to be able to do something about it. There were some different sounds now, like the sound a fist makes striking flesh. It never sounded like it did on television. If my hand made that sound, I’d be wondering how many bones I had just broken. No, this was the real thing, and I was curious as to who was hitting who.

  I approached the pond, and slowly looked through the very tall reeds at the edge. On the other side of the pond was a small collection of cars, and they were surrounding a smaller car. Out of the car, seven men were formed in a loose half-circle around a young woman. Three of them were carrying rifles, one of which was scoped. Two additional men were lying on the ground at the woman’s feet. She was standing slightly crouched, her hands at the ready. She looked like a cornered bobcat. Tense, alert, and ready to either run if the opportunity presented itself, but also ready to strike out and slash the living hell out of anything that came close enough.

  That was different. I figured the woman had to have either a knife or was at least somewhat skilled in fighting. Why the other men weren’t just bum-rushing her was a mystery to me, if all they wanted her for was sex.

  Another man approached her at a run, his arms held wide and he ducked low to grab her at her waist. He obviously wasn’t the thinker of the group, since she just stepped out of his way and gave him a little push, which made his head meeting the side of her car that much faster. I could hear the thud from here, and that genius wasn’t getting up soon.

  An older man, likely the leader of the marauders, shook his head and pulled a gun. He pointed it at the woman.

  “Enough of this. Get over here, drop your pants, and lean over the hood. If you’re quiet, I might let you live,” he said.

  I watched the woman process that for a moment. I could almost see her weighing the odds, when she suddenly squatted down and put her hands on the ground in front of her.

  “Hell, yeah. I’ll take that first,” the old man said. He started walking toward her, fumbling with his pants. It was difficult for him, since he didn’t want to let go of his gun.

  I figured I could drop the old man first, then get the guy with the scope. What I didn’t count on was what happened next.

  When the old man got about ten feet from the woman, she suddenly jumped backward, tucking her legs up and clearing the hood of the car. She twisted in mid-air and landed on the other side of the car, running full tilt toward the brush.

  The men were too stunned to react properly. One second she was there and another she was literally gone, disappearing into the weeds. I heard several shouts of surprise, and one idiot got a shot off, earning him a snarl from his boss.

  “Well, good luck, then,” I said out loud to myself. I wasn’t going to get involved in something that really wasn’t my business. Sure, I probably would have killed the men, but would that have really done the woman any favors? Who knows?

  The men took off into the brush after the woman, and I had a feeling she would be okay where they had to come at her one at a time. I started heading back toward the house when the woman suddenly burst out of the brush on my right.

  She stopped suddenly, her eyes wide, then she ran right at me. I could see her eyes on my gun, and that wasn’t going to happen.

  “Don’t,” I said loud enough for her to hear. “You aren’t good enough.” I brought the gun up to the ready, slipping my finger inside the trigger guard. “I’ll put more bullets into you than you can safely hold.”

  That seemed to do the trick. She stopped, and I could see her looking me over, assessing my gear and guns.

  “You government?” she asked.

  “There’s no government anymore,” I said.

  “How do you know?”

  “Because I was there when it fell. Your boyfriends are coming,” I said.

  She looked back over her shoulder and then looked at me. I shrugged.

  “I’ll make it fair, if that’s what you want,” I said.

  “I’d rather you just gave me the gun for ten minutes.”

  “Not quite. Why didn’t you use the gun you have back at the car?” I asked.

  “How did you…? Never mind. If I shoot one, they’d kill me sure. Figured if they thought they had fresh meat, their guard might be lowered,” she said.

  “Good thinking. All right. We’ll wait.” I went behind a tree and watched the grass line. I could see the tops of the tall grass swaying as the men approached.

  I looked over at the woman. She was behind another tree, but close enough to talk to without shouting.

  “What made you think I was government?” I asked.

  “Suppressor, tactical vest. You just look the part. Saw a few of you in the desert. You tend to have a look. Yours is a bit different, though,” she said.

  “How’s that?

  “You look like you’ve killed. The ones we saw were just strutting around, trying to throw their credentials in our faces, ordering stupid stuff.”

  “Well, I’m old for a reason,” I said, bringing my gun up as the grass movement got closer.

  “What’s that?”

  “I’m dangerous.” The first man through the grass got shot in the head for his trouble, as did the second man. The third actually fell over the first two, and I missed him as he fell. Bad luck for the man behind him though, that shot went through his chest and put him down hard. The third man got up and looked around, and I put one in his eye for it.

