Lockdown

by Stephen Lewis

  ‘What’s this?’ he asked, trying to read the long name on the label.

  ‘Remember last year when my Dad fell off the ladder and dislocated his arm?’

  ‘Yeah,’ he replied, and we both recalled when my Dad was adamant he could adjust the satellite dish. He wasn’t even on the roof yet before being startled by a Hadeda and toppled backwards, landing on the driveway dislocating his left shoulder.

  ‘Well, this was the stuff he was taking. It’s an anti-inflammatory and a strong painkiller.’

  ‘Well if it’s good enough for the Doc,’ Nkata smiled and went to get a fresh glass of water for his mother.

  ‘Is Stephanie not here?’ I asked, suddenly realising she wasn’t there.

  ‘Nah brah. Should she be?’

  I told him about her visit earlier, the way The Mothership acted and that we had arranged to meet here.

  ‘Maybe she’s still on her way here,’ he said. ‘Let me take these to Ma - I’ll tell her your dad sent them.’

  As Nkata left, I slouched onto the couch when I suddenly remembered that Freddy had tried to call. I took out my phone and called his number.

  ‘What took you so long?’ Freddy sounded irritated and I could hear voices in the background.

  Before I could answer, he apologised. ‘Sorry, I’m just feeling a bit stressed. They are close to getting the motor going to open the front gate. I tripped the power twice, but I think they are on to me.’ He went into a whisper for the last bit and I could hear him walking away and the background voices getting softer.

  ‘My dad is doing what he can,’ I started, ‘But we’ve heard of zombie sightings in the Oak Street area, so we want to go check it out and see if we can trap them somehow like we did the ones in the tennis court.’

  ‘Okay, sounds good. Let’s hope your dad gets through to the right people soon. With the gate open, one of those things could slip out. The day shift security guards are also here and keep radioing the night shift guys, but there is no response.’

  That’s because they were all now dead zombies. One lying at the back of a building site, and the other in the lounge of some poor dead couple. I could hear the voices rise in the background.

  ‘I’ll call you later,’ he said and hung up.

  I slipped my phone back in my pocket as Nkata came back into the room. I asked if his mom took the pills.

  ‘As soon as I said it was from your dad, she couldn’t swallow them quick enough,’ he laughed. ‘Stephanie not here yet?’ he asked, looking around.

  ‘I thought I heard you talking.’

  ‘I called Freddy,’ I said, recapping our conversation.

  The fact that Stephanie wasn’t here yet started to worry me. I stood and looked out the front window, hoping to see her arrive at any moment.

  ‘Something is wrong,’ I said to Nkata. ‘She should have been here by now - let’s go find her.’

  ***

  We took Nkata’s dad’s car again and started retracing the way back towards my house. Nkata was becoming more relaxed at driving and steered with only one hand on the wheel.

  ‘Look at you,’ I teased, mimicking him. ‘Next thing, your hand will be hanging out the window all gangster style.’ He laughed and started nodding his head to an imaginary beat.

  ‘This is how we’re going to roll when we get some chicks, brah.’

  ‘Stephanie asked me out, you know,’ I said, trying not to sound boastful.

  ‘What?! When did this happen?’ he asked, shocked.

  ‘At your house, after we got back from the tennis courts,’ I replied, looking out the window.

  ‘Nice man!’ He gave me a high five.

  Nkata was the type of friend who was always genuinely happy for you. When I was twelve and finally got a Playstation for my birthday, he was more excited for me than I was. Not a hint of envy, just genuinely happy for me. I was so grateful we stayed friends after going to different high schools and still hung out on most weekends. If the world was ending, I’m glad he was the one with me – he was the closest thing I had to a brother.

  ‘I thought you said she was stuck up,’ I said.

  ‘She is, but she’s good looking too!’ he replied, but I interrupted him.

  ‘Hold on, stop.’

  The car eased to a halt without jerking like usual. ‘Over there.’ I gestured up a cul de sac. There were only 2 houses, and in the driveway of the one on the left lay a bright blue bicycle.

  ‘That’s your bike, right?’ I asked, knowing the answer.

  ‘Yep,’ Nkata replied, wrestling the wheel to make a sharp right turn into the cul de sac. We slowly pulled into the driveway and stopped in front of the bike lying idle on the paving stones.

  ‘Does Stephanie live here?’ I asked.

  ‘No, she’s on the other side of the main park,’ he responded, putting the car in park and switching off the engine. We took our weapons from the back seat and got out of the car.

  The house was in a pan handle: a grey, double-story house with large glass windows nestled down a long paved driveway. We walked past the bicycle and down the long driveway towards the front door. Before we stepped onto the tile porch, we heard a light tapping.

