Riding The Apocalypse

by Frank Ignagni III

  “Maybe it will come back up,” Buell added, trying to sell his optimism with a small smile.

  “I’m telling ya, this is it,” Ed added pessimistically. “Look, fellas, I came by to say goodbye, and ask you for a gas can or two. I am jumping in the truck and heading north first light.”

  As if on cue, the lights went out.

  “Aw, damn it, there goes the electricity,” Max said. “On my way to the generator,” he added as he grabbed a flashlight off the shelf.

  We could still see our silhouettes from the window light, but the sun was setting soon and we had to act fast or we would be plunged into darkness.

  Max flipped the circuit board and the lights came on simultaneously with the roar of the generators.

  “Let there be light!”

  Chapter 10

  “No problem, I’ll get the popcorn too.”

  A flash outside the glass doors caught my attention and I spotted a rapidly approaching car about a hundred yards out and heading more or less straight for the garage. The erratic pattern of the running lights suggested the car was swerving as it rounded the long left hand corner. The car then lost front-end traction and sideswiped a VW Bug as it cleared the apex of the corner.

  It was a blue Corvette.

  My heart stopped for the few seconds it took to be sure it was who I hoped it was. Seconds later, the driver made a sharp right turn just as the car approached the gate. This erratic maneuver put the car into a four wheel slide, throwing both of the driver’s side tires up and over the curb. I heard a loud pop as the tires simultaneously blew out. In a cloud of tire smoke and dust, Emily and her cobalt chariot came to a screeching halt just outside the gate.

  “Who the hell is that?” Ed asked as he ran to the shop window.

  I ignored him, unlocked the office door, and sprinted toward the dust-filled scene. I stopped short as I approached the gate.

  “Shit, no key!” I cursed to myself.

  Before I could turn around, Emily forced the door open and tried to step out of the car. In her haste she did not release the seat belt, which acted like a giant rubber band and snapped her back inside the car. It would have been funny under other circumstances.

  “Damn it!” she cried loudly.

  As I turned to go back for the key, Max brushed past me.

  “Go to her, fucker!” he shouted as he unlocked the gate and stepped aside to let me pass.

  Emily wriggled herself free of the belt and lunged out of the car just as I reached her.

  Our eyes met.

  Emily pushed away from the car and threw herself in my arms. She looked hysterical, terrified, and beautiful all at the same time. Her long brown hair was disheveled, and her clothes tattered and dirty. Yet, she was still Emily, her eyes were her natural color, and I was relieved to note her beautiful olive skin.

  Max held the gate as Emily and I twisted sideways to get inside. She refused to wait for the gate to be opened wide enough for us to pass cleanly, and subsequently, her belt hooked on the cyclone fence. The force of the belt catching the metal pulled violently to her right, sending her body on a collision course with the fence line. I caught her before she hit the gate, and clenched her tightly as she collapsed into my arms. She was breathing rapidly, and began to cry. I guided her safely inside the gate and took a knee, then let her full weight rest on my leg and shoulders. She gripped me like a vise, with a strength I’d never seen in her before. I grimaced, but welcomed the pain of her embrace. As we held each other, Max locked the gate while Buell stood guard.

  Teamwork.

  With a few words we all acted simultaneously and efficiently. It was confidence inspiring. I made eye contact with Max, and thanked him without the use of words.

  I glanced to Buell, who had stepped forward and to my right. His expression was deliberate, as his eyes focused on the street in front of us.

  “I don’t wanna break up this lovely moment, bro, but I see a lot of the monster dudes coming around Big Lazy,” said Buell.

  Big Lazy was the name Buell had affectionately given the turn leading to the cul-de-sac from the main expressway. The turn was long, smooth, and wide—though arguably the best attribute of Big Lazy was the fact that it lacked cross-traffic. Buell tagged along when I originally looked at this garage with an eye to purchasing. He’d tried coaxing me to buy the building before we even went inside because he envisioned taking the turn at speed every time he stopped by. For Buell, the utility of Big Lazy was impetus enough for him to recommend the location.