  The last three must have figured something was wrong, since they stayed put and silent. I wasn’t going to go after them, so I decided to wait. The wait wasn’t very long, and on the other side of the pond, three men were running toward their vehicles.

  I fired five more times, and hit all three at least once in the legs. I think I missed once, and I got the last man in the hip. I really wa
sn’t expecting hits at all, so I was actually pretty surprised.

  “Well, there you go,” I said. “They’re down. You can get back to your stuff and finish them off.”

  The woman looked a little shocked. “Aren’t you going to finish them? You’re the one with the gun.”

  “I’ve shot too much already. Chances are really good that there’s a crowd headed this way as it is. I’m going to get inside and lock the doors, and hope I live until morning,” I said.

  She looked at the men, crawling toward their cars. In a minute, they had managed to reach their vehicle and they crawled in for what they considered safety.

  “They’re in their cars. Good luck,” I said.

  “Wait, where are you staying?” she asked.

  “That house there. The bottom door will be open,” I said.

  “But it’s getting dark. And those shots of yours called in the zeds.”

  “You’d better get moving, then,” I replied. I wasn’t a babysitter. Sure, I saved a few people here and there when the odds were overwhelming, but in this case, not so much.

  “Of course, you could wait until morning, and let the zombies nibble on those guys tonight. Your stuff won’t be going anywhere. They’re going to try and hunker in their vehicles, and see if they can plug their holes. Of course, the blood smell on their cars will be overwhelming, and I doubt even the most passive zombie will let that go,” I continued. I left it at that and started walking back to the house.

  I was joined nearly immediately by the woman. I kept my smile to myself as I scanned the brush and nearby vegetation for any activity. Up on a small rise, I could see several heads moving in our direction, clearly brought here by my shots and the noise the men on the other side of the pond were making. They weren’t crying as much now, but they were definitely in the cursing stage of development.

  The part that worked well for me was the noise those guys made would keep the zombies away from us. The other part I liked was the fact that with the woman unable to get back to her car until morning at least, that meant she had only the clothes on her back and her single weapon was a small knife at her belt.

  We got back to the house and secured the doors. Zombies were not very strong as individuals, but as groups they were very dangerous. We pushed furniture against the doors and I found an extension cord that I used to create a kind of web on the stairs. It wouldn’t stop the horde, but it would give me enough warning to get the hell out of there.

  Upstairs, the woman and I picked through the supplies and we each found something for supper. I had a can of ravioli and she took a can of tuna.

  “So, now that we have secured our premises for the evening and we’ve got our repast, one thing remains,” I said.

  “I’m not sleeping with you,” she replied, stepping back from the table. Her feet shifted slightly, and I had the feeling she was contemplating running, or killing me. Maybe both.

  I chuckled slightly. “Wait ‘til you’re asked before you refuse,” I said.

  “Then what did you mean?”

  “Introductions.”

  The woman had the grace to blush. “I’m sorry. I’m Andrea Blake.”

  “Joe MacCullen. I noticed you had put a couple men down before you jumped over a car and ran. What’s up with that, by the way?” I asked.

  Andrea took her turn to chuckle. “Gymnastics in high school. Army. Military Police. Probably explains why I’m alive.”

  “No doubt. Were you at any of the battles?” I asked, working a cold ravioli into my mouth.

  “Just the one outside Arlington. That was bad enough.”

  “I’d heard about that one. We were on our way out to help when they broke your lines,” I said.

  “Yeah, that was rough. I managed to get to a truck that was moving, and we tried to regroup at the second line, but it was done. We grabbed what we could and headed for the hills. Lost my two partners a few months back, been working it out on my own since. Those idiots out there caught my trail a week back and they finally caught me,” Andrea said. “What’s your story? You said you were there when the government fell.”

  “Well, technically I watched what was left of the government run like hell. Those cowards grabbed what they could and ran for the river, snagged a ride on a tour boat, and headed out to sea. I heard a rumor they had a cruise ship waiting for them to take them to a private island where they planned to set up a secondary government,” I said.

  “Really?”

  “I believe the cruise ship, it’s the kind of thing they would try, but I’m not sure about the island. Those morons wouldn’t last a day if they had to fend for themselves,” I replied. “The country they swore to protect, well, we could go to hell. Of course, we’re the morons that elected them, so where do we stand?”

