by Jason Alters
Prepping For The Unknown (Book I)
A fighting Chance
Chapter 1
With my hands deep in tomatoes, answering my cell phone was at the bottom of my priority list. What did Brandon want, anyways? The phone rang for the third time in a row. I contemplated allowing it to sit on the kitchen counter and vibrate the last ounce of battery out of itself. However, Brandon, my older brother, wasn’t usually this persistent and thus, I concluded that he must be calling due to some minor emergency. Nothing drastic ever happened in Altoona, Alabama. I snapped off my gloves, splashing spaghetti sauce- all over my Lavender colored apron-as the gloves were freed from the tip of my fingers.
‘What is it, Brandon?’ I barked irritably into the phone.
‘It’s mom, Liz. Apparently she’s on her way to Dr. Luke?’
‘What?’ My heart rate picked up.
‘She called me in a panic, saying that she felt like she was gonna pass out or something.’
I ran my fingers through my hair, wondering what on earth was going on with mom this time. The doctor told her to stay home; to take a break from all the stress. But no, she insisted that sitting in the house would only send her to her grave early. Ever since Dad passed, she hadn’t been able to get her blood pressure under control. And even with all the warnings, she insisted on taking on more than she could handle.
‘Do you know what’s wrong with her? I mean, is it serious or is it just another one of her…’ I tried to pry more information out of Brandon as to determine if I should allow myself to worry or if it was okay to just shake my head at the situation. But I was cut off.
‘Liz!’ Brandon snapped. ‘Stop being so freaking heartless. If mom’s going to the doctor for a tick bite, you should be there. We’re all she has. So, I’m on my way to see her and I suggest you do the same.’
Before I could reply, Brandon had ended our phone call. I looked over at the mushy tomatoes I’d been busy preparing prior to the phone call. So much hard work for nothing. Leave it up to mom to demand me to can the remainder of tomatoes she’d plucked from the garden, only to have me leave all my hard work behind and come to her rescue. I reeled a few pieces of saran wrap over the top of the bowl and tucked it into the unheated oven. Not wanting to head out onto the streets in stained clothing, I made my way to my bedroom and changed into the first two items that my fingers touched. A pair of jeans and my Guns and Roses t-shirt.
Outside, the sun peered down on me with a vengeance. Red heads are meant to live in the cold. And if they’re not in low temperatures, their bodies should be drenched in sunscreen. So what on earth was I doing outside in eighty-six degree temperatures with my arms exposed and my feet donning flip-flops? The things I did for mother. And to think that she would be the first one to spot a mole and insist that it’s skin cancer.
‘Hello.’ I waved to my neighbor, Ange, who had peeked up from trimming her rose bush- something she used to do with mom quite often.
‘How’s everything going? Haven’t seen y’all at church in a while.’
‘Oh, you know. We’re all doing okay,’ I said hastily, still striding along the road while I spoke. ‘I think maybe in a few weeks or so, we’ll be back at church. Just haven’t had much time.’ There was no going back to church, at least not in the near future.
‘Okay dear. Well, I’ll see you around.’ Ange’s voice grew louder as the distance between us grew.
I could see the scorn on her face. Her and mom had been pretty good friends. As close as anyone could be in this town of gossipers. They’d sat together at church, invited each other over for tea and partaken in lots of chinwag while doing yard work. Twenty years is how long they’d known each other and still, mom would refuse to refer to her as a friend. I couldn’t blame her. People in this town didn’t have friends; they had people who were convenient to communicate with and people who were easy to speak ill off. Things changed between mom and Ange when dad passed and mom became more of a recluse than anyone was willing or ready to handle. Their relationship- the little of it they did have- slowly, but surely slithered away. The only thing mom cared about was making sure that the antique shop was dust free and that her children knew that the world was slowly, but surely coming to an end. As for the church thing, she couldn’t come to terms with the fact that people die. And though dad was pushing seventy and hadn’t exactly led a healthy lifestyle- thanks to whisky and fried chicken- mom wanted nothing to do with anyone who played a part in dad’s death. Seeing as God was the one who’d called him home, she’d made an enemy out of the heavenly father. ‘You know the difference between God and a mistress,’ she’d said once, ‘mistresses sometimes give your men back. But God, he keeps them forever. He always keeps them forever’.