  On a side note, down the street a bit there is a non-official sign attached to a light pole with screws and plumber’s tape. The sign reads Big Lazy. You want to guess who mounted that sign? Yep, and Ed even had the plumber’s tape in his overalls.

  Emily’s epic entrance brought additional company. The cul-de-sac was getting more populated with the monsters by the minute. Not wanting to attract more of a crowd, we headed inside. I noted the monsters seemed to have exceptional hearing, even appearing to favor it over vision at times. I periodically saw them cock their heads ever so slightly, then look. The monsters appeared capable of triangulating our position among each other without the use of direct sight. As the initial shock of Emily’s grand entrance subsided, I walked her inside. I paid little attention to the group of undead that picked up her tail and were funneling into the cul-de-sac.

  When we were back in the garage, all eyes turned to Emily. With the black mascara running below her eyes, she resembled a sad raccoon at a quick glance. I don’t usually notice her makeup, but I saw it then. Max, being Max, was back within seconds with a box of tissues he grabbed from the office.

  “Here you go, sweetie, you okay?” Max said as he handed her the tissues.

  She took them from him and smiled for the first time since she arrived.

  Fucking Max.

  “I am better, thanks.” She blotted her eyes and blew her nose. “I tried to call you, Rem,” she said looking back at me. “But my phone didn’t work. I tried a landline, and the operator said all circuits busy or something like that, so I gave up and started driving.”

  Emily took a large breath, ran her fingers between her ears and her hairline, and stood straight up. She wiped her eyes, took another breath, then spoke softly.

  “I am okay,” she said as she held up one finger as if to hold our thoughts, and blew her nose with the other hand.

  Just when I thought she was going to break down again, she pulled it together before our eyes.

  Just like that.

  Hell yeah, we were all impressed.

  “Rem, remember when we were in bed watching this—”

  “Aw yeah!” Buell laughed, making the familiar porn music sounds.

  “C’mon, Buell, really?” Max said, furrowing his brow.

  Emily ignored him and continued. “We were shocked it all happened so fast, remember?” Emily spoke with conviction, there was not a hint of the vulnerability and panic she had arrived with.

  “Yeah, I still can’t believe it, but I have seen the footage ’em, Em. Those cannibals are everywhere. Maybe it’s airborne,” I said with uncertainty.

  “No, Rem, it is not airborne, it is mass murder,” she stated stoically.

  “Okay, so wait, what? You can’t call these people, or whatever they are, murderers, can you? Isn’t it the virus that is causing them to do this?” Buell interrupted as he sat down on the fender of the Impala, obviously needing to take a load off.

  “True story, or are we missing something?” Ed asked incredulously.

  I had forgotten Ed was even there, and watched as he sat down quietly, eagerly awaiting an answer.

  “Okay, yes, these things are killing people, but the outbreak is no accident.” She stared at me.

  Just then I saw something I hoped only I could see. Emily was struggling with something internally.

  “Hey! Those monsters are trying to take your tape deck Em, is it a pull out?” Buell laughed while looking out the window at the monsters st
ill milling about Emily’s Corvette.

  I smiled and welcomed Buell’s attempt to lighten the mood. From where Buell was sitting atop the Impala fender, he had a direct line of sight out the window and into the street. I could tell Buell was getting a bit worried, his nervous joke was a telltale sign.

  “Keep an eye out, Buell, and let us know if they get it. I gotta hear this,” I said as I took a quick peek at the monsters trying to climb into the Corvette. They were still behind a locked gate and only a dozen strong. Even the undead could not resist a Corvette. I was not worried about them at the moment; I wanted to hear what Em had to say.

  “Go on, then. I gotta leave before dark if I can, enough of the twenty questions,” Ed snapped in a far more serious tone than I had ever heard him use.

  “Okay, bu—”

  “I am sorry, hon, I didn’t mean to be rude.” Before Emily could respond, Ed interrupted with a softer voice. “I am just in a kind of a hurry, and you got me captivated here. You go on, dear.”

  Good guy Ed is, never disappoints.

  Emily nodded and went on. “It’s in the flu vaccine.”

