One Hour to Live

by Gary M. Chesla

  Kevin nodded.

  “Be careful,” Lisa said out loud.

  “I will,” Kevin replied as he kissed Lisa, then he and his dad walked out on the porch.

  Lisa closed and locked the door behind them.

  They walked out to Kevin’s Subaru and stood by the car.

  “I think we should start over at the Reynold’s place,” Bob said. “They always seemed well off, maybe we can find a few things there we could use.”

  “Lisa just told me to go back to her house,” Kevin replied. “She said her parents usually kept the house well supplied.”

  “It isn’t going to upset her?” Bob asked.

  “She suggested it,” Kevin replied, “Besides, she told me a few things about her parents this morning. Apparently, they accused her of something and had practically disowned her. She’s been paying for her schooling all on her own. She feels bad about her parents, but she’s not as upset as we thought she was going to be.”

  “That’s too bad,” Bob said. “She seems like such a nice girl.”

  “She is,” Kevin replied. “A little nutty to say the least, but she is ……, I just don’t know how to put it into words.”

  “That in itself says it all,” Bob smiled. “I think she feels the same way about you too. I’m glad you two found a way to get back together again. The timing is a little unfortunate though.”

  “Yeah, my timing has always been a little shitty,” Kevin grinned. “What do you say we get started.”

  They got in Kevin’s Subaru and drove over to the Murphy house.

  Lisa had been right. The house had been recently stocked with supplies.

  They filled the trunk with two cases of beer, three boxes of cereal, twenty-seven cans of soup, a bag of dinner rolls, a few pounds of cheese, four boxes of pasta and some a little past its expiration date lunch meats.

  For good measure, two bags of chips and a box of pretzels.

  “This will hold us for a few days,” Kevin said.

  “Yeah, but it just a reminder of things to come,” Bob replied. “This was easy, but it’s not always going to be this easy. In fact, after we go through the other few recently occupied houses, pickings are going to get slim real fast.”

  “We can only hope it doesn’t last that long,” Kevin replied.

  “Careful what you wish for son,” Bob said. “Things could always be worse, believe it or not.”

  “I’m not sure how,” Kevin said.

  “Believe me,” Bob said, “Sometimes you don’t know what you have until it’s gone. Then it’s too late.”

  “Let’s head over to the Reynold’s place now,” Kevin said.

  Bob nodded.

  They got in the car and drove out Market Street, turned right on second street and drove three houses to the end of the street.

  The Reynold’s place was the last house on the left.

  It was a small single story white brick home. All the other brick homes in Bolivar were red brick, built from the local made red brick from the Bolivar brick factory.

  Mr. Reynolds had been the bank manager before he retired. Being in management and the bank manager in a town of coal miners, the Reynolds felt a little superior to the other town residents. At least it appeared that way.

  They ordered special bricks to build their home and always drove a Buick.

  The big Buick always stood out in town next to the smaller, more plain looking Chevys and Fords driven by the other folks.

  When the mines closed, the bank moved their operations out of town.

  Mr. Reynolds wasn’t transferred, he was forced to retire.

  It unfortunately was not the kind of retirement he had hoped for. He soon found himself stranded in Bolivar along with all the people he had looked down on.

  After all these years, and not financially able to leave, they were still in Bolivar just trying to survive now like the others that remained.

  “What do you think?” Bob asked as they sat in the car and studied the white brick home.

  Kevin looked at damage done to the front of the house.

  “The front door is still standing,” Kevin replied. “The windows are smashed out. Some zombies could have gotten in through that big window on the porch.”

  “Any chance you think they might still be alive?” Bob asked.

  “Anything is possible,” Kevin replied. “But if they are still alive, why didn’t they board up that window after the zombies moved on?”

  “Good point,” Bob said.

  “Let’s go see what’s there,” Kevin said. “Then we should get back before it gets any darker.”

  “Keep your eyes open when we go inside,” Bob said. “A couple of those things, if they got in, might not have been able to get back out through that window. That’s what happened at our place, they fell in through the window but couldn’t figure out how to get back out.”

  Kevin nodded, “Let’s be quiet and sneak up to the window.”

  Bob and Kevin got out of the car, listened, then began to walk towards the Reynold’s house.

  When they were on the porch, Kevin motioned his dad to stay quiet.

  “I think I saw someone inside,” Kevin whispered.

  Bob raised his shotgun.

  Kevin shook his head, no.

  “Wait until we see who it is,” Kevin whispered. “It could be Mr. or Mrs. Reynolds.”

  They moved slowly and took a spot on each side of the window.

  As Kevin leaned over to look in the window.

  He jumped when Mrs. Reynolds scared the hell out of him when she quickly staggered up to the window from out of one of the many dark shadows in the room.

  She lunged at Kevin, trying to come through the now open window.

  Kevin heard the groan and saw the wildly thrashing arms and bloody teeth fly at him.

