AniZombie

by Ricky Sides

  “Agent Marx indicated the news wasn’t telling everything now,” Herb explained.

  Sam nodded and said, “I thought as much. The authorities are trying to keep down panic, but there are other sources of information. Social media will be on fire with all sorts of breaking news.”

  “Half of which is pure garbage,” Erma said shaking her head disdainfully as the elevator doors opened and they began to file out of the elevator.

  Herb stepped out first, but froze in position when he heard screaming coming from down the hall. As the others left the elevator, he said, “Follow me. I want you all in my room where I can protect you. Move it now!” he whispered urgently.

  Once the scientists filed into his room, Herb stopped at the doorway and said, “Call 911 and have them dispatch the police. Tell them there are screams coming from room 214.”

  “What are you going to do?” Erma asked Herb, who had not entered the room.

  “Not now, Erma. Close the door and lock it. Use all the locks too, and not just the one on the doorknob.”

  Across the hall, something slammed into the door, which rattled and shook violently, and then it was opened and a woman rushed out into the hallway crying. A man stepped through the open door out into the hall. Herb’s hand darted under the light jacket that he was wearing to conceal his pistol and closed on the grip. The man was stripped to the waist. Blood from scratch marks trickled down the left side of his face. “Get back here, you bitch!” he shouted drunkenly to the woman’s retreating form.

  Herb saw the woman enter a door at the end of the hall. He knew it led to a staircase and assumed she was heading for the lobby. He took his hand off his pistol and turned to knock on the door to his room, having learned that the problem was a run of the mill domestic dispute and not a zombie issue.

  “What the hell were you looking at?” the drunken man slurred as Herb reached to knock on the door.

  “Not much,” Herb responded. He turned back to face the man without knocking on the door. “We heard the screaming. The police are on the way,” he added, thinking the man might sober up enough to realize that he had bigger issues than him to worry about. “I suggest you get back in your room and clean yourself up before they arrive.”

  “Over her? She was just some Arkansas road slut. She claimed she fought off a zombie down there a couple of days ago when she was leaving the college in Little Rock,” he explained. The mention of the police had seemed to sober the man to a degree. “She was hitchhiking and promised to be good to me, if I gave her a ride to Salina. I even bought her dinner in the hotel restaurant.”

  “You’re a regular prince of a guy, aren’t you?” Herb asked sarcastically.

  The man was so intoxicated that he missed the sarcastic tone of voice and thought that Herb meant it as a compliment. He nodded his head in agreement and said, “No good deed goes unpunished, I guess.”

  Without another word, the man entered his room and slammed the door shut behind him.

  Herb turned and knocked on his door. When David asked who was there, he said, “It’s me, Herb. You can open the door now.”

  The policemen heard the man’s story and took him into custody. Despite his protests, they were going to place him in quarantine because he said the girl had fought a zombie in Arkansas, and she had wounded him.

  Agent Marx found the group gathered in Herb’s room where they had been interviewed by the police regarding their 911 call. After the officers left, Herb and the scientists set about trying to learn as much as possible about what was happening in the country, but the information was short on substance. Based on what they had seen on the road, they all knew that the news wasn’t covering many of the stories that should have been at the top of their broadcasts.

  The federal agent listened as the others told him what had transpired, and then they related what they had learned. When they finished their impromptu briefing, Agent Marx said, “I’m afraid it’s much worse than the news is reporting. They are acting under orders from the government. There have now been reported cases in most of the mainland states.”

  “How the devil has this spread so fast?” asked Sam Evans.

  “Airplane traffic and the interstate system primarily, but then of course, there is the animal angle. Quarantining a town doesn’t help when the crows and vultures can fly over barricades. Oh, and samples of duck meat have been found to have the parasites present as well.”

  “And they are migrating,” Erma stated. “God, everywhere they leave droppings, they are seeding the parasites.”

  “Has any of this changed our plans?” Herb asked.

  “Indirectly, yes it has. We’re going to have to be very careful from here on out. Hays, Kansas is the next city we need to drive through. There are reports of spotty outbreaks in Hays. We could detour around the city, but the latest info on the situation indicates the rural areas around the city are where the outbreaks are being reported, so a detour around the problem area would add half a day or more to our travel time, which is too long. I was advised to stick to the interstate and drive straight through. I put in a call for reinforcements to help us reach Fort Collins,” Agent Marx said. “But, frankly, I don’t think we’re going to get any help. The police here will escort us to the interstate though.”

  “That’s big of them, considering we’re parked beside the damned thing,” David observed irritably.

  ‘I noticed that myself,” Agent Marx said with a frown.

  “Okay, Agent Marx, what aren’t you telling us?” Erma asked.

  “I’ve told you everything that I know to be the truth, Doctor Langley,” he responded.

  “Then tell us what you don’t know for a fact, but suspect,” she countered.

  “All right. I’ll tell you what my instincts are telling me,” he replied with a frown of consternation. “Everything is collapsing. Law enforcement personnel are reluctant to venture far from their jurisdictions. It’s as if they’re expecting an attack by zombies at any moment and want to stay close to their families.”

