Parish

by Nicole Murphy

  “This is like some sort of horrible dream, or a movie or something.” Emily shook her head as her fingers closed around the handle of the knife.

  “Yeah, but the thing is this is real life now.” Artemis moved to get a better grip on his own weapon. “Okay, we are gonna head out the front and move to the nearest vehicle. You stay on me like stink on shit, you got it?”

  “Yeah, stink on shit.” Emily nodded, seriously as they moved to the front doors. They had been turned off so they were no longer opening automatically. Emily breathed a sigh of thankfulness for small miracles because right outside were three undead pacing on the mat directly in front of the sensor. Had they still been on the lobby would have been overrun.

  “Okay, we need to pry these doors open and try to silently kill those three. If we make too much noise the other ones out there milling around will be drawn over and then we’ll be dinner.” Artemis ducked behind a tall plastic tree that adorned the lobby. Emily followed as closely as she could. “I’m gonna pull that door open, we may be able to just let them shuffle on in and move out past them. They don’t move too fast, which is good for us. As long as we can get around them we can just make a mad dash to the vehicle.”

  “What if there are more out there or if one of them are in the vehicle?” Emily asked, as she peered back out to the three zombies, two looked to be doctors and one was a patient.

  “If they get close, give them a lobotomy. If you can outrun them, then run. If there are any in the vehicle we’ll take care of them. We’re a team, right?” Artemis smiled.

  “Right.” Emily nodded.

  “Let’s do this!” Artemis whispered as he made his way to the doors, Emily following close behind him. He was able to open the doors without much effort and the growling corpses turned and regarded the doors as they opened, appearing confused. The movement seemed to call to them and they automatically began moving into the lobby. Artemis held his hand out preventing Emily from running as they crouched low near the side of the doors. The zombies shuffled in never once looking in their direction.

  Artemis stood up slowly and motioned for her to follow him and they ran out into the night. There were dead bodies littering the sidewalks, grass and parking lot. They sprinted, hoping over the dead. At first they didn’t see any moving ones, but as they drew closer to the military vehicle a mutilated pregnant woman cam shuffling out from behind it. Her mouth hanging open and oozing coagulated black blood she gnashed her teeth appearing to attempt to bite them from twenty feet away. Her hands reached out towards them. Emily took a deep breath and sidestepped around Artemis. Using her covered forearm she pushed the arms down and in one swift movement she planted the blade of her knife through the woman’s temple causing her to fall to the ground in a heap.

  Artemis moved to the vehicle, gun drawn, and looked inside. As soon as Emily freed the blade of her knife she jumped into the vehicle. He closed the door and ran around to the driver’s side. Climbing up he closed the door just as a few more undead began coming towards them. He smiled triumphantly as he turned the key and the engine roared to life.

  “Which way?” He looked over at Emily who was trying to catch her breath.

  “Go out there, and make a left.” She pointed to the nearest exit.

  “You’re the boss.” Artemis nodded and punched the accelerator sending the vehicle violently back before it urged forward running over the corpses of the dead.

  “Dad, it’s a steady stream out there. They just keep coming and coming.” Wren frowned as she turned away from the window. “It’s so sad. There are people out there wearing their work uniforms, kids in footy pajamas and pregnant women.”

  “Those things out there aren’t people anymore, Wren.” Wade shook his head as he stood up, bouncing on the balls of his feet in an attempt to return the circulation to his limbs.

  “Don’t say that. I saw one of my teachers out there.” Wren walked over and sat on the bed beside Jamie who was sitting quietly turning a stuffed rabbit over in his hands and running his fingertip over its shiny black plastic eyes.

  “They’re monsters now.” Jamie whispered.

  “That’s right.” Jack nodded in agreement. “Those things would eagerly tear us apart out there if we were stupid enough to go outside. I have a hard time imagining any of them would have attacked us had we seen them yesterday.”

