by Candis Vargo
“No need to test. We’ve been in here.”
For such a petite woman she sure had attitude. He heard red-heads were supposed to have a bad temper, but even though she was brunette, he was pretty sure she could have one just as bad, if not worse.
“Alright then. I’m Lieutenant General Javier Adams; this is Corporal Ryan Johnson and Corporal Lance Nielson. Please, feel free to address us by our first names.”
Evelyn picked out differences in all of them men to make it easier to tell them apart. Lance was tall and scrawny and looked as pale as snow which might have been an optical allusion from his black hair. Ryan was plump but it didn’t look to be from eating too many ho-ho’s but more as he was big boned and light brown hair. Javier was nicely tanned and well defined and was the only one who had a five o’clock shadow look on his face.
Javier walked inside and closed the door behind him. He didn’t bother to lock it because he knew the others would be coming along shortly.
“I’m Evelyn and this is my brother Jason. You can call me either Ev or Evelyn, and he goes by Jase.”
“Well Miss Evelyn, we are going to need to set up a base camp here, or nearby, to make sure there aren’t any more Reanimated around. It won’t be for long, just long enough for us to make sure.”
“Yeah, sure. That’s fine.”
Javier didn’t quite know what to think of her. She sure as hell wasn’t scared and he got the impression that she did better in tough situations than her brother. He stayed right next to her, protective, but didn’t say anything. He could tell by Jase’s body language that if need be, he would spring into action at any second, but it still seemed like he would wait for his sister to tell him what to do.
As the military personnel walked in and began making room for their supplies, Jase asked, “So, is this some sick thing you government people came up with and it got out of control?”
Javier noticed Evelyn roll her eyes as she sighed.
“No, but if it was, that would be classified. But seeing how it started in other countries first, I’m pretty damn sure it wasn’t our government.”
“Then it was the Russians, huh?” Jase said.
“Jase, shut up. It really doesn’t matter who or what caused it. It’s out there, that’s all that matters.
“It was the government,” Jase whispered in Ev’s ear as he walked into the living room and sat down on the sofa.
Javier snickered and shook his head but didn’t say anything.
“So, where is everyone else around here? Usually people would be peeping out their windows or standing on their porch during this sort of thing. Are they all the missing?” Javier asked.
“No, a lot of them left to go look for their loved ones on their own. We knew that would be like looking for a fake needle in a pile of needles so we didn’t bother.”
“You know someone missing?”
“Our mom and dad,” Ev said.
“I’m sorry.” By the look in Javier’s eyes she knew he was sincere.
“You?” she asked.
Javier was rearranging her kitchen table and chairs when he told her that he didn’t. A simple ‘no’ was all he said. Ev took that as it was and left it alone.
“So what’s happening? Can you tell us why people disappeared and why the dead are rising?”
“Honestly, I’m not too sure at this moment.”
Evelyn just nodded and said “I’ll make some coffee.”
Javier liked this girl. She knew when to leave well enough alone and apparently didn’t get hysterical in horror-movie-like situations. Just as he was about to say ‘that would be nice’ they heard snarling and the pounding of footsteps out on the street. One by one they all looked at each other and headed to a window. Screams erupted from behind the house. Not the screams of the dead, but the screams of the living becoming dead. Whatever men he had out there, were in a lot of trouble.
“Shit,” Javier said as he went to head out the door. Evelyn cut in front of him and said “What the hell are you doing?”
Who was this bitch? “Move,” Javier said in a solid, stern voice.
“If you go out there you’re as good as dead. Look. There has to be at least a hundred of them and there’s more behind the house too. If there’s a hundred out front then we can only assume there’s just as many out back and your men are gone. I’m sorry but if you want to survive, you’re going to need to listen.”
“I’m trained for this, are you?”
“Oh really? You’re trained to fight the dead that came back to life?”
The screams died down outside but the snarling didn’t.
“I’m sorry, but they’re already gone. Do you want to be next?”
Javier looked at Evelyn with pure hatred. He could have done something. He could kill them. They were slow, rotting corpses.
“Observe, and be quiet while you do it.”
Hastily, Javier followed Evelyn to a window and peeked out the blinds with her.
“There,” she said. “Those ones are far behind. They’re slow. But these ones, they’re fast. Look at them run around.”
Javier watched with a sense of bewilderment as the fast ones began to slow too. The snarling died down as fast as they slowed down.
“Notice a difference between the ones that were fast and the ones that were slow?” she asked.
Javier looked a little closer and he too realized what she had. “The slow ones are in ruined clothing or clothing not of this time. The fast ones look cleaner. Like they are fresh,” he said.
“That’s why you watch and learn, Javier. Now I’m sorry about your men, but you would have been dead.”
“Where the hell did they come from?” Lance asked.
After a long pause Jase spoke up. “Sound,” he said. “Ev, you knew we were supposed to be quiet. They are attracted to sound. How did you know that?”
“Just gut instinct,” she said. As they all stared at her she began to get pissed off and said, “What? It’s not like I did voodoo and brought their asses here. I’d much rather be at my parents’ house having dinner right now, not hiding from a mob of fucking Reanimated corpses.”
