The Dead Live On

by Cooper Brown, Julie

  Most of the time we kept to ourselves, we didn’t know many people anyway, we moved down from Ohio just a few months before. We did befriend a few of our closest neighbors. There was Old Joe on our left, ex-military, deceased wife and child. He never remarried. He must’ve been around sixty - two, with a crew cut and strong political views he liked to bring up whenever we saw him. It made good conversation for Evan when they got together. The elderly Widow Evelyn, seventy - eight years old and white hair and didn’t have a tooth in her head; she was so cute and reminded me of my grandmother. I chatted with her at least once a week over coffee in her small but comfy kitchen. She lived five houses down and across the street. I met her on a walk I took when we first moved here.

  Then there was Jake and Sue McCall, raven haired, mid-thirties couple on our right. They had two small tow-headed boys, Brian and Bobby, who woke us every weekend without fail, at seven in the morning with their hollering and screaming while they played in their back yard. And last but not least, The Pattons, Dan and Dawn. They were always very friendly when we did see them, and had attended a party that Jake and Sue hosted. They seemed pretty fit, and were always wearing sweats, so I guess they spent a lot of time at the gym. They lived directly across from us. And there was Jimmy, who I mentioned earlier and will get to telling you about him soon. But we hadn’t seen him for almost a month by this time though he did call occasionally. Most of the rest of the houses were unoccupied due to economy and we just never spoke to any of the people in the other homes that were. So we invited them all to our cook out.

  Jake, Sue and the boys came over first. Then Old Joe came out and Evelyn made the short but tiring trip to come as well. I saw her coming down off her porch and went down to help her, I tried to put my arm in hers and help her but she slapped me away and told me she could do it herself. She wasn’t mean about it, only embarrassed that I would think she needed help. She was stubborn. The Patton’s declined because Dawn had just gotten back in from a trip to Tennessee visiting family and wasn’t feeling well.

  Evan made barbeque ribs and chicken wings for us, and hot dogs and hamburgers for Brian and Bobby. After everyone got their fill, Evan, Jake and Old Joe went over to Old Joe’s garage with their beer to admire his rebuilt 1976 Monte Carlo and talk politics. Sue, Evelyn and I stayed in my back yard talking about the disasters among other trivial things as we watched the boys play. All in all, it was a good time. I walked Evelyn home and when I got back, the rest were gone.

  Evan did not get a call from Gloria, so it was taken that he didn’t have to work the next day. We cleaned up the yard and put everything away then called it a day. Monday morning came with the news of volcanoes erupting in Hawaii, and above normal sweltering temperatures in what was left of Africa. Some, well, a lot of people died from heat stroke and multiple large scale fires were burning. There was a small article about a cannibal having to be killed in Atlanta. Authorities blamed it on bath salts; I thought nothing of it because it had happened before. With everything going on I figured we’d get killer hurricanes and tsunamis here as well when the time for our destruction came. I was wrong.

  Tuesday morning there were many more reports of cannibals. Several came out of Atlanta, some from Tennessee, South Carolina, Alabama and two reports from northern Florida. As we read these articles and watched the attached videos, I told Evan to go over and see if Old Joe had a gun he could sell us. He just laughed at me and said “What? You think this is like them zombie games you play? If God is going to take us out, it’s not going to be like that. What does it matter? The state of Florida is gonna collapse into a giant sinkhole.”

  “Don’t scare me like that,” I said “I would much rather get eaten by a zombie than be buried alive.” I thought I meant that at the time, but now I have changed my mind. A few hours later, while I was doing the laundry for the week as Evan dozed on the couch, I got a text message from my sister April. ‘Live Presidential Address on CNN. You need to watch.’

  She knew we didn’t have cable so she sent me the link. I typed it in and the President wasn’t speaking, but a spokesman for the CDC was introducing a doctor to explain the situation. He stated that one of their researchers had been careless with a sample of an unidentified virus. The “careless” Doc got sick, and then he went all out Zombie about a day and a half later. It took anywhere from two to seventy - two hours to fully incubate. They referred to them as the Infected. They said they didn’t know how it managed to escape the compound, that there was no cure as of yet and that they were working around the clock to find one. That everyone could continue their life as usual, with a few precautions in place with the help of the military.

  If there were a death in the family, do not assume that they are just dead. They could only be brain damaged and awaken with a craving for human flesh, and they were nothing of the person they once were. We were to promptly, but respectfully, find a way (preferably a bullet), to destroy the brain of our recently dead. If done within minutes after death this could be contained. He then told us that our Secretary of Defense would inform us on the measures to be taken by the government and how this will help us maintain control.

  Then the Secretary of Defense came out and said that troops were going to be stationed in all cities and neighborhoods throughout the United States and they would need more soldiers, and encouraged any citizen that was interested to immediately sign up. No one would be denied. The recruiting stations would be open twenty - four - seven at this point. He said that there were a lot of troops killed while stationed in other countries as a result of the natural disasters that had taken place. The mail would cease and all banks and government offices were to be closed.

