by TJ Weeks
There was more going on in the streets than she thought there would be. She had hoped that everything was just inside and around the hotel.
People wandered into the streets looking for their next meal. Karen was thankful she had found the car and was safe. She had no idea how to get where she wanted to go, but was going to drive in the direction of the power plant she saw over the city earlier.
She dodged men, women and children; weaving in and out of other cars. Suddenly her days of the military ran through her brain. She remembered having to dodge explosions in front of her vehicle trying to save those that had been injured. This time, she was trying to be the one to not get killed. She drove out of the center of town after running over numerous of the already dead, and dodging the ones she could to not destroy her only means of escape. The skyscraper lined streets turned into streets bordered with small homes and matching mailboxes. She slowly drove through looking for any survivors. She looked left and then right while trying to drive. The small neighborhood was strangely empty and Karen was hesitant to stop and search but wanted to help anyone that needed help. There could be housefuls and she was just driving by without helping. She slowed the limo when she came upon a two story blue and white Victorian home. She pulled in front of it and stopped. She looked at the house and the ones that surrounded it looking for any movement from the living.
This was her job at one point, she was to search out the living, save them and return them home to their families. She had gone into enemy fire to do that, and found it strange she could enter an area taking on fire, but was leery of getting out of her limo and into these houses. She couldn’t take the chance, she had to keep moving if she wanted to survive.
She smiled to herself as she thought about her husband telling her that she could not read anymore zombie stories. She wished so much she could have saved him. She wondered if she had given up too easy. But, knew that it was going to get nothing but worse.
The sun was disappearing behind the trees surrounding this quaint neighborhood. She let off of the gas and let the limo roll down the small well paved road watching the house disappear from her view.
Tears began to well up and she turned to focus back on the street. Without pressing on the gas, she slowly crept and suddenly heard a bang against the side of her car. She slammed the brakes lurching forward from the sudden stop. Out of the corner of her eye, she could see a child, she didn’t want to but knew she had to see if it was dead or alive. She slowly turned her head and a small child stood with his face pressed against the window. He could not have been more than seven years old. His eyes were covered with a film of some sort, his skin drooped from his face and swung back and forth as his small mouth opened and closed leaving drool on the window and smearing it with every grind of his teeth showing her that he was capable of taking very small bites of her. She closed her eyes and let off of the brake. The car rolled forward and the small child fell and rolled under the limo, she felt the very small bump and groaned as she could feel his body collapse under the back tire. Karen closed her eyes feeling as though she had just murdered a child.
She pressed on the gas, wanting out of the neighborhood, afraid that she would have to experience more zombie children. She came to a road where she was able to go right or left only and decided that left was a better choice since turning right looked as though it would take her further into the neighborhood. She drove down a small road that dead ended into an access road and onto a highway. Karen took the access road. Two cars flew passed her but she stayed at a steady pace since the cars were going so fast that she knew they would be dangerous if they didn’t slow down. She watched the sides of the highway and in front of her as she passed the posted speed limit of seventy as she entered the highway and looked at her speedometer only at fifty five. She slowed a bit more hoping that she would not run into anymore of the dead ones that were quickly coming out of the woodworks now that dark was coming on.
She saw a sign letting her know about a rest area up ahead. She took the small exit and stopped in front of the small building assuming there were bathrooms inside. She had read enough zombie books that she was sure dead would be inside and she should not go in, but she really needed to go.
She took a big breath in and pushed down the nerves that were floating around in her stomach. She opened the door and pushed it closed but did not let it latch. She leaned herself on the car and took off one of her heels wishing she had a better weapon for zombie destruction. She limped her way on one heel up onto the sidewalk and into the entryway marked ‘Ladies’. A line of stalls were ready to be used, some had the doors partially open and some closed. Karen went into the first stall and locked the swinging door. She pulled down her most expensive Miss Me jeans and sat down. She tried to move forward a bit on the seat so the splash would not be so evident. She breathed out, thankful that her bladder had held out through all of the scares she had dealt with. It felt like forever that she was peeing. She grasped a small amount of toilet paper and pulled up her pants. She lifted her foot out of habit and pushed the handle to flush without thinking.
The toilet made an echo through the bathroom when a high pitched squeal came from somewhere inside the bathroom matching the tone of the toilet that was still flushing.
“Shit!” She whispered.
She bent over looking under the stalls. She saw two high heels standing to the side of her stall. Karen stood up and looked up to the ceiling wondering what her next move needed to be.
