“I also have a wife and son to get home to. We both need to get out of here.”
“The spiders! Get them off! Spiders! Spiders! Get them off!” came the redneck’s booming voice from the back room. He had been so quiet back there, Rob had nearly forgotten about him.
They had tied him up around the back corner so none of them could see him…except for Denise, who was sitting at one of the tables at the back of the bar. Rob looked over at her and saw that she was standing and backing away.
He hurried back to her, motioning for her to stay against the wall. He took a quick glance her way and then turned away, rounding the corner so that he was in the back alcove.
It was brighter back there. The light that had been over the pool table was shining down in the center of the room. Travis had worked himself up so he was now on his feet and looked like he was doing some exotic dancing. He was lurching as though to some chaotic music in his own head, and was stomping his feet down at random times. Then he would stumble back, watch the light as it shook from his stomps before he would again bring his foot crashing down.
“I got to get them off me. They’re all over me.”
He was thrashing around, shaking as he moved. It struck Rob as to what he was doing. He was trying to shake the bugs off of him, then killing them as they fell to the floor.
The only problem was that Rob didn’t see any bugs.
“It’s okay. Just calm down. Everything is going to be okay.” Rob held his hand out as he slowly moved forward. Travis didn’t look up at him. He was lost in shaking vigorously around, trying to get them all off.
“They’re getting into my skin. I can feel them. They’re behind my eyes, I can feel them twitching. God, please! Help me!” He was nearly crying. Rob took another slow step forward. He didn’t want to get close to the man, but he needed to get him calmed down. He couldn’t have him spooking everyone else.
And then do what with him? He was becoming one of those things. Eventually, they were going to have to get him out of there. Why were they even delaying it? Because it was obvious there was still a person there. He wasn’t one of those things yet.
“I wouldn’t get any closer to him. In fact, I’d start stepping away from him.”
Rob turned to look at Denise, who was still standing back against the wall. He was sure if she could become a part of the wall, she would if it meant getting further away from Travis.
“Get them off!” Travis screamed. He thrashed around, then ran back to slam against the wall, pounding the side of his head against it. “They’re getting into my ears! Get them out. I can feel them crawling!”
“We need to get him out of here!” Bruce yelled. Rob looked at the truck driver. He was out of his barstool and was hurrying over. He came up next to him, his large frame rigid as he stopped and watched the insanity happening in front of them.
“How do we do that? We throw him out there, they’ll tear him apart. You saw what happened to his wife and that old man.”
“It’s already too late for him,” Denise said. They both turned to look at her.
“You know that for sure? Because if we throw him out there, that is a death sentence.”
She just nodded, holding herself as she stood back against the wall. She looked down at herself, failing to hold their eyes.
Rob looked at Bruce. He saw the fear in the man’s eyes. He felt the same way.
“I can’t do it,” Rob whispered.
“What do you mean you can’t do it? You’re the law. You’ve faced some serious shit. Weren’t you from Chicago? You going to tell me you haven’t ever killed a man.”
“I’ve never shot anyone that wasn’t trying to shoot me first. Throwing him outside is cold-blooded murder.”
“He isn’t a man no more.”
Travis thrashed around in the corner, flailing back and forth, slamming his arms against the walls. He was safe from gouging at himself because his hands were duct taped behind his back. They probably should have taped his legs together because if the man truly wanted to, he could rush at them. However, it didn’t strike Rob that they were his biggest concerns at the moment, as he was caught up heavily in what he was fighting against.
“I’m not saying I could, but if we did, how would we do it? We can’t get close to him, can we?”
“No, you can’t. Lisa never came in direct contact with the two boys, so if it spread to her, it had to have been through the air.”
Rob turned to look at her. “Why didn’t you get it?” Denise shrugged. “You think maybe you have an immunity to whatever virus it is?”
“I don't know if it’s viral, but I don’t think I’m immune.”
“How do you know?”
“I just don’t think I am.”
Rob continued to look at her. He had a thought forming, something he was thinking they should do, but he wasn’t quite ready to commit to it yet, and definitely not ready to say it out loud.
She watched him, probably seeing it on his face that he was thinking about something. He guessed with how she fidgeted, she must have known it was about her. She turned away from his gaze to look down the bar, back at the two young men who were watching them with avid curiosity. They stayed away, though. Probably smart of them to keep their distance.
“So what do we do?” Bruce asked.
Rob pulled himself from his thoughts to focus back on him. “We either get rid of him, or we try to get out of here before he completely changes.”
“They already tried that. It didn’t work.”
“I know.” He looked back at Denise. “But if this is spreading as fast as it is, the military will have checkpoints outside of town. We need to make it there. They might try to shoot us on sight, but she’s been exposed and hasn’t changed. She’s immune. They need that. We need to get her to them.”
Bruce looked at Rob, then Denise, who was now shaking her head vigorously. He could tell that if she had been able to melt deeper into the wall to get away from them, she would.
“I don’t think it’s a good idea to go back out there.”
“You know any other options?”
