by Zuko, Joseph
“We are having a sleepover with Uncle Troy and our new friend Leon. Doesn’t that sound fun?”
“What’s a sleepover?” Valerie slunk back down into the nook of her Mama’s armpit.
“It’s when you stay over at someone else’s house and your friends get to stay there with you. Go to sleep, baby.”
“Mama? I’m tired.” Robin spoke soft and low. She was very close to falling all the way asleep.
“Good. Close your eyes and sleep.”
“Okay,” Robin made one last turn over to her side and less than a minute later she was out. That’s what Karen was waiting for. She could get up and head back out to the living room as long as Robin was asleep. Valerie could lay there by herself until she finally succumbed to the Sandman.
Karen slipped her arm out from under the little redhead’s noggin, “I’m getting up to check on Uncle Troy. You stay here and make sure Robin keeps sleeping. Call me if you need me, okay?”
“Okay, love you Mama,” Valerie lifted her head to allow her Mama to escape. She reached out her arms for one final hug before her night came to an end. Karen leaned over the bed and hugged her baby.
Valerie cupped her hand to her mouth and whispered, “Mama, I got a secret to tell you.”
Karen got her ear close to Valerie’s cupped hand, “What is it?”
“I like sleepovers,” that was as juicy as her secrets got.
“Me too,” Karen planted one last kiss on her forehead and then she stepped over to the bedroom door, “Love you baby. Now go to sleep.” As Karen exited the room she kept the door open in case they called for her.
Leon had the TV switched over to a news channel. He sat a few feet from the screen with the volume down low. Only he could hear what was being said by the news anchor.
Leon noticed Karen at the entryway, “It’s global. Every inch of the Earth has been touched by this madness.” Leon sipped at his glass.
Karen took a seat next to her brother on the couch, “Turn it up.”
Leon got up, pulled his chair back and thumbed the volume button.
The TV had a satellite photo of the Earth with red splotches all over the map. At the top of the screen read the words “Infected areas marked in red.” Every single major city was covered.
“…areas with a dense hospital population were hit the hardest today. The numbers of fatalities are impossible to calculate at this time. Some experts have estimated over twenty-five percent of the world’s population has been lost due to the infection and the number is steadily climbing.”
The video footage cut to a long shot of the White House. Infected monsters milled about on the front lawn. A gun battle had taken place and the humans had lost. The white exterior of the President’s home had been charred black and the building was half burnt down.
“The President and his cabinet are unreachable at this time and there have been no updates coming out of Washington DC.”
The footage cut to a shot of the Pentagon. Dead bodies littered the surrounding area and fires poked out of the building’s windows. A security team raced across the parking lot toward a helicopter. They blasted their side arms at the encroaching horde that chased after them. The helicopter’s rotors began to twirl as the team entered, but before they could lift off, the horde crashed into the chopper and overtook it.
“The Pentagon’s last report was logged an hour ago and its final words mentioned that they were under heavy attack from the infected humans and were about to be overrun.”
The footage cut to a shot of an army base. Fires burned, explosions blasted smoke into the sky and infected people roamed the grounds like lost children. Machine gun fire popped in the background, but they had clearly lost this battle.
“Military bases have been hit hard. Small pockets of resistance are still fighting to take back control, but communication has been lost and reinforcements are scattered. Repeated tries to contact anyone in charge has failed.”
The footage cut to a set of black and white cruisers that were covered in blood and gore. A trapped infected woman sat in the backseat of the cruiser. It banged its cuffed wrists against the window, unable to smash its way to freedom.
“The police have been decimated along with the fire departments and first response medical teams. Even the National Guard has folded under the pressure of this infection. Other startling news that we have recently confirmed is this disease is communicable for all mammals. We have shocking footage taken from the San Diego Zoo.” Text scrolls across the bottom of the TV’s, it read disturbing footage ahead.
It was cell phone footage of a woman running. Her cries for help distorted the audio. The video shook violently and was facing the direction from which she was running. A large object, too blurry to make out, rampaged through a crowd of people. It knocked pedestrians to the ground and ripped their limbs off. The creature leaped through the air and landed feet from the woman running the camera. She spoke English, but they could only understand every tenth word. “No and God” were the only ones Karen could make out. The object became clearer as it stormed in her direction. It was a four-hundred pound Gorilla. It wasn’t just loose and running wild, it had been turned. Its powerful fangs ripped into a human only feet from the camera. It was a wrecking ball. A human eating machine. In the minute long video it killed and turned twenty people with its bites, hits and stomps of its monstrous feet. The gorilla chomped down onto a woman’s shoulder and snapped her leg at the hip. It tore the mouthful of meat off her body and then tossed the dead body into the camera operator. The screen went red and the impact distort the audio.
The video cut and changed to a security camera. It was black and white and angled down, overlooking a few different animal habitats. An infected rhino plowed over park visitors like a tank. It impaled them on its horn, snapping most of its victims in half. The beast gnawed on the bodies that hit the ground. Then it took off again and crushed skulls into blood stains on the concrete pathway as it trampled over a group of men that were trying to stop the infected beast. The rhino was unstoppable. It ran through another group of fleeing humans then it veered off camera.
