I shrug my shoulders again, “I don’t know.”
She has an uncertain look in her eyes as she looks at the clock, “Well, I need to get to work. I guess we’ll just talk about it tonight at dinner.”
I nod in agreement, “Yeah, we’ll talk about it tonight.”
Ana grabs her cell phone, purse and keys. She leans down and gives me a kiss good-bye, “I’ll see you later, babe.” Then she heads out the front door.
I turn up the volume of the television as I watch the news about the Zombies. Huh…I wonder if they’ll make it over here. I wonder if we’ll have to fight off Zombies. Eh…that couldn’t possibly happen…could it?
***********************
I am a manager at a convenience store not far from my house. I started off as a clerk ten years ago when I was laid off at my previous job. This was going to be just a temporary job until I found a job in the profession I was in before, but obviously, that never happened. So, now I’m a manager and I’m actually making more money than I did before. I also get very good quarterly bonuses when our store does well…and it usually does. Everybody needs gas and they love to stop in for huge sodas, coffee, beer and cigarettes, we are always busy. Anyway, as I’m sitting in my office doing paperwork, I can’t stop thinking about the Zombies. How would I protect my family? Do we stock up on food, water and supplies and board up our house? Will the Zombies find their way in? How long does this Zombie thing last once it starts? Is this some kind of sick joke that the news is making up to scare people? I really don’t know.
I walk out of my office and go behind the counter and stand there, watching people as they walk into our store, pick out their items, pay for their items and leave. I watch the people, wondering if they know. Wondering if they’re worried or scared. Wondering how they’re going to handle it. Wondering if they are even thinking about it at this moment, freaking out inside, but not letting people know on the outside.
I walk out from behind the counter and straighten up items that are out of place. Then I walk over to the soda fountains and wipe down the sticky counter, throw away straw wrappers and lids that are laying around. I turn around to where the coffee pots are sitting, as I wipe coffee and creamer off the counters and throw away ripped and wet sugar packets.
I continue walking around the store to make sure that everything is in order. Then I go back into my office and start making a list of all the things I should probably have…just in case there is some kind of Zombie apocalypse that happens here in the United States. I guess you can never be too cautious. Better to be safe than sorry.
************************
When I arrive home from work, Ana is in the kitchen making dinner while A.J. and Amber were in the living room doing their homework.
I walk up behind Ana and kiss the side of her neck. She turns around and looks at me with a smile as she kisses me on my lips, “Hey Adam, how was your day?”
I nod with a smile, “Good, it was good.”
“That’s good. I had a good day too. Pruning flowers, watering plants, fun stuff like that.” She says with a wink.
Ana is a manager of a nursery. She loves working with plants. Her parents had a huge garden in the Midwest and she loved helping them with it. She was born with a green thumb. We live in the desert now, but she has managed to keep our front and back yard green. The neighbors have always been jealous of us. We even have a mini garden in our backyard. Ana is amazing like that. She’s even been teaching Amber how to garden, and Amber is starting to get the hang of it. Ana has been letting Amber take care of our garden the last two years and Amber has been doing a pretty darn good job with it. Of course, Ana is a perfectionist with gardening, so she does keep a close eye on Amber, making sure that Amber doesn’t screw it up, but so far, Amber is taking after Ana’s footsteps in that department. Amber’s thumb is turning green, I guess you could say.
I go upstairs to our bedroom to change into something more comfortable. When I’m done, I go back downstairs into the kitchen and walk over towards Ana. “So…um…have you heard anything new about the Zombie situation?”
Ana looks at me and shakes her head, “No, I haven’t turned on the television yet, I got home not too long ago and decided to go ahead and start dinner first.”
I nod, “Okay, just wondering.”
Ana looks at me with wondering eyes, “Why? Have you heard anything new?”
