Vanessa set to work on the padlock wrapped around the handles while Chas and the others circled around and kept their eyes and ears open. With a rattle of chains, Vanessa opened the shop, a small one-room cornucopia filled with all kinds of stuff, half of it overpriced rubbish. “There we go.”
They trooped inside, and Chas quickly found the lights, switching them on. “Help yourselves, everyone. We can settle up later when everything goes back to normal. If it ever does.” That last part she whispered to herself, not wanting to panic the rest of the group.
Chas took a bottle of water of water from the fridge, drinking the whole lot in one go. “Ah, that’s better. I was so thirsty.”
Vanessa nodded in between sips of a coke. “Me too.”
With her thirst sated, she turned toward the snacks. The chocolate bars and sweets beckoned, but Chas knew her body needed more substantial food and ate a protein bar and a packet of peanuts. It relieved the worst of her hunger pangs, and she felt less shaky. More energized too.
At the t-shirt racks, Chas found a fresh top to replace her old one. Her jeans and sneakers were still good, but her shirt had torn during the climb over the zoo’s gates and smelled pretty bad too. Staring at the remaining clothing, inspiration struck, and she tore another into thin strips which she wound around her hands and forearms.
Emily stared at her and smiled. “That’s a good idea.”
“Yeah, it sure beats the toilet paper,” Andrew muttered as he picked a pair of jeans off the racks.
The other three followed her example, and within minutes, they all wore clean clothes and had their hands and arms shielded by strips of material. At Andrew’s suggestion, they also slipped bandannas around their necks to cover their faces.
“With the fires in the city, smoke is bound to be a problem,” he said.
“Good thinking,” Chas said, wondering what waited for them outside the confines of the zoo. Thus far, it’d been a haven of tranquility, an eye in the midst of the storm.
With that thought in mind, she tossed each of them a backpack with the zoo logo emblazoned on it. “Take what you can. Anything that might be useful later on.”
Emily, in the meantime, had switched on the tiny television in the corner, and while they scavenged, the kids listened to the live news reports coming in. It wasn’t comforting.
“Reports of a deadly virus are streaming in from all corners of the states. Contaminated beef has been pinpointed as the cause of the infection currently affecting millions across the globe.”
Chas stuffed a lighter and a box of painkillers into her bag as she listened, her jaw nearly hitting the floor. “So it was the meat.”
“Yeah, you were right, Chas,” Emily said. “I can’t believe it’s already spread across the entire world, though.”
“I know,” Chas said, adding a box of bandaids and two bandages to her growing stash. A few bottles of water, cooldrink, protein bars, mixed nuts, and dried fruit rounded it out, and she hoisted the pack onto her back.
The television screen zoomed in on a shot of zombies attacking a group of people trying to escape on foot, and the screams were hauntingly familiar to Chas’ ears. It instantly took her back to the horror of the fair and their narrow escape from the Ferris wheel.
“Infected people are deemed highly contagious and volatile. In the final stages, they present with symptoms of extreme hunger, violence, and lack of reasoning or thought. Do not attempt to engage with any of these individuals even if they are family or friends. The virus is transmitted through contact with bodily fluids such as saliva and blood. A single bite, scratch, or even a drop of blood in your mouth, eyes, or open wounds will result in infection.”
Emily stared at the screen. “So, it’s as I thought. We need to be very careful out there, or we’ll get infected too.” She glanced at Andrew. “The bandannas will help for more than just the smoke from fires. Good idea.”
Andrew ducked his head. “Thanks.”
Chas opened a plastic packet containing a flashlight and filled it with batteries before tossing more to Vanessa, Andrew, and Emily as well. “We’ll need these.”
The television continued with its litany of doom. “Reports of the infection spreading among animals have also surfaced, magnifying the danger of this disease. Unlike in humans, however, the infection appears to be short-lived, permanently killing the host within a couple of hours. While alive, these animals are highly dangerous and infectious, though, and all contact should be avoided.”
