by J. Thorn
I reached over and opened the glove box. Thalia didn’t make any attempt to move away, not that I blamed her. I wasn’t sure what I was looking for. I rummaged, keeping one eye on the road as I felt around. Two wallets! That was the same moment I realized that I left mine. For somebody determined not to make stupid mistakes, I wasn’t doing so well.
I spotted an off-ramp that advertised FOOD-GAS-LODGING. Veering right, I decided it was time to get just a little proactive. I made up my mind that I knew what was going on, and it was my responsibility to this child beside me to start taking steps to prepare for the worst eventuality.
A fully lit service station was perched at the top of the off-ramp. You know the kind; the mini-mart disguised as a gas station with a garage added as an afterthought that was good for nothing beyond a tire change. A small car was parked in a dark corner across the expansive asphalt lot from where the entrance was—probably the on-duty cashier’s.
I pulled up to the pump station closest to the doors. No surprise, I saw no sign of an attendant...or cashier...whatever. My head was on a swivel, searching for any movement. Inside or out. I pried Thalia loose and took her tear-streaked face in my hands.
“I’m gonna take care of you, but I have to get out of the truck for a minute. I will lock the door. Don’t open it until I say. Can you do that?”
She nodded.
“I will leave the engine running. So don’t touch anything. Okay?”
More nodding.
I looked around again. This was a bad time for any surprises. At the moment, the coast was clear. I climbed out, locking the door, closing it carefully, and checking it to be certain. So far, so good. I fast-walked to the glass door and tugged.
Damn. Locked. Naturally.
Trying to watch everywhere at once, I scooted to another set of doors around the corner. Nothing was moving inside or out of the store. Yet. I could hear the occasional vehicle speed by on the nearby freeway. I think I heard gunshots from somewhere distant. I briefly wondered what I would do if another vehicle arrived with people having the same idea as me.
Also locked!
Damn! Damn! Damn!
Just a tiny bit desperate and a whole lot scared now. I looked everywhere for an idea. Turning my attention fully inside, I knocked on the glass. I don’t know if I wanted somebody to be there or not, but old habits die hard.
No answer.
I knocked again. Louder. Still no response from within, or thankfully, out. That left me with what I saw as my final option: the metal ashcan sitting next to the door. I picked it up, dumped the contents on the ground, backed up a few steps and hurled it as hard as I could at the glass door.
CRASH.
I had half-expected the thing to come bouncing back at me. Lucky me. The entire door exploded inwards. Fine cubes of glass glittered like fake diamonds under the white glare of the fluorescent lighting.
Now it was time to be quick. I glanced back at the truck. Thalia was staring wide-eyed but calmly back at me through the windshield. I noted that pump nine was closest. Peering over the counter to be assured of no nasty surprises, I quickly climbed over and found the panel allowing me to turn on my pump. In no time, I had the nozzle in place and put the lock on so that I could tend to other issues while the tank filled.
Back in the store, I stopped at a rack of those burlap carry bags imprinted with pictures of Mount Rainier, the Space Needle, and other local touristy things. Grabbing a few, I literally ran up and down the aisles scooping stuff from the shelves. The medicine aisle was almost empty by the time I finished. Mostly basic things, like allergy pills and aspirin mixed in with the first aid stuff, filled six of those bags. I grabbed food second, which made me sorta proud that I was thinking clearly. Food would be easier to grab than medicine or hygiene as this dragged on. At least that was my logic.
I decided that milk would likely become a luxury. It would do good to get some while I could. I paused at the wall of the glass-doored refrigerators when I came to the milk section. My hand grasped the handle and I totally froze, my heart pounding in my throat. I had found the clerk. Plus one.
Inside the refrigerated stock area, behind the tilted display shelves, stood two zombies. They were staring at me from the shadows, behind the orderly rows of beer, orange juice, and various name-brand sports drinks. A quick look behind them at the main door to the chill box helped ease my heart rate back under triple digits. The big, metal door looked shut.
