by Citroner, GW
They watched the changing scenery in silence, the sky becoming overcast as they neared the Gulf of Mexico, giving the men’s eyes a break from the unrelenting glare of southwestern sunshine.
“You worried?”
“What? Oh, sure I am.”
“Have you considered that we may not find them?”
“No,” Dan spoke more sharply than he intended. Taking a deep, shuddering breath, he calmed down. “It doesn’t seem as bad the farther east we go, I think the odds are distinctly in my favor.”
“Sorry, I was an asshole to have brought it up.”
“Nah, don’t worry about it; you don’t have a kid, so you don’t understand, but it’s been on my mind every minute of every day since before we left.”
They drove in silence a while longer, Ty noticed for the first time how gaunt and lined his friend’s face had become over the last month, and knew now it was worrying about his family that drove Dan so hard to keep moving forward.
It began drizzling lightly. Southern humidity made the men feel sticky and uncomfortable in their clothes. They finally arrived in the little town of Breaux Bridge, just minutes from their final destination.
“Stop here, I gotta take a leak.”
“On the bridge?”
“At least I don’t have to worry about something in the bushes biting my dick off.”
Stopping, Dan called after him. “Don’t take forever, we’re almost there!”
Watching the water he made stream down to the murky river, he aimed for the white hull of an overturned boat floating forty or fifty feet below. He almost fell in when it exploded out of the water, almost reaching him. Penis still hanging out of his pants he ran back into the jeep.
“What’s the matter with you?”
“There’s an alligator. About fifty feet of dead white, razor covered reptile just tried to bite my dick off. I should have peed in the bushes.”
“Serves you right, you know I’m in a hurry.” He wanted to laugh, but he remembered his mother-in-law’s place was a few miles away on this river, and it wasn’t funny anymore.
“Your dick, Ty.”
“I am not a dick; I just needed to go really bad.”
Dan put the vehicle in gear and replied. “I’m trying to tell you your dick is still hanging out.”
“Shit,” he muttered, hurriedly putting it back in his pants.
The street was idyllic. Tree-lined, with neat little homes set far back on broad, green, heavily overgrown lawns. They stopped, Dan’s hands gripped the steering wheel tightly. “This is it.” Pushing the doorbell frantically, he called out “Nancy, Jess, it’s me!”
Dead silence.
“Try the door.”
“It’s locked. Let’s go around back.” He ran around the house, falling over a rusty, old toy dump truck hidden by the long grass. “That’s Jesse’s old toy, we left it here a couple of years back.” Picking himself up, he walked the rest of the way to the back door. The glass door slid open easily, allowing the men in. The air was hot and musty; the home had been unoccupied for a long time.
“There’s no car in the driveway, I don’t think anybody’s home, Dan.”
“I can see that! I’ll go upstairs, you look around down here; let’s see if we can find out what happened to them.”
Ty found a letter taped to the coffee table; it was dated the week before.
Danny, I hope you get this. Jess and I are fine, but my mother didn’t make it. We stayed as long as we could, but we’ll be safer at Camp Beauregard Army Base in Pineville. That’s where everybody’s been gathering since this thing happened. You’ll find us there. We love you, Nancy.
Grinning, he waved the sheet of paper under his companion’s nose “They’re alive! I knew it, and the base is only about an hour away from here!”
“Well, what are we waiting for?”
Dan sped dangerously fast on roads dotted at intervals with refuse, abandoned cars and the odd corpse. Eyes wide and knuckles white as he steered around the obstacles. They arrived at the base an hour from sunset.
“There’s the gate!”
“Uh, Dan?”
“What?”
“Stop.”
“Stop? The gate’s wide open, their there!”
“Where are the guards?”
He breaked hard, abruptly stopping the jeep.
“Something’s wrong, isn’t it?”
“I would say so, buddy.”
“Shit!”
“How’s about we go in, but carefully.”
Dan slowly drove onto the base grounds. Ty held his rifle ready, eyes searching for any sign of danger. “Get the lights, it’s getting dark,” staring around anxiously, Ty added, “I don’t think we thought this through; where the hell are we gonna spend the night?”
“I thought we’d be staying here! We still might; let’s see what’s going on before we freak out.”
“There’s nobody here; no bodies, no lights on, and no vehicles. If there was anybody here, they’re long gone and took everything with them.”
A trilling cry sounded distantly, joined shortly after by a multitude of replies. Ghostly shapes flitted in and out of the dying light. Ty grew nervous. “I see little ones running around; the big ones won’t be far behind.”
“That big building, head for that one; I think it’s a garage. We can hide ourselves and the jeep until morning comes. If they’re still here by then, at least we can see well enough to shoot our way out.”
Parking in the cavernous space, they pulled down the wide rolling door behind them and turned on the lights. Flickering fluorescent tubes revealed a mud-caked, green prison bus, several overflowing metal garbage cans, and an empty snack dispenser. “It might be hard to McGuyver something out of this.”
Dan gave him a quizzical look.
“Eighties TV show about some guy who could make laser cannons out of office supplies.”
“You remember the weirdest shit. I’m checking out the bus, we can use it if it runs.”
