Apocalypse | Week One

by Harris , Octavia

  Apocalypse: Week One

  It’s funny whenever I think about how the world would end. I always envisioned some of the crazy shit my mom or older folks would tell you from the bible. I remember when my

  Auntie said, “ People out here are living their lives like it’s a game. When God gets tired he will burn us all off the face of the earth.” At that moment when I was younger I used to think to myself “I don’t want to go out like that all burnt up and crispy!” Like if I’m gonna go out I want to leave balls to the wall with my guns blazing! I don’t want someone to decide for me especially because how the fuck do I prepare for death by hellfire? Sounds like a bad time at a tanning salon. But luckily for me the world didn’t end this way and I had a bit more control over my circumstances. But let me take the time to catch you up on current events. It was the beginning of summer everyone had just come out of lockdown from a global pandemic, some kinda of disease you get from eating fucking bats or some other crazy shit the media told us. Anyway I was on my way home. I had been running errands most of the day getting some odds and ends. I was on the expressway cause the streets were so freaking packed you could barely move six inches ahead of the car in front of you. So I’m flying to get home. My exit is coming up at the next off ramp. I try to hop into the lane to my right. But before I could get in the car in front fucking slams on their brakes. I’m like “Woooooo bruh what the hell are you doing?” I try to turn the wheel in the opposite direction to avoid the car in front of me but I end up getting hit by a car to my left. At this point we’re both spiraling out of control after about a minute we come to a stop. My head is throbbing, ears are ringing like I was honestly beat the hell up. I looked over at the car that hit me. The driver’s side was absolutely destroyed and looked like a balled up piece of newspaper. Somehow I managed to stagger out of my car. I take a look around and I see nothing but a sea of mangled cars. I start trying to make my way to the off ramp. I see people trying to help others out of their cars, some who just look bloody and beaten, and others who are disoriented. But I know what you are thinking, “ Why don’t you stop and help survivors?” Because fuck that shit I want to go home I’m not in the mood to be captain save a hoe right now plus I’m hurt my damn self. I’m almost up the ramp as I get to the top. I see these two dudes picking a fight with each other. In my head I’m like, “Damn can’t we go one day without two people having a nigga moment on the street.” But as I’m watching these two guys about to go at it. The guy in the blue shirt yells, “What’s wrong with you cuz you slow?” The other dude is just staring at him with the blankest expression I’ve ever seen like he just seems completely unfazed by the other guy’s words. He looks really pale, almost sickly like he has been locked in a cellar for years. I hear him start to make these almost animalistic grunting noises and slowly begins inching closer to the guy in the blue shirt who tries to stand his ground. As he gets closer and his noises get louder and more belligerent he pounces on the man knocking him to the ground and starts to claw at him. His scratches drew a little bit of blood. He's gnashing his teeth trying to go for flesh but the guy in the blue shirt keeps putting up some resistance trying to push him off. Blue shirt and I lock eyes with each other he yells in desperation “Fucking help me for the love of God!!!” I didn’t even respond. I couldn’t conjure my voice to speak. I just rapidly started shaking my head. I freaked and just ended up bolting. I could hear the man screaming out in agony. It was horrifying but it wasn’t enough to make me turn around or stop running. But in the back of my mind I had this strange feeling of deja vu. I kept asking myself “ Have I seen this somewhere before?” I kept running. The only thing I wanted at that moment was to get home. I was close to my block once I hit the corner I had to stop and catch my breath. Quickly I checked behind me to make sure no one was following me. I let out a sigh of relief but couldn’t help feeling bad about the guy I left behind. Though the reality was it was either me or him and fuck that I’m not dying for anyone. Once I was rested enough I took out my phone. The screen was a little messed up but I could still make calls. I started scrolling through my contacts. I needed to get a hold of my little brother to see if he was okay.