Grainy footage of soldiers evacuating people from their houses followed, punctuated by shots as they killed any pets they came across despite their owner’s pleas and cries. Silence filled the shop as the last howls and gunshots faded away, and Chas swallowed at the thought of all those poor animals killed just like that.
“We should look for weapons too. Something better than a table leg and a toilet lid,” Vanessa said with a grim look on her face. “It seems like we’ll need it.”
“What about this?” Andrew asked pulling out a baseball bat from the back of a rack. “There’s more, and they look fairly sturdy for cheap knock-offs.”
“We’ll each take one,” Chas said, wrapping her hands around the handle and hefting the bat. It had a solid feel to it which was comforting.
The reporter on television’s voice was replaced by a more official sounding one, and Chas turned to listen, hopefully for the last time. She’d heard and seen enough by now to give her nightmares for a month.
“The Federal Government has declared a state of National Emergency and has implemented Martial Law. The National Guard has been deployed to all major population centers and safe zones have been established for uninfected citizens. Please contact your local emergency services for details regarding your nearest evacuation point. Be sure to follow all instructions. Non-compliance will not be tolerated.”
“That sounds…ominous,” Emily said, holding her bat in one hand and her flashlight in the other. Her pack was on her back, and she moved to stand in front of the glass windows, staring out into the night.
“Yeah, it does,” Vanessa agreed as she put the finishing touches on her outfit.
“We’d better get going before it’s too late. We have to find our parents and get to those safe zones in time, or…” Chas trailed off, unable to finish the thought. “Are you guys ready?”
“I’m ready,” Andrew said with a determined look.
“Me too,” Vanessa said.
Emily said nothing. Instead, she seemed frozen in place, her eyes fixed on the glass in front of her.
“Emily?” Chas asked, taking a step nearer.
Emily remained silent, a marble statue.
The lights above their heads flickered and switched off, plunging them into darkness. Faint moonlight shone through the glass, illuminating a terrible specter crouched in front of the windows. In front of Emily’s window.
Chas had a brief moment of quiet in which to take in the hulking torso, thick black fur, hunched shoulders, and white fangs. Worst of all were the eyes…burning with hunger and hate.
The moment passed as the massive gorilla reared up, smashing its fists into the glass where Emily stood, her skin as pale as melted wax. Cracks shot through the length of the window.
“Emily, move!” Chas screamed, launching herself forward.
Emily jerked as if coming awake from a deep sleep. She turned to run, throwing herself at Chas even as the gorilla’s fists came down a second time and smashed the glass into a million tiny fragments.
Chapter 8
The gorilla roared. The deep notes reverberated through the tiny shop and shook Chas to the core. Emily screamed as she ran from the rampaging ape, its swinging arms barely missing her each time.
Racks went flying. Plastic toys flew overhead. Packets of potato chips exploded. Cans of cold drink made dents in the walls. It was chaos.
“Get to the fire exit,” Chas shouted, hoping her friends could hear her even as she dragged Emily toward it. A snow globe
hurtled past her head, missing her temple by a hairs-breadth.
She reached the emergency exit and twisted the handle, shoving the door open. With a yank of Emily’s arm, Chas sent her flying outside before she turned back to look for Vanessa and Andrew.
Andrew was right behind her, his face taut with shock and horror. Chas stepped aside to allow him past, her eyes scanning the space behind him for Vanessa, but her friend was nowhere to be seen.
“Vanessa! Where are you?” Chas cried.
“Over here,” came the muffled reply and Chas zoomed in on the sound until she spotted Vanessa pinned under a rack, her eyes huge in her pale face. The distance between them was small, a few steps at most, but with a raging gorilla in the works, it might as well have been miles.
Chas dove forward. She grabbed the rack with both hands and pulled as hard as she could. The steel contraption barely moved, scraping along the floor with a shrill screech. The gorilla roared again, its head swiveling until it settled on her face, its beady eyes filled with the mindless hunger of the virus.
