by TW Brown
“I brought you some water and a peanut butter sandwich.” Carl’s voice arrived at my ears from a million miles away and I looked up, surprised to see him standing over me.
“How?” I had to struggle just to get that single word out, but now that I did, I felt like I was going to collapse in on myself; as if that single word had been the last thing holding me together.
“Who knows. If somebody in the government has any ideas, they ain’t talking. And I don’t think anybody is ever gonna be able to tell us.” He looked around and then knelt down so that he could keep his voice at just above a whisper. “Asia is just plain gone. I’m talking China, Japan, both Koreas…fucking India. That is close to three billion people, and there has not been a peep from that part of the world for most of the day. Damn Russians went through the looking glass if you can believe the internet rumors…before that crashed.”
“What?” None of this was really making sense. Obviously I’d missed a great deal while I’d been in the hospital. “What are you talking about?”
“Moscow dropped a nuke on itself. That is sixteen million souls just gone. And if you can believe it, their president stayed at freaking ground zero and made some sort of final broadcast begging China and the United States to do the same. It was all over the internet before it crashed. Whether it is just overloaded with folks trying to figure out what is going on or our infrastructure is already crumbling, you can’t log on to anything.” Carl looked around the room and dropped his voice just a bit more. “And I don’t think being here is the best idea anymore. They already had at least a dozen people turn in here.”
“But they are screening people at the checkpoints,” I said weakly. I’d already watched firsthand as they allowed a person who was infected pass through their security perimeter, so I knew even that was not a guarantee that we were the least bit safe.
“That didn’t really start until late this afternoon. Until then, they were putting the injured in a group of classrooms in the southwest corner of the school. And they weren’t really making people stay there unless their injuries were critical.”
“It is more than just the bites,” I said, surprised that I was able to actually find my voice. “I was with a guy who just ended up being scratched, but he turned. I saw the black squiggles in his eyes. When we reached the checkpoint, the soldiers let him pass because he wasn’t bit.”
“If this is blood-borne, it might be worse than just a bite or a scratch.” Carl noticed that I had yet to touch my peanut butter sandwich and licked his lips. I handed it over and he started to wolf it down.
“Worse how?” I asked when he seemed to become too engrossed in eating.
“Hell, it might pass if you get some of the infected blood in an open cut. Sorta like when people contracted the AIDS virus from their dentist and shit,” Carl answered around a mouthful of peanut butter and wheat bread. “This could be way worse than the movies.” A look passed over his face and he appeared to have a bit of difficulty swallowing that last bite. “Did you return home after the hospital?”
It did not go unnoticed by me that he made no mention of Stephanie. He’d known her fate the moment he’d seen her injury. He’d even tried to warn me without coming right out and saying that she was a goner.
“Yeah, I grabbed a few things and loaded them into the truck. Not much, but better than nothing.”
“The dog…” Whatever he was trying to say died on his lips and he looked away.
“Chewie?” I asked, curious as to his sudden apparent discomfort. “She’s fine for the most part. They wouldn’t let me bring her in, so she is in the cab of the truck. I will have to get out there first thing in the morning. Not sure what I will be able to do, but I sure as hell ain’t just abandoning her.”
“Wait…she’s okay?” Carl seemed genuinely surprised.
“I’m sure a vet should get a look at her tail, but I don’t see that as likely. I’ll just have to keep her injury clean and—”
“You’re sure she’s okay?” he blurted, cutting me off and causing a few nearby heads to turn our direction.
“Umm…like I said, as well as can be expected.” I got a strange feeling that there was something he wasn’t saying.
“You need to put her down.”
“What?” Now it was my turn to raise my voice and cause people to look over. “I won’t do any such thing.”
“This…whatever it is…it’s turning dogs, too.” The words had come out in a rush, and it was a few seconds before they fully sunk in.
“But she’s fine. I just left her.”
“When you go out there tomorrow, you may not like what you find.”
I listened as he recounted a run in with a mutt of a dog that had obviously been attacked. It was on three legs, but there was no doubt in his mind that this abomination was just as much a zombie as that man he’d killed in my bedroom.
I had nothing to say in response to this revelation. I didn’t want to believe him, but I’d also seen with my own eyes the very things that he’d been warning me about in the faculty room earlier this morning.
My God, I thought. Had it just been this morning?
At some point, Carl wandered away. I wasn’t sure if I was happy about that or not. Eventually, I stretched out on my cot and stared up at the ceiling. My thoughts drifted, and I was so tired that it seemed impossible that I could not fall asleep.
Yet, as the minutes crept past and became hours, I became resigned to the fact that sleep would elude me; at least for the time being.
At last, I sat back up. Suddenly I was regretting having given away my peanut butter sandwich. My stomach growled its agreement with that sentiment as I made my way to the bathroom. A line at the door gave me time to sort out my head and make some decisions. The biggest was that I was not going to stay here. I had no idea where I might go, but something about this place was eating at me.
The man in front of me was rubbing at his hands like he was trying to wash something from them. I looked closer and saw a dark stain on his right arm. At first, I thought he might be bitten, but then I realized his shirt was intact. That was somebody else’s blood.