“What about the Humvee?”
“That’s a prison bus, look at the windows; they’re barred, and the jeep’s windows are unprotected. We could easily drive through anything in that.”
Seated behind the wheel Dan checked the headlamps. “Batteries aren’t dead.” Flipping the sun visor down he was pleasantly surprised to find keys fall into his lap. “Let’s go for the trifecta, battery, keys, and it starts.
Turning the key, he heard the starter grind, but the engine wouldn’t catch. Looking at the dash he saw why; it was dry.
“This is why they left it behind. Get a jerry can off the Humvee.”
The bus roared to life. “We can let it run for a while, to make sure the engine’s fine.”
“Turn it off! The doors are shut; we’ll get carbon monoxide poisoning.”
“That’s gasoline exhaust, diesel fumes just stink.”
“No shit?”
“No shit. Give it a minute and I’ll turn it off again.”
“I’d like to eat, and that smell is killing my appetite.”
Dan shut the engine off. “You’re right, big as this place is we shouldn’t stink it up. We’re stuck here for the night.”
After filling the tank, they transferred their belongings to the bus, ate, and settled down for the night. Ty snored, curled up across two seats and Dan played a forlorn hand of solitaire on the wide dashboard. A wall-shaking boom brought them both to their feet.
Ty shouted. “What the fuck was that?”
“It sounds like something hit the wall.”
“I know that! I want to know exactly what hit the wall.”
“Something big.”
The next impact was so loud their ears rang. The sheet metal wall opposite the bus buckled, and a seam split open. Grabbing his gun, Dan opened the doors and stepped out.
“What are you doing?”
“We need to know what we’re up against. I’m gonna peak through that crack and find out.”
He ran
back as another impact shook the garage. “The ground is covered in glowing green worms.”
“I know we’ve seen some crazy stuff on this trip; but how are worms hitting the wall that hard?”
“They’re really big worms.”
“How big?”
“Elephant sized.”
“I have to see this.” Ty ran to look. “One of them is about thirty feet long; I wonder why they’re glowing. You think it’s some kind of firefly thing?”
“I don’t care. The point is that there’s too many to shoot our way out; if bullets even register on things like that. I think you can cut a normal one in half and it keeps on going.”
“If they can hit the building that hard, then they can roll over the bus. We’re fucked.”
“Maybe not. Remember what an electric shock does to them?”
“Sure, but we don’t have anything to shock them with, besides they’re big.”
“The lights are on, so we’ve got power; we just need a way to use it.”
“The sink! We can use the sink to shock them.”
“Don’t be funny.
“I’m not being funny, I’m being smart. Water conducts electricity right?”
“I don’t feel like playing funny games, Ty.”
“Think! What if open up the taps and flood the floor, they’ll be shocked as soon as they get in.”
“With what electricity?”
“We’ve already got all we need.”
Ty rummaged in their gear until he found what was needed: wire cutters and a screwdriver. First unscrewing the plug covers from each wall socket, he cut and stripped the wires, pulling them out as far as they would go. He carefully laid them on the concrete floor. “Now disconnect the sink and toilets from the water line and let it all flood.”
“It’ll take time to cover the floor, time we may not have.” The worms threw themselves against the garage with monotonous regularity. More sections of wall buckled and bent inward.
“It’s the best chance we have. Let’s hide out in the bus and see what happens; the rubber wheels will act as insulators to keep us safe.”
“This had better work.”
“It will.”
Retreating to their new vehicle, they sat and watched the water rapidly spread across the floor. The impacts increased in frequency and force, but the enormous nightcrawlers still couldn’t make an opening large enough to squeeze through.
“Half the floor’s covered and they still haven’t made it in. I think we might make it,” Dan hoped.
Then the creatures began attacking the rolling door. One impact and the flimsy barrier folded, another and it fell to the floor. Glistening moistly, the first one undulated ponderously into the enclosed space. Longer than the bus and wide as a small car, it headed straight for them.
Ty was horrified. “They’re blind, how does it know where we are?”
“It’s the fucking engine, it feels the vibrations!”
“It’s too late to turn it off. Squat on your seat and don’t touch anything.”
“How’s that going to help!”
“Now! Fucking do it now!”
Whipping its massive body across the floor to move forward, one more thrust tossed its front segments across the short hood. A toothless, moist mouth dilated grotesquely across the windshield. Then it heaved itself up to slam against the glass.
Twenty-seven
A sharp, cracking boom sounded and the windshield went dark, but through the side windows, they could see a viscous, red slime running down the walls. The sound repeated several more times.
“It worked. The electricity is making these goddamned things blow up!”
“Hit the wipers and drive, Dan. I don’t think we’re going to have a better chance than now.” The ceiling lights buzzed and flickered erratically. “I think it’s gonna short out soon.”
He jerked the shifter and hit the gas. Wheels skidding on the slimy surface, the bus bumped over the smashed door and into the night.
“How do worms get infected?” Dan asked as he ran over smaller worms and drove around the giants.
“How the hell should I know? Maybe it’s the dead bodies. Anything that eats dead bodies could be exposed to the virus.”