She stepped her bare foot onto the toilet seat and carefully placed her heeled shoe on the other side of it. She leaned over the top of the stall and looked down upon a short haired woman. Her heels dragged across the cement floor as she ran into the side of the stall wall over and over. She would stumble each time as she bounced off. Karen’s shoe slipped as she tip toed trying to raise her hand over the stall to kill the woman and she grasped the side. The woman peered up and grabbed Karen’s hand. Her dirty hands grasped Karen’s, she showed Karen the desperation of needing a meal and was pulling hard smashing Karen’s hand into the top of the wall. Karen jerked her hand backwards and the woman fell as she couldn’t catch her feet with heels on. The woman then realized she was able to crawl underneath. Karen placed the heel of her shoe on top of the woman’s head as she stuck it under the wall and hit it with her other hand, losing her balance and falling forward on the woman. Karen’s small body head butted the dead woman’s and she was able to pull her legs into her stomach and squeeze herself out from under the small stall doorway but not without listening to the skull crush and bubble like sounds coming from the woman that she had just killed.
Karen rolled and stood quickly looking for more. She debated on if she really needed that shoe, but she bent over once more and yellow liquid poured from her cracked open head. Her shoe just laid on top of the mess. She grabbed her shoe and ran back to the limo.
It was dark and Karen leapt into the seat and closed the door. Breathless, she grabbed the steering wheel and threw the shoe covered in the woman’s brains to the floorboard of the passenger side. As she did the glove compartment popped open. A revolver bounced against the door of the small compartment.
“Really?” She reached for the gun. “Loaded and ready for me to use and now I find it.”
She stuck her hand deep into the dimly lit area and pulled out the rest of the contents. She laid it on the seat, bullets and a candy bar is what it held.
Karen shook her head as she knew she should have searched the vehicle before. Her thought process was not as it should have been. She began to look through the console, she pulled out two small Gatorades and another candy bar. She opened the Gatorade, chugged it and then moved on to one of the candy bars. All the while the gun laid in her lap.
She sat watching the night sky, knowing the beasts came out and would be walking around looking for food. Finally her eyes drifted closed and she woke to the sun peeking over the horizon and lit up the sky. The dead still wandered the area. She waited for
two of them to pass in front of her then started the limo. The ones that were near enough to hear her start it took notice and quickly turned heading back her way. She was not giving them the chance to get to the car and hit the gas. She moved out onto the highway and drove until she got tired. She had to pull over, she didn’t want to stop, but knew she had to. She scanned the dashboard and saw that she had a little over a quarter of a tank of gas, but had to find something to eat besides sugar. She had already opened the other Gatorade and was only taking sips.
Karen pulled to the side of the road and stretched her legs out, she placed her hands behind her head and stretched them over her head, the gun fell to the floorboard and she quickly bent over to pick it up. When she sat back up, a man stood face to face with her in the windshield. Karen jumped and raised her gun and shot through the windshield. It shattered all over Karen and the man reached in towards her. Karen shuffled her feet and pushed herself over the seat to the back of the limo. The dead man pulled himself into the limo and his head pounced onto the driver’s seat, he raised his head and peered around clumsily. He was unable to move his body that was half in and half out of the vehicle. She made her way to the bench seat that covered the back, she raised the gun again and shot him in the head.
“How fucking stupid Karen!” She whispered to herself.
She sat for a moment and gathered herself. She could not believe that he had startled her enough to shoot out her only safe haven from them and now she had given them full access to her.
She looked at the man that laid in the awkward position he did and tried to figure out what to do. She opened the back door and stepped out into the grass on the side of the road. She gripped the gun tight in her hand and ducked down behind the door before standing up. She was barely able to look over the roof of the car. She scanned the road and looked for anymore that may wander her way. She had to get her bag and move on down the road without a vehicle. She just didn’t think she was willing to remove the man from the driver’s seat, so she walked to the front passenger door, still with only one shoe on and opened it with a ghastly smell hitting her in the face. She gagged a bit before grabbing her bag and closing the door. She lobbed the bag over her shoulder and removed her other shoe throwing it to the ground. She walked barefoot in the grass to the top of a hill. She had headed in that way because of the huge smoke stacks that she was able to see from the hotel; and there they were, the smoke bellowed through the air.
She continued through the still cooled grass. She wished she would have brought the bit of Gatorade that she had left since she was starting to get thirsty, but moved on.
The sun was coming up and starting to get hot. The grass was becoming difficult to walk in with her bare feet. She had only brought heels and moved on without stopping to put them on. She moved closer down into the grass toward the tree line that provided shade. She knew it was probably not the best idea, but wanted the shade to shield her feet. She walked on starting to lose strength and had to take a break. She stopped when she found a large tree that she was able to see all around. The zombies seemed to be scarce at this point so she sat down against the trunk removing the bag from her back. She rubbed her feet, pulled some of the cool green grass from the shade and pressed it onto her face to cool herself down.
She had to get somewhere before dark and the sun was getting high. She jumped up and grabbed her bag. She walked on in the shade until she found a horde that was moving through the woods on the side that she was walking on. She stopped dead in her tracks and stood still. She didn’t move a muscle, hoping that the group would move on without notice of her. No such luck.
One of them raised his eyes and his nose to the air as he dragged his feet through the broken branches of the area. He turned towards Karen, sniffing her out like a bloodhound dog. She could tell he was able to smell her. She had to do something, she had to move before he got too close.
