Decay: A Zombie Story

by Dumas, Joseph

  I thought about Julia. I thought about the broadcasts and the words ‘stay where you are.’ Perhaps I should never have left the studio. There, I’d been as safe as my African Cichlids.

  After thinking about the studio, I remembered Johnston’s last article on the website. I looked at his body and his chest pocket. It was within my reach.

  I felt as though I should read it. Work was his life and I needed to read his last act. Somewhat reluctantly, I reached into his chest pocket and pulled out a folded-up piece of paper, slightly stained with his blood.

  I unfolded it and began to read:

  My name is Johnston Hall. I’m the producer here at Channel Five News. It’s been an honor to report to you the news of this outbreak.

  Arthriphagy is something we may never understand or conquer. This is a new chapter in the history of humankind. I hope we will prevail and carry on. I hope that people like Andrew Helms and Julia Blackfield will lead us into the days of tomorrow.

  During these last few days, we’ve stuck it out until the end. I believe we won’t survive this. We’ve informed any survivors out there with lifesaving information. This has been my goal in life. I’ve helped bring the most important news ever to the public’s attention.

  Perhaps this was my purpose. If so, I’m glad that I’ve had the privilege to help in saving some lives.

  I can only hope Andrew and Julia feel the same way. Thank you both. And to anyone reading this, thank you. I wish you all the best of luck in this trying time.

  This is Johnston Hall for Channel Five News. Signing off.

  I stared at the words on the page. They were powerful. I felt his voice in them. I slowly folded the paper back up and put it in his chest pocket.

  “Thanks, Johnston.”

  Then I heard some kind of scratching noise. I looked up and saw an infected man trying to reach through the broken windshield.

  He was staring right at me with those dead eyes. I was still trapped in my seatbelt, there was no way for me to escape. I looked at him for a moment, then closed my eyes. I waited for the end.

  MARC

  “It’s for you, Marc! Phone! Marc, get the phone!”

  “Okay Mom, I got it, you can hang up now! Hello?”

  “Hey, Marc, it’s Rich Jacobs from the store.”

  “Oh, hi Rich,” I said. Rich was the manager of the deli at the supermarket I worked at. I was immediately very curious why he was calling me.

  “Sorry to bother you. I know it’s Friday and you probably have plans, but would you mind coming in today? You can work the full day for time-and-a-half.”

  “Oh! Uh, yeah sure,” I said. “I can be there in an hour.”

  “Thanks so much,” he sighed in relief. “Everyone called out and we really need some help!”

  “No problem. See you soon.”

  As I hung up the phone, I nearly did a flip with excitement. I’m going to community college in the Fall and need all the money I can get. I was looking at a solid eleven hours of time-and-a-half today! I quickly calculated it out and saw I’d be getting roughly a hundred and forty dollars. It would all go straight to the bank!

  I got ready for work. My mother had the day off, but had been watching TV all day. While I was grabbing a glass of milk before leaving, she barged into the kitchen and screamed, “Where the hell are you going?”

  My mother could definitely be tough to deal with at times, but this caught me off guard. “What?” I said as I turned to face her.

  “Are you going to work?”

  “Yes? Why?”

  “Have you seen the news at all?”

  Even more confused than before, I tilted my head and asked once more, “Why?”

  “There’s a bad flu going around!”

  I couldn’t help but smirk and think of all the recent diseases that we were supposed to be scared of, like the avian flu, EEE, West Nile, SARS, bubonic; the list went on and on.

  Sure, I understand that these did claim lives and were a big deal for some people. But unless you’re very young, very old, or immune compromised, it most likely wasn’t going to be a threat to you. I didn’t qualify for any of those prerequisites.

  “I think I’ll be all right, Mom.”

  She shook her head with disapproval. “Don’t you bring that flu back here!”

  I nodded as I took my keys off the hook on the wall.

  She retreated back to the living room and simply said, “Bye.”

  I waved and left for work.

  I hopped on my bike and while riding, I noticed a severe lack of people. Cars drove by sporadically and much faster than usual. I had about three blocks to ride before I’d reach the store and I saw absolutely no one outside other than those cars.

  When I reached the store, there were about fifteen cars in the parking lot. It looked like an incredibly slow day.

  I was greeted immediately by Rich when I entered the store. “Oh good, you’re here!” he said, “Go punch in and start unloading the pallets for me.”

  “Okay,” I said as I quickly headed to the back room.

  “Pay attention to the speakers, too. I may need you to come help ring people out. If so, I’ll page you to the front.”

  I nodded and continued on my way.

  Hours later, I had unloaded most of the stock. There were only a few customers in the store. One wasn’t looking too good. He was looking for the Pharmacy, only no one had shown up for that section, so Rich had to assist him with finding the most efficient over-the-counter stuff. I felt bad for the man—he really didn’t look too good.

  His leg was all bandaged up and he was complaining that the hospital had turned him away. Rich and I talked about it after we helped him out. Rich said it looked like he had a bad infection—not the flu.

