by Silas Cooper
“You open the door and I’ll hit her,” Richard semi-demanded.
In no mood to fight, she just shook her head.
On the count of three, Jayda opened the door and Richard stood with his bat at the ready. Lisa fell, stumbled, then righted herself. In seconds, she lunged at Jayda. Knocking them both to the ground, Jayda saw her neighbor’s mouth open as if to bite her. Before she could even react, the bat came down, literally cracking Lisa’s skull.
Chapter Seven
“I’d like to run some tests on the zombie. What do you think,” Chase asked Lucas.
“Probably a good idea. Maybe we can help. I can keep logging the results on our one mouse of interest while you do that. I don’t know how we’re gonna get out of here,” Lucas sighed. “Might as well keep busy.”
“We’ll try to call for help again in a bit. I’m sure many more people are in our predicament. I’m sure we’ll catch a break and get through soon enough.”
Chase moved the zombie. He pushed her name in life far from his mind. Luckily as she decomposed, she looked less and less human. That idea got him started on testing the decomposition of the body. He wondered if this moving body decomposed at the same rate as a dead person’s. Usually decomposition rate told you the time of death if unknown. They had the approximate time of death down to less than a twenty-four hour period. So, he’d work the opposite way.
They both worked tirelessly for a few hours. Chase, already tired from his battles, had to push through the aches. He had to fight for each sample he took from his moving dead girl. He’d finally taped up her chomping mouth, more to stop the sounds. Still, her groans came from deep in her chest.
“I don’t understand why she won’t stop moving. Zombies don’t sleep?” Chase grumbled.
“Not in the movies,” Lucas laughed.
“Great. I’m getting nowhere here. She’s dead. That I’ve confirmed. Other than that, I can explain nothing. I do have some new markers on this strain of meningitis. Odd thing is, it doesn’t look normal at all. In fact, I think it looks biochemical. Maybe that’s just my experience with that crap talking. The military made me too suspicious.”
“I’ve always suspected that being in Special Forces would do that to a person,” Lucas agreed. “But I also spent way too much time growing up with my nose in some suspense or horror novel.”
“I’m not having any more luck over here with the mouse. It’s so frustrating when it’s all right there, but you can’t put your finger on it,” Lucas huffed. “I’ve altered these tests every way I can think of. Still, a big fat nothing.”
“No other mouse in the bunch reacted that way. Maybe it was a fluke thing. Maybe we’ll never get anywhere but to chalk it up to some odd DNA,” Chase said with a shrug, then yawned.
“I think it’s time for more coffee. I’d like to check out the news again too,” Lucas yawned out his words as well. “Hey, you worried at all about those chairs holding up?”
“No. Those doors are made to resist fires these days. If a fire alarm was pulled, yeah, then it would unlock. Still, unlock doesn’t mean these guys, though strong, could figure out how to push down and pull open the door at the same time. She’s not brilliant this one,” Chase joked. “They could bump it down, but that’s about it. I think we’re safe.”
“Figure out why the blows to the head killed the dead,” Lucas asked. “I can’t believe I just asked such a question.”
“Nope. Coffee.”
“Sure.”
As Chase nuked two cups of the old stuff they hadn’t finished, Lucas turned on the TV. The screen pixelated as the sound crackled. Lucas shrugged at Chase. It seemed to warm up like the old TVs did, and then came to life.
“All flights have now been grounded now. They’re not telling us when any plane will take off again. They want all air-travelers to remain at home until further notice. Subways, buses, and all other sources of transportation have been forced to shut down as well. Everyone is being asked to stay home unless it is a dire emergency,” a blond anchor in the news room said.
“She seems frazzled. She’s either not delivering the lines well, or her writer is frazzled and he’s not giving her much to work with,” Chase added.
The program cut to the local streets. As a reporter talked through heavy breaths, scenes of chaos flashed one by one on the screen. Store windows all over town were broken. People fought to steal supplies and for their lives. The zombies walked everywhere. They grabbed at everything that moved. The camera cut out any attacks, so scenes were brief. The living were fighting for stuff and the dead were fighting to attack the living.
