by Zuko, Joseph
Jim's brother Don helped them pick it out and get a good deal on it two years ago. Karen picked it up. It was heavier than she remembered. She grabbed the magazine and slid it into the bottom of the gun. It clicked into place. She remembered that she needed to pull back on the slide. Click, clack and it was ready.
She slid the other magazine into her back pocket. They had bought the holster that went with it. She hooked it to her belt and slid the gun into position. She pulled out her old leather jacket and two jackets for the children. Karen tossed them onto the corner of the bed.
She also found an old buck knife that her father gave her when she was a teen. She popped open the blade. It was a four-inch stainless steel knife that locked into position with a snap. Karen ran her thumb up the blade. It was still razor sharp after all these years. She closed the knife and slipped it into her back pocket next to the extra magazine.
Karen went around to the rest of the rooms and checked the windows and flipped off all the lights. She put the chain into the lock on the front door. The little chain would not do much to stop anyone. They had the apartment install it to make sure that the kids could not walk out the front door on their own, but Karen had broken it last summer. She had forgotten to take the chain off, pulled open the door and ripped it right off the wall. The only thing holding it together was a wound copper wire.
Karen and Jim did not have a ton of furniture in the apartment. When they had to short sale their home they knew they would need to downsize everything. The apartment was half as big as their old place so they put the big beautiful leather couches and chairs up on Craigslist. They parted with the entire kitchen table, eight matching chairs and the marble topped buffet that they were so proud of. It was just as heartbreaking to lose all of their prized possessions, as it was to lose the house.
In the front closet was an old backpack. She dragged it into the kitchen. She plucked canned fruit, chili, soup and the girls’ favorite snacks. She also took all of the vitamins out of the cupboard. There were a few ibuprofen and Tylenol bottles in there so she grabbed them too. Karen filled the bag, muscled it closed and dropped it off by the bed. The girls continued to play their game. They didn’t look up from the screen as she came and went. That was why they did not let them play on the computer. It made it so the children couldn’t hear anything you said to them. She would have to turn the damn thing off just to get their attention.
Karen checked her phone. No calls. Not from anyone.
Where the hell was her Mom?
Penny was in her sixties and had a bad shoulder. She could neither outrun nor fight one of those things and survive. Karen couldn't think like that. She had to stay focused and think about what she needed to get done next. Her purse was on the bed. She checked it to make sure the car keys and wallet were there. She put a few extra pairs of underwear and socks for herself and the children into the purse. No telling what Jim's plan would be. Did he want to stay here or make a run for it? Should she pack for a long trip or hang out with the kids?
She looked again at her phone and wished he would give her another call or get his ass here quick. Her phone was fully charged and she had both kids dressed. Robin did not think about taking her clothes off as long as the game was on the computer. Karen sat next to the girls on the bed. She smiled at them as she ran her hand through Valerie’s soft hair.
“It’s a fun game,” Valerie said as she leaned into the gentle touches from her Mama.
“That’s good,” Karen gave each of them a kiss on the top of their heads.
A scream from outside sent ice down Karen’s spine. She hustled over to the bedroom window but the screams were not coming from this side of the building. It was from the back of the apartment.
“Girls, stay here!”
Karen raced out into the living room and tried to peek outside without moving the curtains. It was the maintenance man, Steve. He was on the ground fighting two men. A ladder lay on its side at Steve’s feet. Karen watched in horror as one of the men bit into Steve’s forearm and the other bit his leg.
Steve shrieked.
Before she knew it Karen had popped the lock, removed the dowel from the sliding glass door and pushed it wide open. Steve kicked the guy off his leg and its body rolled across the grass. The infected man’s incisors ripped deeper into Steve’s flesh and they ground along the bone in his forearm. The infected man was like a rabid dog. His jaw was locked and would not let go.
Karen’s body was turbo charged with adrenaline. She pulled the gun from its holster and desperately tried to remember her lessons from two years ago. Her thumb clumsily found the safety and clicked it off. Steve was only ten feet away but as juiced as Karen was with excitement it might as well have been a hundred. The gun shook outrageously in her dominant hand. She raised her other hand to the bottom of the gun to support it. Steve punched his attackers face over and over, but it would not let go. Karen focused in on the black eyes that sat lazily in the dead man’s face. She tried to calm her breath and squeezed the trigger.
BOOM!
Karen’s ears stung with a high pitch whine. The recoil was so shocking she almost dropped the damn thing, but she hit her target. The bullet ripped in and out of the man’s skull. Steve pried the mouth off his arm. The other infected man was back on his feet. Steve pushed the dead body off of him and looked to see who fired the shot.
“Mrs. Blackmore!” he cried as he fought to get off the ground.
“Come on!” She called to him as she tried to line up a second shot, but the infected walked with such a bad limp. Its head bobbed and weaved so much she couldn’t get a bead on it. Steve got to his feet and he leaped over the short fence into Karen’s back porch. She got him into the apartment, slammed the door shut and locked it. The infected man stumbled over the doggy fence and fell to its face. Its nose smashed against the concrete.