  “But still, those things out there are going to be missed they had family, friends, people who loved them and cared about them. I can’t just say they’re monsters. It isn’t their fault that they’re like this now.” Wren refused to agree with the rest of them,

  “Until we know what caused this I think it would be wise to refrain from assumptions.” Jack took his glasses off and used his shirt to clean the dirty lenses.

  “I’m hungry.” Jamie rubbed his stomach. Wren and Wade exchanged looks before looking to their father for a solution.

  “I’ll go. I have to grab the bag of supplies anyway. No one leaves this room.” Jack pointed his finger at all three of them.

  “Let me go with you, four hands are better than two.” Wade stood up.

  “Fine, but we have to be silent.” Jack put his hand on the door knob and turned it as slowly as he could. They walked out into the hall and closed the door behind them just as slowly as they had opened it before turning down the hall and making their way down the stairs. Wade made it to the two bags sitting on the floor in front of the entertainment center and hoisted them up onto his back.

  Jack motioned for him to remain where he was as he pointed a finger at himself and then to the kitchen to indicate where he was going. Wade nodded his understanding. The growls from the street seemed louder as they stood on the first floor. Suddenly a loud crash came from the kitchen. It sounded like someone was trying to perform a drum solo to a heavy metal song with pots and pans on the tile floor. Wade stumbled as he gained traction on the carpet, running full force in the direction his father had gone.

  “Dad!?” Wade whispered harshly as he turned the corner. Taking two steps into the kitchen he spotted his father lying on the floor behind the island a mutilated corpse laid near him, its head smashed in and brain matter splattered on every surface within reason. Jack was panting and his hand was still raised holding the blood covered skillet he had just used to crush a human skull.

  “It must have come in through that stupid doggie door.” Jack replied, nervously smiling trying to mask the fear that was still pulsing through him. He sat the skillet down on the floor beside him as he fought to get to his feet, the soles of shoes sliding in the gory mess now appearing as bloody finger paints on the white tile.

  “Come on, we need to hurry. You made an awful racket in here, I’m sure they were able to hear it outside. They’re going to try to get in here now.” Wade looked around nervously to the door covered windows. “I don’t know how long those doors are going to hold up, they’re not built as durable as a door that faces outside.”

  “You’re right.” Jack nodded as he began grabbing snacks out of the cupboard. As he filled his pockets with Jamie’s favorite treats scratching and thuds could be heard coming from the front door. “Come on, they’re trying to get in.”

  Jack and Wade jogged back the way they came, the bags on Wade’s back bouncing with every step he took. At this point they didn’t take care to remain silent, instead the barged back into Jamie’s room and shut the door, both grabbing hold of the Chester drawers and pulling it in front of the door to block the way in.

  “What happened?” Wren asked, her gaze dropping to the blood splatters on her father’s shirt sleeves.

  “Dad killed a zombie that came in through the doggie door in the kitchen.” Wade replied as he dropped the two heavy bags onto the floor before bounding to the window to look out. “Guys, they’re all coming towards the house now.”

  “Everyone needs to keep quiet, maybe if they don’t hear anything in here they’ll just go away.” Wren reached down and took Jamie’s hand in hers.

&n
bsp; **************************************************

  “Oh no!” Emily belted out as she grabbed the dashboard. “We have to go back to the hospital! We forgot Burt!”

  “That drunk doctor that was sleeping under his desk?” Artemis asked.

  “Yes.” She nodded vigorously.

  “Look, I like ya doc, you seem like a real nice lady. I don’t mind helping you to go get your family and all and I want to do it, but that old man will just slow us down. I ain’t going back there, you saw what it was like. That’s like asking for a hole in the head, lady!” Artemis pressed the accelerator a little more causing the vehicle to speed up.

  “This is so wrong.” Emily crossed her arms over her chest and rubbed the upper portion of her arms.

  “There ain’t nothing right about any of this.” Artemis snorted. “We gotta get out of the city, it ain’t safe here. Hell, I don’t know if there’s anywhere that’s safe right now. All of the communication stopped a while ago.” The vehicle lurched as he ran over several of the animated dead that were stumbling their way down the street. Emily grimaced as she watched the corpses disappear beneath their vehicle.

