Evolution of the Dead

by R. M. Smith

  She awkwardly grabbed her elbow with her hand. “Yeah, I don’t have a boyfriend.”

  “Oh.”

  “Dad’s pretty protective.”

  “Nothing wrong with that.”

  “No. I guess not.”

  “So that means you’re still a virgin, right?”

  “What?”

  “You’re still a virgin since your daddy doesn’t let you go out.”

  “You know, that’s not really any of your damn business.”

  He smiled, “I was just making conversation.”

  She smirked. “Let’s converse about something else then.”

  “Ok.” He slapped his hands down on the top of both of his knees. This could get interesting.

  Awkwardly, she asked, “So, how do you know about hangar queens?”

  “I’ve done a lot of studying on design and shit like that. I had a job interview yesterday for a level design position; and well, the job I was going to design for, if I got the job, was a racing game. Mac Racing V, have you heard of it?”

  She shook her head. “No.”

  “Well, it’s a racing game. Cars, helicopters, jets, whatever. Anything with an engine. One of the levels from Mac Racing IV had hangars in it…and in one of the hangars, there was a hangar queen.”

  “Oh, I see.”

  Nick said, “So if you aren’t a gamer; and if you don’t have a boyfriend…what do you do?”

  “I’m a student.”

  “What do you study?”

  “I’m kind of undecided right now. I’m either going to be a teacher or an actress.”

  “Well, you’ve definitely got the looks for an actress. You’re very attractive.”

  She smiled, shrugging her shoulders. “Thanks.”

  “How old are you?”

  “Eighteen.”

  “You got any weed?”

  “No,” she said bashfully. “No I don’t do drugs.”

  He laughed. “It’s not a drug anymore. It’s nearly legal everywhere.”

  They fell quiet. The silence started getting very loud. Stacy shuffled around on the couch. She was hoping Carmen and Kim would come back soon.

  Nick finally asked, “So you’re not a gamer then?”

  “No,” she said looking toward the restrooms. “No I don’t play any games.”

  “Not even head games?”

  She shot a look at him. “What? No.”

  “So you don’t like giving head?”

  “Um, I think I’m going to check on Carmen.”

  “Come on,” he laughed. “I’m just kidding with you. God. Relax. I’m trying to break the ice.”

  “I told you I was only eighteen.”

  “Yea? So.”

  “Well that’s the reason why my dad is so protective of me. He doesn’t want me to get hurt; by guys like you who…play video games all day, smoke pot and have one night stands.”

  Nick laughed. “Oh come on! Jesus, Stacy I was just messing with you.”

  “I don’t like it,” she said. “It’s enough that we’re having to deal with dead people walking around trying to kill us, and here all you’re worried about is if I give good head. I don’t even know you. Why do you think it’s ok to talk to me like this?”

  “I was just messing around!”

  “I don’t think it’s funny.”

  “I wasn’t trying to be funny. Damn. I was…”

  “I don’t want to talk to you anymore,” she said getting up.

  “Fine. I was just trying to, you know, relax the situation a bit. You know, lighten the fucking load. But if you can’t even take a god damn joke, then I guess I don’t need to talk to your 18 year old ass anymore either.” He stood up, stared at her for a second. “You’re fucking weak, just like all the other cunts around here. Weak, worthless bags of shit.” He walked away toward the hangar queen.

  Stacy sighed heavily. She felt like crying.

  Where was her dad and Scott?

  She went to go check on Carmen.

  Across the hangar, up the metal stairs, Scott and Frank were searching through two abandoned offices. Both rooms were in very bad shape.

  Below a dust covered cracked window, a dusty stained mattress was lying crooked on a chipped wooden frame. A single piss-stained pillow sat off center on the bed. Several rusted file cabinets with missing drawers stood guard on either side of the door. Fold-up chairs sat at the foot of the bed. The floor was stained.

  The other office had a desk in it with an old computer on top. Rolls and rolls of printer paper were scattered across the desk and across the floor. There were pictures of old aircraft on the peeling paint covered walls. Faded diplomas hung on each side of a broken window. A single lounge chair with torn leather sat in a corner. There was no food to find and no water to drink.

