EATERS: THE BEGINNING
by
MichelleDePaepe
AMAZON EDITION
PUBLISHED BY:
MichelleDePaepe on Amazon
Copyright © 2010 by MichelleDePaepe
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Chapter One
The fire crackled and popped, sending a shower of sparks up into the night to compete with the stars. Cheryl pushed another marshmallow onto her stick and held it over the pit. She waited until it charred and began to ooze before she pulled it out and blew out the blue flame.
“Is that one for me?”
She looked over at Mark, her fiancée, reclining in his lawn chair as he opened one eye. Several minutes ago, she’d thought he’d gone to sleep. With his eyes closed, and his body twitching, she figured that he was miles away in some nightmare land, reliving explosions and sniper attacks. “You already had about a dozen. I figured you’d passed out from the sugar load.”
“I didn’t know you were counting,” he said as he yawned and stretched.
She laughed and handed him the stick. Mark was fond of calling himself a ‘growing boy’ who needed lots of meat and sugar to fuel his biceps. It was those two guns and the rifle in the back of his pickup that made her feel relatively safe out here in a lone campsite fifty miles west of Denver.
As he sat up and licked the black and white goo from his fingers, she looked at the moon high over the mountain peaks. It seemed like a white lantern, hung on a peg in the sky like a grownup’s nightlight. The previous nights had been windy, but tonight it was still, like the earth was holding its breath for something. “It’s so quiet out tonight. ”
“Well, enjoy it, ‘cause you’re heading back to the rat race bright and early tomorrow.”
“Thanks. I was trying to forget that for a couple more hours.” That was true, but in reality, after three nights of grungy camping, she was ready to go back to civilization. She knew Mark wasn’t. This was their reunion vacation after his year-long tour of duty in Afghanistan. He said that he wanted to be alone with her and decompress without distractions from other people. She also knew that he wanted to be far away from the sound of exploding fireworks from the 4th of July celebrations, because they reminded him of the bad kind of fireworks that could cause a sudden loss of life or limb. For that reason, she agreed to the getaway in the wilderness, despite her city girl reservations.
It was Sunday. They were supposed to have headed back today, but he bargained with her to buy themselves another night, saying that if they left around 6:30 a.m. Monday morning, she’d have enough time to shower and get to work. Then, he could unpack their gear later that day.
After roasting and eating another marshmallow, she smacked at a mosquito hovering over her head. The damn things seemed to love her blood, even though she’d doused herself in a vat of repellent. But, they didn’t seem to bother Mark at all. “I’m getting eaten alive out here,” she said as she wiped a red smear off her shoulder. “I’m going back in the tent.”
“You might as well get naked now. I’ll be there in a few minutes.”
They made love as the orange glow of the embers in the fire pit outside died down to wisps of smoke. It wasn’t as frenzied as the first couple of nights. It was softer, more slow and tender, like it had been a year ago. They melded together like jigsaw pieces then snuggled into each other’s warmth.
She had trouble falling asleep after that. While Mark was snoring away, she heard a twig snap nearby followed by a deep grunt. That set her on edge, wondering what sort of animal could be prowling near the camp. She knew there were bears and mountain lions in the area—that was a given in the Rocky Mountains. Attacks seemed rare, because you rarely heard about them. But, statistics mean little when you are sleeping in a cloth tent that’s really not much better than lying out in the open. She reached across Mark’s bare hip and felt for his rifle just to reassure herself that it was there. He’d taught her to shoot it once when she braved accompanying him on an elk hunting trip, but that was a couple years ago, and she wasn’t sure any of that training or some of the self defense he’d taught her would be much good if she came face to face with a snarling beast and was paralyzed with fear.
Despite the day’s heat, it seemed to get colder with every passing second. She shivered as she strained to listen for any indication that an animal was near. But, after a few more minutes passed without a repeat of the sounds, her body relaxed, and she nestled closer to Mark’s warm body. Eventually, her alert ears yielded to the heaviness of her eyelids, and she fell asleep.
When she woke, the sky was still a dark shade of blue with dawn just cracking in a zigzag glow over the nearest peak. She reached over and found that Mark was gone.
As she unzipped the tent, she stepped out and said, “Geez what time is—”
Mark was wearing his boxers, holding his rifle with one hand and a cigarette with the other as he scraped back and forth at the dirt with his bare feet.
“What are you doing?”
“Nothing.”
“Doesn’t look like nothing. Was the pit still hot? Did the fire jump?”
“No.”
“Then what—”
She noticed the six-foot path that he’d cleared with his feet. It led from the fire pit straight up to the front of the tent.
“I heard something last night. It was animal tracks, wasn’t it? A bear?”
“No.”
“Come on. Don’t—”
“Let’s get going.”
He ignored the rest of her questions and began to pack up the tent.
She noticed that their food cache was still securely hanging from a high branch from a nearby tree. There were no claw marks in the bark, but it probably had been a bear, and Mark just didn’t want to scare her by admitting it. She shrugged it off. It didn’t matter now. The bear was probably long gone, and they were leaving anyway.