“What a mess,” Lucas exclaimed.
“Doesn’t look like many are listening. Don’t really see military or cops much in those shots either. No wonder we can’t get through the lines. Who knows how many of them we’ve lost as well,” Chase spoke, trying to hide the tremble in his voice.
He didn’t want to fail this kid. He wouldn’t fail another person he cared about. He couldn’t survive that. He’d left out that he’d seen a zombie in a cop uniform. Obviously the boy hadn’t.
“I don’t understand how this has happened so fast,” Lucas sighed.
“Don’t worry. I have a few military contacts I can still try. We’ll get through to someone who will help us.”
He just wished Jayda would answer her phone or return a call.
****
Dr. Benton looked around him. He tried to take in his surroundings. His exhaustion levels grew after working a double shift, witnessing a murder, and then being forcefully put into a military plane. Unable to see out a window during the flight, he had no idea where he’d landed. All he’d seen was the top of a building in the middle of a very secure military compound.
Now in a lab like none he’d ever seen before even in the best colleges, he sat guarded, watching some assortment of CDC, military, and scientists argue about the epidemic. He couldn’t really distinguish who was who in lab coats.
“It didn’t mutate that way in the original tests,” a guy said quietly.
“They were done on animals, ass,” another guy practically growled.
“So, now what?” his CDC kidnapper demanded.
“We’re running tests,” another white coat stated.
“Run them faster,” a red-faced man demanded. “We need a cure. Get your guy over here.”
The CDC guy looked his way and the men with large guns got him up. The bruises on his arms from being restrained throbbing too much to protest, he nodded and stood.
“You’re up, Dr. Benton. We need fresh eyes on this one,” the CDC guy said.
“Seriously?” a lab coat huffed. “This guy looks like he’s been through a war.”
“We’ll get him coffee,” CDC retorted.
“I don’t even understand what’s going on here. This afternoon I had six patients dying from what we thought was meningitis. Then you had them killed. Now, I hear the word epidemic and thankfully cure. But I can’t help if I don’t know what’s going on,” Benton spat.
His head had started to spin when he stood. He couldn’t remember the last time he’d eaten as his stomach growled painfully.
“I don’t like the way you’re talking to me, Doctor,” CDC hissed.
The military guys moved, their heels clicking on the shiny floor an alert to trouble.
“The guy’s too tired. He probably needs food and sleep,” a white coat offered.
“I want to help,” Benton said in his best restrained voice. “But first I need to see the research already done. I need brought up to speed.”
“We’ll get you the information,” CDC grumbled. “But first, food and some sleep. The world’s falling down around us, but you should catch some ZZZ’s.”
“I was only pointing out that we’re not machines,” the white coat retorted.
“Then why are you here?” CDC yelled at the coat, then looked at the guards. “Get him out of here. Room down the hall has a cot. He can grab a meal bar and a water i
n there.”
Benton followed without fight. His spirits fell as he saw no identifying sign on any door as they went. All were unmarked save for numbers. All had fingerprint security to enter. Comforting. A few long hallways and an elevator ride away, they threw him in a room. As he sat on the cot, his cell phone hit his thigh. He’d forgotten he had it. None of them had thought to confiscate it.
He called Lucas. He needed touch with the outside world, but didn’t want to upset his wife. He prayed she was safe as he hit his brother’s pic on his screen. The phone rang and rang. Once it went to message, he hung up and tried again. It rang and rang. Frustrated, he threw the phone back in his pocket, and grabbed the tasty looking military grade bar they placed beside him before they’d locked him in.
Without the water, he’d have never gotten the thing down. A quick look showed a balanced diet and too many ingredients to read through. To his tongue, he tasted a mix of tree bark and sawdust. Half a bar and a few drinks of water later, it hit his empty stomach like a brick.
