Sundered

by Shannon Mayer

  “We need to get out of sight,” Dan said, walking back towards the house.

  “We need to get out of here!” I yelled, hysteria bubbling up. I’d just killed a man and we had a horde of drug-induced zombies on our doorstep. I clapped my hands over my face and tried to block out the moment. The sights were gone, but the groan of the gates the growling of the horde still reached me, denying me my moment of escape.

  A hand on my arm snapped my eyes open. Sebastian started to drag me towards the house. “We’ll talk about what we’re going to do inside. The last thing we need is to go off half cocked and get ourselves killed.”

  I let him direct my body, but I couldn’t help but stare over my shoulder at the writhing mass of things that had until very recently been human. “This can’t be happening.”

  A sharp shake brought my eyes up to Sebastian, fear and the denial of that fear making his eyes those of a person I barely recognized. “It is happening, Mara, and you need to get used to the idea,” he said, his mouth a thin hard line. I jerked my arm out of his hands.

  “You’re an ass, you know that don’t you?” I said as I stomped towards the front door, slamming it behind me. All I wanted was a little comfort, a white lie or two to get me through the initial shock. After that, I could come to terms with what was going on.

  The living room was dim, the flickering of the TV the only light, as the curtains and blinds were drawn down. Dan was sitting on the couch, his feet propped up on the hand-carved coffee table we’d bought for our first place.

  “Feet off,” I said, shoving his feet off before he could remove them himself. “I don’t care if this is the end of the world, I don’t want your feet on my coffee table.”

  The door opened behind me and shut with a soft click. I kept my back turned to Sebastian, my spine rigid and my breathing slow and deliberate as I tried to rein my anger in. A whine from the bathroom and I stomped down the hallway and swung the door open. Nero tried to scamper between my legs but I scooped him up and held him tight. A minute passed and the anger started to drain out of me. Taking one last deep breath I carried Nero into the living room. I stared at the TV and came to a sudden stop, unable to take my eyes off the screen.

  Dan leaned forward. “I’d hoped they’d have gotten it under control in the bigger cities at least.”

  “I don’t think that’s the case,” I said, my hands trembling as I stroked Nero. Lists of major cities that had been overrun and were considered uninhabitable flashed on the screen in no particular order: Toronto, Vancouver, Seattle, San Francisco, Los Angeles, Edmonton, Brisbane, New York, Atlanta, Ottawa, London, Perth, Paris, Frankfurt, Berlin, Glasgow, Mexico City, Venice, Lima; the list went on and on, scrolling for a solid two minutes.

  “Every continent has been hit by this catastrophe, though some obviously worse than others.” The male announcer’s voice blared to life on the screen and I jumped involuntarily. Nero gave a squeak and I kissed him on the top of his head.

  The camera panned to a reporter in what looked like a bare-bones room, cement walls, and shelves of strange scientific-looking paraphernalia.

  “Dr. Josephson, what can you tell us about the events? Will the drug wear off? What can we do about this situation?” the reporter asked, turning to the camera every few words, as if to gain permission from the viewing audience to ask the questions.

  “It’s simple, even for a nincompoop like you, Blaine,” Dr. Josephson said.

  “It’s Bruce.”

  “Whatever. The drug was skipped through the FDA testing as well as Health Canada; money greased the wheels to hurry it to market. In the two months since it’s been out, it made over 1.6 trillion dollars. You can imagine how that would make a company eager to get it to the public.”

  Bruce leaned in. “Those numbers can’t be right.”

  Dr. Josephson snorted. “337 million people, give or take a few thousand, get the shot through legal means. That’s in North America alone. Five thousand dollars shot, one hundred people a day per clinic. You should do your research before you go on air Bruno.”

  The doctor sat down on a ratty old stool and looked up into the camera, as if Bruce were no longer worth speaking to.

  “There is no cure. There is no chance it will go away. It won’t wear off, it is designed to link permanently to the molecular structure of human bones, organs, and most importantly, brain. It cannot be transferred by a bite, as the modern movie culture would have you believe. These are not zombies, these are people gone feral, wild. They are acting as packs, not unlike a pack of wolves with an Alpha male and female, and the rest working as a group for food and protection.” His pale blue eyes seemed to bore into me and I shivered with the intensity. “To the public who have not taken Nevermore I will say only one thing,” He paused, dropped his head and shook it slightly before looking back up into the camera.

  “Survive.”

  6

  With that the TV went blank, and the screen turned into a warning system of striped colours. The silence in our little home was overwhelming and I wanted to say something to break it, but didn’t. I couldn’t think of anything to say that would mean anything, and since screaming hysterically was out of the question, I was out of options.

  Dan stood, drawing our attention. “That’s it then, I’m headed back to my place.”

  “What?” Sebastian asked. “You can’t get out of here alive, there’s no way you’ll make it.”

  He strolled to the back door, ignoring Sebastian’s assessment, glancing over his shoulder at us. “There’s a back trail, goes up and around, it’s a great view of the ocean at the top. I think these things . . .”

