Asunder

by Tonnie Johnson

  "Shit!" Varick pushed back using the poles to lift himself high and deliver a flying kick to one knocking it into the others and Hazel took the time to scramble up and over the seats toward the driver's seat. Varick used the strength of his broad shoulders to push the two back before firing his revolver and knocking them out the back door. Varick reached for the handle before the horde reached the vehicle. He fumbled with the lock until it locked.

  Hazel closed her eyes, fingers pressed against her head. Varick ran down the aisles slamming shut as many windows as he could while the creatures rocked the bus threatening to tip it over.

  "Hurry the fuck up!"

  "Shut up!" She turned the key watching the lights spring to life.

  "Hurry!" Varick shouted wanting the bus to move. The long-limbed woman drawing closer.

  Hazel searched the panel in front of her. "There it is." She said speaking to no one in particular, the small engine start button, nothing. She pressed her fingers against her temples, the more she was calm the more Varick wanted to toss her out the window. Finally, she pushed the little button again. "I don't understand!" She slammed her hand against the wheel.

  "Let me do it!" Varick protested.

  "Would you even know what you're doing?" She shot back as she fumbled to reach the gas pedal. She tried to recall a long-ago scene. "Got it!" She pressed the petal while pushing the engine button and the roar of the motor became music to their ears.

  "Now take over, you're taller than me." Hazel ordered.

  Varick took over searching wildly for the gear and shifting it to drive he pressed the gas to move but they slowly pulled away as the creature reached her clawed fingers to the glass. "Why the fuck are we moving so slow?!"

  Hazel searched the console finding the culprit and flicked the switch of the parking brake from off to on causing the vehicle to jerk forward, gaining enough speed to bulldoze his way through the blockade of cars and running over the monsters and smashing the skulls of the creatures coming at him.

  Hazel sat in a seat not far from the front.

  "I'm taking this fucker, picking up my mom and brother and getting the hell out of Detroit." He breathed deep, his pulse racing.

  "You said your mother is at work and your brother is at school. Which one will you go to first?" Hazel asked keeping her eyes ahead.

  "I don’t know. My mother would kill me if I didn’t make sure my brother is safe so I’ll head to my brother’s school."

  He took his eyes off the road for a moment, his gaze shifting to the girl in her green military jacket and pants, and tall boots. She was dressed for a war, which would have been silly if the world didn’t feel like a war zone. An overwhelming question plagued his mind. "So how did you learn how to operate a bus?" 'That's not what I wanted to ask.'

  "I watched a how to operate a bus tutorial on YouTube a few years back."

  Varick sniggered. "Are you fucking kidding me?"

  "No." she replied deadpanned.

  "You know what happened out there?" Varick eventually asked. 'Still not the one I want to ask.'

  "I have no clue. I know I was in Greek town during the explosion and I was sick afterwards."

  "Me too."

  "I still am, a little." Hazel said feeling bloated.

  Varick turned a corner and stepped on the brakes as fast as possible. "Hold on." he backed up the vehicle and was about to take another turn when he spotted the large road block on the other side of the street and the one ahead. "Fuck!" he banged on the wheel.

  Hazel looked through the back window, the Jaggers didn't give up pursuit. "We can go back through them or bust through..." The bus pushed forward slamming through the debris and then wobbled violently, air popping from each tire forcing them to skid onto the lawn of some half torn down house.

  "Shit!" Varick cursed.

  "Well, that was nice and short lived."

  Smoke rose from burning buildings, sirens sounded in the distance; a chaotic nightmare.

  "I gotta get to his school." Varick ran fast with Hazel behind. The screaming masses cut them off, and they cut down an alley until they reached another main street, a fire, the Jaggers. No way out. Several people ran into an open store and they followed fast along with a few others before the store owner, an Arab man dressed in a red and white Keffiyeh closed and locked the door.

  Everyone remained low, hushing those injured and scared.

  "Shit! I’m never gonna get there at this rate!" Varick ranted.