After trying Lucas a few more times, he could only imagine in his mind the phone on silent stuffed in the kid’s backpack. That’s the way he usually had it when he was working in the lab. Had to admire the dedication, he figured as he laid down. He hit a button for the light low on the wall. Sure he’d be left in this prison for a few hours at least, he figured he should at least try to get some sleep. Being useful had to be his only hope of survival.
As his tired mind moved toward oblivion, he heard the door unlatch. Before he could even get his hand to the light, the shadowed figure jumped on him. Pinned instantly by hands and feet, he felt something sharp jab into his stomach. Actually he heard the slicing of his flesh first. The pain hit second. As the cold coil of muscles screamed at his brain to alarm his body, he heard the blade enter him again.
He thought he jerked, but only heard the intruder grunt. The blade sliced him again. This time the pain multiplied instantly. His mind swam in confusion. Another slice of pain hit him, and he fell into blackness.
Chapter Eight
Only the soft glow from the TV lit the dark living room Jayda and Richard huddled together in. The horrors on the screen rivaled the one in their bathroom. Jayda won the argument to leave the body there. She didn’t want Richard touching it, for one. If this started as meningitis, and Lisa had been the walking dead, then they needed to stay far away from the possibly contagious body. She’d left the bat in there as well.
They’d taken turns guarding the door as they’d gotten dressed for the day at three in the morning. Gulping coffee, they watched over and over again the scenes from around the country on CNN. Every town hit, many nearly devastated, disbelief could only be silenced by the memory of Lisa.
No one had said the word zombie. Well, at least none of the media had. People on the streets screamed it. They screamed about the wrath of god and the apocalypse too. Everywhere people lay dead or the sick/dead walked. Even on their local channel, no street had looked recognizable with broken glass and fires burning.
Richard had wanted to leave for some reason. He suggested he could find them a safer haven with his police connections. Jayda couldn’t be convinced. The numerous unanswered phone calls had made him see her point. They’d chosen to obey orders and stay home. Their quiet terror was interrupted by a banging on the door.
“See, it’s another one,” Richard said in a hushed yell. “I told you we should leave.”
Lisa had broken the big picture window in the living room. Richard had boarded it up with everything he could find in the garage as well as the board from the bottom of the spare bed. Their emptied china closet now lodged in front of it, still every noise had them waiting for a body to break through.
“Just listen. They don’t talk, so let’s investigate first,” Jayda suggested.
Always the clearer head in the relationship, she walked to the door. She felt more confident with her prosthetic leg on now. As she approached, she heard their neighbor from across the street yelling her name. Richard had followed and grabbed her to stop a few feet from the door.
“Talk to her. Check it out before you open the door,” Richard urged.
“They can’t talk, remember?”
“Still, she could be sick, and we can’t have her getting worse or falling dead here. We can’t risk getting it either.”
“Good thinking,” Jayda praised him.
“Sherri, what’s going on?”
“Jayda, please let me in. Hurry!” came Sherri’s sobbing voice.
“Is anyone with you?”
“No. No one at all. The street is deserted. It’s my husband. He’s sick, and like those on TV, he woke up from a nap angry. He’s so feverish he’s not even talking, just moaning. But he keeps coming at me. When I couldn’t talk to him or keep running, I shut him in and ran over here.”
“Did he bite or scratch you?” Jayda asked.
“No. He’s too wobbly. But he seemed to get more agitated and faster, so I just left. I wanted to get you to help me. You’re the one with the medical background.”
“Have you been watching the TV?” Richard asked.
“No. I haven’t had time. Stan woke up so ill, I’ve just cared for him all day. Something was wrong with the doctor’s office phone, and when I wanted to take him to the emergency room, he kept saying to wait, he felt too sick to go. He wanted to take a nap. He hoped he would wake up better. He did that to me all day. I was so afraid to leave his side that I just sat by the bed and read a book or stared at him. I fell asleep myself eventually. Then, in the middle of the night, he woke up this way.”
“You’re sure he didn’t touch you and you don’t feel sick at all?” Jayda asked again.