  “Nevermores,” I said softly.

  Dan nodded at me. “These Nevermores seem to be sticking to the main routes right now, so if you come to my place, come the back way. I’ll put a red flag next to it. Other than that, plant a garden, grow yourself some food, mend your fences, and keep quiet.”

  He put his hand on the door and I grabbed the back of his grubby shirt. “Hey, you can’t just leave us here.”

  Dan laughed and half turned back to me. “You city folk are going to be the first to die off—not prepared, no survival instinct.” His eyes narrowed as he looked at me. “You might make it; you got some good reflexes on you.”

  Sebastian stepped up and I didn’t let go of Dan. “You could help us. At least we could be working together,” I said.

  Again Dan laughed. “I don’t work with anybody, it ain’t my style. Too much drama when you get more than one person in a room.”

  “So,” Sebastian said, “We’re supposed to be grateful you showed up for a belated house warming, and you didn’t even bring us a gift? You happen to visit in the middle of a crisis where you don’t even help? I don’t know why you bothered at all.”

  I let go of Dan’s coat, feeling my own anger build. What the hell was Dan’s reasoning, or was he truly just as crazy as we’d heard?

  Dan straightened his coat and lifted an eyebrow at us then nodded slowly. “If you can make it to my place, I’ll let you have a weapon, but this is Mother Nature’s way of weeding out the weak. Only the strong will survive this, and that’s how it should be. To tell you the truth, I came here to take what you had and add it to my stores. But you were still here, still alive. Mores the pity.”

  We stared at him in disbelief, the reality of the situation hitting us both at the same time.

  The door clicked softly as he left without even saying goodbye, or better, good luck. I wondered if he meant for us to mend our fences around the property, or the proverbial ones between us. I looked over to Sebastian, took in his drawn face and worried eyes. My heart gave a thump and I put Nero down before I all but threw myself into Sebastian’s arms.

  Between sobs and I’m sorry on both sides, our lips met and we caught the edge of a mania that perhaps other survivors were feeling. Glad to be alive we stripped each other out of our clothes and stumbled upstairs to the bathroom. The water still ran, we hadn’t lost
power yet, and we drained the hot water tank showering off the sweat and remnants of blood, wrapping ourselves around each other, washing the fear away for a moment or two.

  We made love in the shower and then again in the bedroom, our frantic need to touch and feel overwhelming any common sense—like locking the doors.

  Lying in each other’s arms we dozed off, dreaming perhaps that this was all a nightmare, a shared fear come to life in the night, but gone when the light of day streamed through the windows. Not so much.

  The bedroom door creaked, the knob clicking against something; perhaps nails, or perhaps what we later learned was skin hardening into a hide like leather. I woke, chills rippling over my body, the sensation of being watched heightened by a disorientation of time and place.

  “Bastian,” I whispered, my eyes picking out a figure silhouetted in the doorway.

  “Hmm,” he grunted.

  I place my hand lightly over his lips and whispered into his ear. “We didn’t lock the doors.”

  Sebastian’s eyes popped open and he slowly moved my hand from his lips. Keeping as still as possible, I franticly searched the room with my eyes, seeking a weapon of any sort.

  “Help me.” Her voice was raspy and though she didn’t move I knew we didn’t have much time.

  I jumped up out of bed, recognizing the voice as our neighbour’s teenage daughter.

  “Jessica?”

  “Help me, please,” she said, her body twitching. I flicked on the overhead light and Sebastian cursed.

  “We’re naked here, woman,” he said as he yanked on some clothes. I did the same, keeping an eye on Jessica the whole time, her eyes were semi-glazed and she didn’t seem to notice that we were naked. Thank goodness for small blessings.

  “Honey,” I said slipping a t-shirt over my head, “Your parents, where are they?”

  “Gone, they turned into monsters.”

  I froze in mid zip.

  “Shit.”

  “My thoughts exactly, wife.”

  I moved towards Jessica and wondered again why she had taken Nevermore. Thin as a rail, pretty, and yet she’d had the shot, as had her mother and father. Her Caribbean-blue eyes were still human, not yet sliding into the realm of the feral horde outside. How long would it be before they turned colour and she became one of the monsters?

  I touched her arm and she flinched. “It’s okay, let’s go downstairs and see what we can do.”

  “The TV said there isn’t a cure,” she said, her voice breaking up with a sob.

  I nodded. “I know, but that could change. I’m sure they’re working on a cure right now.”

  Sebastian made a rude noise and I shushed him. I knew when to tell a white lie. This was a teenage girl who was terrified and alone; the least I could do was try and comfort her.

  Once downstairs, seated around the kitchen table, a hot tea in front of her, Jessica told us what happened.

  “Parkinson’s runs strong in our family, so my parents wanted to make sure I never had to deal with it. They insisted I take the shot with them. I saw you at the clinic when my mom took me in to get it.”

  I leaned forward and put my hand over hers. It took some effort not to flinch as she twitched underneath my fingers, but I wanted her to be calm so that she would keep talking. “When did your parents . . . ?” I trailed off not sure how to ask when her parents went crazy.