“We have to wait for CDC to arrive. They need to quarantine this place. Shut it down.”
“Sorry Lieutenant, General, or whatever you are. But that isn’t going to work. I’m sure there are popping up all over the place. Literally.”
Javier looked at Ev for a moment and gave it some serious thought. He knew she was right. He didn’t know how he knew, but he did. “Let’s find out,” he said as he walked over to the TV. He slowly turned it on and while the screen was still black, he hit the mute button. She was right. On every channel there was news about the dead Reanimated. He wondered how the hell this could have happened. Not even 40 minutes ago did he find out about the first one. And now they were everywhere.
“Turn it off,” Ryan said. He looked pale and like he was going to throw up.
“If you throw up you better be the quietest god damn person when you puke or I’ll throw you out the fucking window,” Evelyn said.
“Are they going to leave?” Jase asked.
“I don’t know. They’re not snarling but they’re still walking around. Looking. It’s like they know the living are here somewhere and they are trying to find us,” Javier said.
“Well do we wait? What do we do?”
“We can try to hold off here for as long as we can. See if we can get them further away. Then we make a run for it. We get in the Jeep and we take off. I can’t see them going too far if they somehow know that there’s living here,” Ev said.
“Where can we go though? They’re everywhere,” Jase replied.
Evelyn looked up at Javier and said, “Well Mr. Government man, where did y'all hide the President? I’m sure it’s not that place out west like us citizens are led to believe. What’s it called…NORAD?”
“It normally would take…I’d say a little over 24 hours to get there by vehicle, nonstop. But with this shit, w
ho knows. It could take a week to get there.”
“It’s worth the fight. And where?” Ev asked. Damn she could be stern. Javier wasn’t sure if it was a good thing or if it was bad. He decided he’d figure that out later.
“Mount Rushmore. With my clearance I should be able to get us in there,” Javier replied.
“Mount Rushmore?” Jase asked.
“No,” Ev said. “It makes sense. Behind Abraham Lincoln. The myth was that it is the Hall of Records. No such facts have been given because it’s been kept a secret from all civilians since it was made. No one would ever know. No one except those it is intended to keep safe from something as catastrophic as this. It’s the entrance to a layer for the President and those ‘chosen’ to protect. In something like this millions would run straight to NORAD in hopes of being able to be saved. They needed someplace far more discrete to hide the president.”
“You’re a very smart woman,” Javier said. He was amazed that such a person would be able to understand something like that. There’ve been several myths about the monument but none have been close to figuring it out. Yet this woman, Evelyn, did. He hated to think it, but he sure as hell was impressed and he liked her spunk.
They all kept taking turns getting up and looking out the window. They were impatiently waiting for their opportunity to leave. The plan was to get in the Jeep as quiet as possible and floor it. Some of those fuckers could run fast, but they can’t go over a hundred on their feet.
While they waited they got on the internet and wrote out directions. The listed several different routes on back roads because they knew it would be a fat chance in hell to get there by highway. Javier was right; this was going to take nearly a week.
“I think we can go,” Lance said. They all stood up to go check outside and now seemed like as good of a time as any.
“Here’s the plan,” Ev said.
“Whoa, I think I should make the calls. I’ve been in charge of this mission from the beginning and am under orders of the president,” Javier said.
“No offense Captain, but the last call you were going to make wasn’t a very smart one now was it?”
Javier’s muscles tensed as his lips formed a thin line. He obviously didn’t like this comment at all.
“Now, as I was saying,” Ev said. “No guns. Not unless we get surrounded. We all know that noise too loud and they’ll come running. Now you’re military,” she looked at Javier and his men, “so I’m sure you’re packing something other than guns. This is good because I only have two of these.” Ev pulled out two Cold-steel Machetes and handed one to Jase.
“Holy fuck,” Javier said.
“I like to be prepared,” Ev replied.
“She ain’t lying,” Jase said.
“So I can tell,” Javier was liking this girl more every minute.
“I’ll carry the bag. Jase, sorry but you’d drop it. And y'all have enough to carry. I have other supplies already in the Jeep. You,” she pointed to Lance, “You hop in the back and be ready to shoot if you need to. After we’re on the move, that is. Ryan and Jase, you two get in the back seats and be ready also.” Ev threw the Jeep keys to Javier. “You’re driving big boy,” she said with a smirk. “We all close the doors at the same time. The sound of the door might attract them so we do it together. Understood?”
Everyone nodded. Javier didn’t want to admit it, but her plan was a well thought out one. He just hoped it would turn out as good as she had planned.
Quietly, they all stepped toward the front door and Javier looked through the glass. He gave it a moment before he signaled that it was time to move. Slowly they made their way toward the Jeep.
As they neared the Jeep music began to play from what could only be someone’s cell phone. Fuck. Together they all ran as fast as they could to the Jeep, praying they were faster than what was running at them.
Chapter 6
On the Road
They sprinted the remaining ten feet to the vehicle and piled in. Once all of the doors were closed Javier turned on the ignition and began to drive. The sides of the Jeep slammed into some of the Reanimated as he swerved onto the street so they could head west.