  “Huh, no shit?” Max said as a light seemed to go on in his head and he perked up.

  “Yes,” Emily said as she stood and looked out the window at the undead still trying to get into her car. “It was planted in the flu vaccine by a man with high clearance in the CDC.”

  “Jesus, this is a perfect storm. I heard on the radio that they were setting up tents and mobile centers for people to get the flu vaccine ’cause of the scare,” Ed said solemnly.

  “No wonder it spread so fast, especially in the hospitals. The more people got sick and turned into monsters, the more people got the vaccine,” Buell added.

  “I read somewhere during flu season over a million people a week get that damned shot,” Max said.

  “Over two million this week, and over forty million so far this year,” Emily added as she wiped her rose colored nose.

  “How did you find this out? Are you sure?” Ed asked.

  Emily sat slouched down in the chair Max had set out for her from the office and looked up at me. “I overheard someone talking about it at my office after I brought Mom there.”

  “Who?” I interjected. I sensed the trepidation in her voice.

  “Look can we not get into this here, now?” Emily pleaded while looking directly at me. “It doesn’t matter how I know, I just know. I overheard them talking about it, and I tried to call you, but your phone was dead. I wanted to warn you not to get—”

  “Wait, anyone here get a flu shot?” Max interrupted and looked around nervously.

  Everyone shook their heads no. Thank goodness for procrastination.

  Now it made more sense to me…the little girl at the gate with no blood or wounds, poor thing. Well, at least she turned before someone attacked her, I thought. Wait, was that a consolation? She was a child who craved human flesh.

  Ed looked at Emily. “So, do they know this now? The powers that remain, I mean? Did you tell everyone there what you heard, or was it common—”

  “I left my mother there, and I told her everything. There are rooms full of police, military, and media there. When your cell phone was dead, Rem, I had to come. I knew you would be here.” Emily smiled as tears began to well in her eyes again.

  “Don’t be so hard on yourself, Em. You got here, your mom is safe, you’re getting the word out. Relax, hon, you’re doing great,” Max said.

  I think Max also perceived there was something else on her mind. Max was not born today, but he wasn’t born yesterday either.

  “Have a Fiber One bar, and some Maker’s, that always does it for me.” Buell smiled. “You really should drink something, Em, at least water,” Buell continued with genuine compassion.

  Emily brought that out in most guys. She was that engaging. I bested Max to the water cooler and handed her the paper cup. She took a long drink and forced a smile.

  “So what do we do now?” said Buell when Emily had again pulled it together. “The military knows how it’s spreading. You think they are gonna get ahold of this? Do we just sit tight? You sure your mom got to the right people?”

  I smirked to myself at this, Buell had obviously never met Emily’s mom.

  “My mother is the Assistant to the President of the California Board of Health. She knows who to talk to and what to say to get their attention. She was all over their asses when I left her.”

  She is a bulldog, I thought but did not say.

  “My mom was so wrapped up in sounding the alarm, she didn’t even see me leave. We have nothing to worry about in that respect.” Emily sighed. “But I just panicked and didn’t know what to do once she was getting the word out. I didn’t think it through, I just wanted to come to you, Remy, that’s all I wanted to do.” She smiled and added, “I am glad I didn’t think, Rem, glad I came here.”

  I felt a surge of emotion for Emily I had not felt in a long time, but tried desperately to stay on topic. There would be time for the gushy stuff later. So I continued pressing Emily for information, ignoring the warm fuzzy feelings.

  “Who was it, Emily? Someone we know? You might as well tell us too,” I said with a softer tone.

  I wanted to know who caused this mess, but even more than that I wanted to know why the hell Emily knew who caused it. She seemed composed enough to tell us, and I had no patience for secrets. Our lives were forever changed, and I wanted answers.

  I think we all did.

  “It was Dr. Howard Evans,” she said without preamble. “He was the one who tainted the flu vaccine.”

  “What? The head of the CDC?” I asked.

  “Yes, Michael was on the phone with Dr. Evans in my office and I walked in and overheard Michael yelling. I went back to my assistant’s desk and tapped in to the call.”

