by Thomas Baker
"I grabbed my phone and tried calling the police but all the lines were busy or something. I glanced back at the bank window. It was full of faces pressed against the glass, watching in horror."
"A loud crash behind me drew my attention towards the parking lot of the grocery store across the shopping center. There were four more of them dead things, ripping at an old couple in a convertible. It had crashed into a delivery van. Not really knowing what else to do I hopped back in my truck and hauled ass back to my store."
"I knew I had a short window to either try and protect my store or get all the supplies I could and get the hell out of dodge. I chose the latter pretty quick as I drove down the street. Whole damn town was starting to look like one of them disaster movies. Maybe Volcano, and I was playing Tommy Lee Jones. I got back to my store and threw together two survival bags and as much ammo as I could carry. The whole time ignoring people frantically screaming for help outside the store. Hell, I'm just an old man. What was I going to do against an army of zombies. At least that's what I tell myself now."
Another pause, another sip of water.
"Anyhow, I threw the bags in my truck and as I was locking the door I caught a reflection of one of those things behind me. I spun around and it just stood there, staring at me like it didn't know what to do. It was quiet as a church mouse on Sunday. It continued to just stand there, a woman in ripped jeans and nothing else. There was red around her mouth, and I don't think it was lip stick."
"As I jogged around the backside of my pickup to avoid it, she reached out at me like she couldn't move. As I drove away her face smacked off the passenger window. I watched it diminish in my rear view. She just stood there watching me leave. I arrived home and found two zombies feasting on my mailman's guts in my driveway. That pretty much settled it for me. I drove around back, ran in, grabbed my guns, knives, more ammo, what little food I had and a couple toolboxes. I was hauling ass out of town until I ran into bumper-to-bumper traffic. Everyone trying to do the same thing I was. I couldn't believe how quick this thing was unfolding. Had it really only been just a few hours?"
Gus shook his head. He could almost see it before him again.
"Lucky for me though, I knew the back roads from many huntin' and fishin' trips. I pulled off the highway first chance I got. At night I kept bedding down where I could. Had to siphon gas a few times, that almost got me killed more than once. Thought I was doing pretty well for myself until my truck blew a tire and I flipped the old beast. I loaded everything on my shoulders that I could carry and kept going until I found a farmhouse off the beaten path. Place had clearly been uninhabited for awhile so I took refuge in one of the upstairs rooms until the day I got woken up with a loud crash. It was 'Dusty here, kicking in the front door. The rest is history."
"Just be lucky I found you old man, before they did," Dusty said, his arrogance grating JT's nerves.
This guy. JT just shook his head.
"Lucky? You call leading them things right to my hiding place lucky? If that's your idea of luck then I need a new definition. My idea of luck was the day these two pretty young ladies strolled into my life shedding some beauty on this ugly sumbitch of a world," Gus said, grinning.
"Aww! You're a real ladies man aren't you Gussy-poo?!" Ashley smirked. Gus seemed to be blushing from her comment.
"What no witty comeback?" Hannah teased.
"Oh Jesus people what is this a Camp Sunshine slumber party?" Dusty sounded unimpressed with the whole thing.
"Alrighty, calm down there Crusty Dusty," said Gus laughing to himself. "Who's next?"
They all just kind of sat there. JT wondered now where this night could be going. It was suppose to be fun, but here they were, each replaying their own personal nightmares of the Outbreak.
"How 'bout you kid? Why don't you tell us how a fine young black man like yourself ended up with all us whities?" Gus said, giving Tyrone a thumb's up.
Tyrone burst out in laughter at Gus' comment.
"OK. Umm...I don't really know what to say," Tyrone hesitated, clearly nervous.
"Next!" Dusty interrupted.
Tyrone eyed him, clearly wanting to say something, but obviously afraid to.
JT glared. "Seriously Dusty? Shut it. Take your time kid. Start when you can."
