by Tara Brown
“NOW!”
I jump, holding the phone out. "Mom, stop! It's Dad."
She turns. The black tears are still streaming. "Did you see the child, Lou? D-d-did, did you see the feet by the dumpster? They twitched—did you see it? I think that bastard attacked her. I think he hurt her." Her sobbing is out of control. “That could have been Joey. I could have left her there.”
Hesitantly, I hold the phone back up to my ear, wincing. "Dad, just a—"
"PUT HER ON THE GODDAMNED PHONE, LOU!" he screams into my ear for the first time ever. It makes my stomach ache to hear him panic—he’s the rock.
Closing my eyes, I hold the phone out for her. "YOU HAVE TO TAKE THIS!" My hand is trembling and my heart hurts a little. First the crazy man at the school and now my father is panicking. My father who has never yelled at me before—ever.
I blink a single tear as Mom drops the rag she is scrubbing with into the trashcan and pours bleach onto our SUV. It’s like she doesn't hear me. She’s stuck on the man and the blood. The floor is flooded with bleach. She pours it on her hands and walks to the utility sink. There she scrubs like she is Lady Macbeth. Her eyes are wild with smeared makeup and something I have never seen before, maybe a loss of control. I can hear my father screaming from the phone I am holding out to her but she is in a trance. "MOM!"
She turns, suddenly realizing what is happening. "Hold-hold it up to my ear."
I can honestly say I have never met the woman in front of me. My ball-busting lawyer of a hateful mother is gone and in her place is a simpering, feeble, scared woman. She is weak and frightened. I hold the phone up to the side of her face. I can smell her perfume, but it mixes with the bleach and nauseates me.
Her lips quiver. "Baby, there was a man and a child and the child was hurt badly, and the poor thing’s feet twitched and there was no one. No one was there. I almost let Joey go in—" She sobs, shaking. “I was on the phone and I didn't see. I didn't see. I should have seen.”
I hear him bark and she stops nattering on. She nods, making noises I assume mean she understands what he is saying. She sniffles. "I need you now! I can’t do this. I need you. I can’t do this."
He barks again. She shakes her head as fresh tears fill her eyes. I don’t know what to do to make her stop being crazy—to make her get control of herself. I hear something outside of the garage banging, and something else. I look back at the garage door as the noises get louder.
Oh God, is it the man? Did he follow us home?
Her eyes dart wild and crazed-like to the sounds, like she too thinks the man is on the other side. She backs away, bringing the phone and I follow. She shakes her head. "I can't, Steve. I can't do it. Your children need you." Her eyes are crazy and her mouth is a tight line. She gives me a look. "He wants to talk to you."
I take the phone back, uncertain of what he wants me to do, beyond maybe call the police. "We never called the cops yet—we couldn't get through. It was busy and then there was just a recorded message."
"Listen to me, Lou. I have minutes—seconds even.” He’s calm again. He sounds like himself. “The whole thing is going to be widespread in hours. You have about thirty minutes before this goes televised and then the world will be in a panic. Right now they have been jamming signals, in hopes of stopping the panic. But it’s a Band-Aid situation. Get to the store. Get as much as you can. Be smart—water, batteries, canned food, and dried food. Forget fresh and forget things that need a ton of work. Drag the camping barbecue inside. Fill the tubs with water and the sinks. Get hand sanitizer and bleach. I'm texting all of this to you right now. When you get back from the store, stay in the house, and board up the windows. There is plywood in the backyard. I bought a ton when I was home, for the shed. I want you to get my hammer and my nails and board up the windows. Do the main floor and the windows near the garage. The back of the house isn’t that big of a deal. Touch no one and stay away from people. Bring Furgus inside—don't let him outside at all. Let him go to the bathroom in the garage if he gets desperate."
My mouth is dry so when I speak, it sounds funny. "Dad, Dad, I don’t—I don’t know what you mean. Why would Gus use the garage as the bathroom?"
"We don’t know for sure what it is, but hear my voice—I am coming for you. Talk to no one and touch no one. Right now the guess is that it’s viral."
