Apocalypse Asunder

by David Rogers

  “A ladder?”

  “Yeah, a ladder.”

  “Why?”

  “Because I want to destroy the stairs that lead up here so no one can get up and bother us.”

  “Then how are we going to get up when we leave?”

  “I’m still working that part out.” Jessica admitted. The only thing she’d come up with so far was to bring the ladder every time they left; and she wasn’t sure how practical that would be. Plus it meant she had to keep Candice with her at all times, which was the other thing she was trying to figure out.

  “What’s for breakfast?”

  Jessica shook herself away from the unanswered questions. “How about I fry up a can of that hash we’ve been saving?”

  “Yummy!” the girl said, clapping her hands excitedly. Most of the canned goods were vegetables and soups; but there were a few that Jessica had been holding onto for special occasions. Including three cans of corned beef hash. She also had two cans of actual corned beef. They counted as special because meat protein had been thin and infrequent in the absence of power for refrigerators.

  “We can have some hash, and some crackers with jelly packets, and what say we open one of the cans of peaches too?” One of the multitude of problems with no refrigeration was if something got opened, it just about had to always be finished off then and there or it would spoil. She had several jars of jelly that she still wasn’t sure how to eat; even if Austin showed up, she couldn’t figure how two adults and a ten-year-old could manage to consume an entire jar of jelly in one sitting. But there were some fast food single-serve packets as well, and those were much simpler to use up.

  “Double yummy.”

  “Good. Shoes, then you can use the bathroom while I check to make sure the house is still okay. Then I’ll use the bathroom, then I’ll cook.”

  Jessica had some ideas about the bathrooms to, but she wanted to deal with security first. In fact, she needed to start a list of things that she felt would be good to do. The house had inspired a number of notions that occurred to her, and she was certain more would follow; but she knew better than to get ahead of herself. Take it slow, one thing at a time. Unpleasant bathroom smells weren’t anything new that she and Candice hadn’t gotten used to; so that could hold off at least a little while. Certainly it didn’t overly interfere with the routine as she and her daughter cycled through their morning toiletry activities.

  The house was quiet, and she still couldn’t figure out what had awoken her. She left the back door secured – using the little propane camp stove again – while she made the breakfast. As the hash was frying in one of the cast iron skillets she’d collected out of houses back in Georgia, she studied things beyond the lake-side windows she’d opened up for ventilation. Everything outside all looked normal.

  A big expanse of water that she knew was a lake, but couldn’t see across; that was different, but unthreatening. She didn’t see anything moving on the lake except wind and birds. The wind was enough to produce ripples; water motion that was enough to count as movement, but not nearly grand enough to qualify as even the tamest of waves. She didn’t care; it was oddly soothing. Relaxing. She made a mental note to put a boat or canoe or something on her list though; just in case.

  After breakfast, she wiped out the skillet using a paper towel and left it on the non-functional kitchen stove. One advantage of the cast iron was she didn’t have to fool around very much with ‘proper’ cleaning. She brought her purse with the emergency kit, and made sure she had two boxes of ammunition tucked away. Her supply of forty-five was still low, but there was plenty of nine millimeter. Enough for her to stand a siege if necessary.

  “So, here’s my plan.” Jessica said when she was ready. Candice, waiting near the front door, gave her attentive eyes that made it clear she was listening. “I want to take a look around the immediate area for useful things, useful places, that we’ll need.”

  “Like what?”

  Jessica pulled the map out of her purse and unfolded it to the lake area, bending down so Candice could move closer and see it. “If I’ve been paying attention and tracking us correctly, we’re about here.” she said, pointing at the peninsula that spiked out into the lake. Her finger moved south, and then southwest, tapping in turn. “Here, and here, it looks like there are some little towns.”

  “Those aren’t the only ones.” Candice said, pointing at two other places. One was on the south end of the lake, the other about ten or fifteen miles east of the two closest ones Jessica had indicated. “And this one looks pretty big.” the girl added, tapping the paper lightly over the inland town.

