THE WEEK OF THE DEAD
Viktor Longfellow
Copyright © 2016 Viktor Longfellow
All rights reserved.
ISBN: 1535403888
ISBN 13: 9781535403887
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
I would like to thank everyone who was involved with this book. I’m sure most of you are tired of hearing me talk about it.ell, I did it. I would like to thank the Internet for the maps and whatever kind of coffee I was drinking while I wrote this. This goes out to my family and anyone who told me to set my mind on something and do it.
“Keep your head low and aim for theirs.”
—Viktor Longfellow
CONTENTS
Prologue Present Day
Good Morning Chapter 1 Monday 0630 CST Memphis
Neighbors Chapter 2 Monday 0830 EST Philadelphia
The Date Chapter 3 Monday 0930 CST St. Louis
Unexpected Guests Chapter 4 Monday 0845 EST Philadelphia
Time for Work Chapter 5 Monday 0700 CST Memphis
No News Chapter 6 Monday 0900 EST Philadelphia
Jeff and Henry Chapter 7 Monday 1100 CST Ohio
The Ivans Chapter 8 Monday 1130 CST Memphis
Escape Chapter 9 Monday 1135 CST Memphis
The Text Chapter 10 Monday 1215 CST Memphis
Devin’s Neighborhood Chapter 11 Monday 1245 CST Memphis
A Knight in Shoulder Pads Chapter 12 Monday 1045 EST Philadelphia
Second Base Chapter 13 Monday 1300 CST Kentucky
The Garage Chapter 14 Monday 1059 EST Philadelphia
The House Chapter 15 Monday 1400 CST Memphis
Coffee Break Chapter 16 Monday 1455 CST Memphis
Steam Rolling Chapter 17 Monday 1108 EST Philadelphia
Getting Out of Town Chapter 18 Monday 1500 CST Memphis
Class Chapter 19 Monday 1324 CST Memphis
The Gas Station Chapter 20 Monday 1505 CST Memphis
A New Ride Chapter 21 Monday 1110 EST Philadelphia
Channel 7 Chapter 22 Monday 1400 CST Memphis
The Cleansing Chapter 23 Monday 1200 CST Millington
The Microwave Chapter 24 Tuesday 0200 CST Memphis
Southern Hospitality Chapter 25 Tuesday 0230 CST Memphis
Noise at the Door Chapter 26 Tuesday 0800 CST Memphis
Junk Food Chapter 27 Tuesday 0630 Millington
Biology Chapter 28 Tuesday 0800 Memphis
Armor Chapter 29 2100 EST Pennsylvania
Mud Island Chapter 30 Tuesday 1100 CST Memphis
The Farmhouse Chapter 31 Tuesday, 1700 CST Millington
Danny’s Apartment Chapter 32 Monday 1500 CST St. Louis
Answers Chapter 33 Tuesday 2130 CST Memphis
Children Chapter 34 Monday 1500 CST St. Louis
The Prison Chapter 35 Monday 2000 MDT Idaho
Darwin Chapter 36 Tuesday 2200 CST Memphis
Revenge Chapter 37 Tuesday 0930 CST St. Louis
Base Chapter 38 Tuesday 0400 Fort Knox
Rooftop Access Chapter 39 Wednesday 0300 St. Louis
Darkness Chapter 40 Tuesday 2300 CST Millington
Daddy Issues Chapter 41 Tuesday 2300 Memphis
A New Evil Chapter 42 Tuesday 2310 Millington
The Song of the Dead Chapter 43 Wednesday 0018 Memphis
Inbound Chapter 44 Tuesday 2230 CST Fort Knox
Honor Chapter 45 Wednesday 0045 Memphis
The Attack Chapter 46 Wednesday 0100 CST Memphis
The Mall Chapter 47 Wednesday 0150 CST Millington
In the Ditch Chapter 48 Wednesday 0156 CST Millington
Safety Check Chapter 49 Wednesday 0300 Kentucky
The Vikings Elite Chapter 50 Wednesday 0900 Millington
Playing Defense Chapter 51 Wednesday 0700 Fort Knox
The Relic Chapter 52 Wednesday 0600 CST Fort Knox
Road Trip Chapter 53 Wednesday 0650 CST Millington
The Changing Chapter 54 Wednesday 0900 CST Fort Knox
Rainstorm Chapter 55 Wednesday 1400 CST Brownsville
Casual Business Chapter 56 Wednesday 1900 CST Fort Knox
The Hospital Chapter 57 Wednesday 1530 Brownsville
Something is Coming Chapter 58 Thursday 00:45 Fort Knox
The Meet Up Chapter 59 Wednesday 1700 CST Brownsville
The Wall Chapter 60 Thursday 0228 CST Fort Knox