  When they looked into the office with the old bed, Scott said, “This is my room. Kim and I will take this.”

  “Where did you meet her?” Frank asked, a smirk on his face.

  “Out there. She was running just like I was.”

  “She’s pretty.”

  “Yes. She is.”

  Frank grabbed Scott. He hugged him. “I’m so happy you’re ok. I was beginning to really worry about you, son.”

  Scott hugged his dad back, fighting back tears. “It’s bad out there, dad. Really bad.”

  “And we’re stuck here now, aren’t we?”

  “Yeah. The plane’s down. No way we’d be able to fix it.”

  “And we wouldn’t be able to use another one, right?”

  “No,” Scott said. “They’re all serial coded to their keys.”

  “That’s what I thought.” He shoved a rotted cardboard box out of the way. “The radio in your office…they were broadcasting code words. Words I haven’t heard since I was in the service. The general public doesn’t recognize them, but Scott, I believe…well, I don’t want to believe it, but…I think they’re considering the use of heavies to get rid of the dead.”

  “Heavies?”

  “Large bombs. I wouldn’t go as far as to say nukes, but I wouldn’t be surprised if they used some big stuff.”

  “Like what?”

  “Napalm. Fire bombs.”

  “Oh come on, dad.”

  “All I can tell you is what I heard, son.”

  “But napalm their own people? On U.S. soil?”

  “They may not have a choice. If this keeps spreading…it may wipe out the whole country. Who knows how far this has spread?”

  “Ok then, where can we go – around here – to avoid getting burned up?”

  “The airport. It has a fall-out shelter, you know that. Damnit, you’re an architect. You should know all this stuff!”

  “The airport, right. Yeah sure, it has to have one. Probably a tornado shelter, too.”

  “That should be our move then since we can’t fly out of here now.”

  “Alright,” Scott said. He put his hand on his dad’s shoulder. “I’m glad you’re safe, dad. Let’s go check on the others.”

  Carmen groaned as she pushed her panties down. She sat on the toilet seat. It was cold.

  “Fuckin-a,” she whispered.

  “Hurts?” Kim asked. She was standing outside the closed urinal door looking at herself in the mirror. Her face was dirty. She looked terrible. There was no running water to wash her face.

  “No,” Carmen shuddered. “The toilet seat’s cold.”

  “Oh,” Kim said with a smile.

  “God, this sucks,” Carmen said. “I hope I don’t start my period.”

  “I just got over mine, thankfully.”

  “I’m due. Like, I’m two days late.”

  “Uh-oh,” Kim said. “You’re not preggers are ya?”

  “No…” She stopped. She started to cry heavy tears. She was sobbing. “John and I always used protection.”

  “Oh honey,” Kim said. “I’m so sorry.”

  Carmen cried. She let go all of her built up frustration. It all poured out of her.


  Kim tried to think of anything to say but she couldn’t find any words. She never knew real love, and she didn’t miss her husband at all. She couldn’t cry over him if she tried.

  Kim finally offered, “He was a good man?”

  “Yes he was,” Carmen sniffled. She unrolled the last of the toilet paper on the roll to dry her tears. “Shit, there’s no more toilet paper in here.”

  “Hold on.” Kim checked the other two stalls. They were empty, too. “There isn’t any more in here. I’ll check the men’s room.”

  “Alright.”

  Kim left the women’s room. As she exited, Stacy was standing outside. Kim said, “Gotta check the men’s room for toilet paper. No more in the women’s.”

  “Ok.” Stacy wiped her eye.

  Kim looked at her sideways. “You ok?”

  “Yeah,” she said looking at her feet.

  “What’s wrong?”

  “Oh, Nick said some weird stuff...”

  Kim asked, “What did the bastard do now?” She was ready to go confront him. Hell with talking to Scott about him later.

  “Oh, it’s nothing. He…asked me if I gave head and…never mind. Let’s just get the toilet paper.”

  “Alright.”