After putting on her shorts and tank top, she packed up the rest of her things and put her duffel bag on the floor in the front of the truck. The clock on the dashboard said 5:47 a.m., which meant they were leaving even earlier than they had to. She wondered why he was in a rush all of a sudden. But, with his grumpy attitude, she didn’t want to press him about it.
As they drove east, winding around curve after curve, towards the sun’s brightening glow, she was surprised at how many cars were going in the other direction so early in the morning. She figured they must be heading back home after spending the holiday weekend in the city.
Mark turned on the radio, tuned it to a rock station, and cranked the volume up a hair above her comfort level. She sunk down in her seat and leaned her head on one hand to muffle the sound of the screeching vocals.
For twenty minutes, he drove, nodding his head to the thumping bass guitar in each song, and didn’t talk to her at all. She knew something was bothering him. Whatever was on his mind, she guessed it might have something to do with his days overseas. There was no doubt that there were dark things that had happened there that she probably didn’t want to know about. Of course, he was probably also nervous about rejoining the civilized world and the start of his duty with the National Guard in a few days. She decided to wait until he was ready to talk about it.
She flipped the visor down and looked in the mirror. There were
dark circles under her eyes, confirming that she’d had precious little sleep for days due to last night’s uneasiness and the previous nights of marathon long sex. Her shoulder length blonde hair was stringy and in sore need of a shampoo. She couldn’t wait to get home to her apartment and wash all the funk off.
As Mark drove on, she reclined her seat and closed her eyes, feeling the sway of the truck as it rounded another curve. She fingered the diamond engagement ring on her hand, twisting it back and forth, as she imagined that the gentle rocking motion of the car was the waltz of a cruise ship as it swayed on the waves, carrying them along on their Caribbean honeymoon. Next summer, maybe? They hadn’t set a date yet. Her daydreams soon turned to the dreams of her subconscious as she fell asleep.
When she opened her eyes again, the truck had stopped.
They were at a gas station in the foothills on the outskirts of Boulder. Mark wasn’t in the car, and she saw no one else around. The wind kicked a dust devil up a few yards away, and the orange, white, and blue plastic flags strung across the awning flapped back and forth.
She stepped out of the truck and stretched the stiffness out of her legs, then walked towards the building to try and find Mark and a restroom.
Inside, the counter and shop were vacant. She guessed that Mark was in the restroom, so she decided to go as well.
When she came out, Mark was filling a Styrofoam cup with coffee from a machine. His hand shook as he tried to hold it steady under the stream of brown liquid.
“Where’s the clerk?”
“Don’t know. The pump is working, so I filled up. You want mocha or French vanilla?”
“Mocha,” she said as she pulled on her bottom lip and watched him.
He poured her coffee, grabbed a couple of breakfast burritos from the cooler, then laid two twenties on the counter. “Let’s go.”
As they got back into the truck, she couldn’t hold her tongue any longer. “Something’s wrong, isn’t it?”
He kept driving with his eyes straight ahead then he reached for the radio and turned the volume up.
In that instant, she thought he was going to crank up the music and tune her out again. But, it wasn’t music—it was a newscast.
The female announcer had a high-pitched warble in her voice. “…flu-like symptoms. Starts with a fever, then nausea and vomiting. Muscle aches and chills…”
“There’s some kind of epidemic going on. Apparently, it spread pretty fast over the weekend.”
“…some may experience unnatural cravings for spoiled food…”
“Spoiled food?” Cheryl grimaced. “What kind of—”
“Shhh…”
“…strange facial distortions and rotting flesh…”
She listened to the rest of the story.
When it was over and a commercial came on, Mark turned the volume down, then turned his eyes back towards the road.
“That can’t be for real. It’s ridiculous. Who gets sick and wants to eat anything, much less spoiled crap? I can’t believe—”
He turned the volume back up and flipped to a newscast on another station.
“…hospitals are beginning to feel the strain as more and more of the sick overwhelm their doors…”
“It sounds real to me.”
“What if it’s a hoax? Some kind of War of the Worlds thing?”
“What if it’s not?”
Cheryl wasn’t buying in to his concern. Even if there was some new epidemic, she didn’t believe that it could be that serious. Every other flu or virus scare in the past seemed to just be blown out of proportion by the media and never turned out to be anything significant. She wondered if Mark was just focusing on the radio news as a way to get out of talking about what was really on his mind.
“Maybe you should call in sick today.”
“Call in sick? I can’t. Not after a four-day weekend. That wouldn’t look very good to my boss. I already took a vacation day last Thursday, so we could have this long weekend together.”
“Well, just go to work then. Maybe your boss will close up early and send everyone home.”
“I doubt it. Schrumer’s got his feathers ruffled about some new regulations that might cost us some big bucks. He scheduled a meeting with all the agents today.”
Mark glanced over at her, long enough to make her uncomfortable as they approached a curve.
