Red Death: A Post Apocalyptic Thriller

by Robinson, D. L.

  “Down here,” he said, “I don’t want to move, but you don’t have to stay with me. You can go on up.”

  “I’d rather be here, Lee.”

  He understood and Tara spent the next half hour finding the air mattress and sheets she would need. She finally got her own bed set up and Lee all taken care of. She kissed him goodnight, turned off the light and crawled into her new bed. It was surprisingly comfortable. She suddenly realized they hadn’t even had time to mention what they’d seen at the old Kmart.

  “I love you, Lee, she whispered, “Tomorrow, maybe you’ll feel better and we can go over all we saw tonight.”

  But Lee didn’t answer, and Tara heard the slight snore coming from the couch where he had fallen into a deep, Percocet-induced sleep. Let him sleep, he’ll heal faster.

  But Tara couldn’t sleep at all. She kept seeing the camp, hospital, or whatever it was that had risen seemingly overnight less than a mile away. She hadn’t wanted to say anything. In fact, she hadn’t even wanted to admit it to herself at first, but she wondered if the others had seen what looked like the thousands of hermetically sealed coffins, stacked at least ten deep on the far left side of the building, spilling over into the parking lot. If those are what I think they are, they are obviously expecting fatalities. And a lot of them. A mental picture formed in her head as she imagined the hundreds of other rumored camps going up all over the country, each of them with those same coffins stacked ominously at the ready. Is it everywhere or just here? Are we ground zero?

  There was just too much she didn’t know. Tara sat up and grabbed her laptop from the coffee table beside her to try to get some local news stories, but news was still suspiciously absent. Plus the internet was acting funny. It would stop working, and then come back on all at once a few minutes later.

  She tried Facebook and very few people had posted recently. Now that’s odd. A strange fear struck Tara. I think this is the most alone I’ve ever felt. Her Facebook acquaintances from California were always online three hours after her Ohio friends went to bed. Then her Australian and UK friends came on if she stayed up late enough, but tonight, only one or two people were on. Older posts from the past two days mentioned sick households, doctor visits and pending ER trips. Tara scrolled uneasily through old posts until she found a frantic one from that morning in all caps: THEY TOOK MY SON! HE CALLED FROM THE STORE—THEY SAID HE HAD A FEVER—HE RAN INSIDE AND HID BEHIND A CLOTHES RACK AND CALLED ME! THEY FOUND HIM—I HEARD HIM SCREAMING AND NOW HE WON’T ANSWER HIS CELL! SOMEONE HELP!

  Tara’s heart froze. She closed the laptop, sick at her stomach, and crawled into bed, pulling the covers up to her chin. Lee’s gentle snores filled the room. Tara felt very afraid and very alone. She jumped up suddenly and ran upstairs to get the gun on her nightstand. As she lay down again, the gun beside her, she stared into the dark with visions of the end of the world dancing before her eyes.

  ~

  Tara woke with sun streaming through the gaps in the boarded up windows. She felt like crap, but at least she’d finally fallen asleep. Lee was still sleeping, so she got up and made coffee, trying not to think too much.

  The doorbell rang. Mary was on her porch with a nearly full bottle of Percocet.

  “I had this left over from my foot surgery. I hate the way it makes me feel, so I used another painkiller. I thought it might come in handy someday.”

  “Oh, Mary, thank you! He spent a restless night and his leg is so swollen! I’ve kept ice packs on it, but it’s not helping much.”

  Mary grimaced and shook her head. “Yeah, these breaks are painful. The swelling should go down eventually. I didn’t find the air cast, but I did find a large brace—they actually use them now on the fibula breaks. It’s a lot less restricting than a cast. You can take it off to sleep.”

  Mary searched Tara’s face. “It looks like your night was more restless than his! What’s wrong? You seem really upset.”

  Tara told her about the Facebook post she’d read, and asked her if she’d noticed the coffins the night before. They spoke in harsh whispers, both for Lee’s sake and because somehow, they each felt unsafe now. They admitted this to one another, laughed a little halfheartedly, and once they had, both relaxed. Somehow confessing their worst fears bonded them even more.

