by RWK Clark
The smile was plastered to my goofy face, and it seemed like an hour before I was able to pull myself out of my reverie, but it was mere seconds only. I shook my head back and forth to clear the cobwebs, and looked down at the box on Jace’s lap. “Now what?”
“Now we go back to my place, fill our bellies, and get some rest. We’ll head to the water treatment plant in the morning while it’s still dark, just as we planned. We can set this up in my apartment and get it running while we take care of business. There will be water ready for us sooner that way.” With that we stood up and looked up and down the length of the alley. All was clear as far as we could see. The sky was beginning to get dark; it was definitely time to go.
CHAPTER 10
Back home, or at least that is what seemed like the appropriate term for Jace’s apartment, I felt so safe and secure. It was only my second visit, and I didn’t want to leave again, even though circumstances dictated the opposite. I was starving and cold, even though the night was warm. It was time to grab a blanket, sit on his couch, and eat something. I felt weak and much more tired than I would have liked.
Frozen pizza was the fare for the evening, and believe it or not Jace had a bottle of merlot his sister had bought him when he moved in two years ago. He uncorked it and put on some good old-fashioned heavy metal. We ate mostly in silence, but after my second glass of wine I began to loosen up quite a bit verbally.
“Where are you from, Jace?” I said it with a slight smile, to put him at ease.
He blushed and shook his head. “Topeka, and you?”
“Tulsa. Do you have a girlfriend waiting in Topeka?”
“No.” He paused briefly. “I did, but she found she liked my best friend Matt much better.”
I was at a loss for words. I changed the subject, and I was buzzed. “So, it may be the panic talking, but would you like one?”
He made eye contact with me and held it for eternity. Without saying a word he walked around the small kitchen table for two and bent down. When his lips touched mine a shock of electricity shot up and down my spine. I could not stop my arms from wrapping around his neck.
Maybe we were both frightened to death. Maybe we were a bit drunk. All I can say is that the passion with which we made love was numbing. I forgot about the zombies, the fear, and the feeling that we may not live long. I forgot about everything but Jace, his touch, and the way he made me forget. The feel of his lips and tongue on my nipples. The way his fingers played me like a violin when they were between my legs. Topeka, Kansas should be proud.
I dare say we both slept much better that night, and we didn’t even need the movie to bore us into sleep. We took care of inducing good sleep all by ourselves.
∞
Even though we planned to rise at three I found myself wide-awake at a quarter to one. Jace was already alert, sitting at the window and watching whoever was making all the racket from the street in front of his apartment building. So something had stirred me, not just my high stress level.
I crouched and walked to him, no longer wondering if I was dreaming. I peaked over the window sill. In the middle of the street were two zombies; both appeared to be men. They were violently fighting; over what we could not tell. It was an even battle, one was as strong as the other, and as the seconds ticked by I began to wonder of the screeching and tearing and punching would go on forever.
My question was soon answered. Seemingly out of the shadows gray-faces began to appear. First one from an alley just west of the window. Soon, one lit from a house across the way. A woman lurched in from the small park next to the house. Before long there was a literal dogpile of zombies ripping at each other, and within minutes limbs were flying. One torso wriggled and squirmed from just outside the group. It progressively got worse, and we watched in horror until about ten to three. Jace jerked me out of my trance with the words, “Alicia, we have to get going.”
“Jace, how far are you from city center?” It was a question I asked with purpose. If we were really close we would never be truly safe in his apartment. The zombies would eventually find their way in, and then what. The word ‘relocation’ was flashing in neon in my brain.
Jace held my gaze. “About two blocks. It’s not going to work, is it? Staying here, I mean. We need to set up camp in a safer place.”
I nodded and looked back outside. I could see the shadowy forms of seven more zombies making their way to what was now becoming a free buffet. “We have to cut off the water supply and find a better, safer place to hole up while we wait. Staying here could very well be the death of us.”
“That will be the next priority, but right now we have to gear up and make our way to the water treatment plant.” Jace had gotten the still running last night; it had only taken him about a half hour, so we could now focus on the task before us. “By the time we get back we should have a lot more good water to use for tonight.”
It didn’t take either of us long to get dressed, pack our backpacks, very conscious of the potential for any needed emergency items, and arm ourselves with bats. I had played softball in junior high, and I hadn’t been half bad, but times like this were enough to make you doubt your own abilities, and I wondered if I could ‘woman up’ if it was needed.
We walked through the kitchen to the door, Jace in front of me. He didn’t want me outside alone for even a second, even long enough for him to lock the place up.
“Alicia, stop.” I did. He had turned to face me, and he was looking at me as if he was trying to drink me in. “I want you to know I don’t just have girlfriends. I don’t just have sex. I know we’re under stress, but last night…I really wanted that.”
The smile on my face could have easily spanned a mile.
“Me too, Jace,” I looked back at him, meeting his gaze with steadfast surety. “I’m glad I’m with you. I don’t know that anyone else would be a better fit…in any way.”
