The Most Uncommon Cold (Book 5): Surviving Beyond the Zombie Apocalypse

by Jeffrey Littorno

  Chapter 5

  Thankfully, the horrific state of the world outside could be temporarily forgotten as we relaxed in that tent, in that store, in that city. It had turned into a cocoon like the layers of an onion, blocking out the deadly reality surrounding us. Like all cocoons, it would only be temporary and could only protect us for a short time. Eventually we would outgrow it. However, those were concerns for later. Now was the time to enjoy the brief reprieve we had been given.

  “Have you got anything besides cartoons?” I asked Christina after we’d sat through the third video of animated animals.

  “Yeah, what about something a family would enjoy together?” Kat asked and smiled at me.

  I smiled back, as my face warmed with a blush.

  We helped Christina look through the pile of videotapes until we found a suitable movie. It told the story of a family that ran a zoo and all of the problems they encountered.

  Despite calls from all of us, Taylor continued to play his video game. As time went on, I saw him glancing over at the video. Eventually, he scooted his chair closer and began watching the movie. Christina made her way onto his lap. Kat gave me another smile and I returned it. There was no denying the sense of family. For the first time in a very long time, it was possible to forget everything we had seen, forget the death, forget the horror. Just being able to forget for one night presented an incredible gift.

  By the time the movie ended, the light had begun to fade, so we set about checking lanterns and flashlights. Fortunately, we found a large assortment of lights to use. We set a couple of the battery-operated lanterns on the path from the tent to the bathroom. The idea was that during the night it would be easy for us to find the toilet.

  Kat found a large light which lit up the inside of the bathroom.

  Once the pathway had been lit, we returned to the tent and had a feast of canned ham, instant mashed potatoes, fruit cocktail, apple juice for two of us, and a bottle of wine for the rest.

  Since I had not seen a corkscrew anywhere in the store, a screw cap on the wine bottle was a blessing. The plastic wine goblets took the place of fine crystal stemware.

  “We should make a toast!” Kat insisted.

  “Okay, what do you wanna toast?” Taylor asked.

  “Why not our new family?” the little girl asked with a wide smile.

  Kat shot me a big smile. “That sounds like a great toast, Christina. Here’s to our new family.” She moved over and clinked glasses with Christina and Taylor.

  I did the same until we had all touched glasses. “Here’s to our new family!”

  After we ate and put all the dishes and utensils in a big black trash bag, Taylor and Christina went back to the cartoons. Kat and I went back to the bottle of wine.

  “Don’t you wish that it could stay like this all the time?” Kat asked, as if reading my mind.

  “I wish that more than anything,” I answered. “But it seems like, well, like perhaps we simply have to be satisfied with the present and not really expect anything to last.”

  “Live for today?”

  I considered her words and realized that as strange as it seemed, they might be correct.

  I chuckled a little. “Yes, I guess that’s my new philosophy live for today and the hell with tomorrow.” I tried to force a cheerful laugh, but it sounded like a hollow attempt at cheerfulness.

  Kat did not miss my insincerity and stared at me for a moment before saying, “I guess that’s kinda funny. I mean the whole live fast, die young way of life seems like it fits me better than you.” She smiled at me. “And anyway, don’t you feel like that’s the kinda attitude that put everybody in the pile of shit where we are now?”

  Kat’s idea was bouncing around in my head as I glanced over to see that Taylor and Christina had fallen asleep.

  “So you believe that shortsightedness put us here?”

  Kat looked down for a second. “I’m not sure exactly what that means, shortsightedness. But if it means only caring about right now instead of the future and how it’s gonna be, then yes, I think that’s what put us here.” She paused for a moment as if suddenly realizing something. “I’ve heard that this is the most self-centered generation. So I guess it makes sense that we would act like that. But it seems like everybody’s that way.”