  Rich still seemed weary of the shopper, as did I. So, after our talk, he decided to go inform Linda—the cashier. She was a middle-aged woman, very nice and mother-like.

  She had trained me during my first week and was constantly telling me things like, “You’re such a nice boy, don’t go off to college and become a drinker now.”

  I explained to her that it was just community college and I’d still be here part time while still living at home. But, she still seemed concerned that I’d adopt that lifestyle. And, to be honest, I wished I could. I wished I was going away to school, but we didn’t have enough money for that.

  We didn’t have enough money for this school either—hence the reason I was working my ass off at this job all summer, and the reason I was one of the only people to show up during this possible pandemic scare.

  As I stood there in the soda aisle, pondering over my life choices and for some reason Linda’s opinion of them, Rich’s voice came over the loud speaker and said, “MARC TO AISLE TEN FOR ASSISTANCE PLEASE! MARC!”

  I quickly put down the boxes of soda and sprinted down the empty aisle. A couple of aisles over, I found Rich, standing over the sick man. He’d collapsed to the floor.

  “Go to the register and have Linda call 9-1-1,” he said to me very bluntly.

  “Is he okay?” I asked.

  “How should I know? Get going,” he said.

  I quickly ran through the store, calling Linda’s name. I came around the corner and found her standing at the register, reading a magazine.

  “Linda!”

  She looked up. “What’s wrong?”

  “Call 9-1-1, a customer’s sick.”

  She immediately picked up the phone. “Is it the flu that’s going around?”

  “I don’t think so,” I replied. “He has some kind of wound on his leg. Maybe it’s infected.”

  She reached under the register and pulled out a white box—a first aid kit, and handed it to me.

  “Take this, I’ll call.”

  I grabbed it from her as she began dialing.

  I ran back to aisle ten and was shocked to find the man walking in my direction.

  “Sir, are you okay?” I asked. When I looked past him I saw Rich sitting agai
nst the shelves grasping his arm, which was bleeding profusely.

  “Rich?” I said curiously.

  “Get away from him!” Rich yelled. “He’s crazy!”

  “But Linda gave me the first aid kit,” I said, completely oblivious to what was happening..

  Rich began getting to his feet as the man kept stumbling in my direction.

  “Toss the kit,” Rich said, “Over here, then get away from him.”

  I did as he said and threw the kit. It landed on the floor and the man turned back towards Rich when he heard the sound of the kit crashing against the linoleum. Rich grabbed the kit and started sprinting down the aisle away from the sick man.

  I didn’t know what to do, so I ran back to the front of the store and found Linda at the register. She was holding the phone and listening. Then she slammed the phone down on the counter and shook her head.

  “What happened?” I asked.

  “No answer,” she said, “No…answer…”

  “What do you mean?”

  “There was no answer,” she said adamantly.

  “On 9-1-1?”

  She nodded and covered her face with her hand.

  After a moment, Rich came stumbling around the last aisle, holding the first aid kit and still bleeding pretty badly.

  “Oh my God, what happened?” Linda asked.

  Rich shook his head and stopped at the register. He plopped the kit down on the counter and held his arm for a moment while shaking his head.

  “Are you okay?” I asked.

  He continued to shake his head and said, “That guy… He bit my damn arm.”

  “What?!”

  “I went to check his pulse. I couldn’t find one…” he said, “Then… then he just…I don’t know, he grabbed onto me and bit my friggin’ arm.”

  “Oh my God,” Linda said again, covering her mouth.

  Rich opened the kit and asked, “Did you call 9-1-1?”

  She nodded.

  He stared at us as he waited for a follow-up to what happened when she called.

  “They didn’t answer,” I said.

  He gave me the same look I’d given Linda.

  He wrapped up his arm while Linda tried 9-1-1 once more. After a moment, Linda once again hung up the phone and shook her head. Rich kept pressure on his arm and started walking away from the register.

  “I’m not feeling so hot,” he said. “I’m gonna, uh, go sit over here for a bit.”

  Linda and I looked at each other worriedly for a moment as Rich stumbled over to a line of wooden benches set up along the wall.

  We both looked up when the sick customer came fumbling around the last aisle. He was moaning and basically walking on one leg while dragging the other behind him.

  “Oh my word,” Linda said.

  “Rich,” I said, “What should we do?” As I looked to him for an answer, he seemed dizzy as he began tilting his head back and closing his eyes.

  I looked to the man and said, “Sir, please take it easy.” He didn’t acknowledge me. Rather, he kept coming in our direction. “Sir!” I called out again. “Please calm down. Have a seat.” Again, it was to no avail, he kept walking our way. Linda stepped out from the register and approached the man.

  “Okay sir,” she said calmly. “Please come over here and sit down. Help is on the way.”

  She walked right up to him and reached out to grab his arm and assist him over to the benches. As she reached out, he intercepted her and grabbed her arm, then lunged at her, making a sound I can only describe as a muted roar. He sank his teeth into her arm.