I backed down the aisle a few steps away from the milk towards the soda. Sure enough, my ‘friends’ followed. I tapped the glass like you would an aquarium. They both lunged forward, tangling themselves in the shelving and each other. I bolted, popped the door where the milk was, grabbed a couple of cartons, and headed to the exit.
I ducked out into the open lot to hear Thalia pounding on the glass of the driver’s side window. A quick glance confirmed that a small pack of zombies were crossing the asphalt towards us. They still had some ground to cover, and I transferred our haul to the truck pronto. That finished, I pulled out the nozzle and hung it up as I replaced the gas cap. I dashed around the front of the truck and Thalia opened my door.
“Please let us go now!”
“I totally agree, sweetie!”
Climbing into the cab, I gave the approaching zombies another look. It was like the introduction to a dirty joke. An Asian, a naked lady, and two policemen walk into a gas station parking lot…
Hmmm.
I revved the engine.
“Put on your seatbelt, señorita.”
Without a word, Thalia did exactly what she was told. I heard the ‘click’ and fastened my own. I pulled away from the pumps and made a wide U-turn. A glance in the rearview…then side-view mirrors…now for a slight turn of the steering wheel to get things right. I shifted into reverse and stomped the gas.
Zombie Bowling.
I felt the impact and the ensuing bounces as I rolled over the bodies. Three of the four lay twitching on the ground. The fourth, Naked Lady, still stood. She turned towards me, arms outstretched, mouth open. Back into drive, and again I put the pedal to the floor. I swerved just enough to catch her with the driver’s side corner of the bumper. A satisfying thud and crunch rewarded the effort, coupled with the body flying several feet. Down, but not…dead? I briefly pondered the idea.
Twice-dead?
Fitting.
Thalia exclaimed her surprise when I slammed on the brakes and flung open the door. All of the zombies were in varied stages of struggling to their feet. On their backs they are a lot like turtles.
I approached the first downed policeman and was very disappointed. No gun. The second was my payoff, though. His wide, black leather belt held several toys for me to examine later once I had more time. I grabbed a window squeegee as I closed in on my target. With one swing I brought it down as hard as I could. My blow found an eye socket which exploded with thick jelly-like fluid. This thing began thrashing, arms flailing, hands grasping. A second swing…another…and another as the face shattered and the eye socket hole expanded. Finally the brass and hard plastic squeegee broke through to something softer. The thing at my feet quit struggling. Instantly. It’s like hitting an off switch.
I worked the belt off the twice-dead while watching the others. The other policeman and the Asian were back on their feet, headed my way. Naked Lady was bent almost entirely backwards. She was trying to pull her unnaturally vee-shaped self along the asphalt. Yuck. Prize in hand, I made it back to the truck with relative ease.
Dropping the gun belt on the seat, I closed the door and headed for the exit. A car zoomed past, heading for the interstate presumably. A screech of tires sounded as it slammed on the brakes, then sped back to us in reverse.
The car, a sporty foreign model by the looks…what can I say, I’m not much into cars…halted directly in front of us. I considered our chances of ramming the little car without taking too much damage ourselves, but decided to wait a second and see what this person wanted. He o
r she could be just like Thalia and me. Still, no sense in being stupid. I pulled the gun from the holster and glanced to see if it was loaded. Check. Safety off. Check. I’m savvy enough to know it is a nine millimeter. I glanced in the rearview. The zombies were still a fair distance away. Problem was that now there were seven. I had enough time to at least give this person in the car a moment. I wouldn’t waste time, but I also was not about to let my guard slip.
“Get down, Thalia.”
She obeyed without protest. Unbuckling her seatbelt, she slid to the floor on the passenger’s side, pulled her knees in tight, and wrapped her arms around them. Sort of like a tiny ball.