He put his hands on my shoulders, ignoring the canvas straps which were securing my backpack so well. He leaned in and I felt his tongue lick the length of my lips and back. I opened my mouth slightly so his tongue could explore further. At the first sign that he would I nipped gently at it, then committed myself fully to his kiss, even using a bit of force. If this were to be the last time I tasted him, then taste him I would.
After what seemed like hours we straightened up and got our wits about ourselves. It was time to face the dead masses, the crumbling monsters which threatened our very existence from every direction.
“Are you ready, Alicia?” He looked very serious after such a great kiss.
I nodded and smiled. “I am Jace. As ready as I’ll ever be.”
Jace winked at me, turned and opened the door, and here we go, into the darkness of three in the morning.
CHAPTER 11
The trip to the plant was uneventful, but we kept to ourselves, taking advantage of every shadow in sight. There were more gray-faces than I expected; dozens in the five miles to the plant. For that time of night made it a frightening fact in and of itself. What had changed? Why were they wandering about at such a time?
The water treatment plant was a massive place. We arrived earlier than planned, and it was a good thing, because we struggled to find the desired employee entrance. Once we did, things went much more smoothly than we anticipated. There were fewer zombies on the property than we thought there would be, and we only encountered one in the plant; Jace beat him down immediately. The place was a wasteland, purposefully ignored for the sake of meeting the needs of gray-faces everywhere. We were more certain than ever that we were on the right track.
We found the main control room with absolutely no problem, and within minutes of finishing our barricade Jace located a procedural handbook. Chapter 37.N explained emergency water storage release procedures. It also let us know that the dumped water would go into the Los Angeles River. This didn’t matter. The water in the river was already toxic. Until we solved the filtration problem we would likely be robbing grocers from
here to Seattle.
We set about following the steps to dump the water. It was surprisingly simple, and as it began to drain from each and every tank and tower in L.A. and the surrounding area we began to make love right there on the floor. In the heat of our passion we almost didn’t notice the barricaded door being violently struck from the other side. We almost didn’t hear the screams and groans emitting from the mouths of the zombies who were on to us. But we eventually did, and we both armed up with baseball bats and attitudes.
“Can we speed things up?” The heat was on and we both knew it. He no more opened his mouth to answer me than the door came crashing in. Chairs and the heavy desk flew as if they were made of paper. The zombies who lurched in were in bad shape. A lot of missing skin and limbs, and the smell they gave off was enough to make a mortal want to commit suicide.
“No…this is the way it goes. Slow and sure.” Seven zombies approached, and they looked pissed off, if indeed they had emotion. Jace ran forward full force. I was stumped as to how to proceed, but only for a moment. Aim for the head, Alicia. You are faster and smarter than they.
I charged forward as well. The first gray-face I hit found their head splattered against the wall by the door. He gave up the ghost right away. I went for the next. He had gotten ahold of my jacket and was not letting go. Where in hell was Jace? I spotted him for a brief moment, and he seemed to be taking monsters down right and left. I slid out of my jacket sleeves and bashed that fucker in like no other. Her head gave like a ripe melon. Done, and on to the next one.
After my third beast was down I was able to come up for air. Jace had two of them on him at once, and those were just bad odds. As I made my way over to help I saw two more lurch into the control room. God, give us a break!
I fought alongside Jace, beating down one who was trying to bite his arm. Fortunately he had worn leather and the struggle to eat his flesh found the end of my bat. The horrid monsters were so putrid and rotten it took only one good strike to demolish their heads.
But I moved on, moved on to the newbies that were coming through the door, and they were coming in droves. I was swinging blindly, taking them out one by one. It was easy, actually, as long as you kept your distance.
It wasn’t long before the numbers really dwindled. Jace and I were able to barricade the door, reinforcing it even better than before. The water was still draining. Maybe we could win this battle after all.
We sat in two swivel chairs situated at the main control desk. Jace pulled a thermos of distilled water from his pack and offered it to me. I drank long and hard. I handed it back to him and he proceeded to do the same.
“It looks like they don’t want us to do this. We are definitely on to something,” zombies screaming in pain all around us.
Jace tipped the thermos and took another swig. “I agree.”
Fists began to beat on the door yet again, but this time the door was not giving away so easily. Jace looked at the capacity meter. It was at a mere sixty percent. If we could keep them at bay just a little longer. I looked at the door. The barricade shook slightly, but it would not give way.
We sat in smug silence for about ten minutes watching the meter get lower and lower. The zombies had stopped pounding now. They were just screaming. Screaming in anger, screaming in pain. Screaming for the water which had spurred, and maintained, the monstrosities they had become. I had a feeling we were going to win the battle, if not the war.
∞
The smell the bodies gave off was enough to make me want to vomit. “Jace lets move”, we made our way to the other end of the control room where stood a glass wall with some sort of observation room. Perfect place to wait this ordeal out.
“So, where were we when we were so rudely interrupted?” Jace was flashing a full-fledged grin, and I found myself smiling back eagerly.
“I think we were somewhere on the floor…”
Then back to the floor we went.
