by Thomas Baker
JT turned as he heard Alan approached. "This guy isn't fooling around when he said he was in it to win it. He has a whole tanker to fuel his generator. On the other side of it, you can look out and see a huge field, with a garden planted in one section of it. Off in the distance it looks like there is a lake with a boathouse."
"He can grow food, catch food and cook food." Hannah sounded impressed. "Still, I can't shake this feeling that something's not quite right here. Plus, how long do you think he is willing to share all of this with us?"
"Women's intuition?" Alan asked with a smile. He was only half joking.
Hannah smiled. "Screw you."
"How did it go with Harold?" JT asked.
"I have smoothed over his ruffled feathers for now. As much as I hate to say it, Dusty may have a point about this guy. Like you are saying, look at this set up." Alan waved his hand around.
"This may be just how he's lived his whole life ," Hannah countered.
"Sticking up for him Hannah? You have a crush on the guy? Didn't know hairy wild men were your type," mocked JT.
"What, are you jealous JT?" Hannah smiled.
"Guy seems...strange." JT said, serious now.
"If you lived by yourself out here, you might be socially awkward too," Hannah said.
"I guess you have a point," Alan scratched his head. He looked off in the distance. He could see the sun winking off the water. "Look, I'm going to take off for awhile, check out the lake." He walked off.
"Wait. Alan. What about the traps and stuff? Harold warned us about them."
Alan raised his hand over his head, waving goodbye. He would be careful, if there were really traps. Like JT, he thought Harold was a weird cat, and didn't believe everything the guy was saying. If the traps were real, well he knew his way around the outdoors. Either way, he didn't expect to have any problems. If he did explode, well he didn't really care much if he did die. The most important thing to him right now was getting away from the others.
Alan felt his pent up anxiety calm as he walked farther out across the field. He didn't think that crazy comment Harold made would get to him, but it did. Alan couldn't really explain why he did things like he did the other night, bashing in and chopping all of the zombie's heads off. They were like impulses he couldn't control. Maybe he was going crazy.
The sun was warm on his face as he crossed Harold's field and entered the woods. A slightly cool breeze blew and the sounds of nature surrounded him. After a little while he zoned out, the thoughts of the dangerous traps and equally dangerous zombies were gone. He started reliving that terrible night, like he had over and over again since it happened. It was like the worst movie in the world, stuck on repeat. A special showing for one.
1328 Daisy Lane.
The picture perfect home.
The picture perfect family.
Until that day. The day of the Outbreak.
Alan Gentry. He thought of himself as the cliche American worker. The guy who worked for the same company for fifteen years only to have his job stolen by some corporate assholes, forced to take a lesser position as an Overnight Production Line Supervisor, or leave the company. Life could be worse he always thought.
He got home that morning, a morning like any other, as his wife, Audra, was getting up with their eleven month old son, Alan Junior, AJ for short. Nothing unusual. Chloe and Lauren, their seven and nine year old daughters, were up as well. They scurried around Audra and AJ. Always thinking they were helping. Usually they were just in the way. It made him chuckle.
Today was no different. Alan did his part helping out, getting the girls off to school. After they left, he headed off to take a shower and get ready for his daytime sleep routine.
Alan had just laid down, watching the news as he decompressed. The newscaster was going on about what appeared to be a serious rabies outbreak in Ohio. How in the hell are rabies so serious as to make the national news? he thought to himself. Doesn't even make sense, he laughed.
Alan found himself nodding off quicker than normal today. Probably because he only drank two of the four Wild Cherry Pepsi cans he had taken to work with him. He was about to drift off when he heard Audra come in to change her clothes before running errands.
Alan propped himself up. He loved watching his wife undress in front of him. Every one of her curves looked extra enticing. He thought he would try his luck this morning as he playfully tried pulling her onto the bed but he was quickly shot down by AJ’s cries from the other room. Audra leaned down for a kiss and with a playful stroke of his manhood promised to come wake him up later before the girls came home. Satisfied with that thought, Alan shot her a smile and told her he loved her. He didn't say it all the time, when he did he meant it. Alan eased back down onto the bed after he heard Audra and AJ leave. The light noise of the television always helped him fall asleep easier. He began to do just that, slipping into the realms of sleep.
