Decay: A Zombie Story

by Dumas, Joseph

  Suddenly, I heard a smash from the outside. My world seemed to shake as I did my best to sit still. Then, I heard another noise, followed by a shatter. They broke the door and in turn broke my situation. Even if they didn’t find me, I’d be forced to leave as the store would no longer be secure.

  “I can’t believe you just did that,” the seemingly more cautious one said.

  “I know, I never thought I’d break into a store before.”

  “Look at all the wrappers on the ground. Do you think someone was here?”

  I heard them stepping around the register… They were going to find me; I clutched my gun even tighter than before.

  “It looks like it,” the one who shattered the door said.

  “Do you see anything of use?”

  “Just snacks and drinks.”

  “Anything you like?”

  “I don’t know. Maybe some of these energy bars.”

  I started feeling a little less anxious. They didn’t sound malicious, but I couldn’t pop out at them at this point. As far as I knew, one was still holding a gun. I didn’t want to test any theories so I decided to sit tight and wait until they left.

  One sounded like he grabbed some energy bars and the other made a comment about all the unscratched scratch tickets above the register, how there could be a million dollars sitting there. I remembered thinking the same thing, but I guess it didn’t matter now. The question was would it ever matter again?

  Soon enough, they left the store and went back to their shopping carts now full of gas. I waited until I heard the sound of the carts rolling until I looked back out. I watched them leave the station together.

  I waited for a moment as I stared at the shattered door. I couldn’t stay here. I let them have some distance and decided to follow them and see where they were headed.

  MIKE

  After a pretty successful trip to the gas station, Peter and I headed back to the hardware store. Peter radioed over to Jen and told her our status, reporting that we got twenty-seven gallons of gasoline. The bill was a total of $109.33. That almost made me glad that we were in a situation where the economy wasn’t relevant.

  We both remembered the crowds of undead we saw a few blocks away as we headed back down the hill cautiously. We went as slow as possible while the fully loaded shopping carts pulled us down the slant.

  While we moved quickly down the hill, we both noticed one infected person stumbling in front of a store a few buildings down from the vacuum place. Since it was only one, we decided to keep going and just get back to the hardware store and gas up Tara’s car.

  As we continued down the street, we noticed a lot of papers and trash being blown around by the wind; this was from the infected that knocked over the trashcan earlier in the day. Other than the one we passed earlier, we didn’t see much of anything. So, we kept going as fast as possible until we heard a gunshot from somewhere behind us.

  We both dropped to ours knees in fear that someone might have been shooting at us. I began wondering if we looted the wrong gas station. I thought that maybe the owner was held up in the store and we just pissed him off.

  We both crouched behind our shopping carts and looked down the road. We couldn’t see anyone anywhere. After a moment, we decided to keep going even faster than before.

  I explained my theory of the pissed off gas station owner to Peter and he seemed nervous about the idea. We both agreed that if this was the case, we would try to reason with him and work it out. I began to worry that we might lose the gas after all that trouble. Then, I started thinking about how I broke the door. If my theory was correct the guy must have been really pissed off.

  After booking it nonstop to Fix-It and even ignoring a call from Jen, we finally arrived and Jen saw us immediately. She ran to the door and unlocked it right away. Neither of us liked the idea of so much gas being inside the building, so we parked the shopping carts on the side of the building.

  “How’d everything go?” Jen asked as she let us in.

  “It went okay,” Peter said as we entered the store.

  I shut the door and locked it behind us as Jen inquired about Peter’s tone.

  I chimed in. “We heard a gunshot on the way back. We think someone may have been following us.”

  “We’ll just have to keep a low profile,” Peter suggested.

  I nodded in agreement as Tara and Samantha came out of the back room.

  “So, you got gas for the car?” Tara asked.

  “Yeah,” Peter said. “We’ll take it out in a couple days to the grocery store and get some real supplies.”

  Peter and I sat for a while by the window, waiting for someone to come by. As it started to get dark, we decided to go gas up the car. We both agreed that if someone did come for the gas, at least we would have some in the car.

  We told Jen who decided to wait with Sam by the window while we were out there. She insisted we take the shotgun in case anyone did show up. For the first time, we were looking out for a person—not the undead, which was still a concern in itself.

  So, we brought one of the shopping carts over to the car and began filling up the tank one canister at a time. While Peter did that, I checked the glove compartment to see if the car had a manual. It did, so I looked up how big the tank was—eleven gallons. This way, we didn’t have to accidentally go over and waste any gas spilling out on the ground.

  Eventually, we got the car just about filled up and started it to make sure the battery hadn’t died. Everything was ready to go, so we once again hid the rest of the gasoline around the side of the building and headed back inside.

  There wasn’t any sign of movement anywhere outside. It had become dark and I began wondering if all the undead in the area would’ve been drawn to the gun shot we heard. Perhaps whoever it was…was already dead.