“No. Please, come help him,” she sobbed.
Jayda opened the door with Richard right beside her. She knew he was ready to attack. He’d gotten several weapons ranging from a tire iron to a hammer and stacked them in the living room. He had a metal rod in his hand at the moment.
“Listen, Sherri. You’re husband is too sick to be around. You have to come in here with us where you’ll be safe,” Jayda coaxed.
“No. You have to help him.”
“I can’t. Listen, you need to come in here and watch a minute of the news. It will explain what’s happened to him,” Jayda pulled Sherri in.
Richard shut the door and locked it behind her. They watched her watch the news. They argued back and forth trying to catch her up and get her to understand.
“It doesn’t make sense. You’re telling me that Stan died in his sleep and came back a zombie? That’s not funny or possible,” Sherri wept.
“I don’t know for sure. I’m telling you that Lisa looked dead when she broke in here. She crashed through a window, destroyed the house, and we could barely subdue her. We hit her with a bat and she got back up and lunged for me again,” Jayda explained. “Did Stan look odd? Was his flesh discolored? Were his eyes glazed?”
“Yes, but he looked worse by the hour yesterday. So by the time he woke up early this morning, with no lights on and only the sunrise to see by, I didn’t get a good look,” Sherri explained. “Please, come over and look at him, Jayda.”
“How did he not touch you?” Richard asked.
“I woke to his groan. So I was walking toward him when he lunged at me. I guess instinct made me move. I just assumed he’d lost his mind with fever or something. Nothing I said made him or the horrible moans stop, so I came to get Jayda. I’d hid downstairs and tried to the call the police, but the phone line was down or something still. Guess I get why now.”
“I’ve always told you that you needed to watch more TV and read less books,” Jayda said in an attempt to lighten the mood, even if only a smidge.
“Please come over. You said you don’t know for sure,” Sherri begged.
“No!” Richard yelled. “No one is going over there.”
Jayda shot him a look then urged Sherri to come to the bathroom. With the door only cracked, one look at Lisa had
Sherri retching.
“I’ve told you in detail what happened. Did Stan look like this, act like that?” Jayda asked softly.
“Yes,” Sherri sobbed. “So, he’s dead?”
“Maybe. Either way, from what they say on TV, he’s lost. There hasn’t been a case of someone with the virus getting better,” Jayda said softly.
“Please. Please, Jayda. Just come across the street and look at him. I couldn’t take the thought of him attacking someone,” Sherri begged.
That was all it took. Jayda fought with Richard and convinced him to go across the street. She promised they’d be smart about it. They’d look both ways and if safe, go across. They’d also look in the windows, and if safe, go in armed. He’d relented between the two women begging him. Jayda had known he would.
With the sky deep pink with the sunrise, they’d gotten across the street safely, with Richard the lookout. The women peeked in the windows. Through the living room sheers, they could see him bumbling around. They heard his deep, guttural groans. Sherri whimpered beside Jayda with her hand over her mouth. Stan broke a lamp with his clumsy walk, making Sherri shriek. He turned to the window then.
“Richard,” Jayda demanded his attention. “We need to go around back now. He’s spotted us and will break through this window.”
Richard obeyed. Sherri got the hidden key and let them in the back. They agreed to follow the plan they had come up with at Jayda’s.
Jayda held out the blankets they’d brought from home, giving one each to her husband and her neighbor. They moved in unison to the living room. Stan turned to them as they entered. As expected, he made short time of coming at them. As he lunged, both Richard and Sherri tossed the heavy wool camping blankets over Stan. He fought and stumbled, but Richard and Sherri had been able to sandwich him as Jayda went in to put his head in a hold.
They moved as quickly as they could with the fierce fighter under their blankets. An even match for all three of them, they jerked with each step. Sherri screamed once and struggled to keep up her end of the deal. Jayda fought with all her might to keep the man’s head in her lock. She felt Stan’s hand hit her good leg, and she stumbled back into the wall.
