With that, walking like a bad actor in an even worse police crime drama, Dr. Caldwell made his way across the yard and went into the unlocked back door. He disappeared for a few seconds but reappeared unmolested, much to Emma’s and Malachi’s relief.
“C’mon. There’s food upstairs still on the kitchen counters. Like they knew to expect us.”
Emma shuddered to herself at the thought of what that meant. A few of days ago, some ordinary family was rising early with the day. They were probably getting lunches together for later and talking about their day when they heard the news of the mayhem. They probably flew out the door, never looking back at the partially finished lunches or the ordinary lives that they were leaving behind forever.
Once inside, she looked around and further fleshed out the images in her mind. There were children’s toys, for both boys and girls, scattered here and there. Next to the now crusty sandwiches in mid-preparation sat Star Wars and Barbie lunch boxes.
Dr. Caldwell pulled a tab on the top of a can of fruit cocktail and emptied the contents into his mouth and onto his cheeks. He chomped the chunks of peaches, pears, grapes, and cherries in grand style. From the non-functioning and stale refrigerator, he produced a bottle of still cool orange soda and sucked it down greedily straight from the bottle. He belched loudly and handed the two-liter bottle to the police officer. Office Ivanoff was chewing a granola cereal bar and eagerly drank from the soda bottle. He went to the window that looked out over the front yard and the street beyond.
He turned around and asked sourly, “So, you want the good news or the bad news?”
Emma said defiantly, “Can’t it wait until I at least have a full stomach? I don’t think marshmallows have ever tasted this good.”
“Whatever you say, your majesty.”
“If I wasn’t having such a good time eating, I’d tell you to go fuck yourself, but you’re gonna have to do that for me. I’m not that interested in dealing with you right at this moment.”
Stung, the police officer said, “You know, under different circumstances...”
With a little sass she asked, “What? We coulda’ been friends or something?”
“No. Hell no. Under different circumstances, you’d never be allowed to speak to me like that.”
“You know, that shit may fly out in the Bush, but you can plain forget about it with me, got it?” declared Emma, not once slowing her chewing as she tossed in mini-marshmallows one after the other.
Dr. Caldwell, still hung up on the good news and bad news, asked calmly, “Officer, I’d like to hear both the good and the bad news.”
“Well, the good news is that I think we’re safe for the moment and I don’t think they know that we’re here.”
“They?”
“Yeah, that’s the bad news. There’s a crowd of those things out in the street. They just look like they’re waiting for something.”
“Waiting for something?” echoed Dr. Caldwell.
And Emma shared all of their thoughts, “Yeah, waiting for us to fuck up and become dinner.”
The doctor, shaking his head and half-heartedly chuckling, said, “You sure got a way of cutting to the chase of things don’t you?”
“It’s a gift. What can I say?”
Sneering as he left the room, Officer Ivanoff said, “Some gift. Too bad...” His words trailed off as he made his way down the hallway.
Dr. Caldwell, realizing where the police officer was heading, said in a rush, “Officer, I haven’t been in any of those rooms yet.”
“Yeah?”
“Meaning, I don’t know what’s on the other side of any of those doors.”
The police officer’s hand stopped abruptly, just inches from a doorknob. The hand, with a mind and an instinct all its own, fell to his side and pulled the 9mm pistol from its hip holster. The cool oily metal of the pistol grip was comforting. The lingering tingles of fear that had sought refuge in the hand’s fingertips lost their grip and quickly faded.
With his gun raised and in a firing stance, Officer Ivanoff backed out of the hallway and back into the main room. “You didn’t think to check it all out first?”
“I listened at each door and didn’t hear anything. The house seems abandoned, but...”
Finishing his thought, “But you didn’t see fit to check it all out before inviting us in.”
Interjecting herself into the conversation, Emma retorted, “Hey, he hasn’t been trained in any of this. Would you have done any better?”
“I would have at least checked the whole place out first.”
“As I recall, you weren’t exactly jumping to come in here in the first place. At least the doc here got us in.”
Walking down the hall, she continued, “And if neither of you have the balls to check the place out, then I guess it’s just up to me.” As she finished the last sentence, she threw open the first door to reveal a coat closet doing its best to contain all the contents of its overstuffed space. The long handle of a tilted floor vacuum cleaner fell and caused each of their hearts to skip a beat. Emma plastered herself to the opposite wall trying to avoid the slow reach. When she opened her eyes again and realized her error, she said, “Okay, I think I just wet myself.”
Dr. Caldwell demanded, “What in the hell were you thinking?”
“I don’t know. I think it was just a sugar buzz from all of those marshmallows. Maybe we should open the other doors together.”
“Yeah, I think you may be right.”
Officer Ivanoff went back over to the front window to keep an eye on the ghouls in the street. It appeared that they were in yet another cul-de-sac of the same ghost town. He looked out onto the same scene that he’d seen several times before. Some of the houses’ front doors were still open as were most of the garage doors. There were clothes and toys in all of the yards along with discarded luggage and family heirlooms. When all was said and done, none of that mattered anymore. It was all about the escape. He wondered how many of those that tried, had actually been able to get away. He wasn’t quite sure how that made him feel.