“I have some guns in my truck. Sawed-off shotgun in a hidden compartment above the visor, and a semi-automatic underneath the driver’s seat. I don’t go to New Jersey much, but when I do, I like to be prepared. I’ve had people try to break into the truck before and had to send them off with ‘Daddy’s little helper’.”
Rob was nodding at him. He turned and looked down the length of the bar at the two kids. “How’s it look out there? Think we can make it to the semi?”
“They’re spreading out, so maybe. Don’t know, man. We got it secured in here pretty good. The windows are high enough, so they can’t just climb in here. Back door is barred. Only access is the back loading door, which is barred, and the front door.” Sullivan said, turning back from the front window to look at them.
“I thought you wanted to get back to your guns and hole up in the bullet,” Jason said.
“Fuck. The bullet wouldn’t last this shit. We need to get out of here if this shit spreads, but if the military can keep it contained, we might as well sit tight and wait for help.”
“Think the military will contain it?”
Rob was walking closer to them. The two had been arguing back and forth, different scenarios about what to do in the wake of the zombie apocalypse. He had noticed that the conversation felt like it was an old argument, and they both went back and forth, changing views on what they should be doing. Neither could seem to keep it straight. Then again, Rob guessed that was probably the nerves, as neither one of them had ever actually believed it would happen. At least, he hoped neither one of them did.
Then again, it was happening. Was it really that crazy of a thing to believe in and plan for? The crazies no longer seemed so crazy when their conspiracy comes true.
“If the military does come in, I don’t think they will be taking chances on saving too many people. It will probably be a firehouse incurs
ion, burning out the infection. That is, unless they have already found a cure, but looking at how long it usually takes to research and find a cure to established viral infections, I doubt they will have anything for…” Sullivan stopped, thinking about it. Then he turned and looked down the bar towards Denise. “How long does it take for find a cure to a disease?”
“There isn’t any set time frame to find a cure. Look at HIV and cancer. Both have spread judiciously, and have continued to spread. Millions on top of millions is spent a year on research to find a cure. HIV has been around a long time, hitting its stride in the eighties, spreading vigorously but, to this day, we still do not have a cure.”
Sullivan looked from Denise to Jason, then to Rob. “Yeah. They’re not going to be coming to help, are they?”
Rob shook his head. He didn’t think they would, not with how many of the things were now out in the street. The numbers didn’t add up. The military couldn’t afford to send people in, other than to maybe take a few test subjects and then burn the rest.
Rob quickly looked over at Bruce, a sudden terrible thought making his gut wrench in pain. This could be bad. This could be very bad.
“They don’t have to come in to burn them out. They don’t have to send troops in.”
“Who are you kidding? Of course they do. They can’t bomb us on U.S. soil.”
“No? Why risk troops?”
“There is no telling if those things have gotten that bad out there. We’ve only seen the one street. It might be isolated to just this part of town.”
Rob nodded. Maybe it wasn’t that bad out there.
Tina stepped out of the hallway, still holding the baby, which had been sleeping since they had gotten it back in from outside. It was so small and quiet, somehow able to live in its own peaceful world as the world around it was falling into a chaotic nightmare.
“That woman died out there. She doesn’t have a mother now,” Tina said as she looked at the baby. “I don’t think it’s safe out there.”
Jason got off his stool and walked over to her. He put his arm around her and pulled her close. “Okay.”
Rob nodded, put his hands on the bar, and lowered his head. “Back to square one. What do we do?”
“Do you really think it’s a quarantine?” Bruce asked him. Rob looked into the eyes of the large man, a pained expression haunting his eyes.
He nodded slowly. “Just makes sense. My car should have been in town by now. Think about it. It’s been more than just a few hours. There has been no tow truck. Have you seen any cars? Besides those things out there, have you seen anyone? And the television and the phones are all out. Can you think of any other explanation?”
“They got here pretty fast. Could they be doing some kind of experiment?”
Rob thought about that for a minute. He knew the government had done some truly evil things in the past, but he couldn’t see this. Not in the Midwest, not on their own soil. He shook his head. He looked up to see that they were all looking at him.
A loud crash came from somewhere down the hallway behind the bar. Everyone jumped, and more pounding echoed down the hall. Tina quickly moved to look back that way, then turned to Rob. Her eyes were wide, like a deer caught in the headlights. He motioned for her to start backing away towards the end of the bar. He put a finger to his lips and she nodded, moving slow, backing away.
As she moved, Rob quietly climbed on top of the bar, the stiffness of his right leg working against him as he pulled it over, then hung both legs over on the other side. He tried to drop as quietly as possible. It wasn’t far and there were mats on the floor to keep the bartenders from slipping on the floor when it got wet.
He looked around for a weapon. He caught motion out of the corner of his eye and saw Denise tentatively moving closer, coming from the back of the bar where she had been keeping her distance from everyone. He nodded to her, then looked around. His eyes fell on the fire extinguisher. From what he could see, it was about the only weapon he could see back there. He looked over at Jason.
“Do you have anything back here?”
“No, just the extinguisher.”
Rob looked at it and grimaced. He didn’t like the idea of how close he would have to get to hit anyone with it, and he doubted spraying the CO2 would do any good. But he guessed it was better than nothing. He grabbed it and pulled it from the hook it was hanging.