  “I’m very worried about my daughter and grandson. They just live across town but I’m afraid for them. I’d like them here with me. I know she doesn’t have Ebola, because she’d have shown symptoms by now.” Mary’s daughter still had a head cold and slight fever, but nothing more.

  They discussed her daughter’s self-quarantine and her grandson’s cold virus, and about what it might mean to events unfolding around them. Neither one knew how to proceed. There was just too much they didn’t know.

  “While we’re out for our reconnaissance, could we swing by? I’ll keep my distance. I just need to see their faces.” Mary sounded so pathetic Tara instantly agreed. Besides, this woman had become her only friend and she wasn’t about to lose her, or God forbid, offend her.

  “Mary, while you’re here, would you help me drag down Mom’s old wheelchair from the attic? Just in case Lee might need it.”

  Tara led the way, and three flights of stairs later, she pushed aside the stacked items and located it in the back corner of the attic. There was also a pair of crutches and Tara tossed them down onto the landing. The wheelchair was still in pretty good shape and it folded for storage, thank goodness. Mary took one side and Tara the other and they wrestled it down the narrow stairs. Once in the foyer, Mary deftly popped it open and rolled it back and forth.

  “This is the Cadillac of wheelchairs!” she joked.

  “Yeah, we wanted Mom to be comfortable at the end, so we bought her a nice one.”

  Tara maneuvered it through the front room and into the attached fireplace and TV room where Lee had taken up residence. He was fully awake now. Tara had even brought her mom’s potty chair from the attic for him the night before. She was very glad she’d kept all this stuff after her mom died nine years earlier.

  “Let me see that leg, Lee,” Mary asked him. Lee groaned and tried to sit up a little.

  “I need some more pain pills, Tara.” Tara shook two out of the pill bottle while Mary pushed the blankets back and lifted off the ice packs. Tara handed the pills and Lee’s water to him, and then took away a couple ice packs to rotate and refreeze them, bringing two fresh ones back.

  Tara and Mary moved in close to look at Lee’s broken leg. It had swollen behind his knee and on down the side of his calf, and it was black and blue. Tara flinched at the sight of it and groaned in commiseration. She leaned in to kiss the top of her husband’s head. Lee settled back into his makeshift bed and sighed.

  Mary felt for any hotspots on the leg, which she explained could mean a clot had formed, but there were none. Satisfied Lee was doing as well as could be expected, she re-covered him. Tara told Lee that she and Mary were going on a road trip to see what they could. Lee nodded absently and closed his eyes, still out of it from the Percocet.

  “I’m afraid he’s going to sleep through most of the next few days,” Mary whispered to her. Tara watched Lee for a minute, concerned, but he closed his eyes and began his soft little snore, so she turned and motioned Mary to follow her.

  “He’ll be okay for a few minutes,” Tara told the older woman, relocking the front door. She grabbed her coat and led them out the back.

  “I feel like a secret agent or something,” Tara joked, but it wasn’t far from the truth. Fear had always caused her to bluff her way through things, acting brave. But she wasn’t feeling very brave at the moment. Mary got in the passenger side of Tara’s old Honda CRV and she slowly backed out into the alley.

  “Where should we go first?” Tara asked her friend.

  “Let’s head downtown and see what’s going on.”

  Tara turned left at the next alley, and then rolled to a stop, waiting to exit onto the main street.

  “Look at th
e traffic,” she pointed out. There wasn’t any. Only a handful of cars in either direction made it seem more like three a.m. rather than nearly noon. It would usually be nonstop about now on their normally bustling street. Tara pulled out, driving slowly toward their destination.

  Their street was a long one; one of the main thoroughfares bordering the western edge of town. Almost immediately, they noticed a white van suspiciously backed up to a house about a block down. “Don’t stare, Mary. Don’t let them see you looking!”

  The two men in hazmat suits carried a plastic-covered stretcher, just like the ones they’d seen at the Kmart. It looked like a giant oblong bubble. Mary glanced away quickly. “Oh, my God!” she breathed.