Karen dropped the dowel into the track of the door. It crawled over and pounded its bloody hand against the glass. She knew it was there but it still made her jump.
“I gotta get this cleaned!” Steve clutched his wound.
Karen stepped away from the door and pulled Steve into the kitchen. She fired up the faucet and yanked the towel drawer out of the cabinet. The towels fell to the floor. In her haste she laid the gun down on the range and picked up two handfuls of towels. Steve splashed water on his face and carefully dipped the open wound under the faucet.
“What was that?! I was working on a vent and out of nowhere those guys pulled me down off the ladder!” He took a towel from her and ran it under the water.
“You haven’t seen the news?” Karen asked. She watched the blood run all over the linoleum. The bite on his leg drained blood everywhere.
“I’ve been fixing stuff all day. What the fucks going on?!”
“Mama?” Valerie stood at the edge of the kitchen with a baby doll tucked under her arm. Her face showed just how confused she was. She might be young but she knew what blood was and she had never seen that much before.
“Go back to the bedroom!” Karen pointed for her to leave, but kids never listen. Robin was right behind her big sister. The monster at the backdoor was up on its feet and it pounded at the glass with both fists.
“What happened to his arm? Why is he all red with blood?” Valerie’s tongue stuck out as she said blood. The sight of it made her start to gag.
“It’s okay. I’m fine. I hurt myself with a work tool and your Mama is nice enough to help me clean it,” he said as he struggled to smile.
“What was that loud noise?” Valerie looked to the back door. Karen rushed the two children back to the bedroom.
“Mama is he okay?” Valerie dragged her feet on the carpet.
“Yes baby. He is going to be okay. I need to help fix him up.”
“Who’s at the door? Why won’t you let him in?”
Karen pushed the two children back up onto the bed, “Hey, question box. Stay in here and play your game okay?”
“Why Mama?”
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br /> “Because I said so!” Karen couldn’t help but yell it. She just shot someone in the fucking face. Plus a man was bleeding to death in her kitchen.
Karen gasped.
She just realized he was infected now and that she had to get him out of the apartment!
“Mama, are you okay?”
Karen took a big breath and battled the urge to scream. “Mama’s okay,” she lied, “I need you to be a big girl and stay in here with your sister. That way I know where you are and that you’re okay. Okay?” her faux smile shined brightly at the little ones.
“Okay Mama. Mama, I got a secret,” Valerie called her mother closer with her index finger so she could whisper it in her ear. Karen complied and leaned forward. Every second that passed made Karen anxious. Her ear sat next to the little girl’s mouth.
“I think he’s handsome.” Valerie confessed. Karen pulled back. Valerie’s face looked like she had dished the juiciest of gossip. Karen rubbed Valerie’s little shoulder.
“That’s a good secret. I won’t tell anyone. Now I have to go help him.” Karen turned and headed out of the bedroom.
When she got back to the kitchen Steve was slumped over the sink. His injured arm hung at his side. The bite mark had risen and become swollen. The tear in his skin had darkened in color and black lines had spread up his forearm. It added to the intensity of the tattoo that spiraled up into the sleeve of his blood soaked shirt. The water poured out onto the back of his head. Steam rose off him. It must have been blistering hot. The infected monster banged at the back window. Karen couldn’t think straight.
What was the plan?
Was there a cure for this disease?
Could she save him if she stopped the bleeding?
Or should she drag Steve out the front door and leave him to die?
Why wasn’t Jim here to help her?
Steve’s body twitched.
Karen was frozen.
Steve’s body shook violently against the sink. The bowls and glasses rattled in the cabinet above. The puddle of blood pooled from the sink across the floor all the way over to the refrigerator.
“Steve?” she called to him with a whisper. His head turned immediately to face her. Steve had the same black eyes as the man she shot. Karen reached for the gun in its holster. It was not there!
“Shit!”
It was on the range behind Steve.
Chapter 6
Steve lunged toward her. Karen sped back down the hall for the bedroom. She couldn’t let him into the room with her children. She grabbed the knob and pulled the bedroom door shut closing her children in behind it. The doors in this apartment were practically made of paper. A notch above cardboard at best. It would take nothing for Steve to smash it down. The sudden movement scared both girls. Their startled little screams made her heart ache. Karen took a protective stance outside the door. She reached into her back pocket for the knife.
Steve stumbled down the hall. She worked the blade open and snapped it into place. At the exact same time Steve hit her. He shoved her through the doorway that led into the computer room. Infected-Steve’s teeth were so close to her face that she could feel the heat from its open mouth. It landed on top of her as they crashed to the floor. The knife was knocked from her hand and lost. She forced her knee up and in between their chests. It gave her a little extra space to work. Karen anchored her elbow into its neck and pushed away its jaw. For years Jim had tried to get her to go to his Krav Maga class, but she was never interested. She now realized what a mistake that was.
When Karen was a kid she wrestled her older brother and father. Plus Jim loved to wrestle and show her some of the moves he had learned in class. She was slightly aware of where to put her legs and hands to keep his mouth from tearing into her. Infected-Steve weighed so much and he forced himself onto her. Her lungs were crushed as the top of her thigh was pushed deeper into her sternum. She couldn’t breathe. Her arms were going to give. She couldn’t push him away for much longer. Behind infected-Steve the bedroom door opened. Valerie stepped out into the hall.