  I placed my phone to my ear listening to the ringing. My heart rate rose as I began to wonder, “Why isn’t this dick head answering the phone?” My little brother is a notorious slut he is always chasing a piece of ass. I just know he better not have nobody in my house. The ringing finally stopped. My bro picked up, “ Hey sis what’s going on?” At this point I’m pissed off. So I screamed,”What took you so long to answer the damn phone!?!” His little sly ass said, “Ummmmm…….I was busy entertaining.” If I could have reached through the phone to choke his little ass I would’ve. But I calmed myself down and slowly asked him, “Are you still at home?” He responded confusingly, “Yeah I am why?” Sternly I responded,“Look I’m almost home okay? Go to the bathroom and get the big first aid kit. I’ll see you in a bit.” With concern in his voice he whispered, “Are you okay did something happen?” Quickly I replied, “ Just do what I asked you to do I’ll see you in a minute, bye.” After our exchange I hung up the phone and jogged the rest of the way home. As I stand in front of the house I look down the street and analyze the next block so far nothing seems out of place. I guess shit ain’t hit the fan yet so I head through the front door. Make sure I lock the motherfucker behind me and slowly slump myself against the door for support. My body was aching from the accident. My left arm looked liked it was solid fucking purple when I touched it I almost cried cause it hurt so bad. I looked like I just finished eight rounds with Muhammad Ali and lost. As I sink to the floor I see my brother standing in the hallway with the first aid kit. He stares at me with large concerned eyes and his mouth hanging wide open he exclaimed, “What the hell happened to you!?” I sluggishly responded,“There was an accident on the expressway while I was heading home. I was caught up in it.” He rubbed his chin in astonishment giving me an exaggerated, “Wooooooow that’s fucked up. Were there other people involved too?”I looked up at him grievously and said,“It was bad bro everyone on the expressway got their shit messed up. So many people were hurt or just sitting lifelessly in their cars. But even after all that it wasn’t the worst of it.” My brother sarcastically added, “What could be worse than that?” I comically responded, “I saw a motherfucker get eaten by another person.” He looked at me quizzically and asked, “You sure that accident didn’t give you brain damage? Cause you sound fucking insane zombies do not exist. I got up and yelled at him defensively,“Then how the fuck do you explain what I saw then? That shit was like looking at a horror movie.” My brother sighed and shrugged his shoulders like he knew there was no reasoning with me. He grabbed my hand and led me over to the couch and made me sit down so he could patch me up. He took the bandages and antiseptic out of the first aid kit along with some cotton balls. I watched him dab some of the antiseptic on the cotton ball and reach for my hand as he rubbed the cotton ball along the cut on my palm. I grunted in pain from the burn of the alcohol, “Ooooooo that shit sting!” My brother laughed under his breath saying, “Big ass baby.” I ignored him and grabbed the remote off the coffee table to watch TV. At first I was surfing through channels until something caught my eye. It was a news broadcast talking about the pile up on the expressway. I immediately turned the volume up on the TV. My brother and I sat there dumbfounded staring at the screen. The reporter was standing at the scene of the crash commenting about the damage and casualties as well as the high number of deaths. But I was more interested in what caused the crash. I started flipping channels to see if any other station was covering the accident. My brother looked over at me with a worried expression on his face like I had lost my mind but I just had to k
now what happened. After surfing through channels for what felt like minutes I finally found a station that had more information about the pile up. The reporter on site was a short woman with a slender frame and shoulder length brown hair with a nasally voice. She sounded like she constantly needed to blow her nose. Her voice was annoying. My brother chuckled, “Someone give that bitch a tissue please!” We both laughed until they started to show the recorded footage from the traffic cameras on the expressway. It showed a person but the footage was so blurry I couldn’t make out whether it was male or female. But this person somehow ended up wandering onto the expressway into traffic. They looked drugged out just completely disoriented like they’ve lost control of their body and mental state. But they keep walking through traffic almost like they don’t even see the cars speeding pass. Cars started to swerve to avoid the person causing multiple collisions. My brother and I watch with a disgruntled look on our faces. He reaches over and squeezes my hand and I squeeze his in return. Without realizing it mumbled softly, “My lord.” A car ends up hitting the person walking across all we see is a large splatter of blood staining the road. The body laid there motionless and unnatural; they looked like a piece of origami with how the flesh contorted. I lowered my head and sighed as my brother looked away from the TV then started to speak in a solemn tone, “ See I told you zombies don’t exist. But drug addicts sure do.” I was about to make a smart ass remark when suddenly we