by Unknown
The alley looked deserted with no one wondering around. That didn’t mean anyone wasn’t in the alley, but if they were, I couldn’t see them.
I moved away from the infected in the car and into the alley heading north to get to the main street that Amy lived on. Her apartment was only a few blocks away and I planned to hide in doorways, behind walls and cars as I headed to her apartment building.
As I walked cautiously down the alley, I thought back on my first encounter with Frank.
Frank was someone I met right after moving to Charleston. I was taking out all of the moving material trash from my apartment and was throwing it in the dumpster when it landed directly on top of him. Of course, he didn’t think that was cool and made me very aware that he was not happy, with a slew of curse words that he yelled at me.
Being new to the city and not that familiar with the homeless or how to deal with them, I was surprised and really upset with myself. I apologized up and down, left and right, for trying to buryFrank in the trash.
I think Frank was surprised by my reaction, but he quickly saw an opportunity and took complete advantage of me. He told me that I owed him for the hassle, the mess and that he’d be good with a ten dollar donation. I almost fell for it but told him to get lost.
From that first day meeting Frank, he and I talked regularly and I learned a few things about the city from him which was very helpful, then I met Amy and Butch and honestly, Frank was a little crazy, but he did provide some very helpful guidance on how to live in the city, well from time to time he did.
Man, I hope Frank isn’t some crazy freak like so many of the people I’ve seen today. He was a good person, more than some people that had a job, a house and I really wanted him to be safe, to be OK.
I was halfway through the alley when out of the bakery’s back door, Frank stepped out and grabbed me, pulling me into the bakery.
Chapter 4
“What the hell are you doing wandering around out there by yourself?” Frank said as he closed and locked the door. “Don’t you know that the apocalypse is happening right this minute? Hanging around outside, by yourself is a sure way to get yourself killed or worse to turn into one of them zombies?”
“I need to get to Amy’s, dude; she’s in trouble and needs our help,” I said to Frank as he pulls me further into the bakery. “She sent me a text that her neighbor was trying to break in and hurt her; I’ve got to get to her.”
“You won’t make it to her place without running into trouble. We need to hunker down and wait this out.” He replied as he picked up a sandwich from a plate on the counter and started to take eat it.
I was looking at him, not quite sure how to reply and Frank must have felt like he needed to explain what he was doing in the bakery. “Henry took off through the back door without saying anything and left everything open, so I thought I would come in and lock up for him. You never know what kind of trouble was going to happen if he just left it wide open.”
Henry was the baker, the guy that owned the store we were in. Henry had a wife and daughter that worked at the bakery also. They were a very nice family and I really enjoyed coming into the bakery when they were working. I truly hoped that they had made it.
Most days, Henry’s wife and daughter would only be at the bakery in the early morning and since it was after noon today, I guessed that they had already left for the day and Henry must have left in a hurry to be with them.
I saw Henry in the alley smoking a cigarette all the time and Frank was generally standing there with him eating something delicious Henry had given him from the bakery. I’m sure Henry gave Frank food when he was on his smoke breaks, Henry was that type of person and I’m sure Henry enjoyed having someone to talk to when he was in the alley smoking.
I think Henry felt sorry for Frank and that was his way of helping someone in need, although Henry only did that when his wife wasn’t at the shop. His wife didn’t like the homeless, thinking there were way too many in the city, and would often ask any of them hanging around to leave and stay away from the bakery.
Henry and his family only lived a few blocks south of the store, so he must have left on foot which from the various car accidents I had already seen, might be the best way to travel right now. I hope he made it, that dude made a mean bagel sandwich. Homemade bagel, jalapeno jam, ham, pepper jack cheese and some grilled green chilies.
Now that just made my mouth water and I seriously thought about making one to take with me while I was in the bakery.
“As I was trying to lock up the bakery, after Henry had taken off, I noticed everyone on the street going crazy. People were attacking one another as they walked down the street. I figured this might be a good place to hold up until it calmed down on the street and that Henry would be happy that I locked up for him.” Frank finished his thought and took another bite of his sandwich.
He grabbed the cola on the table and took a big swig. “Wish I had some booze to go with this. The things I’ve seen today. Really bad things. A drink of whiskey would help me right now.”
“It’s great that you got in here before something happened, but this place has a floor to ceiling glass front. I’ve seen those “Zombies”, as you call them, break through a sliding glass door and the front windows would be no different.” I stated to him as I looked to the front of the bakery. “You won’t last here long. Once one of those infected notices you, they will be through those windows and you will be eaten.”
Frank turned to look at the windows and shaking his head, he replied, “I’ve noticed that when a person turns, they are really slow, almost like they are a new born baby, learning to stand up and move their limbs.” He turned back to me and said in a really low voice, “There are faster ones and they are the ones you have to watch out for. They can sense you; they can hear you and they can smell you.” He then smiled and said, “But there aren’t a lot of them, so just pay attention and stay away from the fast ones.”
