by Ike Hamill
Robby slowly raised one eyelid and turned his head.
The women’s room door was closed and Lyle was nowhere in sight. Under the crack in the door, Robby could see the light from a flashlight panning around inside the women’s room. Robby pressed himself up to his knees and then hurried across the lobby to the entrance to the gift shop. He’d been in there before—around dusk—when he’d first arrived at the rest stop. Robby had raided the store for sweatshirts to use as blankets. This time he ducked down behind a rack filled with paperback books, afraid that he didn’t have time to reach the far end of the lobby before the man emerged from the women’s room.
Robby was right. As soon as he’d ducked down, the women’s room door swung open. Between the shelves of books, Robby saw Lyle shut off his flashlight and walk over to the glass wall at the front of the building. Lyle seemed to be looking at the floor. Perhaps he’d noticed that there was suddenly a missing body, but it was difficult for Robby to make out much about the man from across the dim lobby.
He saw the flash, though. Lyle saw it too. It was the brightest of the lightning streaks that Robby had seen. It lit up the highway and reflected off the cars parked in the spaces nearest the entrance. And this lightning streak was followed closely by two more. All three flashed by in the space of seconds and the third flash carried crackling sound that seemed to erupt inside Robby’s own head, like a tiny firecracker in his mouth.
The crackle felt unpleasant. Robby blinked his eyes hard and felt his ears pop. Across the lobby, Lyle gripped his head in his hands and shook his head twice. Just as his head started to feel normal again, another flash of lightning brought a fresh cascade of pops and Robby clenched his teeth to endure the odd pain.
Robby wasn’t even looking when it happened. A loud slap brought Robby’s attention back to the center of the lobby and to Lyle. His eye caught movement, but it wasn’t from Lyle. Directly between Lyle and Robby, one of the dead—a woman—sat up, bent at the waist. Another blue flash from the highway lit up the side of her face and Robby saw the gore of her eyes dripping down her face like bloody tears. If she’d still had eyes in her head, she would have been looking right at Robby.
Lyle put out his hand and took a tentative step towards the woman. She was still a half-dozen paces from him, but Lyle shuffled forward as if drawn to her. The woman didn’t sit still for long. With the next lightning flash, she turned to her right and began to crawl towards the glass front of the building. Robby sucked in a hitching breath and sat back on his heels.
The lightning flashes from the highway came faster and looked brighter as the woman crawled towards the glass. She wore a puffy down jacket that was either yellow or white. Robby couldn’t tell in the dim light. The jacket had slipped off the woman’s shoulders and held her arms back as she tried to crawl. She crawled over the other corpses, pressing her knee down right into the face of a dead boy, and not noticing as her weight ground into his nose and pushed his head to the side. Moving very slowly, not even keeping up with the crawling woman, Lyle followed behind, still reaching forward as if to grab the woman by the back of her coat.
Robby couldn’t take his eyes off the miraculous moving corpse, until the next one sat up. A different corpse—one that the woman had just kicked in the side—flopped over onto his chest and pushed himself up with shaky arms. Robby watched as the corpse’s hands slipped out from underneath him twice and then he managed a sloppy pushup to bring himself to his knees. Lyle hadn’t seen the new moving corpse yet—his attention was still drawn to the woman.
Trying to make sense of the scene and thinking he should run, Robby attempted to push himself up to a low hunch. His numb, traitorous legs gave in and Robby spilled backwards to the floor. His back plowed into a postcard rack and it squealed backwards across the tiles and tipped a bunch of cards out, leaving them to flutter down to the floor of the gift store.
Robby reached back to steady the rack before it could fall, and he spotted Lyle’s response to the noise. The man quickly dropped his interest in the woman-corpse and took a couple of steps in the direction of the gift shop and Robby. That’s when Lyle saw the man-corpse. The dead man wore long hair and an untucked flannel shirt over tight jeans. Lyle stood back and watched the man-corpse drag himself in the same direction as the woman. The man-corpse was slower. It looked like his legs weren’t working correctly.
When Lyle got distracted watching the corpses, Robby moved. He crawled on hands and feet and moved away from the rack of postcards. Lyle stood within an arm’s length of the man-corpse, and stared down at it. Robby ducked behind a big display of novelty license plates. He stole a glance towards the side of the gift shop and found another exit. The double-doors were propped open, and led to the food court. Robby crawled towards the doors.
Before he left the gift shop, Robby stood up enough to see over the checkout counter towards the main lobby. Lyle had disappeared and a third corpse was making its way towards the glass front of the building. Robby scanned the dark food court and broke for the line of trash cans a dozen steps from his position. The only light came from the moon filtering through the clouds and leaking in through the skylights.
The food court featured three fast food counters surrounding a small set of tables. On the right, Robby saw the signs for Chinese and burgers, and ahead he saw a pizza joint. Only a few corpses littered the floor, but based on density, they’d favored the burgers. Robby ducked from table to table and made his way towards the back exit. There, through another glass wall, Robby could see the gas pumps which sat across a smaller parking lot.
