One Hour to Live

by Gary M. Chesla

  “Well you can wake me up in the middle of the night as many times as you want,” Kevin said. “But when I have a heart attack and die.”

  Lisa pinched Kevin’s arm as she laughed.

  “Ouch, you didn’t let me finish,” Kevin smiled, “I was just going to say, that I would die a happy man.”

  Lisa grinned as she pushed her face up to Kevin’s ear and whispered in his ear.

  Kevin smiled.

  “I guess I’m going to die a very happy man.”

  Bill and Bob were sitting in the kitchen having breakfast.

  “I don’t know how you can drink that shit,” Bob laughed as he watched Bill chug a can of prune juice.

  “It tastes good and gives me energy,” Bill replied. “I buy this stuff all the time. Shop Smart in Seward has it for fifteen cents a can. Besides, it keeps me regular.”

  “With all the damn beer you drink,” Bob said, “and now that I know you top it off with prune juice, it’s amazing you’re even able to come out of the house.”

  Next, Bill grabbed the box of cornflakes, tilted the box until his bowl was half full.

  Then, he picked up the bowl and began to dump the cereal into his mouth.

  Bob watched and shook his head.

  “What the hell are you doing now?” Bob asked.

  “I’m eating my cereal,” Bill replied. “What the hell does it look like.”

  “I thought you didn’t like cereal?” Bob asked.

  “I don’t,” Bill grinned. “At least I didn’t like it with all that damn milk over it. But it’s not too bad dry like this.”

  “It probably tastes better when you can pretend you’re drinking it,” Bob laughed. “Iron City Cornflakes.”

  Bob grabbed a dinner roll, a slice of cheese and sat down at the table with Bill.

  “Kevin still going to Seward today?” Bill asked as he worked on his cereal.

  “I think so,” Bob replied.

  “I wish I could go with him,” Bill complained. “I know where they keep the beer at the VFW. I could save him a lot of time searching.”

  “Don’t worry so damn much about the beer,” Bob added. “You know we need to find out what the hell is going on out there first. Then we can worry about beer. Kevin is just going out to look around today.”

  “I don’t know why we all can’t go?” Bill replied.

  “We agreed on this,” Bob said. “At least until we get a better idea of what it’s like out there.”

  “I know, so if something happens, it won’t happen to us all at one time,” Bill replied, “But hell, I think if we are going to die, we may as well all die together. How the hell would I live if I found myself stranded here by myself. I certainly couldn’t out run those damn zombies. Shit, if what happened out there is what we think happened, what’s the point. It is only going to be a matter of time.”

  “I know,” Bob added. “But I’m not ready to just give up yet. It’s only been a few days, let’s just stick to our plan and see what happens. Maybe Kevin will come back with some good news today.”

  Bill chewed on the dry cornflakes.

  “Do you think it’s a good idea for Lisa to be going out in this shit with Kevin?” Bill asked. “That’s no place to be for a little girl like her.”

  “Well, first of all, she’s a grown woman and she can handle herself a lot better than us two old coots,” Bob smiled. “Second, she would much rather be with Kevin than here with one of us. If the shit is going to hit the fan, they should be together while they can. Even in the good old days, none of us knew how much time we would have.

  Kevin isn’t going to let anything happen to Lisa, trust me. Damn, what I wouldn’t have given for one more day with Monica.”

  “Even if it would have been one more day in a house surrounded by zombies?” Bill asked.

  “I would have settled for one day in Hell,” Bob replied. “As long as I was with Monica and I knew she wouldn’t have to suffer any more.”

  “If those zombies get a hold of Lisa, she is going to suffer,” Bill said.

  “She faces the same dangers here, we all do,” Bob replied. “It could be over for all of us any day now. Hell, it could all be over before the day is out. If that is how it’s going to end, let them have what little time they have left together. They obviously enjoy each other’s company. Too bad all this shit had to happen. I feel bad for those two, at their age they had their entire future ahead of them. Now, there may not even be a future.”

  “Things are really fucked up, aren’t they?” Bill asked.

  “It could be,” Bob replied. “I don’t know. At this point, we’re just guessing. It could be the end of the line, or the damn army could drive through here tomorrow and this nightmare will be over. We still have food and a safe place to hold up, all we can do is wait and see. Besides, like I said, maybe Kevin will come back with some good news today.”

  “I guess I can tolerate living over here for a few more days,” Bill grinned. “So long as the beer holds out.”

  The door to the stairwell opened and Kevin and Lisa stepped into the kitchen.

  Bill looked up and smiled.

  “Grab a seat and have a prune juice,” Bill said.

  “At their age, I’m sure they are regular enough,” Bob laughed. “They don’t need that shit.”

  Lisa and Kevin walked over to the table and sat down.

  Bill looked over at Kevin and studied him for a few minutes.

  “You look tired this morning Kevin,” Bill said.

  “I didn’t sleep very well last night,” Kevin smiled. “A little noise kept walking me up.”

  Lisa looked at Kevin and smiled.

  Kevin gave Lisa his “behave yourself” look.