The big ape bared its fangs and raced toward her, tossing aside furniture like it weighed nothing. The rack under which Vanessa lay was one of these and went flying into the nearest wall with a crash.
Chas gathered Vanessa into her arms, but it was too late to run. The beast was on them, its hot, fetid breath washing over their faces as it screamed its primal rage. It raised its fists into the air, ready to smash them both to a pulp. Chas squeezed her eyes shut as she clung to Vanessa, holding onto her friend for comfort even as death descended.
A chorus of vicious snarls interrupted the scene. The baying of a pack of wolves filled the space around the cowering Chas until her very bones vibrated with the primitive sounds.
Above her, the ape paused before whirling to meet this new threat. Even as the gorilla turned, three furred bodies flew through the air and sank their teeth into its flesh. The ape flailed its powerful arms against the attacking canines, tossing one against the opposite wall with a bone-breaking crunch. Undeterred, the wolves kept coming, their slavering mouths wide open as they launched themselves at their chosen prey.
Chas stared at the scene in terror until Vanessa tugged at her arms. “We’ve gotta get out of here before they target us too.”
Cursing herself for being so stupid, Chas helped Vanessa to her feet and together they limped out of the shop and slammed the fire escape door shut behind them. The last glimpse Chas got of the interior was the gorilla fighting off four wolves while three more circled at its heels. She was certain the ape would die, and despite the fact that it had tried to kill her, she felt sorry for it.
There was nothing she could do about it, however. The animals were infected, and if the news report was correct, they’d die in a few hours anyway.
“Come on. Let’s get out of here. The zoo is no longer safe for us,” Chas said, gathering the little group together. “We don’t want to wait around for those wolves to come hunting.”
“No kidding,” Andrew said, his teeth chattering with either fear or shock. Maybe both. “How’d they get infected? There are no zombies here. The place is empty.”
“Who says?” Vanessa replied. “Maybe someone stayed late, or there’s night staff. A security guard maybe.”
“It could be tainted meat in their feed,” Emily said.
“Either way, we’d better get out of here. I fancy my chances are better against a zombie than a bloody ape,” Vanessa said.
“Ditto. Let’s move,” Chas said, setting out at a brisk run.
After the false sense of security the shop had given her, the thought of infected animals around every turn seemed even worse than the hordes of zombies at the fair. Every shadow hid a pair of glowing eyes. Around every corner lurked a set of slavering fangs. Even the moon seemed cold and distant, the breeze through the leaves whispering words of death in her ears.
With goosebumps pebbling her flesh, Chas led her group through the remainder of the zoo, their footsteps loud in the silence of the night. The hoot of an owl caused her to jump, her heart banging in her chest, and it was with profound relief that she spotted the main gates in the distance. Salvation.
Only…
Chas stumbled to a stop, her breath sawing in and out of her lungs as terror flooded her veins afresh.
“What’s wrong?” Vanessa asked.
Chas pointed at the figure guarding the gate, its stumbling movements marking it as one of the undead. “You were right.”
Vanessa’s lips formed an o of horror. “The security guard.”
“We’ll have to kill him if we want to get past,” Chas said, making the decision in an instant.
“Kill him? We can’t just kill him,” Emily protested.
“Why not? He’ll kill us.”
“But, he’s a person. It’s murder.”
“It’s either him, or stay and face the wolves, Emily. Take your pick.” Chas spoke a little more harshly than she’d intended, but it was the truth.
“I…I can’t,” Emily said.
“I can,” Andrew said, his lips set in a determined line. “Nothing is stopping me from going home tonight.”
“If we attack him from all sides, we can do it,” Chas said. “Aim for the head, and bash his brains in. Go!”
“But…” Emily’s protests remained unspoken as Chas stormed ahead, ignoring anything but the zombie guard that stood between her and Lala and Grumps.