I shake my head, “No…I haven’t listened to any news. I just thought I’d ask you first if you heard anything. But…I can go ahead and turn on the television now and see if there’s anything new.” As I’m walking towards the television, I look back at Ana and continue talking, “Hopefully it was just some sort of fluke event that didn’t amount to anything and they’ll say that they have it under control and that it’s over or something.” I turn on the television to the news channel, and there it is. “Ana, come here!”
Ana walks into the living room and stands next to me, watching the news. She shakes her head with a worried look in her eyes, “It’s spreading, Adam, it’s spreading.”
“It’s in Africa now. How did it get across the ocean over there?”
Ana looks at me with worried eyes, “We need to figure out a way to get prepared for something like that over here.”
I shake my head, “What we need are supplies. Lots of water, canned foods, baseball bats, knives…guns.”
Ana looks at me with shock, “Guns? I don’t know how to use a gun. What about the kids? I really don’t want them using guns.”
I get close to Ana’s face as I whisper, “Ana, if there’s some kind of Zombie Apocalypse that happens here, we need to have guns. I don’t know how to use them either, but we need to at least have them as a just in case precaution.”
Ana looks at the kids, then back at me with a look of defeat in her eyes, “I know. I just don’t like the idea of having guns in our house.”
I shake my head, “I don’t either. But if this thing happens here, we might not have any choice. Tomorrow after work, I’ll go to that pawn shop down the street from my work and I’ll take a look at some guns. Maybe someone who works there can show me how to use them. I know I’ll feel better if we have at least one. I don’t know what to expect from all this and I have no idea how long it will last. But, tomorrow after work, I’ll go to the pawn shop, then I’ll go to the grocery store and load up on water, canned foods and anything else we can think of that we might need.”
Ana nods in agreement, “Okay, I guess that sounds like a good idea.” She looks at the television, then at the kids, then back at me, “You’re right. Now, I need to go ahead and finish making dinner.” She gives me a kiss on the cheek as she heads back into the kitchen to finish making dinner.
I stand there, staring the kids and the television. I need to make sure that I keep my family safe. They mean everything to me, and if anything happens to any of them, I don’t know what I’d do.
**********************
The next morning, I wake up later than normal. I look at the clock, Shit! I’m going to be late for work! I quickly get up and run downstairs. Ana and the kids are already eating breakfast. I look at Ana who looks awfully quiet right now. “Everything okay?”
She nods, “Yes. Just running behind schedule today. I think yesterday took a toll on us.”
I nod, “Yeah, probably. Yesterday was a little stressful.” I look over at the television, which isn’t turned on yet. “Have you watched the news yet today?”
She shakes her head, “No…I’m kind of scared to.”
“Don’t you think we should? I mean, what if it’s gotten worse since yesterday?”
“That’s why I haven’t turned it on yet.”
A.J. looks back and forth at us, “I’ll turn it on. I’m a little curious.”
Amber looks at A.J., then us, “Yeah, me too.”
A.J. gets up and walks over to the television and turns it on. Ana, Amber and I all get up and walk over to it, as A.J. turns it on to the news channe
l. ‘Everybody needs to stay in their homes! Do not travel! Millions of people are fleeing the cities and getting trapped on the highways in road jams and pile-ups while Zombie-like herds are walking down the streets eating anyone who gets in their way! Everybody needs to stay home! Do not leave your house! There is an International Travel Warning! All public transportation has come to a halt! The Zombie-like virus has reached the east coast of the United States! Repeat…The Zombie-like virus has reached the east coast of the United States!’ Then the screen goes black.
Ana looks at me with deer in headlight eyes as I stand there with my eyes bugging out of my head and my jaw to the floor. “Adam? Adam?”
I slowly turn my head towards her.
“Adam? What do we do now?”
I continue looking at her, “What I told you yesterday I was going to do.”
“But they said not to leave the house.”
I put my hands on her arms as I gaze into her eyes, “Ana, I need to do that in order to save our family. You guys stay here while I run my errands. I’m going to stop at the store first to see what’s going on over there. Then I’m going to close the store down, then I’m going to run to the pawn shop, then the grocery store. I need to leave now, though, before it gets crazy. They said it’s on the East Coast right now. Well, we’re on the West side of the United States, so we should be fine for a few hours.”
