“Okay.” Morgan smiled as she crushed her empty beer can under her foot. She looked past him, trying to see how much was left in his bottle. “Do you need something to drink?”
Alex shook his head, knowing he couldn’t drink anymore. The food would help him sober up and then maybe he could help Morgan with her problem. She had made him feel better and he had nothing to offer her but his own problems.
His guilt was infinite.
He decided then that he wouldn’t drink until this was over. He made a mental promise to himself. A silent contract that he would keep his head clear.
For her.
“Okay I’ll crawl down and get the soup,” Morgan said. “I need another beer anyways.”
Alex just nodded silently, smiling at her. He stood up, wobbling a bit as his equilibrium adjusted, and then walked over to two plastic storage bins that they had been filling with burnable wood. The bins had kept the wood dry and the two bins held more than enough. Most of the wood they found was furniture of some kind, which had been treated with so many chemicals that neither of them were comfortable cooking food over it.
He wondered to himself how long they would resist burning it. He found himself imagining more and more severe situations as the days went on. Wondering how far they could be pushed. He shook his head, trying to push away the thought of reckless survival.
After Alex had soaked the wood in lighter fluid, the flames grew easily. He watched the wood burn away, crackling from black to orange as the light in the sky completely disappeared. The streetlights flickered tonight, showing the signs of failure.
As Morgan climbed back up the ladder, Alex pointed out the surrounding streets. The buildings were dark and could only be seen in the glittering streetlights that were losing their power. The effect turned the city into a twinkling blanket of black, surrounding them completely.
“It’s actually beautiful,” Morgan said, staring into the flashing darkness.
They moved their chairs closer to the fire and watched the lights die out little by little, long into the evening, until they were completely enclosed in blackness. The fire that warmed their soup felt like the only light in the world.
Day 14
2:17 pm
Alex could see quite a few blocks from the rooftop. The largest buildings were menacing in their emptiness, papers still blowing out their broken windows. Homemade signs that read: Still Alive! and S.O.S. blew in the wind, attached to poles on the rooftops of the surrounding apartment buildings. Most were shredded, or stained in blood. He wondered how many were still accurate.
He no longer heard the rattle of automatic gunfire, or explosions in the distance to give him hope the military was on the way. It had all happened so quickly. The world had fallen in days. Humanity, society, all its defenses, and trappings took less than two weeks to crumble.
He looked at the sky and could see the twinkle of the sun trying to break through the clouds. More of the gray clumps swooped in, covering its warm rays.
Gunshots rang out right below where Alex was standing, making his heart leap. He looked over the ledge and he saw three men coming out of a doorway, firing at a grouping of corpses running toward them in the alleyway. The three men looked like they were trying to sneak through the building next door, but had been spotted by the corpses in the street.
“Hey!” Alex screamed out over the oceanic roar of moans and the ringing fire of guns. “Run to the back! Get to the fire escape!”
One of the men looked up at him. Alex thrust his arms in a pointing motion toward the back of the building. Alex spun around, dashing across the rooftop, and then started his climb down the fire escape. The gunshots continued ringing out, and Alex saw through the bars of the fire escape the three men run around the building. One was shooting in front and the other two were shooting behind them.
Morgan yelled out the window as Alex ran past, “What is going on? Who’s shooting?”
“Survivors! I gotta help!” Alex yelled back as he continued down the ladder, ignoring Morgan’s protests.
He dropped to the bottom of the fire escape and unhooked the ladder. The metal beams dropped down, slamming into the pavement below. Corpses came bursting out of the alleyway, running at their top speed toward the three men.
The older man who was dressed in a police uniform and obviously a skilled marksman, unloaded bullets from his pistol with a steady aim, landing head shots with every shot. His younger companion, who wore a baseball cap and t-shirt, jumped onto the ladder and started climbing up to where Alex stood on the bottom platform.
The officer and the middle-aged man in a torn sport coat continued unloading rounds, back-to-back at the base of the ladder. The corpses ran out of both alleyways, getting closer and closer with their waves of numbers. Finally, the officer spun around and started climbing the ladder. As the officer made his way to the top of the ladder a corpse grabbed his leg, fingernails dug into his ankle. The man still on the ground twirled around, firing his pistol into the face of the corpse who clung to his companion. The movement forced him to turn away from the corpses he was firing at and it gave them the moment they needed to reach him, tackling him to the ground in a violent wave of bodies.
The younger man in the baseball cap yelled out, “Adam!” as the man below was torn apart, the mindless corpses digging into his organs.
The officer grimaced before he kicked his foot out, slamming it into the metal latch that held the ladder to the fire escape. With two more swift kicks, the ladder fell, leaving the parking lot behind the apartment building swarming with undead.
The younger man, who looked about the same age as Alex, gasped for breath as he put his hand on the officer. The cop, who was in his early forties, continued staring down at the corpses who gorged themselves on the body of the man in the sport coat. Both men carried packs full of supplies, and the officer had a shotgun slung over one shoulder.
“Alex!” Morgan's voice yelled from above them. “What is going on?”