  Within another block, they saw two more white vans backed into driveways or up into small front yards. Tara followed her own advice and looked away. “What are they going to do when they run out of space for them? Or out of vans?” Mary met her gaze, eyes wide with fright.

  “Then the jig is up, I’d say.” Yes, she’s right. They are on top of it so far, at least they think so. Tara arrived at the cross street that took them to the abandoned Kmart.

  “Turn here, Tara, let’s try to see what they’re doing back there,” Mary told her. Tara continued down the next street, and they counted two more vans retrieving sick people from their homes.

  “The white vans are acting as ambulances, I guess.”

  Mary nodded, biting a fingernail.

  At the access road leading to the Kmart and Dollar stores, a roadblock was set up. Sheriff’s cruisers sat crossways in front of barricades. “Don’t look at them, Mary, let’s keep going and swing back around the other direction.”

  Tara was in full panic now. Something big was obviously happening. There could no longer be any doubt. Mary leaned forward anxiously. “I want you to go by my daughter’s house now, okay?” Tara nodded and told her she would.

  “It’s on Fourth Street, just head back this way and turn left at the deli.” As they passed the Subway and the McDonald’s, there were no cars at either. This was as shocking as anything else they’d seen. It really drove home the scale of the epidemic.

  “Mary, they’re all closed!” Fear coursed through Tara. She wanted to get back home, wanted to run, to hide.

  Just then, Mary’s cell rang and she looked at it. “Thank God, it’s my daughter.” She pressed the call button and answered. All Tara could hear was Mary’s daughter screaming. Her voice carried loudly in the enclosed vehicle. She sounded stuffed up with a head cold.

  “Mom, they took us! They stopped to refuel the van. They’re inside paying. I told them I didn’t have a cell phone!”

  “What? What happened!” cried Mary.

  “We went to the drugstore for cold medicine, and Ben and I both still have fevers. They took us! I don’t know where we’re going.” Tara heard the young woman sob, and then the faint crying of a little boy. Oh, dear God!

  “Where are you? Julie, where are you, can you see?” Mary nearly shouted.

  “They’re coming, Mom! They said we’d be kept here local. We’re just past the Mall at the gas station, headed toward the old Kmart.” Tara’s heart sank and Mary glanced at her.

  “Can you get out?”

  “They’re coming! I love you. No matter what happens, I love you!”

  “Julie, wait, try to run, take Ben and run!” Mary sat forward on the edge of her seat, frantic, but there was no answer. Her daughter Julie had hung up. Mary was beside herself, and burst into tears.

  “Turn around, Tara, go down there, maybe we can get them!” Tara looked at her doubtfully, and Mary came to her senses.

  “What am I saying? We can’t get them, not with the National Guard or the Marines or whoever the hell those soldiers are.” She put her head in her hands and sobbed. “They only have colds, for God’s sake. Now they’ll get Ebola.”

  Tara did her best to reassure Mary, but she was inconsolable. Tara understood.

  “Mary we have to get back. We have to get home. This won’t do us any good to be thrown in there with them. Maybe we can think of something.” Mary sniffed and dried her eyes, looking absolutely devastated, but agreeing.

  Tara drove carefully back to her house, noticing two more “ambulances” picking sick people up on the way. When she finally reached their alley, her relief was palpable.

  Mary told Tara goodbye and hurried across to her own home. She called back over her shoulder that she needed to do some research and think things over, and she’d be in touch. Tara felt a terrible sense of helplessness. She let herself in her back door, going instantly to Lee’s couch. He was a little more alert, the worst of the pill effects having worn off. He’d settled into a mellow stage of painkiller high.

  Tara described everything, starting with the ambulances and roadblocks, and ending with Mary’s daughter Julie.

  “Good God,” Lee exclaimed, and that’s when Tara broke down too. Lee held her as she leaned against him, releasing all her pent up fear and frustration. Finally, the overwhelming wave of emotion slowed, but Tara remained there, resting against Lee. They stayed that way for a long time, not speaking, both grieving their new circumstances. The sun through the window slits dimmed, then darkened as the afternoon faded away.

