“Anything we need here?” Jessie asked.
“No.”
As the five of them went out the back door, a good portion of the front of the store was already burning. They put Michael and Shawn in Jessie’s cart and Rebecca in Mauri’s. They ran across the lot avoiding most of the zombies. Jessie rammed two, and Mauri was able to avoid them all together. When they got to the front door they found it locked.
“Around back.” Jessie said.
They got around the building and tried the first door they came to. It was locked. So were the overhead loading dock doors and the second pedestrian door on the far end.
“We have to go back out front and break the glass. We can barricade it with stuff from inside.” Jessie said.
Mauri nodded
They came back around to the front of the store. By now Panera and surrounding stores were an inferno. All the zombies in the lot were heading in that direction. Jessie left the cart and stepped in front of the entrance door getting ready to shoot the glass when the automatic door slid open. Jessie raised the barrel of the shotgun into the low light of the store.
“Get in here Brewster, you are almost as slow as they are.” A man’s voice said.
Recognizing the voice Jessie smiled and grabbed his cart. Mauri looked at him not understanding.
“It’s alright babe, he’s a friend.”
They rushed into the store and the man turned the key on the automatic door control panel and locked it.
Jessie walked over to Kenny and they embraced.
“How the fuck are you, Traveler?” The man asked.
“Wait a minute!” Mauri interrupted. “You know Kenny?”
“Wait, you know Kenny?” Jessie replied.
Abby came running down the center aisle from the rear of the store passing bathroom fixtures and bean bag chairs.
“Mauri!” Abby screeched.
“Abby. Oh my God!” Mauri said and burst into tears. She ran to her and spun and hugged and cried.
“Now I’m really confused.” Jessie said.
“What happened?” Mauri asked looking Abby up and down for bullet wounds.
“I’ll tell you all about it, let’s get these kids settled.” Abby said.
“Wait a goddamn second here.” Jessie said smiling. “How do you all know each other?”
“Kenny and Abby were in Sears with me when you called me yesterday morning. Kenny got shot by that guy in Panera, and Abby and I got separated down at the intersection.” Mauri said.
“Got shot at.” Kenny corrected. “I’ll tell you that story over dinner.”
“So how do you know these guys?” Mauri asked Jessie.
“Kenny and I worked at Shipper’s Pride together.” Jessie said.
“Yeah before this jerk-off escaped and left me in that shit pit all alone.” Kenny said.
“Mommy.” Michael interrupted.
“Yeah bubba?” Mauri said.
“Can we watch a show?” he said.
“It’s the end of the world and my son needs a Tom & Jerry fix.” Mauri said.
“Let’s get settled. We secured all the doors.” Kenny said.
“There are showers in the employee locker rooms.” Abby said.
“Mommy, can we go look at toys?” Michael asked.
“Cars Mommy.” Shawn said.
“Yes, we can. Let’s go pick some new cars.” Mauri said and felt sad that they might never see the cars or anything else from their house again.
Mauri and Abby brought the three children to the toy department and let them pick whatever they wanted. Kenny and Jessie went to the furniture department and brought three dorm sized couches over to electronics and positioned them around the largest of the flat screen televisions to create a makeshift living room. Kenny fiddled with the remote control and found CNN. It was just a picture of the logo with no sound.
“At least that’s up.” Jessie said pointing at the TV.
“Yeah, that’s a fountain of information.” Kenny said.
“They are broadcasting that logo. That means they still have the capability. We need to leave one TV on that channel in case they broadcast more than just that logo.”
“See, that’s why you got the big promotion and I’m still humping boxes.” Kenny said smiling.
The two men figured out how to put one of the smaller TVs on CNN and left it with the volume up all the way.
Abby and Mauri came back with the kids. Michael was carrying a singing, dancing garbage truck, Shawn had a pillow pet in the shape of Wally the Green Monster, and Rebecca had a Star Wars light saber.
“Can you watch them while we go shower and change?” Mauri asked Jessie.
“Sure. When you get back we can nuke some food. I found a movie for the kids to watch. We’ll be fine.”
“I love you.” Mauri said and kissed her husband.
“I love you too. Let me know if you need a hand in the shower.” He said smiling.
“Hey now!” Kenny said in a deep voice.
“Very funny.” Mauri said.
As the women picked out new underwear, clothes, and shoes for themselves and Rebecca, the movie started to play on the big screen television. The sound echoed all over the store.
“As far as I can figure, the year is thirteen hundred A.D and I'm being dragged to my death. It wasn't always like this, I had a real life, once.”
“Jessie Edward Brewster! That is NOT a kid’s movie.” Mauri bellowed from two departments away.
“But it’s on Blu Ray!” Jessie hollered back.
“Jessie!” Mauri said in that tone only a wife or mother could muster.
When Mauri and Abby came back past the electronics department on their way to the showers “The Sound of Music” was on. Mauri raised her eyebrows at the television. Jessie held up his hands.
“Hey, Michael picked it, don’t look at me. I had the boomstick rockin’ in 1080p.” Jessie said.
Mauri gave him the stink eye.
“Come on Rebecca, shower time.” Mauri said and followed Abby up the stairs to the women’s locker room.
