The Last Days

by Gary Chesla

  When he was done, he closed the hood. “Drive slow for the first mile or two, after that you should be OK.” Billy said.

  Mike looked at Billy. “Do you know what is going to happen to all those men that got bitten on the arms today?”

  Billy thought for a minute. “Well it will probably hurt like hell for a few days but they will be alright.”

  Mike shook his head. “No Billy. They are going to die and then turn into one of those mad things that attacked you. That’s how this virus spreads.”

  “You’re joshing me?” Billy said sounding skeptical.

  “It seems no one around here wants to believe anything I say.” Mike sounded frustrated. “But, Billy. Do me a favor. You can think I’m some crazy city slicker that doesn’t know his ass from a hole in the ground, but just do this one thing for me, then you can think whatever you want.”

  Billy looked at Mike like he was crazy.

  “For the next two hours.” Mike said. “Keep yourself and your sister away from the men that got their arms bitten. If what I said is true, it could save your lives. If I’m crazy, then all you did was waste two hours. I’m not crazy Billy. I’m just trying to save you and your sister, again!”

  Billy didn’t say anything, he just looked at Mike.

  Mike opened the door and helped Liz get out of the back seat. He looked at Billy. “Liz, you go with your brother. He will protect you. You just stay close to Billy tonight.”

  Liz walked over the held her brother’s hand. Between the attack earlier and now the one here at her home, she was still scared.

  Mike got in the car and closed the door.

  “What was that all about?” Kelly asked. Kelly had heard some of the conversation through the closed car doors.

  “We’ve been asked to leave.” Mike replied.

  “What?” Kelly asked.

  “I tried to tell Billy’s Dad what was going to happen to the men that had been bitten on the arms. He said I was crazy and said he didn’t want our kind spreading any nonsense around here. He told Billy to put that stuff in our car and send us on our way.” Mike said. “I was trying to warn Billy. He seems like a nice kid so I told him to keep his sister away from everyone for a couple hours. If he listened to me maybe he and his sister will have a chance. In about an hour the population of Webville is going to drop to zero.”

  “Isn’t there anything we can do?” Kelly asked as she watched the residents of Webville gather onto one of the large front porches and start passing around a bottle of moonshine.

  “The only thing we can do is get out of here while we can.” Mike said as he eased the car around the barricade and the dead bodies. “If they keep drinking that moonshine they might decide to play shoot the city slickers. That is if they don’t turn into zombies first.”

  Kelly turned away from the window when she noticed they were being watched as the pulled out.

  “I think you’re right.” Kelly spoke nervously. “Is the car fixed now?”

  “Billy said to drive slow for the first mile then we should be OK.” Mike replied. “I guess we will find out in a few minutes.”

  Mike watched in the rearview mirror as they moved down the road. He felt relieved to see Webville and its residents fade from view. Until they disappeared, he wasn’t sure who he was concerned about the most, the dead or the people of Webville.

  He wished they could have made the people back there understand, but he knew he couldn’t have done anything without risking his family. It was probably just because he had saved Billy and his sister that they were able to leave without being hassled.

  The people in Graham thought Dave was crazy and he was from that town. They all knew Dave and his family.

  No one in Webville knew Mike. If he had pressed them to believe what he knew about the virus, he would have been run out of town instead of just being asked to leave.

  The clock was ticking and he didn’t want to be anywhere near here in an hour.

  Hopefully Billy and his sister listened to him enough to stay alert for the next hour.

  He had to move on. He had his own family to worry about.

  They had a slow uneventful drive the next few miles. They hadn’t seen any of the dead close to the road. Maybe that was because they had all gone to Webville.

  But the quiet was welcome.

  “Mike, where are we going to stay tonight?” Kelly asked. “Do you have any idea where it will be safe?”

  “Dave gave me the key to an old barn he inherited. He said it should be safe to stay there tonight. It should be on the right side of the road a mile or so up ahead. It’s a red barn with a tobacco ad on it.” Mike replied. “I hope it is a solid as he said. It has been one hell of a day. I need a break.”

  Kelly looked in the back seat to see Kimmy slumped against the pillows. “I think we all could use some rest. Kimmy looks like she’s out! That’s a first for her this early in the day.”

  “Being chased by zombies all day is also a first.” Mike smiled. “That will wear you out every time.”

  “I hope this barn is nicer than the barn we stayed in last night.” Kelly said.

  “I’ll settle for it just being as peaceful and quiet as it was last night.” Mike said. “My head feels like it is going to explode the way everything has happened nonstop today.”

  Mike was going to add that he didn’t know how much longer he could last at this pace but he didn’t want to worry Kelly. He knew Kelly was a smart girl and she was probably thinking the same thing as he was.

  But hearing someone say it out loud always made it feel much worse. Hearing the words out loud would make them seem destined to come true.

  “I see a red barn!” Kelly said sounding relieved to hopefully be somewhere to call home for the night.

  Mike pulled the car up to the barn doors. He looked around to make sure the area looked clear.

