by Paul Hetzer
“Mom made us breakfast and left for work. She gave me a hug and kiss and told me she loved me. I never saw her again.” Amanda’s voice caught in her throat as she fought back the tears. She wiped her eyes with the palms of her hands and continued.
“We decided we would head to Buckroe Beach in Hampton and hang out for the day. We had a friend whose parents had a house there. We sent him several texts but, you know, never got a reply. He usually sleeps in late, so we figured we’d surprise him. It was late in the morning when we finally got ourselves together and on the road. Things were getting bad already. There were pile-ups and stalled cars everywhere. People just passed out behind the wheel or along the road. It was scary. The back-up was so bad at the York River Bridge, we couldn’t even get over it.
“I texted my mom, who works down in Newport News and she replied back that she had no trouble getting into work this morning, but that there was a lot of very sick people around. She told me to go back home and wait for her there. We didn’t have anywhere else to go, so we turned around and headed back. We saw very few people up and about, but there were bodies everywhere, people had just left their cars and passed out where they were walking.”
“It was spooky,” interjected Kera uneasily.
Amanda nodded. “Really spooky! We stopped at a shopping center to pick up some snacks and there were only two people working in the entire store. They were all worried-like ‘cuz they had people passed out that they were trying to take care of. One of them rang us up and we got out of there quick.
“When we got home we pulled my car into the garage and went in the house and waited. My brother was there. His apartment was just down the street, so he had walked down when Mom called him and asked him to wait there with us. We watched the news a little bit but mostly just played video games.”
“We never even went outside to see what was happening out there,” Kera added. “I don’t think we wanted to see.”
Amanda took a deep breath and went on with her narrative. “My mom usually gets home about five. By five after, I was trying to call her on her cell. I left a voice mail and several texts but didn’t get any replies. I was getting real scared. Nathan kept saying she would be walking through the door at any time, but, you know, I could tell he was really worried too.”
“I, um, called my parents again,” Kera said flatly, absently picking at the grass with her fingers. “I never got hold of them. I don’t know what happened to them.” Tears poured down her face and Amanda put her arm around her and hugged her close, crying also.
Amanda took a few moments to compose herself before she continued. “That evening we heard them outside, it sounded like, you know, wild animals were in the street, and we heard some screams. We were so scared we didn’t know what we could do. Nathan told us to stay away from the windows so no one would see us and try to break in. He also made us carry knives from the kitchen. That’s all we had. We saw the glow of fires in the distance from my bedroom window. It looked like the world was ending.
“We called or texted everyone we knew and didn’t get hold of anyone. We got stupid recordings when we called 911 and the sheriff’s office. We were afraid to turn on any lights and, you know, draw attention from those things making those awful noises outside. We didn’t sleep much that night and kept telling each other things would be better in the morning.”
“It wasn’t any better,” Kera cut in again. “It was way worse! Those people outside were crazy, they were busting into people’s houses and fighting each other. I still couldn’t get hold of my parents.” She looked over at Amanda. “We decided to drive over to my house, just to check.” She stopped talking, her raven dark hair falling over her face and hiding her haunted eyes.
“Kera’s parents live up north off of 17,” Amanda said. “We ate some breakfast and then headed out. I was driving and Nathan was in the back. When we drove out into the road, the people out there came running at us. They had these blood red eyes filled with rage that made them look totally insane. They were running into the car and beating on it. Some of them were around a big dog. They were eating it while it was still alive.” She paused a moment, seeing it in her mind’s eye and then whispered, “I ran over some of them, I couldn’t help it.”
She looked around at the group like she was expecting a scalding recrimination, however, everyone remained silent, sympathy showing in their expressions.
“The drive was awful. The insane people were everywhere, chasing us as soon as we got close. What normally takes us twenty minutes to drive took us an hour. When we got there neither Aunt Alice’s nor Uncle Jimmy’s car was in the driveway and no one was home. There weren’t any houses close by or any of the crazy people around so we decided to stay there for awhile. Uncle Jimmy had a handgun and we tore the place apart looking for it, but couldn’t find it.
“There’s a small shopping center on the other side of the woods behind the house. We could hear the people there making all kinds of, you know, horrible sounds in their madness. Nathan was sure if we didn’t make any noise they wouldn’t know we were there. We were going to just hang out at Kera’s house for a few days since it seemed pretty safe. Her backyard is fenced in and Toby, her lab lived there. We were sure he would bark and warn us if any of those people came around.
“We actually slept pretty good that night. We all just crashed in the living room together. We never went outside much the next day except to feed Toby. We called or texted every one we knew again, but it was like the rest of the world was gone.
“There wasn’t a lot of food in the house, but enough that we made do. We couldn’t get any TV stations on the satellite box. Even the local channels were gone. We tried the radio and got a Virginia Beach station with some guy ranting about the apocalypse being upon us. That next morning, I think it was Friday, we were looking in the kitchen for something to eat when Toby started barking up a storm. Before we could even make it down to the rec room and look out the patio doors he was cut off in mid bark. When we looked out the door it was horrible! There must have been a half dozen of those crazy people who had climbed over the dog fence and attacked Toby. They were tearing him apart with their hands and teeth. You could hear the sound of his skin ripping even through the glass doors.” Amanda paused to take a sip of her water and looked over at Kera.
