Z Strain

by SJ Morris

  Allycia jumped into my arms with tears streaming down her face. Lance pulled Troy into the hug with all of us and we had another honest to goodness family moment.

  Two in one day!

  This was turning out to be one of the worst days in the history of mankind but at least my family still had each other.

  “Let’s go, guys. It looks like we’re now running out of time. People are going to start to get crazy now that almost everyone just saw what was on the news. Let’s get suited up. I want everyone to put everything we bought on and I will duct tape the gloves to the jacket and the pant cuffs to the boots. I’m worried about the separation between the jacket and the pants. We can’t really duct tape that.”

  “I guess we just have to make sure we tuck our shirts into the pants and we protect ourselves there should we get into a bind,”Lance said as he started tucking his shirt in and grabbing for the leather pants.

  We all got dressed and taped each other up. As soon as we were finished we all kind of looked at each other and something amazing happened; We all just started laughing at each other!

  We laughed until we cried and then we laughed some more. We looked like a family of road warriors, all dressed in black until your eyes were drawn to the silver duct tape.

  However, when Lilly started barking from downstairs, the shrill insistence of her warning sobered us up from our laughter fairly quickly.

  “Everyone, quiet.”

  Lilly continued to bark ferociously. She only gets like that when there's someone at the door she doesn’t know, which worried me since she was at the back door to the yard.

  “I’m going to go downstairs and see what Lilly is barking at. Everyone stay here. The keys to the truck are hung up by the front door. Grab your helmets and be ready to head to the truck really quick if I say so. Understand?”

  I received serious nods from each of them before I walked out of the room to head downstairs.

  I got downstairs and the dog was at the door to the patio. She stopped barking as I got close to her. She looked up at me and then, looked back at the door.

  “You got to go outside Lil? Is that it? I sure fucking hope so.”I looked around and the only thing I found to possibly defend myself was a broom. I grabbed it and pulled the door open a little to peek outside. The dog had her nose shoved in the little crack of the door and she was pushing on it to get out. She might have been fifteen pounds but she was strong when she wanted to be and I had to keep a lot of force on the door to not let her push her way out. Nothing seemed to be around and I didn’t hear anything except her sniffing at the crack, trying to get out.

  “Lilly back it up! Get your damn nose out of the door so I can make sure there’s nothing out there that’s going to eat you, stupid!”

  I know it’s dumb to talk to a dog, but it sure as hell made me feel better to say these things out loud. I guess it made me more comfortable with the fact that I had my leather pants and jacket taped closed. It made me feel less crazy. I grabbed my helmet and put it on as I shoved the dog behind me and quickly slipped through the door without her. She began scratching at the door that was now closed and I stood with the broomstick in my hands ready to go at the first sign of an attack.

  Now that I was outside, I could hear the sounds of a normal neighborhood, muffled of course, since I had my helmet on. I strained to listen better before I moved from my position against the door. I heard a lawn mower going somewhere, kids laughing and yelling at one another down the block, and then I heard a scurrying sound that I could tell was much closer.

  It sounded like when Lilly was trying to gain traction on the tile floor in the laundry room but this would start and then stop, start and then stop.

  Then, there was a loud meowing that accompanied the sound so I was going to assume it was a cat but you know what people say about making assumptions right?

  I was not about to make a meal out of my ass in this case, so I slowly followed the sound around to the shed. I peeked around the corner and there it was, a scared cat trying, unsuccessfully, to climb our six-foot fence.

  Its nails dragged incessantly against the plastic panel, unable to gain any kind of hold.

  The cat was going back and forth from the left of the panel to the right, trying to get over.

  It must have heard one of my steps because it turned around quickly and let out a meow that sounded more like a scream. It backed up against the corner of the fence-post and arched its back in a way that made it look like it was bent in two. Its tail stood straight up and the animal looked more scared than angry. It must have been exhausted because it was foaming at the mouth and it was panting heavily.

  I didn’t know if the virus could pass from humans to animals, so I was taking no chances with this. I put my head back around the corner I was peeking from very slowly and started backing up towards the door I came from.

  Suddenly, I heard the same scrambling of the cat's claws on the fence again so I guessed the cat felt no need to attack, only the drive to continue to try and get away. I turned and ran for the door, using the bottom of the broom to block Lilly from coming out as I opened it and rushed inside, slamming it shut behind me.

  The kids were all standing there with their helmets on in the hallway as I bent to pick Lilly up. She was squirming because she wanted to go outside so bad, so it took a few seconds for me to secure her and take off my helmet. Once I took mine off, the kids all pulled there’s off and almost in chorus asked what was outside.

  “Well, it wasn’t one of them. At least, I don’t think so.”

  “What do you mean you don’t think so? Was it, or wasn’t it?”Allycia said in a whisper as if talking quietly would save us.

  “I don’t know if the virus can cross into animals and it was a very scared cat trying to jump the fence behind the shed. Normally, this virus makes people very aggressive but this cat wanted nothing to do with me. So, either it just makes animals’flight instinct kick into overdrive or it could have just been some dumb, scared cat from the neighborhood. Worst case scenario is the cat had been in contact with someone that was infected and had been running away, only to get trapped in our yard.”