heard the female reporter let out a shocked grasp. We both turn back to the TV and see the body move like it was trying to come back to life. The driver gets out of his car to check the damage. He is taken by surprise when he sees the body still moving. The body starts to slowly crawl toward the driver almost like a spider. The driver tries backing away but trips over a piece of the fender from his car. The corpse starts to close in, gripping the driver’s leg as he tries to kick the body away. The corpse takes a large bite of the driver’s leg taking a large amount of flesh and sinew into its mouth. The driver cries out in pain and confusion. Other motorists and onlookers watch in horror at the spectacle before them and a panic erupts amongst the crowd people begin to scatter fleeing for their lives. Some people are trampled, others are knocked to the ground. After a few more minutes the footage cuts out and the reporter stares at

  the screen unable to come to terms with what she just witnessed. She tries to address the viewers watching at home but she fumbles with her words. You can clearly see how flustered she is. Just when she musters up the courage to speak I feel my phone vibrate in my pocket. I pull out my phone and check to see who’s calling. I stare at the screen, “Oh shit it’s Raye! Hey, turn the TV down some.” (Raye has been my best friend since our college days. I don’t think there are too many people who understand me as well as she does.) My brother grabs the remote and turns the volume down. I answer the phone with my voice trembling and anxious, “H-Hey homie everything okay? Where are you right now?” Raye responds in a high pitched shrill tone, “Girlllllll What the hell is going on out here!?” I just finished listening to the radio. This stuff sounds like some Resident Evil type shit!” I laughed a little bit to help lighten the mood, “I know right we just finished watching some footage on the news!” Raye’s tone began to shift almost to the point of frustration, “I’m in the mood for this! Why did this zombie shit have to pop off today!?” As I kept listening to her complain I started to roll my eyes out of annoyance. I told her, “Look where are you right now?” She caught an attitude and started to smack her lips, “I just finished doing some shopping. I was about to head home but at this point I don’t want to risk it.” I took a few minutes to respond. I started going over some thoughts in my head. Raye, growing worried, asked, “A-Are you still there?” Almost as if struck by lightning I shouted, “Just come straight to my place! I can’t explain everything right now but just get here as soon as you can and don’t stop for anything.” Raye responded in a cool tone, “All right bet I should be there in twenty minutes.” I also added, “Cool while your at it, call Nugs and bring her up to speed too.” (Nugs is another homie from college I had reconnected with at one point.) After that I hung up the phone as I looked up from my screen. My brother was sitting on the couch looking at me with a curious gaze, “Well you gonna catch me up to speed or what?” I honestly don't know where to start but for right now let’s wait for Raye and Nugs to get here. I smell like shit and need to take a good ass shower and change my clothes. While I’m in the shower I told my bro to go make something to eat. I go into the bathroom and remove my dirt and grime covered clothes. I notice my reflection in the mirror, “Damn I look terrible.” I start to inspect my body looking at the various scars and bruises I accumulated from the accident. I’ve never felt so exhausted before. But hopefully after this shower I feel a little sense of renewed vigor. I step into the tub and allow the water to cascade over me taking with it all my aches and pains. I lean forward to rest my head against the tile as the water flows through my hair and ignites a fire in my belly. Everything feels less hazy and uncertain right now and the path before me looks crystal clear. I decided to stay in the shower for a few more minutes just to enjoy the feeling of the water on my skin a little longer. After a while I turn off the water and hop out of the tub and start trying to dry off without exerting myself too much. I reach over and grab my new change of clothes and get dressed. I throw my soiled clothes in the laundry basket and leave the bathroom. As I opened the door the steam from the shower erupted out almost like a boiling kettle on the stovetop. I walked towards the kitchen and saw my brother whipping up a storm. I walked closer to the counter top and exclaimed,”You got it smelling good in here, boy!” With a cocky smile he replied, “You how I do.” I looked his narrow behind up and down, then told him,”Don’t start letting shit go to your head.” But then suddenly the mood shifted and the atmosphere started to feel so heavy with tension. For a minute I could actually feel it filling up my lungs. I saw my brother standing by the stove. He hung his head low while he stirred a large pot. In a strained and small voice my brother asked, “So just what are we going to do now sis? Since it’s looking like this zombie shit is a real possibility.” I walk over to him and place my hand on his shoulder. At that moment I had a hard time wanting to admit that this was really happening because this was some shit that only happened in the movies or at least so I thought. But I couldn’t afford to lose my shit not with my brother standing beside me. I took a