  “Michael who?” I asked, alarm bells ringing.

  “Oh, sorry, Senator Riley, the guy who originally wanted to send the medical—”

  “I know who he is,” I interrupted. What I didn’t know was why Riley was in her office, using her phone. And why the hell did she call him Michael? Was that the new guy? It all made sense now. Emily was seeing the senator, and she was going to her office to meet him on Sunday thinking he would protect her and her mom. No wonder she hadn’t mentioned Riley by name earlier. He was married.

  “So I guess his phone works then, huh?” Buell asked sarcastically.

  “Buell.” She sighed. “After he yelled at Evans about the virus getting out of control, his phone cut out, then Mich—uh, Senator Riley threw the phone at my mirror. I left after I saw the mirror break, and haven’t seen him since.”

  “So the senator was in on it?” Max asked.

  “Yes, the senator was yelling at Dr. Evans about overdoing the dosage or something. I think they were in it together but there were others involved too…”

  “Man, the senator is gonna be public enemy number one now that your mom is exposing them,” Buell said.

  Couldn’t happen to a nicer guy, I thought. I wondered what Emily was thinking about as she heard herself talk about her boyfriend, or lover, or whatever the fuck she called him. The thing was, I could not believe it, but I was feeling sorry for her. It was dark outside now, and Emily looked so worn out that I tried to change the subject. We had all had a long day.

  “Emily, I appreciate you came here for me, and I love you for it,” I blurted out.

  Did I just say love?

  “But you are here now and I can’t drive you back at the moment,” I said, looking around me. “Still you are safe with us and very welcome,” I added as I kneeled in front of her and put my hands on her knees.

  “Thank you, Rem, I didn’t expect you to bring me back, I am just glad you are safe,” she said, putting her head down in her hands, and placing them against mine. Her hair slowly flowed over our twined hands.

  I felt guilty, guilty she had come, guilty for pressing her so hard for information. She had obviously been th
rough a lot and I was glad to see her, but damn it, Senator Riley? That smug fucker?

  I swallowed my pride, slowly lifted her head, and put my hand on her cheek to assure her I wasn’t going to let anything happen to her.

  “Okay, Em, that is enough for tonight. I say we get something to eat and watch a movie and relax. We can’t do much tonight anyway,” I said in a solemn voice. I stood up and looked out the dark window at the slowly moving shadows beyond the gate. “I could use a drink.”

  “Yeah, if you guys don’t mind, I think I am gonna just crash in one of these cars for tonight, and leave in the morning.” Ed spoke as he looked out the window.

  I had five customer cars in the shop, two of them SUV’s, so there was plenty of room for everyone to bunk. I also had the couch in the waiting room, and a love seat in my office.

  “You think those bastards will be here by tomorrow?” Max asked, looking in Ed’s direction.

  “All I know is they are fanning out from downtown and other places, but the odds they’ll come down this street by tomorrow morning seem remote,” Ed said. “Hell, nobody finds this street the first time,” he added chuckling to himself.

  “Damn, two good ones in one night, impressive, Ed,” Buell added.

  “How about Shawshank, guys?” Buell said as he headed into the customer waiting room where I had a handful of DVD’s on the shelf above a thirty-two inch flat screen TV. I kept it for customers who were waiting for their cars, and a DVD player was hooked up to it. “We can draw the blinds and watch it in here.”

  “I’m sick of that movie,” Max jabbed.

  “How can you be so obtuse?” Buell answered with a grin.

  I think we all got that one, even Emily.

  “Sounds good to me,” I said. “No reason to sit in fear all night. If we are quiet, we should be fine. Max, can you help me put a car cover over the office glass to keep the light from bleeding outside?”

  “You got it, Rem,” Max said as he trotted into the dimly lit garage.

  “We need a guard. I’ll watch the gate ’till after Andy gets violated, I don’t like that part anyway. But then I do wanna see that guy get the shit beat out of him by Hadley, so don’t let me miss it,” Ed said as he took a folding chair and headed up the metal stairs to the roof access hatch. “Gonna go have a smoke and watch from the top. Buell, you spell me before that part.”