The video cut and changed again to another camera phone. The shot peered through some bushes and the voices behind the camera whispered.
“It’s right over there. Quiet.” A hand shook as it reached out and pulled a branch down out of view and the camera focused on a normal looking lioness. She majestically ate the guts out of what looked like a zoo worker. The workers tan outfit was splayed open and covered in dark red stains. The lion laid out on the ground with one paw draped over its meal. It looked perfectly content. Lord knows how long it had been since it got to hunt for its meal. Suddenly the dead zoo worker’s arms jerked alive and wrapped around the neck of the lion. The infected zookeeper had flipped the table on the animal and now lion was on the menu. The camera operator stifled their whimpers. The lion retaliated. It nearly swiped the head clean off of the zookeeper’s neck with a powerful swat of its razor sharp claws. The damage had already been done. The infected had sunk its teeth into the skin of the lion and it had drawn blood. It didn’t take long for the transformation to occur. The lion dropped to its side, shook violently on the ground, turned and rose to its feet. The infected animal sniffed at the air and lunged toward the cameraman. The video cut with a hardy crunch.
The TV program cut from the footage to a visibly shaken news anchor. She didn’t have time to prep with makeup or fix her hair. She looked like she was in desperate need of a nap. Her eyes held the telltale signs of heavy and recent crying. She scrambled to reshuffle her papers in front of her once she noticed the camera was back on. She cleared her throat, “There is still no known cure for this new disease. At ten o’clock this morning it began to spread at multiple locations all over the globe.”
Pictures of famous cities covered the screen just over the anchors shoulder. New York, Paris, London, LA, Mexico City, Hong Kong, Tokyo and Rio were all ablaze and looked like war zones. The footage was all shot f
rom the windows of tall buildings. They panned over the cityscape and down on the action on the streets. Humans raced from the growing hordes. Some tried to stand their ground. They fought back with melee weapons, but were quickly gobbled up. A man tossed a Molotov cocktail into a group of infected. The burning bodies spread the fire all over the street.
“With the little information we have on its origins some specialists have concluded that it is not biological warfare. We have been unable to reach anyone at the CDC to confirm that theory or to give us an explanation on this infection. No terrorist organizations have stepped forward to take credit for the attack and all regions of the globe being affected, it is unlikely to be the act of a single group.” The anchor shuffled her papers and a graphic of a cross appeared on the screen next to her.
“Reverend Toby Blake, the leader of a Christian Coalition of America posted this online. “God’s wrath has descended. This is the end of times. Prepare to meet your maker. To the Godless whores, homosexuals, atheists and all the sinners of the world, ready yourselves to burn in hell for eternity.” End quote. With so many unanswered questions about this pandemic perhaps it is the end of times or maybe Mother Nature has had enough of mankind and is wiping the slate clean. For continued coverage of this outbreak please stay tuned. We will remain on the air for as long as we can. I’m Kristina Swan and this is CNN News.” The broadcast cut to a commercial about adult diapers.
“Holy shit!” Troy sat up and pulled the icepack from his forehead. “We’re fucked!” His sudden lucidity caught Karen off guard. He reapplied his ice pack, leaned back, closed his eyes and said, “I’m sleeping off this nightmare. Don’t wake me until the world is back to normal.” Karen couldn’t tell if that was Troy’s dark humor talking or his head injury.
“It certainly does seem like we are fucked,” Leon said as he finished off his glass of vodka.
“Nothing is certain.” Karen tried to keep her hopes up. She couldn’t bear the thought of raising the girls in this new world.
“In one day, a quarter of the world’s population was snuffed out. Two billion dead! That’s insanity!” Leon set down his glass and rubbed at his temples.
“We survived and we will keep on surviving if we keep our heads.” Karen stood up from the couch, “Show me how to hotwire this car.” She did not want to sit around and talk about the world’s end or dwell on facts she could not control.
“Should I make another round?” Leon asked as he stood up from his chair.
“No, I want to be able to remember how to do it.” Karen headed straight for the garage.
Leon whispered to himself as he headed to the kitchen, “Well, I need another round.” He picked the bottle up from the counter and headed to the garage.
I earned this drink.
He poured a fresh glass as he entered the garage. He set the bottle down on the hood of the Subaru. Karen was already sitting in the passenger’s seat waiting for her lesson.
Well this isn’t how I pictured this going down. Thought Leon.
He had been so excited about the idea of teaching someone his trade. He was especially excited about getting Karen alone.
Be smooth and cool. Don’t jump the gun.
We have plenty of time to let whatever this is blossom into a relationship.
Hearing that almost a quarter of the world’s populous died in one day was definitely a dick shrinking bit of info. Tonight was not a good time to try and make any kind of a move on her. Not yet anyways. The only good news he took away from that broadcast was the fact that Karen’s husband was most likely dead. If he was dead then that made Karen a widow. There was nothing hotter to Leon than a widow. He knew it was wrong, but that was part of the thrill.
Bad news for her, but good news for me.
No matter what, she was going to need to talk it out. Women loved to “Talk it out.”