When the girls came back the boys repeated the process. Once everyone was clean and changed, the kids parked in front of the television and finished the movie. Kenny and Jessie went to find a suitable kitchen table and chairs while Abby and Maui did the food shopping.
They got to the fruits and vegetables when Abby stopped.
“What happened to Debbie?” Abby asked.
Mauri took a deep breath and tried to push the image of Debbie’s dead body from her mind.
“Dale raped and killed her.” Mauri said as calmly as she could.
“Oh my God Mauri…in front of the kids?” Abby asked.
“No. The kids were asleep, locked in the bathroom.” Mauri said.
“Jesus. You shot him?” Abby asked.
“Yeah, he was going to kill Jessie, but I didn’t know it was Jessie. He had his helmet on. I just saw him drop his gun. He was going to do the same thing to me if Jessie hadn’t broken the window.” Mauri said.
“We heard the shots.” Abby said.
“It was horrible, but two people are dead because of Dale. I don’t regret shooting him.” Mauri said picking up a tomato.
“If he was a better shot he would have killed Kenny too.” Abby said.
“Where did you find Kenny anyway?”
“He found me. Dale must have been following us, or he heard that guy’s gunshots when we were at Rebecca’s house. He came up behind me in the intersection about fifteen minutes after you guys left. He shot at me and missed. I jumped off the bus and ran up the hill. Kenny came out of the TGI Friday’s and shot Dale. He was chasing me up the hill.” Abby said without taking a breath.
“He shot Dale?” Mauri asked.
“Yeah, he got him in the arm, down by his wrist.” Abby said.
“You wouldn’t have known it.” Mauri said.
“We ran behind the stores and found the big dock door open behind Target. We ran in and shut th
e door. We searched the store for you guys and anyone else. Kenny had passed the house we were in yesterday on his way up here, walked right by us. He was going store to store looking for us. He was in Friday’s cooking some chicken when he heard the shots.” Abby said.
“Amazing we all found each other.” Mauri said.
“Not really. It was logical. You thought of it right off.” Abby said smiling.
“As long as the doors stay locked and those things don’t break the windows we could stay here for a while. There is plenty of food and the power is still on. When the power goes off there is still a ton of dry food.” Mauri said.
“And new clothes.” Abby said. “I think I am going to have three costume changes a day.”
They both laughed.
Chapter 15 – The Plan
They ate microwave chicken pot pies and watched “The Lion King” on the big TV. Kenny tried to find a station broadcasting anything on one of the smaller TVs with no luck. After dinner they cleaned up and cleaned out the store manager’s office putting all the furniture and personal items in the employee lounge next door. It had a door that locked from the inside. They had all agreed sleeping in an enclosed room would be better on the nerves than sleeping out in the open. The office was a good size, twenty feet by twenty feet. The men lugged blankets, pillows and sleeping bags into the space and made seven makeshift beds. Each had two folded blankets for padding, a pillow and a sleeping bag. Kenny thought to bring two reading lamps and an alarm clock. The kids were in bed with a baby monitor plugged in by eight o’clock, and the adults opened a bottle of Irish Mist they found unopened in the Store Manager’s drawer.
Kenny put “True Romance” on the DVD player, but it only served as background noise as the four adults talked.
The conversation meandered from how shitty the food was to how long the power would stay on to wondering what various friends and family members were still alive, in the traditional sense. It got quiet as they contemplated those big questions. Kenny could tell Jessie was off in his own world. He could see the wheels spinning.
“Jessie.” Kenny said. “How did you manage to get home? Abby said you were in New Jersey.”
“It’s a long story. Mauri probably saved my life. If I had walked down to the lobby of the hotel not knowing what was going on I’d probably be dead.” He said.
Mauri shivered at the thought.
“I don’t know if I could have held it together being that far away.” Kenny said.
“You look at the situation, assess the options and consider the least dangerous action to take. Then you hold your breath and hope luck is on your side.” Jessie said.
“Luck didn’t get you here, brother.” Kenny said smiling.
“Not completely, but it was shit luck that I didn’t die when I flipped the ’69 Mustang I borrowed.” Jessie said smiling back.
“You stole and flipped a mustang?” Mauri asked with equal parts amusement and horror.
“It was a black on black fastback. It rolled six times based on how far down the embankment I was when I woke up, and I borrowed it.”
“Jesus Christ Jessie! Who are you?” Mauri asked
“And you aren’t hurt?” Abby asked.
“Yeah, I got this.” Jessie said and pulled down his shirt to reveal a large bruise on his shoulder.
“You are a lucky fuck.” Kenny said and they all laughed.
They ate some of the potato chips and refilled their Irish Mists.
“I think we should do some housekeeping. We should use some of the high shelves to make walls around here. It would give me less of the creeps sitting here with my back to the empty store.” Abby said.
“We could set up a whole floor plan if we wanted to. What else do we have to do?” Kenny added.
“We can’t stay here.” Jessie said.
They all looked at him.
“We can’t stay here.” He repeated. “It’s not safe enough.”
“It feels pretty safe to me.” Abby said unsure of herself.