  He also said that they would put Mobile Medical Units throughout as well to examine the residents for infection and those to be found ill would then be taken to the hospital to be monitored. He was sure that the spreading of the virus could be stopped in this manner. He said that with our cooperation, this would remain under control. He didn’t say anything about the recent disasters that had occurred. Our President was not available for comment; he and his family were safely tucked away in an undisclosed location.

  That is never good in a situation like this. I understand though, how he would be the first to be whisked away to safety. Or maybe he wasn’t really safe. I thought that maybe the virus had already invaded the White House. And with that bit of information, I began digging through our things and pulling out what could be used as weapons.

  Evan is a black belt in Tae Kwan Do and he had a few useful things, wooden nun chucks and a pair of scythes. I also had my own pair of chucks that he bought for me, a pretty shiny pink set that could be transformed into a club by screwing them together in the middle. I also got out our biggest knife. We could possibly be under threat of other people as well, because when it got out of hand it would be every man for himself. I informed Evan that now would be a good time to go on over and talk to Old Joe about a gun. Turns out, he had only one and he had plans on using it.

  Like I said in so many words, the CDC was wrong- despite the governments’ efforts, it could not be contained. That shit spread like wildfire. And I was right about them being zombies. What I don’t understand, is that they don’t know how it got out. I have a hard time believing that.

  The CDC had the power to stop it right then and there by quarantining the compound and destroying all samples and the infected. Isn’t that what they are there for? And what were they thinking? They should’ve known it couldn’t be controlled. With the whole world falling around us, what would make them think they the States could survive? They should’ve just nuked this country; we would have welcomed the swift destruction.

  Needless to say, when the CDC made their announcement, people had closed up their stores, and the government took most of the inventory from the bigger chains and used them to distribute from their centers.

  Within the next couple hours, the medical units were in place and soldiers were at the end of the block with a meg
aphone. They instructed every family member to come outside and line up for examinations and blood samples.

  Evan and I waited on Old Joe to come out and we all walked down and got Evelyn. Jake and his family were already in line when we got to the end of the block. Dan Patton was just a few people behind me so I asked him about Dawn, and he said she had gone back to Tennessee to be with her family. I thought that a little odd because she had just got back, but good for her. She would be with family. I asked him if he wanted to hang with us later if he were going to be alone and he said no, but he looked a little skittish and would not meet my eyes. I didn’t think on it too much. I decided to call my sisters while we were in line, got no answer and the voicemail didn’t pick up. As I was putting my phone away, I saw that Jake and Sue were having their turn.

  They began with Sue, I couldn’t really see what was being done, and I could only see their faces. I saw a look pass between the two, their expressions changed. You could see they were struggling to remain calm. Then they began exams on the boys and ended with Jake. One of the Medical technicians said a few things to Jake, handed him some papers and they all kissed and hugged Sue. A soldier walked her over to a second truck that was parked at the corner. I wondered about that, I assumed it was the transport to the hospital. Jake then turned and went home to wait for her return. It took probably a good two hours to check all of us in this block. When it was over, they had taken the entire Cruz family, all six of them, and one each from the Jones, Briar, and Holt households. They had taken both of the elderly Crafts.

  After the last examination, we were told over the megaphone that our vehicles were not to be moved and we were to remain on our street of residence. We could communicate with the neighbors, but if anyone seemed to become ill, inform them immediately. They told us that shelters were being established in Punta Gorda, Cape Coral and South Ft. Myers, and at time of completion we would all be moved there temporarily. Until then, they had turned one grocery store per neighborhood into a Government Emergency Supply Center and only one family member was allowed to board the bus that took us there, accompanied by three U.S. troopers. The bus would be around at five o’ clock a.m., and to be outside of your house if you were going, because if we missed this bus, another wasn’t coming around until the next Wednesday.

  Chapter Six

  Wednesday morning, the bus did show at five o’clock and I was ready and waiting there with Evelyn. I figured we were gonna need quite a few things since we didn’t shop for this on Friday. Evan did not want me to go, but I went despite his protests. I used Evelyn and her frailty as an excuse. He was afraid something would happen while we were separated and that he’d lose me. I told him that it wasn’t that bad yet. That no matter what, I would return. He kissed me deeply and when I broke loose and gathered my senses, I told him that I was surely coming back for more of that, and winked at him.

  I boarded the bus, signed my name, and I signed for Evelyn on the clipboard that was handed to me by the driver and we found our seats.

  The Supply Center ran just as your regular Food Pantry. You went in, said how many members were in your household and they gave you the weeks’ worth of food that a family that size was allotted. Of course you had to stand in line but it was a much quicker process since they didn’t ask for identification, I took both of ours just in case. They also had clothes as well if you needed them. You gave them your sizes and they gave each member one pair of jeans, one pair of socks, two long sleeve shirts and one pair of boots. I’m glad I got in line for that, the long sleeves and boots came in handy. After that was done, I was instructed to find my bus, give my name and wait for the others from my street that I rode in with.

