by Jimmy Bird
We all understood what she meant, but if we didn’t act fast enough then we would be the ones dead.
Bobby helped my sister as Danny asked, “Is everyone packed and ready to go?”
Yes and no were the responses he received.
Frustrated, he said, “Okay. Everyone go and get your things. I’ll stand watch.”
I grabbed my daughter’s hand and led her towards our sleeping quarters. We got to the room and it looked ransacked. My emotions started to boil over as they went from being calm to that of anger.
I yelled out loud and asked no one in particular, “What the Hell? Who would steal from us at a time like this?”
Frustrated, I glanced around the room until I met my daughter’s scared eyes. My heart stopped, the last thing I wanted to do was upset her. I quickly calmed myself down before I approached her.
I knelt in front of my daughter and asked, “Sweetie, what’s wrong?”
She looked at me with that scared look for a few long seconds before saying anything.
She frowned, “Daddy. It’s looked like this since the fight outside, since the day Cole and Corbin died.”
Confused, I looked around again. Really? I guess that I had been so focused on everything else that I hadn’t paid attention.
I looked around one more time before asking, “JoJo, are you sure that it’s looked like this?”
She shook her head up and down. Her answer was good enough for me.
“JoJo, we don’t have a lot of time so grab only the things you need.”
JoJo, “Okay, Daddy.”
I told her, “Make sure that you grab as much clothes that’ll fit in your backpack. Also be sure to grab a blanket and a pillow.”
She lifted her doll and asked, “Daddy? Can I take my doll?”
I knew how important the doll was to her. It was the last thing her mom gave to her before the whole mess started.
My heart dropped as I told her, “Of course you can take your doll sweetheart.”
I grabbed a couple of bags to carry our clothes in and quickly realized that my twins’ clothes were mixed up with mine. I caught myself before I yelled out their names to come get their clothes. Realizing what I had almost done, I looked around one more time as memories of my family flooded my mind.
Maybe, my life was flashing before my eyes or maybe, I was just having a nervous breakdown. I’m not sure but everywhere I looked, I saw my twins Cole and Corbin, my oldest son, Jimmy Jr, my wife Nichole, and other family members. Even some that were missing and presumed dead. Even some who had died after it began like Jesse, Shaelynn, and my mom. One thing was for sure, my heart was filled with joy as I watched them doing different things.
I could see my boys playing and fighting with each other (that image brought a smile to my face). Even at a young age, they had a few intense fights and I would get frustrated with them for fighting. I would have given anything to see them interact with each other like that again. I looked over and could see my beautiful wife standing there getting just as frustrated with their fighting as I was (my smile widened even further).
I saw my mom sitting down on the ground cross-legged, drinking a cup of coffee. My niece Shaelynn was sitting next to her playing on her cell phone. Her older brother Shane was looking in a mirror trying to strike a pose to impress his girlfriend. I could see my younger adopted brother sitting on the other side of my mom playing video games. I could see my dad kicked back drinking a beer and watching a football game with my grandfather. I could see my grandmother in her kitchen just cooking away. I could see my cousin John sitting next to his wife and two children. I could see numerous other family members doing various activities. I smiled to myself. I got up off the floor and walked over to my wife. I reached out and gave her a hug and kiss.
My daughter snapped me back to reality when she asked, “Daddy? What are you doing?”
I blinked my eyes a few times as I began looking around. I had been in a hugging position with my lips shaped like I had been kissing someone. With a blank stare, I looked around. Everyone was gone, leaving just me and JoJo alone in our room.
I sadly looked at my daughter, “I was just picturing our family, the way they used to be.”
What just happened? I mean. What the Hell just happened? I had never experienced anything like that before in my life. It felt so real. It was as if this world was the nightmare and my mind was trying to wake me up.
I could feel my mind working overtime as it tried to make logical sense of what I had seen, but it was hard, considering how rational my mind is. I knew they weren’t there, but that didn’t stop me from seeing them. My daughter reached out, gave me a hug, and started crying. It was soft at first, but then she just broke down uncontrollably.
She started sobbing as she told me, “Daddy! I miss them so much.”
I told her, “There’s nothing wrong with that. I miss them too.”
She pulled away from me and asked with tears in her eyes, “What if I forget what they looked like?”
I placed one hand on her heart and one on mine, “Don’t worry. They will always be with us in our hearts. You just have to believe.”
She responded by leaning forward and giving me a hug.
I soothingly told her, “The pain we feel for them will never go away, but that’s okay because we will see them again in Heaven.”
I gently pushed my daughter off me and looked into her eyes, “But, until then we’re not going to give up trying to survive. Right?”
She looked at me, “Yes, daddy. We will continue to survive.”
I smiled, “That’s my girl.”
My daughter was a strong-willed little girl and if she could go on living then so could I. I reached out and hugged her one last time. I closed my eyes and made a promise to my wife, I would do whatever it took to make sure our little girl survives. Even if it meant sacrificing my own life to do it. Still holding onto my daughter, I opened my eyes. Standing behind my daughter was my family smiling, all of them.