He turned back to the hallway. The pounding sound was getting more intense, sounding like something was slamming against the delivery door, trying to get in.
He took a step towards the hallway.
“Why are they trying to get in back there?” Bruce said in a loud whisper to Jason.
“How do they even know we’re in here?”
Sullivan shrugged. “Who knows? They seemed to be going into random houses on the street, but it’s like they just know where people are.”
Rob turned to look back at the trio standing at the bar. He was glaring at them, mentally telling them to shut the hell up but, deep down, he wanted to know the same answers. They stared back at him, and all of them nodded. He nodded back and turned away.
There really wasn’t much light in the little hallway that lead back into the cooler. Two doors off to the right lead to the bathrooms, and just beyond them was the back room that had the loading doors, then the small room that would lead straight into the cooler.
Rob stopped at the threshold, not wanting to go farther back, holding the fire extinguisher over his head to use as a weapon.
“Ahh!” he heard someone yell behind him, and he quickly ran back out of the hallway and looked down the length of the bar.
Travis had rushed at Tina as she had been coming around the edge of the bar, and Rob watched as she quickly backed away from him, holding his child tightly against her chest. She was trying not to stumble, but she also couldn’t watch where she was going. Travis wasn’t moving steadily, and was more like stumbling towards her.
“Help!” she screamed as she reached the tables and chairs near the wall, getting her legs tangled. She let out a scream, then she was falling back.
Rob was already hurrying over. The redneck was still moving towards her, and when she had fallen, had been there to fall with her. His arms were still fastened behind his back, but he was thrashing them, bobbing his head forward, his mouth opening and closing, trying to chomp down onto something invisible.
“Fuck! I told you the fucker was becoming one of them,” he heard one of the kids saying from behind him, or maybe it was Bruce. He wasn’t paying too much attention. Now they had to deal with this asshole. No, they didn’t have to. He had to. It was obvious that none of the others were rushing over to help.
It was obvious when the man fell that he hadn’t been under control. His feet were too far behind him to keep him from falling forward. He was close to Tina, who had fallen hard and was trying to protect the baby. While Tina was crying out from what had to be a bone-jarring landing, the redneck didn’t seem like he was even phased by it.
As Rob rounded the edge of the bar, he stopped for a brief moment and noticed how the man wiggled like a worm, squirming his way towards her. Rob also noticed how the cut that had been on the man’s leg was no longer bleeding. It had plenty of time to stop flowing, but Rob didn’t really believe that was it. He was sure that if he looked at the man’s face, into his eyes, he would see grey, lifeless orbs staring back at him.
He wasn’t about to let it have the chance to get to Tina and the baby. He hurried behind it and grabbed one of its ankles, having to fight as the thing kept kicking. It wasn’t actively trying to get away from him. It just didn’t seem like it had full control over its body, and was concentrating on its goal…Tina.
He got a good grip and dragged the thing back, pulling it until it was back under the pool table light. He let go and moved away from it. It turned towards him, its lifeless eyes on him. There was no emotion in them, it was a dead look, but the mouth never quit moving.
It wriggled
and writhed, working to twist its way around so it could start pushing itself towards him. Rob brought the extinguisher up and looked down at the mouth, the eyes, trying to remind himself that the thing was no longer alive. It wanted to bite into him, eat him, do whatever it was it wanted to do to him, and if he let it get too close, he would never see his wife or son again. He had to kill it.
Behind him, there was a loud pounding. Rob turned in time to see that the plywood was on the floor, and the pool table had been worked away from the broken window. The booming sound was the dart machine slamming against the ground, and four of the things were trying to get in the window. Somehow they were high enough that their arms were well inside the building and they were trying to pull themselves in.
Rob danced back, trying to keep Travis from biting into his ankles. Travis had managed to get close to him, and he barely kept his feet out of his reach. He tripped himself up and barely had time to get some semblance of balance to keep from falling to the ground. Instead, he slammed back against the bathroom door.
“They’re getting in! Grab something to help. We need to push them back,” he yelled to the rest of them. Travis was becoming more frantic, and Rob kicked him, sprawling the scrawny man back a few feet, but he quickly recovered and was turning to come back at him.
Rob looked at the little fire extinguisher in his hand and tossed it aside, hurrying over to the corner to grab a chair. Sure, he wasn’t a lion tamer, and this wasn't Vegas, but he wanted to have the extra reach to push against them. He charged forward, slamming the legs of the chair into the first one trying to get through the window. It fell from the others, landing on the ground.
He aimed towards the next one and turned, slamming his chair into it, but the one next to it grabbed at the legs, and Rob had to wrestle with it. He was struggling, having to shake it back and forth. His grip was wet from his sweat-covered hands, and he could feel the chair starting to slip from his hands. He tried to jerk it back, to get it away from the thing.
For a moment, he was caught up in looking into its dead eyes looking at him. He saw the thing had gashes along its face, part of its jaw was missing, and skin was torn free from what was left of its face. Its arms and hands had claw marks up and down them, and there were nails stuck into its flesh. Probably from when it had still been human and had tried to claw the spiders out.
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