She can tell me all about her feelings, right? I’ll let her talk and be a good listener. Leon had mapped out his plan for the evening. He would show her the basics of the car and then let her rant, cry or talk about her feelings. Leon opened the driver’s side door and dropped down next to Karen. He set his glass up on the dash and then turned to face her with one forearm resting on the top of the steering wheel and the other against the backrest.
His hands moved as he talked. They added extra emphasis to the peak moments, “Okay, most cars older than nineteen nineties are really easy. Look for Toyota’s especially. A lot of the models only need a flathead screwdriver, knife or scissors to be jammed into the ignition. You give it a turn and bingo you got a ride.” Leon looked over Karen’s expressions. She wasn’t listening. Her thoughts were off thinking about her mom or her husband. “You alright?” He knew the answer but couldn’t stop himself from asking the question.
Karen spoke with a dark and soft tone, “It will be a very long time before any of us are, alright.”
At a very low point in Leon’s life, and purely out of desperation to find love, he attended a seminar at a local YMCA. The subject was how to get women to fall in love with you superfast and super easy. When he arrived at the seminar, it was sparsely populated with a group of what he called “Mega Losers”. Leon looked around the gymnasium where the seminar was to take place and thought:
I’m not like these guys or like that one lesbian sitting front and center.
I’m better than this.
I can find true love all by myself.
He turned to leave the gym and hoped he could get his hundred bucks back from the front desk. Inspirational rock music filled the gym and a good looking, well-dressed man took the small stage with an infectious enthusiasm. His tanned skin screamed that he just got back from vacation somewhere hot and exotic. He sported an earpiece microphone headset.
When he spoke, it was with authority. “Gentlemen!” he noticed the lady at the front, “and lady!” He paused for a very long time and looked every one of the pathetic losers in their sad faces. “Confidence!” he held his index finger high in the air. “Confidence is rule number one! Confidence is king! Confidence is the difference between a winner and a loser and I don’t see any losers here.” He paused for extreme dramatic effect. “I see people that need to turn their confidence up to the max and take control of their lives!” He had Leon’s full attention and he took a seat at the back of the room.
The man held a clicker in his hand and he pointed to a TV screen that sat at the corner of the stage. “Look what confidence can get you.” He clicked the button and the TV flipped over to a picture of him with a beautiful woman on each arm. “Let me introduce you to Vivica and Samantha. I don’t want to get lewd or crude, but I tagged and bagged both of those ladies that night. How did I do it? How did I talk these ladies into making sweet passionate love to me and each other?” he clicked through the photos of them having an amazing night out on the town. Champagne flowed, a fancy dinner at a five star restaurant, dancing and the photos concluded with him shutting the door of a hotel room on the camera. The two ladies stood in the background and were helping each other out of their slinky black cocktail dresses. “I didn’t hypnotize them or rent them from a pimp. I showed them confidence…and they showed me…a really good time.” The crowd laughed with him as he chuckled.
Most of the seminar revolved around how to look like you possessed confidence so you could win a lady over. It was all about spending money to look richer than you were to trick them into sex in the hope that they might fall in love with you and not care that you were a broke ass loser.
That seminar flashed through Leon’s mind as he sat in the front seat next to Karen. He knew what he needed to do.
Hit her with confidence.
Make her feel safe.
“I know we are going to be okay. You know how I know this?” Leon picked up his drink and took a sip.
“How?”
“We survived today and we will keep surviving. Like you said we have to keep our heads.” He placed the glass back on the dash.
“How d
oes that keep us from getting torn apart and turned into one of those things?” Karen asked with skepticism in her voice.
“Most of surviving is about knowing the rules, right?” She nodded at him, but wasn’t quite sure what he meant. “If you know that something is dangerous you will keep your distance and avoid it. We as a species have learned this over tens of thousands of years. Well now we know the rules. I guarantee most of the people lost today were taken down because they didn’t understand how this new world works, right?”
She nodded at him again. His picture was becoming clearer.
“Well we know what the rules are. We know what to avoid and how to deal with these… monsters. We can set up a base of operation here that will keep you and the girls safe.”
“What do you mean?” Karen’s interest was peeked.
The booze was hitting him really hard, but it only fueled his creativity. He took another sip of his glass to do his own dramatic pause, “We find a few more healthy people tomorrow that need a place to stay. They can help us guard the perimeter. We set up a sniper’s nest on the roof and get a rifle. We scavenge more supplies and build up our defenses. A day or two of hard work and we can turn this place into a Fort Knox against those infected bastards. I know we can do it. What do you think?”
He could see a slight shift in her features, “I hope so. I really hope we can do all of that, but I mostly hope that I find Jim. The girls and I need him. Otherwise I don’t know if I will make it.”
Leon’s hurt feelings seeped out of his features. He pouted only a little but it was clear he felt unappreciated, again. It was mostly the booze affecting his emotions. Mostly.
“I wouldn’t have made it this far without you Leon. I’m grateful for all of your help, but Jim is their Daddy and the girls need their Daddy and I need him too,” Karen’s head dropped.
Leon fought hard against his raging feelings. He gave himself an internal pep talk.
Put on a brave face! Don’t let her see that the mention of Jim’s name affects you!