The Clock Runs Down: Half Past the Apocalypse

by Joe Kelly

  “No, my dad dropped me off” there was a quiver in her voice, but she seemed to hang on to her sanity by the tips of her fingers. At least she is speaking again, Jared thought.

  “Okay, don’t panic,” he said checking the outside door where the businessman had risen from his victim and was stumbling into the parking lot trying to catch some of the people fleeing the scene in terror.

  So far the newly infected didn’t seem interested in the coffee shop, maybe the screams outside being so close and the honking horns and traffic noise kept the zombie from noticing the gunfire. Probably not, he decided. Maybe it was just a predator noticing the easy game within reach that might escape. The man who had been attacked by the business man suddenly sat up his head swiveling towards the people screaming and running for their cars.

  It’s just not possible, a small voice in Jared's mind protested. Well possible or not you just saw it happen twice now, there is no way that guy could be alive or the woman you just shot.

  Jared looked at the girl and held a finger to his lips, hoping the girl didn’t start screaming. He could he suppose just shoot the thing, but he wanted to save ammo and draw as little attention as he could to himself and the girl till he could bolt for his truck.

  Just then his desire to save ammo came to an end as the doors at the back of the coffee shop swung open and a slightly overweight man wearing a vest over a bloody white shirt staggered out. The blood-splattered name tag proudly proclaimed “manager Vince Doener, how can I help you”

  The dead eyes fixed on the trembling girl. The zombie took a stumbling step forward arms outstretched its body pushing open the swinging gate that let into the area behind the counter.

  “Jump over the counter.” Jared told the girl motioning urgently. She was too scared to move he realized. She just stood there shaking with fear and staring at her former boss.

  Jared's mind raced as he considered if he had enough time to close the distance and kill the thing silently before it could reach the girl, beating it over the head with his pistol so as not to draw any more attention to the shop. his mind raced doing the math and knew he would be just a hair too late. Damn it, he thought as he fired.

  The .45 slug destroyed the things face and the wall behind it got a gory repainting. Instantly Jared spun around to face the door to the outside, the business mans first victim was on its feet and at the sound of gunfire turned and began stumbling into the coffee shop seeking the source of the noise. It was only ten feet from Jared when he punched two bullets into its head.

  “Come on,” he told the girl as he ejected partial magazine in his weapon and reloaded with a full one. “I'll drive you to your house, if you stay here you’re going to die,” she scooped up her purse then looked around hesitating.

  “I really don’t think locking up is worth your life or going to matter for much longer,” he said scanning the parking lot. Not really believing that was what she was thinking. He didn’t want her thinking too much about what had just happened and losing it. I won’t leave her but if I have to carry her to the truck it will complicate things, he thought.

  At least he was back in the zone, that old familiar place that kept fear and bs at bay while he got on with the business of staying alive in a warzone. In the distance he heard an explosion, and saw several plumes of dark smoke marring the horizon.

  There were ten zombies or infected in the parking lot now that he could see, and five more bodies that were starting to have what looked like seizures. Interesting, he thought just like the woman. At least there's a warning before one of them gets back up.

  It was forty feet to his truck and only two zombies close to it. As slow as they moved, he and the girl, Steph her nametag said, could easily reach the truck without getting to close. All the people fleeing the other business in the strip and the traffic on the street were drawing a lot of zombie attention. Screaming is like ringing the dinner bell Jared thought with morbid humor. Good to know that too.

  He waited while she worked up the nerve to step over the corpse of her boss and join him by the door. “Okay, stay close to me, we only have to jog if you spot a body warn me, don’t assume I see it. Understand?” He asked. She nodded, her eyes huge, she seemed to have her fear under control. “Let’s go, ” he said and started out the door.

  Halfway to the truck Jared got lucky, between two parked vehicles a body lay where it had fallen and was not visible till he was on top of it. Only the girls sudden warning gave him the second he needed to spot and avoid the grasping hands before putting a bullet in its head. Somehow the girl managed not to scream as the things head exploded.

  Reaching the truck he yanked the door open, thankful he hadn’t locked it when he ran to the coffee shop. That last shot had definitely attracted attention. Several more corpses had climbed to their feet now and starting towards him.

  Jared practically tossed the girl into the truck then leaped in after her. Slamming the door shut he jammed the key into the ignition and twisted. It was times like this that Murphy usually showed up. Maybe even Murphy didn’t have the heart to screw with someone with the world going to hell around him.

  The Ford started with a roar and he slammed it into reverse, pulled out, then shifted into drive he raced across the parking lot not even bothering with the actual exits and shot over the curb into the street. Horns blared, tires squealed as people hit their brakes and he was given the Finger by several people whom he didn’t believe meant he was number one like his mother had insisted it meant

  Seeing the entrance to the parking lot Jared was damn glad he had chosen the fast way out of the lot. Several cars, desperate to escape had tried to force their way out, and slammed into each other sealing the entrance. People were abandoning their vehicles and running away on foot.