Jace took full advantage of our sense of safety, viciously caressing my body with heavy hands through my clothing. I gratefully did the same to him, fully enjoying every aspect of the way he felt, smelled, and tasted. His hands soon found their way under my shirt. I loved the way they felt on my skin, and I could swear he was leaving trails of flame wherever he touched. The zombies still screamed and gnarled, but I could barely hear them. The pounding and ripping was louder, but I couldn’t have cared less. If this was heaven, I was in.
I barely noticed as he slid my Levi’s down; I was too busy with his. Suddenly he was inside me, and I felt an overwhelming urge to laugh in a mixture of insane fear and ecstasy. I was nearly there, and as I met each and every one of his thrusts I let go. He bit down gently on my ear when he reached his peak, his entire body going stiff. A massive groan released from his lungs, and he collapsed on top of my spent body in a final expression of relinquished control.
As we lie there together listening to the monsters angrily try to conquer our barricade. Jace raised himself up onto his forearms and looked me in the eye.
“Are we good?” He was smiling. I was smiling, but I was blushing more.
I nodded. “We are absolutely great.”
With that Jace gave a good, hearty laugh and separated himself from my body. I groaned in disappointment, but I knew the moment had to end. We dressed and armed ourselves before returning to the gages. We sat in two of the chairs in the room to confer.
“So what’s next, Jace?” The water supply was draining fast now, faster than we could have anticipated. It was a relief.
“I expect that we will need to stay here until we see the clear signs of change. I mean, in their behavior. We need to see that the lack of water is having a negative effect on them, or we will be starting from square one, Alicia.” I didn’t answer him. There was no answer; he was right.
We sat still, doing a little bit of chatting now and then and eating beef jerky. By 8:10 the water registered as completely drained. The city’s supply was depleted. By 8:45 the sound of the gray-faces began to dwindle a bit. Surely they weren’t dying off already. It was my guess that they had begun to seek out alternative sources of the poison to maintain their vile conditions, and so the violent mob outside the door had thinned out. I could only hope my theory was correct.
∞
10:00 a.m. brought complete silence to the corridor outside the control center. Why didn’t the designer of this building think to install a safety glass window in the door for observation? Probably because he didn’t foresee a zombie apocalypse in the horizon of the future. Regardless, we were literally playing it by ear, and both of us had our ears peeled.
“I’m gonna have to man up and check out the situation,” Jace’s voice broke through the daze I sat in.
I shook my head vigorously. “You can’t just amble on out there, Jace. Just a little bit ago they filled the place up. Now you just want to walk on out there like we are the only two people left on earth?”
“For all we know we are the only two people left on earth. I need to investigate the situation. Or would you rather have the honors?”
I stared at him as though he had a third arm growing out of his forehead. “Of course I don’t want the honors. Grrrr….do what you have to do. I’m coming too…with my bat, of course.”
“Of course. I wouldn’t have it any other way.” We both stood and crept toward the door quietly, as if we were making more noise than a bull in a china shop. Nothing could be further from the truth, but playing it safe was better than being sorry. Slowly but surely we disassembled our barricade. I was looking and listening so intently my head began to hurt, but worry was a waste of time. Nothing even attempted to get through the door. No pounding, no growling, no screaming. It was silent.
When the door was fully exposed Jace told me to get my bat ready but stay back. I cooperated fully, and he opened the door just enough to get a good scope on the hallway outside. His head came back in, and smiling he stated, “It’s all clear, Leesh.” I smiled back and darted to
his side. We made our way cautiously into the corridor to meet the next circumstance which would challenge us.
CHAPTER 12
The water treatment plant was completely empty of gray-faces, and I had a difficult time comprehending where they could have all gone all at once like that. Why would there be no stragglers? Wouldn’t any of them want to stay to try and do us in? The fact was that these people were no longer people; they were dead men and women walking; their ability to reason and plan was as dead as they were.
We got outside and took deep breaths of fresh air. No zombies to be seen.
“I think we should take Pelham Road to get back to city center, you know, just to be safe.” Jace looked serious, and his plan sounded reasonable to me. Even if they couldn’t use logic seeing to people with backpacks coming into city center from the water treatment plant couldn’t be good.
The alternative route turned out to be the best idea Jace had come up with thus far. We walked Pelham Road, and when we got about five miles from the actual outskirts of the city (we took the long way, believe me) Jace took notice of a small house behind a row of trees.
“Let’s go knock on the door. Why would zombies need lights? Maybe we will find someone that’s normal. They may need us.” Jace took my hand and tugged me in the direction of the small country home.
We got close enough for me to get a sinking feeling in the pit of my stomach; there in the driveway next to a Focus with the driver door wide open, was a person lying on the ground. As we got closer it became obvious they were dead. It was a woman, chubby, but small in stature. Her neck was ripped open and her skull had been caved in. Her brain hung out the gaping hole; a large bit had been taken from it.
“What the hell, Jace?” I was in shock. This was a first. Since when had the gray-faces gone to such an extreme? “Did the zombies do this?”
Jace appeared to be as surprised as I felt. “I don’t know, Alicia, but I think it’s safe to say that a coyote or wolf had no part. They wouldn’t bother to crack open the shell to get the nut out.”