Robby paused at the last table and looked in each direction. He found no sign of Lyle.
Another flash of lightning burst down the highway and exploded inside Robby’s head. It drove him from his crouch, down to his knees. Robby ran for the exit, trying to land each foot as softly as possible. He hit the door mid-stride, moving quick. It banged and rattled in its metal frame, but didn’t budge. These doors had been locked, just like the front doors.
CHAPTER 2: JUDY
THANKSGIVING MIDDAY…
JUDY SKIDDED to a stop in the fresh snow and threw the car in park. She had circled the car, slipping and catching herself on the hood, before the door had even slammed shut behind her. Judy ran up the steps to the heavy wooden door that was closing.
The movement had made her stop. Except for the traffic signal swaying in the snowy November wind, it had been the only movement she’d seen since everyone disappeared. She tugged on the door. It didn’t budge. Judy pounded on the wood and leaned back to look at the huge front of the church. From her angle, the stone seemed to extend upwards all the way to the gray clouds, which spat down grainy snow.
She heard a thunk and the door slid open an inch.
“If you’re here to volunteer, they’ve all left for the Bayside kitchen,” a woman’s voice said.
“No, I’m not here for that,” Judy said. “Everyone’s gone. It’s just me and…” Judy tried to catch her breath. She tried to force herself to sound sane. “I’m afraid something has happened.”
“Everyone has left for the kitchen,” the woman behind the door said. “If you’ve got some other troubles, then perhaps you should call the police?”
“May I come in for a second?” Judy asked.
“Please do,” the woman said after a moment. The door slid open silently and Judy squeezed through the gap as soon as it was wide enough. The woman was tiny and wore a black cloak over a white shirt and long black skirt.
“Thank you so much. I’m Judy.”
“Sister Glen.”
“Thank you for letting me in, Sister Glen. So you’re not aware of what’s going on out there?” Judy asked.
“Out there?”
“Yes,” Judy said. “Everyone is disappearing. Or, I mean, has disappeared. They’re all just gone.”
“We’re here.”
“Yes, but I just drove five blocks and I didn’t see anyone. You’re the only sign of life I’ve found.”
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“It’s Thanksgiving,” Sister Glen said, “I’m sure everyone is at home enjoying a meal with their families. Most of our people are down at the Bayside kitchen, preparing a meal for homeless veterans. In fact, that’s where I’m headed now.”
“Great, okay. May I go down there with you? Maybe I’m wrong and everyone will be down there.”
The sister considered the question for a moment. “You’ll have to take your own car. I have to drive the van, and our insurance doesn’t allow us to take any passengers along.”
“Sure, no problem,” Judy said. “And maybe once we get there, I can volunteer or whatever.”
“That would be lovely. You go wait in your car and I’ll pull up from the side. You can follow me down there. Parking is tricky,” Sister Glen said.
“One thing, sister, before you go out there? I know this seems a little crazy, but better safe than sorry, you know?”
“Yes?” Sister Glen asked. She took a half-step sideways, towards the door to show Judy out.
“Do you have a cell phone? Could you just try to place a call? I tried to call the police several times before I left my apartment and I never could get through.”
“Whom should I call?” Sister Glen asked.
“Anyone. It doesn’t matter, at least on my phone it didn’t matter who I tried,” Judy said.
From under her cape, the sister produced a cell phone. She propped her glasses up onto her head before studying the display. “It shows four bars,” she said, just above a whisper. After she tapped in a recipient, she held the phone to her ear. She must have had it set to speaker, because Judy could hear the fast busy signal from where she stood.
Sister Glen tried another number, and another, with the same result.
“I think the phone is out,” the sister said, returning it under her cloak.
“Mine too,” Judy said. The lobby was warmer than outside, but Judy pulled her arms in tight and shivered inside her jacket.
“Come in for one second,” Sister Glen said. “There’s a phone in my office. We can try that before we leave.”
She led Judy down a short hall and through another heavy door. Behind the desk, Sister Glen sat down in a giant chair. She looked like a child sitting in that chair. She waved Judy to one of the other seats. Her black cloak slid back from her arm as she reached for the receiver of the old phone. It was just as loud as the cell phone—Judy could hear the dial tone coming from the receiver as she sat down next to the window.
Outside, the sandy snow pelted the wavy glass. Judy could feel the wind seeping between the panes.
“Is your power on?” Judy asked.
Sister Glen held up a finger to silence Judy and then punched the last digit of the phone number. She switched the receiver to her other ear and then pushed the plunger several times to reset the connection. After dialing again with no luck, she returned the receiver to the cradle.
“This phone isn’t working either. It’s an old phone. I wouldn’t be surprised if it has finally given up the ghost.”
“Is your power on, sister?”
“I assume so,” Sister Glen said. She reached over and flicked the switch on a sturdy desk lamp. Nothing happened. “Try the one by the door?”
“Sure,” Judy said. She rose halfway up from her seat and flipped the light switch. Both women looked at the ceiling for a moment, as if they expected the lights to eventually come on. Judy flopped back down into her chair.