"OK," Tyrone said, still hesitant to begin. "Well when I woke up that morning, it was supposed to be an awesome day for football. State playoffs, us versus Highland Park. We were all hyped for it too. We were undefeated. Best record our school had ever ha..."
"Do you think we care about hearing another football story from you now?" Dusty interrupted again.
"Let the kid tell his tale," Gus said, shaking his head. "Go ahead, sport. I love football. Dusty's just got a stick up his ass because he wasn't even good enough to be the waterboy."
Tyrone smiled as he started in again. "Everything felt real normal that day, you know what I mean? I remember how nervous I got when they announced they were letting the football players be released from class early."
"We all loaded up and got onto the buses. We had three buses that day. We usually only had two. We left the school and were on our way to Highland. They were undefeated too."
"We were all roasting on each other and pulling pranks on the way there. Even Coach Lane got in on some of the battle raps we were having. We were having a good time until some lady sounding all scared came over the radio saying something we couldn't really understand about turning the bus around and getting us kids home."
"The bus driver and coaches yelled at us all to shut up and listen but they never could get that lady to answer on the radio again. You could tell our bus driver was nervous or scared or something. The buses stopped on the shoulder and the three drivers all met outside."
"Our driver came back and talked to Coach Lane. Coach told all of us to try our cell phones, to see if they were working. All we got was the same high usage, try again message. Coach told us to stay on the bus no matter what. All the adults then went outside, I guess to talk about what to do next."
"Coach Lane came back on the bus and said they were worried something may have happened, so we were going to stop in the next town and get ahold of somebody at the school."
"That's when things started getting really weird. The driver kept trying to call people on the radio but no one answered except the other two drivers. He kept trying his radio for news but every station was just these really weird tones, like a steady beep."
"We all sat there staring as we passed a car flipped up on its roof. We slowed down but didn't stop. About half a mile up the road we passed a car seat sitting in the middle of the road."
"That's when we started to slow down and then the driver pull over."
"From the bus behind us the driver and Coach Pullian got out and went up to the car seat. Out of nowhere this lady covered in blood came running out of the cornfield beside the road and attacked the driver and Pullian. A bunch of other adults ran out to help. They took her down, punching the shit out of her, but not before Coach Pullian got his throat ripped open like some horror movie. We all went silent. The other bus driver had blood coming out of bite marks up his arm to the elbow. The adults were barely back on the buses when the lady they knocked on her ass got back up. You could tell right away something was wrong with her. You know what I mean?"
"It must have been the bitten bus driver who started screaming over the radio, GO! GO! GO! The bus lurched forward. All three buses were back on the road and hauling ass."
"As we were coming around this curve we saw this big white truck like the electric companies use flying up this side road. I thought it was gonna hit us. I spun around in my seat in time to see that truck t-bone the bus right behind us and then the bus behind them slamming into the wreck. Our bus driver hit the brakes. We all stood up and were taped to the windows as some kind of deranged man climbed out of the destroyed electric truck and just stood there. When the kids started getting out of the third bus, the electric man turned to
wards them and started attacking."
"Our bus started to go again. We were all wailing at this point, looking back as the man tore into our teammates that were coming out of the wreckage. We were all yelling for the driver to stop. Some then yelled COACH! I looked toward the front of the bus and saw Coach Lane writhing on in the aisle. He looked like he was in a lot of pain."
Tyrone stopped, visibly upset. Why shouldn't he be. It was like sharing the worse nightmare he had ever dreamed. He took in a giant gasp of the night air.
"Go on when you are ready," Ashley said. She flashed him her prettiest smile.
Tyrone was pretty sure he saw a growing attraction in that smile. Tyrone smiled weakly back, swallowed and continued on.