Ana looks at me with concern in her eyes, “Be careful, please.” She says in a pleading voice.
I continue gazing into her eyes, “I will. I promise. But I need to do this for our family. You guys are everything to me.” I give her a kiss on the lips as I grab my keys and cell phone and head out the door.
Chapter 7
Harley and Isaac
I run into Isaac’s arms, “Oh, my God! I was so scared that you were eaten by a Zombie”
Isaac lets out a chuckle, “Why would you think that?”
“Because you were gone longer than I anticipated.”
“Well, the traffic is horrible out there. Cars everywhere, people everywhere. Everybody is frantically trying to flee from here. Although, I have no idea where they are going.”
I just stare at him dumbfounded, “Well, what should we do? I have no idea what to do in this kind of situation.”
Isaac shakes his head, “I don’t know, babe. I don’t know. We can stay here, board ourselves up in here or if you think that there’s some kind of safer place out there, we could head out.”
I stand there for a moment, gazing into his eyes, as I shrug my shoulders, “I don’t know. What do you think we should do?”
He walks into the kitchen, over to the sink as he begins washing off his knife. Then he turns to me, “I’m really not sure what to do. I’m afraid if we leave here, there’s really not going to be anything better out there. Plus, our house may be looted while we’re gone. But if we stay here, we’ll probably run out of food and water, and I’m not sure how long this Zombie thing is going to last.”
I shake my head and shrug my shoulders, “I don’t know.”
“And now, we have a pile of Zombie corpses on our doorstep. I don’t know what to do with that.” He chuckles.
I chuckle too, “Yeah, that’s pretty gross.”
Isaac walks up to me and puts his hands on my arms and gazes into my eyes, “What do you want to do, babe? Do you want to go out there and find out where everybody is going, or do you want to stay here?”
I look around, “I love our house. I really don’t want to leave. I mean, do you really think that we’re not safe here?”
He shakes his head, “I really don’t know, Harley. What I do know, is that everybody is fleeing? Where are they fleeing to? I don’t know.”
We hear banging on the window, then…we hear it shatter as a Zombie’s head pokes through. I look at Isaac with panic as he grabs the knife and rushes over to the window and stabs the Zombie in the head. The Zombie collapses in the window.
Isaac looks at me with concern, “Let’s get out of here! They are roaming the streets, obviously with this front window broken, we’re not safe. Let’s load up the car and get out!”
“My SUV is in the garage, we’ll load up mine, so we don’t have the Zombies attacking us as we’re loading up outside.”
“Good thinking, Harley. Grab a knife and hold onto it as we’re grabbing things. I don’t want a Zombie to get into the house and you have nothing to protect yourself with.”
“Good thinking, Isaac.” I take the knife from Isaac as I stand there, thinking about what to grab to take with us on our journey. I look at Isaac, “What do we take?”
Isaac thinks for a moment, “Some clothes, food, water, personal stuff, like we were packing for a trip, I guess.” He replies matter-of-factly.
I nod in agreement, “Okay.” I grab a cooler and stick water bottles, soda and Gatorade into it. Then I grab a few reusable bags as I throw some food into them. Canned food, chips, cookies. I also grab a couple of the weapons I had on the table, along with the binoculars. I put everything on top of the cooler as I run upstairs to grab a backpack and suitcase as I load them up with clothes, deodorant, shampoo and conditioner, bars of soap. Then I look at Isaac who’s also loading up a backpack and suitcase with his clothes and personal items. I look over at him, “Do you have any more baseball bats?”
Isaac looks at me with a smile, “Good idea. We’ll bring a couple of them too.”
After we were done packing, we look around to see if there’s anything else we need to bring. I look at Isaac with sadness in my eyes, “Do you think we’ll be back?”
“I hope so. We worked hard for this place, I hope we’re able to come back.”
