State of Emergency

by Hallberg, Mary

  Talia shuddered. “This is freaking me out,” she said. “Let’s go.”

  “It was a little creepy,” Pierce said as they headed back to the car. “But I don’t really see the big deal. Looked like a typical office building to me. Except they ate each other.”

  Ten minutes after they got back in the car, Pierce’s phone began to chirp.

  "Can someone turn that off for me?" he said. "I don’t think it’s a message or anything.”

  Dallas reached for the dashboard and silenced the phone. Sure enough, the chirping wasn't a call or text, but a reminder. 'Dentist appt.' it read. She shook her head and set it back on the middle compartment.

  Chapter Nine

  Please be aware that this report contains language and disturbing content that may not be appropriate for all readers.

  A Mississippi resident has come forward with new information supporting the claim that a recent New Orleans traffic accident set off a zombie epidemic. Biloxi resident Stuart Maddox, 54, was visiting a family plot in Biloxi National Cemetery on the afternoon of October 7. While on the west side of the cemetery, out of public view from the road, he says he witnessed a shocking event.

  “Well I was just standing over my wife’s grave, minding my own business, when all of a sudden the ground starts moving under me. And I’m already freaking out when suddenly this hand pops up from under the dirt! So I’m thinking ‘holy shit, what’s going on here?’ and this hand keeps clawing its way up! Well, I didn’t stick around after that. No, I hauled ass out of there. God knows what happened after that. Guess those people saying it’s a zombie apocalypse were right.”

  Critics of Maddox’s story claim the man was a heavy drug user and loved attention. Nevertheless, he stands by his claim and is supported by conspirators who also say the zombie apocalypse is upon us.

  With Pierce at the wheel, they found their way out of the little town and back onto the highway. They drove through several side streets that looked like they hadn’t been paved or even driven on in years. Finally, the roads showed up again on the GPS, and Dallas sighed in relief. With their newly discovered assistance, Pierce guided them back onto the highway.

  It started to rain in the wee hours of the morning, and Pierce pulled the car over to the side of the road until dawn. By the time they started out again the rain had stopped, but the ground was still wet. Buildings started popping up again, and soon they passed under another interstate bridge. There were no begging-to-be-hot wired cars here, but there was a steady stream of traffic in both the north and south bound lanes.

  “Maybe everything is business as usual,” Talia said.

  “I hope so,” Pierce replied. “We need a few more supplies, and I’d like to get them in a place where I don’t have to worry about getting eaten.”

  “You could still get eaten in a city,” Dallas cut in. “In fact you’d probably be more likely to get eaten in a city. More people means more potential zombies.”

  “Well, at least if someone eats me in public, someone will hopefully do something about it. If we’re miles away from civilization, nobody will ever be able to find us.”

  So they drove into the city. Multiple story buildings rose up around them, and more than one driver nearly hit them as they refused to look while pulling out of their street side parking spots. After a few blocks, Dallas spotted a coffee shop. “Pierce!” she shouted abruptly. “Pull over!”

  She cringed after saying it, thinking back to the incident where he had abandoned their car completely. She didn’t want a repeat of that, or the scene in the pharmacy, and for a moment she was afraid she had provoked him. Fortunately, he didn’t react except to pull into a parking spot in front of the shop.

  “What’s going on?” he said. “Did you see something?”

  She pointed to the shop, its wooden sign blowing slightly in the wind. “I haven’t had coffee in two days,” she said. “Let’s go in.”

  They headed into the coffee shop. The walls were decorated with water colors and striped wallpaper. Soft jazz music poured in from the speakers, and a smiling barista stood behind the counter, taking orders and drinking occasionally from a plastic cup.

  Talia pointed to a table by the far corner of the counter that held several bottles of hand sanitizer. “Do they usually have those in coffee shops?”

  Dallas shrugged. “Never seen one before. Guess everyone is paranoid right now.”

  They stepped into line behind the businessmen and housewives. Several customers were punching buttons on their cell phones, or whispering into the mouthpieces. One woman in a frilly red top and dress pants whispered loudly about her unfaithful ex-husband and his desire to regain custody of their children. Apparently she wasn’t having it; she hissed and screamed to the person on the other end about how “that jerk” wasn’t touching her babies. At the hand-off plane, another barista called out a drink for ‘Jack.’ Even from a distance, Dallas could see a white label with what had to be Jack’s name and drink printed on it. A middle aged man preoccupied with his phone stared at the drink, then asked the barista, “Is that mine?”

  They finally got their coffee and sat on a plush red couch. From the hand off plane a few feet away, Dallas watched a man yell at a barista who had apparently made his drink wrong. The girl looked as if she wanted to curl up in a fetal position.

  After about five minutes, Pierce set his cup down. “Okay, this is kind of creepy,” he said.

  “Why is it creepy?” Dallas asked. “Everything seems normal.”

  “Exactly. We’ve seen people come back from the dead and eat people, and here it’s like nothing is wrong.”