A Game of Pickup Chapter 61 Wednesday 1600 CST Milan
Breach Chapter 62 Thursday 0245 CST Fort Knox
The Depot Chapter 63 Wednesday 1615 CST Milan
The Exodus Chapter 64 Thursday 0350 CST Fort Knox
Sacrifice Chapter 65 Thursday 0700 CST Clarksville
Back on the Road Chapter 66 Thursday 1300 CST Elizabethtown
The Vault Chapter 67 Thursday 0900 Fort Knox
Dinner Party Chapter 68 Thursday 1700 Cross Creeks National Wildlife Refuge
Artillery Chapter 69 Friday 0400 CST Cross Creeks National Wildlife Refuge
Sneaky Bastards Chapter 70 Friday 0930 CST Elizabethtown
CB Radio Chapter 71 Friday 0925 CST Elizabethtown
Richard’s Plan Chapter 72 Thursday 1600 CST Virginia
The Rescue Chapter 73 Friday 0935 CST Elizabethtown
Playing in the Woods Chapter 74 Friday 1000 CST Elizabethtown
Louie’s Chapter 75 Friday 1500 CST Elizabethtown
The House is Buying Chapter 76 Friday 1930 CST Elizabethtown
Serious Downtime Chapter 77 Friday 2345 CST Elizabethtown
The Next Day Chapter 78 Saturday 0650 CST Elizabethtown
The Ground Quaketh Chapter 79 Saturday 1037 CST Elizabethtown
The Church Chapter 80 Saturday 0800 CST Mississippi
The Silence Chapter 81 Saturday 1038 CST Elizabethtown
The Town Chapter 82 Saturday 1445 CST Glasgow
Horsing Around Chapter 83 Saturday 1500 CST Glasgow
The Drive-In Chapter 84 Saturday 1600 CST Glasgow
The Tour Chapter 85 Saturday 1630 CST Glasgow
Epilogue Saturday 2213 CST Glasgow
PROLOGUE
PRESENT DAY
Captain Colin Jackson ran his cargo ship, Presence. He watched the starboard side. He looked at the GPS and found his bearings. They were off the coast of California. The freight liner had been contracted by a third party. “What are these?” First Mate Osh asked as he went over the manifest. Jackson’s crew had been paid to drop these crates into the water around the major populated cities.
“I didn’t ask, but I think it’s some kind of new radar buoy,” Captain Jackson responded.
“They look like a bunch of shit,” Osh said as he looked to the deck full of crates.
“The weather’s looking bad,” Jackson said as he looked to the sky, trying to change the subject.
“Aye, sir, a storm be brewin’.”
Jackson looked at his watch. “Let’s just dump this shit and go home. Whoever is paying us promised $1 million and more contracts in the future. So let’s get it done and make it home in time for dinner,” Jackson said.
On deck, greenhorns Tim and Jerome were keeping pace. Every ten meters, they would drop a crate off the side of the ship. Osh came down and counted the cargo. “What do you think these are?” Tim asked.
“Captain said ‘don’t ask, don’t tell.’ Let’s get this done and get inside.”
The greenhorns went back to work. Jerome thought it was strange. He saw the crates were made of something he had never seen before. They looked like Styrofoam, but the ones behind the ship weren’t floating, and they were dissolving and leaving a white cloud on top of the water.
As night fell, the storm was getting closer. The waves were beginning to crash over the bow of the ship. There were only twelve crate
s left. Osh called on the speaker and asked Captain Jackson to speed it up. “Twenty knots!” he called back. Osh went down to the deck to check on his greenhorns. When Osh closed the hatch to the deck, a wave washed over the side. He held on to the handrail as lightning struck within eyesight. His vision came back as he saw white muck wash around the deck. There was an outline of someone coming toward him. Osh screamed in fear as he saw the naked woman covered in blood and walking toward him.