"DADDY!" Alan shot up at the sound of Lauren screaming for him. Alan literally fell out of bed trying to get up so fast. He had no sense of what time it was. Disoriented he ran out of the bedroom to find his daughter frozen in fear staring down the hallway.
"Baby what's wrong?" he asked.
She just stood there pointing towards AJ's room. Her eyes were wide, pupils like dark moons eclipsing.
"What?" He asked again, panic starting in his voice.
"Mommy hurt AJ and Chloe," she trembled.
"Mommy would never hurt any of you kids," he reassured her. Lauren just stood there, her whole body quaked. Alan rushed to her, afraid she was going to pass out and drop to the floor.
That's when he noticed it.
Blood.
Smeared on the walls and floor of the hallway. On AJ's door as well.
Alan's stomach sank.
He slowly tiptoed towards the door to his son's room.
"DADDY DON'T!" Lauren pleaded with him. The sound of her hysteria broke his heart.
"Stay right there!" he commanded her.
He reached for the door knob, took a deep breath and slowly began to open the door.
Alan almost threw up. The first thing he saw was Chloe laying on the floor. It looked as though a wild animal had ripped her throat out. His brain tried to refuse what his eyes were telling him. His baby girl couldn't be on the floor, dead in a pool of blood. A sound like someone slurping up spaghetti drew his attention. Alan slowly turned his head. There he saw an absolute nightmare. A image he now saw every time he closed his eyes. Standing right in front of him was Audra, his wife, pulling out the insides of AJ's stomach and shoving them in her mouth.
"Audra what did you do!? he shouted at her. He never shouted at her their entire marriage. She spun and lunged towards him, not making a sound. That's when he noticed bite marks all over her arms and shoulders.
Alan stood there, unable to process what was happening. She was on top of him in seconds. They toppled backwards over the rocking chair in AJ's room. Alan was straining to keep her snapping mouth away from his face when Lauren entered the doorway.
"Mommy stop!" she cried out. This drew Audra's attention to Lauren. She leapt towards her daughter. Lauren screamed for help and ran down the hall. Audra gave chase. Alan got to his feet and ran out into the hallway in enough time to see Audra catch Lauren in the living room and rip away at the side of her face.
"NO!" Alan shouted as he ran forward, shoving her away from their daughter. She lunged back at Alan as he was trying to scoop up their daughter. Lauren cried, blood pouring through her fingers as she held them up to her face. Husband and wife struggled across living room floor. When he had Audra pinned down, that's when Alan noticed it. The vacant look in his wife's eyes. She was staring at him, her eyes soulless and blank. She just kept trying to bite anywhere she could on his body. Her struggling made Alan pull away. She got back on top. Alan was on his back shoving his wife's face away from him when the first shot rang out, catching her in the shoulder and knocking Audra off. Alan quickly rolled over and looked ba
ck in the direction of the shot. An officer stood in the doorway ,looking as shocked as Alan felt. Lauren screamed again as Audra got up and came at her again. Two more shots rang out. One caught her in the chest and the other, directly in the chin, sending his wife to the floor. She laid there, still and lifeless.
"I was tracking a murder suspect, heard the screaming," the stunned officer explained. He looked around. He didn't look like much more than a kid himself at that moment. "Jesus Christ! What is happening?"
"Help my daughter," Alan demanded as he got up and ran back to AJ's room. He stood over the crib heaving, sobbing, unable to move. Alan reached for AJ's remains, then turned away. He couldn't bring himself to look at his dead baby, let alone touch him. That would make it real. He stood, looking at his shoes, willing himself to wake up.