My wife was standing behind our daughter and whispered, “I love y’all. Keep our daughter safe.”
I nodded my head and looked down towards my boys.
Jimmy smiled, “We love you dad.”
Corbin added, “I love you daddy.”
Cole chimed in, “I love you too daddy.”
Tears began forming as I whispered, “I love you too!”
I tried repeatedly to blink the tears away, but I was unsuccessful. I settled for just shutting my eyes for a couple of seconds. When I opened my eyes again, they were gone.
I whispered one last time, “I love you!”
With a new resolve to protect my last remaining child, I slowly pushed her away.
I looked into her innocent eyes, “JoJo, you ready to go?”
She responded by shaking her head up and down, indicating that she was.
I told her, “Okay. We need to hurry up and finish packing our things.”
By the time we were done packing, we had two backpacks and a carry-on type of bag ready to go. My daughter had her precious doll in her left hand and took my right hand with the other.
She looked up at me and with as much confidence as she could muster, “Okay, daddy. I’m ready.”
I looked around our room one more time and whispered, “Goodbye.”
We began walking back towards the clinic when Danny came running towards us, “We need to hurry because a few of the zombies were coming.”
Confused, I replied, “I thought that the sirens were supposed to have been drawn them away?”
He shrugged and sarcastically replied, “Apparently, the zombies didn’t get the memo.”
I looked down at my daughter, “JoJo, we need to hurry.”
Our pace increased to a jog (my six-year-old daughter’s legs were not as long as mine) as we rushed down the hall. All I kept thinking was, why did I leave my spear in the clinic.
We arrived to an eerily quiet room. The hallway door that connected the clinic to
the shop was luckily closed. We could see movement through the small foot by foot square glass located near the top of the door.
I knew right away that Danny had been wrong when he told us that the zombies were coming because they were already here. My sister saw us coming down the hall and motioned for us to hurry into the clinic.
Once inside, she quietly demanded, “Where have you been?”
Confused, I asked her in an equally hushed tone, “What do you mean?”
I looked around at everyone before asking, What? Weren’t we all supposed to go get our stuff?”
My sister’s voice had a hint of anger and worry in it, “That was close to two hours ago.”
Surprised, I spoke out loud, “What?”
Everyone shushed me in unison. I took turns looking into everyone’s expressionless faces and they were all nodding that it was true.
I was shocked. I had no explanation for the lapse of time. To me, it felt more like thirty minutes. Maybe, seeing my family caused it, but I wasn’t sure. I thought about telling them what I had seen but thought better of it. Would they even understand if I told them?
I decided to take a chance, “I was just saying my final goodbyes.”
I didn’t give any other explanation and wasn’t sure that anyone expected one.
I changed the subject by asking, “So, what’s going on?”
My sister blurted out, “Well, we’re trapped because you took too long coming back.”
I looked at her crazy, “How is it my fault?”
She told me, “Almost everyone refused to leave without you and JoJo.”
If felt good to be that wanted.
“Wait, hold on. Did you say almost everyone?”
She looked at me and confirmed, “Yes, I did.”
I had to know. Who was willing to leave without us? I waited for someone to say something but received no answer. I went even so far as to look into each of their eyes, but still got nothing.
After a few silent minutes, my sister finally confessed, “It was me. Brother, I’m so sorry, but I feared that I was going to end up losing my son or Bobby because of you.”
She lowered her head in shame, “When you didn’t immediately return to the clinic, I thought that you had left you to die.”
I grabbed my sister by the shoulder to get her attention, “I would never abandon family.”
I looked over at Ruff and Danny, “Never!”
To change the subject, I asked, “How many zombies are in the shop?”
No one knew. I was curious on how that was that even possible.
I spoke out loud, “I thought the sirens was supposed to help take care of that, weren’t they?”
I looked over at Seth and Austin for an answer, but they only shrugged. In the end, all they had were theories.
Seth suggested, “The cable for the siren could have gotten damaged during the battle.”
It was a reasonable theory, especially since the siren really hadn’t been used before the zombie apocalypse. They had been tested on a regular basis, but that only lasted for a few minutes at a time.
Austin theorized, “I guess that someone could have cut the wire from outside the Warehouse.”
That theory could also be true. These questions remained: Who would do such a thing and why? Unfortunately, we didn’t have the time or resources to figure it out because we needed all those resources to survive.
Without having any idea how many zombies were in the shop, we needed to figure out a way to find out. Luckily, the clinic had a bathroom with a mirror on the wall. I quietly got to my feet and tip-toed towards the bathroom. As quietly as I could, I removed the mirror from the wall and made my way back towards the door. Once I reached the door, I lifted the mirror in front of the glass. I angled it so I could see through the glass in the door and what I saw scared the ‘hell’ out of me.
Hundreds! It looked like hundreds of zombies. I’m not sure if there were that many on the other side of the door, but it looked like it. The sirens weren’t working. There was no other way to say it. Man, we were screwed. I slowly lowered the mirror.