Kera avoided her eyes, looking back down, her fingers nervously picking at a blade of grass. “I know I messed up.” Her whisper was barely audible. “I was so angry!” she said with more strength, “They were killing my dog right there in front of me!” She looked up at us pleadingly. “I wanted them to stop. I banged on the glass as hard as I could and screamed at them to stop,” she looked back down, “but he was already dead.”
Amanda put her arm around her and hugged her tight, “It wasn’t your fault, Kera, they probably would have seen us anyway.” She looked back over at the rest of us. “They saw us on the other side of the patio doors and most of them ran at us. We backed up away from the door but didn’t expect them to get in. The chick in front didn’t even, you know, like, slow down. It was like she didn’t even know the door was there. She hit it with her face and both panes shattered around her and she fell through. She was cut to pieces, her face was a bloody mess, but she got right back up and the rest of the crazy people came pushing in behind her growling like rabid dogs.
“We ran out of the room. Nathan was last. He tried to slam the door shut, but their arms were there holding on to him and blocking the door from closing. He yelled at us to get the car keys while he tried to hold the door so they couldn’t get all the way through. Their fingernails were gouging his arm and he was bleeding, but he kept pushing against that door anyway. Kera tried to help him while I ran to the kitchen for the keys. I wasn’t gone four or five seconds when I heard Kera scream again and Nathan yelled really loud. I grabbed the car keys and ran back down the stairs and Kera went running and screaming past me.
“Nathan was at the bottom of the stairs, fighting those things!
They were biting and tearing at him yet somehow he managed to hold them off. He was punching and kicking, even though there were too many of them. One of them jumped at me past him. Nathan grabbed the guy’s leg and they all fell over. Nathan was covered in so much blood and they kept biting and hitting him, but he kept yelling ‘Go! Go!’ I ran back up the stairs and he screamed again then I couldn’t hear him anymore.” Amanda cried heavily as she recalled this last bit. “I couldn’t do anything for him, I was so scared!” she sobbed.
“It doesn’t sound like there was anything you could have done honey,” Holly consoled her, her eyes moist also.
“I wish I could have told him I loved him. I haven’t told him that in years.” She shook her head sadly.
“I found Kera out by the car. She was, you know, hysterical. I yelled at her to get in, but she didn’t move. I pushed her into the passenger seat and ran around to the drivers’ side and then those crazy people came running out of the house. I locked the doors but they were trying to get in, slamming against the car with their bodies and fists. I was shaking so bad I couldn’t work the key but finally started the car. They were leaving blood smears all over the windows. We got out of there quick. I never even looked back.
“We didn’t have, like, any plans or anything, we just drove up 17 cause it was away from those people. Once we were past the towns, we didn’t see much of anyone. Every once in a while a crazy person would try to chase us, although they would never even get close before we were past them. Then we drove into Tappahannock. We didn’t think it would be as bad there as it was down south, but it was a mess. There were cars blocking the road at all the intersections and mobs of the crazy people everywhere. Some buildings were burning. We couldn’t drive fast because of all the abandoned cars and trucks. It was like a nightmare. They swarmed around us whenever we slowed, slamming on the windows trying to get in.
“They were hitting the windows hard enough that they started to crack. There was so many of them they were blocking the car. There were crazy kids there too. The back window broke and they were trying to climb through. There were so many of them around us that we couldn’t see out. I just jammed the gas pedal all the way to the floor.
“We were hitting them, running over them. We made it through the mob, but they kept coming at us from everywhere, even running in front of the car. The front of the car was all bashed up and steam was shooting out around the hood and we could hardly see. I didn’t slow down at all. I was like, you know, panicky!
“We were sideswiping cars trying to get around, going up on like sidewalks and stuff. We lost a tire and the car was making an awful sound and getting really hard to steer. When we made it on the other side of town the crazy people thinned out. The car was smoking and then it just made a, you know, banging noise and stopped.
“We were both so scared. The windows were all smeared and cracked and we couldn’t really see out good. Then someone banged on my window and it was Frank who stuck his head in the broken back window and asked if we were okay.” Amanda’s face was ghost white from the memory of hers and Kera’s escape from Tappahannock.
rank bellowed nervous laughter. “I was never so happy to see anyone in my life and I think these two ladies felt the same way!”
CHAPTER 10
Frank stood up and stretched his massive arms. “Let me back it up a bit there and tell y’all how I happened to be at the right spot at the right time.” His deep powerful voice and warm smile had a calming effect on us as he began to narrate his story.
His smile broadened and he looked at the rest of us. “Hi. My name is Frank Gunderson and I’m a survivor.” He chuckled to himself, pulled his hair back into a ponytail, and banded it off.
“I belonged to a local 1% biker club before all this crap went down. I worked as a welder for the steamfitters union in Tappahannock but didn’t make it into work that mornin’ this shit started.”
