by Deyo, Jason
The dried blood began to release from the hard fibers in the carpet and they became more pliable. Amelia found herself scrubbing hard in the same rhythm as her son’s constant barrage. She scrubbed harder, matching her sons anger beat for beat.
Amelia screamed in anger, frustration and desperation. When she ran out of breath she slumped down, burying her head in her blood covered hands.
*******
Amelia sat at her window and peered over the quiet street. Hours passed as she rested her aching muscles. She had vigorously scrubbed the carpet for hours to the rhythm of her son’s barrage on the door; only slowing down as Jimmy did.
The only sound was that of her son’s pacing. The sound of Jimmy’s steps acted as a measure of time ticking away; as the sun began to fall over the horizon, her eyes closed with the setting sun. Her head began to nod when a figure emerged in the distance.
A slender figure ran across the street, several houses away and jumped over the three steps onto the front porch. The figure moved with trained confidence. As Amelia studied this person, she perceived it to be a small woman. The woman attempted to open the door, but it was locked. She ran to the next over.
She tried the door and it moved. Amelia could see her forcing it open as if something were on the other side. Then something unexpected happened. After getting the door completely open, the woman stood in the doorway and screamed. It initially sounded like a bunch of gibberish, but then Amelia heard her distinctly yell, “Come and get me!”
A gnarled hand reached out beyond the frame of darkness. She backed up and a man emerged from the house. He was clean cut, with dark dried blood covering his cheeks, chin, and clothing. The woman walked backward off the porch, and into the street. She maneuvered around some parked vehicles, luring it from the house as it stumbled down the steps.
Another figure was now emerging from the home. This other figure was torn, battered, and had large sections of flesh hanging from large tears in its clothing. Two more torn and battered bodies exited the house. The woman began to beat on the parked cars, trying to draw out others. She took off running, back the way she came in, beating on car hoods to continually encourage the ghouls to follow in her direction.
Soon she was out of sight. Amelia was shocked to see a scattered group of fifteen undead traveling after the small woman.
Amelia put her head out the window to watch the traveling horde of undead. They slowly bumped into each other awkwardly as they followed the mysterious woman, and soon they too were out of sight. She watched for a long time, hoping to see the stranger again, but also enjoying the twilight breeze on her face.
Amelia sat at the window and waited. She began to speak to herself. I wish I could do that. She has to be so brave. And then she asked a question out loud. “Jimmy did you see that?” She waited as if he was actually going to respond. “There are others out there like me.”
She felt like a prisoner after being forced to be quiet for so long. It felt good to speak again. After stretching her throat and moving her vocal cords, she felt like she could relax. Amelia turned and looked down the hallway and her small moment of relaxation immediately returned to dread. A wet, blood-smeared path traveled down the center of the hallway and into her room. The bloody path stopped abruptly at the linoleum floor of the bedroom.
“Mom, you’re not alone.”
Amelia’s head snapped in the direction of the young voice and away from the carnage in the hallway. Jimmy sat at the corner of her bed. “Oh, my honey.” Tears welled in her eyes. “I knew you were going to be ok.” She got up, moving quickly to embrace her son.
“No, Mom.” He put his small hands up defensively, keeping her away. “Not yet. I’m still feeling sick.” Jimmy wore the same blue two-piece pajama set he did moments before, but they were clean. Grime, gore, and bloodstains were replaced by embroidered fire trucks. He did not have black veins coursing through his neck and his eyes were the same large and green ones his mother knew and loved. The small boy sitting at the end of the bed was not the monster in the bedroom, but her son.
“Oh baby, I am so happy you’re getting better.”
“Mom, I’m getting better every day. You don’t have to worry about me anymore. There are a lot of people out there just like you. That woman is one of them. You shouldn’t feel like a prisoner. I’m here with you and I know you will take good care of me,” he said, sitting still on the corner of the bed with his feet dangling off the bed, toes brushing the tiled floor.
“I told your Daddy you would get better. He didn’t believe me.” Her emotions turned to disappointment after referring to Keith.
“No Mom, he just didn’t know. Don’t be mad at Dad. He wanted to do the best thing for you. He thought I was going to be sick forever. Daddy actually made me feel a lot better. If it wasn’t for Dad I would still be real sick.”
She dropped to her knees and crawled toward him. “Baby, you have to know I didn’t want to hurt him. I had to stop him. He was hurting you.” She reached for him again.
Jimmy recoiled from her, as if she were the one who was infected with the virus and moved to the center of the bed. “Mom, you can’t touch me. I told you I am still sick. If you come near me you might get sick.”
Amelia stopped and stayed on her knees. “What can I do?”
“Dad made me feel so much better.” He got comfortable on the edge of her bed. “Dad gave me the strength to come out here and talk with you now. If you didn’t pull him into my room, there would probably be no help for me. I would probably be too far-gone like those outside. But I feel so much better now Mom. Because of you, I am here now.”
“You look so much better honey. The color in your face is back.”