  “Six nights ago,” she whispered staring into her tea. “I don’t have very long, do I?”

  Tears welled up in my eyes and I blinked them back. I didn’t know Jessica well, but it was hard to see someone so young cut down by something that should have helped her live a long and healthy life. It was hard to know there was nothing we could do to help. Nero whined at our feet and I stood and fixed him a bowl of food. I felt bad for ignoring him, but he wagged his tail and seemed to have forgiven me already.

  “How long ago did they take the shot?” Sebastian asked, leaning in towards her.

  “Five weeks; I was a week later,” she said, her eyes flicking up to him twice, maybe intimidated by his size, the way a lot of people were. Then I remembered that she had a crush on him. I could only imagine the embarrassment of finding her crush in bed naked with his wife.

  Sebastian stood up and stomped out of the house. I ignored him, knowing that Jessica needed comfort right now. “You can stay here sweetheart, it’ll be okay.” Then I frowned. “How did you make it past the horde our front?”

  She gave me a wobbly, tear filled smile. “They know I’m one of them. They let me pass, I climbed the gate and they,” she shrugged, “there’s no other way to say it, they cheered for me, like they were happy I could get in here to you.” Dropping her head to her arms on the table she let out a sob. I reached over and put a hand on her head, fighting with my own rising emotions: sadness, fear, and then relief. It could have been me waiting to be turned into an animal. If not for the damn scotch broom it would be me. I would have taken the shot in an instant.

  I ushered Jessica to the back bedroom and tucked her into bed, giving her three Benadryl, which would knock her out for the night. I took one for myself, not to sleep, but for the reaction I was having to some airborne allergen. My skin tingled all over my body, my eyes were watering, and the back of my throat was itchy, sure signs I’d gotten hit with something I didn’t like. Then I went to find Sebastian, Nero at my heels, my fear beginning to turn into resolve. We could survive, we were smart, young, and in love, there wasn’t anything we couldn’t do.

  He was out on the back porch leaning against the railing, staring out at the star encrusted sky. I stepped up beside him slipping my arm around his waist.

  “I haven’t had the chance yet to thank you,” I said.

  He gave me a quizzical look and I pointed down at the puppy sitting on my foot. I smiled, “You didn’t have to get me a puppy, but I’m glad you did.” I gave his waist a squeeze and took a deep breath letting it out slowly.

  “We’ve got to lay out a plan, Bastian. Food, water, fences, weapons. Maybe get some sort of radio up in case there are notices once the electricity is out,” I said. I looked up and my breath caught in my throat. Tears streaked his face, dripped off his chin and plunked onto the railing.

  He wrapped his arms around me. “It isn’t fair, Mara, that girl is losing everything because she wanted to have a life, to not pass on a disease she had no say on in the first place.” His voice was thick with emotion and I held on to him as tight as I could, fighting my own tears, shocked at what I was seeing. Sebastian was usually so stoic. In four years this was perhaps the second time I’d seen him shed tears—and the first time I wasn’t entirely certain it wasn’t just a hard wind causing his eyes to water. “Go to bed, babe. I’ll stay up and watch over you two. I don’t think I could sleep anyway.”

  I kissed him softly on his lips, holding his head in my hands.

  “I love you Bastian, more than anything.”

  He kissed me back and swatted me lightly on my butt as I turned to go inside.

  I went upstairs to bed, snuggling Nero down in with me. I listened to Sebastian pace on the porch, muttering from time to time. I didn’t sleep much either that night, my mind whirling with plans. In my head I sketched out the best place for a garden—the current spot was far too rocky—where the fence needed to be reinforced, and what we could use as weapons besides the knives we had. Dan hadn’t even left us a single weapon, though he’s said he had lots at his place.

  I yawned and closed my eyes, Nero snuggling in tight to me, his warmth a steady comfort, then finally drifted off to a fitful sleep.

  7

  The dreams that haunted what should have been a restful sleep left me wishing I’d stayed up with Sebastian. The clerk was attacking me again, but this time I was on my own, Sebastian in a pool of blood beside me, Dan nowhere to be found, Nero barking madly, and I was pregnant. In the dream, when I realized I was with child I snapped, a mother bear’s ferocity coming from a place I never knew existed within me.
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  The clerk never had a chance, his heart once more pierced by my kitchen blade, his eyes glazing over as death settled on him. A boom from the other side of the house and the back porch door was flung open, a wave of Nevermores pouring in. Yanking my blade out of the clerk’s chest I reached for the front door and pulled on the handle. It was locked and my hand slid over the mechanism to unlock it over and over, unable to grasp it. I screamed and turned back to the horde. They rushed me and I fought like a mad woman, protecting the child within me, blocking hands and mouths, slicing off finger and stabbing eyes. Nero barked and bit, but his little body was flung aside like a rag doll, disappearing into the maw of one of the Nevermores. The horde howled and swelled, slamming me into the ground, pinning me as they shook me.