  “They probably are,” Gil reasoned. “I mean, aren’t we? Look how we reacted to the conflict between the man and woman across the hall. We assumed that they were zombies, when in fact they weren’t. We need to be careful and avoid falling into that line of reasoning.”

  “Why?” David asked. “If I’m going to err, I’d rather it be on the side of caution.”

  “I’m with you, David,” Herb said. “If we want to survive this war against the zombies, we’d damned well better not make the mistake of letting our guard down.”

  “That’s the spirit guys,” Agent Marx said.

  “So we can’t even depend upon your agency to provide any support?” Erma asked the agent.

  “Homeland Security seems to be falling apart at the seams,” the agent admitted. “All federal agencies are in a state of turmoil. Part of that is the same situation as I just outlined with the local police. Agents have families too, and they are afraid to leave them unprotected to go out into the field. The rest is due to the conflict between the politicians and the military. People are choosing sides. Some side with the political leaders, and say that the military leaders should be arrested and imprisoned. Others take the opposite view and say that if the generals hadn’t decided to ignore further orders from the President, then it wouldn’t matter if the zombies overran the country, because it would no longer support human existence due to the deployment of nuclear weapons.”

  “Were they helpful with the supplies we discussed?” Herb asked.

  “Yes, but they weren’t very happy about it,” Marx replied. “It’s in my room. Let’s get the scientists back to their rooms and then we can go get your supplies. Then I need to get some food in me. Mrs. Echols’ breakfast carried me through the day, but it’s time for me to eat.”

  ***

  Randy sat perched on a railing in the bell tower and stared out at the darkening landscape. Ox was still gone. He hadn’t seen the dog since it had snapped at him and ran int
o the forest that morning. Nor had he heard the strange sounds that had altered the dog’s behavior. He wondered if the dog had chased away the bears.

  Henry had explained earlier that the bawling they had heard would have been a bear cub and that the huffing sounds of that nature were made by angry adult bears. The old man had speculated that what they were dealing with was a mother and her cub or cubs.

  The trap door began to rise, catching Randy’s attention. He got off the railing and stood beside it. “Here, let me help with the door. It’s heavy,” he said as he took hold of it and pulled it all the way open.

  He expected to see Henry. Instead, Amy climbed up into the tower with him. She had a small basket slung over her shoulder on an improvised sling. “Martha said you’d need something to eat and some coffee, and I said I’d bring it to you. I wanted to see what it looks like from up here,” Amy said.

  “Thanks, I could use some food, and the coffee would really pick me up. I never did like guard duty. It has got to be the most boring thing about being in the military,” he said to make conversation as the woman handed him the basket.

  “We appreciate what you’re doing for us,” Amy said.

  “I don’t mind, even if I’m not crazy about guard duty. I think the danger has passed though. There hasn’t been even a hint of a sound from the woods since Ox ran in there earlier.”

  “Do you think the bear killed your dog?” Amy asked.

  “No. If there had been a fight, we would have heard it. Even if the bear killed Ox with a single swipe of its paw, he would have yelped or something. No, I don’t think he was killed. I believe he drove away the bear.”

  “Are you worried that he may have the parasites?” Amy asked.

  “I was, but then I thought about that a lot while I was up here with nothing to do but stare at the woods. It seems to me that he is fine, until he senses danger. That’s when he went into aggression mode. We know he keeps disappearing. For all we know, he has had an ongoing conflict with the bear. He may be chasing her away.”

  “I hope you’re right.”

  “So do I. It would bother Herb if I had to put Ox down,” Randy said as he unwrapped his ham sandwiches on some of Martha’s homemade bread. “Want one?” Randy asked politely.

  “No thanks. I already ate. You eat and I’ll stand watch while you enjoy your meal,” Amy replied.

  Randy poured a cup of coffee from the thermos and began eating his sandwich. “That woman makes even bread taste great,” he said appreciatively.

  “Didn’t you say there were no neighbors?” asked Amy.

  “That’s right. The nearest people are at a house about two miles from here.”

  “There’s someone walking up the drive,” she informed him.

  Randy set his food and coffee aside and got to his feet. He stepped up beside Amy and looked toward the dirt track that served as the driveway to the cabin. In the distance, he saw someone walking toward them. He lifted his binoculars to his face and studied the female figure that was walking toward them. He knew from experience that not all zombies bore physical evidence of trauma. Those who died of the sickness, induced by the parasites, reanimated without obvious wounds. Either the woman approaching was a normal person, or she had died of that sickness. You couldn’t always tell by their gait either. Some walked better than others did. The one certain way to know that they weren’t a zombie was to hear them speak.

  As all of this information was going through his mind, he was observing the woman’s progress. Movement to the left attracted his attention. He watched as Ox ran out of the woods and confronted the woman. The dog stopped and barred her path up the drive.

  The woman lunged at Ox, emitting the trademark moan of the zombies. Ox skirted around her and ran a few steps back up the driveway toward the road. The zombie turned and began to follow him. Over and over, the cagey animal let the creature draw near him, only to leave her behind and begin the process again.

  “Your dog is leading the zombie away,” Amy observed. “Did you guys teach him to do that?”