My heartbeat is so high I feel like I might pass out. My mom has stripped naked, leaving her clothes on the floor. She walks into the house, leaving me in the garage.
"Lou?"
I blink, realizing he is still talking. "Where are you, Dad?"
"Russia but I'm coming home tonight. I'll call you in a bit. Do the things I texted you. I am coming for you."
I nod. "Okay."
"Don’t talk to anyone. No one. Anyone could have this thing, Lou. Anyone."
"Okay." I don’t know what I'm agreeing to or what I'm saying or what he's saying. I just nod, I can’t think. My brain is so full of blood it feels like it might burst.
"I love you, Lou. Give Joey a kiss for me and tell her to be strong. Keep your mom in line, kid." Keep Mom in line? He always tells me to cut her slack. “We both know you’re the strong one. You have to be strong, okay? Be the girl I know you are until I can get there.”
I swallow hard as the phone disconnects, leaving me to feel more alone than I ever have. I walk inside, noticing that the stinging in my eyes starts to dissipate when I get into the kitchen, where Mom is washing her hands again. Joey walks to me, holding the remote. “The channels aren’t working.”
I press the other button and turn on Apple TV so she can watch Netflix. The moment her show about the Australian mermaids starts, our house looks normal, except of course for the fact that my mom is still naked.
"I have to go to the store, for Dad."
She spins around. "NO!" Her face is the most frightening thing I have ever seen, apart from the bloody man.
"I have to."
She looks like she might freak out—worse than she already is. I'm scared I might. I give her my best attempt at a smile. "He said we need to get some things and I won’t go anywhere that's heavily populated. It’s just the store out here."
She gives me a look like she might argue, but I nod toward Joey. My sister is oblivious to my mother's nakedness, sobbing, and cleaning. Joey’s lost in her show. Mom's eyes dart between the two of us and finally she nods. "Hurry."
"I will. I can use the Visa you gave me."
She shakes her head. "I have cash upstairs."
I hurry up the stairs, going up before her so I don’t have to follow her naked body up. "What did Dad tell you?"
“That maybe the man at the school could be one of what the CDC is calling the infected. They think they have a form of mad cow disease, but for humans. The people are violent and sick, beyond the help of doctors.” She shakes her head. "Something about it being a virus, they aren’t positive though. Not that it matters—people are getting really sick, whatever it is. He said until they have answers, to stay inside. It's bad in the big cities. The blood is infectious so you can’t touch it or let them touch you.” She pauses, staring at herself. Her next sentence is softer, almost as if she doesn't believe what she’s saying. “He said they bite. The sick people bite the other people."
A shiver trickles through me, tugging at every nerve. I don't know what she means by they bite. I understand the sentence—it’s fairly simple, and yet my head can’t seem to wrap around it. They bite?
She pulls on some yoga pants and a tee shirt, staring at her reflection in the large mirror in the corner. "I swear, I can feel his blood on me."
My blood is ice, I’m certain of it. I nod, still trying to be brave but inside I’m rocking the way Joey does. "I'll just go to the store out here." Her dark hair is still in a fancy bun and her dark-blue eyes look almost brown with the black makeup everywhere. She’s a mess. I point at the mirror. "You should wash up before Joey sees you like that."
She lifts her gaze to her face,
wincing and snapping out of the weird confusion she seems to be stuck in. "Oh God." She hands me a wad of cash and heads for the bathroom. "Be fast."
I’m almost excited to see her back to being closed off and bossy. I turn and run down the stairs, locking the door to the house when I get into the garage. I start the SUV exactly the opposite of how my dad taught me to drive, opening the huge garage door after the vehicle is started. As I press the button, I have visions of every horror movie I have ever seen, but as the door opens, there is nothing beyond my neighbor’s garden. I back up, closing the door and looking around the neighborhood, seeing people getting into their cars. People are still leaving for work? Hopefully someone has barricaded the school.
I leave my street and pull onto the main road. The traffic seems thick but it's going the wrong way. I am driving against it. Everyone is going toward the city.