  “Yes, but they’re also further away. And this one is big enough that it could easily have a really big zombie problem.” Jessica replied. “Plus, it’s closer to Fort Myers, which isn’t a place I want to get any nearer than we need to; and right now, we don’t need to. Let’s just start with the two close, and small, ones.”

  “We’re scouting?”

  “Exactly.”

  “Austin would like that.”

  “I’m sure he would. So, here’s the thing. We can’t stop being careful. All the rules are still in effect. We have to always pay attention, always keep a close eye on what’s going on around us.”

  “Because of zombies.”

  “Because of a lot of things, but zombies are important.” Jessica confirmed. “So be careful, stay watchful, stay close to me, got it?”

  “Got it.”

  “Okay. Let’s go scouting.” Jessica said, folding the map back up and sticking it in her purse. She untied the cord on the front door, then disengaged the locks so she could crack it a little and look out carefully. The porch seemed clear, but she had been taught by Austin to never assume anything. After that first look she pulled the door open and stepped back as she drew the Taurus. Nothing jumped in at her, so she angled back and forth to get as good a look at the porch as she could before slowly edging out.

  The day was clear and warming, and nothing seemed to be lurking about; either on the porch or on the ground around the house. After closing the door, Jessica led the way down the stairs, taking her time and stopping halfway down to take a three-sixty look at the entire area; but all was quiet. The truck was right where she’d left it, and started when she inserted the key.

  She wanted to top up her gas cans, but not today. The truck had enough fuel for a good look around the area, and then some; she’d take care of the cans tomorrow or the next day. Today she wanted to get a feel for the lay of the land. If they were going to be staying in the area for a while, hopefully at least through the winter, knowing where to go for scavenging certain things would be critical. And knowing what areas had people, what areas had zombies, and how many of each . . . that would be important as well.

  The first town really was a small one, sitting directly astride US-27 three or four miles from Okeechobee. A river ran along, and through, the eastern side of the town that her map showed connected into the canal that surrounded the lake. Her map showed just about the entire lake was bordered by a canal that was several miles inland. That made the stilt house make even more sense; flooding apparently was a thing around here; or a canal encircling the entire lake wouldn’t have been dug and maintained.

  The town itself seemed as quiet and desolate as any of the others she’d seen since the apocalypse. Jessica stayed on the outskirts, but she saw few zombies and no one who struck her as alive moving about. A number of little docks dotted the river, and some of them had small boats or canoes tied up to them. Actually, she was pretty sure most of them were chained, but that was a problem for another day.

  Most importantly – other than the lack of any large numbers of hungry zombies – she didn’t see any real signs the town had suffered heavily in the outbreaks. Few damaged buildings, no blocks ravaged by fire, a number of stores that looked intact – including two small supermarkets – and three gas stations. If it weren’t for the general lack of any activity, and the trash she saw scattered and oc
casionally blowing about like tumbleweeds in a western, she would’ve said the scenes looked almost normal.

  “Is everyone dead?” Candice asked just as Jessica was about to stop circling around the town’s outskirts and head for the highway where she wanted to leave another note for Austin at.

  Jessica shrugged, trying to put as much casual lightness as she felt was reasonable into the gesture. “I don’t think everyone’s dead, no.”

  “Then where did they all go?”

  “Lots of people left their homes. You know why we left ours.”

  “Zombies.”

  “Yes.” Jessica thought, unable to keep from shuddering at the dark memory of her mother nonchalantly chewing on mouthfuls of her father. “And even though it’s true, it’s also fair to say I was running from having to let you see your grandparents like that.” Aloud though, she just nodded and managed to get her voice to come out more or less level. “Zombies are a good reason to run. Fighting them is dangerous.”

  “Yes.” Candice said sadly. “But it’s been a long time since this started.”

  “Not that long.”

  “It’s Halloween now.” Candice disagreed. “I mean, isn’t it?”