  The man looked to him and his tattoos on his rolled-up sleeves and remained silent. Varick sat fuming next to Hazel tapping her on the shoulder.

  "Ask these people what’s going on, they won’t talk to me." He whispered to her. "I'm the evil racist." He mocked.

  "Great." She said as if he ruined her plans. " Now, no one will talk to me cause I’m now talking to the evil racist."

  The packed people waited. Hazel stood and opened the freezers and cold storage feeling nothing but a cold wall. She looked around behind the counter. A chill crawled up her spine.

  "Get out!" The owner pointed his gun at Varick.

  "What?!" Varick said stunned.

  "I said get the fuck out!" The owner repeated.

  Varick stood reaching for his gun only to hear the sound of a 12-gauge shot gun cocking. He raised his hand high and strolled toward the door.

  "You’re gonna really put me out in this mess cause of a few tats?"

  "Go to your white brothers to help you."

  The gun pressed hard against his throat drawing blood and the owner and Varick froze.

  "Give him that hand gun." Hazel said keeping her cool. "I know you have more behind the counter."

  "Don’t hurt my son." The owner pleaded. He passed the gun to Varick who took it fast. Hazel kept her weapon pointed as she moved around and ushered Varick out the door.

  "Why the hell did you help me? You had shelter." Varick asked confused.

  "That place is a deathtrap. Usually grocery stores have back rooms behind the freezers, they had none since the store is small, maybe they have a back door, but it would lead to an alley, the only viable exit is the front door. I know what they will deal with if one or more break into that store they would all die."

  Varick stopped at a corner trying to assess the chaos. He could see the school from afar. If he played his cards right, he could cut across the field and get there provided that none of those creatures would notice.

  "Look, thanks for saving my ass and all." He stopped her before she proceeded along. "But I’m gonna check up on my brother, get my mother and head to a safe house and no one’s gonna let you in so it’s a waste, don’t you have your own family to get to?"

  "My family is dead."

  "Oh." Varick sighed. "Look as payment… again… you can stay with me until I reach my family but before then you should try to find like-minded people to be with."

  "I know. Sorry for the trouble. I have no intention to be surrounded by Nazis." She placed her hands on her hips.

  "Then let’s go."

  Chapter Thirteen

  The infected packed the streets, blocking their way down, trash and cars littered the streets, it was hell on earth. They killed and ate and ripped apart the screaming men and women and children. Varick and Hazel ran fast once the creature's attention was turned elsewhere. A straight shot across the intersection toward the field which lead to the school. They ran as fast as they could toward the metal fence with several Jaggers on their heel. Varick reached for the gate scaling it fast until he leapt over the other side while Hazel took the route of the nearby slanted tree nimbly moving along the thick branch over the gate and dropping on the gravel. Varick pushed open the back door of the building surprised to see it already open, he held the door open by instinct for Hazel who followed. They head down the empty partially lit hall and once Varick saw the set of stairs, he jogged up and down the hall finding his brother’s classroom—It was empty, the desks still contained the half-scribbled papers from the day's less
on.

  They hear a sound, a crash through a window below.

  "I doubt that's your brother." Hazel stated with candid flare.

  "No shit." Varick replied on guard. "Let’s get the fuck out of here before we run into more of those things."

  Varick was the first to peer from inside the room, the hall remained empty but the patter of running feet could be anything. He slipped out, walking with cautious until he reached the stairs. He could make out the heavy breathing, the cry of someone screaming "No!" He stopped at the end of the stairs to listen and he heard the growls of the Jaggers inside.

  It was Hazel who walked ahead to the back entrance they used to get inside. Varick followed behind hesitantly ignoring the screams of the helpless victim.

  "That was cold." Varick spat catching up to the petite girl.

  "I don't see you running to that person's aid."

  They detoured through an alley until they reached the gate on the other side of the building, Hazel was the first through with Varick following, and he closed the gate for safe measure only for the tugging of his collar to slam him back onto the metal. Hazel kicked the hand away and Varick turned, kicking the creature off the gate.