deep breath and gathered my nerves. I gently leaned on his shoulder and softly whispered, “Don’t worry I have a plan.” My brother shot me a dirty look and dryly replied, “That doesn’t sound very reassuring.” I told him, “That’s the best I can do until those other two heifers get here.” I stepped away from him to grab a drink out of the fridge. I glanced around and noticed something was missing. I yelled, “Did you drink my last beer!?” He quickly attempted to change the subject. My brother blurted out, “I think I hear someone knocking on the front door.” I took my head out of the fridge to listen. I immediately hear two heavy ass knocks on the door. I guess he wasn’t lying but I’m still gonna kick his ass for drinking my beer. I walked out of the kitchen and headed to the front door. I look through the peephole just to be safe. I see Raye and Nugs carrying loads of groceries and boxes. Raye screeched, “I know you see us standing here, stop playing and open the door!” I hurriedly unlocked the door and allowed them in. Nugs asked, “Where’s Queso?” (It’s the nickname we gave my brother after he threw nachos at the back of a woman’s head during a hockey game.) I replied, “He’s in the kitchen cooking dinner.” As she was sitting a pile of boxes on the floor she glanced up at me and asked, “Can you get him to help us bring the rest of the stuff in?” I yell to my brother, “Hey Queso go get the last of the stuff out of Raye’s car?” He growled, “Ugh, don’t call me that!” He walked out of the kitchen throwing a tantrum. Nugs laughed to herself, “It should just be three more boxes and a bag left in the trunk.” My brother nodded his head and darted outside to the car. Raye sank to the floor in the
farthest corner of the living room. I kept studying her face. She looked weary and restless. Like she had been to hell and back. I tap Nugs on the shoulder and point over to Raye. Nugs pulled closer and whispered in my ear, “We both saw a lot of fucked stuff on the way over here. I think she’s just a little burnt out.” I fold my arms and lean my head to the side and all I can think is, “Damn.” I hear Queso walk up the front steps with the last of the supplies. He tilts his head out to the side and asks, “Where do you want me to put these?” I told him to start moving the boxes to the basement. Nugs with Queso to help move things downstairs. While they did that I made sure to lock the front door. I didn't want anything or anyone getting in. I walked over to where Raye was sitting and slumped down next to her. For a few minutes no words exchanged between us we just sat there in silence. I could hear her start to sob softly. She let out a shallow breath and stared in my direction. She started to speak in cracked voice, “It looks like a fucking war zone out there. People are in the streets looting and killing one another. Stores and homes are going up in flames. On the radio they were talking about the military coming in and declaring martial law. The world is going to hell in a hand basket.” As I listened to Raye I was shocked by how calm I was about this whole situation. It’s not uncommon for this sort of thing to happen once people get riled up into a frenzy. I sat there quietly for a few more minutes before I spoke, “It took you guys a while to get here.” Raye propped herself off the floor to stand up. She explained, “People set up roadblocks on some of the streets and we had to take a different route.” As we continued to talk we heard Nugs and Queso make their way back up stairs. Immediately Nugs gestured to her stomach asking, “Is the food ready yet?” We all looked at my brother staring daggers at him. He walked in the kitchen all nonchalant not paying us any attention. He walked over to the cabinet and grabbed some plates and started fixing the food. As we walked into the kitchen Raye’s picky ass yelled, “I don’t want no spinach on mine.” And stomping his foot told her, “Come in here and fix your own goddamn plate then.” Raye quickly shut the hell up. While Nugs and I giggled at both of them. My brother handed each of us a plate and we all gathered around the dining room table to eat and just wind it down. Rather than talk about the day’s string of events we reminisced about the good old days. Cracked a couple of jokes at everyone’s expense. Brought up cringe worthy memories we wish we could forget. Raye had an outburst, “My job got me fucked up if they still expect me to come in tomorrow!” We all looked at her like she was tweaking. Then I responded in kind, “Maaannn…...Fuck that damn job!” She looked at me and nodded saying, “You right.” I went further and exclaimed, “Your ass has been looking for a reason to quit anyway. Consider this your two week notice.” She lifted up her glass saying, “Here, here!” as we all toasted to her unemployment. We just wanted to keep it chill even if just for a little bit. Once we were done eating and drinking my brother leaned forward placing his elbows on the table and with a serious look on his face asked, “What’s this plan of yours? Now that you got us all here?” Raye and Nugs stared at me intently because they wanted to know as well. I leaned back and pushed myself up from the table and started walking to the basement. Everyone got up from the table and followed behind me. As I entered the basement I flipped on the lights to make it easier to see. I walked over to the workbench and plopped down on the stool in front of it. I started searching through drawers looking for a