Vanessa and Andrew followed, wielding their baseball bats with vicious war cries. Chas got to him first and lashed out with her weapon, catching him on the side of the head. The zombie guard realized too late that there was trouble on the horizon. It whirled to meet her attack with a snarl, and Chas got in a second hit that smacked him dead center in the face.
The guard’s nose broke, and blood spurted out in an arch. Chas danced aside to avoid the deadly stuff, and both Vanessa and Andrew let rip with their bats, each blow staving in the zombie’s head until it resembled mush. The corpse fell to the ground with a thump, and Chas surveyed their work with a mixture of pride, sadness, and nausea. That used to be a person, but not anymore. “We did it. We got him.”
“Man, that’s gross,” Andrew said, wiping his bat on a clump of grass. Chas and Vanessa followed suit, neither of them keen to have infected blood anywhere near them.
“Here, let me,” Emily said, her voice barely above a whisper. From her pack, she produced a spray can of disinfectant and sprayed both their weapons and hands with the stuff.
Chas felt sorry for her. For all her academic smarts and quick temper, Emily was at heart a soft girl. Shy and reserved. The guard’s death, though necessary, was hard for her to handle.
“Are you okay, Em?”
“Yeah, I’m fine,” Emily replied, though she looked anything but fine, and Chas decided to let it go for the moment. They had more pressing concerns.
“Can we get out of here now?” Vanessa said with a shiver. “This place gives me the creeps.”
As if to remind them of the danger they were in, a chorus of howls filled the path behind them. The wolves were back.
“Oh, crap. Get out of here. Now!” Chas cried, and as one, the little group made a beeline for the heavy wrought iron gates.
They scrambled over, landing on the other side one by one, their frightened gasps loud in the silence. The first infected wolf slammed into the gate as Chas dusted off her knees, followed by another and another.
She gazed at them with fascination as they tore themselves to pieces on the metal bars, not appearing to feel pain at all. Finally, she shook her head. “Let’s go. Vanessa’s house isn’t far from here.”
“It’s not. Follow me,” Vanessa said, and together they set off into the suburbs, hoping against hope that they were heading to safety, however little it might be.
Chapter 9
They were a block away from Vanessa’s house. Only one block. To Chas, it felt like ten. The street was quiet. Too quiet, actually, especially as there were si
gns that the infection had spread this far, and she couldn’t help but wonder where all the zombies were.
An abandoned car stood in the middle of the road with its doors open. Black tire tracks showed the driver had slammed on the brakes and come to an abrupt stop. Whoever drove had either escaped or was now one of the undead. Chas didn’t care to find out which.
A bicycle had been tossed aside on the sidewalk, and another car stood with its trunk open and filled with luggage, but there was nobody around to claim it. Front doors stood open, windows were broken, and most ominously, not a single dog barked.
The houses were bathed in darkness. With the electricity off, not a single light shone in the entire city. She was glad she’d thought of the flashlights even if they were of poor make. The beams, though weak, was the only light beside the fickle moon, and she kept disappearing behind banks of clouds.
Chas mused that she’d always thought of the moon as a girl and the sun as a boy. Why was that? They were planets. They had no gender. Still, she felt that if they did, the moon would be female. It just made sense.
Vanessa paused behind a bank of hedges and gestured to them all to huddle up which they did. “Right. My house is right around the corner. I’ll go in first, and―”
“No. We stick together. Splitting up would be a mistake. What if your foster parents are…zombies?” Chas asked.
“That’s why I want you to wait outside. I don’t want anybody to get hurt because of me,” Vanessa replied.
“Nonsense. We’re in this together,” Chas said. “We’re going with you.”
Vanessa flashed her a smile. “Thanks, Chas. To be honest, I’m a bit scared.”
“I know. I think we all are. None of us want to see our families like that. It’s…horrible,” Chas said.
“This whole situation is horrible,” Andrew muttered. “But, at least, we’re in this together. I could still be back there with Macy. One of them, maybe.”
“That’s true. We’re not alone in this,” Chas agreed.
Gen Z Boxed Set Page 5