  “If we are looking at the worst case, that means whoever scared the cat was from around here.”Said Lance whispering like his sister.

  “Not necessarily. I’ve never seen that cat before, which could mean one of two things; The cat could have been from far away and it just kept running or it could mean it was an indoor cat and its owner never let him out until he or she tried to eat him. I say we air on the side of caution and get the hell out of dodge now.”

  “What are we waiting for? Let’s get the hell out of here!”Troy was rearing to go as he turned around to head back up the stairs in leaps and bounds.

  We all followed him and I did a quick triple check of the house to make sure we weren’t forgetting something important. I checked to be sure all the doors and windows were locked and the water was turned off. We might be taking everything we thought we would need but I still hoped that we would be returning home sometime soon and I didn't want to come back to a flooded basement.

  After about fifteen minutes, we were all ready to go. We stood at the front door with our helmets in our hands and I had Lilly in my arms.

  I looked back one last time to the foyer where a large family portrait was hung of all of us on the beach.

  It was sad to think it might be the last time I saw this portrait, but I took my mental picture, headed out the door, and locked up the house behind my children and myself.

  Chapter 5

  The boat was hooked up to the truck and we were finally on our way. We stopped at the first gas station we hit and I grabbed five gas cans with no incident, which was odd since I was all dressed up in my biker gear, topped off with duct tape.

  It was still kind of chilly for April though, so no one really noticed. I guess they figured I was riding a motorcycle, which it was kind of cold to do but they never put two and two together that I was b
uying gas cans and if I was on a bike, I would have nowhere to put them.

  Oh well, the less people paid attention, the less I had to explain.

  The next station we arrived at, I grabbed the three gas cans that were left and I got another four at the next one, to make our total twelve.

  I couldn’t really fit anymore under the boat cover without stacking them and I didn’t think traveling with them filled and stacked on top of one another was the smartest move.

  Plus, at the last gas station, the attendant looked at me pretty funny when he saw how many we had under the boat cover. This suspicion caused him to notice, with unwanted interest, the truck, packed full of gear.

  “You going camping long term, ma’am?”

  “You could say that. It’s our first time camping, so, I guess by your expression that we packed too much, huh?”

  “Well, since it’s your first time, I suppose you’ll just have to find out how much work it is to unload all that stuff the hard way. It’ll help you be all the wiser when you pack for your next trip.”The attendant said as he spat a gob of tobacco goo out of his mouth.

  “Thank you, sir, I bet we end up not unpacking half of this stuff if you’re right,”I said with a smile. I hoped this excuse would throw the guy off and it seemed to work. He just thought we were silly city-folk, over-packing for a camping trip. As for the motorcycle gear, I had taped at the wrists and ankles, he just kind of looked at me sideways as I walked away.

  “I’m really allergic to poison ivy,”I said as I continued walking.“I over pack and over prepare!”I laughed nervously. I was worried he would get braver and ask more questions, so I felt the need to come up with an explanation for the outfit. It worked, though. He just kind of laughed and waved me off.

  Whew.

  It’s funny how little interactions like that could get the old blood pumping!

  I wondered how I would react to coming in contact with my first infected if just this guy’s question got me going this much.

  I figured I would be in a world of trouble when that happened.

  I got all shaky lying to a gas attendant about what we were doing, how the hell am I going to keep my cool when I have a bloodthirsty, 250-pound, undead thing trying to chew on my face? I needed to get my shit together and start preparing for that to happen right away. I knew that I couldn’t be scared around the kids.

  Thinking of the kids…that helped. It made me instantly angry to think about some undead thing trying to attack my kids and I stopped shaking.

  That’s it, think about what I have to live for and who I have to protect. That will get me ready to go up against anything.

  I thought about sharing my epiphany with the kids when I got back in the truck, but I figured we had enough touchy-feely moments today.

  Instead, I would let this be my silent weapon against my fear. I’m a mother hear me roar!

  Yeah, whatever. I just didn’t want the kids making fun of me the rest of the way up to the cabin.

  Back on the road, I made sure to have the GPS exclude all of the highways and toll roads. I only wanted to take back roads.

  If the shit really did hit the fan, as I expected it would pretty soon with what we saw on the news a few hours ago, I did not want to be on a highway as it clogged with people trying to flee the mass-populated areas in New Jersey, which there are a lot of.

  People in Jersey already drive like assholes. Add excited hysteria and being scared to the mix and there's bound to be more than a few accidents.

  One could only assume that the police, fire, and EMS would show up to help and all it would take is one infected to turn the entire highway into a bloodbath.

  Yeah, I’ll stick to the back roads, even if it gets me there in ten hours instead of four.

  The kids were all focused on their thoughts because the car was silent for most of the drive.

  That was until we came across an overturned pickup truck that looked to be carrying fence posts and chicken wire.

  There was no one else around at all on the quiet, secluded farm road, so I stopped the truck about 400 feet from the accident. There were no cars behind me and the only one in front was the still-smoking pickup that had come to a halt on its roof.