  Kim would have rather gone over to yell at Nick and tell him he was a fucking prick for asking Stacy about sex shit! It was none of his god damn business! He didn’t even know the girl!

  Instead, she held the door open for Stacy. The two of them went inside. Kim followed.

  Someone screamed.

  Carmen stopped wiping her eyes.

  Nick looked toward the restrooms.

  Frank and Scott stopped on their way down the stairs.

  Rounding the corner into the men’s restroom, a dead man wearing an airport ground crew jacket was standing right inside the door. As Stacy came in, she looked up just in time to see him lean over and vomit all over the top of her head.

  She tried to block the vomit. It splashed over her arms and down her chest. She screamed. She pushed the dead man away as hard as she could. He stumbled backward into the darkness of the restroom. Stacy fell to her knees.

  Kim quickly pulled the door shut. She blocked Stacy and the dead man in the restroom. She started crying.

  Nick was the first one to run over. He asked, “What’s wrong?”

  “It’s Stacy,” Kim cried. “A dead man just threw up on her.”

  “Let me in,” he yelled.

  “No. No, you’ll die too.”

  Scott came running up to them. “What happened?”

  Kim looked at him, apologies and fear all over her face.

  He screamed, “What’s wrong?”

  Nick said, “Stacy’s in there with a dead freak.”

  “She what?” He shoved Kim out of the way. She fell onto her side. He kicked the door open.

  Inside, Stacy was huddled against the wall. Her skin had gone yellow. Her hair was falling out. She whipped her head up to look at Scott. Her eyes were yellow.

  “Kill me, Scott,” she whispered. Vomit dribbled out of her mouth.

  “NO!” Scott screamed.

  Outside, Frank was looking back and forth between Kim and Nick as he stood behind them. He recognized desperation in their body language. He whispered, “My God. What happened?”

  Kim cried quietly, “Stacy…”

  He shoved the door open. Scott was down on a knee in front of her. Frank couldn’t see her. He saw the other dead man coming out of the darkness. It was leaning its head back to spit.

  Frank yelled, “Scott! Move!”

  Scott ducked.

  The dead crewman spit. It flew through the air and splatted against the open door of the restroom. Bits of the vomit splashed onto the side of Frank’s neck.

  He wiped it off quickly. “No, no, no.”

  Scott looked back over his shoulder. “Dad?”

  Frank ran out into the open hangar. “No, no, I can’t. No.”

  Scott got up. He ran after his dad out into the hangar.

  Nick closed the door to the restroom.

  Carmen opened the door from the inside of the women’s restroom. She stuck her head out. “Something wrong?”

  Kim fell onto her butt. Her eyes stared straight, her mouth hung open. “They’re dead,” she whispered.

  Nick had his head down.

  “Stay away, son,” Frank told Scott. “Stay away, my boy.”

  “Dad, no.”

  “I’m so proud of you. You’ve made me a proud father. I love you.”

  “God damnit no!” Scott screamed.

  Frank held his stomach. He limped over to the exit door of the hangar. He shoved the door open.

  “Get these people to safety! Get yourself to safety, son. Go.”

  Frank pushed out the door. He ran toward the rear of the hangar, holding the side of the building for balance.

  Inside, Scott fell to his knees. He raised his fisted hands to the air. “NO! NO! NO!”

  Scott didn’t move. He still was on his knees. His head was down.

  Carmen limped to one of the couches and sat down. Her underwear were wet now. She had to use them to wipe.

  Nick stood by one of the couches. He was watching Scott.

  Kim went over to Scott. She put her hand on his shoulder. He shrugged it off. She put it back on his shoulder. She said, “I’m so sorry, Scott.”

  He kept his head down. He knelt there.

  “I’m sorry, Scott,” Carmen said.

  “I am, too,” Nick offered.

  Kim shot him a dirty look. “I can’t believe you were talking shit to Stacy.”

  Under his breath, Scott asked, “What?”

  Nick looked around, nervous. “What – what do you mean?”

  “You and your sex talk to her.”

  Nick asked, “Sex talk?”

  Scott slowly stood up.

  Angry, Kim said, “You asked her if she liked to give head.”