“I need a moment to think,” Sister Glen said. “Tell me again how you came here?”
Judy told her story beginning from the moment she woke up.
CHAPTER 3: ROBBY
ROBBY TURNED, THOUGHT FOR second, and then ran for the pizza counter. He figured that all three restaurants must have a back exit for the staff, and the pizza place was the closest. Lyle stepped out of the shadow of a big potted plant and stood in Robby’s path. Robby backpedaled his feet, his stolen shoes slipping, and fell to the floor. His elbows jolted down on the hard floor and Robby clawed backwards to get away from Lyle. His gloved hands slipped on the tiles.
“What’s the matter?” Lyle asked, smiling at Robby.
Robby regained his feet and sprinted away from Lyle. The man’s grasp scraped at Robby’s back, but Robby lurched away just in time. He ran to his right, away from the man, away from the food court, and away from the locked doors. A wide hallway had big signs that pointed the way to the bathrooms and Robby found himself back in the lobby.
Three more corpses had joined the couple at the glass. When Robby came around the information counter, he saw that his security guard had begun to move as well. The old man hadn’t dragged himself towards the glass yet, but he had both arms raised in that direction. Robby gave him extra room—he didn’t trust the reaching arms, or the gore-stained thumb. There was nowhere to go. The two bathroom doors were the only exits on the wall behind Robby, and he’d already been in the men’s room. It didn’t have any windows or anywhere to hide except bathroom stalls. Robby crouched against the wall, near the security guard, and tried to make himself as small and still as possible. He pulled his knees to his chest and tucked his face down.
Lyle’s echoing footsteps preceded the man’s entrance. He seemed preoccupied with the dead people clustered by the glass doors. Through the slit between his knees, Robby watched him move. If Lyle kept moving, Robby could dart behind the information desk and beat Lyle back through the hall to the food court, but then what? Would all the doors of this roach motel be locked?
With his face pressed into his legs, Robby could hear his own breathing above everything else. Despite Lyle’s dramatic footfalls, and the dead pawing their dry skin against the glass doors, the lobby had an eerie silence. It felt like the walls were absorbing the sounds, or perhaps feeding on them. Robby shivered and hugged his knees closer.
Lyle’s voice filled the lobby, but the dead didn’t care. Only Robby listened to the words—“I see you over there.”
Lyle didn’t look in Robby’s direction. He kept his gaze focused on the unthinking dead at the glass doors. But, even without looking, Lyle’s arm raised and he pointed directly at Robby’s position.
“Shouldn’t we be talking about them?” Lyle asked. He moved his arm to a sweeping gesture towards the moving corpses. “These people are dead yet they move, and they don’t seem to hear me at all. I know the world has changed a lot in the past forty-eight hours, but isn’t this noteworthy?”
Robby looked at the security guard, sitting on the floor right beside him. The old man had no eyes, and couldn’t pull himself to go join his compatriots, but it was noteworthy that the old man was moving at all. Were eyeless corpses all over the southern part of the state doing the same thing? Were they all on some mindless trek, moving west until they hit an obstacle, or was this only a local phenomenon? The crackling in his head that fired every time he saw the lightning race down the highway coincided with the movement of the dead. Robby wondered if the two things were connected.
Lyle must have been thinking along the same lines. “I bet they’re trying to get to that blue light that keeps flashing down the road,” Lyle said. “What do you think?”
Down at the security guard’s side, a leather pouch was strapped to his belt. Robby inched forward and reached out towards it. He thought it was the right size and shape to house a utility knife, or multi-purpose tool. Robby pulled off his glove and flicked at the snap that held the flap down. The guard hadn’t seemed to notice the touch. With the tips of his finger and thumb, Robby pushed back the flap and pulled the item from the pouch. He held a cold metal cylinder with a plastic cap. In bright lettering, practically glowing against the black background, the can read “INFERNO,” and then in smaller letters “Pepper Spray.” Robby glanced up at Lyle and stuffed his gloves into his pockets so he could grip the cold can in both hands.
“I can’t wait to take some time and figure them out,” Lyle said. He turned to face Robby. Lyle stood about ten paces away. “But I don’t want to ignor
e my living guest. I’ve only been on my own for two days, but I’d seriously started to doubt that I might ever see another living face. Then you just walked into my world. What if we’re the last two left? I wouldn’t want to miss an opportunity.”
Robby could see that Lyle had spotted him. The man wasn’t just speaking in his direction. Giving up on the pretense of hiding, Robby stood up to be ready in case Lyle made another grab for him.
“What do you want from me?” Robby asked.
“Ah, so you do speak,” Lyle said. “I was beginning to wonder. I’m just looking for some company. What fun is it to live in a big empty world all alone? Humans are very social creatures.”
“There’s plenty more people alive,” Robby said, lying carefully, trying to think his way through as he spoke. “I’ve just left them.”
Lyle took a step towards Robby.
“Really? You were with other people and you came here alone?” Lyle asked.
“Yes,” Robby said. “We’re headed north, but I left first. They’ll be along at any time.”
