1950s: The Decade of Perfect Housewives, Cadillacs & Zombies

by Eduard Joseph

their cars. Most of them headed over to family. The gates leading out of town were long since rusted shut.

  “How do you think the undead came in?” Agnes asked.

  “Maybe someone died on the inside.” Lucy said, “And the coroner could not get to them in time.”

  “My dad said the gates haven’t opened in years.” Elliot said.

  “I am well aware of that.” Lucy told him.

  “My mom is older than she looks.” Agnes said smugly, “She’s been around since the stone age.”

  “I heard that.” Lucy said, “And I resent it.”

  Lucy slowed down as the car approached a group of people. The throng stood bent over and was busy with something in the middle of the group.

  “What’s going on here?” Agnes asked.

  Just then one of the people stood upright; his mouth was covered in blood and he had a severed arm in his clutches.

  “Oh my.” Lucy gulped.

  The car accelerated and sped off towards Samantha’s house.

  THIRTEEN

  The car pulled up into Samantha’s driveway. There were no zombies in the street or people running for cover. It was just another beautiful day on the other side of town. The siren had since stopped echoing through the town.

  Lucy stared at the house for a moment as if trying to ascertain whether her sister was still alive. She glanced at their surroundings and when she was certain the coast was clear she got out of the car.

  She lifted her dress with the tips of her thumbs and index fingers and her high heels clickety-clacked on the tar as she hurried over to the front door.

  Agnes and Elliot got out of the car as Lucy rang the doorbell. A moment passed and then Samantha opened the door. She was surprised to see her sister as she seldom came to this part of town.

  “Lucy?” Samantha asked surprised, “What are you doing here?”

  “We came to get you.” Lucy said, “The wall has been breached.”

  “I know.” Samantha said.

  “And you remember what happened the last time the wall was breached?” Lucy reminded her.

  Samantha nodded and said, “I’ll get Tabitha. What’s the plan?”

  “This boy,” Lucy said and pointed at Elliot, “He found a secret tunnel leading out of town.”

  “Is it wise?” Samantha asked.

  “Would you rather stay here and take your chances?” Lucy asked.

  Samantha could still vividly remember the last time the wall was breached. Only a handful of zombies came into town, but they infected and killed over a hundred people.

  “No.” Samantha said.

  “Well,” Lucy insisted, “Go get Tabitha.”

  Samantha nodded and hurried down the hallway towards Tabitha’s room. Lucy clasped her hands together and smiled at Anges and Elliot, trying to hide her anxiety about the situation. A moment later Samantha returned with Tabitha in her arms.

  “Let’s go.” Samantha said.

  A rancorous growl behind Elliot made them all turn around. A zombie stood a few feet away from Elliot. Its lower jaw was ripped clean off and blood slowly oozed down its neck. Elliot let out a scream like a little girl and jumped out of the way. Agnes was not impressed by the coward her hero turned out to be. She rolled her eyes, raised her frying pan and stepped closer to the zombie. It turned its head to face her and she brought the frying pan down onto its skull. She bashed it with the frying pan a couple of times before its skull finally cracked and it collapsed lifelessly at her feet.

  Agnes turned to Elliot and said ironically, “Smooth…”

  “What?” Elliot said defensive, “It caught me off guard.”

  “Can we get going now?” Agnes asked annoyed.

  Elliot nodded and straightened himself out.

  “That was quite brave.” Lucy said to Agnes, “Not very elegant, but still.”

  Agnes let out a sigh and rolled her eyes as she turned away. There was no pleasing her mother.

  “I’m just saying.” Lucy insisted, “Just because we’re killing the undead, doesn’t mean we can’t be ladylike about it.”

  Agnes could tell her mother was stressed. She was using more and more conjunctions like someone who didn’t have the time to worry about the correct usage of language and grammar.

  “The church is not far.” Elliot said.

  Elliot led the vigilant group down the street towards the church at the end of it. Lucy spotted Hubert the Hobo sleeping at the foot of the church steps under some newspapers. Hubert was the only homeless person in all of Chrismar Valley. Nobody knew how he became a homeless person or why he was the only one in town. As they passed him, Samantha looked down at him.

  “Should we wake him?” She whispered to Lucy.

  “No.” Lucy whispered back, “What for?”

  “Perhaps he would like to go with us?” Samantha whispered.