  “Maybe we would be safe if we went to the swamp?” She suggested, half-jokingly.

  “At this rate you probably right, doc. I think I’d rather take my chances with an alligator than one of those things.” He pointed out of the window to a handful of the zombies that were bent over a body in the street cramming intestines and other innards into their gnashing gnawing mouths. “How far you live from here?”

  “About ten minutes, we’ll be there soon.” Emily replied as she looked away from the horror of the human buffet spread out on the road.

  “Heya, doc, is there another way to get there?” Artemis asked, concern and hesitation evident in his voice.

  “This is the quickest way, why?” Emily sat up and looked out before them. The street was packed with more zombies than she could count. Slowly there were turning around, their hunger leading them to the nearest thing making a sound, the roar of the engine. “Back up! Back up!” She was getting hysterical.

  “Which way?” Artemis asked as he turned the when harshly causing the vehicle to do a 180 and they were now facing the way they had just come.

  “Go back and take the second right!” Emily was pointing forward although she was now turned around in her seat and looking behind them. The zombies were shuffling in their direction, arms outstretched.

  They barreled down the street. A few people were attempting to pack their cars, some sat high up on balconies drinking and mocking those who were being attacked as they shoved their big screen televisions and one cup fancy coffee makers into their SUV’s. The screams of the dying intermingled with jeers from the drunks and growls from the hungry.

  “Look!” Artemis pointed to the roof of a one story building. Emily quickly looked in the direction he was pointing. Atop the roof sat a woman, three young children and in her arms was an infant. She was clutching the baby to her chest and screaming for help. The tears streaming down her cheeks were visible even at this distance.

  “Just keep going.” Emily forced herself to look away and down at her hands which still clutched the bloody knife. The woman’s screams for help, combined with her children wailing in terror had been the dinner bell for all the undead within earshot and they had begun to converge on the house, their mutilated hands upstretched smearing blood on the siding as they attempted to reach the warm bodies high above them. “Where are the rest of the military, the police, someone?”

  “I don’t know. I can’t say for sure, but for certain there were deserters. People got their own families to be worrying about. They probably wanted to be with them, try to protect them.” Artemis replied with a sigh. “That’s why I volunteered to help you. I ain’t got no family, but I did have one. I know how I’d be feelin’ right about now if they were alive.”

  “Do you mind if I ask how you lost your family?” She looked to her partner with sympathetic eyes.

  “I never knew my Mom or Dad, Teely raised me. Teely is my grandmamma. I guess when I was ‘bout five my Dad died and then when I was ten my Mom died. I had a sister but she died a few years back. She was hit by some teenager who was texting and driving. Her name was Genevieve, she was a nurse. Teely died last year, a month before I was due to come home from over there.” Artemis swallowed audibly. “So now it’s just me.”

  “I’m sorry, Artemis.” Emily furrowed her brow and bit her lip as she thought over the story he had just shared.

  “It’s okay. Honestly, I’m glad they ain’t here to be seeing this, especially Teely. If Teely were here she’d be out in the midst of them corpses wailing about the four horsemen and hitting ‘em with the good book. My Teely, she was spitfire.” Artemis chuckled deeply pulling Emily into it with his infectious laughter.

  “That’s quite the picture you paint.” Emily inhaled deeply and exhaled through her nose. “I’m sure right now my little one is freaking out and the twins are too no doubt. I love my husband, but Jack isn’t exactly the best when it comes to crises.”

  “Is that right?” He smiled.

  “We lived in Los Angeles for the past seventeen years. You should have seen him the first time we experienced an earthquake.” Emily smiled as the memory came back to her. “He ran out of the house in nothing more than his tighty whities and socks screaming like a little girl.”

  “That is funny.” Artemis howled with laughter.