  What had been a frail old woman, now a frail old woman zombie, impaled herself on the jagged glass that remained around the sides and bottom of the window frame.

  Bob raised his shot gun.

  “Wait,” Kevin said as his heart beat slowly began to return to normal. “Save your ammo. Let me do this quietly. She doesn’t look too dangerous right now.”

  Kevin loaded an arrow on his bow and shot the arrow into Mrs. Reynold’s back.

  The old woman began to frantically struggle again to get to Kevin, but her light body was still firmly held in place by the large pointy, blood covered wedge of glass that was sticking up out of the middle of her back.

  Kevin quickly pulled out another arrow and this time he shot her in the head.

  The small body slumped, her arms slapped against the wall below the window as she collapsed and fell silent.

  “Shit,” Kevin said, “It looks like all those old zombie stories were right, you have to shoot them in the head.”

  “Or just use a shotgun and blow their ass all over the place,” Bob grinned.

  Bob and Kevin stared at the fragile gray body. The old woman’s short, straggly gray hair. The blood-soaked nightgown and the vicious wound on her arm where she had been attacked.

  “This doesn’t seem right that something like this would happen to a poor defenseless old woman,” Kevin said. “She probably worked all her life to get by, never hurt anybody and then she ends up a zombie.”

  Bob looked at the old lady then up at Kevin, “Life’s not fair, Kevin. Even without zombies, life was never fair.”

  Kevin understood what his dad was saying.

  Bob had worked hard all his life to be a decent person and a good father.

  What did his dad get for all his hard work?

  His wife died when she was young, way too young.

  He was injured, suffering a broken back in the mine, that now required medication and weekly rehab so he could walk.

  Bob had to raise a young son on his own, in a town that died around him.

  And now he had to endure an invasion of zombies.

  To top all that off, with all indications, things would only be gettin
g worse.

  “Life is unfair and as far as I can tell, none of us can escape the cruel hand of fate.” Bob added. “So, enjoy the little things when you can, because the worst is always yet to come.”

  “My dad the optimist,” Kevin smiled.

  Kevin grabbed the least bloody part of Mrs. Reynold’s nightgown and pulled her off the window sill and moved her body to the side of the porch.

  He looked back in through the window and called out, “Anyone else in there?”

  Kevin snapped off some of the jagged pieces of glass from the window frame and tossed them back into the room and then listened.

  “I don’t hear any other movement. We’ll go in through the window, just keep an eye out for the husband,” Kevin said.

  Kevin crawled over the bottom or the large picture window frame. He looked around the room, studying each dark shadow carefully as he scanned the room.

  “The zombies definitely made it in here,” Kevin said as he turned to look at his dad.

  Bob was standing outside the window looking in.

  “You coming?” Kevin asked.

  “How about opening the door for me,” Bob said. “My back is starting to bother me. I don’t think my back can handle any more stress today. Helping you carry that Oak door, I think I put my back out.”

  “OK,” Kevin said. “Meet me at the front door.”

  Bob walked over to the door and waited.

  When the door finally opened, Bob slipped inside and pulled it closed behind him.

  “What took you so long?” Bob asked.

  “I was keeping my eyes open for Mr. Reynolds,” Kevin replied. “It’s dark back in this hallway.”

  “It’s starting to get dark outside too,” Bob said. “We need to move.”

  Bob followed Kevin back down the hall.

  This house didn’t have the same layout as most of the homes in Bolivar.

  It didn’t have the standard company house layout.

  Mr. Reynolds had his house built special, to have a house that would stand out in Bolivar.

  But being the house was only a single level home, it didn’t take long before they found the kitchen.

  The back door had been pushed in and was now lying in the middle of the kitchen floor.

  “This must be why we haven’t seen Mr. Reynolds,” Kevin said. “He must have wandered off on his own or followed the other zombies out the back of the house.”

  “You check the cupboards on that side and I’ll search this side,” Kevin added.

  “How about I’ll check the top cupboards and you do the bottom shelves,” Bod replied. “It will be easier on my back.”

  Kevin quickly searched the refrigerator and the bottom shelves.

  He found a drawer of bags and filled two bags with cans of prune juice and chocolate candy bars. In another bag, he added ten cans of soup.

  Bob filled two bags with tea and cereal and fifteen small cans of cat food.

  Kevin looked at Bob when he saw his dad putting cat food in a bag.

  “Dad, cat food?” Kevin asked.

  “I’ve always wanted a cat,” Bob grinned then became serious. “The stuff is edible. This is in case we get hard up later. Didn’t you ever hear the stories about the little old ladies that put all their money under their mattress and didn’t eat anything but cat food. People can live on this stuff if they have to.”

  Kevin laughed and went back to searching the cupboards.

  Suddenly, “Like a Virgin” blasted from the phone in Kevin’s pocket.

  It only played five beats then his phone fell silent.

  “Grab whatever bags you have filled and let’s go,” Kevin said. “That was Lisa calling. They must have a problem.”