  “Well, the virus obviously hasn’t affected people here. They probably drink filtered water, and you can’t contract the virus unless you drink tap water. We don’t even know if you can contract it by biting. I’ve never seen anyone get it after being bitten.”

  “Maybe you can’t,” Sam said. “Maybe that’s why it hasn’t spread that far.”

  “But then why have the zombies been attacking us?” Dallas countered. “They wouldn’t just lunge at us for no reason. Lions don’t just attack antelope for fun. They do it because they have to eat them. If zombies don’t have to eat us, why would they attack?”

  “They haven’t attacked us much though, have they? I mean, except maybe Tatum. The zombies in the gas station could have heard us coming and surrounded us in self defense. The one in the church didn’t even look at us until Pierce’s phone rang. And maybe Tatum was just confused, or even scared.”

  “A zombie? Scared?”

  “Who knows, Dal. This isn’t necessarily one of your zombie movies. We don’t know what these things are really like.”

  They finished their coffees twenty minutes later, trashing the cups and heading for the door. On their way out, they were eyed by another barista from the other side of the shop. As they got to the door, she approached them.

  “Have you guys used any hand sanitizer since you got here?” she asked.

  “What?” Sam said, raising his eyebrows. “Uh, no.”

  “We’re requiring that all of our customers use at least one application of hand sanitizer before leaving the store.” The barista motioned to the table near the counter.

  “Um...okay.” Dallas took a tiny step backward. “Why?”

  The barista smiled. “To prevent the spread of the virus, of course.”

  “You do know that won’t help, right?” Pierce said. “The virus is spread through the water, not just by touching each other.”

  The barista switched her eyes from side to side. “If you resist, I’ll be forced to call security.”

  “Go ahead. Call security. See if we care.”

  “Pierce,” Dallas hissed, “Just use the damn sanitizer. It’s not worth it.”

  He took a step back. “All right then. I will. But after that, we’re leaving this city. We shouldn’t have come here. Stupid decision, guys.” Dallas tried to give the barista an
apologetic glance, but she had already started cleaning tables.

  “God this stuff smells horrible,” Pierce muttered. Dallas rubbed hers in without complaint, but wondered if the other customers felt silly trying to stop a fatal virus with something on a first grader’s school supply list.

  “I know you want to leave, Pierce,” Talia said as they exited the coffee shop. “But we could take a break and check this place out. See if it has a mall or anything.”

  “How can you take this so casually?” Dallas said.

  “What are you talking about?”

  “People are dying. Our friends are dying. And all you care about is going to the mall.”

  “I care about going to Tennessee, Dal. This is just a stop. Are we not allowed to take a break?”

  “I just don’t know if it’s a good idea. We don’t know how fast the virus is spreading.”

  “Um, hello. Were we just in the same coffee shop? Other than the hand sanitizer, everything was completely normal.”

  Dallas didn’t have time to respond before a low growl came from the sidewalk a few yards away. The barista who had taken their order emerged from the coffee shop. She didn’t bother to push the door open with her hands, but leaned against it with her shoulders and let it fall closed again as she emerged. She shuffled toward the parking area.

  “What the hell…?” Pierce muttered.

  The barista was clearly a zombie. She made her way toward them, emitting low moans as she stomped her feet on the pavement. Her skin was pale gray with chicken pox-esque dots, just like Tatum’s had been.

  "Come on guys, let's go," Sam said. "Get in the car!"

  Zombie barista lunged for them, growling. The lone passerby on the sidewalk widened his eyes and walked away without a word. Dallas opened the back driver’s side door, her eye on the pizza cutter.

  “Hold it right there.” Dallas heard the voice before she saw the policeman emerge from behind their car. He must have been on the street, for whatever reason, and approached them when he heard the commotion.

  In the brief pause, Zombie Barista had caught up to them. She lunged for Talia, who shoved her a good six feet across the sidewalk. The officer brandished his gun. “What’s going on here?”

  “We have to go,” Dallas said.

  The zombie reached for Talia again, but the policeman stopped her. She growled and twitched in his hold as he pulled out a pair of handcuffs and fastened her wrists together.

  “You’ve got to be kidding me,” Talia said.

  The policeman ignored her. “Ma’am, you’re under arrest for assault and battery. Follow me.”

  Dallas and her companions watched with gaping mouths as the policeman led the zombie into the squad car parked across the street. “Officer, you don’t know what you’re doing,” Dallas called out.

  Again, the officer didn’t seem to hear her. They were drawing a crowd; middle aged men in business suits watched from the sidewalk, tearing themselves away from their phones just long enough to see the officer lose his grip on Zombie Barista.

  It all happened so quickly. The zombie tore into the officer’s jugular, squirting blood into the air and down his uniform. The onlookers went from staring to gaping, even whimpering. From somewhere further down the sidewalk, a woman screamed.

  Dallas reached for Talia’s wrist and pulled her back toward the car. Talia jerked away. “We’ve got to do something!” she shouted above the commotion.

  “There’s nothing we can do,” Dallas said. “Come on, we have to get out of here.”