  “Not bad!” Mike said. The big red barn sat back off the road surrounded by trees. The paint was a bright red. A large white oval was painted over the doors, the words “Smoke Captain Black Pipe Tobacco” was written across the white oval in tall black letters. There weren’t any signs of recent activity around the barn. The grass was high and the road leading up to the doors showed no sign of any recent tire marks. The barn couldn’t have been more than ten years old.

  “You stay here.” Mike said. “I’m going to unlock the doors and check out the inside before we pull the car inside.”

  Kelly pushed the door lock button as Mike got out. He walked quietly and listened as he approached the doors.

  Mike was glad that Dave had given him a key for the barn. If he would have just told Mike where the barn was as a good place to stop, he would have had a hard time getting inside.

  Mike turned the key in the lock and pulled it from the latch. He pulled the doors outward. They opened smoothly and quietly.

  Mike swung the doors wide open and looked inside as the dying sunlight lit up the interior.

  Mike stood at the door and listened as he scanned the inside. The barn was large. There were a dozen bales of hay piled up against the back wall.

  The hayloft was full and took up half the top of the barn. A ladder led up into the hayloft. Mike felt like running up the ladder and throwing himself into the hay.

  He knew where he wanted to sleep tonight. The smell of the hay was inviting.

  Mike saw an oil lantern hanging from a nail on the right inside wall next to a large metal pronged rake.

  Mike walked over and removed the lantern. A dry pack of matches sat on top of its green cover.

  Mike lit the lantern and held it up to examine the areas that had been in the shadows.

  He could not believe their luck.

  He could not have asked for a better, safer place to stay the night.

  Finally after all that had happened they got a break.

  Mike couldn’t wait to pull the car inside and find a comfortable spot in the hay.

  Despite everything that had happened, he knew
he was going to sleep soundly tonight.

  Mike smiled as he walked back out to the car and crawled into the driver’s seat.

  “Well?” Kelly asked impatiently.

  Mike’s smile grew. “You’re going to love this. It big and clean and there is a great big hayloft where we can all sleep tonight.”

  A big smile spread across Kelly’s face.

  Mike pulled the car into the barn. The little Prius didn’t take up much space, not like how the RV filled the old barn they stayed in last night.

  They also didn’t need to worry about the barn being blown over in the middle of the night.

  Mike held the doors while Kelly and Kimmy got out of the car. Kimmy was still groggy from falling asleep in the car, but the smell of the hay had her attention and she looked all around the barn.

  “I have to go to the bathroom!” Kimmy whispered to Mike.

  Kelly smiled. “I like how your daughter always asks you to go to the bathroom when there are trees around.”

  “I’ll take her around the corner of the barn.” Mike grinned. “We’ll be right back.”

  Mike walked out the barn doors, Kimmy dancing along behind him.

  When they reached the corner of the barn, Mike looked around the side to be sure it was clear.

  “Mommy reminded me to tell you that big girls don’t pull their pants down in public.” Mike said.

  Kimmy looked confused. “Where is in public?”

  Mike smiled. “It means you go behind the tree and not in front of the tree.”

  “How can you tell which side of the tree is the front and which side is the back?” Kimmy asked. “Both sides look the same.”

  Mike regrouped his thoughts. He never thought he would be telling his daughter how to go to the bathroom in the woods. If it was up to Kelly, Kimmy would never be going to the bathroom in the woods, but due to the fact the world had come to an end, he and Kimmy had been given a temporary pass on going to the bathroom outdoors.

  “You don’t go where people can see you.” Mike said. Feeling he had things covered. “Understand?”

  Kimmy shook her head and started to pull her pants down.

  “Wait, wait!” Mike said, looking at the barn doors to be sure Kelly wasn’t watching.

  ‘What if someone drove down the road past the barn?” Mike said. “They would see you. So maybe you should go around the side of the barn where if someone came by they wouldn’t see you. Wouldn’t that be better?”

  “I guess so!” Kimmy said and went around the side of the barn.

  Mike took a quick look to make sure it was still clear.

  “This shouldn’t be so hard.” He thought. “He had better get this worked out before she became a teenager or he would have some more complicated problems to deal with.”

  “Mike could you come here?” Kelly called.

  Mike walked into the barn.

  Kelly was standing up in the hayloft. “You were right. I love this up here. This is going to be fun. Would you throw me up our blankets and pillows? I’m going to make us a big fluffy hay bed!”

  “I can’t wait!” he smiled as he pulled the blankets and pillows out of the car.

  He tossed the three pillows up to Kelly one at a time. The third pillow he tossed at her head. The pillow came flying back down out of the loft at him, followed by two hands full of hay and a giggle from up in the loft.

  He tossed the pillow back up more carefully this time, then the blankets in one big roll.

  “Anything else I can do for you right now?” Mike smiled.

  Kelly gave him an ornery grin.

  The smiles disappeared from both of their faces as they heard Kimmy scream.

  Mike’s heart sank as he heard the terrified scream coming from outside the barn.

  He grabbed the rake by the side of the door and ran outside.

  Kimmy was coming around the corner of the barn. Her pants were only half pulled up. Blood covered her right arm as big tears ran down her cheeks as the painful expression on her face sent a wave of panic through Mike.