Did no one call the police about the man and the child behind the dumpster?
When I pull into the grocery store I only find a couple cars, clearly no one realizes what’s happening yet. They don’t have a dad who is a military scientist.
I run inside, grabbing two shopping carts and push them side-by-side, running down the aisles and filling them up. When the first one is full, I leave it at the checkout. “I’ll be back for this in a minute.” I nod at the lady, showing her my shopping cart full of stuff. She smiles, almost ignoring me.
I run to the canned-goods aisle and hold the cart next to the shelf, dragging my arm across the shelves. I look down at my phone to make sure I’ve gotten everything. When I look up, a lady in a business suit gives my shopping cart a weird look.
I push the cart to the checkout. The lady who smiled moments before, now gives me a hateful face and sighs before we start the process of ringing it all in. Her face is smug when she says, "$1,304 please."
I pass her $1,320. She starts counting, again with a sigh.
As she passes me the receipt, I look back at the people behind me. They all have savage looks on their faces. She is the only checkout open and each of them have a handful of things. I push the first shopping cart out to the SUV as a young man pushes the other one for me. “What’s the deal? You stocking up for the apocalypse?”
“Maybe.” I give him a subtle nod. “When you finish filling my car, go home and lock the doors.”
He gives me a look and then my food. “You’re Lou, right? The lacrosse star?”
“I’m Lou.” I don't know about being the star of the team. That's more like Sasha. I nod again. “Anyway, my dad works for the military. Go home. Don’t stay here. Trust me.”
When the first shopping cart is empty, he leaves with it, shaking his head. I don't have time to worry about him and finish filling the entire back with food, water, and batteries from the second cart. Even with the seats down it is a massive load of stuff. As I leave the parking lot, I notice the cars starting to stream in. The traffic has reversed in the hour I have been here. I have to wait for the light before I can get into the left lane and drive home. The roads are full of people hurrying to the places they’re going. A woman in a business suit runs down the road, dragging a child with her. I have no reason to, but I panic anyway. My breathing grows rapid as my throat feels like it’s thickened.
When I get back on our street I relax a small amount, backing into the driveway and closing the garage door again before I turn the SUV off. It still stinks of bleach in the garage.
I run into the house, feeling safer the moment I see the inside of the house. "Mom, I'm back. I need help with the stuff." I almost have a bad feeling until she comes around the corner—on the phone, and offers only a frown.
Joey gives me a look. “The TV is all the same shows still.”
I roll my eyes. “Jo, I need a hand." As I get the words out, I glance at the news in the background. It looks like live footage in a city, New York maybe. The bridges are packed with people trying to get out and there are military checkpoints. It makes me shiver imagining it all. "Mom!" She ignores me so I shout, "MOM, THE TV!"
“I gotta go.” She turns her head, dropping the phone as she clicks it off. Joey looks scared. "What is it?"
I turn the volume up and sit as Joey climbs onto the couch next to me and then Mom sits next to her. We are crammed onto the couch as the scene changes to California. Los Angeles is in chaos.
The man on the TV speaks solemnly. "Early reports of confused people started a couple days ago, globally, in what some are now calling a rage flu. The calm, almost still, people twitch but remain where they are until something triggers them. Noise or activity seem to be the worst triggers. Whatever it is that has made them sick, makes them violent instantly. As unbelievable as it sounds, we have reports of biting and savagery. The attacks are only human on human—no animals have been involved as far as reports have stated. Some are saying it’s possibly the spike in temperature, which doctors have been seeing in many patients. As of right now, we have no answers. The CDC has asked that we postpone all work and travel until this has been sorted out. Stay in your homes—if you or a loved one has any of the symptoms—please stay in your homes. Bringing the sick to the hospitals is only infecting healthy people at this point. Isolate them from your family in another room and wait for the fever to drop. If they become violent, isolate them from the remaining members of your family until help can arrive. Do not try to deal with them yourself.”
The phone rings.
I pick it up, not taking my gaze from the solemn man on the television. “Hello?”