“Christ! You’re going to kill me! What is this shit? Gas?” Lance complained.
“No, it’s fucking milk. Shut up and be ready!” Ev yelled at him. Javier couldn’t resist the urge to laugh out loud at her comment. For something of a life-threatening situation, he kept his cool. It was something he learned how to do long ago. Evelyn could tell by how he carried himself like he was deployed into battle and had a new-found respect for the man in digital camouflage next to her.
The corpses began to chase the Jeep and damn there were fast fuckers. Animalistic snarls escaped through their mouths as they reached for us and their bloody feet padded on the pavement. Jase could swear they were pounding on the vehicle, trying to get in, but it was the sound of his own heart pounding in his chest. Ryan looked calm, although not as calm as Javier, with his gun out and ready to fire. He leaned over to Jase and grabbed his gun out of his hands and turned the safety off, “Won’t do much good with the safety on,” he said as he handed Jase back his pistol.
Javier pushed the peddle farther down as he made his way through the ones in front, taking several out along the way. Lance looked more worried about the possibility of the gas in the back spilling on him than the corpses chasing us. He split the cans on each side of him and pushed the four bags up against the cans. Doing this not only kept the gas cans in place, but also made room for him to move around.
The windshield cracked on the passenger side as one of the corpses was flown up on it after being hit head on. Pieces of flesh were embedded into the crack that remained and what they could only assume to be blood stained their view.
Ease drifted over Ev when she realized the ones in front were dwindling down and the majority of them were behind the vehicle. It took about five minutes before there wasn’t any sight of them at all and everyone started to relax.
“We’re going to need to find another vehicle,” Javier said.
They knew he was right. They were driving in the dark with little to light their way because a headlight was busted out by one of the many reanimated they plowed their way through them. There wasn’t any doubt in their minds that they would wait until daylight when they could at least see what was coming with more than just the light of the moon.
After a few moments of silence everyone relaxed and put their guns down. “Where to?” Javier asked.
“Stay straight for a few more miles and then there will be a road on your left that leads to the highway on-ramp. We’re going to go pass it and get on the old highway. No one uses it anymore except for the few locals who live there.”
“Alright.”
“What the hell is back here?” Lance asked.
Ev smiled as she turned around and said, “Supplies. Take a look if you’d like.”
The sound of the bag unzipping split through the silence that filled up the air. “Damn girl, what is this shit?”
“Everything we’re going to need.”
“Really?” Lance said as he held up a hand can opener.
“Yup. If you dig a little deeper you’ll see the cans of tuna fish. I wouldn’t doubt there’s going to be a shit ton of riots and looting, if there hasn’t been already. When people get scared and sense that death is upon them they begin to do some of the stupidest things ever. They lose all sense of humanity. Morals are thrown out the window and it becomes everyone for themselves. They do what they have to do to survive, and if they know they’re going to die…they just won’t give a shit anymore. They will break stuff, steal, start fires, they don’t care. We’re going to need that shit to survive.”
“If you’re so damn sure about that, then why are we all sticking together?” Ryan asked.
“Because we have hope. We feel we have a chance to survive and we’re struggling to do so, or at least we will be. We have a plan, and that plan is to go to bunker
with the president until these things die down. Eventually, they’ll have to starve to death.”
“Lady has a point,” Javier said.
“Well, what else is in here?” Lance asked.
“You’ll find antibiotics, both with and without penicillin. Rulers to use as splinters if something gets broken, duct tape, first aid kits, clothes, blankets, baby wipes. An entire bag is filled with bottled water. Two-way radios, lighters, batteries, battery powered radio, lantern, tent, I’m pretty sure you get it. Like I said. What is in those bags is survival. Oh, and in this one” Ev tapped the bag that was under her feet, “are weapons.”
“What, did you have a damn premonition about this shit or what?”
“She’s been prepared for shit like this from the time she was little,” Jase said. “She never liked to be unprepared for anything. She can handle anything the world throws at her. Whether it be a tornado, flood, vampires or zombies. She can handle it.”
“Think about it, you’d need everything I’ve packed to survive being stranded in a winter storm, a flood, just about anything. But the weapons, of course, were just in case this ever happened. Never hurts to be prepared, no matter how far-fetched something seems.”
Damn Javier was really liking this girl. Now he understood why she didn’t seem worried at all back at her house. There was something sexy about a woman who knew how to handle herself in bad situations. “You impress me,” he said.
“What? Should I have found the nearest set of stairs and ran up them?” she asked and Javier laughed.
“I don’t get it,” Lance said. That made everyone in the Jeep begin to laugh, and it felt nice.
“Dude, in every horror movie the chicks always find the first set of stairs and run up them instead of standing to fight or going into the open. They run up stairs just so the killer can see their boobs bounce and get themselves in a death trap,” Ryan said through his laughter.
Ev noticed how soft Javier looked when he laughed. That smile fit perfectly well on his masculine face. As he was laughing she admired his well-formed jawbone that added to his masculinity. She knew that if these were better circumstances, she would make a move on him.