by Daniel Smith
Quickly stopping and turning towards a metallic screeching sound that assaulted his ears causing him to turn his head with the woman outside as she started moving towards the noise.
“Manny,” Dan yelled. “She's coming toward you,” he said with an edge of panic in his voice but received no answer from Manny.
The metallic screeching sound continue as Dan move towards him panicking. He found Manny with his back against a metallic bookshelf as he struggle to push it in front of the door. He finished just as the infected woman reached the front door with the broken glass.
“Sorry,” Manny said as he caught his breath.
“Someone broke the doors glass but I managed to locked them pushing this to block the opening preventing anything from getting in. We can grab some boards from the other store later to secure it better,” Manny said smiling as a sickly groaning sound came from the other side of the metal bookcase. They stood looking at their handiwork for a moment before Manny spoke.
“Let's check on your mother before we move on to the other wall.”
Dan started to nod at the first part of the statement stopping in puzzlement at the second part. They walked back to the hole they have made passing through the wall. Dan saw the still form of his mother in her sleeping bag. He was not sure if she was asleep or not as conflicting emotions ran through him he started to get angry with seeing her lying there after all the work they had just done. However, he felt that by getting angry at her he was in the wrong. Before he could figure this out, he felt Manny touch him on the shoulder motioning back to the hole-in-the-wall. They walked in silence to the other side of the store as Manny stood examining a shelf fixture on the wall.
“Give me a hand emptying the shelves then we will punch through here to the other store,” he said as he started removing some paper good items from the shelves.
After a short time Dan and Manny had successfully punch through into the next store. This store was a nail salon filled with a strange odor of chemicals.
“Check the front door to make sure there locked up, I’ll check the back,” Manny said moving off.
Dan move towards the front door feeling strange with everything going on with the infected people outside. Why was Manny allowing him to do this alone, why have the police not shown up arresting them. This thought chased form his mind as he moved closer to the front door. Confirming the door securely locked he looked out into the parking lot and street to see a few shambling figures moving around. After rejoining Manny and helping him move a heavy spa chair away from the wall. They started pounding on the wall breaking through the drywall into the next store after removing the drywall. Confronted again by a set of metal shelves with various items covering it.
Manny reach into the hole and pulled out a small hand size box turning it over in his hand.
“Excellent,” Manny stated.
“It is a small satellite radio use for emergencies and outdoor use,” he said. Pushing a button on it immediately static blasted out of the speaker as he started turning a knob causing static to change frequencies before hearing a voice.
“Stay tuned to this channel for more information,” the male voice said as Manny pushed the off button and put it on a shelf inside the nail salon.
They found they had broken into a pawnshop.
“Let's look around for anything useful,” Manny, said examining the metal bars in front of the windows.
Dan stood looking around at the store wondering what would be useful. He watch Manny walk off and started looking behind the counter as he decided to walk the aisle to look at jewelry, video games, power tools and sports memorabilia. Stopping at a display of sorts.
“Those are useful,” he mumbled reaching out to the display of swords. The first one he picked up had an ornate dragon pattern on the scabbard with the hilt made of a white material forming a Dragon's head. Pulling it out not sure what he was doing he put his thumb to the blade looking unimpressed with the sharpness of it.
Holding the blade in his hands he made a test swing this gave him the impression the blade was flimsy. He pushed the sword into the scabbard dropping it onto the shelf. As he started looking over several other swords. They all appeared flimsy before spotting and reaching for a dull black sword sitting in the back. It was a straight blade in an unimpressive black scabbard leading to a leather black hilt. Almost dropping the blade as he started picking it up the sword was far heavier than it looked. He felt the weight of the blade before he started pulling it out as a slight metallic hiss became audible as the sword left the scabbard; the blade was a dull black. Once again, he started to put his thumb on the blade but had barely put any pressure on it before pulling his finger back. Shaking his hand from the pain of the cut in the skin of his finger.
“Damn that’s sharp,” he said as he put his thumb in his mouth and sucked on it. The coppery taste of blood filled his mouth. Taking his thumb from his mouth. He turning the blade as he looked at it satisfied he slip the blade into the scabbard putting it over his shoulder using the black leather strap attached to the scabbard. Stopping in front of some camping gear Dan was looking at it when Manny approached.
“What do you have there,” Manny said pointing to the sword. Dan pulling it from his shoulder and handing it to Manny. He watched fascinated as Manny examined it using his hand to check the weight. He watched thinking Manny was about to repeat his mistake by putting his finger to the edge of the blade but he did not press as hard. He watched as Manny shook his head seemingly approving of the blade as he slipped it back into the scabbard handing it back to him.
“That might be useful do you know how to use it,” Manny asked. Dan looked sad as he shook his head negatively.
“Well I can show you a few moves with it but I'm no expert,” Manny said calmly as he started examining the camping gear.
Picking up a small ax shape tomahawk to study it for a moment before slipping it into his belt.