I held my head down as I continued my journey in the scorching sun- my skin reddening more and more each second. In no time, I’d look more like a lobster than an actual human being.
The roads were empty at this time of day. Luckily for me because if they weren’t, I’d find myself reeled into one conversation after the other. People in Altoona liked to talk and with hardly anything ever happening in this sad town, topics were rather stagnant. How great of a man dad was, turned out to be the only thing they found necessary to speak to me about as though I needed a constant reminder that I was fatherless. And if the conversation went on too long, they’d get into the details of my mother’s life and start to introduce a list of eligible bachelors who would love to whisk her away into the sunset. Sure, mom did indeed have the looks that any guy between forty and forty five would love to behold. But she believed we only get one true love and dad- who was close to thirty years older than her- was her true love.
Less than ten minutes later, I arrived at Dr. Luke’s residence. This was also the place he saw his patients at and so it also counted as his practice. He did indeed have a place in town, but one could scarcely ever find him there. No one complained. Opening his home to the residents of Altoona meant that people felt as though it was okay to show up at any time of day or night, regardless of the ailment. Dr. Luke was a good man; one who wouldn’t turn away someone in need. I pushed open the gate of the white picket fence and made my way through the perfectly manicured lawn. The house, a light and lively blue, looked just as good as it did ten years ago. The largest, most modern and most stable house in town, there was no doubting that Dr. Luke had made a nice amount of coin in his days. I climbed the three wooden stairs leading up to the porch and pressed a finger against the doorbell. Within a few seconds, the door swung open. In front of me was Dr. Luke’s wife. A tiny lady, with a long white hair, deep blue eyes and a heart as golden as her husbands.
‘Elizabeth.’ The corners of her mouth curved into a smile.
‘Just Liz,’ I replied, wrapping my arms around her.
‘Oh yes. I forget you young folk like to take on the aliases nowadays,’ she said, returning my embrace with as much force as she could muster.
Liz wasn’t exactly a name I found ‘cool’, but it was one I found a lot more ‘me’ than Elizabeth. My parents had named me after Queen Elizabeth I, hoping that this would allow for her beauty and strength to be passed on to me. I guess you could say they got lucky as my red hair and pale skin did indeed allow me to bare the slimmest of resemblances to her. Bravery, of course, wasn’t something that I needed to display and as a result, that trait was still up for debate.
‘I’m guessing you’re here to see your mother,’ Mrs. Luke dragged my attention away from a photo of h
er that sat boldly on the wallpaper covered wall.
‘Ah, yes. That’s right. My brother called to say that she wasn’t doing so well. Is there something really wrong with her?’ I tried not to sound doubtful.
‘Oh dear,’ she rested her small hand on mine, ‘you’ve got to talk to the doc about that. It’s not so easy getting old but I’m sure you and your brother are doing a fine job at taking care of her. Shall I take you to them now, or maybe you’d like to have a drink or something first.’
‘I’m perfectly fine. But thanks for the offer. Is she in there?’ I pointed to one of two rooms where Dr. Luke saw his patients.
‘Yes. Just go right in. I’m sure they won’t mind.’
‘Thanks Mrs. Luke.’
I turned away and headed to the room where mom was being kept. The door opened before I could take hold of the door knob.
‘Hi, there,’ Dr. Luke, squeezed my cheeks the way he’d done ever since I was a little girl.
I scrunched up my face as a slight pain shot through my undoubtedly red cheeks.
‘Hi doc. Everything alright in there?’
‘Definitely. You’re mom’s doing great. Just a little stress is all. I’ve been telling her that she needs to take it easy but now I’m going to tell you. Get your mom to just relax. If Altoona had a spa, I’d probably even suggest that you or Brandon just drop her off there everyday and have them massage the tension out of her.’ He held the door open while I slid my way in.
