Chatter

by Kurt Horning

  With that Vick used his full force and slammed into the glass of the plane’s windshield. Nothing happened. “That’s bullet proof and altitude proof son,” said Dwayne.

  “Shut it old man, it ain’t Victor proof.”

  Again and again the muscle bound man slammed into the glass. Finally Vick let out a guttural growl and dove into the windshield right shoulder first. Instead of bouncing back, this time he lay on the nose of the small jet. He did it!

  “Holy shit man, you’re a monster,” said Hank.

  “Damn right, now everyone get out here and help me down. I hate heights,” replied Vick.

  “Dude you’re like 8 feet off the ground,” chuckled Autumn.

  On the tarmac all seven began running as fast as possible for what Dwayne said was the pilot’s rest house. Keiko lost her balance and fell flat on her face. Cade spun around and dove to cover the woman.

  Just then the airliner smashed into the smaller jet and explosions erupted in several places and black smoke covered the sky. “Keiko we gotta move. Wreckage is falling everywhere,” said Cade. The two stood and followed the others inside the small building just off the tarmac, dodging fiery ruins falling from the sky.

  “Where is everyone,” asked Trina. “The landing crews, security, anyone.” They all caught their breath and stared out the windows at the empty airport. “That’s a good question. Did everyone go nuts but us,” replied Cade.

  “Who cares? Give me my bag whoever has it,” snorted Vick.

  “What the hells in that bag so important,” asked Hank as he handed it over to the man.

  “I know,” said Keiko.

  “Mouth shut girly, no one’s business.”

  “He’s…a…,” started Keiko.

  “I mean it kid, mouth shut.”

  “Ok, ok, let’s just go up to the terminal and see what happened,” said Autumn.

  The group agreed and began crossing the airstrips. Not a soul was around. The airplanes all sat where they parked. The burning crash still lit the sky in broad daylight. Ambulances and fire trucks sat parked at the end of the runways unattended.

  Vick walked alone in front with his precious bag around a shoulder. Keiko and Cade walked behind him hand in hand. The danger must have brought them closer than nature would have. Father and daughter walked with Trina and Dwayne in the rear, making small talk and looking around for signs of life.

  “Even in zombie movies there’s stragglers,” said Cade. “There’s nothing out here.”

  The group made their way inside the terminal through some lower ground floor doors. Creeping up the stairs they heard it. The chatter from the plane was in here, only deafening. “We have to see,” said Vick. They crept up to the top and stood.

  Looking down into what looked like the food court they saw hundreds of people huddled together. Their teeth were chattering in unison, “Holy hell it’s everyone,” gasped Autumn.

  “Watch your mouth daughter,” snapped Hank quietly. “It may be the end of the world but you won’t use that language.”

  “Fine daddy.”

  Just as they were about to go back down the stairs the airport monitors all crackled to life.

  This is the president. If anyone can hear me, we have made a terrible mistake. The F5 vaccine is tainted. Anyone who does not have the shot, DO NOT get one. Our scientists are working on a cure this very moment along with several allies.

  Please try to avoid the infected if you come across any. It appears they are blind but can smell exceptionally well. If attacked, attack their heads. Kill the brains, eyes, nose.

  Anyone listening please head North to Canada or south to Mexico. They both have assured us they will welcome uninfected into their countries and provide relief.

  Our military was vaccinated the same as all citizens, therefore we have no military anymore. No help will be coming. You are all on your own.

  That is all I can really say. I am sorry, God speed.

  The seven survivors all shook their heads. Hank and Trina cried. “North or South,” asked Cade. None answered and seemed to be thinking it over. Just then Hank spoke up. “Who says we are even sticking together?” He looked them all over. “I don’t know any of you.”

  “We have a better shot being together,” said Dwayne.

  They all thought to themselves and decided to go it together. “I say north,” said Vick. “I have friends in Canada we can get to.”

  Cade seconded the motion, “Canada seems like a shorter trip than Mexico from here.”

  Everyone agreed and stayed in the group. No one seemed to remember the dangerous creatures that lurked nearby. Suddenly Autumn screamed, “Ahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh.”

  Two of the chatterers had crept behind them. She fell down scared as the others reacted. Cade pushed ahead of the others and knocked over some trash cans.

  It slowed the two down some but alerted the rest.

  “Good thinking, dumbass,” said Vick.

  He kicked at the two, bludgeoning their faces and knocking them down.

  “RUN.”

  The seven took off back down the stairs and onto the tarmac. Looking ahead Trina saw the fire trucks. “See if there are keys in any of them,” she said.

  They ran over to the trucks and began looking for keys. The mob of chatterers had begun exploding onto the tarmac behind them.

  Vicks truck had no keys. Cades truck was locked and he could not get it open. Finally Hank got in the one closest to him and hit the jackpot.

  “Guys let’s go.”

  “Those bastards are right behind us.”

  They all ran towards Hank and the truck. Keiko grabbed Cades arm. “Do we go with them?” She seemed concerned.

  Cade looked at her, “We don’t have a choice at the moment. Besides, they don’t seem bad so far.”

  She was scared. “Fine I trust you hero.”