We inched forward one agonizing step at a time. I’d only headed over to the bathroom because I was not sure what else to do, but now that I was here, I realized I had to go pretty bad.
“Now we know how the women feel,” I tried to joke to the dark-skinned man in front of me. I saw the briefest hint of a smile tug up at the corners of his mouth, but it was as if gravity refused to allow him such a luxury.
“My Randi has been in line for over ten minutes,” the man said. There was a deep sadness in his voice, and I did not need him to tell me that he’d lost somebody in this madness.
“You folks been here long?” It was a pretty lame question, but I didn’t know what else to ask this man who gave off the feeling that he was carrying the weight of the world on his shoulders.
“Got here an hour or so ago. Came on a military transport truck that went through our neighborhood and picked folks up.” He paused and turned sideways enough so that I could see his face. “Had to drag my Randi…she wouldn’t go.”
His eyes drifted over to the girl’s bathroom where the line was easily twice the length of ours. I followed his gaze and saw a tall woman who stood with about as much life in her eyes as those things…the undead…that were roaming the streets. The woman stood in the queue and seemed to just trudge forward whenever the line surged.
“Barry Jenkins,” the man said as he offered a hand.
“Evan Berry.” I shook the man’s hand and gave him a closer look.
His skin was the dark brown of a chocolate bar, and his brown eyes still had a bit of a sparkle that told me this sadness that I was seeing was not his usual demeanor. He was balding, and single silver strands could be seen sprinkled amidst his black, tightly kinked hair. It dawned on me that this man and his wife were on the cots right by my own.
“A pair of berries,” I chuckled at the similarit
y of his first and my last name.
“Yeah…but I’m a blackberry,” he guffawed, a smile able to finally overcome the downturn that I’d seen in full control of his mouth just a moment ago.
“So, are you two sticking around…or…” I didn’t want to broadcast the fact that I had no plans to remain here, but I thought it would be good to hear what other folks were thinking and feeling.
“Not sure…still trying to get my head around what is going on.” Barry looked around again and his eyes settled on something, tightening slightly.
I followed his gaze. At last, I discovered what I was pretty sure had his attention. A woman that I was guessing to be in her twenties was kneeling in front of a little girl no older than ten. She was using a wipe or cloth of some sort to dab at the girl’s left arm.
“They stopped letting in those who have been bitten. Heard they’ve even shot a few. An hour ago, soldiers started wandering through the crowd. They’ve escorted a dozen or so to someplace else. Not sure I want to know where.”
Barry seemed happy to talk, and I was ready to let him. I had been so focused on what happened in the hospital that my mind was not yet ready to try and fully process everything happening around me. I was still stuck on how I’d barely gotten away from my neighborhood which was likely nothing more than a charred mess now. I’d had that encounter when I’d attempted to save Morey. I could no longer credit myself for actually saving the man since he’d turned and been gunned down.
“…heard those screams, and I doubt I will ever get them out of my head,” Barry was saying. “So I can’t imagine how my Randi will ever get over seeing them things attack our little girl.”
“Oh, man…I’m so sorry.” And I was, from the bottom of my heart.
Yes, I’d lost the love of my life. That loss had been compounded by the discovery of her pregnancy that she was obviously going to surprise me with when I got home from my first day as a teacher. Still, I did not see how I could compare it with the loss of their child. And to have witnessed it?
At last a stall occupant emerged and Barry ducked inside to take his turn. I relieved myself as soon as the next stall opened up and then wandered the gymnasium. I noticed the soldiers were not allowing anybody to venture down one hallway. I also noticed that a dozen people were being kept on cots that lined a separate corridor. None had any visible injuries except for one who had a nasty scratch down her face. Her cheek was terribly inflamed, and when her head lolled my direction, I saw the dark tracers in her eyes. She didn’t seem to be looking at me as much as through me, and I quickly grew tired of wandering the halls.
I returned to the gymnasium and paused at the sandwich line long enough to grab a replacement for the one Carl had consumed earlier. I spotted him on the far side of the huge open gym. He was standing amidst several of the teachers that I recognized from this morning including Principal Gordon.
I decided to veer over there and see what was going on. As I arrived, I spotted the dour, unfriendly woman from when I’d first pulled into the parking lot this morning. Her face was puffy and it was clear that she’d been crying. My animosity quickly transformed to pity.
“…they won’t even let me see him,” the large woman was whimpering.
“Won’t let her see who?” I whispered to Principal Gordon.
“Her husband. He showed up with the first groups this morning. Didn’t have a bite, nothing…but a few hours ago he started acting strange…got really sick and was doubled over. The soldiers grabbed him and threw him on a gurney. Didn’t even bother to check him out first.”
I considered my words carefully before I spoke. “You didn’t notice if he had black tracers in his eyes, did you?”
The principal seemed to think hard for a moment before he finally spoke. “Come to think of it…there did seem to be something odd about his eyes.” He looked at me with genuine interest. “Is that something we need to be worried about with this infection or whatever it is?”
