The Outbreak Series Boxed Set

by Thomas Baker

  The two went between nervous pacing or sitting on Hannah's bed, intermittently switching between getting on the laptop or looking at their phones. Long hours past. Becoming too disgusted with what she was seeing, Hannah put the laptop away. Nothing new was really being reported, anyway. A lot of the sites and the news stations had let people go home, as the danger became worse and worse.

  Ashley's phone battery gave out, so she plugged it into Hannah's charger and placed it on the nightstand next to the bed.

  "What's going to happen now?" Ashley asked. She looked like a little frightened girl. Hannah figured that was probably what she looked like too. "What do you think happened to Dillon? He never did get backto me."

  "Who's Dillon, anyway? I thought you were dating a guy named Matt?"

  "I stopped seeing Matt like two months ago. Dillion is Captain of the swim team."

  "Has it really been that long since we hung out?"

  "Yeah, well, life you know. You got yours and now I got mine," Ashley answered, sounding sort of hurt to admit it.

  "Look, I don't know, but I bet everyone is safe in their homes, just like we are," Hannah reassured her friend. She wished she felt that was reallytrue and not just empty platitudes. She couldn't help but flash back to red splattering on the side of the white house. She worried for her Mom.

  According to Hannah's alarm clock, it was about 2:40 am when the power went off. Both were still awake in Hannah's bedroom. They huddled together in the dark, looking like two women in a horror movie, right before the killer attacks.

  "This is just like when we were kids and we were constantly having sleep overs together. Well, except for the freaky people eating other people's bodies," Ashley said, trying to lighten the mood.

  Hannah chuckled, squeezing Ashley's hand. "You always did know the right thing to say."

  It was deathly quiet for the first time since this all began. Hannah could feel herself dozing off in spite of her terror. Her eyelids felt heavier than during the week of finals.

  "Do you remember that last time I stayed over at your house?" Ashley said, nudging Hannah as she began to drift off. "Bobby and Chad snuck in through the window."

  "Yes Ashley, even though my Mom forbid any boys being in my room. If we had gotten busted, it wouldn't have been pretty."

  "Yeah, yeah. Your mom was always such a prude," Ashley said, exasperated. "You made me tell them both to go. What you didn't know was that after you were asleep, I let Chad back in and we had a great make-out session in your closet. He was such an amazing kisser."

  "So this is a pattern with you? Bring guys over to Hannah's house behind her back?" Hannah chided. "That's it. Tomorrow you are giving me back my key."

  "Hannah, you can act all pure around everyone else, but I know you better. You broke your mom's rules more than just that once. If it wasn't for me, your life wouldn't be nearly as interesting. Also you never would have gotten into cheerleading."

  "We were the twin terrors of the block weren't we? Mess with one, mess with both." Hannah let out a huge yawn as she continued to fight off exhaustion.

  It was hours before she truly slept. She could hear the snores of Ashley next to her as the night continued on. She would close her eyes and begin togo, then her mind would throw up one of the sickening images she saw online. Finally, sleep won.

  The next morning Hannah awoke. She rubbed her eyes, thought wow what a crazy dream, and crossed her bedroom to the bathroom. When she flipped the switch, and the lights didn't come on, what happened the day before came rushing back to her.

  She was beside Ashley in seconds, shaking her roughly. "Ashley wake up!"

  "Uh, what is it time for school already?" said Ashley, sitting up as she pulled her hair out of her face and rubbed her head. "Ugh I forgot to take my ponytail out."

  Ashley looked at Hannah's face and bolted to her feet.

  "Why did you have to wake me Hannah? I was dreaming, and it was much better than what was going on last night."

  "Ashley, where is your phone? My battery is gone. Damn me for not charging it when I had the chance."

  "I don't know. I must have dropped it somewhere in the night, when I fell asleep."

  They searched frantically, until finding it under the bed.

  "My phone is dead too. Guess it wasn't too smart to use them all up. Now the electricity is out." Ashley scratched her head. "What do you think we should do now?"