“Why are you looking at me like that? Watch the road!”
He faced his eyes forward again then began tapping his fingers on the steering wheel like he was keeping up with the beat of some music in his head…or counting something.
“Look, I’ll go in. If there’s really something serious going on, I’m sure I’ll be leaving in short order.”
“Yeah,” he said, his voice a thousand miles away. “You’re right.”
Suddenly, she had a horrible premonition that the reunion with Mark was really a farewell. Was he trying to spend as much time with her as possible before breaking off their engagement and revealing that he’d met some woman in the military that he was leaving her for? She tried to reassure herself that there was no evidence for that. His letters and phone calls for the last year had been frequent and loving. She should be more positive…think about their future together. But, a nagging little voice in her head reminded her, worst case scenarios do happen.
When they reached her apartment, he remained stolid and told her to go ahead and get ready for work while he started unpacking.
After she got in the shower, the warm water coursing over her felt so good, it was like a rebirth to her weary and filthy body. She closed her eyes and let it stream over her face, taking longer then she knew she should.
When she opened them, she was startled by a dark figure right next to the shower door.
The door slid open, and a naked Mark stepped inside. He wasted no time nestling into her neck from behind. “You really could stay home today…”
She turned to face him and put her arms around his neck, feeling a surge of optimism. “Yeah? If I did, I wouldn’t be able to walk tomorrow.”
He pulled her closer. “You’re probably right.”
“Do you know the kind of crap I’d get from some of the jerk-offs in the office if I came back with a limp?”
He laughed. Then, he slid his hands down her back, coating it with the slippery suds of coconut body wash.
Chapter Two
Cheryl’s drive to work was horrendous. Impatient drivers cut her off, horns honked, and she saw at least three people run red lights. She wondered if it was the full moon causing the erratic behavior.
She turned on the radio, but after finding two stations in the middle of commercials and another yakking about a political battle, she turned it off, figuring that she’d better keep her mind focused on the idiots on the road anyway.
When she got to her work parking lot, she was elated to find a spot in the front row. After parking, she quickly grabbed her purse and briefcase and locked the door with her key fob as she walked towards the agency.
But, her gait slowed as she saw a man hunched over, sitting on the curb. He wore a long black basketball jersey and jeans, spiffed up by an array of gold chains around his neck. He was mumbling something to himself and rocking back and forth.
Seeing the bling, she ruled out homeless. She worried that he might be a purse snatcher with some dramatic ruse to approach her or an addict withdrawing from some sort of drug. She began a wide arc around him to get up to the sidewalk.
He kept rocking as she passed.
Relieved, she kept walking and—
He ran up and grabbed her sleeve from behind.
“Hey!” she shouted.
He looked up at her with bloodshot eyes, so red that she could hardly see any white around the hazel centers. His lower lids sagged down, revealing moist sallow flesh underneath, and there were flakes of flesh peeling away from his pink skin underneath the black stubble on his cheeks. He didn’t say anything—he just looked at her with a cocked head i
n some sort of silent desperation. Then, his nose wrinkled, and he sniffed her like a dog checking out a stranger.
“Get away from me!” She yanked her arm away and ran the last few feet for the door.
Once inside, she whipped around and looked back through the glass door. He hadn’t followed. He was just standing there, now slightly bent over and crooked, staring at her with his mouth hung open, as if he was just as surprised as she was at the encounter.
As she turned around towards the lobby, she said, “Did you see…”
But, no one was at any of the desks.
She had a second of elation. Maybe, Schrumer let everyone have the day off —
But, Schrumer popped out of his office before her wishful thinking got any further.
“Oh, Cheryl. Good. I’m glad you’re here. Half the office called in sick today. I know there’s some bug going around, but I can’t believe they’ve all got it. They’re either all hypochondriacs or just paranoid.” He threw his hands up in the air, sloshing coffee out of his mug. “I’ve got a goddamn business to run here. We need to meet today to talk about those new regulations…”
She nodded as he followed her towards her office. “Yes, I know.” Before she turned the corner in the hall, she glanced back over his shoulder towards the front window. The man outside was gone.
“Bob’s here, but I’m waiting for Lanny and Paul to get their tails in here. They’re both running late, and neither of them has called.”
“So, who’s here?”
“Just you, me, John, Mary, and Robert.”
Good, she thought. The water cooler gossips were out. Maybe, she’d actually get some work done.
“Meeting starts at 10:00 sharp. I want to get a plan going today. That Lanny better get his tail in here and Paul…”
Cheryl laughed and shook her head as he walked off still talking to himself.
Before she had her things put away and her computer warmed up, the phone on her desk rang. She didn’t answer it. There was way too much prep to do for the meeting to risk getting into a new claim with a client. Looking at the flashing red light on the voicemail button, she already had a feeling that this was going to be one backed up busy day. She imagined there were a half dozen messages waiting to tell her about fender benders and roofs that caught on fire from stray bottle rockets.
Eaters: The Beginning Page 1