Pondering his luck, his resourcefulness, and his mortality, he looked down the street and saw the smoke and then the flames. There was a house on the opposite side of the street and then about a half a block away that was burning. The fire was actually attracting most of those beasts to it. That was, in Officer Ivanoff’s opinion, the happiest coincidence they had encountered yet. The noise and the smoke should be a good distraction for them when they decided to make a move.
Chapter 41
The downstairs of their new accommodations was largely all garage and virtually no windows. There was the back door through which they had entered that had to be secured, and then there was a small window in the utility room. That window was too tight to admit anything but the smallest of assailants. Even so, figuring that they weren’t going to be checking the hot water heater or doing any laundry, Dr. Caldwell figured they would just need to seal that room.
Officer Ivanoff used a scavenged hammer and screwdriver to remove a door from its hinges from one of the empty bedroom upstairs. Dr. Caldwell and Emma then nailed the door across the door and window of the backdoor. To lessen the volume of hammering, the doctor laid some cloth over the nails. They worked as quietly as they could.
After a handful of hours, the house felt secure, if a little cold, and they could all relax a little.
Emma went to the front window and peered through. She felt that spectator-at-the-scene-of-an-accident urge overcome her as she watched the beasts in the street. Their movements seemed stiffer now, more robotic and less organic. Their appearance, though, was still nightmarish and enough to freeze her in her tracks if she wasn’t careful. She counted at least thirty of them loitering in the street and knew that there were more out of sight beyond her view.
The fire down the road seemed to be close to running its course. The house in which the fire was currently raging was nearly completely burned by then. She looked closer at the house next
to it to make sure that the fire was not spreading. She couldn’t be certain, but it didn’t appear that the fire had reached across the privacy fence separating the two properties.
She looked to the next house down the line and didn’t see any indication of fire either until she looked up at its roof. She was so surprised and excited about fell over. She looked into the room at Dr. Caldwell and, without uttering a word, looked back out to make certain that her eyes were not deceiving her. From the chimney atop the roof, smoke was meandering its way up and out toward the clouds. She tried to determine if there was any other sign of fire. No, it just appeared that the fireplace had a fire in it. And if there was a fire in the fireplace, then it just stood to reason that there were people inside.
“Doc, I think there are more than just us and those things here on this block.”
Trying to dial in a faint signal on a battery powered radio, Dr. Caldwell looked up and asked what she meant.
“I think there might be people over in that house across the street from us.”
“Why do you think that?” asked a disbelieving Malachi, emerging from the kitchen.
“Well, the bottom windows are boarded up and I see smoke coming from the fire place.”
“Probably just smoke that drifted over the house from the fire down the way. You’re just seeing what you want to see.”
The doctor, now standing next to Emma and looking out the window, said, “No, Mal, she may be on to something. The wind is blowing the smoke in the opposite direction. I think I do see smoke coming from the chimney.”
“It could just be a smoldering fire from a wood burning stove.”
“Yeah and it could be the only other survivors that we’ve encountered since this whole thing began. Doesn’t that excite you in the slightest?”
“Even if there are people over there, what does it matter?”
Emma, stupefied by the police officer’s attitude, asked, “What does it matter? Those are other people over there possibly. Maybe they’ve got news or have some of this figured out.”
“And what good does it do us? Even if there is somebody over there, how do we talk to them? With those things between us and them, they might as well be on the other side of the Cook Inlet.”
Dr. Caldwell, not wanting to let something as elusive as hope get away, added, “Yeah, but that’s a problem that can be dealt with. I don’t want to rush into anything, but if we keep an eye across the street, maybe...just maybe we can determine if there is indeed someone there. Once we’ve done that, it’s just a matter of figuring the safest way to get over there.”
“Thank you, Doc. I was afraid that I was all alone on this one.”
“None of us are alone in anything. We do everything together.”
Chapter 42
“Favorite movie of all time? Hmmmm. The problem with that question is that there are so many favorites out there. It’s like asking your favorite song, ya know? It kind of depends on your mood.”
Jerry, shaking his head, demanded with a smile, “Nope. Not again. You’re not gonna weasel yourself out of answering.”
Mouth agape in mock disgust, Neil said, “Again? What do you mean again? When have I weaseled—?”
“What about right now? You’re stalling. I’m calling your bluff. C’mon.”
“Favorite movie? Damn. I really like movies. When I just closed my eyes, the title that came to me was The Usual Suspects.”
Meghan asked, “What else, Mr. Movieman?”
“What genre?”
Jerry fired off, “Comedy.”
“Classic or Modern?”
“Ooooooh, specific. Both.”
“I really like Bringing Up Baby with Hepburn and Grant. The first time I saw it was with my dad at my grandparents’ house. We were sitting at the kitchen table and watching it while Grandma cooked and smoked. Back when people still smoked in their houses. I remember hearing my dad laughing out in the kitchen, so I wandered in to check out what was so funny. He had one of those laughs, you know? You just had to find out what could solicit such laughter. So I sat down and just started watching. Kate Hepburn was just so funny and sweet. Ya know? And Grant. He was such a good straight man. D’ya remember him in Arsenic and Old Lace?” He trailed off, lost in the past.