  Hannah sat down on the edge of the rumpled bed. She lowered her head and thought, weighing all the options.

  "Ashley, we are going to have to get out of here. I wasn't prepared for any emergencies. I'm a college student. There is like a cheese stick and a bottle of ketchup in my kitchen."

  "Really?" Ashley began pacing the room. "I don't know about that, after what we saw last night. Those videos..."

  "I think it gives us a better chance to see what is going on out there," Hannah said. "Who knows, maybe by now things will be better? They did say the National Guard was being sent out. I think it'll be okay to run down to the convenience store. It's only three blocks. I can at least get us some food and water. You can stay hereif you want." Even as she was saying it, it sounded like wishful thinking to Hannah. She didn't think they had much choice though. Better to go now, in case things really were that bad and everything got looted.

  "No way am I staying anywhere by myself," Ashley said. The thought clearlyterrified her.

  Hannah went through her kitchen, searching. She grabbed the only thing she had that was remotely weapon like, a paring knife.

  When Hannah felt they were ready, they moved back the futon from the front door. Hannah unlocked the bolt, but kept the chain on. She slowly opened the door, looking around through the crack. She didn't see anyone. She looked down and saw what had thumped against the door yesterday. It was a dead body. There wasn't enough of it left to distinguish if it used to be a woman or a man.

  "Back up!"

  Hannah barely got out the words. She flew into the bathroom. It was close but she made it to the toilet before getting violently sick. She flushed it, feeling as if she was going to faint. She rinsed her mouth, using the sink to prop herself up. She threw some cold water on her face. It helped marginally.

  "That's not a good sign of things to come," Ashley said from the other room.

  Hannah came back out. She gave Ashley a wry smile.

  "Alright, take my hand and close your eyes as we go out. I'll let you know when to open them."

  "I'm trusting you Hannah," Ashley said, doing as she was asked.

  Hand in hand they stepped out past the dead, mutilated body and down the stairwell.

  "Okay, you can open them," Hannah said, reaching the bottom. She opened her hand. Ashley didn't let go, so Hannah closed it again.

  The two looked across the parking lot. It looked like a cemetery where someone forgot to bury all the dead people. Bodies laid haphazardly on the ground and draped over the cars. Blood and gore was splashed everywhere, like a ketchup factory had exploded. The stench was worse than anything Hannah had ever experienced.

  "Maybe you should close your eyes again," Hannah said, but it was too late. Ashley turned, pulling Hannah's arm straight out, and emptied her stomach into some bushes.

  When she recovered Ashley gasped, "Are we still going outside, past this?"

  "I feel like we don't really have a choice. Let's just try to push on." Hannah tugged on Ashley's hand.

  Gingerly the women tip toed through the carnage, like they were going to step on a land-mine at any moment.

  They cleared the parking lot and were on the sidewalk along the street. Hannah looked both ways cautiously. Was anyone left alive, she wondered.

  "Come on, the store is to the left."

  The street and the sidewalk were choked with cars, motorcycles, debris, and dead bodies. It was slow going for them. After two blocks, things began to clear up a little. They saw no one along the way. Hannah was sorely tempted to call out or start knocking on doors. Some instin
ct told her that was probably a bad idea. As they went on Hannah was reminded of an old west ghost town. She had visited one when she was a kid. The thought made her shiver.

  They made it to the convenience store without incident. The front doors were smashed in, completely off their hinges. Not that it mattered; they could have gone through the big hole in the side, where an old boat of a car had rammed into the store.

  Nervously they entered. Inside it looked just as bad. Shelves had been cleared, products were jumbled everywhere, one of the coolers of pop had been tipped onto the floor. Hannah picked through the mess, stuffing candy bars, pop-tarts, chips, pretty much any food she could find, into a plastic bag she grabbed from behind the counter. Ashley had gone back to see if any of the other coolers had drinks in them.