  Chapter 3

  The door of the fire truck jammed. Everyone was loaded inside and the damn door would not shut. The infected had surrounded the truck and began rocking it all while chattering. Autumn was tucked into her father’s lap and hid, plugging her ears.

  The engine revved. Nothing was wrong with the engine. If this were a movie, it would be stalled and everyone would be panicking. Instead Cade had made himself the driver and threw it in drive.

  The fire truck slammed forward into the pack of killers. Blood splattered the windshield and plenty of thuds were heard as they pulled out of the airport. Cade turned on the wipers but it just smeared the blood around worse than before.

  “Guys we are on the road. I am heading us North toward Michigan where the border to Canada is. With any luck we will make it in a day.” The rest of the group kind of looked at each other with worry. How could anything in this situation be so easy?

  Getting out of the city would prove harder than expected for the band of survivors however. Even though they were on the interstate which sat next to the airport, the roads were littered with vehicles and the walking dead were all over.

  Driving through the mess took many hours. It was as if everyone had turned at the same time and the world had just stopped. As they passed one car in particular it hit home. Two children with their eyes rolled back were clawing at the backseat window of a SUV.

  “It looks like everyone got the shot,” said Keiko. The others just watched in horror and sadness as they drove by slowly.

  “Daddy I’m hungry,” whispered Autumn.

  “Think we could stop along the way and find some food? The little one is hungry and frankly none of us have eaten in who knows how long,” said Hank to the group.

  Cade looked at them in the mirror, thinking about it. He glanced at the gas gauge that neared empty and said, “There is a truck stop ahead. We can stop and see if there is any food and we need gas.”

  Trina was huddled into the side of Vick like they had been lovers. “Good god I am starving. I hadn’t even thought about it.” She put her head back into his side.

  The slow miles drifte
d on. Every so often they would run over a chatterer. The noise would bring more but they had driven by. The noise seemed to Cade like a calling of some kind. Maybe that was their signal to gather.

  Dwayne was quiet through all of this. He seemed to be far away in thought. “They are dead aren’t they,” he said looking out the side window. “I mean this is it. We live or we die, but they are both.” He started getting the shakes. “I’m just a pilot. I hadn’t gotten the shot yet because of a layover in Tokyo.”

  The others quietly listened and thought to themselves. Vick clutched his bag and closed his eyes. He wasn’t annoyed by Trina, any other time he’d be hitting it, but at the moment she was a burden.

  “We should bust into a motel and settle for the night after we get food,” said Hank. The rest agreed and the anticipation of food and a night’s sleep made everyone feel a bit better after all that had happened.

  The fire truck pulled off exit 312 and crossed the bridge over the interstate. The truck stop was just ahead on the right. Nothing seemed out of order so far. There was undead walking about but the group had yet to really have to deal with them up close besides on the plane and the tarmac and neither of those resulted in much fighting or killing.

  Cade pulled the truck into an open spot to pump gas. He got out first and walked around to the pump. It was dim. The readout was black and looked hopeless. “Shit, it is off. Let me check the others.” He snuck around to each pump, ducking and weaving quietly between the monsters. “Shut off, all of them are off.”

  He crept back to the fire truck, “Guys we have a problem. No gas.”

  Suddenly a chatterer grabbed Cade from behind. “SHIT.” It had hold of his shoulders, pulling him down and away from the truck.

  “NOOOOO,” screamed Autumn.

  This alerted a large group of undead towards the people. Cade spun around to his back. He had his hands around the things neck to keep it at a distance. The monster had its mouth open, drooling down its face and dripping onto Cades neck. “Guys help.”

  The beast opened its mouth further and large fangs grew. “Guys really.” He brought his knees up into the things chest and pushed as hard as possible. It reeled over and Cade sprung up. “These things are like super zombies, what in the fuck. Someone find me a weapon.”

  Keiko was the only one not panicking. Even Vick seemed frozen in place. She quickly looked around the truck and found a fire axe. The woman grabbed it and went to the door. “Cade here,” she said and tossed the axe in his direction.

  The axe landed several feet to the left of Cades position. The group of undead and his wrestling buddy were approaching. Weirdly sometimes they were quick and sometimes lumbering, almost stalking.

  Cade stumbled over to the axe and gripped it with both hands. “Guys get off the truck, we have to move.” He swung with all his strength hitting the first one between the eyes. Its head parted in two and brains and blood spewed everywhere drenching Cade and the gas pumps in red and goo.

  The others filed off the fire truck with make shift weapons and fear. Vick held a large chain. Hank had Autumn’s hand and a screwdriver in the other. Keiko had another axe. Trina and Dwayne hadn’t found anything so they were in the middle of the pack for protection.

  Vick yelled, “Let’s make our way to that motel.”

  They all saw one of those old by the road motels with about six rooms total. It was just across the highway and diagonal from the truck stop. “Ok let’s cut behind the burger joint and gas stations and try to lose these undead before we go there,” said Cade.

  The sun was starting to set in the sky and the group all knew that shelter was essential. Food and rest would have to come after that. The slow chatterers couldn’t keep up with them and slowly they made their way to the motel with no one behind them.