  “It bit me!” Kimmy cried. “It hurts!”

  Mike rushed over and knelt by Kimmy and stared at her bloody arm.

  He heard a shuffling sound coming from around the barn.

  He grabbed his rake and moved around the corner of the barn. A large mountain man staggered around the back corner of the barn and glared at him. The man had been dead for days by his appearance. He was covered in blood, part of his face was missing and his bare feet had been worn away half way up to his ankle.

  Mike rushed him and brought the rake down on top of its head. The big man fell motionless.

  Mike didn’t wait to be sure the creature was down for good, he ran back and scooped up Kimmy in his arms and ran into the barn.

  They almost collided with a panicked Kelly as she jumped off the last rung of the ladder and ran towards the door.

  “Here take Kimmy. Take her back to those hay bales while I lock the doors.” Mike shouted.

  Kelly took Kimmy. Her eyes grew wide as she spotted all the blood running down Kimmy’s arm. Kelly began to cry as she carried her to the bales of hay in front of the car.

  Mike pulled the doors closed and put the lock through the latch and secured the barn doors.

  He ran back to the girls.

  Kimmy sobbed.

  “What happened?” Was all Kelly could force out.

  Kimmy looked up and cried. “It bit me!”

  Mike knelt down in front of the girls. He looked at Kelly as tears began to run down his cheeks.

  “Mike!” Kelly sobbed. “The look of horror in her eyes said what she couldn’t bear to say.

  Mike picked up an old rag that was lying on the floor and began to wipe the blood from Kimmy’s arm.

  “It hurts!” Kimmy cried pulling her arm away.

  “Let Daddy see it, OK?” He said.

  She held out her arm, but he could barely see it through his tears.

  He wiped the blood away gently. Soon three long scratches that ran from her elbow to her wrist became visible, but quickly disappeared as the blood again covered her arm.

  Mike continued to wipe until a small bite mark was uncovered.

  He felt like dying.

  “It’s only a small bite mark.” Kelly said. Hoping that would make it alright,

  Mike looked up at Kelly. They both knew what it meant. Small or not, the result would be the same.

  Mike wrapped the rag around Kimmy’s arm, stood and moved back to the car, hung his head and wept.

  Kelly hugged Kimmy tight against her. They both cried.

  Kimmy, because her arm hurt, Kelly because she hurt all over. She especially hurt inside.

  Mike walked back over to the girls, wiping the tears from his face. As he looked at Kimmy they started again.

  “I should have stayed with her!” He sobbed quietly.

  “It’s not your fault!” Kelly choked out the words. “If anything it’s my fault. I called you back inside.”

  “I should have waited.” Mike replied.

  “It’s not your fault!” Kelly mouthed the words because she could no longer talk.

  They sat there and hugged Kimmy together for what felt like an eternity. In reality it was only half an hour. They wanted time to stop so they could be with Kimmy, but even though it felt like they had been in the barn forever, their lives seemed to be moving in slow motion, they knew the few precious moments that they had left with their little girl was rushing away, passing before their eyes so fast it took their breath away.

  They cried as they watched Kimmy breathe. They say when you die that in your last minutes your life flashes before your eyes.

  Kimmy’s life was now flashing before their eyes. They felt like they were dying.

  The little scar on her knee from the time she wrecked her bike after they had taken off the training wheels. The little scar on her lip and how she had cried when she feel off the ladder to the tree house. The excited look on her face on C
hristmas mornings when she opened her presents. The little smirk she always got on her face when Mike would let her do something she knew Kelly had told her she couldn’t do. Her little butt sticking out from behind the tree in the yard.

  It all hurt so bad as they looked at her. The hopes they had for Kimmy where now too painful to even think about now that they were gone. The good things that had happened were painful to remember but brought a warm feeling to their heart. Those would be the things that they would cherish for the rest of their lives. The things that would never be they would also think about for the rest of their lives, but those would be the things that would haunt them.

  Kimmy slowly stopped crying and fell asleep or became unconscious, they weren’t sure which.

  Kelly put her hand on Kimmy’s forehead. “Mike, she’s burning up!”

  Mike nodded as tears escaped down his face.

  He wiped his eyes and looked around the barn that was glowing from the light coming from the lantern.

  He stood and walked over to the wall and picked up a screwdriver and came back and sat down next to the girls.

  Kelly looked at the screwdriver. Her eyes grew huge as she looked at Mike and began to shake her head no.

  Tears began to flood down her face as she looked pleading at Mike. She kept shaking her head no as she realized what the screwdriver was for.

  Mike stared back as tears ran down his painfully contorted face. He felt the gut wrenching pain deep inside that was showing on Kelly’s face.

  The image of Dave releasing his Dad from the horrors of the virus filled Mike’s mind.

  Mike dreaded what was soon to follow.

  This was going to be the hardest thing he would ever have to do in his life.

  This would haunt his dreams for the rest of his life.

  The sun had set outside.

  Another day was ending as peace settled down over the living that had found a safe place to rest after a long day.

  Inside the barn, anguish consumed Mike and Kelly as the night closed in around them as they waited for the worst nightmare they could have ever imagined to begin.