  “What do you think happened, Mom?”asked Lance, as he pressed his face to the front, passenger window.

  “I don’t know, but I don’t see anyone around, so I think maybe we should just drive on. The driver probably went to get help already or someone probably stopped to give the driver a ride to the hospital. That’s why there’s only one car and no one else around.”

  “Are you sure, Mom? We can only see the back of the truck. What if the driver is trapped unconscious or if he was ejected into the woods? Don’t you think we should at least check? I would want someone to check if it was you.”Said Allycia very quietly.

  “I guess so, sweetie. But what if it’s the Z-Strain, what if it was someone that was infected that caused this and the driver is there and he’s one of them? I don’t want to risk your safety to that possibility.”

  “Then, I will get out and check.”Demanded Lance.

  “No way!”I yelled as I locked the doors even though they were already locked.“No one is getting out of this car. Not if we have no idea what’s out there.”

  “Well, what are you going to do, just drive away and not help someone that could really use it? That’s definitely not what dad would have done!”Lance said sternly.

  “Dad is not here, is he? And I will not just leave. I am going to drive around the truck slowly so we can see the front of it. Then, we’ll be able to tell exactly what happened and if there's anyone there that needs help. This way no one gets out and no one gets hurt. If someone is there and needs help I will decide what to do, then. Understood?”

  “Sure, fine. As long as we make sure no one needs help.”Lance insisted.

  I think he just wanted to assert himself into the situation. The look on his face told me that he was scared out of his mind to go outside, not knowing what could be out there.

  Also, when he said he was going to go out himself he barely reached for the door handle. If he meant it, he would have been opening the door while saying it. At least, I knew now, for sure, that I had fear on my side to still keep my oldest in check.

  I pulled up slowly to the back of the truck that was facing us and inched slowly around to make a wide arc around the wreck and debris that was on the right side of the road. The engine was smoking, but not bad enough to block our line of sight into the truck.

  As the front driver side door came into view I saw what looked like a middle age man in a torn business suit on his knees, covered in dark blood, clawing at the cracked driver side window.

  I knew immediately what was going on and floored it so hard it put everyone back in their seats.

  The truck took off quickly but there was a loud bang and the truck’s rear end began to fishtail and pull to the right. I let off the gas but refused to take my eyes off the thing that now saw us and was heading in our direction with one good leg and one that was fairly mangled.

  In a matter of seconds, the scene I was trying to get us away from all became clear. In my rearview mirror, I saw the tire marks in the road from the truck and pieced it together.

  The driver of the pickup must have swerved, in an effort to avoid the undead man, walking in the middle of the road and flipped the truck over. The driver was probably lying in the truck unconscious while the zombie that caused the crash tried to get to him. I felt so stupid for succumbing to my gut reaction that said we needed to get the fuck out of there, quick.

  It caused me to not see that the fence posts strewn across the road were not accompanied by chicken wire, but barbed wire. The barbed wire got conveniently wrapped up in my rear passenger tire as I tried to speed away and I would bet the tire was blown.

  I just hoped that continuing to drive on it for a little before I realized what had happened didn’t mess up the rear end of the truck anymore than it had a
lready. I looked up in the mirror again and the business-suit zombie was continuing to make his way to his new promise of food as the kids started panicking and the dog started to bark incessantly.

  “Everyone, calm down! Someone grab Lilly and shut her up. I need to think.”

  “Think... think about what? We need to get out and get rid of that thing that’s coming for us, fix the tire, and get the fuck out of here!”

  “You watch your mouth, young man! You may be the oldest man in this car Lance but that does not give you the right to talk that way! I know what I have to do…”As my fear and anxiety heightened, the words spilled out of me with haste.“I am just trying to plan my best attack. I’ve never done this before and neither have you so let’s all just shut up and collect ourselves. Getting crazy is not going to help our situation!”

  Allycia began to cry as she clutched Lilly to her chest. The dog didn’t seem to know what to do but lick her face. As long as she wasn’t barking anymore, I was good. I could talk to Allycia when we got out of this mess.

  “Alright, Allycia, where did you put the ax?”

  “Oh my God. You’re going to leave us and go out there with that thing!”She screamed with tears pouring down her face now.

  “Allycia, you have to get a hold of yourself. We knew it was just a matter of time before something like this happened. I was hoping it would have been way later, but it’s happening now and we have to deal with it so we can all get out of here. The truck has a flat tire and in order for me to be able to go out there and fix it I have to get rid of the infected out there.”

  “Ha, you fix a blown tire! Mom, you are a buck ten soaking wet, I would be surprised if you could get the spare out from under the truck.”Said Lance with a grin. He had a point. He might have only been seventeen but he was already 5’10 and 190 pounds versus my 5’5 and 115 pounds.

  “Alright, well let me deal with Mr. Gimpy Salesman and I’ll stand watch while you fix the tire. Then depending on how things go, I’ll go with Lance to check out the pickup truck to see if the driver is okay or not. Tyler, do you have your cell phone on you and charged?”