  I nodded at her insight. “I did a story about how many of the diseases that had been virtually wiped out by medicine are now making something of a comeback. I interviewed a couple of doctors who agreed the reason for this is the over-reliance on medicine. Because of our need to get better right now rather than letting even a minor illness run its course, we demanded newer, faster-acting drugs to make us feel better. The result of all this being that the drugs lost their effectiveness as diseases built up a resistance or mutated into something else entirely.”

  Kat interrupted. “So your idea is that some normal disease mutated or something into whatever is making people…changing them into whatever the fuck they are?”

  “Well, I suppose it makes sense. It’s not like I have any inside information or anything. What’s probably the most common illness?” I didn’t wait for an answer. “The cold, right? All you have to do is take a peek a few yards outside of this tent to see the huge assortment of medicines designed to give us instant relief from the common cold. We can’t stand to have a little discomfort for a day or two, so we turn to pharmaceuticals to save us. The funny thing is it may well be our own advancements in science that wind up ending us.” I took another gulp of wine before continuing. “The cold going around when all this started was probably a mutated strain brought on by a reaction to all those overused remedies.” I glanced over to see an amused expression from Kat. “But then again, I could be drunk.”

  She giggled. “Well, I’m pretty sure you’re drunk.” She poured some more wine into my glass, and I let her. “But that doesn’t mean you’re not making sense.”

  I laughed. “Thanks for encouraging the ramblings of a drunk. But I don’t want to waste a good night by going on and on about stuff we can’t do anything about.” I gazed at her and clinked wine glasses. “I just realized that I really don’t know anything about you, Kat.”

  She laughed nervously. “Well, what do you want to know?”

  “Everything. I don’t even really know exactly what you did at the newspaper. Did you like it? Where are you from? What do you like?”

  “Oh, where to start? I was born in Las Vegas. Came out here with my mom about four years ago. She got word about some new cancer treatment being used in San Jose. At that point, she was pretty desperate and searching for anything that offered hope. Turned out the treatment was completely bogus, ‘cuz she died two years ago…” She looked down for a moment as if angry at herself for still being affected by the death.

  I leaned over and touched her shoulder. She reacted as if burnt.

  “It’s okay to feel bad about losing your mother,” I said and realized how stupid I sounded.

  She stared at me before taking a drink of her wine. “Yeah, I guess I’ve got some issues. I was stupid. The thing that hurt so much is I let myself get caught up in her hope, the promise this new treatment was going to save her. Those kinds of feelings only made it more fucked when she died. I remember trying to kill myself afterwards…” Her words led to intense sobs.

  I reached over to touch her shoulder, and this time Kat did not move away. Instead, she leaned closer to me. What happened next was that we ended up kissing. I could say that it all happened so quickly that we were not aware of what we were doing. I certainly could say that, but it would not be true. I knew exactly what I was doing, exactly what was happening, and it seemed right to me. We moved together into embraces and caresses. The movements got faster and more intense. Everything built to the point at which a decision needed to be made.

  My pause must have seemed abrupt, because Kat tilted her head slightly and furrowed her brow, trying to understand what had just happened. I imagined that she must have felt a bit of rej
ection.

  “I’m sorry.” I tried to come up with words that did not sound trite. “It’s not you, it’s me.” I failed miserably in my choice of words.

  “No reason to be sorry. It’s okay. I guess I had too much wine,” Kat mumbled.

  “Wait a minute. It’s not like that. I, I just need a little time. That’s all.”

  Kat gave a crooked smile and said, “It’s no big deal. Forget about it, okay?”

  She turned away and poured more wine into her glass.

  “Can I get a refill of that magic elixir?” I asked in a feeble attempt to lighten the mood.

  She passed me the bottle without turning around. I took it and refilled my glass. I sat down, drank some wine, and stared at Kat’s back for a few minutes before saying, “Kat, turn around please.” There was no response. Just as I was about to repeat the request, she turned to me.

  “What?”

  “I’m not sorry, okay? I guess, I don’t know, I guess I got caught by surprise.”