  Kevin and Bob quickly made their way to the car and tossed the bags in the back seat.

  He started the car, did a quick “U” turn and drove out to Market Street.

  They were only seven blocks from home and were back in the driveway in only three minutes.

  When they pulled in the driveway, they saw a single zombie standing at the back door.

  First it stood and pounded against the door, then it would start walking into the door, determined to somehow get inside.

  “I’ll take care of this,” Kevin said as he reached into the back seat and grabbed his bow.

  Bob grabbed his shotgun, got out of the car and followed Kevin, just in case.

  Kevin walked up and stood at the bottom of the steps.

  He pulled the string back and put an arrow into the back of the zombie’s head.

  The body fell backwards and landed with a solid thump on the wooden deck.

  Bob walked up behind Kevin and stared down at the body.

  Kevin noticed his dad’s interest in the dead zombie.

  “Something wrong?” Kevin asked.

  Bob looked down, “This is Jim Caldwell, I worked with his old man. They lived over the river in Robinson.”

  “He’s a long way from home,” Kevin said. “It looks like the zombie’s victims are starting to come back to life. First Mrs. Reynolds and now Caldwell.”

  “We’ll probably be seeing some more familiar faces too,” Bob said. “It won’t be too bad around here, but can you imagine what things are going to be like in the larger towns and cities?”

  “I’m trying not to,” Kevin replied.

  Just then the big Oak door swung open and Bill and Lisa walked out on the porch and looked down the zombie with the arrow sticking through its head.

  “I’m glad you got my signal,” Lisa said.

  “How long did you let the phone ring?” Kevin asked. “My phone only made a few sounds before it went dead.”

  “It only rang three times on my end and stopped,” Lisa replied, pulling her eyes away from the body. “I tried to call you back a second time, but nothing happened.”

  “I was afraid of that when my phone stopped so fast,” Kevin said. “The entire phone system must be completely down now.”

  “I told Lisa to call you when we saw those two zombies out on the porch,” Bill said. “They looked as creepy as the ones that came here the other night.”

  Kevin quickly looked around the yard, “Did you see where the other one went?”

  “No,” Lisa replied, “Sorry, we were too busy keeping an eye on this one. I know it was only one, but it scared the hell out of me. I was afraid there were going to be more of them showing up and you wouldn’t be able to come back.”

  Kevin walked over and put his arms around Lisa.

  “Kevin,” Bob said. “How about dragging this thing out to the road and I’ll get Bill and Lisa to help me start carrying our things in to the house before we get anymore company.”

  Kevin took his arms from around Lisa and smiled at her.

  “Go help dad,” Kevin said.

  “OK,” she smiled and started down the steps.

  When Kevin returned to the house, the others had moved all the supplies into the kitchen and had them stacked on the kitchen counter.

  Bob locked the door behind him.

  Kevin turned around to see Bill excitedly examining the items on the counter.

  Kevin couldn’t help but laugh when Bill picked up two cans of cat food.

  He held them up to the lantern light to better see the labels on the cans.

  “Liver,” Bill smiled. “I love this stuff.”

  Chapter 17

  September, One year ago

  It had been a quiet night, it was now morning.

  The sun was now starting to rise above the horizon, brightening the sky.

  They had heard a few sounds during the night, or at least they thought they did.

  Maybe it was just their imaginations.

  With all the work they had done to secure the house, they felt safe. As safe as one could feel knowing what was lurking outside.

  They weren’t worried, at least so long as all they heard were a few sounds.

  No matter how safe they felt inside the house, if they would
have heard the sounds of hundreds of the dead again, they would have been worried.

  They had all seen enough to know that the feeling of safety was a temporary condition that could quickly change.

  But thankfully, overall, it had been a peaceful night. Everyone had slept well, except for Kevin and Lisa.

  Kevin rolled over on his back and smiled at Lisa as she snuggled up against his side.

  The early morning sunlight was beginning to cast a warm glow around the room.

  Kevin smiled, “It’s morning already, I think I need a rest before we have to get up.”

  “I think you got plenty of rest last night,” Lisa teased.

  “I don’t think so,” Kevin laughed. “All night long, every time I closed my eyes you would wake me up. I don’t think I got any sleep last night.”

  “I kept thinking of important things I wanted to tell you,” Lisa replied. “I can’t help it every time I woke you up, you had to kiss me. You know what happens to me every time you kiss me like that.”

  Kevin laughed.

  “And you know happens every time you wake me up in the middle of the night and whisper in my ear and say, Kevin I’m horny.”

  Lisa laughed.

  “Well, you never let me finish,” Lisa grinned. “Maybe I was going to say, Kevin, I’m horny and maybe next week some time we could, you know, you could do something about it?”

  Kevin looked at Lisa and started to laugh.

  “Well it could happen,” Lisa replied, then she started to laugh too.

  “OK, that’s not what I was going say,” Lisa smiled as she looked up at Kevin. “But I thought it was real important that I woke you up to tell you about it.”