Meanwhile, Captain Jackson was standing in the wheelhouse. He tried to maneuver the Presence out of the storm. He heard the door open behind him. As the wind rushed in the cabin, Jackson called out. “Osh! Close the door!” he said as he never took his eyes off the waves crashing onto his ship. “Osh! I’m trying to drive here.” Over the wind and the crash of thunder, Jackson heard wet footsteps coming toward him. “Are you deaf?” He said as he turned around to see his crew followed by naked people staring at him with red eyes. “What th—” were the last words the captain spoke before a set of teeth sunk into his windpipe.
GOOD MORNING
CHAPTER 1
MONDAY 0630 CST
MEMPHIS
“Well, today is gonna suck,” said Devin, as he looked in the mirror with bed-tossed hair. Devin put on his jumpsuit and jumped in his beater car. “Fantastic day in Memphis traffic.” He huffed and tapped his fingers against his steering wheel, trying to keep calm. As Devin went to work, he took one last look at the sun, taking in the brief amount of sunshine, and then drove to the shop.
NEIGHBORS
CHAPTER 2
MONDAY 0830 EST
PHILADELPHIA
Phil Donaldson, a Pittsburg native, sat on the balcony of his third-story apartment. As he watched the city awaken with light and motion, he turned to see the young boy sleeping on his couch. His son, Paul, was completely covered in blankets, except for a piece of hair and a small foot that stuck out from beyond the covers. Today, Phil was going to take Paul to his first Eagles game. Today was the first time Phil has seen his son since the divorce. This weekend was all he was looking forward to.
Across the hall from Phil and his sleeping son was Mr. Harrison. He kept to himself most of the time. After his wife of twenty-seven years died in an automobile accident, he locked himself away in his home, away from the world. As a retiree, he planned to live out his days as a freed man—free from the stress of his job. Mr. Harrison was once employed as an architect. Since the new millennium, he has been replaced by computers and young kids who knew how to use them. Mr. Harrison had always drawn sketches by hand. A natural left-handed man, he loved to draw and build models, from airplanes to buildings to skyscrapers. After his wife died, he became depressed. Six months went by as he lived alone: waking up alone in a queen-sized bed, eating breakfast alone, looking at a picture of his late wife at the kitchen table.
This morning, he had brought graph paper to the table, once for his hobby; however, instead of arcs, angles, and lines, he wrote words. On the graph paper, he wrote a letter, addressed to his children. “Hello, David and Julie,” he wrote. “It’s been six months since we lost your mother from this world, and I don’t plan to go another day. I leave you all my worldly possessions and the knowledge that I have passed down to you. Keep this knowledge. I want you to know that I am happy. I have nothing to fear anymore. I love you both. I hope to watch you from above. I wish for my body to be buried in a garden. Plant a tree for me.” And he signed it, put it in an envelope, sealed it, and wrote their names on the front. Mr. Harrison put on his nicest suit and his wife’s favorite tie. He went to the bathroom to look at himself in the mirror. He opened the medicine cabinet to find a prescription bottle from his last back surgery.
As an architect he spent many long hours hunched over his desk at work. Over time his back began to ache. He went to his doctor and came to find out that he had ruptured a vertebra in his lower back. Being old and not wanting to ruin the rest of the life he had planned out, he had a surgery done on his back; afterward, the doctor wrote him a prescription for the pain. Mr. Harrison never took any of the pills, because he didn’t know how they made him feel. Today was different. As he poured himself a glass of water, he took the pill bottle to his favorite recliner, and as he opened the bottle of pills, he heard a scream through the walls of his apartment.
THE DATE
CHAPTER 3
MONDAY 0930 CST
ST. LOUIS
St. Louis was once a peaceful city. There were tourists coming from everywhere to see the Arch—they might even catch a baseball game or two. Tricia and Danny were dating. She was a gym freak. She always wore yoga pants and sports bras. She drank energy drinks or tea. She ate kale or some other form of organic food. They met at the gym. Danny came sporting his firefighter shirt, while she was “training,” and they hit it off with a flirt and a gentle caress.