‘That bad, huh?’
‘It’s not bad, to be honest. I just remember her differently; a lot more smiley and a lot less worried. But as far as her blood pressure is concerned, it’s a lot more under control than when she first started seeing me regularly, so that’s certainly a plus.’
‘Well, that’s good to hear.’
‘Promise me you’ll take care of her.’
‘I promise, doc.’
He pushed the door a bit wider, allowing me to slip right in with ease. Mom had her head titled to the left, away from me and facing Brandon. When he looked at me, I could tell that a good scolding was already in place. I waited for the door to fully close before speaking.
‘Brandon,’ I nodded.
‘Liz,’ he replied flatly.
‘Oh Lizzy,’ mom said, not turning around. ‘Thank you so much for coming. It just goes to show that I’ve really got the best kids in the world. Your dad would be so proud of you.’
‘Mom,’ I sat on the end of the bed and patted her leg which was covered with a light blanket. ‘How are you feeling?’
‘Not so bad. I just. I don’t know. Too much is happening in this town and I’ve got a really bad feeling about it.’
Instantly I knew what had sent mom into overdrive.
‘Mom, you know that you’re worrying for no reason, right?’ I placed my hand on her knee, trying to reassure her that everything would be alright- that she was worried for no reason. I thought she’d gotten over all the nonsense she’d been spewing for the past few days but apparently it was still stuck somewhere in her head and she just got better at hiding it.
‘Liz,’ Brandon peered at me disapprovingly.
‘What, Brandon? She really is worrying for no reason. Or do you think that Altoona is gonna get run over by zombies anytime soon?’
‘Who said anything about zombies?’ He rolled his eyes.
‘Guys,’ mom’s voice chimed in, weak but still powerful. ‘Y’all need to stop fighting already. Brandon, you know how stubborn your sister is. And Liz. Well, you know how stubborn you are.’
‘Mom, I’m not being stubborn. I’m being realistic. Just because some people in Birmingham are tripping on some kind of crazy new drug, doesn’t mean that the same thing is going to happen here. I don’t even think we’ve got any druggies in this town. The people of Altoona just like their beer, they don’t like the hard stuff,’ I chuckled, remembering dad and his love for a good brew.
Mom propped herself up on the bed and positioned a pillow behind her back. ‘I know that you don’t want to believe me Liz. But you should at least watch the news before you disregard it altogether. This has nothing to do with any kind of drugs. These people are turning into zombies and no one knows why.’
I refrained from rolling my eyes because she was staring directly at me. ‘You’re wrong,’ I said calmly.
‘I hope I’m wrong, Liz. I really hope I am. But after that dream I had, I’m afraid to say that I don’t think I’m wrong. I really don’t.’
‘What did you dream about?’ I begged her to carry on. Mom had a way of thinking that her dreams meant something. And though, at times, there were things that she ‘saw’ before they really happened, that wasn’t always the case. She wasn’t clairvoyant- nothing close to it. She just happened to have these dreams that conveniently matched back to some incident that happened somewhere in the world.
Brandon rolled his shoulders back and braced himself for mom’s tale.
Mom swirled her hair into a bun before proceeding. ‘Well. I was sitting in the back room at the shop and must have dozed off. Haven’t been getting that much sleep as of recently, so being tired all the time isn’t anything to worry about,’ she assured us. ‘In my dream, I heard the door chimes and I got up to see who had entered the shop. The only problem was that when I look around, there was no one there. I settled down on the chair in front of the show case, thinking that the person stepped outside. Then, out of nowhere, a guy’s head pops up from behind the shelves. He’s all bloody but it didn’t look like his blood. There was red all around his mouth like he’d been eating someone…’
‘Or maybe a bag of Kool-Aid,’ I interrupted. Mom shot me a stern look. ‘Sorry,’ I bowed my head, feeling slightly embarrassed.