  “Just about.” Jessica admitted.

  “Summer to Halloween is a long time Mom.”

  Jessica smiled as she remembered time moved differently on kid clocks. It took the jaded inattentiveness of adulthood to let life start whipping past you too fast to notice. “Okay, so it’s been a while, yeah.”

  “Is it always going to be like this?”

  “Oh God.” Jessica said before she could stop herself. She caught Candice giving her a close stare of appraisal, and forced another light shrug. “I hope not.”

  “But what if it is?”

  “We’ll just keep doing what we have been.”

  “Hiding?”

  “Surviving.” Jessica corrected gently. “Though hiding isn’t too wrong either.”

  “Is everyone hiding?”

  “I think a lot of people are.”

  “If everyone keeps surviving by hiding, doesn’t that mean the zombies will always be here?”

  “I don’t think anyone knows how things are going to work out.”

  “But don’t people need to fight the zombies to fix everything?”

  Jessica considered. She’d never been a big horror fan, but she knew the depictions of zombies prior to their changing headings from ‘fiction’ to ‘real’ had run the gamut. Some zombies got more dangerous with age, others tended to fall apart. Some needed to have eaten to be at their best, others were just killing machines with only one gear. She was still quite thankful these zombies hadn’t turned out to be adrenalized sprinters . . . she knew she and Candice would be dead if that had been the case. And she figured the outlook for everything else wouldn’t be very good either.

  “I think there are still all kinds of people.” she finally said, brush her musings about the zombies aside. “Some people might have turned into zombies, and others might have died because of them; but there are still all sorts of people out there in the world. Some of them are going to be the kinds that go around cleaning zombies up. We’re not like that, so our job is to stay safe and do what we can when the opportunity arises.”

  “What about Austin.”

  “What about him?” Jessica asked as she found US-27 and turned the truck to follow it away from the town.

  “He’s the kind of person who can kill a lot of zombies.”

  “And . . . ?” Jessica pressed calmly.

  “Maybe that’s why he’s not here yet.”

  “You think he’s off on a zombie killing spree?”

  “Sure, why not?”

  “Oh God.” Jessica thought. “I hope not.”

  Candice smiled brightly, oblivious to the slight tensing of Jessica’s hands on the steering wheel. “I bet he’s kicking a lot of zombie butt.”

  “I just hope he’s safe.” Jessica said carefully. “There were a lot of zombies back in Ocala, remember? Maybe too many for even Austin to handle.”

  “He’s tough.”

  “Yes he is.”

  Candice smiled. “Maybe he’ll clean out all the zombies that could bother us.”

  Jessica couldn’t help the slight chuckle she gave. “Maybe, but let’s just hope for him to find us safely, okay?”

  “Can’t we hope for both?”

  Jessica shrugged. “I have no idea. But I know he can take care of himself.” Ahead she saw a sign that proclaimed drivers were now leaving the city, with another on the opposite side. She figured the other one was the ‘Welcome’ sign, and stopped the truck even with them in the middle of the road.

  “Stay in the truck, but stay watchful.” Jessica told Candice, putting the transmission in park and setting the brake.

  “What are you doing?” the girl asked, sounding surprised enough for some alarm to leak into her tone.

  “Leaving a note for Austin.” Jessica said, rummaging in her purse for the lipstick and pen. “So he can find us when he gets done kicking zombie butt.” She already had a box panel from the pasta last night tucked in there, with a plastic bag to protect it against rain. When she looked, she saw nothing lurked on the road or around it to threaten her, so she got out and bent over the hood to write her note.

  “Austin, it’s us. We’re in a place by the lake; same one Candice can’t say. Quiet spot, it has no first floor. I’ll check on this note every week or so, maybe add to it to let you know how things are going. Jessica.”

  Sealing it into the bag, Jessica put it in the tall grass at the base of the sign and found a rock to weight it down. Then she defaced the sign itself with the lipstick, writing ‘Austin’ in big letters. She was a little worried about rain, but the lipstick wasn’t very water soluble. And she did plan on checking it to make sure it was okay.