“That doesn’t change the fact that this storefront is glass and that they could break in.” I moved around the counter and slowly approached the front glass windows and looked out into the street. The city was still on fire, smoke rising up from all directions, the sky a bright orange and red even with the sun bright and center in the sky. The street was empty except for the wrecked cars, the really dead people lying around and the occasional bird landing to eat bits and pieces from the dead.
“Hold on partner,” Frank said behind me and pulled me back to the counter. “Like you said, if they see you, we could have a problem. So, let’s hang back by the counter and the back room for now. No need to hang out in the front window like a display mannequin.”
“I already told you, I’m leaving to help Amy. I’m not staying here.” I reminded him and started to head for the back door. “Lock up after me and stay safe. Maybe I’ll see you again, but if not, thanks for everything over the last few years. You were always willing to talk with me and most times, your advice was sound.”
“Most times? I’d say I was very much up front and honest.” Frank said as he followed me. “If you step outside, you will need to change who you are and what you believe in. You can’t survive in this new apocalyptic world without changing.”
I stepped to the door, unlocked the deadbolt and opened the door so I could peek out. With no one in the alley, I closed the door and looked at Frank.
“Frank, I’m going to find my friends. I think it would be best if you come with me. As a group, we could be more efficient, increase our chances of making it.”
“I’m not leaving this place. It’s all I know, this alley, the bakery, the liquor store and my dumpsters. This is home for me. I’m staying, Henry will be back and he’ll be happy that I took care of his place.”
“Ok. I tried. You stay here; I’ll go and find Amy and Butch. With luck, we will meet again.”
I opened the door, looked outside again and I stepped out, closing the door. I heard Frank lock the deadbolt and say through the door,
“Good luck and Godspeed.”
I moved with caution north through the alley. I didn’t run into any problems as I made my way to the end of the alley, but I still took my time and watched very carefully to see if there was a problem. Once I finally made it to the alleyway opening, I was able to hide behind the alley wall. I peeked around the corner to the west and then to the east. I didn’t see any movement on the street, no people, no cars, nothing. There weren’t any sirens or sounds of people, so I moved out of the alley and headed east towards Amy’s.
I used the storefront doorway entrances and the parked cars that lined the street as cover as I moved cautiously through the street. I moved from doorway opening to doorway opening all the while stopping at each and looking around for anything that might cause me trouble. I looked around, smelled the air and listened for anything that would cause an alarm, just like the infected did.
Interesting I thought.
I slowly made my way east on Ford Street till I got to the intersection where it met 10th Ave.
I crouched behind an SUV and peeked around it to look in each direction.
There was a group of infected standing around on the north end of the street just turning in slow circles searching for their next meal. I decided the best thing to do was to make a run for it, quietly and with caution. If they saw me then I’d turn on the speed to out run them, finding the first place I could hide and lose them, waiting for them to pass by.
Running was something I truly enjoyed. My dad introduced me to running at a young age and we enjoyed many cross country runs together. It was our way to exercise and spend time together. It was too bad that I had stopped a year ago after meeting Amy and Butch. The three of us just had other things to do and it generally involved late nights and drinking, which didn’t make running an appealing hobby.
Running for your life was a different situation, but I knew I could outrun the infected, even the fast ones. Although fast, they didn’t actually run like a normal living person, they galloped, like a horse, the type of run movement that allowed a hunter to stay with their prey, just enough to wear their prey down. I was pretty sure that a short burst, a sprint, would get me away, out of their view and allow me to find a hiding spot.
I looked up from my thoughts and noticed the infected standing on the other side of the car I was hiding behind. I needed to make sure to keep my mind on the task, at hand and not let it wander. What was I going to do now, run or…..?
Chapter 5
I really didn’t have a choice at this point;I couldn’t sit there and wait it out. I was crouching behind an SUV, with no real cover. At any moment another infected could appear from another direction and I’d be boxed in with no exit. As it was, I was already in a pickle since the group of infected I had been watching was now directly across the street from where I was crouched behind the SUV.
I took a deep breath, making the decision to move, stood up and took off like a bat out of hell. A moan came from the infected closest to the SUV I had been hiding behind which made all the other infected across the street turn to see what was for dinner. The moan was their dinner bell and every one of them was ready for a meal.
I took off down the street away from the group but in the direction of Amy’s building. The infected headed right after me, albeit some were staggering, others were shambling, and some just ran into the side of cars, telephone poles, and things, but lucky for me, none of them seemed like a fast one.
As I got to the entrance of Ford Street heading east, I jumped into the bed of a truck that I thought would be a good shortcut, from the bed I climbed onto the roof of the truck and then slid on my backside down to the hood. Just as I landed on the hood and was beginning to stand back up, something moved fast from the doorway of the penny saver store that the truck was parked in front of.
It was one of the fast infected. He was in front of the truck, reaching for me before I could react and get away from him. His hand grabbed my ankle and started to yank me further off the hood. I grabbed a hold of the end of the hood by the windshield and used my free foot to plant a heal in the infected shoulder causing him to release my leg. I quickly scrambled up the hood, over the windshield and onto the roof of the truck.