  JEN

  The sun had begun to rise and Peter had recently fallen asleep by the front window. We took turns watching it last night and he was out like a light a couple of hours before dawn.

  Mike, Tara and Sam were all asleep in the back. I think Mike and Peter were very tired after yesterday’s trip. The walk wasn’t too long, but I couldn’t imagine how mentally exhausting it must have been to be on edge every second with no real shelter or anything. They said they came across a few undead out there, but nothing too crazy. It must have been so strange—especially for Peter because this was where he grew up—to see the streets in the state they’re in.

  Suddenly, I looked across the parking lot and saw a man holding a shotgun, walking towards the car. He was around our age and looked pretty beaten up and worn down. Immediately, I shook Peter and said, “Wake up!” He woke, startled and confused. I then pointed out the window. “I think the gas station owner is here,” I said.

  Peter and I watched for a moment as the man walked around the car and began looking around the store. We sat motionless and were pretty sure he couldn’t see us.

  Peter slowly grabbed the gun. “I’m going to see what he wants,” he said.

  I tried to tell him not to but he stood up and went to the door.

  He unlocked the door. The man immediately looked directly at Peter and raised his gun. Peter stepped outside and quickly pointed the gun at this man. “Take it easy,” Peter said sternly yet nervously.

  “You’re the one from the gas station,” the man said.

  Peter looked at him for a moment before responding, “Listen, we needed that gas. I’m sorry.”

  The man stared at Peter for a second and lowered his gun. He then looked over at the car. “This is my car,” he said.

  Peter shook his head and kept the gun on the man. “No way, man.”

  Suddenly, before I even realized she came from the back room, Tara ran past me and through the front door. She ran at the seemingly crazed man and wrapped her arms around him.

  “What the hell?” Peter said softly.

  The man dropped his gun and hugged Tara as tears ran down his face covered in shock.


  “I can’t believe you’re here,” Tara said.

  Peter looked back at me in the window with a confused look on his face as I began to realize that this must be Tara’s boyfriend. But how was that possible?

  After a moment, Peter turned around and came inside. “Is that…” he began to say.

  “Her boyfriend, I think,” I told him.

  “Makes sense now,” Peter said. “He said it was his car. He must’ve been held up in the gas station.”

  “What are the odds?” I asked. “And, today’s Tara’s birthday.” I chuckled in amazement at the strange situation.

  After a long hug, he picked up his gun and they both came inside the store.

  “This is Joey. My boyfriend,” Tara said.

  “Sorry about that,” Peter said.

  “No problem,” Joey replied. “I had no idea who you and your friend were at the gas station, so I just hid behind the counter…”

  Mike walked out of the backroom and stared at Joey with confusion as he asked, “What the hell is going on?”

  TARA

  It was the only thing I wanted for my birthday, to see Joey again. I was almost in shock when I saw him in the parking lot and I still couldn’t believe it as we stood in the store together. Mike and Peter laughed as he told them about thinking they were violent looters at the gas station.

  He also said that he was angry at first when Mike smashed the door to his shelter, but if he hadn’t there would’ve been no reason to follow them back here. At this point, I thanked Mike for breaking the door. He said it was an enjoyable experience.

  Eventually, Joey gave Mike his shotgun and they sorted through that and the box of ammo he had brought with him. Everyone seemed quite pleased with having another gun. After that, Joey and I went into the office while the rest of them stayed by the window.

  When we entered the office, I poured him one of the last cups of lukewarm coffee we were able to conjure up. Joey loved it. He has always liked that simple crappy coffee, while I’ve preferred more flavorful fair-trade products. Regardless, I was very happy to give it to him after what he had been through.

  Then, he went straight to the TV, turned it on, and began flipping through the channels of static. “Did you guys ever see anything on here?” he asked frantically.

  “We watched some news until they went off the air a while ago,” I explained.

  He looked at me for a moment and, eventually and impatiently, asked, “Well, what’s happening?”

  “You haven’t heard anything?”

  “No,” he exclaimed.

  Shocked at the aspect of uncertainty he must’ve been suffering through this whole time, I sat down and explained everything we knew—the Arthriphagy virus, the safe zones, the timeline of how it had spread, everything…

  After a while of sitting together and talking, he told me what had happened to him the night he disappeared. And, I told him what we had been through. I somewhat explained what had happened with Peter, Jen, Sam and Mike too.

  Eventually, Jen knocked on the door and asked if we could join them. So, we headed out to the store where everyone was sitting by the window and cash register. Joey got his first look at Sam and I could tell he saw the distress she was going through.

  Joey and I sat with the group and we all discussed a plan. Jen then walked away without saying anything. Then, Peter began by saying, “Okay, we have some good supplies and now that we have some gas in the car, we have to go get some food and anything else useful from the grocery store. Now, I am volunteering to go. I’d like to have one other person with me to help.”