  “Strange we haven’t seen any real people yet,” said Trina. “Surely not everyone got the vaccination.

  Hank went into the manager’s office and came back out quickly with two keys. “There’s candy and pop in there, better than nothing.” He handed Keiko a key. “Two rooms, however you guys think we should split up.”

  Everyone went into the office and grabbed some candy and soda. Then they split off into the two rooms. The night would prove to be long.

  Chapter 4

  The motel was a shoddy typical one you would find along an interstate. Shingles were missing from the roof and paint peeled from the outer walls from years of neglect.

  Vick, Trina, Autumn and Hank settled into room 107. Cade, Keiko, and Dwayne took 108. They were adjoining rooms and the inside looked about as good as the outside. Wall paper peeled around the rooms. The beds looked as though every hooker in the state had stained them. The bath tubs and sinks were rust stained but useable.

  "I need one of you to come with me and scout the area," said Cade.

  None of the weary group seemed too happy about the idea but finally Keiko agreed, "I guess I'll go."

  The pair crept out the door and headed south towards a market and another gas station. Neither really wanted to go to the truck stop but it was left unsaid.

  Rain started to sprinkle as the sun left the sky. It seemed some of the buildings had power and some were pitch black. Cade and Keiko crossed the road to the market.

  Several undead wandered around but not close. They seemed to prefer the dark over light even though their eyes were rolled back. Strange.

  Keiko motioned Cade down and they kneeled by the store window. There were several corpses on the floor among the aisles. The food seemed intact and the lights were on. No zombies appeared to be in the building.

  The two slowly and as quietly as possible entered the front door. The electric door no longer worked so they pushed it open.

  "Grab some bags to fill," said Cade in a low hush. She went over to a register and grabbed several bags.

  "Ok let's go shopping!" said Keiko.

  The pair began aisle by aisle looking for supplies. Since the horror just happened nothing had been taken yet. "I think these guys were after supplies too," said Cade pointing down at the corpses.

  "Yeah but what happened to them," replied Keiko.

  They kneeled to get a closer look at the people. Cade turned one to its back and inspected. The man’s face was missing. Gore oozed down his chest and onto the floor. A black holy mess of muscle and cartilage and splintered bone was all that was left.

  "Holy God, those zombies did this," asked Keiko.

  "Yeah..No. This looks more like a big ass bullet hole," said Cade.

  He looked around quickly. "We need to get the hell out of here now, grab what you can."

  Cade headed for the back of the store searching. He came to the meat department and jumped over the counter. "Bingo."

  He filled his paper bag with knives of all kinds and a meat pounder. At least these are something to defend us with he thought.

  He grabbed Keiko and they left through the front door shutting it the way they found it. "What's going on," said Keiko.

  Cade looked back and forth as they hurried toward the motel, "I'll tell you in a minute."

  The pair entered their room to see the rest of the group waiting. "Look what we found," said Hank excitedly.

  He pointed to the mirror by the bed and Autumn Sid it open. "Damn perverts spy on the guests here. There's a whole passageway back there."

  Cade looked relieved and scared. "Everyone grab your shit and get in there. Now."

  They all hurried into the wall, shutting off the lights and sliding the mirror shut. There was little light back there but enough to see.

  "I never thought being a geek would pay off," said Cade softly. "Look we found corpses with bullet holes in them." He scanned the passage for reactions. "If the movies and comics are right, it means one of two things." He kneeled, "either rogue survivors are killing others or there's a cleanup crew in the country getting rid of everyone."

  “There cannot be a cleanup crew can there? I mean this just happened this morning and the Pres
ident announced that the military was infected too,” whispered Vick.

  Cade took a deep breath, thinking, and then replied, “You’re right. But someone is out there putting holes in humans.”

  “Everyone get to a room mirror,” said Dwayne. “Let’s see how many, and who, we have to deal with.” The seven of them went to a mirror each with Hank and Autumn sharing the end one.

  The noise of a door kicked open sounded from room 103 which Keiko was watching. “Guys,” she whispered.

  Keiko looked on as two men entered the room. They both carried large shotguns, and turned over the place quickly. They checked the closet, bathroom and under the bed. The men exchanged words but were unclear from the passage.

  The same men entered the next room and did the same tossing and searching. They seemed frustrated, words getting louder but still unintelligible.

  It seemed only two men were ransacking the motel so Cade decided to follow the passage. He crept quietly along past each mirror until he came to a door knob and peep hole. He gazed through the hole and saw that it was the manager’s office and it appeared empty, only an emergency light shone bright.

  He tried the knob and turned it slowly. In the office he knew what he was looking for and assumed the desk would hold the treasure. Cade kneeled and made his way over and checked the drawers. The fourth drawer held what he was looking for.

  He pulled a small pistol out of the desk drawer and stuffed it into his waistband after checking the ammo. Cade then went back into the passage and shut the peephole door tightly.

  “Guys we have a gun.” Cade motioned for everyone to come to him. “We need to get into 108 and wait for them.”

  They opened the mirror and one by one slid through into the room. Cade positioned himself by the door while the others spread out and hid. Sweat trickled down Cades face and emotions were high all over the room.