Alan snapped back when more screams filled the house. Lauren! He ran back into the hallway. The police officer had his pistol aimed at Lauren. With his other hand he was holding a giant gash in his neck. Blood was seeping between his fingers. She charged at the officer like a whisper. He opened fire.
The first shot missed. Alan screamed out. Lauren halted her charge. For a fraction of a second she turned face him. She was a blank, expressionless.
Alan's voice broke as he screamed. "No. no. n-." BAM. The bullet caught her directly above the ear. Lauren folded, hitting the floor beside her mom. That was it, in the span of ten minutes, his entire family was dead.
Alan looked at the officer. He flew into a complete rage.
"What the fuck did you do!?" It was almost a whisper.
"I had to! She did this!" the officer shouted back, still holding his bleeding neck. He went down on one knee. His pistol dropped and skidded across the floor.
"My family," Alan said, his voice rising as he stared at the cop.
"My family," he said again as he headed up the hallway.
The cop looked as if he was about to collapse.
"MY FAMILY!" Alan scream was almost intelligible.
Alan charged, at a full sprint now. He hit the cop like a spear. They both tumbled across the floor. The officer laid crumpled over, offering no resistance. Alan jumped to his feet and proceeded to stomp, stomp, and stomp again on the officer's face. He felt the bones give way under his bare foot. Alan's teeth were like fangs in his grimace. Words that were more sounds flew out with each stomp.
When he was done, Alan stood there, chest heaving, when the bang of a door startled him.
Outside AJ's room stood Chloe, chewed up neck and all. The wound had stopped bleeding. She was still wearing her backpack, her yellow and purple polka dot dress was now black and crimson.
Alan stood there, saying nothing, as what use to be his daughter approached him.
He simply reached into the officer's belt and removed his baton. He walked up the hallway to meet her. What felt like fire, burned from his eyes.
Without realizing it, Alan had stopped walking and was standing there, eyes closed tight. When Alan opened his eyes again, he was staring at a wood wall, painted red. It was peeling and looked in a state of disrepair. This must be the boathouse.
The visions, they happened again. When I am awake I see it, when I am asleep I see it. Will there ever be any relief? Alan rested his head against the wall and closed his eyes again. He took deep breaths. When he felt more composed, he walked up a few squeaking steps to the inside.
It was fairly spacious inside the boathouse. On hooks along one wall were a couple of fishing poles, nets, rows of miscellaneous parts and tools. Alan walked the wood pier in the middle of the house that led out onto the lake. At the end was a small two person boat. Alan figured that there must be some good fishing in this lake to have such a nice setup.
As Alan walked back out of the boathouse, he tripped. He continued on, paying what it was no mind. He was too lost in his thoughts again, remembering his many fishing trips as a scout leader, to notice what he had tripped over was a slightly opened trapdoor.
Except for the little dust up in the morning, everyone was in much better spirits during their first day at the cabin. JT figured that everyone else was feeling like he was. It was just felt good to be someplace that at least seemed safe. He had forgotten how normal it felt to have a full belly and a clean change of clothes. To not be constantly on the run, looking over your shoulder. Thinking that any minute could really be your last. Worse than that, the nightmare of spending eternity walking the world as a zombie.
After all the difficulties of the last month, it didn't really surprise him that afternoon when Hannah and Tyrone exclaimed to everyone that they had planned a campfire for later that night. He could understand the need to blow off a little steam.
"It will be just like the bonfires we would have during Homecoming week," Tyrone said, pacing around the living room with barely contained energy. "We even have the beautiful cheerleaders."
JT still found himself bothered by all the times Tyrone, or anyone else for that matter, complemented Hannah. He knew it wasn't completely right, it wasn't like they were boyfriend/girlfriend. He didn't know if either one of them would want that, the way things were now. That didn't change how he felt though. He would just keep it to himself for now.
"I just wanted us to enjoy our first real break," Hannah said, excited. "We can all sit down, relax and act like real people. Maybe even have a little fun."
"Yeah and I agreed. It's going to be totally sick," Tyrone added.
"You guys, that is the best thing I've heard in like forever," said Ashley.