I told him about Morey, including his unfortunate ending outside. I explained that, despite him only having been scratched, it looked like he had become one of the infected. I didn’t say “walking dead” because I’d seen how dismissive they’d been with Carl earlier.
“Jesus.” The man ran his hands through his hair and looked around the room. “I know for sure of at least five people who were scratched. Maybe we should wander around and get a better look?”
I heard what he wasn’t saying. He now saw this as a problem much like me and Carl did. He might not be ready to say the “Z” word yet, but if he saw what I’d seen, I think it was not too much of a leap of faith.
After our little social tour where we stopped to talk to four of the people he knew for a fact had some sort of injury at the hands of the walking dead, we had more fuel to burn in our speculative fires.
“So the soldiers took one of them and two of the four have…did you call them tracers?” I nodded. “Two of the four have those black tracers in their eyes.”
“Maybe we should stick close together,” I suggested. “We may have to leave here in a hurry. I have a vehicle parked not too far from here.”
I didn’t know why, but I still wasn’t really ready to share the location of my truck with anybody. A small voice deep in my conscience said that I was being selfish. I saw it more as cautious. I’d seen a few movies…and it always seemed like the worst in people came out in these situations. It wasn’t like regular disasters where people went above and beyond to help. I think there is something about the fact that we skip all the stages and end up smack dab in the middle of hopeless. That, and when there is no framework…no infrastructure or mode of accountability, people become more of that raw essence of their being. Sadly, all those who have any good in them likely die early on doing what their nature drives them to do: help others. That leaves all of us who live in the gray area…and those who are black in the pit of their soul.
“I think one of us should be awake at all times. Sort of a watch over the group. If something bad looks like it is about to happen, that person can rouse the rest of us and we can be better prepared in case we need to make a run for it,” I suggested.
The principal nodded, and then I saw his expression change so suddenly that I thought he might be one of the infected. His face turned a shade of crimson and he clenched his fists tight, holding his breath as he did so.
“I am so sorry, Evan,” he gushed. “I didn’t even think to ask how things went at home. Your wife…?” He left that last bit open in question as his voice rose in pitch just a bit.
I shook my head and had to bite the inside of my cheek to keep my tears at bay. If they came and I was offered any form of sympathy, I might very well not be able to stop crying…ever.
“I am so sorry.”
I looked up and saw the raw emotion in his eyes as well as what I now identified as shame. He pressed his lips together tight and I thought he was done until his next statement came out of his mouth.
“Your sudden departure with such minimal knowledge on my part…it’s just…”
I listened as he hemmed and hawed over the words before I realized what exactly he’d been trying to tell me.
“You were going to fire me.” It wasn’t a question. And then I started laughing. Something about that bit of information struck me as funny.
“Things just happened so quickly, and we didn’t quite catch up until…” the principal’s voice faded and his red face gave away the embarrassment that he obviously felt.
“I think we can forget all that stuff,” I said, placing a hand on the man’s shoulder. “It is not like anybody expected Carl to be the voice of reason.”
We shared a laugh at that, and I noticed a couple of the others nearby join in. All of a sudden, I felt exhausted, it was as if all the adrenaline that had kept me going these past several hours simply drained out through the soles of my feet. I excused myself and headed over to my cot.
I had no idea how long I’d been away from my little are
a, but in that amount of time, either we’d had in influx of people seeking shelter, or else everybody else was just tired and coming to bed at the same time. I did not see one empty cot in my area. Just as I arrived, I saw Barry escorting his wife to their spot just a few beds over from mine.
I gave Barry a wave as he guided Randi down to her place beside his. I watched as he covered her up, whispered something in her ear and then kissed her on the cheek. He gave me a nod before lying down. I noted that he did not close his eyes, but rather, they were locked on his wife who had not so much as twitched since he tucked her in.
A part of me longed to have the hand axe I’d stashed under that Dumpster outside. With a yawn, I stretched out, certain that despite my bone-deep fatigue, there would be no way I would fall asleep.
***
“…repeat, we need everybody to assemble in the hallway. We apologize for the inconvenience, and we will let you all return to your area as soon as possible,” the voice was blaring through a bullhorn.
“Not my favorite way to wake up,” I grumbled. Sitting up, I looked around to discover almost everybody else up was already shuffling for the exits. “Nobody bothered to give me a shake?” I groused.
I slipped on my shoes and followed the mob. Looking around, I was struck by how much we sort of resembled the undead. Almost everybody was looking at their feet. It was as if we were already beaten. This only reignited the idea that I needed to get out of here. These people were the walking dead; they just didn’t realize it yet.
I fell in and made my way to the hall. I still wasn’t sure what was going on, but the mystery was solved as soon as the doors shut. I heard the pop of a weapon being fired. Several people jumped or started like they’d been hit with a jolt of electricity; but more simply stood in place, continuing to stare at the ground.
“This place is not gonna last long,” a voice whispered in my ear. I wasn’t surprised to turn around and discover Carl standing there, arms folded across his chest.