“We can use a few items here and I did find a box of shells for the twelfth gauge behind the counter,” Manny said calmly. As he started sorting through the gear putting what he thought would be useful to one side.
They finished busting into the last shop in the strip mall finding the one closest to the street was an archery store.
“Useful, but I was never good with a bow,” Manny said shaking his head slightly. Dan looked around fascinated by everything he saw as he walked around picking up and trying the bows by feeling their weight and testing the bowstrings by pulling them back. He dropped one to the ground with a clatter when he released one of the bowstrings and it slapped forward hitting the side of his arm stinging. Manny chuckled slightly at this.
“You need to be careful with that and use a shooting brace to protect your arm.”
Dan looked at him ruefully but nodded his head in understanding.
“If you're interested pick one and I'll show you how to use it,” Manny said with a slight smile. Dan looked at him with sheer awe.
“I can,” he said amazed Manny just nodded.
They spent the next thirty minutes or so before. Dan selected a dark brown bear archery fifty-three inch recurve bow with a shooting brace and the leather quiver holding about two dozen arrows with a few targets. This moved them closer to the window, covered by a metal shutter overlooking the street.
Dan stood near Manny looking out the metal latticework on the window overlooking the parking lot and into the street. Watching all the shuffling figures outside.
“How did this happen so fast,” Dan asked looking out of the metal gating that covered the window. Manny sigh slightly before he spoke in a quiet voice.
“If I remember correctly. I heard that in a major city, about one hundred and sixty people die each day. From illness, natural causes, accidents, drug use, suicide and violence,” Manny said thoughtfully as he spoke.
“So on the first day of the plague in any major city you had one hundred and sixty infected or six to seven an hour,” he said with a slight smile. Dan turn
ed to look at him puzzled.
“You said normally but this is about the plague,” Dan said. Manny just nodded.
“They still should be able to manage,” the smile fading off his lips. “But unlike most illness this one had no symptoms according to the reports,” Manny saw the puzzled look on Dan’s face appear again.
“No fevers, cough; pain no nothing to diagnose, how would you know someone had it,” he continued. “Going into the second or third day of the outbreak. As the infected started attacking doctors, nurse’s paramedics and others trying to help the sick or injured.” Manny paused a second, as he sighed again.
“The first responders are going to be careful. Now more people are dying of accidents or illnesses because the first responders caution in helping. Causing the number of zombies to increase.”
Dan was starting to nod his head at this but stop puzzled.
“Zombie,” Dan asked puzzled, Manny smiled at him.
“According to legend that is what you call the dead when they get up and walk,” Manny stated.
“Their dead,” he said startled, Manny nodded.
“Yes look at their wounds. And the man I shot at the gas station was dead,” Manny stated. Dan looked uneasy at this revelation but snapped back to reality as Manny started speaking again.
“Now the real problems begin instead of six or seven you or up to three to four times that number an hour as people started to panic.”
Dan could just make out the slight sounds of moaning through the glass window from the undead masses outside making him shiver. Manny paused a moment looking at Dan who tried to shake off the effects of the moans before looking at Manny again.
“No one wants to help anyone anymore. Police or paramedics responding to car accidents to Doctors wanting to treat people walking into hospitals because there was no way to tell who has it,” he continued quietly.
“I did not know my father had it,” Dan mumbled softly.
“Now you have to consider the S factor,” Manny said smiling as he looked at the puzzled look on his face.
“S standing for stupidity,” Manny said still smiling but it faded as he continued. “You going to get the people who think they know what they are doing, they think they know a better way to do everything that no one else knows. Then they tried to convince other people to do the same and usually winds up doing something stupid. Which will cause even more problems,” Manny finished Dan stood looking out the window thinking about what he had just said wondering about what they were doing.
“Let us go back and check to see how your mother is doing,” Manny said calmly as he started gathering the items and heading for the hole they had made in the wall. Dan felt a swelling up angering him in him at hearing this before a surge of guilt swelled up to replace it. As he wondered if his mother had gotten up yet or was she still asleep in her sleeping bag.
3 One Day at a Time
Dan felt tired as he got up feeling the sun in his eyes. The events of yesterday playing back in his mind after they broke into several stores. They had come back finding his mother still in the sleeping bag. Manny managed to coach her out of the sleeping bag to clean up and eat. Dan looked darkly over to his mother curled up in the sleeping bag. She rarely got up and barely spoke to him. Before she went back to sleep the hurt he had been feeling yesterday came back to him. Manny had pulled him aside and they listened to the radio. All they heard was a recorded message that play repeatedly with no new information.
“Stay away from people that are infected, they were dangerous and violent head to an appointed safe area,” the voice from the radio directed.
“People with certain skills needed to report to different locations by the government.”