“It’s okay!” He yelled back. “We’re coming up!” Alex tried to explain, unsure of what to say. “That’s Morgan. My friend. We’ve been hiding here.”
He realized that Morgan was one of the only people he had talked to since the outbreak. Conversations had always been different with her than with “normal” people and the outbreak had only compounded that feeling. He felt awkward around the living.
“The police aren’t coming here to rescue us. Are you?” Alex asked the silent officer, already fearing the answer.
“No.” The officer answered so quietly it was hard to hear him. He was still staring at the bodies below him. “Dammit,” he said, watching the zombies tear apart his companion. “He had one of our guns.”
“Where were you going?” Alex found himself yelling over the excited moans of the mob below.
“We don’t know. The last we heard there was a FEMA camp in Hudson, but I don’t know if we can count on anything right now,” the younger man answered. “We’ve just been moving from building to building, looking for food or… anything to help us. Everywhere we go it’s just… it’s just full of…”
“I don’t think the camps are still around. I know for sure some of them were compromised.” Alex looked up at the apartment window. “We’re going to try to stay here. Wait for help. We have food and-”
The officer finally turned toward Alex and asked, bluntly, “Is your building secure?”
“No. I mean sort of.” Alex pointed up to the higher levels. “We just have a few apartments blocked off-”
“Is it just the two of you in there?” The cop cut off Alex’s explanation, wiping the sweat off his forehead. He was barely listening.
“Yeah. Well my neighbor and his daughter are still alive, but I don’t know about anyone else. I haven’t heard anyone else.” Alex held out his hand. “My name is Alex.”
The officer stepped up to Alex. He had a few days stubble covering his square jaw and his face was covered in grime that matched his oily bl
ack crew cut. In a gravelly voice he said, “I’m Officer Frank Dallas and this is Ethan Cooper.”
Ethan had a smooth skinny face and a nearly translucent reddish-blond hair that hung in curls from underneath his cap. He nodded when introduced and said, “It’s really nice to-”
Frank gritted his teeth, cutting into Ethan’s introduction. “Do you have any water?”
Alex shook his head. “Not much, the plumbing stopped working awhile ago, but we found plenty of canned soda and beer.”
“We would appreciate it,” Ethan said, grabbing onto the ladder behind Alex.
When they climbed in the window, Alex yelled out in a sarcastic tone, “Honey, I brought home company.”
Morgan stuck her head in the room and jumped a bit when she saw the men carrying guns. “Alex! What’s… what’s going on?”
Alex held up his hands. “It’s okay, I saw these guys from the roof. They’re trying to get out of the city.”
After some brief introductions, Ethan assured Morgan, “Your boyfriend may have saved our lives down there. We owe him.”
Alex took only a moment to notice how it felt to be called Morgan’s boyfriend. He did not correct the young man.
“Oh,” Morgan said, forcing a smile. “Thanks guys. Um, you can set your stuff down in the living room.”
The men nodded at Morgan as they stepped passed her and into the living room. Alex watched them lean a shotgun against the couch and start taking off their backpacks.
“Alex?” Morgan asked in a hush tone, “Are you sure this is a good idea?”
“I didn’t know what to do. I mean-”
Morgan shrugged her shoulders. “I know, it’s just… forget it. You did the right thing. I’m proud of you.”
He leaned in and hugged her. Only inches away from her ear, he said quietly, “Don’t worry. Everything will be fine.”
She sunk into his shoulder, allowing herself to believe his confidence.
Day 14
6:39 pm
Cases of soda and beer sat next to the refrigerator, most of them only half full. Frank thanked Alex when he offered both the men cans of room temperature soda. Both men gulped down the sugary drinks, obviously pushing the limits of their thirst.
“Thank you Alex,” Ethan said, gasping for breath when he finished swallowing. “We’ve haven’t had anything to drink for two days.”
“Where did you guys come from?” Morgan asked, sitting on the floor next to Alex.
“We were at that bank a couple blocks away,” Ethan explained, pointing north. “We thought we would be safe but-”
“We were safe,” Frank said, frowning as he finished the can of soda. “But banks don’t have much for food.”
“Well, you guys are lucky you found each other. Safety in numbers,” Morgan said, smiling weakly.
Frank huffed sarcastically, letting himself smile darkly at Ethan.
“I was...” Ethan started explaining bashfully. “I was in the back of the squad car when he got the call that-”
Frank cut him off again. “The bank’s alarm was set off when one of these… one of these-”
“Zombies,” Alex offered.
Ethan’s eyes perked up. “That’s what I’ve been calling them! I’ve been trying to tell him-”
“Yeah kid,” Frank shook his head, rubbing his eyes. “You can call these sons-a-bitches whatever you want. It don’t matter. They’ll kill you the same either way.”
“What were you arrested for?” Morgan said, feigning passive curiosity and trying to change the subject.
“I was… it was stupid.” Ethan looked at the floor, ashamed.
Frank looked at him through steely cold eyes. “Our friend here was selling drugs.”
“It was just weed.”
“Weed is a drug, dumbass.” Frank's expression did not change.