  Behind him people who had fled the shops last were following his example and jumping the curb to escape, Horns blared and brakes screamed behind him as drivers tried to avoid the sudden onslaught of vehicles entering the street from multiple points. Jared heard the crash of metal and shattering glass as he turned onto a side road.

  After a minute of silence, desperate to hear what was going on Jared turned on the radio and felt something die inside at the sound of the emergency alert signal.

  The irritating sound ended and a man’s voice, controlled and sounding almost clinical began listing off areas that people were to avoid. Time was almost up now, Jared could feel it like a jagged knife tearing away at his reality. Weirdly, he wondered what Poe would have to say about what was going on.

  My high school English teacher would be impressed not only at the thought, but that I even remember who Poe is. He had always tossed off quotes, but usually didn’t remember who had written or said it originally. Though he had gotten a lot better at it once he had grown up and joined the Military. It had driven his superiors and the men in his squad nuts when he tossed off quotes from Famous officers and above all Kipling. Most had never expected a southern born and bred country boy to even know poetry existed much less taken the time to read it. It was amazing really how the mind could jump to total unimportant things while in a tight situation he thought not for the first time. Or maybe it was just him.

  Jared changed the radio to another channel as he drove he wanted news not this crap.

  “Where is your house?” he asked Steph who sat shaking in the passenger seat as the events at the coffee shop finally settled in. They were passing thru a residential area at the moment and it looked normal here except for all the people loading cars as they prepared to leave.

  “west of Riverside mall” she replied.

  “Do you have a phone?” He asked and frowned as she shook her head. Who doesn’t get their kids a cell phone for emergencies? “Where does he work” Jared asked, absently wondering if any of these people would survive this.

  “Downtown” she replied her voice almost breaking.

  Downtown was out of the question since the radio had just stated that downtown was off limits due to riots
. Riots my ass, they are eating people, He thought grimly. Then made up his mind right then. He would take her to her house. If no one was there he would leave a note with his address explaining how she had come to be with him and get her to sign it as well.

  Jared didn’t like it but there was no way he was going to leave a teenage girl alone in a house with zombies or whatever you wanted to call them, running around while waiting for parents that might already be dead. No, he would wait as long as he could then take her home with him if her parents didn't show.

  Jared fished his phone out of his bag not taking his eye off the road and passed it to her. “Here try calling your mom and dad. Don’t freak if you can't get them, everybody and their dogs are trying to call friends and family right now. Keep positive okay,” she nodded and began to punch in numbers. Easy to say, he thought All I want to do at the moment is to keep trying to get my friends on the damn phone and make sure they are all right.

  “what are they?” Steph asked as Jared swung the truck around a group of infected in the street. The truck bounced as he rolled over a curb and through a home’s front yard before swinging back onto the street. It was the first time she had spoken since she had given him directions to her house.

  “I don’t know” Jared admitted. “I’m not sure any one does.” He tore his gaze away from a man who was taken down by three infected in the yard of a house they were passing.

  Hearing sirens coming, he slowed as he approached an intersection. At least some of the police are still alive, he thought as two squad cars raced through the intersection just ahead. At that moment a red SUV with two infected hanging on to the sides plowed through the intersection, its Driver either to panicked to stop or failed to notice the patrol cars plowed into the first patrol car. The second car swerved around the wreck and kept going.

  Jesus, Jared silently said as he slowed even more noting the infected appearing from between buildings now. There weren’t many of them, maybe twenty, but that was enough. He pulled cautiously into the intersection and saw the passenger door of the patrol car open, then a cop tumbled out. I can’t just leave him there, Jared thought looking around the intersection. What few cars were on the road drive wide around Jared’s truck and the wreck. But the numbers of infected he could see in every direction was growing.

  “don’t’ freak out” Jared said as he stopped. “Be right back.”

  “no please, don’t leave me in here. If you die…I …” she said her voice trembling. She was on the edge of breaking but Jared had to do this.

  “I’ll be okay I promise” Jared assured her as he opened the door and stepped out his hand hovering over his pistol. The two infected that had been dragged by the SUV were now pounding on the windows of the SUV, or were till they noticed Jared. The cop was dragging a tac bag and a day pack out of his patrol car. Three infected were at the curb behind him and heading his way.

  Jared drew and fired in one blinding fluid movement. The infected nearest him tumbled to the ground its head mostly gone. Despite what most people in modern America had thought about the fast draw scenes in old western, some people were not only capable of such feats but had practiced and competed at various events around the country. Jared had never set a record during a fast draw competition but he had scored in the top ten consistently. The record was 0.252 seconds which included a 0.145 second reaction time and it was something he had been working towards beating.