knife to cut open all the boxes Nugs and Raye brought. Once I found it I tossed it to Queso shouting, “Hey catch.” He fumbled with the knife but then managed to get a good grip on the knife. He stared at me quizzically like, “What the hell do you want me to do with this?” I gestured to him to open the boxes so one by one he started opening boxes and examining them. He looked through the boxes wild-eyed and crazy. He stood up completely unhinged and barked, “What is all this stuff!?” Why do we have so much water, cans of food, and toilet paper? Can you please just tell me what’s going on!?” Raye spoke up to offer a partial answer to his question, “Well I was at Costco getting some stuff for my house cause I like to buy in bulk. When I spoke to your sister she told me to just come over so I brought this stuff with me.” Queso shook his head as if to say he was still unsatisfied with the answer he had been given. My eyes slowly scan across the room analyzing the looks on everyone's faces. I finally broke my silence. I began to address Raye with a sense of nostalgia in my tone, “Do you remember a few years back when we had come up with a plan to survive the zombie apocalypse if it ever came to fruition?” Raye’s eyes started to dart around in her head as if she were waiting for her brain to kickstart. She furiously furrowed her brow. I could smell the smoke coming out of her ears. Few minutes passed and I saw her eyes light up as the light bulb turned on. She replied excitedly, “Yeah we started talking about it after we spent the whole night playing some horror game. I recall we came up with several different plans in case something like this ever goes down. But at the time it was just for shits and giggles. We never thought it would really happen.” Nugs and Queso both looked at us like we were speaking a different language. They were definitely out of their element at this moment. So I began to explain further that even though at the time when we were just goofing around I actually took the time to invest in getting some resources. I started digging once more into the drawers of my workbench and pulled my old dusty notebook. I got up and walked to the center of the basement to show them what I had written inside. Basically I called this notebook the Survivor’s Commandments rules and ways of thinking to help people survive in case shit goes south. Queso looked skeptical but he was trying his best to hang in there. Nugs’ inquired about how I compiled all this information together. I started beaming with pride at the thought of her question. All knowledge in this book has been acquired from a variety of media types on the subject of “Corpus Animatum” aka Zombies or the pc term the living dead. I have sifted through everything from movies, video games, to popular horror fiction. What I have learned is that while a small percent of the information is a bit nuanced. There is a clear general consensus to the rest of it. Raye had started looking at me like she was ready for me to wrap this shit up. But I continued to stand up on my soapbox. So almost all experts seem to agree that the modern zombie is usually created from some kind of viral infection that can be transferred from person to person through bodily fluids. And that even though they are technically the dead the brain is still active and able to coordinate various muscles and seek out people to infect. All other instincts that you would normally find in a living person are either completely lacking or slightly toned down. They have lost their sense of emotion and self-preservation. These creatures do not feel pain. Their bodies are usually already in an advanced stage of necrosis so most of their cellular structure is either dead or in the process of dying. Which leads into their slow shuffling walk as I said before the body is in a state of decay so even though the brain can still send signals to the muscles for movement it is very limited because the tissues and fibers have atrophied. So even after you listen to me ramble on and on and you don’t take anything else anyway from this conversation is that to truly kill them it has to be a traumatic strike to the head nothing else will do it. I glanced around the room to make sure everyone heard me and understood the severity of what I just said. They each give me a silent nod. Queso looked down at the notebook I was gripping in my hands. He just kept gawking at it. Like it was some book of spells or held some unknown power. Suddenly his eyes peered straight at me and in a sarcastic tone of voice asked, “Okay Bill Nye the zombie guy. Enough with the science bullshit. What are you actually proposing we do? In a nonchalant manner I tell him that I propose that we survive the apocalypse. With all the information I’ve accumulated we literally have a step by step playbook in the palm of our hand. Nugs interjected agreeing with my statement. She affirmed that, “Well it seems like you know what you're talking about, it's not like I’m an expert.” Raye bobbed her head in agreement at this point Queso was the odd