  “I’m not taking Hubert the Hobo with us on our excursion.” Lucy insisted, “And besides, homeless people are dirty. He’ll track in dirt all over the church carpets. The pastor won’t be happy about that.”

  Agnes rolled her eyes and motioned for Elliot to continue up the steps.

  “I saw that.” Lucy insisted.

  “I meant you to.” Agnes mumbled.

  “What?” Lucy asked.

  “Nothing.” Agnes said cheerfully.

  Elliot pushed open the church doors. The pews were all empty. Elliot and Agnes were the first to step inside church. Lucy lingered on the top step and stared out at the town she called home. She had some reservations about leaving. How did they know that things weren’t worse on the other side of the wall?

  “Mom?” Agnes said.

  Lucy turned to Agnes and then took one final look at the town as a group of about fifty zombies came walking down the street. Lucy joined the others inside and then Elliot closed the doors behind them.

  “So where is this tunnel?” Lucy asked.

  “According to my dad’s plans,” Elliot said as he walked down the aisle, “It’s in the confessional.”

  They followed him towards the confessional. He pulled the confessional curtain aside and stepped inside. He started feeling the side walls of the confessional cubicle and made his way towards the back. He felt all over with his hands and discovered a small lever underneath the seat. He pressed it and the back of the confessional slid open to reveal a dark passageway.

  Lucy gave the passage one glance and then said, “Be right back.”

  “Mom?” Agnes asked confused.

  “Two seconds.” Lucy called back as she frolicked over to the church door.

  “Shall we go in?” Elliot asked Agnes.

  Agnes nodded and then Elliot entered the passageway. It was dark, mouldy and the floor was damp. Agnes, Samantha and Tabitha followed him into the passageway. Lucy stepped into the confessional a moment later and lay down a piece of newspaper on the damp passage floor. She stepped onto the newspaper and the others watched as she lay down another piece of newspaper to step on.

  “Mom,” Agnes asked confused, “What are you doing?”

  “These shoes were expensive.” Lucy said, “I’m not ruining them on this damp floor.”

  “Where did you get—” Agnes gasped, “You stole Hubert’s newspapers?

  “He’s not using it.” Lucy said as she stepped onto a new piece of newspaper.

  “It keeps him warm when he sleeps.” Agnes insisted.

  “Hubert is dead.” Lucy said as she stood upright, “When I got outside, the infected were dragging him away. There was nothing I could do to help… not that I would have touched him if I could.”

  Agnes couldn’t believe how hypocritical her mother was being. She shook her head and turned to Elliot.

  “Lead us to safety.” Agnes said to Elliot.

  They continued down the passageway. Lucy fell behind as she only had two sheets of newspaper. She would put down one, step on it and pick up the one behind her. The others decided they would wait for her at the end of the tunnel. When she fin
ally caught up with them, they found themselves standing in front of a steel door. It had a sign on it that read, ‘Restricted Access: Staff only’.

  The door opened when Elliot turned the doorknob.

  “What do you think is on the other side?” Agnes asked.

  “More importantly,” Lucy added, “Why was it unlocked?”

  FOURTEEN

  Elliot pushed open the steel door and light rushed into the passageway. He shielded his eyes and stepped through the door and into the light. They were outside the wall. He scrutinized their surroundings while the others stepped out into the light.

  “We made it.” Agnes said relieved.

  Lucy analysed the open field they were in. Why weren’t there zombies outside? She can still vividly remember the tales she was told as a child; the undead ruled the world beyond the wall.

  “This doesn’t make sense.” Lucy told herself.

  Samantha put Tabitha down and took her by the hand. She stared at the field that stretched on for about a mile and then surrendered to a forest. A few trees stood scattered throughout the field between them and the forest.

  “I’ve never seen so much wide open space.” Samantha gasped in awe.

  “We’re just used to the confinement of the wall.” Lucy said.

  “But still.” Samantha said.

  “We can’t stay here.” Elliot said, “We’re vulnerable and sitting ducks out here. We should move on and find the next town.”

  A scream echoed through the air from behind the wall. Lucy stared back at the steel door that stood closed behind them. She couldn’t help but feel guilty that they didn’t bring everyone they knew.

  “Let’s go.” Elliot said.

  Elliot looked back over his shoulder at the others as he continued walking and then bumped into something. He turned around, but saw nothing. He held out his