  Andrea chuckled. “What did Mark Twain say about voting? If it actually made a difference, they wouldn’t allow us to do it.”

  “There’s that, too,” I said. “Well, let’s get ourselves quiet and figure out where we want to sleep.”

  “How are the bedrooms?” Andrea asked.

  “Bloody. The family is still up there. They turned on each other then they turned on me. They’re all up in the master bedroom if you want to have a look.”

  Andrea shook her head. “Seen it before.”

  I looked out over her shoulder toward the pond. “Looks like your friends have company.”

  Andrea and I went over to the large sliding glass doors and watched as several large groups of undead wandered over to the cars. They first encountered Andrea’s car, but were soon interested in the cars that had the live people in them. The cars were quickly surrounded and we lost sight of the men inside. I couldn’t care less whether they lived or died. The world would not miss their passing.

  “Good riddance,” Andrea said. “I survived this long, and those morons would have been the end of me. I owe you, I guess.”

  I caught Andrea glance at me out of the corner of my eye, but I ignored it. I didn’t need complications. I had my mission, and that was it.

  “Don’t worry about it,” I said. “Just don’t do it again.”

  “Not likely.” Andrea changed the subject. “Where are you planning on sleeping?”

  “I like the study, there’s a nice couch in there and the door locks,” I said.

  “You don’t want the spare bedroom back there?” Andrea asked.

  “All yours,” I conceded. “I prefer to rough it a little.”

  “All right.” She looked out the window. “Think we have anything to worry about?”

  I shrugged. “No idea. But if we’re quiet, we should be okay.”

  We left the window and went our separate ways. The study was in the center of the house, near the kitchen, while the spare bedroom was at the east end of the house. I cleaned up as best I could and stretched out. I put my pack near the couch, and spread out my rifle and pistols on the desk in the study. I had considered loaning Andrea my rifle, but I hardly knew her. Which explained why I locked the door and kept my knife nearby. I went to sleep as the sun finished its chores.

  In the morning, I woke and stretched, swishing the dryness out of my mouth with a quick swig from my canteen. I went over to the window and peeked out of the blinds, experience teaching me that anything could be on the other side.

  In this case, it was wholly justified. The quick look I took showed me that we were completely surrounded by zombies.

  “Aw, hell,” I whispered. There was at least forty outside that I could see, and they were doing their slow walk around, milling about, and waiting for something to chase and eat. They couldn’t get too close to the windows, thanks to the shrubs and bushes blocking the way. Of course, if they thought there was something inside, they’d be undeterred by the greenery.

  I stepped back from the window and gathered my supplies. I had no idea how I was going to get out of here, or for that matter, get to my car. Like an idiot, I left it in the driveway instead of putting it in the garage. That lazy mov
e might cost me. On the other hand, maybe the cars in the garage would get me out of this.

  I had to wonder why they came up here. Andrea and I hadn’t done anything to get their attention. At least, I know I didn’t.

  I stepped out of the study and carefully made my way to the kitchen. The back of the house was elevated, and I didn’t see any zombies on the porch, so it was safe to walk around here. But I still saw several dozen zombies out in the backyard. They seemed to be concentrated somewhere under the deck, so something had brought them there.

  I hoped Andrea didn’t look out the window, or if she did, she had sense enough not to call attention to herself. I didn’t know what the landscape was near her window, but if it was easily passed by, we had problems.

  When I was halfway there, the door banged open and Andrea came running out.

  “Joe! We got problems!” she yelled.

  So much for quiet. Behind her, there was the sound of breaking glass and what could only be described as mayhem as hands reached in to try and drag the rest of the body inside. I grabbed the supply bags and moved quickly.

  “Let’s try the front,” I said, running toward the door. I opened it to see a number of zombies suddenly turn my way.

  “Shit!” I slammed the door shut and slipped the deadbolt. That would hold the front, but they were already moving toward the windows on the front and dead hands were cracking the panes.

  “Upstairs! Go! Go!” I practically threw Andrea ahead of me, and we made our way up as best we could. I could hear more glass breaking, and they would be up here in a minute.

  “Get the furniture, move it to the top of the stairs. Dressers, desks, anything. Go!” I had a plan, but it was only for delay, not much else.

  “Why don’t you just shoot them?” Andrea asked as she wrestled a white dresser into the hallway.