  “Yeah, I thought I heard something too,” Bill said, and appeared to be thinking, “It sort of sounded like a zombie groaning close to the house. It was too dark see outside. I thought I heard that sound on and off last night. When the sound didn’t seem to get any closer, I was finally able to forget about it and go to sleep.”

  Kevin looked over at Lisa.

  She lowered her head to hide the grin on her face.

  “Strange,” Bill continued. “Mac, did you hear anything last night?”

  “Yeah, I thought I heard something too,” Bob replied. “It didn’t sound like anything that I needed to be concerned about, so I just went back to sleep.”

  “Can I make you a cheese sandwich or would you rather have some dry cereal?” Bob asked. “You should eat something before going out today.”

  “I’ll have a cheese sandwich,” Lisa replied.

  “Me too, Dad,” Kevin added, happy to have this morning’s conversation get off the subject of who heard what noises during the night.

  Kevin and Lisa ate their sandwich as they watched Bill scribbling on a piece of cardboard he had torn off the cereal box.

  “What are you doing?” Kevin asked.

  Bill looked up and smiled, “I’m drawing you a map.”

  Kevin looked at Bill’s chicken scratch.

  “A map of what?” Kevin laughed.

  “The VFW,” Bill replied as he slid the small piece of cardboard across the table.

  “OK?” Kevin replied.

  “See the ‘X’, that is where the beer is,” Bill said.

  “What’s all this other stuff?” Kevin asked.

  “This is the front door and that is the bar,” Bill pointed at the drawing. “You open this door behind the bar and go down this hall. The third room here on the right is the storage room.”

  “How do you know all this?” Kevin asked. “Were you a burglar in your past life?”

  “He used to be a bar tender at the VFW,” Bob laughed. “Part of the benefits of being a bartender was he could drink all the beer he wanted for free. I guess I don’t have to tell you the VFW almost went bankrupt and they had to let Bill go.”

  “I offered to work for free to help them out,” Bill added, “but when I found out they changed their policy and
the bartender didn’t get free beer any longer, I decided to retire.”

  Everyone laughed.

  “Thanks for the map,” Kevin said as he slipped the small piece of cardboard into his jean’s pocket. “If we get to Seward, and things around the VFW are clear, I’ll see what I can do.”

  “There should be a dozen cases of beer there, or more,” Bill said eagerly. “I’d hate to see someone else beat us to it.”

  “Something tells me that is not going to be a problem,” Kevin replied.

  “You two just be careful out there today,” Bob said. “Don’t go taking any unnecessary chances. Find out what’s out there and get back here. We can make plans to go back for the beer later depending on what you see.”

  Lisa took her phone out of her pocket and handed it to Bob.

  “Remember, push the green button,” she smiled. “But I don’t think you will have any problems. The only problem might be the phone system.”

  “Yeah, the phone system is probably completely down by now,” Kevin added. “But hopefully if something comes up, we might still be able to get a signal out to each other. It’s worth a try. Like I said it probably won’t work any longer, but who knows.”

  “I won’t try this damn thing unless it’s an emergency,” Bob laughed. “I appreciate you not leaving me with that damn ugly pink thing.”

  Kevin grinned. “A few things keep popping up on that pink phone. I thought it would be better if I hung on to it.”

  “Yeah, sometimes that phone will do things that will surprise you,” Lisa grinned. “I told Kevin it would be fine, but I guess he didn’t want to take a chance you would see something you didn’t expect.”

  “That’s fine with me,” Bob replied. “I’m getting too old for surprises.”

  “We better get moving,” Kevin grinned, looking at Lisa. “I want to make this run and get back here by noon. We’ll try to grab a few things if we can, but mainly we need to see what things are like near Seward and New Florence. Once we know the answer to that question, then I guess we can decide from there what we can do.”

  “I hope you come back with a newspaper that has headlines saying a man was arrested for dumping LSD in the Bolivar water supply,” Bob said, “and people should stop seeing crazy shit any day now.”

  “Wouldn’t that be something?” Kevin laughed.

  Kevin retrieved his bow and arrows from the closet.

  He grabbed a jacket for Lisa and two ball caps to cover their heads to keep the sun out of their eyes.

  He also picked up the crowbar he had put in the closet for today’s trip.

  With a crowbar, he could open just about any door or window.

  The main reason for today’s trip was for information, but he wouldn’t pass up any good opportunities if one presented itself. The crowbar could also make a good weapon.

  Bill jumped up from the table, ran to the corner behind the door and retrieved his shotgun.

  “Here, maybe you should take this with you,” Bill grinned. “In a jam, you can’t beat having a shotgun.”

  “Thanks Bill,” Kevin said taking the shot gun. “Are you sure you don’t want to keep it here?”

  “No, you take it,” Bob said. “That way I won’t have to worry about getting shot in the ass.”

  Bill frowned.

  “If you ask your old man, maybe he’ll give Lisa a couple of shells to hold for you,” Bill added.

  Bob reached in his vest and pulled out four shells and handed them to Kevin.

  “Here take these,” Bob said. “Use them if you have too. It would help if you could grab a box or two somewhere if you happened to see them. Our supply is running low.”