  "C’mon!" Varick said running from the small horde toward a nearby building and climbing the nearby fire escape with Hazel following behind. Several followed behind and Hazel kicked them off before they could reach for her foot. Varick used the revolver handle to break open an apartment window.

  A menacing roar of an attack launched at Varick just as he entered the living room and he kicked the creature hard against the wall before crushing its head under his foot. Hazel slashed at the matted haired woman until she stabbed her in the throat, she didn't wait around long enough to see if her attack was effective, she bolted out the door into the hall of the slum lord’s domain. The yellowing wall paper peeled and cracked and the floorboards creaked with each step. A fat bloated man wobbled out the room down the hall and Varick stood forward to take it on until it spewed forth a black vomit which burned through the wood. Hazel took off in the opposite direction upstairs with Varick behind her.

  They ran up the stairs to the roof and Varick tried to slam the door only for several hands to prevent the closing. Hazel stabbed at the arms but that wasn't enough. She sheathed her weapon. She noticed a make shift ramp near the edge of the roof, something people had been using to trek back and forth between buildings. Taking a chance, she ran to the ramp and walked the plank to the adjacent building. Varick released the door and ran fast to the ramp following behind, He grabbed the plank and flung it to the ground to prevent the creatures from following.

  Hazel searched for a way down but saw nothing but the fire escape on the next building. "Fuck!" She exclaimed while rocking back and forth for a running start but stopped once Varick leapt across, grabbing the railing and hoisting his body up. She followed, her hand slipping, but she gripped the rail tight enough to allow her foot to hit the rail and pull herself over. Varick was already climbing inside the opened window. They moved fast out the opened door and down the stairs until they reached a lobby and Hazel stopped in front of the barred door full of Jaggers.

  "No!" She panicked looking around for another way out.

  "Fuck!"

  A shot rang out blasting a Jagger’s dark brain matter across the glass.

  A man in his mid-forties with balding black hair with tuffs of grey stood on the roof of a boutique across the street frantically waving his arms. "Hey! Hey you two!" He shot another and another. "We’ll cover you once the door is clear!"

  Varick looked out the crusty window trying to figure out where the man was. "Across the street!"

  "If you’re crazy enough to run, we’ll let you in!" The older man yelled.

  "If we’re crazy enough to run?"

  "Let’s do it." Hazel stood, ready to run. "It's either that or we're stuck here." Hazel looked out the window and saw no other options than to make a run for it as the only other building nearby was across an empty neglected lot full of trash and rubble.

  "Fuck it." Varick placed his hands on the doors, gearing up to open and run once the last Jagger's brains splayed out. "On the count of three."

  "Is that one two three push or push on three?" Hazel asked needing the details.

  Varick stopped for a moment, she had such a dead pan way of asking he couldn’t tell if she was joking or serious. "It doesn’t matter."

  He pushed the doors open with force, slamming it against the new arrival of Jaggers. It was not enough for a swarm but it was enough to overwhelm if they let them. They ran fast toward the shop and slipped inside before the stragglers could follow.

  The place was small and worn, a wannabe high end boutique whose best years were far in the past. "Holy shit you guys are crazy!" The man panted. "My name is George."

  "Varick."

  "Hazel."

  An African-American male, with a bald head and a thick beard approached gun in hand and neither Varick nor Hazel wanted another confrontation.

  George pointed to the man. "This is Malik, and those two lovely women are Francine and Marie." George points to a woman with long jet-black hair and oval eyes. She seemed hard, a warrior woman ready for battle and a Hispanic woman with long brown hair tied into a ponytail, soft featured.

  "Hola." Marie said sitting back down.

  George then pointed to a girl of twelve years old with short blonde hair and blue-green eyes. "And this young lady is Sarah."

  "Hi." Sarah waved.

  "A Nazi and a black woman travelling together. It really is the end of the fucking world." Malik scoffed.

  "It’s a necessary evil." Varick said in his knee jerk defense.