“We are not alone Mommy. The people who are sick are just like us. They just want to eat. I would never hurt you Mom, but you can never touch or talk with those who are sick outside. They’re re not like me; they don’t care for you the way I do.”
“What can I do to help you honey? Are you in pain?”
He rubbed his stomach and held his head. “It hurts real bad Mom. I feel hungry. My stomach hurts all the time and my head is aching.”
“I can make you anything you want.” She stood up with excitement.
“I don’t want anything you have right now. Nothing we have here will help me.”
“Name it, honey. Anything you want.”
He put his head in his hands. “Mom don’t make me say it. Dad made me feel better. You know what I want.” He looked up at her with tears in his eyes. “I don’t want to say it.”
Amelia sat in the chair at the window. She looked onto the street again and thought about what he was asking. She didn’t want to believe what he was requesting, but what else could it be. Could the creatures out front be attacking people because with each person they devour they get better, or was it simply because something evil drove them mad?
There was no denying what he was asking; he wanted his mother to lure people into her house and feed him. “I know what you want.” There was a long pause as she contemplated how she would entertain this demand. Amelia was not a violent person. She turned to her son. “I don’t know how to get you…what you want.”
“You have to. If you don’t I’ll only get worse.”
“Dad was an accident. I was defending you. I couldn’t allow him to hurt you.” She began to cry.
“Mom, I love you so much. I want us to be together. I will only get worse if you don’t help me.”
Amelia turned toward the window as the sun was halfway over the horizon. From the opposite side of the street, the mysterious woman whom she had watched several minutes before was seen running toward the house she lured all the sick people from. She ran across the street and into the house with an empty duffle bag in her hand and a backpack on her back. “What’s she doing?”
“Stealing from those sick people I guess?” He moved closer, sitting on the corner where he sat moments before. He stretched his neck, but couldn’t possibly see fr
om where he was. “Is that right? She shouldn’t steal from them.”
“Your Daddy did the same thing yesterday. He went next door and got some of their food. He said they had everything we would need to last us a long time.”
She stared at the front door for many minutes not wanting to miss her leaving. As the sun made its final descent behind the trees, another figure emerged from behind a vehicle. She watched the road intently, but it wasn’t heading in her direction. The figure moved stiffly and clumsily. It stumbled from car to car, barely managing to maintain his balance. Its shirt hung freely behind him, and had large gashes across its body.
“He’s sick too.” Jimmy said. “He’s just hungry.”
“He is in bad shape. Not like you. He looks as if he was attacked days ago.” She studied the man and then turned to Jimmy. “He is not like you. You were never attacked. You had the virus when this thing first started.”
Jimmy pointed out the window, indicating to her to take a closer look. “We’re all the same. He’s just a little sicker than I am because he hasn’t eaten.” As the man got closer to the house the woman walked into, Amelia was able to see him more clearly. His clothes were not torn and he didn’t have blood on him at all. He was stumbling, but held onto the cars for balance. He was sick, but didn’t look the way the others did. If she were to pass him on the street she would greet him the way she would anyone else. Maybe Amelia didn’t take the time to see through their pain. Many were scary looking only because of how they contracted the virus, but most of them would appear to be healthy if they were in clean clothing.
“Mom, please remember you can’t touch them or talk with them. You must keep your distance and defend yourself if one is coming at you. They will hurt you and you will get sick just like me. You have to promise me you will not leave this house and go near them.”
She watched as the woman ran out the front door and passed the neatly dressed man. The man looked as if he tried to say something and reach for her, but she continued running. Her book bag was full, bouncing on her back, and her duffle bag swung heavily at her side.
“Mom, you have to promise me,” Jimmy said, interrupting her reverie.
“I promise, I will not leave you. I will never leave you.” She turned to Jimmy. “She ran right past that poor man.”
“She doesn’t see them the way you do, Mom. She sees them as nasty, sickly monsters. You see them for who they are—sick people just trying to get help.”
Amelia gave a halfhearted smile to her son.
“Your Dad was right, though,” she said with disappointment in her voice.
Jimmy cocked his head to the side, “About what?”
“No one’s coming. The banging I heard the other day was that woman. I thought it was a rescue party or something, but it wasn’t.”
“Mom, as long as we are together we will be fine. You will take care of me and I will take care of you.” He stopped to watch her as she turned back to the window. “It’s getting dark and you should really get something to eat yourself. You’re going to need strength if we’re going to survive this.”
“I’ll do what I can. Love you, Jimmy.”
“I know you will. Love you too, Mom.”
Chapter 7
Mrs. Kim
Amelia was startled awake by the sound of dull banging; eyes wide, her first peaceful night of sleep was interrupted by a racket outside her window. She assumed she knew what it was, but she couldn’t find the motivation to jump out of bed.