“MAMA!” she cried. The child had no sense of the danger she just stepped into. All she could see was her Mama getting attacked by a scary man. Valerie walked into the room and turned on the light. It got infected-Steve’s attention and he sat up.
Valerie let out a terrified high-pitched scream. The monster was easily distracted and it shifted its focus to the little one. In an instant Karen went from pushing it off of her to fighting to keep a hold of it. It reached and clawed at the five-year-old. Karen wrapped her legs around its waist and threw her arm around its neck. She hit it so hard in the neck with her forearm that it would have killed a regular human. Robin came out of the bedroom to see what all of the noise was about. She joined in with her sister’s howling.
Seeing her children with tears running down their horrified faces gave Karen a reason to fight harder. A parent’s worst fear. The thought of it hurting or killing her children sent shockwaves of dread into her soul.
With the light on she could see the knife laying a few feet away. Karen stretched across the floor and her fingertips touched the blade. His powerful body pulled her farther away from the weapon.
“VALERIE! Get out!” Karen struggled to form the words over her strain.
The child was frozen with fear.
“RUN!”
Valerie’s little legs backpedaled as fast as they could for the bedroom. Karen wanted its full attention so she open hand struck at its head.
Valerie pushed her sister back into the bedroom and closed the door. They banged at the barrier and called for their Mama.
The sound tore through Karen’s psyche. She slapped harder at the side of its head. One of her fingers hit a home run and found its eye. She forced her finger deep into the socket. The slimy squish and wet pop turned her stomach, like sticking her hand into a bucket of snot, but now she had a handle to yank its skull around with. She pulled it backwards and twisted its neck so that its teeth were away from her. The more they fought, the farther away from the blade she got. The only move she had left was to let go of it. If she landed a kick she might get enough distance to reach the knife, but if she missed the kick or the knife…well, she pushed that thought away.
She shoved it with her hands and then rolled up onto her back. She tucked both knees to her chin, and then mule kicked him as hard as she could. She landed it and slammed infected-Steve’s head into the sheetrock. Its skull left a divot. The force of her kick slid her across the carpet and Karen reached out for the knife. She fumbled it. The infected got out from under her boots and climbed its way back up her body.
She writhed and wormed underneath him. Its teeth couldn’t find a target. Losing its eye had thrown off its aim. Karen finally got a grip on the knife’s old wooden handle. She fought for millimeters to get some distance from the monster. This wouldn’t be the end. She would not fail. There was no way she was letting Jim come home to find them dead.
The infected leapt onto her as she stabbed into the side of its skull. The blade drove through skin, then bone and finally his brain. The full weight of its body buried her. She struggled out from under him.
The hot sting of tears filled her eyes. Her clothes were wet with water and blood. Her whole body felt sticky with sweat from the exertion. She hopped up to her feet and kicked at the dead body to make sure he was truly dead before she opened up the bedroom door. Karen did not linger. One last harder kick just to be sure. Poor Steve, he was always such a good guy.
She closed the door behind her and opened the one that separated her from the children. She swung the door open a little too fast and it pushed the girls back. Karen fell to her knees and clutched her babies.
“It’s okay! It’s okay! Mama’s okay!” The three ladies poured tears over each other. The little ones couldn’t form even the simplest of words. Every part of her body shook, from fear, from exhaustion, from the horror movie flashes that played out in her mind if he had gotten hold of the gir
ls. She wasn’t given a moment of peace. The infected at the back door kept slamming its hands over and over into the glass.
The three ladies had the full on snubs. “Snubs” was when you couldn’t talk because you were crying so hard that your body fought to take in large breaths of air. Karen’s family had called it that her whole life.
For a long time she held her children. Their wet tears fell onto Karen’s neck and they wiped the snot that accumulated on their upper lips across her shoulders. She did not care. Ever since Valerie was born, Karen had called them sugar boogers. A little snot was a small price to pay for this priceless embrace.
It might have been twenty minutes before any of them were willing to let go of each other. The infected man at the back door had lost interest and finally shuffled away to find easier prey.
Valerie got her breath under control, “Mama, I don’t think he’s handsome anymore.”
“I think you’re right baby.”
“Mama, what happened to him?”
How do you answer that?
What should she say? There were no parenting books for this kind of situation.
“He was bitten by a man that was sick and then he got sick.”
Valerie thought about what her Mama had said, “Did you get bit?”
“No.”
“Has Daddy been bit?”
Karen coughed up some more tears. Her features distorted into the saddest face possible, “We have to think good thoughts, okay. Tell yourself Daddy will be home any minute and he just might.”
Robin pointed at her new tears, “What? You sad?” was the best she can muster.
“Yes, baby, Mama is very sad, but I’m happy that I have you two,” she said as she pulled them in for another hug. Her knees ached so she pulled them up to the bed. There laid Botchy. Asleep. She was blind, deaf and would have barked at the wrong person anyway. What a crummy attack dog.