‘As I was saying. I was pretty sure it wasn’t his blood. I felt like I wanted to run but my legs couldn’t move. This guy, he bent down again and started to pull something. I look to the floor and lo and behold, he’s dragging a body with the guts and everything oozing out of it.’
Brandon’s hands shot to his mouth as though he thought mom was describing a real scenario rather than a dream. ‘That’s just ungodly,’ he gasped.
‘Then this guy,’ mom continued, ‘he looked at me with the yellowest eyes you’ve ever seen. His hands let go of the body and he charged in my direction.’ Mom’s hands were doing all sorts of gesturing.
‘What happened next?’ Brandon asked fervidly.
‘I woke up.’ Mom’s hands dropped to her side. ‘Just like that. I woke up.’
‘So you had a bad dream, mom. We all do. I keep dreaming of planes crashing and I’ve never been on a plane and don’t have any plans to go on one in the near future.’
‘Oh, but that’s not all.’ Mom’s index finger shook from side to side warning me that there was more realism in zombies attacking us than me being in a plane crash. ‘I woke up in the front room.’
‘Yeah,’ I said, uncertain as to what importance this carried.
I looked at Brandon to see that his eyes were wide and his palm was still pressed tightly against his mouth.
‘Not yeah, Liz. I fell asleep in the back room, remember.’
I nodded, hoping that she’d forget about the zombies, hop out of bed and get home.
‘Brandon,’ I turned to my brother, ‘do you mind stepping outside with me for a minute?’
‘Yeah,’ he replied unenthusiastically.
‘Yeah, you mind or yeah, you’ll come outside with me?’
‘Yeah, I’ll come outside with you.’
Brandon stood up from the wooden rocking chair. Together, we exited the room, and then the house.
‘Liz,’ Brandon said harshly as he closed the door behind us, ‘you’ve really got to get off her back. She’s already stressed as it is and you’re surely not making it any better.’
‘She doesn’t have much to be stressed about, Brandon.’
‘Oh really?’ Sarcasm hung to his tone like a child on her mother’s skirt tail. ‘It’s not like he
r husband just died or anything.’
‘Dad died two years ago. And it’s not like that’s what has her all riled up.’
‘Yeah. Just say it casually. No big deal. Dad died.’
‘I’m not being casual about anything. He’s dead and we’ve all got to accept that. I’ve accepted it. Doesn’t mean that I’m not sad about it. I miss him every day. But if you think that playing into moms grim stories are going to make her any happier then you’re wrong. Soon enough, she’ll just be this crazy lady who thinks the world is out to get her. And I’ll be damned if I’m the one to blame for it.’
‘But these things are happening, Liz. There are people going around eating each other.’
‘Not here, Brandon. It’s not happening here. And I can guarantee you that it’s some drug related thing. Yeah, sure, as soon as some of the people in this town decide to buy into the high, we might have that problem too, but until then, I think it’s safe to say that nothing is going to happen to any of us.’
‘Whatever, Liz,’ he huffed.
‘Whatever, what?’ I rolled my eyes. ‘Don’t make me out to be the ridiculous one when you’re trying to convince me that I need to be afraid of zombies.’
‘I’m not trying to convince that zombies are out to get you,’ he hissed. ‘All I’m saying is that you need to be nicer to mother because she’s having a rough time.’
‘Okay,’ I settled, not wanting to fight with Brandon, especially not at Dr. Luke’s home.
‘So what is it that you called me out here for?’
‘I just wanted to know if you could drive mom home. You know, instead of me having to walk with her in this terrible heat.’
‘Do you really think I was going to make y’all walk?’
‘Well, you’ve got to get back to work. Don’t you?’
‘No. I signed off for the day so that I could take care of my mother. That’s what sons do.’ I knew that this was a direct jab at me but I ignored it.
‘Thanks,’ I smiled, rubbing my hand against his shoulder. ‘She’s going to be alright Brandon. In fact, she’s already alright, even Dr. Luke said so. Oh, and do you mind dropping me off at Anton’s place, when we’re headed back home?’