  Mike raised his hand. “I’ll go.”

  Peter nodded and looked at Joey. “It’s your car I guess…”

  Immediately, I objected. “No! He’s not going, not now.”

  “I think I’d rather sit this one out,” Joey said, much more calmly than I.

  “That’s fine,” Peter said. “Just wanted to offer.”

  Then, Jen came back holding a packet of food and a plastic fork. The smell was cheap—but amazing. She then handed it to me. “You can kick off our dehydrated food supply by trying out this Chicken Parm. Happy birthday!” she said.

  I smiled as I took the warm packet from her and smelled the food for a moment. “Thank you so much,” I said.

  Then Peter put a piece of paper on the cashier’s counter. “We need to come up with a shopping list,” he said.

  PETER

  There I was, walking into this small diner, with clean and brightly colored walls and décor. I walked to a booth where Jen, Sam and Robbie were sitting, looking at menus. Robbie’s face was buried in his menu and if it wasn’t for his Fix-It shirt, I might not have even known it was him!

  As I sat down, I looked to the bar where Mike and his daughter were sitting. Mike was feeding her pancakes and he nodded to me when I saw them. Ellie had her back to me though, so I didn’t say hi. Then, Tara walked by with a tray of waters and quickly greeted us but continued on her way because she had her own tables to wait. I watched her walk to her section and began to chuckle when I saw Joey wiping down her tables—he was the busboy?

  After having a good chuckle at the irony, I began looking at the menu and the first thing that caught my eye was a cheeseburger. Now that sounded good!

  “I’m definitely getting a burger!” I said aloud.

  At this point, the waitress came to our table. The light hanging over our table blocked my view of her face so it was kind of awkward, but I ordered my burger and she immediately handed one to me and said in a cheerful tone, “Enjoy!”

  I was delighted as I looked at the juicy burger and fries. Then, I bit into it and pulled it away from my mouth quickly. The inside of the burger was bleeding like a gaping wound and had little maggots crawling around the inside.

  It smelled terrible and I dropped it on the table as quickly as possible. “Is something wrong with your meal?” I heard the waitress ask. Then, I looked up and her face came out from behind the light fixture and revealed a rotting and wrinkly undead face with tons of makeup on—like she was trying to hide the fact that she was infected.

  “What the hell!” I said, shocked.

  Robbie then lowered his menu to reveal the same type of look as our waitress. Needless to say, I stood up and tried to back out of the restaurant as they came towards me. Then, Mike, Ellie, Sam, Joey and Tara joined them as they all appeared to be walking corpses.

  “Jen!” I shouted.

  She looked over and revealed that she too had been infected. Was I alone? What happened?

  I immediately opened my eyes and felt as if I could taste the rotten meat from my terrible dream. This felt like one of those dreams that were going to stick with me for a while. The thought of everyone I was with currently—including Jen—trying to eat me was not something I enjoyed waking up to.

  Despite all of the terrifying aspects I had endured, I kept thinking of the sight of the nice fresh burger and realized how much I wanted some real food. I guess it was a good thing we were going to the grocery store today. The thought of food got me up and out of bed quickly—anything to think of something other than the horrible dream I had.

  We spent last night making a list for the grocery store, talking, eating small portions of Tara’s chicken parmesan, and relaxing as well. We got to know Joey a bit too—he seemed like a real cool guy.

  Once again, Mike and I prepared to venture out this morning, taking a trip about four times as long as our last one. This time, however, we have the car, two guns, a walkie-talkie, and an enlightened hope that there may be others out there.

  As we looked over our list, it was safe to say that we were both feeling pretty good about our mission ahead of us.

  The list we all compiled was broken down into three groups: essentials, non-edible essentials, and finally treats—non essentials that we certainly wouldn’t risk our lives for, but if we had space and could easily grab the item or items, we would.

  SHOPPING LIST

  1) Ess
entials

  Bottled water

  Canned soups, beans, etc.

  Cereal

  2) Non-edible

  OTC meds

  Wet naps

  Hand sanitizer

  Anti-biotics

  3) Others – not essential

  Long lasting snack foods

  Shampoo/soap

  Toothpaste

  INSTANT COFFEE***

  As we prepared, Joey checked the shotguns and discovered they both took the same size shells. We had about two dozen, not an indispensable amount, but much better than the few we had before.

  So, we split the ammo equally between Mike and me. Then, we armed ourselves with shovels in case of some typical protocol. We gathered the rest of our necessities for the trip and loaded the car.

  After loading the car, Jen approached me and asked, “Are you nervous this time?”

  I shook my head confidently. “No way. If we were able to make that gas station trip, we’ll be fine with another gun and a car.”