Karen took a step and he turned his head towards her. She broke out in a full sprint and ran up the hill. She saw the smoke that billowed getting closer.
“HELP!” She cried hoping that someone at the location would hear her.
She kept running never looking back at where the man was, afraid that the group had followed him. She ran to the road and screamed, knowing she did not have the weapons to kill without attracting a herd.
She came to a gate without breath and with burning feet from the hot asphalt. She banged on the padlocked fence and then began to climb wincing at the pain of the chain link cutting into her feet.
The gate suddenly swung open with her attached to it.
“Well, hello. Nice to meet you, I’m Holsinger and you are on my fence because…?” He half laughed at the woman.
He took her by the waist and lifted her down and closed the gate just as the mass of zombies fell into the fence line.
STORY FIVE
MILISSA
“Good morning my angels!” Milissa called out to her grandbabies that stayed the night with her.
“Good morning Grandma, is Mom here yet?” Her youngest granddaughter asked.
“She will be here later to get you, come on, breakfast is made.” Milissa told the mommas girl.
The three little ones rose from their beds and rubbed their tiny eyes. Milissa smiled at them stretching their muscles in their cartoon covered jammies she bought them the day before.
“You better hurry, your cinnamon rolls are getting cold.” Milissa told her crew.
All three of them looked at her and then at each other and jumped out of bed pushing each other to get to the kitchen. Milissa held up her hands and let them pass before following them at her own pace downstairs.
Milissa picked up a napkin and handed it to her grandson that had icing smeared across his cheek.
“Y’all act like ‘yall have never had food. My gosh, slow down!” She told them.
“Your cimmanon rolls are the best Grandma!” The full mouthed oldest said.
“Cinnamon honey.” Milissa corrected.
The four sat at the small breakfast table and ate all that was on the plate from the middle of the table. Milissa knew that it probably wasn’t the best idea for them to have so much sugar so early, but they were going home soon, and she was Grandma. She could feed them what she wanted, was her outlook.
“I knew I smelled sweetness!” A deep voice came around the corner.
“GOOD MORNING GRANDPA!” The three jumped from the table to hug his legs.
Richard patted them all on the head and led them back to the table to finish the rest of their breakfast.
“An empty plate?” Richard asked his grandkids. “You didn’t leave any for me?”
“They were really yummy!” His youngest granddaughter belted out. “See I cleaned my plate.”
Richard kissed his wife on the cheek and skimmed his finger across her cheek.
“Good morning my honey bear.” He whispered.
Milissa smiled at her husband of thirty years and rose to let him sit down. She grabbed a plate from the oven and sat it in front of him full of more cinnamon rolls.
“HA! Grandma made me my own CIMMANON rolls.” He said like he knew his granddaughter said it.
Milissa laughed at him knowing that he was the one that kept her saying the word that way.
“Stop that, she needs to learn how to say it.” She warned.
Richard waved his hand in the air and took a bite of the warmness.
“Guys let’s go wash up and brush our teeth and get dressed before mom gets here.” Milissa instructed.
They all abided and raced to the stairs arguing of who got to go first into the bathroom.
Milissa leaned over and kissed her husband’s forehead, “Happy Anniversary babe.”
“Oh shit! Is that today?” Richard questioned.
Milissa stared at him blankly for a moment before turning and walking away without a word. She started gathering dirty dishes and placing them into the sink.
“I’m kidding you know. I have reserv
ations at a special place at seven sharp, I need your best dress put on and for you to actually be ready at six. Maybe then we can be on time.” He laughed.
“Richard, I don’t have a best dress, everything I have is old as hell.” Milissa said wiping her hands.
Richard stood and leaned around the corner of the kitchen and brought a large box back to her. A red bow flopped to the sides of the box and the white shiny wrapping paper shined under the kitchen light.
He handed her the box, “Happy Anniversary, present number one.” He stated.
“Number one?” She questioned.
Richard smiled and let her ponder on that for a moment. Milissa slowly sat down and began untying the bow as she watched her husband wondering what he was up to.
She tore the wrapping paper across the box and pulled the top off. A black glittery cloth showed in the box. She looked at her husband and pulled out the contents. She stood and held it up. It was a black dress with glitter across the bodice and a flowing bottom.
“Richard, really? You got me a dress? I have never had anything like this.” She teared up.
“I know, now you do. I am real stupid on shoes and shit, so I was hoping you had some shoes and maybe some jewelry to go with it.” He stated watching his wife.
“Richard, thank you. I absolutely love it. Where are we going?” She asked.
“No ma’am. That is surprise number two.” He turned and started to walk away.
Milissa was in awe over the dress and how well he had done picking it out.
A knock sounded at the door as Richard passed by it on his way to the living room he popped it open, knowing that it was his daughter at the sound of her shouting good morning through the closed door.
“Hello dear.” Richard said from the couch.
“Good morning Daddy, Happy Anniversary!” She belted. “Where is Mom?”
Richard pointed to the kitchen as he kicked his house slippers onto the floor and put his feet on the couch.