"Some of the other adults jumped up and were trying to help Lane. Knowing what I do now, I guess he was bit somewhere. The bus driver was distracted, looking back, asking what was going on. He wasn't really watching the road I guess and the bus turned hard. Next thing I knew we started to tip to the right and came crashing down hard. People from the other side of the bus started falling on me. Dirt and glass sprayed into the bus as we slid on our side. The last thing I remember was trying to lift my head away from the window and then a sudden stop that threw my head back. I woke up later and there were three dead bodies laying on me and a backpack over my face."
Tyrone started shaking, reliving that moment. Ashley scooted over and put her arms around him. "You don't have to tell us anymore right now," she said, trying to comfort him.
"That's OK, there really isn't much more to tell. I must have been knocked out. When I came to, I was alone. Everyone else left or was killed I guess. Whoever else was still alive after the crash, maybe they thought I was dead. Who knows. I was too scared to even try and leave the bus. Not with the craziness I was seeing outside. That's why I'm glad you all found me. I don't know what would have happened, you know what I mean."
There was a long pause.
"I think I am done." Tyrone settled back into his chair, arms folded across his chest.
After a few moments of quiet, JT spoke up. "I guess I'll go next. If we're going to keep doing this, let's get it over with."
"Go ahead superstar," Dusty said, "This story should be worth a chuckle. Let's hear how you were lucky enough to manage surviving."
JT gave Dusty the finger, then started.
"About the time the rest of you were waking up, I had pretty much just gone to bed," JT said, rushing right along. "I had gotten home from work at like 4:30 in the morning. Usually Tuesday nights at the bar were pretty good too, those kind of nights being a bouncer was easy money."
"You were a bouncer?" Dusty laughed. "I knew this would be hilarious. I'm glad I stuck around after all."
JT glared at him. His jaw began to lock up and he could feel his pulse rising.
"Dusty shut it. There is nothing wrong with being a bouncer. Besides sometimes those guys are pretty cute" Hannah slyly smiled.
JT smiled over at here and took a deep breath before continuing.
"That Tuesday though was one of the shittiest nights at work I had ever had. Early that night I had to throw out two douche bag Army guys, who were duking it out over some girl." JT shot a look at Dusty. "I had sore ribs the rest of the night, from where one of them got in a lucky shot with an elbow."
"I was standing outside when it seemed like sirens started going nonstop all over the area. At the time we were all confused when the cops came and told us we had to shut down early. Just a few blocks away I found out they had just had a police involved shooting after some drunk dumb ass tried attacking a cop. Looking back now, the attacker probably wasn't drunk. "
"The people in the bar were not happy about having to leave and I was dealing with one drunk asshole after another trying to clear the damn place out. People purposely pouring their drinks out on the floor and shucking bottles across the bar. It was a mess."
"Anyways, I collapsed when I got home and the next thing I know I wake up to the tornado sirens going off. I rolled over, saw it was two in the afternoon. I didn't even have to get up to see the sun shining through my curtains. I thought maybe I was dreaming."
"They just kept going and going and going. I remember yelling, enough with the fucking sirens already! Imagine that, they didn't listen to me."
"I grabbed my phone and was blown away when I saw I had thirty seven missed calls and what looked like a million texts. Did I mention I sleep like a rock? Plus my phone was on vibrate still and my shirt somehow fell on top of it, muting the noise."
"I tried my cousin Emily back first but I couldn't get through. All I got was her voice mail. So I tried texting some buddies and calling a few others in my phone contacts and got the same results. No answers"
"That's when I decided to check my voice mails..."
"I could not believe what I was hearing. My cousin was completely hysterical, she said she was so worried about me. My buddies messages were saying there were zombies. Zombies? Something about rabies that wasn't really rabies."
"I walked out into my living room and opened the patio door still in disbelief. I was trying to make sense of it all, trying to look for some evidence it could be true. I lived on the third floor and my balcony overlooked the parking lot. It was complete panic and chaos down below. People running from the buildings to their cars. People trying to get past each other causing a traffic jam in the lot."