“Uhm, Lou. It’s me. My mom and dad are in the city,” Julia’s small voice squeaks into the phone.
“Be right there.” I drop the phone. “Going to get Julia.” I back away, still watching the man as he speaks of the intentions of the government, despite the collapse of thirty-three financial institutions.
“Thanks, Lou,” Mom mutters, not even paying attention to what I’m saying.
I back up slowly, turning when I reach the door to the bleach-filled garage. I know my dad said not to leave, but Julia is like another sister, and I would die if Joey was home alone right now. I do the exact exit routine as before, starting the SUV before I open the door. When I get out onto the road, the traffic has reversed in the hour I have been in the store and the cars from my neighbors are filing back into their driveways. They clearly heard the reports along the way to work and have changed their minds about going into the city.
People are in a rush now. Most drive without care of road signs or other people. I swerve to avoid at least one car; the huge SUV I’m driving is handling like a slug with all the crap in the back. When I pull up to Julia’s driveway, I honk the horn, glancing around the neighborhood nervously. Everyone else on the road has the same instinct I do: avoid other people. Julia runs out to the SUV and jumps into the front seat. She has another little girl with her that I don’t know.
“You have to share the front seat.”
Julia is crying and the other little girl looks like she saw a ghost.
“You guys okay?”
Julia shakes her head. “The news came on and everyone was saying people in the cities are sick and it’s coming out to the smaller towns now. And I can’t reach my mom or dad.”
“Yeah, but I bet your parents are on their way home.” I back up and drive back to my place, trying to smile at the girl I don't know. “I’m Lou.”
She nods. “I know. I’m Lissie.”
When I’ve backed the SUV back into the garage, Julia grabs at the door handle but I hold a hand up. “Wait!” They both jump but listen.
“We have to wait for it to be safe.” I close the garage and turn the car off, regretting saying it. “Okay, now you can open it, but don’t walk over there, the floor has bleach on it.” I open the back of the vehicle. “Wanna help?”
They both grab armloads of groceries but their hands shake and their faces pale. When they come back for more, Joey and Mom are with them. Between the five of us, unloading is much easier than I had anticipated
and the task seems to distract us from the impossibly odd start to the day.
The food covers the floor, counters, and tables, making Mom look overwhelmed. “This is insane.”
“Mom, it’s going to be chaos when everyone realizes the sickness is out here.” I shake my head. “Dad wanted this stuff. I’m going to rinse the garage floor and start sealing the windows and doors.”
Mom and the girls all give me the same look. I smile. “Hey, it’s just like a video game.” I take the keys and lock the house when I’m in the garage. My footsteps seem loud on the concrete as I near the door to the garage and side yard. I take several deep breaths before I open the door, peeking out into the street and yard. No one moves out there, not even one of the cars that had been lined up on the road trying to get home. It’s completely still when I rush for the garden hose.
“Lou, what’s happening?”
I jump, turning to see my neighbor, Mrs. McFarthen. I shake my head. “I don’t know. The news said a virus.”
“Yes, I saw the news.” The older lady gives me a dubious look. “What about your dad? What does he say?”
I shake my head again. “He’s on mission. I think in Russia.”
“He hasn’t called?”
“No. He can’t call. It’s always radio silence with him. Mom says he should be back this week—but now I don’t know.” I lie because I have to. My dad breaking radio silence was odd for him.
Her look softens. “If you kids need anything, you come over.” She knows how our life is without our dad being here. Tits on a bull is her favorite description of Mom.
I smile. “Thanks. We will. If Dad says anything, I’ll phone. We’re locking up the house though. We saw a man at the school who was covered in blood and acting crazy. It sounds like the stuff in the city. I don't want to be surprised if it’s here already—the sickness. I suggest you do the same.”
Her jaw drops. “Oh God. You saw a man who could be sick?”
I nod once, gripping to the cold rubber of the hose. She turns and runs to her house and I turn on the hose. I drag it to the front of the house where the garage door is and use the pin pad to open it quickly. I rinse the garage floor as fast as I can.