  The others reluctantly followed her to the car, but Talia reached in the backseat and pulled out her bow. Gathering up a few arrows, she aimed from the driver side door and fired one. The first one missed, nearly hitting the bleeding officer. The second one hit the zombie in the stomach, and it made one final groan and keeled over.

  “Talia, what the hell?” Dallas shouted. But Talia was already shouting at Pierce and Sam to get in the car and Dallas to drive, which she did as the mob of old ladies and middle aged men descended on them. She slammed the door and drove off, careful not to actually hit anyone in the process. Although, at this point, she figured it didn’t really matter.

  A photo showing a purported image of zombies eating human flesh has surfaced online. According to reports, the photo originated on the social networking profile of an unnamed Louisiana resident. Photo experts confirm it as genuine.

  The photo shows the bodies of multiple unidentified victims. It is graphic, showing the victims’ organs and lacerated stomachs. The crowd above them appears to be eating their remains.

  This is not the first reported occurrence of human cannibalism this year, but it is the first alleged image of zombies since rumors of a virus cropped up online late Friday night. Investigators are still looking into what caused a truck crash in a New Orleans cemetery late Friday afternoon that conspirators say started everything.

  Critics point out that all New Orleans graves are above ground, rendering it impossible for corpses to rise from them. Still, conspirators continue to spin their wild theories. They insist that the chemicals seeped not into the bodies of their long dead loved ones, but into the water system, infecting those who drank unfiltered tap water.

  A few hours later, when the only sound within earshot was the whirring of their tires on the road, Pierce slammed his head back against the head rest. “Shit!” he yelled.

  “What is it?” Dallas said.

  “Do you know what we keep forgetting to do? Fill up the gas tank. God dammit...who knows when we’re going to get another chance.”

  “What if those people from the coffee shop are still after us?” Talia protested.

  “We’ve gone too far. They won’t have followed us out all this way.”

  “But what if they do?”

  Pierce took a deep breath, and Dallas knew he was trying not to explode. “They won’t, okay? We did nothing wrong. We tried to help that cop, but he didn’t listen to us. We did everything we could.”

  Dallas wanted to protest, to tell him that wouldn’t stop them. If anyone saw them run away and concluded they were responsible for the policeman’s or even the barista’s death, they might not stop until they found them. But she didn’t want another outburst, and didn’t think her theory was very plausible anyway. So she kept quiet.

  They did finally reach another town, and the first building they came across was a run-down convenience store. It had been less than half an hour, but to Dallas, it felt like ages.

  Pierce slid the car into the parking space in front of the store, not bothering to get within the yellow lines. “I’m going in,” he said. “You guys keep watch. Call me or yell if you see anyone else. If the coast is clear, I’ll send Tally a text message. Then you guys can come in and use the bathrooms and maybe get some more food.”

  “No way,” Dallas said. “Are you crazy? You’re not going in there alone. Sam and I will go and you two can stay here and keep watch.”

  “I’ll go in with him,” Talia said. “I can handle myself. I’m just picking up food that we can eat without preparing, right? It’s not rocket science.”

  “You are not going inside that store, Talia,” Dallas protested.

  “Okay, mom. We’ll just stay out here and wait for a zombie to eat us. And you and Sam can go into the gas station and find a zombie to eat you.”

  “Did you not just see what happened back at that coffee shop? There’s danger around every corner.”

  “Oh come on, Dallas. We were alone when you and Sam went into that gas station in Meridian and we got out.”

  “Why do you keep citing that god damn gas station? You weren’t alone then. You were with Pierce. And how many times do I have to remind you that one of our friends died in there? Do you want it to be you and Pierce we find next? How would you like it if mom and dad saw that picture all over the internet?”

  “Well, why would I care what pictures mom and dad saw? I’d be dead.”<
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  Normally Dallas would have laughed, but instead she crossed her arms. “Talia, stop playing this game right fucking now,” she said. “God, I’m so sick of your shit.”

  “Well, the feeling’s mutual. You’ve always bossed me around, ever since we were kids.”

  “Are you kidding me? Every time I even tried to tell you what to do, you went and pitched a fit to mom, and she always took your side. Always! I can’t believe you, Talia.”

  Talia huffed and looked over at Pierce. She took his arm. “We’re going in.”

  Sam sat up and licked his lips. “Why don’t we all go in together?” he said. “Safety in numbers, right?”

  “I’m not going in with Dallas.” Talia stuck her nose in the air. “You guys can just stay out here and rot for all I care.” She grabbed her bow and arrow and threw the car door open. “Come on Pierce, let’s go.”

  Pierce gave Dallas an apologetic glance, but followed Talia into the gas station.

  Dallas didn’t care to drive anymore and scooted to the backseat beside Sam. “Tally’s right, you know,” he said. “They wouldn’t be any safer even if we were in there with them.”

  “I know, but it still makes me nervous. I wish we didn’t have to argue like this. There’s enough shit going on right now.”

  “Ali’s always been the same way with me. Always so protective. I’ve been texting her, by the way.”

  “Just texting?” Dallas said. “You haven’t called?”

  “I tried calling, but it didn’t go through. I guess the phone lines are down.”