“Look, it was stupid.” Ethan was trying to explain. “I’m done with it. I-”
“You’re done with it?” Frank laughed to himself. “I don’t think you have much of a choice.”
“Yeah, well-” Ethan started, before Frank held up his hand to stop him.
“Listen, I trusted you enough to give you a gun, didn’t I?” Frank looked to the window that the moans of the dead emanated from. “Besides, we’ve got more important things to worry about now.”
“Are there still people in the bank?” Alex asked. The tension in the room made him feel uncomfortable.
“No,” Frank answered.
“They… they came with us,” Ethan explained. “We were making our way through the buildings. Trying to keep off the streets. But-”
“They died. Just like everyone else,” Frank finished.
“I’m sorry,” Morgan said.
The group sat in silence for a few moments, unsure of how to react next. The thoughts of all the people they had seen die in the last few days came flooding into their minds, including the ones that had died a second time.
“Did you search any other apartments?” Frank asked, finally breaking the quiet.
“A few. Just the ones we could reach from the fire escape that weren’t…” Alex struggled with his words. “Some of the apartments just had too many of those things.”
“Hey man,” Ethan said, smiling, “Don’t be embarrassed. We’re all scared. We spent most of today running.”
Morgan smiled. “We found a lot of food. With the water not working, stuff to drink is going to be the hardest to come by.”
“I need to use the bathroom,” Ethan said, standing up and looking around.
Alex pointed toward his bedroom window. “Just go out on the fire escape and climb to the roof. We go off the opposite side of the building. “
Ethan shrugged reluctantly and walked into the bedroom.
“We should clear out the building. Scavenge any supplies we can use. We might be here awhile,” Frank said. His voice was scratchy and serious.
“There’s a lot of those things in the hallways. I don’t know how they managed to get upstairs. The doors on the stairwell lock automatically when they close.”
“The street in front of the building was thick with them.” Frank rubbed his chin, thinking. “I’m sure it’s worse closer to ground level. We could at least clear out this floor.”
“I don’t know,” Morgan said, not making eye contact. “We’ve been killing those things just to get food and water. As long as we have supplies I don’t know if it’s worth risking. I mean, we’ve had some pretty close calls.”
“We’ve haven’t had guns though,” Alex said. Morgan didn’t look at him.
“We don’t have a lot of ammunition, but we have enough,” Frank said, patting the backpack next to him. “I started targeting other cops who were infected and took their ammo.”
Alex smiled weakly at him, unsettled by the man’s coldness, but simultaneously impressed by his strategy.
Ethan came back in the window. “I can help. I’ve been getting good with that pistol. You gotta hit these things in the head if you wanna take them down. They don’t even feel it anywhere else.”
Alex looked at Morgan, seeing the visible worry on her face. He shrugged his shoulders, physically asking her what she thought.
It looked physically taxing for her to agree with the plan. “I guess... I guess we should. We can’t all stay in this apartment.”
“We can wait till tomorrow,” Frank said. “We only have a few hours of daylight left. Alex, you can use the shotgun. Have you ever shot a gun before?”
“Yeah,” Alex began. “My dad is a-”
“Whoa, whoa,” Morgan’s face went white and she held up her hands. “You aren’t going with them. We’re perfectly safe right here. If you guys want to go searching around-”
“Morgan,” Alex stopped her..
“No, no, it’s fine,” Ethan said. “Right Frank? We can handle things ourselves.”
Frank glared at Morgan through his squinted eyes, “Yeah, fine.” Frank stood, wiping the smeared grime off his face with hi
s own shirt. “I need some sleep.”
“You can sleep in the bedroom,” Alex said. He saw Morgan begin to speak up and cut her off. “We’re going to be up for awhile so we can stay out here tonight.”
Frank said nothing and walked into the bedroom, unbuttoning his shirt.
“He’s seen a lot in the last couple weeks,” Ethan said, trying to apologize for Frank’s attitude.
“We all have,” Morgan said matter-of-factly as she walked into the kitchen. “I’m going to make something to eat.”
Alex watched her walk away, wishing he had the time to comfort her. Wishing he could make her feel safe again. He could almost see her building back up the wall that she had only begun to let down for him.
“You’re lucky, man,” Ethan said as he took off his cap and ran his fingers through his greasy hair. “She really cares about you. You can see it. The way she looks at you.”
“We care about each other,” Alex said, smiling. “I don’t know if I could deal with this without her. She’s kept me sane.”
“Hope.”
“What?” Alex asked.
“We all need hope. It’s what keeps us going.”
Alex nodded. “It’s getting rare.”
Day 15
8:49 am
Morgan cringed when she saw Frank showing Alex how to load the shotgun. Alex promised her it was only for protection and that he wouldn’t leave the apartment. She knew it made logical sense that they would be better off with an entire floor to occupy, and she looked forward to having the apartment to themselves again, but her stomach still felt uneasy.
She remembered that she hadn’t had to worry about updating her website in two weeks, and was able to spend entire days hanging out with her best friend. The endless conversation and stories were only broken up by adrenaline filled adventures into other peoples' homes. She denied the fact that she was enjoying this new life every day. It felt wrong to be happy about anything.
After Life Page 7