man out and needed a bit more convincing. Flipping through the notebook a particular page catches my attention. I huddle everyone around. Okay this is what I’m thinking as of right now we know beyond a shadow of a doubt that we are dealing with some kind of undead entity. Everyone nods their heads in agreement. The only things we don’t know at this moment is the scale of infection and origin point. But this doesn’t change anything on our end. For the time being we’ll hold up here this will be our base of operations. We should start by boarding windows and other points of entry. The food will sustain us for a few days until we have to go out again. Queso cut me off, “So what’s the plan for when we do have to say fuck this place?” I walked over to the bookcase and pulled out a map. I unrolled it and pointed to a plot of land to the north of us. In a honeyed voice I assert, “We make our way here.” The three of them leaned in close to see what I was pointing at. Raye shouted, “What is that?” Queso and Nugs eyed me down. They too wanted to know what this mysterious location was. I revealed that it was a bus depot. We could go there and rig up a bus to use to get out of the city. Nugs had a disapproving look on her face, “How do you expect us to get there? We can’t walk all the way there and some of the streets have been blocked off.” I explained that there is a back road we can take to get there. It's not indicated on the map so most people don’t know about it unless you actually explore the area. We can take Raye’s car part of the way there and go the rest of the way on foot. I could see Raye fuming out the corner of my eye. She was not pleased with the idea of abandoning her car but there was no other choice. Queso seemed a little less tense and more open-minded about my ideas but I knew that wouldn’t stop him from poking holes in shit. Everyone seemed on board for the most part even though it’s too late to jump ship at this point. Raye asked, “So how long are we going to wait it out here?” Without hesitation I confidently responded,”Two more days then we leave.” Everyone kinda stood around collectively wondering why we would wait around that long instead of leaving as soon as possible. I began to go into more detail,“First off it’s a shit show outside it would be better if we wait for things to die down outside plus so far it seems like we still have power and working water. We should use the opportunity to stock up on more water to take with us for when we do leave. Second, we should take advantage of the fact that we still have power to use the TV and our phones to monitor the situation outside.” No one had any complaints or any objections but I glared at Queso cause his little smart-ass usually wants to add his two cents. But not even he had anything to say. Nugs let out a huge yawn as she stretched, she put her hands on her hips and uttered, “So where do we start?” At her behest I start to delegate out tasks that we could accomplish tonight. I assigned Nugs and Queso to start boarding up the windows on the outside of the house. I told Raye to park her car from out front to the garage in the back of the house. While I decided to check the news for any updates or the current situation. Nugs and Queso grabbed the plywood that was laying on the floor near the workbench and the toolbox and ran upstairs. I could hear them leave out the front door. Raye reached into her pockets and grabbed her car keys she sighed as she raced up the stairs. I was the last one downstairs. I walked over to the bookcase and grabbed a small box that was under a pile of books. I walked back over and grabbed my old notebook taking one more look around the basement. I let out a large sigh roll my shoulders and start hopping up the stairs. Before I exit the basement I cut off the light and head on over to the couch. I sit the box and notebook on the far end and just fall straight into the middle of the couch. My arms and legs are all splayed out like a corpse on the pavement. I do a quick stretch before I adjust myself. I reach over for the remote to turn on the TV. I can hear the faint sound of laughter coming from outside it’s Queso and Nugs fucking around out there. I go to one of the unboarded windows, lift it open and pop my head out. I yell, “Stop screwing around and finish the damn windows!” Nugs stopped her laughter and immediately went back hammering in nails. And Queso whispered under his breath, “Fucking hardass.” I rolled my eyes and gave him the middle finger as I brought myself back inside and slammed the window shut. I rub my forehead and go back over to the couch right as I am about to plop down. I hear some soft tapping at the back door. I make my way to the kitchen and see Raye’s silhouette through the curtain on the door. I unlatch the door and let her in as she strides past me as I bolt up the door. She leans on the kitchen counter resting her head. I stand next to her and jab her in the arm, “What’s up?” I asked. She lifts her head and says, “Do you think your plan will really work?” In response I declare, “Yeah if you all do what I say.” I let out a slight chuckle and she started to giggle in return. Raye stood up and pulled me into a hug. I gave her a big squeeze back and whispered, “Everything will be fine.” She started to cry softly into my shoulder and I held her there rubbing my hand on her back. I hear my brother and Nugs come in through the front and yell, “Where are you guys?” I screamed, “We’re in the kitchen.” Raye wiped her eyes and dried her face. She moved away from me and sat on the counter facing the hallway. Nugs entered with Queso following right behind her. Nugs noticed Raye's face was puffy and her eyes slightly swollen. Nugs asked in a concerned manner , “You okay?” Raye nodded and shot a smile across her face. I gestured to Queso, “Did you guys board up all the windows?”