I must have made a facial expression because Ruff asked, “Well? What did you see?”
I looked over at him and smiled sadistically, “It’s a good thing that we love a challenge otherwise we’re screwed.”
I looked over at my sister and told her, “Looks like you should have left when you had the chance.”
Bobby asked, “How many zombies were out there?”
I shrugged, “It’s hard to tell, but it looks like hundreds.”
Danny frowned and reached out for the mirror. Without resisting, I easily handed it over. He did the same thing I did and slowly raised the mirror so he could see through the door glass. His eyes told us what he saw. His eyes had a distant look in them as he slowly lowered the mirror. It was as if he was just going through the motion.
He waited until the mirror was on the ground next to him before speaking, “Jimmy’s right. We’re screwed.”
My sister screamed out in fear and accidentally hit her head on the door, causing it to rattle. The moans on the other side of the door increased. Bobby reached out to quiet my sister. The rest of us turned around to comfort the kids. We needed everyone to stay calm and quiet.
With everyone quieted down, the noise outside the door finally subsided. I motioned for everyone to quietly move back down the hall, at least far enough so the zombies couldn’t hear us. We needed a safe place to talk and plan our next move, someplace where we could keep an eye on the door.
There were literally a half dozen exits out of the office area, but only two that were closer to the shipping department then the clinic. The shipping department or ‘shipping’ was where our belongings that we were going to take with us was stored before we went looking for Mia. Out of those two doors, only one of those would take us to the edge of the shipping department and away from the zombies.
The first exit was only about thirty feet from the clinic exit. If that distance wasn’t scary enough, the exit connected to another office area that was encased in glass. That’s right, no walls to hide behind. So, we would all have to pray that they won’t see us while we ran towards shipping. Yeah, I didn’t like the idea either.
The second exit was closer to shipping but that was the only advantage it had. To even get to the door, we would have to travel outside through a small gated parking lot first. It’s a small fenced in parking lot where the office personnel parked so they didn’t have to walk through the shop. It was the old management’s idea of safety.
The second route seemed like the most logical choice, but it was also the most questionable one. You see, we hadn’t used that parking lot since, well, before the battle. It was the one open area where all the children could play. It had a reinforced steel which we blocked off to keep the zombies from pushing it over. It wasn’t like the chain linked fence around the rest of the Warehouse. Truth be told, I don’t think we had even ventured outside to checkers it since the battle. We weren’t sure what kind of condition fence was even in.
We knew that we had to make the decision as a group. We figured that if we were going to die then we might as well die together. In the light of the situation, we decided to go for the second route. It was, after all our best bet to make it out of the Warehouse.
With our weapons in hand, we slowly made our way towards the exit that would lead from the office to the small parking lot. I was to go first with Danny. The children were to stay in the middle, the two oldest to take care of my daughter. Bringing up the rear was Ruff, Bobby, and my sister.
Once we were at the door, I began reaching out to open it whenever we heard something that sounded like glass breaking. I wasn’t sure, but it sounded like the glass from the offices around the first exit. If that was the case, then we were lucky that we decided not to go that route. It also meant that we were running out of time to go outside.
I pushed on the release knob and easily began to open the door to t
he outside. It seemed that we all had completely forgotten that the door was unlocked. I couldn’t believe it, it had remained unlocked since the battle. I guess we were lucky that no one had tried to come in.
With my spear in my right hand, I pushed open the door with my left. I tried to prepare myself for the worst possible scenario. Lucky for us, nothing was in the parking lot. As we filed out of the doorway, I noticed that the fence directly to my left, right off twenty-ninth street was bent in a little. That wasn’t a good sign. It meant that if a whole bunch of zombies accumulated at that spot, the fence would most likely give. We couldn’t afford to let that happen.
Wait! What? Why do I care? We’re trying to escape. By the time I got that thought out of my head, a couple of zombies started pushing on the fence. The fence started squeaking as it began to lean inward. I was wrong the fence wasn’t bent, it looked like the welding on the far corner was broken. It looked like the fence would give way under the right amount of weight and I could see more zombies coming our way. Time it seemed, was not on our side.
As I said before, Ruff was bringing up the rear on our line when we heard screaming. I looked around and noticed that Ruff had forcibly pushed my sister and Bobby out of the door.
Before anyone could question what was going on, Ruff had hurried out of the doorway and slammed the door behind him. He placed his feet firmly on the ground and leaned against the door.
Straining a little bit, he told us, “Y’all need to hurry.”
We stood there dumbfounded as we watched him. Questions about what was doing began popping into my head. The answer came in a flash as the door bumped outwards. What was that? The door started to slowly open. You could see a couple of long damaged fingers slip in between the door-frame and door.
I had to give Ruff credit, he was using all of his strength and weight to hold the door closed. Unfortunately, you could tell that it wasn’t going to be enough. To top it all off, a few more zombies pressed against the fence causing it to cave in a few more inches. This was not good.
I turned and yelled, “Everyone, run to the shipping door! Now!”