“What happens when the power goes out? What happens when the food starts to go bad? What happens when one of us falls down, or gets sick? What happens if another group of people break in the front of the store and leave an opening for those things?” Jessie asked with clear agitation in his voice.
“Jessie.” Mauri said.
“I’m sorry, but we can’t drop our guard. It’s been thirty six hours since all this shit started. I’d say more than half the eastern seaboard’s population has been turned into those fucking things. The other half is scared out their mind and probably not thinking very rationally. For whatever reason, we are extremely lucky that this place is as abandoned as it is. The timing was right and that bus accident helped. If we were in a bigger town we would be fucked. Can you imagine what it is like in Worcester or Boston right now?” Jessie said.
“You’re scaring me.” Abby said.
“I hate to say it Abby, but you need to be scared. We are in the most danger our species has ever been. Until we are someplace truly safe we all need to be on point all the time.” Jessie said.
“Where is safe?” Kenny asked.
Jessie smiled.
“You have a plan, don’t you?” Mauri asked.
Jessie explained the plan. Where they were going, how they were going to get there and what they needed to do to maintain their safety. By midnight it was all talked out and everyone was in agreement that Jessie’s plan with some luck- would be their best bet for long term survival.
“What do you do Jessie?” Abby asked. “Are you a cop?”
Jessie laughed.
“Look, we can stay here for a few more days, get our plan together. Make a solid list and pack exactly what we need. I don’t know how much of this will be on foot, but we should plan for all of it just in case. The longer we wait the braver the people hiding in their houses become. Some will start running out of food, or want to try and find out some news, or just want a case of beer. The less people we interact with the better.” Jessie said.
They all nodded in agreement. Abby got up from her seat, stretched and yawned. Mauri looked at her watch.
“Yeah.” She said. “I hear you.”
Twenty minutes later, they were all in their beds. The three children had all migrated to the same sleeping bag and were cuddled together. Abby and Kenny slept on one side of the trio, Jessie and Mauri on the other. They all fell asleep within minutes of hitting the pillow.
Chapter 16 – The President
Jessie woke up with a start. The buzzing noise was faint. He shook Mauri awake.
“What?” She asked eyes half closed.
“There is an alarm going off. Wake them up and lock this door when I leave.” He said gesturing towards Abby and Kenny.
He scooped up the shotgun, opened the door and made his way down the hall in his bare feet. Once he got to the open space of the store he could tell where the sound was coming from. He stood still and looked for a movement. He saw no one. He didn’t think he would. He made his way to the electronics department. The television that Kenny had left on CNN was a max volume emitting the sound. He turned it down and ran back to the office.
“Mauri, it’s me, it’s safe.” He said as he knocked.
Kenny opened the door.
“Come on. TV is back on.” Jessie said.
The four adults locked the still sleeping children into the office with the key and went to the electronics department. Mauri turned on the baby monitor. The television was still buzzing, but the CNN logo was replaced by the presidential seal and scrolling ticker at the bottom that read: “Presidential Address 7:00 AM EST.”
Mauri looked at her watch. Four minutes to seven.
“Finally.” Abby said.
At seven AM the screen went blank and the buzzing stopped. Twenty seconds later The President of the United States of America was on television. He looked like hell. He was wearing a polo shirt, and had obviously forgone hair and makeup. The only jewelry he wore was his we
dding ring and he was sitting in what Jessie thought looked like his grandmother’s kitchen. The sun was bright coming through the window over his shoulder and he was looking off camera giving whispered instructions to someone. There was a finger snapping sound and he adjusted in his seat and looked at the camera.
“My fellow Americans, I address you this morning in our country’s darkest hour, in humanity’s darkest hour. Nothing I can say here today can convey the sorrow and grief my staff and I are feeling for the scores of lives lost over the past forty eight hours. Nothing I can say here today can make up for the lack of readiness our nation’s government demonstrated during this time. There are no excuses good enough for the ineffectiveness of the agencies designed to protect us from this type of biological attack, and the total communication breakdown that has followed.”
The president was getting visibly angry. He sat back in his chair and took a big gulp of water from the glass on the table.
“That being said, I will explain what has happened, how it happened and how we will deal with this disaster going forward. I have been in contact with the world’s top scientists, military leaders and world health officials. There is obviously much we don’t know at this point, but I will share openly and honestly what we do know.”
The president took another gulp of water.
“The origin of this Zombie outbreak has been traced to a pathogen that first kills, then takes over and reanimates the human body it infects. The term undead is technically wrong. There is nothing supernatural about this disease. It’s a man made, genetically engineered weapon. A research facility in Sawkill, New York had a security breach and this pathogen was purposefully stolen, then introduced into the population of New York City. We do not know who is behind this horrific act. We do know that the pathogen, being called ‘The Sawkill Strain’, is one hundred percent communicable and one hundred percent fatal. The main method of transfer is by being bitten by an infected person. It is not known at this time if there are other methods of infection. Health officials advise that blood, saliva and any other bodily fluid should be avoided at all costs. Contact with the infected should be avoided at all costs. If you or someone with you has been bitten, that individual must be quarantined…”
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