Excitement grew as evening approached. Tyrone recruited JT into helping him gather the firewood. Harold told them to only skim the edge of the woods. He didn't want to have to pull them from any of his traps. They went out in the field, away from Harold's crops, gathering sticks and twigs in their hands. When they were done, JT thought they had built a respectable stack.
Night fell. The stars came out, painting the darkness. It was a night sky those who grew up in the city had never seen. The fire roared. JT and Tyrone had found camping chairs for everyone who wanted to join. Harold said he would be inside if he was needed, and JT didn't really expect Alan back any time soon. Everyone else settled in.
"So what are we going to do?" asked Gus, chuckling. "Sing a rousing round of row, row, row your boat?"
"Sorry Gus," JT said, "I didn't think about carrying my acoustic guitar through the zombie apocalypse."
There was some light chuckles, then an awkward silence. JT's mind went blank.
"How about we tell some stories?" Hannah suggested. "You know, from before. Even though we have been together awhile, we really don't know that much about each other."
"Hannah!" Ashley exclaimed, exasperated. "I thought you said this was going to be fun."
"Hey, it could be," JT said. "I would like to hear about Hannah, the early years."
JT felt happy when he got a smile for his comment.
"Sounds dumb. Well, who wants to go first?" Dusty asked in harsh tones."Ashley? Why don't you give us what is sure to be a sob story first."
"Back Off!" Hannah chimed in to defend her friend.
"You really going to start this already. You can't help but be an asshole Dustin?" JT said.
"Fine superstar, why don't you start-."
"Jesus you people are worse than wet farts in a pair of granny panties. Sometimes I just don't know about the lot of ya!" Gus exclaimed. "I'll start. It's almost past my bedtime anyway. I expect one of you to get me some s'mores while I'm yappin."
"I woke up five minutes before my alarm went off, as usual. It was a typical Tuesday morning. You know, now that I think about it, I should have known something bad was gonna happen that day. My morning dump was too easy, I didn't nick myself shaving, and I woke up with a raging stiffy."
Tyrone tried to stifle his laugh.
"No need to laugh young man. You think these girls don't notice the morning trees in your tidy whiteys?"
This brought the whole group to tears.
"T
yrone, you looked as embarrassed as a kid caught with his hand in the cookie jar," Gus cackled.
That started another uproar. When they all quieted down, Gus continued.
"Anyways, let me fast forward. I'm at my surplus store, getting all my shit together. Then I head off to the bank as usual. Stop at the gas station, flirt with the chubby red headed lady with the big knockers behind the counter while I sipped my coffee. I played with my mustache while looking over the front page of the morning paper. Leave the gas station, head to the bank. Pull up to the drive thru because I'm too lazy to go inside. From my truck you get a better view down them pretty bank tellers shirts anyhow."
Hannah and Ashley eye rolled hard. Gus laughed inwardly and went on.
"It's business as usual when all of a sudden the cute blond behind the counter looks right past me. She has this horrified look upon her face. More than she should just by looking at my old face. It was like she had just seen a ghost. I look to my right and it's there in the McDonald's parking lot, shambling towards us. One of those dead sons of bitches."
Gus paused, taking a drink of water. JT was surprised to see Gus hesitate a little before continuing. To JT it seemed like everything was a big joke to Gus. There wasn't much in life that bothered him.
"It was dragging one foot behind him," Gus continued. "A boy of maybe sixteen, pale skin, whited out eyes. I sat there figuring this was some kind of prank until a lady and her little boy walked out of that McDonald's. As soon as those people screamed, that dead boy was on top of them in seconds."
"I jumped out of my truck and watched in disbelief as people ran out to help her. But no matter what they did that thing would not go down. In the midst of this unfolding chaos that little boy sat straight up. Got up with this dazed look on his face, shambled over to the distracted group of would be heroes and took a chunk out of one of their legs. As that guy screamed out in pain that little boy's mom was back on her feet and coming at them."