  Satisfied, and wishing for him to find it and find them without problems, Jessica got back in the truck and got them moving again. The other town, Lewiston, looked bigger on her map; but when she got to its outskirts she realized that might be a trick of the layout.

  The town, or at least the outer edge, was a sprawl of trailer homes, simple and small houses that mostly looked like they’d seen better days, and a fairly typical mix of small fast food restaurants and stores. And the stores were things like “Joe’s Bait Shop” and “Sandscape Bike Rentals” and other vacation or tourist trap spots. There seemed to be at least half as many motel room as there were actual places where permanent residents lived.

  It was as quiet as the other one, both of zombies and people, but she again didn’t investigate too deeply. As she’d told Candice, this was just a scouting trip. Though, to be honest, she wasn’t sure how she’d go about serious scavenging yet. If she could secure the house properly, leaving Candice there might be an option . . . but – as scared as the decision made her – she wasn’t sure if it would be worse to park the girl somewhere supposedly safe, but alone, or bring her along on where zombies and other problems could threaten more directly.

  That one she could still push off at least another couple of days; at worst a week, but sooner or later she was going to have to figure it out. Part of that would be securing the house. She was reminded of that when she saw a work truck parked in the lot in front of a Wal-Mart. Jamming on the brakes, Jessica dragged the pickup to a halt right in the middle of the road.

  “What’s wrong?”

  “That truck.” Jessica said. “I want some of the ladders from it.” She indicated the work truck, which had markings and gear indicating it had belonged to a painter.

  “Uh, okay.” Candice shrugged.

  “I’m checking the parking lot.” Jessica explained in response to the unasked question.

  “Oh. Um . . . looks clear.”

  “Let’s be sure.”

  Jessica took a long look across the lot, but it seemed inhabited only by a pair of idly wandering zombies well over on the far side, near and actually beyond the side of the enor
mous store. Even if they noticed her immediately, she’d still have several minutes before either could shamble over to trouble her.

  Decided, she hung a sharp U-turn and drove back to the last entrance to the lot and pulled in, skirted along the road side edge, then stopped next to the truck. She looked around again, then set the brake and transmission. “Sit tight in here, keep a good watch for me and use the horn if you see a problem.”

  “Got it.”

  Jessica checked the area again, got out and looked still again – including under the trucks and other vehicles – before venturing close enough to the painter’s truck to investigate it.

  The ladders were just resting on racks that held them above the truck. Lockers and cabinets were built into, and attached to, the back of the truck that needed keys; but the ladders were just laying up there. It took her a minute to figure out how to work around her height and strength disadvantages; but eventually she climbed up into the back of the truck and was able to get want she wanted off and down to the ground.

  She ended up having to sort of dig through most of the ladders to get at her selections, pulling many off the racks so they were out of her way, but the mess didn’t bother her. The noise as they hit the pavement though – she had to sort of drop, almost throw, them down – was a concern, but there was nothing for it. She got two into the back of her truck before the handful of zombies in the parking lot managed to notice and cover the distance to her. Driving off with an extension ladders and a shorter platform ladder, Jessica decided to abandon any further scouting today and head back to see what she could come up with at the house.

  Modifying the house, or at least its stairs, was critical; but she wasn’t exactly sure how to go about it. One idea that occurred to her was to cut or destroy the stairs entirely; just take them out from the front porch so they didn’t lead up from the ground anymore. It might take her a while with hand tools, but she figured she could manage it. What she couldn’t figure out was how she’d secure the house if she left after something like that.

  Getting up and down seemed easy enough; use the extension ladder. Jessica was reasonably confident she would be able to rig up some ropes to guard against the ladder falling, and that she could use to help get it pulled up when in the house. With it up and her and Candice inside, anyone or anything else wandering by would have to really want to get up to manage it.