  They each had two plastic bags full and decided that was enough. They stepped back out onto the sidewalk. Hannah noticed a group of five people on the other side of the street. They were rocking back and forth as they walked out of the nearby alley, like they were injured. It stunned her more to see them than she had expected. She guessed she really had thought it was just the two of them left.

  "Hey! Hey! Can you guys help us?" Ashley called out to them. Her voice squeaked, like it always did when she tried to shout.

  "Ashley, fuck, what are you doing?" Hannah began to scold her. The group all turned in unison, and what Hannah was going to say next died in her mouth.

  One woman had a half caved in skull. One was missing a hand, bone jutted out in its place. Another had a gaping hole in her stomach where what was left of her intestines hung.

  "These people shouldn't be walking around, they should be dead," Hannah said, more to herself than to Ashley.

  She had no time to think. Ashley screamed beside her. The grotesque group turned as one, coming across the street in fits and starts, heading right towards them. Both women instinctively began to back against the store wall.

  There was a roar of an engine and Hannah saw a grey open top Jeep fly around the corner. It accelerated down the street towards them. It slammed right into the group of undead, sending one careening head over feet down the street, ripping its skin off as it went. Another, the one with the half skull, was run over, its head completelycrushed under the Jeep's tires. The Jeep jerked to a stop.

  "Get down!" A man yelled at them. A deafening bang came from his direction and the woman's head exploded. Two more were left, still heading right for them Hannah realized. The man jumped from the Jeep and took one of themout with a baseball bat to the head. Hannah steeled herself, dropping her bags and pulling the pairing knife from her waistband. When she realized the man wasn't going to make it in time, she readied herself. When the one with the hole in its stomach lunged for her, she raised the knife, stepped in, and sunk it into her attacker's eye socket. She guessed it was instinct that compelled her. It felt like she was watching someone else take control of her body for just a moment. The zombie stumbled forward, knocking her to the ground. It landed on top of her, its body still floundering around.

  The man from the Jeep raced to her. He kicked it off and planted the baseball bat in the middle of its head. As Hannah was helped to her feet by the man, she realized that Ashley was still screaming.

  "Ashley, Ashley it's over!!" She yelled, grabbing Ashley by the shoulders, shaking her again and again. Ashley began toshut down. Instead of screaming she was making big whooping sounds, like she had forgotten how to breathe right.

  "Was that.....those....what...what I think....think..." Ashley tried to say to the man.

  "Yep, those were zombies. Just like out of a fucking horror movie," the man said. He was dressed in jeans and a black t-shirt that said Metallica across it, with a picture of a flaming skull. There didn't seem to be an inch of him that wasn't covered in gore. "Well, you two sure are lucky I came this way," the man continued on, eyeing both of them up and down. "Oh, by the way I'm JT." He was a big, muscular man. He reminded Hannah of the bouncers you would see outside of the clubs around town.

  "Lucky!" Ashley screamed, "You call any of this lucky?" She gestured all around.

  "Yeah, lucky. That was a small pack. I've seen bigger already. Plus, you both are okay, right?" JT shrugged.

  "Ashley, can you try to calm downplease?" Hannah said, grabbing her by each shoulder and looking her in the eyes.

  "OK, the hysterical one is Ashley, who are you?" JT asked.

  "Hannah."

  "Ashley and Hannah. You're the first normal people I have seen today. I have been driving all over the city, trying to get out. The first car I had, well I had to ditch it because traffic was too jammed up, but I happened to find this little Jeep. I was going to drive this baby as far out of town as she will take me, find someplace with a lot fewer people to hole up in. I know we just met but, you guys want to come with me? From what I've seen, the city isn't safe anymore."

  "We don't know you. How can we trust you, trust that...." Ashley trailed off.

  They all stood silently, looking at each other. Hannah thought he looked normal, not at all like a crazy person. He was even sort of handsome, with his short brown hair, brown eyes and large build. He was in shape she could tell and knew how to fight these...these things.