  ~

  Tara stood staring out the window upstairs at the dark street below. There were mostly military vehicles passing by now, camouflage trucks interspersed with a whole lot of those plain white vans, and a few dark, unmarked cars. She stood watching for ten minutes and only counted three normal looking civilian automobiles. She wanted to tell Lee, but he was downstairs sleeping. It seemed like that was about all he’d done since he’d broken his leg.

  The last time Tara was online, even fewer people were present. Someone posted about all the grocery stores being closed, even the dollar stores. Tara realized the moment she read it, that they had now moved into a dangerous time—the fine line of rationality could easily be crossed into mob mentality when those who hadn’t prepared ran out of food. Rioting, armed gangs and martial law usually followed these kinds of disasters.

  Today, Tara had not been able to get on the internet at all. It sent her into another round of panic. She hadn’t wanted to bother Mary since their reconnaissance trip, but she’d really expected her to call by now. She had waited long enough, and now she was worried. Tara pulled her cell phone out and dialed Mary’s number. Nothing happened. No recording, no sound, nothing.

  Why would cell service be out? And the internet too? Could the towers be down? Or are the people running things sick? The lights flickered briefly and Tara’s heart fluttered along with them. Another thought came. Maybe the government needs us isolated, unable to spread news. She instantly squashed that. Stop it, Tara, you’re being paranoid. She ran into the upstairs TV room and switched it on, trying to get a news channel. Nothing happened, no picture at all.

  The lights flashed again, went out briefly then came back on. Oh, my God. Are we going to lose everything, electricity too? Eyes wide, Tara bolted for the junk drawer where she stored the candles. She placed them on the floor in the hallway and searched in each room for more. She found some in decorative holders, and added them to the batch in the hall.

  Next Tara lifted down the two large oil lamps on top of the bookcase. Her mother had passed them on to her. Then she ran down to the basement and gathered the small oil lamps she usually hung on all the trees at cookouts.

  She looked through the slats in the back door to see if it was safe before stepping onto the porch. Stored under the chair were two large bottles of lamp oil. She brought them in. There were two more in the basement and one on the front porch under the glider. Tara gathered them all. Then she dug in the kitchen drawer for wooden matches, and found an unopened multi-pack of four large boxes. She carried everything down from upstairs, putting it with the other stuff on the basement landing. Her heart rate slowed. At least we won’t be in the dark if the electric goes out.

  It was time to wake Lee and tell him
all this. She was going to need a way to contact Mary. She was terrified to go out and cross the street, afraid one of those white vans would round her up for the camps too. But she needed to touch base with her and find out her news. It’s like the old days now, where people spread news face to face.

  Tara suddenly remembered talking with Mary about flashing a light at their bedroom windows. She ran for the flashlight in the kitchen, really needing someone to talk to as a human connection who could understand her fear. Lee being mostly incoherent since his accident had certainly left a void in her interpersonal relationships. Tara realized she and Lee’s former “us against the world” stance had worked fine in good times, not so much in bad. Tara needed to know about Julie, Mary’s daughter, and if she’d heard anything. Mostly, she recognized she was afraid to be alone. The lights flickered again, and Tara glanced up at the kitchen fixture, apprehensively.

  She trotted back upstairs with the flashlight, stood at the window, flashing it on and off, on and off at Mary’s bedroom. She stopped each time headlights passed out front, afraid of attracting the wrong attention. After about ten flashes, Tara saw the curtain move and Mary’s pale face peer out. Happiness flooded through her and she jumped up and down with sheer joy, like a child.

  Mary waved, Tara waved back, and then the electricity went out for good.

  Chapter 6

  Tara felt her way slowly down the stairs in the dark. As she ran her hand along one wall to balance herself, Lee called her name from the front room.

  “I’m coming,” she cried. “The lights went out!” Tara never realized just how dark it would be without any streetlights shining into the front room. Even the gaps in the boarded up door and windows had allowed a little light through. Now it was pitch black.

  “I’ve got candles and lanterns on the basement landing,” she called to Lee. She heard a crash, and then a curse.

  “Dammit!”