She rolled out of bed, putting her bare feet on the cold floor. She hated feeling the cold linoleum first thing in the morning and had told Keith countless times how much better the room would feel if they had installed carpet. The abnormality of this morning was far from normal and weighed on her. The chill on her feet was a slight relief to the muggy air draped over her as the hot morning sun heated her home like an oven.
She got up and looked out the window, absorbing some of the morning rays, wishing for a breeze to wick some of the moisture from her body. She had no idea what time it was, but the sun wasn’t very high, so she guessed it was close to eight.
Amelia’s assumption was correct; the mysterious woman was trying to get into the next house in line. Her backpack was loaded with items she had already looted from other houses.
After a few hits with her shoulder the door opened and then closed. Once again it appeared as if something was behind it. She pushed against it and this time the door flung open and a large figure fell out the door. The mystery woman stepped quickly to the side and began to run away, banging on car hoods the entire time.
“What a strange woman,” she said out loud.
“We need her,” Jimmy responded, sitting on the corner of the bed with his hands folded in his lap. “I’m going to need her.”
Shaking her head, she asked “How am I going to get her for you?”
“I don’t know, Mom. Maybe invite her in.” He shrugged, “That would be the polite thing to do.” He laughed a little.
“She’s long gone now.”
“I bet she’ll come back later today. She just lured those people from their home, so she can get in later with no risk.”
“That’s not a bad idea.” They must have been talking louder than she realized because three sickly individuals crossed the street toward her house, growling. They slowly lumbered toward her voice without looking up.
“We should really keep it down. We don’t want them getting in. I’m not like them remember. They’ll try to hurt me too.” The expression on Jimmy’s face was one of fear. Amelia knew her son was different and as long as she continued to feed him, her son would never be like one of them…out there.
She watched the three ghouls as they moved closer to her porch. All three were haggard, with dirty clothing and unkempt hair. These ones and the others outside were not like her son. These ones needed someone to look after them, but Amelia knew it was too late for them. She had to continue to care for her son or he too would become like one of these three.
As she watched them, one looked straight up at Amelia. She looked into the deep dead, grey and faded blue eyes that feathered into the surrounding grey void of nothing.
She ducked back into the room as it let out a bellow. The second and third one began to groan in response to the first one.
“They’ll go away after a bit. They will get bored and move on, forgetting you were up here.”
“How much time do you think I have till that woman comes back?” Amelia asked, looking down the street, backing away from the window.
“You probably have enough time to make yourself some breakfast. Mom, you should also do something about your hair and clothes.”
Amelia was hungry. She had been too stressed to eat much over the last few days, but this morning she believed she finally felt calm enough to actually hold down some food. She nodded in agreement. “I think I’ll do that.”
She got up and examined herself in the large rectangular mirror that rested on her dresser. She didn’t recognize the person staring back at her. She wore the same work clothes from days ago. Crusted stains littered her blue dress and Keith’s blood from the carpet had dried on the knees of her grey leggings. As she ran her fingers through her fine hair, they got caught in coarse knots. Pulling her hair back, she looked at the smudged mascara on her face, blended with her dried, smeared blood from when Keith threw her into the bathrooms door frame. Tears made clean trails where they had washed away the blood and makeup, creating curved lines that outlined her cheeks and traveled to her chin. “I’ll eat something, but this needs to be taken care of first,” she said as she began to run a brush through her hair.
*****
Amelia felt great after fixing her hair, washing her face, and changing out of her dirty work clothes. Wearing her comfy clothes, blue boy shorts and a light blue T-shirt, she felt fresh and clean. With newfound vigor she cracked the rest of the eggs left in the refrigerator onto the Coleman stove Keith had brought up from the ba
sement. She was going to use everything in the refrigerator today because nothing was going to stay fresh much longer.
She rarely went into the basement, as that was Keith’s domain. She knew Keith had just about everything one would need to survive almost any situation down there. He loved his family, and he had compiled enough supplies for three to survive and thrive for a very long time. Amelia had to give him credit for that. He looked after his family. All the way up until life got hard and he had to deal with a sick child.
“He was ready for everything until he had to actually do something difficult.” She was making herself angry, thinking about what she’d been through. “I did the right thing. I protected our son.” She used a metal spatula to mix and scramble the eggs. The tapping and scraping of metal on metal was a lot louder than she remembered.
She looked at the wooden boards on the back door that Keith had screwed on the day after those creatures broke the window and tried to get in. They were spaced evenly, but not sealed, so sound could easily carry through it. The boards were close enough to prevent any ghouls from reaching through, but she could easily look through and inspect the backyard. He had done the best he could with their leftover boards. Amelia made it a point to replace the curtain as soon as she was done eating.
She pulled two paper plates from the cupboard and filled both with scrambled eggs. She knew Jimmy wouldn’t eat them, so she sat on the cluttered dining room table and ate across from an empty chair with a plate with half the eggs.
The plate sat on a cluttered place mat where Jimmy would always sit. Amelia thought about the people outside and why they were so different from her son. Jimmy told her he was going to get better, but she couldn’t fathom how different they were.