I nod, “Yeah, I know. Hopefully this is only a few days, or a week or two.”
Isaac walks over to me and gives me a kiss on my lips, “I love you Harley, but whatever happens, we need to stick together.”
“For better or for worse.” I say with an ear to ear smile.
“Yes, for better or for worse. We’ll get through this.” He grabs his backpack and suitcase and his two baseball bats, “Okay, let’s go load up your SUV.”
We walk downstairs as we notice another Zombie trying to get in through the broken window. Isaac sets down his things as he walks over to the window, holding his knife in the air. He approaches the Zombie who’s holding his hands out towards Isaac as if he’s trying to grab him, while Isaac smoothly stabs the Zombie in the head. I look at him in amazement, “I don’t know how you do that.”
Isaac looks at me as he simply replies, “You gotta do what you gotta do.” Then he walks back over to me as he picks his stuff back up and continues walking through the kitchen to where the garage door is. He opens the garage door as I follow him to the garage, so we can load my SUV up.
After we’re all loaded up and ready to go, Isaac opens up the garage door with the garage door opener, and as the garage door opens up, there’s about six or seven Zombies on our driveway behind us. Isaac looks in the rearview mirror, then at me as he says, “Hold on tight.” Then he steps on the pedal as he floors my SUV in reverse…right into the Zombies! A couple of the Zombies went flying over my, was clean, SUV. Once he’s in the street, he floors it again as we drive away from our beautiful home.
As we’re trying to get out of our neighborhood, we notice a long line of cars on the main road out. Isaac looks at me with frustration, “See, this is what I was trying to tell you. Everything is backed up, that’s what took me so long getting home today.”
I think for a moment, “Can’t we take back roads out of here, instead of the main roads?”
Isaac looks like he’s thinking, “We probably could. But I’m not sure how bad the Zombies are on the backroads.”
“Well, wouldn’t the Zombies be hanging around where there’s more people? Isn’t that what they eat…people?”
Isaac shrugs, “Yeah, I suppose you’re probably right. I’m just worried about getting stranded on a back road where nobody else is and getting stuck
with a herd of Zombies, that’s all.”
I nod in agreement, “I understand. I’ll just let you drive.” I’ll just keep quiet as he figures out what to do. I don’t really know what to do in this kind of situation, and he probably doesn’t either, but I know men like to think that they are the ones in control, so…I’ll let him be in control. I know he’ll try to do what’s right.
After about an hour of slowly moving on the main road, Isaac finally makes a turn on a side road, he looks at me as he says, “Screw it! This is driving me crazy.”
I look at him and laugh, “I’m so glad that I filled up the gas tank yesterday.”
“Thank you for that, by the way. It’ll definitely help today.”
We’re driving along as we see Zombies roaming around everywhere, I just look out the window and shake my head, “Oh, my goodness, this is freaking crazy! Where did they all come from?”
Isaac shakes his head, “I have no idea, babe.”
“Where are we going to go, anyway? I mean…isn’t this going on everywhere?”
Isaac shrugs his shoulders, “I don’t know. North maybe…Canada…or maybe Alaska. Alaska is pretty far, and there’s a lot of mountains, maybe the Zombies can’t make it over all the mountains. Maybe we’ll get lucky.”
I nod in agreement, “Maybe you’re right there.”
We sit in silence as we’re driving on a back road, I guess heading north, as Zombies walk along the road. They look like they’re just wandering along, not really doing much, just walking.
As the sun starts going down, I look at Isaac, “Do you think that we can stop soon? I’m getting really hungry and I’d like to use a bathroom.”
Isaac looks at me with a half-smile, “Yeah, I’m getting hungry too.”
“And I have to use the bathroom.” I remind him. I really don’t want to get attacked by a Zombie by peeing on the side of the road or something. No thank you.
Isaac lets out a chuckle, “Okay…I heard you. The next gas station, we’ll stop to use the bathroom and I’ll load up on gas.”
Zombie Havoc (Book 1): In The Beginning Page 6