I stood on the roof, catching my breath and watched as the infected that were chasing me reached the truck and surrounded me. Thankfully I was up high on the roof and it seemed like they were having problems climbing on the truck. This was a new fact that we needed to remember, they couldn’t climb straight up, which meant that they wouldn’t be able to reach me on top of the truck. Even the fast one wasn’t able to climb onto the truck; all it could do was move around the parameter of the truck, looking for a way up.
There was definitely too many of them for me to defend myself against and to be honest, fighting was not something I wasn’t interested in doing. The thought of having to fight my way out of this situation really bothered me. I’m not a violent person, to begin with, never have been, and I didn’t believe in killing, especially another human being. When you killed, you did it for food or protection from a predator.
I really didn’t see these infected people as predators and I couldn’t figure out why that was the case. They were chasing me, they did want to hurt me and they would do anything to get to me. Maybe Frank was right, maybe I had to change what I believed in to survive in this new world.
By now I had a large crowd of the infected around the truck, pushing each other, trying to get to me. If I could get them to move to the rear of the truck I just might be quick enough to jump the roof, slide down the hood and take off running.
But run to where? That was the next question.
If I ran to Amy’s I would just draw them to her place right after me and that could mean bigger problems for everyone.
As I was looking around for a potential place to run and hide, I heard an engine rumbling towards me, from around a corner appeared a large red fire truck taking the corner at speed. It swerved across the two lane road heading down the street. It was on a crash course directly for a group of cars just ahead of where I was trapped on the roof of the truck.
The infected were now all watching the fast approaching vehicle. The siren had them fully fixated with their attention no longer on me. This might be the distraction I needed.
The fire truck swerved and ran through a small pileup of cars, pushing the abandoned cars to the side of the road. The additional sound of the crash got the full attention of the infected around my truck island. I stood still and waited for my opportunity.
The fast infected took off running towards the fire truck and the slower infected began to shamble after it. A small opening was now at the front of the truck, so I slowly moved to the hood as the remaining infected walked towards the fire truck that was heading their way.
The fire truck was now only 50 yards away and it had changed course heading straight for the truck I was standing on. With all of the strength I had, I jumped to the sidewalk, over a couple of infected, just barely missing them.
My feet were moving before they hit the sidewalk and I was able to just get past two cars when the fire truck rammed into the front of the truck I had just jumped off of. The force of the crash pushed the truck and every one of the infected into the penny saver shops front window. Another second and I would have been surfing that truck through the window and to my death.
I didn’t stop, I just kept running and out of nowhere a body just barely missed me as it flew by me. The infected woman, I assume from the crash, passed me like she was superwoman flying tot eh rescue, only this one ended up wrapped around a light pole in front of me. The woman slid down the pole trying to grab me as I ran past her. Even after a trauma such as that, she was still trying to get to me.
What kind of disease could drive someone to ignore that level of pain and only focus on getting to its next meal?
The impact had so much force, that her blood and guts splattered all over the sidewalk. The site was something my stomach couldn’t handl
e and I began to throw up. It took everything I had to suppress the urge as I didn’t have time to stop. I had to get away before any of the infected saw me.
I did have to slow down a bit to control the urge, but I was able to keep up a good pace since I didn’t have to stop to puke my guts up. I took the next alley which thankfully would lead me to Amy’s apartment building.
Going through the alley would bring me to the parking garage for her building and I knew the passcode to get in, so that’s where I was heading. Once in, I could use the same passcode to get into the elevator or the stairwell and then make my way up to her apartment. Safe and sound, that was the plan.
I figured that the back way would be less of a problem, fewer chances of any infected hanging around and I could easily make my way to her apartment on the second floor without having to deal with any of them.
I passed the first two buildings in the alley on my way to Amy’s garage, running at half speed and slid to a stop in front of the garage gate entrance. I punched in the code, hearing the beep as I punched in each number and waited for the garage door start to open.
As I was standing there waiting for the door to open enough for me to slide into the garage, I saw a pair of legs on the other side of the garage door.
The fact that the person wasn’t moving, just waiting at the door told me I had a problem. What kind of person would just stand there and not say anything or move when the door started to open. It had to be an infected person. I was sure anyone else would have said something.
I moved away from the garage door and found a dumpster close by, sliding down behind the dumpster as the door finally made it past the head of the infected. The guy moved out of the garage once the door was fully open and looked around the alley. I’m sure he had sensed me at some point, but he couldn’t place me.
I looked around me; trying to find something I could use as a distraction and found an empty beer bottle. I picked it up and throw it down the opposite end of the alley towards the main street. Once the bottle crashed to the ground, causing a loud noise down the alley, the infected turned and headed in the direction of the noise. The sound was louder than I expected and I knew that it would attract other infected, so I had to make my move now and get into the garage with the door closed very quickly.