  A grin curled at her mouth. “Fuck you. I musta missed the part when I snuck up on you.”

  “Hold on, I mean I surprised myself. It’s not like I’ve had feelings like that for a long time. Tonight is the first time I’ve been able to relax, let my guard down a little and think about something other than just trying to stay alive. You know what I mean?” I instinctively glanced across the tent to where Taylor and Christina were sleeping.

  “Yeah, I know what you mean,” she smiled. “It’s not like I’ve been getting a lot of action lately. Despite what you probably think, Paul and I were not…uh… doing it.”

  Even with my best efforts at work, I couldn’t hold in my snicker. “Sorry, it’s just that I haven’t heard the expression doing it in a long time.”

  Kat appeared to be a little angry, believing that I might be making fun of her. “What do you want me to say? We weren’t fucking, humping, having sex, or bumping nasties?”

  “Kat, I didn’t mean to piss you off. Seems like we took a wrong turn here. How about if we get back to drinking?” I leaned forward and offered my glass.

  She hesitated for a second before touching her glass to mine. As if sealing some sort of pact, we both emptied our glasses in a single shot.

  Kat looked at me with a smile, and I gave one back. I reached for the wine bottle to find that it was empty.

  I put my hand up in a mock salute. “Another dead soldier. You served well.”

  Kat gave me a perplexed look, and it was at that moment that it became clear that I was indeed drunk. “We need another bottle. Do we have one around here?”

  An expression of understanding crossed her face. “Let me guess, you’re not a real big drinker, are you?”

  “What makes you say that? Is it the dead soldier thing?”

  She laughed a little and answered, “Yes, that is part of it. But there is also the making out with me thing.”

  I was happy to see the smile return to her face and did not want to say anything that would cause it to leave. “Well, I guess it’s time for me to head off to bed.” The words came out easily enough. The resulting action did not.

  As soon as I tried to get to my feet, the whole world started spinning, and I fell back to the chair. Kat laughed at my failed attempt.

  “C’mon, I’ll help you.”

  She grabbed my arm and helped me to my feet. She let go but saw me wobbling unsteadily so took my arm once again.

  “I guess I’m drunker than you thought,” I said slowly and giggled.

  “Let’s get you to bed,” Kat said, guiding me to a big air mattress covered by a blue sleeping bag.

  “So that’s your plan,” I said and laughed. “I got it! You wanna get me to bed.”

  “Yeah, you got me.” Kat rolled her eyes. “Everything I’ve done has been aimed at getting you in the sack.”

  I fell back onto the air mattress and nearly bounced off of the thing. Kat watched with clear amusement.

  I looked up at her and said, “It’s pretty comfortable. Try it.” I reached up to grab her hand. I tried to pull her down to the mattress, but she pulled back and stayed on her feet.

  “I’m sure it’s comfortable, but I’m fine right here,” she answered. “It’s probably better if you go to sleep by yourself.”

  “Aww, you’re no fun. Come on, lie down for a minute until I fall asleep,” I whined. “I’m completely safe.”

  Kat laughed lightly. “I know better than that, but okay.”

  She lowered herself slowly on to the mattress, watching me carefully the whole time as if expecting me to pounce at any moment. Eventually, she was lying at the edge of the mattress as far as possible from me.

  “You’re right. It is comfortable,” she said, sounding a bit nervous.

  “Are you warm enough?” I asked but fell asleep before getting an answer.

  Chapter 6

  I awoke to the sound of giggles and opened my eyes to see Christina looking at me. It took me a second to remember where I was. It took me a few more seconds to remember whose head was resting on my chest. The deep black hair shook, and Kat looked up at me. She looked a little startled as well.

  “Good morning,” I said and smiled. “Did you sleep okay?”

  Kat continued to stare as if having trouble focusing on my face. All at once, she jerked herself up and turned her head to see her surroundings. She looked down at her black jeans to find them unbuttoned. She glared at me.

  “Wait! I didn’t do anything,” I said, looking over at the grinning faces of Taylor and Christina. “We only slept.”