  “It wasn’t even a four pointer.” Emily added which caused Artemis to laugh harder. “I never let him live that down. I was mortified because it happened in the morning and he ran out just as everyone around us was getting in their cars to go to work and to take their kids to school. Our little old lady neighbor was screeching at him and picked up this tiny little Chihuahua and covered its eyes so the dog wouldn’t have to see him in his underwear.”

  “Are we getting close?” He looked around. The zombie hoard was thinning out more and more.

  “This is the long way. Go until you see the big gas station and make a right.” Emily looked out of the window at the street signs. “We should be there in less than five minutes. We’ll pass a brick elementary school, when you see that I’m about a block away. Jamie likes to walk to school, that’s why we picked that house when I was transferred.”

  “Hold on a tick. You’re that doc from the television awhile back aren’t you? You’re from LA and you look really familiar.” Artemis looked at her, to the road and then back again.

  “Yes, I’m Doctor DeLasalle. I was the one who did the press conference for Nazarene.” Emily nodded slowly.

  “I thought I recognized you!” Artemis smiled again. “Why did you get transferred?”

  “We had the product.” Emily shrugged. “They didn’t need to keep me around anymore once they had what they wanted.”

  “Well ain’t it your discovery?” He was confused.

  “Yes and no. I get credit for it, but they paid for the research and development. They own it.” Emily explained. “I was offered a few positions around the country and even a few in Europe but I came back here. Jack and I are from here. Well, he is from here. I moved here when I was twelve. I’m originally from New York.”

  “Is that the gas station up there?” He motioned forward with his head.

  “Yep, make that right, right before the gas station.” Emily nodded moving forward on her seat. Her heart began to race as they neared her home. Artemis turned the vehicle and punched the accelerator again. “The school will be just up ahead.”

  “It looks like your family is going to be okay when we get there. I don’t see any zombies.” His eyes scanned the sides of the street.

  “I sure hope your right, Artemis.” She tried to swallow the lump that suddenly formed in her throat. They drove past the abandoned school. A sudden realization struck her hard. Life may never go back to normal, her children would be growing up in this new world, if they survived to grow up. Emily fought the ur
ge to vomit.

  “Doc, we got a problem.” Artemis pulled her out of her thoughts. “Tell me that ain’t your house.” Her eyes went wide with terror as she beheld the seemingly endless throng of zombies that were surrounding her house.

  “That’s my house!” She cried. Artemis slammed on the breaks.

  “Well fuck me sideways.” He murmured as he gripped the steering wheel and leaned forward.

  CHAPTER FIVE

  “It’s been hours.” Wren whined. “They’re not going away.”

  “Your mom will come. She’ll bring the National Guard and they’ll rescue us.” Jack replied leaning his head back against the wall.

  “I don’t think we have a National Guard. We live in the city. If they were going to do something we would have seen convoys going past by now.” Wade interjected as he picked at the rubber sole of his boot.

  “Can you not be such a downer?” Jack narrowed his eyes at his son. He looked to the youngest of the group, worried about how he was handling everything. The sun was rising casting it’s beams in through the window.

  “At least it’s daylight now. Maybe that’s what they were waiting for?” Wren asked as she stood up and went to the window. “Hey! Hey! Oh my god! It’s Mom!”

  “What!?” Jack and Wade asked in unison, excitedly jumping up and running to the window.

  “Look over there, that’s Mom! But she only has one soldier with her. How are they going to get us?” Wren looked at Jack who was frowning slightly.

  “I don’t know, but I’m sure she has a plan.” He attempted to reassure them. Just as the words left his mouth they watched as the vehicle backed up and stopped. The back wheels began to spin in place before the vehicle jumped forward plowing down several zombies. The soldier who was driving was running over as many as he could.

  “Yeah!” Wade began to cheer. Jack turned around and grabbed the survival bags that Wren had made when the news had first broke and extended his hand to Jamie who took it gingerly. Jack pushed the curtains back and opened the window, sliding through onto the balcony. Turning back to his children he urged them through. A small door on the roof of the military truck opened and Emily stuck her head through.