  Bob looked at Bill.

  “I gave Kevin the ammo because I’m not concerned about Kevin shooting Lisa’s in the ass,” Bob growled.

  “Mr. McNally, I can’t believe I just heard you say you didn’t care if Kevin shot me,” Lisa laughed, “All this time and I thought you liked me.”

  Kevin laughed.

  “Even if that was what I meant, I don’t think you have anything to worry about,” Bob smiled.

  “Don’t feel bad, Lisa,” Bill growled. “He treats me like that all the time. It’s no damn wonder I never get anything when we go hunting. By the time I ask for the ammo and can get it in my gun, the damn animal is long gone.”

  Kevin whispered to Lisa, “I’m afraid you might have started something. We better get out of here before things turn ugly.”

  Lisa laughed as Kevin took her hand.

  “See you this afternoon,” Kevin said as they started for the door.

  “You two be careful, Bob said, as Bob and Bill stopped their squabbling long enough to walk Kevin and Lisa to the car.

  When they reached the car, Kevin held the door for Lisa, then walked around and got in the car and started the engine.

  Kevin studied the yard and the nearby houses to make sure there wasn’t any immediate signs of danger.

  When he was satisfied that the area looked safe, he put the Subaru in reverse and backed out of the driveway.

  Bob and Bill waved to Kevin and Lisa as they pulled away and began to follow Market Street, driving towards the bridge to cross over the sulphur creek.

  As they car drove over the creek, Lisa laughed.

  “So, a little noise kept you up last night.” Lisa said, pretending to be insulted.

  “No,” Kevin replied and laughed. “It was a zombie.”

  Lisa laughed.

  “I’m sorry I couldn’t keep a straight face when Bill said that,” Lisa smiled. “You were right, I guess one of us got a little too excited last night.”

  “One of us?” Kevin laughed. “If it makes you feel better, I’m sure Bill didn’t know it was us. The only thing on his mind is beer. If we would have been drinking beer, he would have known exactly how many we had,” Kevin chuckled. “But I’m pretty sure my dad knew.”

  “You don’t think he is going to say something to you about it?” Lisa asked looking concerned. “I hope I didn’t get us in trouble.”

  “It’s OK,” Kevin replied, “I think he has always liked you. He won’t say anything. Besides, it was my fault, I should have just pretended I was sleeping.”

  Lisa laughed.

  “I don’t think that would have worked last night,” Lisa said. “Sorry. Honestly, I tried to behave myself. But for some reason I just had so much I wanted to tell you last night.”

  “Yeah,” Kevin smiled, “You were a real Chatty Cathey last night.”

  Lisa leaned over and kissed Kevin on the ear.

  “And if you have anything else important to tell me,” Kevin grinned. “I don’t think you should tell me while I’m trying to drive.”

  Lisa smiled.

  Lisa was still looking at Kevin when something hit her side of the car.

  “Oh shit, not again,” Lisa swore as she dropped back in to her seat and began to look out the windows.

  Kevin slammed on the brakes and stopped the car.

  He looked around to see what he had hit.

  When he didn’t see anything, he looked to see where he was.

  The car sat in the middle of the road at the intersection of Market and Fifth Street.

  The Brickyard Café was on his right.

  The door was boarded shut. It had been that way for as long as Kevin could remember.

  Kevin did notice that one thing was different. The two large plate glass windows on each side of the door had been smashed.

  A hint of red blood covered a few of the jagged edges.

  Kevin quickly turned to his left.

  The boarded-up building of K & K Florist on the corner looked unchanged from what Kevin remembered.

  “Do you see anything?” Kevin asked.

  “No,” Lisa replied. “But this scares the hell out of me. It reminds me too much of the other night.”

  “At least today we can see,” Kevin said.

  “That doesn’t make me feel a whole lot better,” Lisa replied
.

  Kevin’s head snapped around when he caught movement in the rearview mirror and he turned to look out the back window.

  Lisa saw Kevin turn and she quickly turned to look out the back window to see what had grabbed his attention.

  Chills ran down her spine when she saw a figure standing behind her side of the car.

  They were both surprised when the figure started to run towards K & K Florist.

  “I think she is alive,” Lisa shouted.

  Kevin opened the door and jumped out of the car.

  “Hey,” Kevin yelled, “Don’t run, we won’t hurt you. Are you hurt? Let us help you.”

  The girl stopped when she reached the sidewalk across the street in front of the Florist.

  She looked like she was in her early teens. She had on jeans with a bloody tear on her right knee, tennis shoes and a blood stained white pullover shirt. She was filthy and looked scared out of her mind.

  “Lisa, call her,” Kevin said. “Maybe if she hears a girls voice she won’t run.”

  Lisa opened her door, stood and looked across the roof of the Subaru.

  “It’s OK,” Lisa said, “We won’t hurt you.”

  The girl stood holding her arm, looking uncertain as to what she should do.

  Lisa walked around the car and stood by Kevin.

  “Is your arm OK?,” Kevin asked. “We didn’t mean to hit you.”

  “Let us have a look at your arm,” Lisa added.

  “Start walking towards her,” Kevin whispered.