There was some international news as sporadic updates came from other countries. The plague was spreading fast over the world. The United States had banned all travel until further notice. However, the biggest news was a massive cold front heading for the northeast part of the country. As the days moved on Manny started having small tasks for him to do during the day. Manny had set up a watch schedule. Dan found it hard getting up in the middle of the night for three hours at a time. Before going back to sleep but whenever he felt tired on watch he simply moved closer to the front window to watch the shadowy figures shambling under the streetlights and listening to their moans.
He had just finished having a bowl of cereal from the supermarket when Manny approached.
“If you're ready I will start your training,” he said with that strangely calm tone of voice he had all the time. Dan just nodded before Manny escorted him over to one side of the abandoned building they were in.
“Do what I do,” Manny said taking a stance with his feet slightly apart and his arms bent at the elbows at his side. Dan mimicked the stance as best he could before Manny came over and made a few adjustments by tapping his foot and moving his arm.
“Like that,” he said before slowly taking them through a series of punches with his arms alternating at an invisible target in front of them at different heights. Showing him the proper way to step forward on one leg kicking out with the other. Manny gave a heavily sweating Dan time to drink some water before handing him the archery bow and shooting brace.
“This is how you attach the shooting brace to your arm,” he said as he showed him the proper way to attach it. He started showing him how to string the bow and place an arrow on it. He even made a makeshift target of drywall in one corner.
“Now pulled back slowly hold the bow steady, site on the target and release,” Manny coached him.
He did as told, releasing the arrow with a twang of the bowstring, and watched the arrow fly to hit the target in the lower left-hand corner of the outermost rings. Dan looked amazed at that as he turned to Manny who was smiling.
“Good for a first try keep going,” Manny said motioning to the target. Dan's arms started getting tired after an hour of slowly shooting arrows at the target he felt his aim was improving. The arrows hitting inside the second ring of the target some still hitting all over the target. Manny then conducted him over to the makeshift table they had, on the way, there Dan looked to see his mother still asleep in the sleeping bag and stopped to look.
“I know it can be hard,” Manny started to say quietly as he noticed where he was looking.
“But you need to give her time to deal with what has happen,” Manny finished. Dan looked up confused at this but said nothing as he wondered.
“What about me,” he thought sadly following Manny to the table.
“Now you are going to learn how to use the shotgun,” he said placing it on the table with the black Parkerized forty-five auto loader on the table. Dan recognized the gun that killed his father looking at it as something evil.
They spent time as Manny started showing him the proper way to load and unload the weapons. How the safeties worked make them fire and how to clean them. Manny made him do this several times to each of them before stopping.
“More tomorrow I want to try getting onto the roof,” Manny said in the way of wrapping up the lessons for today.
They spent the balance of the day after eating lunch moving some of the work scaffolding around in the abandoned building. Combining three different sets to make one that would reach the plastic skylight in the roof. During all this his mother had gotten up watching them indifferently in silence. Stopping to take a break Dan tried to get his mother talking all she managed was short one-syllable sentences before he gave up. They popped a plastic skylight out climbing up onto the roof of the strip mall looking out over the city.
Doing a three-hundred and sixty degree turn they could see down the street filled with milling figures towards some apartment complexes behind them. More stores with residential homes in front of them. They could see off in the distance trails of black smoke from burning fires rising into the air. Nevertheless, what struck Dan as odd was he did not hear the normal sounds of the city, the noise of people, cars, TV’s and radios. The only sound
present was an eerie silence broken only by the low prophetic moans issued from the infected as they milled about aimlessly.
The next morning the training started and Dan felt sore and tired afterword’s. Manny had added a weighted workout bar that he found in the pawnshop and had him swing it as he would the sword he had found. Telling him that he would need to build up muscle to swing the sword to make it count. Dan was not sure if he was telling the truth all he knew was that he was sore. That afternoon Manny climbed up onto the roof. He decided to join him looking out over the street. Manny spoke as he noticed that he had joined him.
“Fewer infected are on the street than yesterday,” Manny said in the way of a greeting. Dan looked over the roof and just nodded.
“I'm thinking if this continues. We can go out and check some of the cars in the parking lot for extra gasoline,” Manny said quietly. Dan looked up stunned was he seriously thinking of going out there with them. Nevertheless, he remained quietly as a noise caught his attention it took him a second to recognize what it was. Manny had heard the noise then spoke rapidly to Dan.
“Get down,” he said urgently crouching down. Dan followed barely letting his eyes clear the short wall around the perimeter of the roof. Looking down onto the street in the late morning light.
“The noise is attracting more of them,” Manny stated. Watching as the zombies started moving out onto the street from between buildings.
“Great,” Dan said sounding slightly irritated.
“Yes,” Manny said slowly. “They rise and fall like the tide.”
Dan looked at him puzzled Manny took a moment to look at Dan a slight smile on his face.
“Some days more zombies some days less zombies. And now we know noise attracts them,” he said with a slight laugh Dan just nodded his head turning at hearing the unusual noise trying to find it. As he looked around, he noticed Manny looking down the street.