“Rats.”
“Sure, we ran into a bunch of those in New Mexico – you asked about the worms.”
“No, I mean straight ahead.”
“Shit.”
Attracted by the smell of worm flesh, masses of the mutated rodents rolled towards them in packs so dense they formed large, writhing patches of white on the dark tarmac.
“We can just run them over.”
“That much blood could start a feeding frenzy, and then they’ll come after us because the undercarriage is already soaked with worm guts.”
“We can’t wait it out either. They’ll smell us in here; rats can squeeze through tiny spaces, they’ll get in.”
“I’ll drive around. There’s got to be more than one way off this base.”
Dan turned the wheel sharply, narrowly avoiding another glowing, segmented nightmare. “I’m going that way; it’s dark, so at least there can’t be any more worms.”
“I don’t think we’re getting far with all this crap on the bus. If it isn’t the rats, something else will scent us out. We need to clean it off or find somewhere we can hold up until sunrise.”
Dan turned around yet another corner, searching for some other way off the base. Reaching the facility’s water treatment plant, they passed a wastewater pond.
“Ty, do you think you can stand for a couple of hours.”
“Yeah, but why?”
“I think I found a place to hang out until morning.”
“Where?”
“Over there.”
“I don’t see anything.”
“The sewer pool.”
“You want to hang out in the poop water?”
“This bus is compromised, but I don’t think anything can scent us out in there.”
“You’re right. It’s going to smell worse than Lily’s dog.”
“Get your gun. I’ll park a little ways off to keep the smell of worm goo away from us.”
They heard it minutes later; clawed feet scratching over the bus chassis in the dark. Guns ready, they stood in the cold, filthy water. Covered in mosquitoes, the men didn’t dare swat even one. Time slowed to a crawl while they stood knee-deep in muck anxiously waiting for first light. As the sky grew light in the east the sounds subsided and the men could see what had happened.
“I don’t believe it.” Ty stared open mouthed at the dark green bus.
“If they spent all night doing what I think they were doing, then it makes perfect sense.”
“It’s spotless.”
“Let’s hope they didn’t touch the wiring.”
Only a few mutated rodents continue to scurry around the tires and over the hood. These spotted them and abandoned the vehicle to find fresher meat. A dozen cat-sized, scaly carnivores jumped into the concrete walled pool. Dan and Ty prepared for the attack.
“Are they swimming underwater to get us?”
“I don’t think so, Ty. I think they’re too heavy to swim.”
“Stupid things didn’t know that already? I’ve seen more sense in a piggy bank.”
Small bubbles broke over the scummy surface for a while.
“I think we can get out now.”
“Can you drive, Danny. I’m wiped out.”
Dan continued straight for another mile, Ty already snoring peacefully in the seat behind him. The way out he searched for loomed ahead along with something else. He stopped the bus and shook Ty awake.
“What’s the matter? What is it now, mutant ground hogs?”
“No, but I think it’s a sign.”
“Yes the sunrise is beautiful, are you feeling inspired? Because all I’m feeling is exhausted.”
“I said I saw a sign. Look on the ground.”
“Holy shit, that’s one hell of a sign. Do
you know where that is?”
“Yeah, I know exactly.”
Spray painted across the blacktop before them in bright orange was a message.
GO TO ANGOLA.
“What’s in Angola?”
“The Louisiana State Penitentiary at Angola; It’s the only place that could keep a large group of people safe. We can be there by noon.”
Jesse Foster was in heaven.
As much fun as staying in the army base had been – he wasn’t allowed the freedom to run around and explore. Now he was living in a real prison and the impossibly long corridors, barred cells, and high wall surrounding all of it were weirdly exciting. As soon as they’d arrived, he ran off excitedly; determined to investigate every corner of the facility. Momma had been a little upset when he ran off, and he cried when she scolded him for it. A soldier walked up and told her she could stop worrying, they were safe now. Jesse found hidden places like a sub-basement hidden behind a heavy, steel door. He showed his new friends, they claimed the spacious, box-filled chamber as their clubhouse. By the end of that first day, the space was stocked with pilfered food, flashlights, and comics.
Nancy Foster was a small, reserved woman. Nevertheless, protecting her child through the crisis had quickly changed her into a force to be reckoned with. “Maggie, have you seen Jesse?”
“Probably off with my Billy and the Franklin’s kid, Lee.”
“That much, I already guessed. I want to know exactly where.”
“Lee told me they made a clubhouse somewhere downstairs. I wouldn’t worry so much; they’re boys, Nancy. They need to run around and between one thing and another; they’ve been kept shut in much too long.”
“Yes, I know all that, but it’s been a hard road to this place. The army base was supposed to be safe too.”
“The base had no walls, Nancy. That chain link fence was never going to work long-term.”
Laughing and shouting, all three boys barreled down the corridor.
The tallest boy, shouted. “See you after dinner, guys!”
“Bye, Lee!” called the two who remained after him.
“Jesse Foster, what did I tell you about running off without letting me know where you’re going?”
“Sorry, Momma.”
“It’s OK misses Foster, we were just playing and stuff.”