  He swiveled to the right and put two rounds into the infected, zombie let’s just say it, on the passenger side then turned towards the three closest to the cop four rounds fired, he thought as his pistol centered on the lead zombie and he put two rounds into it, one in the chest one its head. Before he could fire on his next target a shot gun boomed, the officer crouched beside his wrecked car pumped another round into the chamber as Jared put down the third and final zombie.

  “Get in the back” Jared yelled. The cop nodded gratefully as he scooped up his gear and half ran half limped over to the truck and threw his gear and himself into the bed as Jared got back in the cab. Jared pulled around the wreck and saw that SUV driver, covered in blood, was moving unsteadily back the way she had come. Jared pulled up alongside and rolled down the window when the woman didn’t stop. “get in the back, I can drop you off where it’s clear.”

  “I need to get to the day care center where my son is at.” She said sounding confused. “I have to save him,” she turned away from the truck and started towards a nearby gas station and about a dozen infected that were heading towards them.

  “shit” Jared muttered not even looking at Steph. He parked the truck and leaped out. Two running steps and he swept the woman into his arms and ran back to the truck throwing her into the bed. “Don’t let her get out.” Jared shouted at the cop who had been covering him with the shotgun, as he leaped back into the truck. at least four of the infected in that crowd in front of the gas station began to sprint towards his truck.

  “that’s just F’ing wrong” He muttered as he gave the truck gas and shot ahead. What he really wanted to do was stop and quiz the cop on what was going on, where was the guard, what was the call up status. But so far the zombies had been everywhere he had passed through. “this is unreal” He said aloud glancing at Steph who sat staring out the window clutching Jared’s cell phone.

  Finally he was out of the city proper and into the ‘suburbs’ sleepy neighborhoods and old former towns that had been absorbed by the city over the last hundred years. The traffic here was worse, but Jared knew how to get around that, he had driven through here a lot over the years.

  Here and there he saw blood on the sidewalks, the occasional house door standing open, lawns with dropped luggage and boxes that fleeing families had abandoned in their haste to get out. He turned on his radio hoping for news.

  “… the latest crisis news is bad folks, Stay out of the downtown area its over run. The worst hit areas are around the VA hospital and Vanderbilt. The police in the area were overrun when, according to sources, infected patients broke loose in the hospitals and went on a bloody rampage. Our news chopper reported seeing them sweeping through the homes and apartments in the area.”

  Jared wondered why they didn’t go to the chopper for real time reports and suspected the pilot and the news crew had decided to leave the city. “Remember any one that is bitten is infected and with in 24hrs develop a full blown case.” The DJ announced, his voice strained and tired sounding.

  “of what though is the question” Jared said aloud.

  “it’s a disease?” Steph said making it a question.

  “The CDC said it was a bio weapon, so yes a disease,” Jared said not telling the girl of his own doubts about the official version. It sounded far to much like the old ‘we know what we are talking about stay calm’ Bs that he had seen before when they had no clue what was going on and were trying to buy time to figure it out.

  He looked in the back and was surprised to see the officer holding the woman in his arms, her face buried in his shoulder as she sobbed. Two miles further on they were passing a used car lot when the cop knocked on the rear window, when Jared looked back the officer pointed to a used car lot. “its gone to hell when a cop is willing to steal a set of wheels” Jared said softly as he pulled into the lot. “Pull up to that old Land Rover” The cop shouted through the window.

  A moment later Jared was parked in front of the land rover, the officer climbed out and checked the vehicle’s door. Thankfully it opened. “you need to get out of town,” the cop said as he climbed into the rover pulling out his multi tool.

  “that’s my plan at least as soon as I get her home to her family.” Jared said as he watched the area around them. He spotted only one infected on the far side of the lot. But more would come, they were drawn to the sound of motors.

  The woman in the bed of his truck sat quietly crying as she hugged her knees to her chest. “what the hell is going on out there.” Jared asked as the cop wrenched the cover on the steering column of
f.

  “if your expecting the Calvary forget it.” The officer said as he worked quickly. “the last I heard the Governor and his staff were holed up in the Emergency command center, but no one has heard from them in at least nine hours. Never even called up the guard and we were dying out there buying them time to get the Calvary here. Bastards, we gave it all to help, believe me. There isn’t a lot of us left out there.” The cop said as the engine turned over once, twice and then nothing. “by tomorrow I doubt there will be any of us left if we stay on the job.”

  “so, your leaving?” Jared said wanting to hate the man but he couldn’t.

  “not just yet, I’m going to get this woman to her kid and then I am high tailing to a friend of mines cabin up towards the Kentucky line. He aint going to be needing it now” The officer said almost angrily. The Land rover suddenly roared to life. “Yes” The officer said with a smile that dimmed as he checked the gas gauge. “well half a tank should be enough to get me to that day care center and then out of here to some place that’s still open.”