  I chatted with Evelyn about what was going on while we waited, and an hour or so later I was back at home with no special events to report to Evan. He did have something to report to me, though. Sue was never returned and no one had come to tell Jake anything, he was worried sick. We became worried as well but didn’t know what we could do. So, Evan and I walked down to the corner to speak with one of the soldiers assigned to our street.

  He said that when she was well enough and cleared of infection she would be taken back home. It was the same for all who were taken. And they had taken quite a few from our little street. I don’t know what his intentions were by doing this, but he then pulled out his iPhone and showed us a video of what may happen to a person when they became infected. This is where the Halfers come in and I only call them that because, just for a little while, they seem normal and think somewhat normally. The video was very disturbing.

  Someone had been recording their friends while they were skateboarding. A young boy slid down across a rail sideways, and landed perfectly, and into the frame came a man and a woman that I thought were running from something or someone else. The woman slammed into the boy and knocked him down, but it did not stop her, she stumbled but she kept running. The camera operator followed the chase. The man caught up to her, you could hear him yelling though you couldn’t hear what he was saying. He reached out as he closed the distance between them, got a handful of her hair and yanked her backwards. She was screaming bloody murder and he began screaming as well as he tore into the back of her head with his teeth. The operator of the camera was getting bold, and nearing the scene. You could hear the people that had gathered, saying, “Oh, my God. Let her go, dude.” People began crowding around them, you could see that they wanted to try to help, but they were in shock of what they were seeing. While the woman still screamed, the man was taking chunks out of her face then spitting them out. He threw her down and his hands went up to grasp his head and he screamed into the air and was crying, the bystanders were petrified and no one seemed to move any closer to them at that point. The woman tried skittering away, begging him for her life, but he saw her and pulled her back to him, fell onto her and tore into her breast. They were both covered in blood and the camera man was getting even closer. The man was crying in great anguish and now we could hear that he was screaming that he was sorry. He stopped biting her long enough to vomit on the ground beside her. Then with a look of disgust he continued to tear into her body.

  The woman had stopped screaming by then, but the cries of the man continued as he ripped something out of her and resumed eating. His face was a mass of different emotions, but the emotion that showed most on his bloody face was pain. The camera guy got a little too close, the man saw him and his expression changed into one of a predator, then he sprang up off the ground quick as lightning and rushed him. The camera fell to the ground. The people began screaming and running in all directions. The video was over.

  The soldier went on to explain to us that not all of the people infected became this way, just a few. It was something to do with an individual’s immune system. They were actually normal except for the Hunger controlled them, and they had uncanny speed. That after about three hours of being in this state, they then became your ‘regular ole zombie’. He told us that all infected were taken over on Bayshore to the Sweet Bay parking lot to be put down and burned with the rest of the Infected in a great big bonfire. He also said that since our neighbor hadn’t returned yet, that she was most likely roasted by now, and if we took a big whiff of the air we would smell her burning, and he said all that with a smile. He told us not to mention what we saw on the video to anyone, (knowing we would) and then he told us to get on back in our house lest the same thing happen to us. He was feeling pretty good about his new found position of authority.

  I found myself taking a deep breath through my nose and saw that Evan had, too. I could sure enough smell the faint stench of burning flesh. A wave of anger swept through me and I raised my hands as if to grab his throat and choke the life right out of him. Evan grabbed me just in time; he bear hugged me from behind and folded my forearms down across each other in front of me. The fucker laughed at me.

  How fucking dare he, I wanted to slap the smile off his face so bad I could hardly control my limbs, I was shaking with self-
restraint, trying not to fight to get away from Evan and box that boy’s ears. I was so mad that I felt my face burning as if I could suffocate from the heat of it, and I became a little faint. Sue was not just my neighbor, I considered her my friend. She had a husband and two little boys waiting at home. As I thought of these things, I stood in his face and a long, loud scream of rage broke from my throat. He flinched and raised his gun, but he kept smiling.

  Evan was angry as well, but remained in control to keep me from getting myself killed. The guy did have a gun, and could shoot us and say he had to because we were infected.

  As calmly as I could through a clenched jaw, I told him that his mother should have choked him to death with his own umbilical cord and accused him of joining the military just so he could kill people. (I had forgotten for the moment that anybody could sign up and be a soldier in the midst of this mess and I’m willing to bet, that’s how he managed to get a gun.) I asked him if he would be smiling if that were his mother, or sister, or wife.

  He said that his mother was a whore, his sister was a cunt and he had never taken a wife. I told him it was because he was a greasy little bastard with no respect for life. Evan told me to shut up for my own good and turned me in the direction of home and walked me a safe distance away from the soldier and let me loose. The little bastard was still smiling, UGH!

  Sorry about the language, I just can’t help myself when I think of the things he said and how they didn’t even affect him. I was sure that he would get his. They say every dog has their day. And I’m a firm believer in ‘what comes around goes around.’ I was furious! Why this video wasn’t made public, I don’t know. I could only guess it was to keep the panic down. People should know about this so they know how to better protect their selves.