He stroked his beard thoughtfully, thinking back. “My wife Glenda and I lived right on the outskirts of town close to the club’s clubhouse. We have a daughter just a couple years older than these two ladies here. She had joined the Navy out of high school and was working for Naval Intelligence overseas.
“We didn’t stay up to watch the lightshow the night before, we just weren’t into any of that crap and I had to get up early for work. When I woke up that next morning, Glenda was already up, which is unusual. She’s not an early bird. She said she was feeling cruddy and got up to make some coffee. She looked awful, with dark circles under her eyes and a bit pale. Said she had a fever. I didn’t think much of it until I was on the bike heading into town and heard the news on the Harley’s radio about the mystery illness. I didn’t even give a second thought about work, I just swung the bike around and went back home.
“Glenda had gone back to bed by the time I got there so I had to wake her. She hadn’t heard the news and before I could tell her what was happening the phone rang. It was our daughter Celia, callin’ from the ship in the Gulf. She sounded real scared. Said that she was sick along with most of the crew and that the scuttlebutt was that the comet had caused it.”
He shook his head in frustration. “I didn’t know what to say to her, my baby was far outside my protection. I told her it was probably nothing to worry about and that the sickness would most likely go away after a few days just like a cold. I put her on with her mom and Glenda looked real scared when Celia told her what was happening.”
Frank was pacing around the group as he spoke, occasionally looking off into the distance as if into the past. “I got back on and told her that I loved her and to call me when she was feeling better. Never heard from her again. She’s probably one of those things now,” he said, pointing past the bridge.
“Glenda was a strong woman, but she was real shook up about what Celia had said and worried to death about her. I told her the Navy would take care of our little girl and I would take care of her. She wasn’t much comforted. Her fever was really getting bad and she said her head was a’splitting. She took some Tylenol and damn near drank a gallon of water then went back to bed. I figured I’d let her rest a couple of hours and then check on her.
“I kept watching the news and could tell things were worse than what they were letting on. I tried calling some of my brothers but couldn’t get a hold of nobody, even at the clubhouse. I guess it was between ten and eleven when I went back in to wake her. Glenda was burning hot and drooling like a teething baby. When I tried to wake her up, she just laid there dead to the world. I shook her, yelled at her, even tried cold water. She just wouldn’t wake up. I noticed she had a smell about her, a sweet scent.
“Now I’m not much of a worrier, but I was shitting bricks when I couldn’t get her to respond.” He let out an exasperated breath, and shook his head again, wagging his ponytail. “I called 911 to try to get an ambulance. The message said all the lines were tied up. I called the hospital and did get hold of someone, a nurse I think. She said they were overwhelmed with patients and couldn’t do much for ‘em. Said it was best just to keep her in her bed and well hydrated.” He laughed again, a short, vicious bark. “What was I supposed to do, stick a garden hose down her throat? She was out cold. She wouldn’t be drinking any water the regular way.” His lips were a thin bloodless line as he fought to control whatever emotions were boiling up within him.
“I didn’t leave her side for more than a few minutes from then on out. That woman meant the world to me. She and Celia were the only really good things in my life.” He shook his head again and took a deep breath. “I don’t know how much later it was when she woke up. I was kind of dozing in the chair beside the bed. I looked over at her and her eyes were open and those blood red orbs were looking right at me but there wasn’t any recognition in that look. Then she growled at me. Actually fucking growled. Excuse my language there, son,” he said to Jeremy.
Jeremy just nodded.
“She twisted up out of bed and dropped to the floor on all fours, and then just launche
d herself at me. Now she ain’t a big woman by any measure, but it felt like a linebacker sacking me and I flew backwards over that chair. If she hadn’t been tangled up in the sheets she would have had me right there. I got up on my feet real quick. She literally ripped the blankets from her body and stood there as naked as the day she was born, saliva dripping from her chin and still growling like some savage animal. She snapped her teeth at me and lunged and I knocked her aside and got out of her way.
“I ain’t never hit her before and felt awful for doing it. There was just something inhuman about her. The hit didn’t even faze her though. She was back up and at me again, trying to gut me with her fingernails, snarling and growling the whole time.
“I bum rushed her and knocked her to the ground and pinned her arms behind her back. It was like trying to ride a bucking bronco. She was fighting hard and was surprisingly damned powerful. She kept bending her neck trying to reach back to bite me. I was able to get some of the sheet and bind her arms up good and then her legs. I was trying to talk to her, trying to calm her down, but there was no understanding in her. She was fucked up in the head!” He rubbed a sheen of sweat from his forehead and then sat down in the grass.
“We just sat there on the floor looking at each other for a while. She wanting to tear me up and me already tore up over what was happening to her.” The big man was quiet for a moment, contemplating what to say next.
“After a while I got her up on the bed and tied her arms and legs better with some cord. I tried feeding her half a sandwich that I made by sticking it in her mouth when she was snapping at me and she actually swallowed some of it, but it still didn’t stop her from wanting a piece of me.
“Later that evening she shit herself and just laid in it. She had already pissed the bed a couple of times so it was reeking in that room. I was hoping that she would snap out of it, but whenever I looked in her face all I saw was madness.