  “Linda!” I called out as she screamed in shock.

  She fell back and the man landed on top of her.

  “Oh my God!” she yelled. “Get him off me!”

  I looked to Rich and saw that he was still out of it, so I grabbed a Hostess display stand by the register and approached the customer, whacking him over the head with it.

  He didn’t acknowledge me, so I took the bottom of the stand and pushed it into his side, rolling him off Linda. She lay on the floor, crying as the man struggled to get to his feet.

  I reached out my hand to help Linda up, but she refused.

  At this point, the man was up and he looked directly at me. He slowly began to approach me, nearly stepping on Linda in the process. I grasped the snack display tightly and backed away from him.

  He reached out his arms and came towards me. I swung the snack stand and hit him in the face. He fell backwards and tripped over Linda. I pulled her out from under him as he rolled around on the floor.

  “Are you okay?” I asked her.

  She grabbed onto my hand and just looked at me. Suddenly, her grip grew tighter as the man bit into her ankle.

  “Oh God!” she screamed once more.

  “Damn it,” I said. I let go of her hand and rushed to the register. I didn’t know what I was doing, but I grabbed the monitor. I unplugged it and picked it up, the wires hanging beneath it like muscles and tendons from a decapitated head. Holding the monitor, I looked down at the man gnawing on poor Linda’s leg, closed my eyes, and brought the screen down on him.

  The screen smashed over his skull and his body suddenly went limp. I opened my eyes and tears began to well up as I looked at his lifeless carcass. I’d just killed a man! Linda’s breathing had slowed noticeably as her gushing blood created a pool around her.

  Though in shock myself from what I’d done, I mentally realized Linda might have had an artery or important vein severed when the man bit her.

  “Rich, we need to get her some help,” I said as I looked over to him. He was gone. I had no idea where but he was not on the bench anymore. I noticed a trail of blood leading away.

  “Rich?” I called, looking around the store front.

  Then I heard something—a mumble or moan or some kind. At this point, I turned around and saw him; Rich, standing a few feet away from me with a blank expression on his face—similar to that of the now dead customer.

  “Rich, please, we need to get you some help,” I said desperately.

  He grunted back at me as he threw up his arms and made his way toward me. This time, I decided to run and dashed for the doors.

  He came after me slowly but steadily. I continued trying to reason with him, but it didn’t seem like he was aware of his surroundings. He just wanted to get to me for some reason.

  I got to the doors and looked outside to see that night had fallen. The parking lot lights illuminated a number of people off in the distance. I couldn’t go out there, for all I knew, they were freaking out just like Rich and the customer. I watched for a moment, forgetting about Rich coming up behind me. Suddenly, he roared and lunged at me, wrapping his arms around my body and sinking his teeth into my shoulder.

  I screamed as the flesh was torn from my body, and my shoulder felt warm as blood seeped into my shirt.

  I spun around, throwing him into the glass doors. His bite released and I backed away from him.

  My blood dripped from his rabid-looking mouth and he gnashed his teeth in my direction. It was disgusting; something was definitely wrong with him.

  I kept backing up until I reached a line of shopping carts along the wall. I grabbed one and ran it towards him—sandwiching him between the cart and the doors.

  As he stumbled backwards and outside through the door, he fell down. I took this moment and grabbed more shopping carts. I backed them into the entrance and exit doors.

  He got up and began pounding on the glass. I could see the other figures off in the distance coming this way as well.

  I continued grabbing carts and created a barricade against the door so no one else could get in.

  While doing so, my blood spilled all over them. He’d taken a good clean chunk out of me and I began feeling a little dizzy. I struggled to get the carts up against the doors before I would retreat back to the registers to check on Linda.

  After a few moments, I did just that. However, when I got to the registers, I found a pool
of blood, the deceased customer, but no Linda. She was nowhere to be found.

  I tried to call out to her but couldn’t find my voice. The store’s surroundings got blurry and…

  JOEY

  I was surrounded. I was only blocks away from getting to Georgio’s, but there was no way I could get through the crowd. I took off, leaving my car and accidentally dropping my cell phone. This virus was completely out of control and I didn’t want to get near anyone infected with it.

  So I ran. I just kept running, not sure where to go.

  Hours passed and I found myself hiding out near a gas station. I was in the alleyway, crouching behind a dumpster, as sick people moved around me. Some guys on motorcycles even drove by, shooting at them. I saw at least three people get shot. I couldn’t believe it. I realized that I didn’t want to be found by anyone right now—not the sick people, and not the bikers.

  After they’d passed by and the area was relatively deserted, I tried my best to scope out the gas station without being spotted by anyone.

  Tara kept crossing my mind, and I prayed that she stayed put. I had every intention of getting over to the restaurant despite my current detour. As I snuck out of the alley, I noticed someone nearby.

  I had no way of knowing if this person was healthy or even if they were sane, but it seemed like my best chance. So, I started heading out of the alley.