"I went back in and started to throw stuff together as quick as I could and got dressed. I went back out in the living room and watched the chaos below some more. The sirens continued to wail as I reached for TV remote."
"The news anchor on the local channel looked completely shell shocked as she kept repeating over and over. We urge you to stay in your homes. Lock your doors and windows. Secure your home however you can. You are safer staying indoors than trying to venture out. There have been several reports of civil unrest and people attacking one another. If you should encounter someone seemingly infected by this virus, run away and get somewhere safe. We will continue to stay on the air with you until the last minute we can. It was like walking into the ending of a movie with a twist ending. I had no clue what the hell was going on."
"Now I am the guy with all the zombie movies and quite a few books yet I found myself somewhat shocked. This really couldn't be happening. It would be as weird as if you love science fiction and you just woke up to find aliens had landed in your city.
"I decided waiting in my apartment was the best idea for the time being. Waiting to see if this was some type of typical American over reacting situation."
"I grabbed my softball bag with my three bats in it out of the closet, locked the deadbolt on my front door and sat down on my couch. About an hour or so later the tornado sirens stopped and that's when I realize how many other sounds they had been drowning out. Gunshots, cops, fire trucks, ambulances, screams, helicopters and not to mention what sounded like a million horns honking. It’s pretty damn sad I had to hear gunshots to remind myself to grab my 9mm from under my bed. Good thing I did too, because shit really started to hit the fan soon after."
JT rubbed his temples and then the lengthening scruff on his chin before taking a deep breath and continuing on.
"I almost shit myself when, while rinsing out and filling up a milk jug with water, something crashed against my front door. I snuck around the corner, peeked out the peephole and saw nothing. I went to leave but decided to look a second time. The hall still looked empty. Then just as I turned to walk away, bam, it happened again. Probably scared me more the second time than it did the first time. All I could think about at that moment was all the scary movies I'd ever seen. I crept back towards the peephole when a third loud thud came against the bottom of the door....that's when I noticed it. Blood pooling in from the bottom of the door...Fuck me is all I could think."
"I made sure the chain was latched and started to slowly open the door, there was Eddie. He was my buddy from downstairs, who I played PS3 online with all the time."
"Help me bro," Eddie looked up and pleaded.
"What happened to you?" I asked, feeling very nervous about where this could be going.
"Some dude jumped me man, I'm in rough shape bro."
"Did he bite you?"
"Yeah man, all over. Dude was cracked out or something." Eddie began coughing.
"Hold on buddy."
"As I closed the door I began that debate with myself. It was one that I had always told myself I wouldn't have. If someone's bit in an apocalypse, they're shark bait. What I had not thought of was the fact that I could do people a favor by killing them before they turned into something that wanted to eat my face off."
"Wait... Did you kill him?" Tyrone asked.
"No. I didn't. I wish I had." JT looked down for a moment before continuing. "Now I wonder everyday what happened to him. I had the chance to put him out of his misery."
"What did you do then?" Tyrone said, sounding anxious.
"I'm getting there kid," JT shot Tyrone a smile. Out of the corner of his eye, JT caught Hannah giving him a slight smile. Maybe there is a chance for something there after all. JT thought before he continued.
"I unchained the door and opened it. Eddie came crawling in on his hands and knees like a dog worn out from playing fetch. He had bite marks all over him and his shirt was torn to pieces. He pulled himself up with the help of the wall and closet door."
"I told him we needed to get him into the bathroom and clean him up so we headed that way. I was very wary about touching him. That's when I decided what I was going to do. As soon as he got into the bathroom he sat down on the toilet in clear agony. He kept yelling about how it burned. I handed him some peroxide and told him to start wiping himself down, knowing it wouldn't matter. Apparently all those hours of killing zombies on Call Of Duty did nothing to help Eddie realize what was happening. I went to the kitchen, grabbed the barely used bottle of Honey Whiskey I had and went back to the bathroom."