The door to the sports car opened. A tall, very attractive in an out-of-my-league sort of way, brunette emerged. My mind sped through several scenarios. All of which ended up with me as the hero and her falling into my arms. She proceeds to show her gratitude and admiration for my heroism...
“Thank God!” she screamed, and ran to my truck.
I rolled down the window, seeing no reason to open the door. I mean seriously, there are a bunch of walking dead shambling this way. Sure they’re still a ways off and moving slow, but my mind is still trying to process what’s happening.
“Ummm…you probably shouldn’t be out of your car.”
I am so smooth.
“Please help me! What the hell is going on?”
“You really shouldn’t be out of your car.” I glanced again at the group of undead closing the distance slowly and steadily. One of them was outdistancing the others and had his arms outstretched.
“My neighbor did this!” the pretty brunette said, holding up her left arm. Blood dripped from a shallow but jagged rip below the elbow.
My look must’ve given something away, because she hastily covered up. Her expression was a crazy mix of fear, embarrassment, and confusion. Without warning, she lunged at my door, pulling wildly on the handle. I went for the lock, but a shade too late as the door opened and I tumbled gracelessly to the ground.
Thalia screamed.
Scrambling up as quickly as I could with the wind only partially knocked out of me, I had no idea what to do. Was this lady one of them? Maybe the newly turned are different. Perhaps the brain died slowly, and they kept certain functions for a while. I really had no clue where the movie stuff was right or wrong. Hell, maybe it was all wrong. All of that jumbled around in my mind like rocks in a dryer as I came to my feet.
She was apologizing over and over. Maybe she was sorry she had to eat me now. All I truly knew at that exact moment was that she was beside me with a vise-like grip on my arm. There were several of those things about twenty feet or so away, and I was not ready to die.
I shoved her as hard as I could, sending my closest threat stumbling back towards the street. I snatched the gun from the cab where it had fallen to the floorboard in all this insanity. My finger curled around the trigger as I spun and fired.
She was in the process of climbing back to her feet. With an expression of astonishment, she looked down as a bloom of red spread across her blouse. Her eyes returned to mine in shock.
“Why?” She staggered sideways a step and fell…hard.
I still heard screaming. While I was shaking my head rapidly to clear it, something grabbed my shoulder. I whirled around face-to-face with the speed-walker of the bunch. It was a woman. Or had been. Her dark hair clung to her face, glued in place by dried blood. Most of the left cheek had been ripped away. Greyish gums and blood-smeared teeth greeted me in what looked like an exaggeratedly evil grin. I raised the pistol and fired. The bullet tore through its throat, jolting the upper body backwards. I felt the grip upon my shoulder tighten, and the head snapped back toward me with mouth open wide.
It’s strange, the little things that capture our attention in a crisis. I noticed that the flat, lifeless, black-blood veined eyes never changed expression. No anger, hunger, victory, desire, pain...just empty. Truly empty.
I jammed the barrel of the gun into the now gaping maw and fired. The creature simply dropped. Again, it was as if the plug were suddenly pulled, like on a radio.
Without waiting for more bad things to happen, I jumped into the truck, slamming the door, locking it, and rolling up the window seemingly all at once. I shifted into drive and launched the big truck into the street, clipping the sports car enough to turn it a little sideways. My hard right turn aimed us back towards the interstate.
***
I’ve risked my life a whole bunch of times since that night. But at no time was I as stupid or out-of-control as I was in the way I left that gas station parking lot. Six more inches to the left, and I catch enough of that sports car to probably end our ride.
***
Looking in my rearview mirror, I got a sick feeling in the pit of my stomach. The zombies had fallen on the brunette. That could only mean one thing. Since they ignored, and even stepped over the zombie that I had just blown the back of its skull off, the brunette was not, at the time just before I shot her at least, dead.
Adding one plus one, I had just killed someone. My mind began to argue vigorously the varying points.
She was bitten.
It was only a matter of time.
You saved her much misery.