  “I remember now,” Kat said slowly.

  “And I…uh…I didn’t do anything, right?”

  She stared at me for a moment before answering, “No, you were totally passed out as soon as I laid down.”

  Taylor giggled.

  I looked down to see I was still fully dressed. As soon as I moved, my head started pounding, and nausea spun through me. My pain must have been obvious, because the others were watching and grinning.

  “Are you okay?” Kat asked.

  Christina echoed. “Yeah, are you okay?”

  I forced a smile, which I am sure looked more like a grimace. “I’m fine,” I muttered.

  My mood improved after a breakfast that tasted better than any I had eaten in a long time. Even as we ate, I couldn’t help but to notice Kat watching me.

  After Taylor and Christina had gotten up from the table and gone back at the video player, I turned quickly toward her. “What?”

  She appeared startled. “Nothing.”

  “You’ve been staring at me for a while. Do you have a question?” I asked, smiling.

  Kat returned the smile and shook her head.

  “Come on, Kat. You’re not shy,” I replied. “If you want to talk to me, all you need to do is ask.”

  “Well, the thing is I don’t remember what…or if, anything happened last night,” she answered with genuine concern.

  I did my best to keep a straight face. “Well, I’m pretty sure nothing happened.” Kat smiled as if reassured. “I mean we had a good time making out earlier. I remember you helping me to the air mattress, because I couldn’t walk too well.”

  “Yeah, I remember that,” she said.

  “After that, I was laying down and pulled you on to the air mattress. You…uh…you were there but pretty far away from me. I…well, that’s all I can remember.” I smiled at her before continuing. “So you really don’t need to worry about me taking advantage of you or anything.”

  Kat smiled back at me. “I wasn’t worried about you taking advantage of me. It’s the other way around.” I started to say something but stopped and let her continue. “You don’t really know me, but I like to be in control. It’s only that I don’t want to make you do anything that you don’t want.”

  “You don’t need to worry about that. I pretty much showed you last night how messed up I am right now. But I don’t regret anything we did. Well, at least I don’t regret any of the stuff
I can remember.”

  I laughed, and after a moment, Kat joined me.

  With the activities of the night out of the way, we set about collecting more clothes and supplies. The piles continued to grow until about noon.

  I found my cowboy hat and addressed the group. “Okay, I should head back to get the van. We can load it up and head to Tiburon in the morning,” I announced once everyone had finished.

  “Wouldn’t it be better if we all stick together?” Taylor asked.

  “Yeah, wouldn’t it be better if we all stick together?” Christina asked.

  “No, I think it’ll be better if we stay inside and wait,” Kat said. “We’re good in here, and it’ll be faster for him.”

  I thanked Kat for the support and headed for the back door. She surprised me by following.

  “As silly as it may sound, these days you never know when…if you’re gonna see someone again,” Kat said with a shaky voice. “And right now, if something happened to you, I don’t know…I don’t know what I’d do.”

  I saw that she was crying. Her experience with Paul flashed into my mind. “You don’t need to worry, okay? I’m going to get the van and come right back. It should take twenty or thirty minutes tops.”

  I reached out to touch her shoulder. She surprised me by moving closer and throwing her arms around me. Our lips were soon pressed together, and we continued kissing for the next few minutes.

  Finally, Kat pulled away. “Sorry, I wanted to do that in case…you know, just in case.” She looked down.

  “Don’t worry, I’ll be back for more soon,” I grinned, and she grinned back.

  “Take this too,” she said and handed me a little GPS for the dashboard. “It’ll help you find your way back.”

  I kissed her again. “Thanks.”

  “Hold up, Kevin,” Taylor called as he trotted up to us. “You might need this.”

  He handed me an aluminum baseball bat. I thanked him and ended up in an awkward male hug.

  I headed out into the parking lot at the back of the store. After a night of decent sleep and a short make-out session, I felt energized and better than I had in a long time.