  She decided she would somehow talk Ashley into going with him. Her instincts were telling her he could be trusted. After what just happened, the odds of just the two of them surviving by themselves were low. She was willing to gamble on this guy.

  "Hannah?" Ashley implored.

  "I say we go Ashley. Three is safer than two. You kinda have to believe what he is saying, after what we just saw." She turned back to JT. "I have one request first. Can we go by my apartment so I can grab just a couple things? I'll be super fast, I promise."

  "Well..." JT replied, contemplating it as he looked up. "That's a horrible idea but what kind of knight in shining armor would I be if I said no? So saddle up ladies and show me the way."

  "Fine, but I get shotgun," Ashley said, heading towards the passenger side.

  That was quick and easy, Hannah thought. She was ready to have to argue her case more. She threw the plastic bags from the gas station into the backseat and climbed in. Maybe after this guy got them out of the city, she could find out what happened with her Mom. Even though, looking around her, she expected the worst.

  When they arrived back at the apartment, JT accompanied them up without even being asked. The three of them made quick work of gathering the thing's Hannah and Ashley wanted. It didn't amount too much. Back in the Jeep, Hannah took one last look up at her apartment window. She couldn't believe how much things had changed in just one day.

  "Well ladies, hold on to your purses. When this baby hits eighty-eight miles per hour, you're going to see some serious shit!" JT grinned as he floored it.

  Gus opened his eyes. He thought he had heard something. He continued to lay in bed, trying to get his bearings. He wasn't asleep so much as passed out from exhaustion. He could already feel how stiff and sore he was from all those days of walking.

  I am too old for this shit, he thought to himself and not for the first time. Miles away from my home, trying to outrun packs of crazed people who want to eat me. Right now I would like nothing more than my easy chair, my remote, and some damn air conditioning.

  Even though it was only spring, the last week had been very warm. Without electricity, Gus had been struggling through the midday sun, with no relief when he stopped for shelter.

  Luckily I found this place to hole up. I can't even run a simple fan, but at least it has shadeand it's safe. Can't say what it will be like in the summertime, but as my Mama liked to say, "We willcross that bridge when we get to it." She had sayings like that for just about everything. At least she's been in Heaven these past few years, so I don't have to think about her becoming one of those things.

  Last thing he'd heard on the radio, as he skedaddled out of town, was a statement from the CDC. They were calling the attacks a virulent rabies outbreak. That had to be wee
ks ago by now, he guessed. He had hightailed it outta town without a calendar.

  I ain't never heard of rabies turning people into Hannibal the Cannibal, but what's a hillbilly like me know about viruses.

  Gus started to a sitting position when he heard the gunshot again. Guess I really did hear something before.

  He struggled to get his old bones moving as he rose from the bed. He had been squirreled away in this drafty old farmhouse for the last couple of days. It looked old and run down. He was prettysure it was abandoned before all the craziness started. It still had furniture throughout it, some of which was showing signs of rot. Some of it was also smashed and broken. Gus could image this was the type ofplace the young uns would come rave or whatever they did nowadays.

  Another shot from outside quickened Gus's pace. This was his first time hearing signs of other people since he arrived. He got to the window, the curtains flapped in the steady breeze, but didn't see anything at first. The glare of something about eighty yards out drew his attention.

  A man dressed in fatigues was moving in his direction. The growing grass swooshed around his ankles. When the man stopped and raised his rifle, Gus looked in the direction his weapon was pointing...

  "Oh shit here comes The Addams Family," he said aloud to himself. Gus grabbed his own rifle he had left leaning against the bed-side table. He returned to the open window and knelt into a firing position. The guy in the field was maybe twenty yards from the house now. From what Gus could count, seven crazies were on his tail.

  Gus leveled his rifle and took aim at the front of the pack. He pulled the trigger and watched the leader's head explode like a melon. Gus got distracted for a moment by the sound of breaking glass downstairs. He quickly recovered, taking aim back through the site of his rifle. He took out another one, its head flopping as it fell. He heard another shot erupt from downstairs and watched another fall.