All the way to the interstate, and for the next several miles, my mind continued. It tried to offer me the solace that no other living, breathing human being would if they’d seen what I’d done.
Eventually, Thalia fell into a fitful sleep. If things were as I suspected, and if they had just started…this was only the ugly beginning.
It would get worse.
2
Radio Traffic
The miles ticked away. Thalia was up on the seat beside me. Occasionally, she would whimper. Having been the youngest in my family, and never having experienced the joy of fatherhood firsthand, I had very little idea how to care for this child. I mean, I know some basic stuff; I think.
A few cars shared the road with me; none even glanced my direction. After a half an hour on the road, my radio had come back to life. From the sound, the dispatch office came under attack. Somehow, the mic was keyed open. I switched it off when Thalia began to stir. That would not be a good thing to wake up to. As far as the regular radio, that message loop continued to run. Either things were slowly getting back to normal, or everything was completely out of control.
I slowed down for a sign up ahead. A glance at my gas gauge decided things for me. I mean, I had enough gas to press on, but I was coming back to more populated areas, and if things were still crazy, a big city was the last place to fill up.
Chehalis. Hmm. I’ve probably driven past this dot on the map a thousand times. Suddenly, it loomed much more ominously. I picked up the gun, and then set it back down. I had come to grips with shooting that girl in a way. She was bitten. She’d turn soon. I saved her the slow, painful transformation. Plus, I did think maybe she was already turned.
Liar.
Funny how your conscience can kick in.
As the truck slowed, Thalia sat up and rubbed her eyes. She looked around and her face spoke volumes, that deep hope that it had been a nightmare. We all have those; nowadays, more often than not.
“I must use the potty.”
Her voice held that same resignation I had just seen on her face. She scooted over to the passenger window before I had a chance to speak. She had forgotten. The window was darkened with the blood of the zombie I had crushed between the rocks and the truck. To her credit, she didn’t scream. She simply moved back up against me.
I came to a stop at the top of the off-ramp. A left turn would take us over the freeway. A gas station was perched on either side, but the one farthest from me had a big country store attached. I saw no movement in either direction. I turned left, coming to a stop in the middle of the overpass.
“Wait here.”
I climbed out to get a good look around. Not a single car in sight. I think that was the creepiest part. I took a deep breath. Nothin
g. Well, that didn’t mean any of those things weren’t near, just none close enough to smell. I took the time to walk all the way around the truck and get a look at the damage. The sky was overcast, but there was enough pre-dawn light to get a good eyeful.
Well, there was no way I would let Thalia see the passenger side of the truck. It was covered in dark stains. In some places there were clumps of who-knows-what dried in with the blood. I climbed back in the truck and drove to the gas station with the weather-beaten country store. Maybe I’d find something better to eat than the bags of junk food.
Keeping alert for any movement, I pulled up to the single island of pumps. I wasn’t about to shut off the engine. Climbing out, I did a full three-sixty.
Nothing.
Equally disquieting was the complete lack of movement from inside the store. The lights were on. I just didn’t want to pull another snatch and run. Thalia broke my concentration, tugging on the sleeve of my shirt.
“Can I go to the potty?” she asked.
“Okay, but we need to make some rules first.” I knelt in front of the little girl, taking a risk by not having an open field of vision. “You hold my hand till we get to the bathroom. Then, I go in first and make sure it’s empty. You keep a lookout and scream if you see anybody.”
“Scream like last night?”
“Uh...yeah.”
Whatever gets the point across I guess. So, leaving the driver’s door open, I made my way to the entrance of the market. I still hadn’t seen any movement, but I wanted to stay legal as long as possible.
I pulled the door, expecting it to be locked. It swung out! I was greeted with a cold blast of air conditioning. What did not greet us was the clerk...or that smell. One other thing happened that caught both of us off guard, made me jump, and made Thalia let out a little squeal. A bell rang as the door opened wider. So much for being stealthy.