Meghan was thinking to herself that she may just love this guy but decided to distract herself and the conversation with, “And modern?”
The memory hadn’t completely faded...it was stalling there on the periphery, teasing. He thought a moment longer and then looked at Meghan and said, “Maybe Wonder Boys.”
Meghan asked, surprised, “Wonder Boys? That’s a comedy?”
“What’s wrong with that?”
“Well, when I think about ha-ha comedies, Wonder Boys isn’t one that comes to mind.”
“Well, what would say then?”
“What about Uncle Buck?”
“I can live with that.”
Jerry said, “But Wonder Boys is a hell of a movie. One of Douglas’ best.”
Meghan still persisted, “But a comedy?”
Defending himself now, Neil said, “In the classic sense of a comedy, yes it is. Everyone wins and the hero gets the girl and all of the action and dialogue is humorous, light, and somewhat lyrical.”
Giggling, Meghan teased, “Listen to you. ‘Light and lyrical.’ Why is it that you weren’t teaching or something?”
“What could I possibly be qualified to teach?”
Jerry said somberly, “Apocalypse Survival 101.”
They all nodded reluctantly. Neil was still nodding when he asked, “Uncle Buck huh?”
“Yeah and what’s wrong with that?” and Meghan’s hands slid to her hips in defiant protest.
“I wasn’t suggesting there was anything wrong with—”
Abruptly closing the distance between them until she was almost pushing him over, Meghan playfully threatened, “That’s right you weren’t suggesting. If you know what’s good for you anyway.”
Like a good boxing referee, Jerry separated the two and sent each of them to their corners.
Neil, as a way of perhaps mock appeasement, said, “Uncle Buck is Candy at his best.”
Jerry added, “I was just a little kid when John Candy kicked it but I remember it. He was a funny guy that’s for sure.”
Not wanting the game to stop, Jerry asked, “Okay, what about other movies? I love talking movies.”
“You do it often?” asked Meghan.
“Naw, not really. Only when I get to hang out with MDs at Providence during the rare down time. Most of my friends were into whatever was at the theaters or on the radio right now, ya know? I mean, I’m not trying to suggest that I’m better than them or that I don’t on occasion like whatever is right now, but I’m not a slave to seeing or having the latest and greatest of anything. Sometimes the greatest happened a long time before the latest ever came along.”
Chapter 43
Jules was sleeping peacefully in a bed with pink sheets and flowered pillow cases. The dog, which everyone had taken to calling Lucky, was on the floor next to the bed and sleeping as well. Danny, however, couldn’t get himself comfortable enough to sleep. His mind wouldn’t stop turning over questions, and every time he did close his eyes for longer than a simple blink, he always saw that face from out at the glacier. That was where it had all started. That day seemed so long ago. He wasn’t even sure how long ago it was or even what day it was.
He sat up in bed and tried to think about something else. He tried to think about home and his parents. He tried to think about his own dog, a great Golden Retriever named Max, who was, hopefully, waiting for him back home. He even thought about his older sister, wondering if he’d ever see them again. He was crying before he even realized that the tears were streaming down his cheeks and wetting his shirt.
He didn’t like this one bit. He just wanted to be back at home. He knew deep down that all of these people were looking out for him and Jules, but nothing could take the place
of his mother’s compassion. Her voice just made everything better for him. He needed her voice and her comfort. She could make everything all right regardless of the situation. He found himself getting upset that he had accepted the invitation to come to Alaska at all. His mom had said that it was up to him whether he went or not. She wasn’t going to force him, though she did say that she thought that he might regret it if he didn’t. Boy was she wrong.
He wondered if his family was still safe or if the whole world had been turned upside down by what was happening here in Alaska. Was this same thing happening everywhere? Jules stirred slightly and rolled over onto her side. The dog’s head rose from the floor to inspect the new noise. Danny caught the dog’s attention and motioned for him to join Danny on the bed. The dog hopped up eagerly, obviously a treat that he was not accustomed to enjoying. He circled three or four times before finally plopping himself down heavily next to Danny’s leg. Possibly sensing Danny’s unease, Lucky laid his head across Danny’s thigh and breathed a long, loud sigh. Lucky wasn’t Max by a long shot, but he was friendly and seemed to need attention. He was quite obviously a child’s dog and was missing his human counterpart.
Danny scratched him behind the ears, like he’d seen Jerry do, and then curled up next to him. The dog’s breathing, deep and rhythmic, helped to relax Danny enough to let him drift off to sleep. The dog too found his way back to sleep.
Chapter 44
“What’s up, buttercup?”
Kim looked back at her friend Tony, who was walking down the hallway toward her. “I thought I heard crying or sobbing coming from back here.”
“Looks like the kids are still asleep.”
“Yeah.”
“D’ya think they understand what’s going on?”
Infection: Alaskan Undead Apocalypse Page 16