  Nick yelled, “It was a joke!”

  Scott jumped at him, tackling him. They slid across the cement floor. Scott pinned Nick’s shoulders to the ground with his knees. He yelled, “What the fuck did you ask my sister?”

  “It was a joke, Scott. Seriously. I was trying to lighten the mood!”

  Scott slugged Nick in the face. Hard. Nick’s head jarred to the right. A snap was heard as his nose broke.

  Another hard slug broke Nick’s jaw. A third blackened his eye. A fourth. A fifth. Nick’s face was covering in blood.

  Kim yelled, “Scott! Stop!”

  Carmen yelled, “Stop.”

  He kept beating Nick’s face. He landed punches over and over. Bones were breaking.

  Nick passed out. Still, Scott beat him.

  Finally, out of breath, Scott stood up looking down at Nick. “Son of a bitch,” he whispered. “Talking shit to my sister.”

  Nick laid in a growing pool of blood. His face was mangled.

  Kim walked over to Nick. She knelt down next to him. “Nick?”

  He didn’t move. One of his eyes stared blankly up into the air. The other was swollen closed.

  Kim felt his pulse.

  “You killed him,” she said, startled.

  “Fucker deserved it,” Scott said.

  Carmen sat on the couch, her mouth hanging open. I knew this was going to happen, she thought. I saw Nick with a bloody face…

  Scott grabbed Kim by the hand. Pulling her to his chest, he started to cry.

  She hugged him.

  Carmen kept looking at Nick’s destroyed face.

  That night, Carmen woke up on the couch. A moaning noise had woken her up.

  There was no light in the hangar other than dim moonlight coming through the high windows on the walls.

  The hangar queen looked like a dinosaur hunching down, preparing to jump.

  The noise was coming from one of the offices upstairs.

  Inside, Scott and Kim were making love on the crusted bed. Kim was on top, straddling him, riding him. Her hai
r was hanging down on his chest. His hands were on her waist, helping her raise and lower. His hands went up to her breasts. She moaned.

  She needed to be here for him. He had been there for her. She loved him for it.

  Carmen closed her eyes.

  She wished she could walk.

  If she could, she’d leave right now.

  The next morning, Scott woke Carmen up. He was standing next to the couch. His eyes were sunken in. Deep tracks of sorrow lined his face. He said, “We’re going to the airport. We need to find shelter. There’s none here.”

  Carmen sat up. “Ok.”

  Scott looked at her for a long time. He finally said, “We’re leaving you here. You’ll slow us down if you come.”

  Kim was looking away.

  “No. Why?” Carmen asked. “I can manage. I can make it.”

  “No, you’re too slow,” Scott said. “You’ll be safe here.”

  “But there’s no food, no shelter.” She looked at Kim. She still wouldn’t meet her eyes.

  “You’ll be fine,” Scott said. “You’ll manage.”

  He grabbed Kim’s hand.

  In a quiet voice, Kim said, “You’ll be ok.”

  “Kim! Don’t leave me here!”

  Scott grabbed Kim around the waist and pulled her away from the couch. They walked side by side to the exit door.

  Going out the door, Kim looked over at Carmen. “You’ll be fine.”

  They left.

  The Walk of Hell

  Carmen wanted to cry. How could they leave her? Especially after they got onto Nick for leaving her at the Rent-A-Center.

  And for leaving Janet behind.

  Running her over, you mean.

  The only thing Carmen needed to do was get up on her feet. She could chase after them. Maybe talk some sense into them.

  Sadly, getting up was easier said than done.

  Her broken foot was simply killing her. When other people were around, the pain was not at the top of the list. But now with everyone gone, it was singing soprano from the hilltops.

  Blaring!

  Need my pills!

  Each throb caused a splintering ache to creep around her ankle and go rushing up her shin. It felt like one of the bones in her leg was cracked, too.

  She pushed herself to a sitting position on the couch. Using her good leg to stand, she nearly lost her balance. She limped over to the exit door. Pushing it open, she hoped to see Kim in the distance, but she and Scott were gone.