  "I’ve never seen two crazy motherfuckers in my whole life." George said changing the subject. "The way you were jumping those buildings was straight up suicide."

  Francine walked over to the counter. "Hungry? This place doesn’t have much, but we managed to pick up some items before getting trapped here." She sat two packs of warm hungry man dinners on the surface, the scent of the staling food overwhelmed them and yet they were at the counter tearing open the boxes and devouring the contents... and then they reached for the next one and the next much to the dismay of the others.

  Malik stepped forward determined to stop them from eating up all their food but George held him back. "Come on now, let them eat. We got plenty more."

  Hazel looked up, food caked on her mouth. "I haven’t eaten in… I don’t know, I was sick."

  "Me too. Though, I don't think it was long at all, it just feels like it."

  "Sick? You two were sick?" George's finger tightened on the trigger and Varick stood and turned to face the source of sudden danger, the room was so silent you could hear a pin drop, Marie reached for Sarah to pull her away from the rising tension.

  "Yeah, but I’m fine and so is she." Varick kept his hand on his revolver counting the heads against his ratio of bullets. If he had to, he would fire first, but he hoped it wouldn't come to that.

  Hazel continued to eat not giving a damn if they fired or not though through her peripheral were the little girl clinging to the unarmed Marie, dark thoughts entered her mind, one in which her blade could at least strike the child if push came to shove, or maybe the woman, whose head was clear enough for the shot, but going after the child's midsection vs the woman's head was the safer bet. She closed her eyes to stave off the possibility, and she wiped her lips with a gaudy looking dress strewn about before turning to the crowd. "We were sick ages ago. If we were one of them, we would have turned by now... right?"

  Malik lowered his gun. "I guess you got a point. Look, I don't want to shoot you if you don't pose a threat but, you can never be too sure. Maybe you got bitten or scratched or something."

  "Just like that kid?" Hazel looked to Sarah, noting the reddish scar on her arm.

  "Hey!" George wanted to shut her up. "This isn't a zombie flick. So far she ain't got sick or nothin'. You have, and that's how the change s
tarts!"

  "Wait." Francine backed away. "George! You didn't say shit about the little girl being touched by those things."

  "She ain't sick!"

  "We're not sick now." Hazel said ready to throw another piece of wood on the fire. "And depending on that scratch, she may not have gotten sick... yet. So, let's calm down, if we have to, we'll leave."

  George sighed and put away his pistol. "We just can't be fucking sure. I mean, how the hell did things get like this if it ain't bites or scratches? Something's got to be turning folks! Not every damn body was at those sites!" he finally gave in to his frustration.

  Varick sat back down grabbing another hungry man and licking the plate clean. "You two must have been really hungry." Francine clutched her necklace.

  "I apologize." Hazel wiped her hands next.

  George sat down on the couch, somewhat relaxed. "Sickness is how it happened. After the explosions people got sick. Flu like. Sweaty, sleepy, coughing. Some even coughed up blood."

  "Now those are the ones you gotta watch out for, those are the huge monsters." Malik added.

  "Did everyone get sick?" Hazel asked curious.

  "No. I never did, and these people here with me never did and neither have the others with us. You two are the first I’ve seen that got sick but didn’t turn into monsters, which is why I freaked out." George explained.

  "Have you seen the screaming women?" Hazel asked.

  "Screaming women?" Malik was confused.

  "Those are the ones to watch out for." Varick chimed in.

  The small group gathered around a small fireplace burning the gel cans in the smokeless bin. Malik toyed with the small flat screen TV trying to figure out a way to get information. Once the screen popped on, the unsteady camera captured footage of the military clearing the streets. The camera pointed in Luc’s face, but he pushed it away.

  Hazel smiled. "He’s alive."

  "I can’t believe this is happening. Even Henry Ford is gone now. We have to find a way to get rid of this once and for all." Malik said full of uncertainty.

  "Henry Ford? My mother works there." Varick focused his attention on the news report.