  “No. I didn’t know he knew how to do it,” Randy said.

  “Now I guess you know where he goes when he disappears,” Amy said with a smile.

  “I guess we do at that,” Randy said. “He’s leading her away all right. And he isn’t letting her get too close to him. He should be fine, unless one he doesn’t see gets to him.”

  ***

  Herb increased the volume of the television and got up to move closer to the set. His phone rang and he muted the volume as he answered it. “Herb, are you watching the news?” Agent Marx asked when he answered the phone.

  “Yeah, what changed? It looks as if they are back to being honest about what’s happening in the country.”

  “They are. I just got off the phone with a fellow agent who called to tell me what is happening. Foreign news services have continued to report the truth, as they know it. This made the American news agencies look like fools, and to make matters worse for them, there is talk of legal action against them for spreading misinformation that endangers the public.”

  “What? But they were doing what the government told them to do,” Herb said.

  “It turns out your Private Croft was right. The government cannot order illegal actions with impunity. It’s all one big stinking mess with most of the politicians involved denying their culpability, and the press playing the part of the martyr. The main thing is, at least for the time being, the news can be trusted to be as accurate as it ever was. Don’t get hung up on the politics involved, just watch the news. That’s what I’m doing. We’ll get together in a bit and make plans for the rest of the trip.”

  “All right, I’m on it,” Herb said.

  The news was grim. It seemed half the country had been overrun by zombies, or was a radioactive hot zone. In an effort to compensate for the misinformation that they had been disseminating at the insistence of the government, several news agencies had put together comprehensive interactive maps that people could utilize to check on the conditions of the country and had them posted to their websites. Herb felt that information might be useful for planning their route. He phoned Agent Marx and told him what he had discovered.

  “I’m looking at one now with my laptop,” the agent said. “Hays is worse than I had been told, but it still looks passable. Let’s hope that remains the case tomorrow morning. But I do think we need to leave earlier than we originally planned.”

  The two discussed the matter further and decided it would be best to leave at 5:00 A.M. Herb phoned the others and informed them of the new developments, and then he settled in to watch the news while he loaded the magazines that Agent Marx had secured from the police in Salina.

  The local news indicated that Salina had seen multiple zombie incidents, but that the police and reservists had thus far contained each outbreak and quarantined several people as a result. Herb knew that efforts to contain outbreaks were most often futile because of the animal connection. He was surprised to learn that the broadcasters weren’t even discussing that angle to the problem.

  He went to sleep with the various problems on his mind and as a result, he tossed and turned as he suffered from terrible dreams that he couldn’t remember when he woke up in a cold sweat at 3:30 A.M. He got up and took another shower, and then he got dressed.

  The group left the parking lot at 5:00 A.M. Like Herb, Agent Marx had risen early and gotten the latest news updates, which added very little additional information. It was for the most part a rehash of what they had learned the previous evening.

  The small convoy refueled at the Kwik Shop near the hotel, and then they got back on the interstate without incident.

  As soon as they got back on the interstate system, the problems started. A steady flood of people seemed to be traveling. The predawn traffic seemed as heavy as most rush hours that Herb had driven through over the years. He wondered where everyone was going so early in the morning, and he thought that if it was this bad at that ho
ur, it would be horrible by 7:00 A.M.

  Two times, aggressive traffic inserted itself between the vehicles of their convoy. When that happened, Agent Marx slowed his lead vehicle and forced the interlopers to pass him. Once the other two vehicles tightened up the gap, he resumed the frantic pace that the traffic seemed to be setting. They found themselves traveling a good twenty miles over the speed limit, just to go with the flow.

  Soon they came to the junction for Interstate 70. Herb frowned when he saw that almost everyone traveling on Interstate 135 was getting into the turn lane to take I-70 as well. “I’d hoped things would be better on the other road,” he said to Erma. “But it doesn’t look as if that’s going to be the case.”

  “No, it doesn’t,” she said. “This looks like an evacuation, but there’s nothing in the news about one.”

  Merging with I-70 proved to be a massive problem. The traffic on that interstate was so heavy that it was impossible for the vehicles leaving I-135 to merge smoothly with it. As a result, they were snarled in a major traffic jam. It took the better part of an hour for them to move down the ramp and join the westbound traffic. It also proved impossible for the vehicles of their convoy to stay together, despite their best efforts. Agent Marx tried waiting for a gap sufficient to permit that maneuver, but it soon became apparent to him that it wasn’t going to happen. After he permitted two gaps large enough for him to enter the flow of traffic pass by without moving forward, the other drivers lost their patience and began to sound their horns in irritation.

  The federal agent did the only thing he could do in the situation. He merged with the westward flow of traffic. Herb had to wait a full minute before he was able to merge, and the scientists in the car behind him had it even worse. Agent Marx tried slowing down to wait for the others, but the traffic was so congested that the maneuver created another bottleneck in the slow lane. Irate drivers raged at him, many giving him the finger as they drove past. Even doing this, it took ten minutes for Herb to move into position behind him because he had been attempting to let the scientists in the rear vehicle catch up with him.