Last night was only their second date. He had spent the night at her apartment. He awoke first. His life of being a firefighter had always made him a light sleeper. He rolled over to find the soft dark hair of his bedmate. She was facing the opposite direction and seemed to remain asleep. The alarming feeling of having to urinate suddenly rushed into his mind. He slowly got up and made his way to the bathroom. His sleepy eyes were focused on making it to the toilet. He was in his early forties, so when he had to go, he had to go. While he was draining his bladder, he leaned his head up to the ceiling and released a calm moan. It felt good to pee in the morning. As he was leaning on the wall, something fell into his hair. He quickly exchanged hands on his penis and wiped the hot amber from the back of his neck. Again, something fell from the ceiling, so he opened his good eye and brought his boxers back up. He watched as the entire bathroom ceiling began to bubble. “Babe! Get up!” he said as he ran to the bedroom and started shaking her. Her first instinct was to fight him. So she gave him a good slap to the face. She recanted when she saw it was him. “Sorry,” she said as she pulled the bed sheet back over her chest. “No time, get dressed! We got to get out of here!” Danny began dialing 911. He rested the phone in between his shoulder and his face as he put his pants on. Tricia didn’t want to move, so he threw her clothes at her. “Fuck! It’s not working!” Danny said as he pocketed his cell phone. “Bitch! Get dressed! Your apartment is on fire!”
With this, she jumped forward and looked around and then met Danny who was getting dressed in haste. “Goddamn it!” he said as he pointed at the bathroom. She wasn’t fully awoken yet, so she had no idea what was happening. The loud groan from above sure got her attention. She sprung out of bed and threw on some yoga pants, shoes with no socks, and an unbuttoned dress shirt over her shoulders. Danny unlocked the front door. When he pulled the door, he forgot the chain lock. As the chain forced the door to stop, the groan from upstairs was heard again. Only this time, the ceiling of Tricia’s apartment came crashing down from the bathroom. Whatever the cheap building material was made of, it was certainly flammable, and Danny saw something else in the rubble too. It looked like a skeleton.
Suddenly, a hand came through the cracked door and caught Tricia on the arm. She screamed as she saw the blood-covered hand that came through the door and latched on to her wrist. Danny tried to force the fingers loose, but he actually broke one of them off. He screamed, Tricia screamed. They began bumping against the door. They didn’t know what was on the other side of it, but behind them, most of Tricia’s apartment was catching on fire. They bumped the door together. The hand that was still attached to her was broken off with the final thrust of the door. Tricia shook the appendage off and began wiping her hands on her clothes. “What was that?” Tricia shouted. “Shit!” Danny didn’t care what came out of her mouth; he wanted to not be burned alive. “Fire escape!” Danny shouted as Tricia watched her television explode. Danny threw something through the window.
Tricia was complaining that he threw something important to her out the window, but he didn’t care. He didn’t want to hear it when he brought her out of her burning apartment and
onto the fire escape. Danny kept pacing down the staircase, while Tricia stopped to gape. She watched as her city looked like it had been struck by an earthquake. There were people all over the street; there were fires; and there was destruction as far as she could see without her glasses or contacts. The Archway still stood in the distance. She was broken out of her gaze as something rolled down the fire escape and landed on top of her. It was the guy from 7G. She didn’t know his name, but she remembered his face as he was lying on top of her. She recognized his face, but not his expression. She remembered his face in a bored ecstasy; this new expression was one of terror and fear.
7G quickly got off her and began sprinting down the staircase. She watched him for two flights of stairs before she looked back up to see what he was so afraid of. She watched as a bloody corpse crashed through the window he had closed behind him a few floors above. A pebble of glass caught her on the forehead. She put a hand on top of her small gash as whatever came through the window got back up and snarled through the grates of the fire escape. Tricia screamed as she got to her feet and jumped down flights of stairs at a time. She made it to ground level as Danny came up, trying to get his cell phone to connect. The streets were filled with crashed cars, shambling bodies, human or otherwise, and bloodstains. Pools of blood covered the asphalt, turning it a darker shade of black.
UNEXPECTED GUESTS
CHAPTER 4
MONDAY 0845 EST
PHILADELPHIA
The Week of the Dead Page 1