  ‘You hear that?’ I asked.

  The sounded repeated itself, a light TAP TAP TAP. I looked up and saw a woman standing against the large window above us. Her eyes were red and swollen, and she put her index finger against her lips to indicate we had to be quiet. I nodded and told her with hand gestures to stay where she was.

  The door was open a crack, and Nkata eased it open with the handle of his large rock pick. We edged in, cautiously looking down the tiled entrance hall. Inside we could hear moaning and a thumping - like something banging against a door. The entrance hall led into an open plan living room and large white kitchen with a marble-topped centre island. As we entered the lounge area, there was a hiss and something grabbed at us from the floor.

  Nkata yelped and jumped, colliding with me. Writhing on the tiles was a young girl zombie, maybe a bit older than us. Its hair was matted with blood, and her face was streaked with the yellow pus stuff that gave off that foul odour. Like the others, its skin was pale and the eyes were sunken and devoid of life.

  It was in a blood-stained tracksuit and one leg was broken at an unnatural angle from the knee. The zombie reached for us but lacked the ability to move forward. Even though we had seen our fair share of zombies in the last day, being so close to one still made my heart race.

  ‘Stand back,’ I told Nkata, watching the zombie still claw at the tiled floor.

  ‘Lucas? Over here!’ came a familiar voice from in the kitchen.

  We walked around the kitchen island and saw Stephanie sitting on the ground next to an overturned bar stool, with her back against a large kitchen cupboard door. There was a thump, and the door vibrated behind her, shaking her slightly.

  ‘Stephanie!’ I called out and rushed to her side.

  ‘I knew you’d come, Boy Scout.’ She smiled at me. ‘There’s a zombie behind this door in case you wanted to know.’

  She gestured with her head, planting both hands on the tile floor to brace herself. I immediately sat down and put my weight against the door as well. I looked around the kitchen.

  ‘Nkata – think you can pull that fridge out?’ I said, pointing to the large double door stainless steel appliance at the other end of the kitchen.

  Nkata put his rock pick on the counter and hurried over, grunting as he edged the fridge away from the wall, pulling it along the tiles.

  ‘What happened?’ I asked Stephanie.

  ‘I was on my way to Nkata when I saw a woman in the window.’ she replied.

  ‘We saw her too. Upstairs,’ I said.

  ‘She was crying and asking for help. The front door was open, so I came inside.’

  The zombie behind the door thumped against it again.

  ‘As I came in, there were two zombies – a man and a girl at the stairs. They chased me, and I managed to se
parate them in the lounge. I hit the girl one in the knee with the hammer, and it just broke like a twig. The man zombie chased me into the kitchen and we circled the island until I had an idea to lock him in the walk-in pantry. I opened the door, and as we went around for like the hundredth time, I grabbed the bar stool and pushed him in and closed the door.’

  ‘Good plan,’ I said, impressed she fought off two zombies on her own.

  ‘Yes and no, she countered. ‘The pantry doesn’t have a latch, so I was stuck here holding the door closed.

  ‘What about the lady upstairs?’ I asked.

  ‘I think she’s lost her mind. These zombies must have been her husband and daughter. I’ve been calling her to come down and help, but she doesn’t respond.’

  Nkata was close to us with the fridge.

  ‘You okay to hold this one last time,’ I asked Stephanie. She nodded. I got up and helped Nkata move the fridge in line with where Stephanie was sitting.

  ‘Stephanie, on three you move,’ I called from behind the fridge and started to count.

  On three I heard Stephanie shuffle and Nkata and I pushed the fridge quickly in front of the pantry door. We heard the door bang against the fridge as we hurried around and pushed from the front making sure the fridge was as close to the door as possible.

  ‘That should hold him,’ Nkata huffed and Stephanie came around the island and hugged me.

  ‘What about the other one?’ Nkata asked.

  We looked over the island and the girl zombie was still moving on the floor - looks like zombies don’t get tired. Once they are focused on their prey, they don’t seem to stop.

  ‘Do we kill it?’ he asked.

  I shook my head. ‘It’s too dangerous. Let’s fence it in.’

  Deep down, I didn’t want to kill it. Killing the zombie at the building site still played on my mind. Zombie or not, I didn’t want to get used to killing anything. We took the lounge furniture and using the backs of two couches, we pushed the zombie back along the tiles until we had it in a corner. With the broken leg it wouldn’t be able to stand, and the high backs of the couches had it trapped.

  I looked around and wondered what had happened. A zombie must have got in last night and attacked the daughter and husband. The mother must have retreated upstairs. Could it have been the vagrant from this morning? Or even Walter?

  We walked up the stairs.

  ‘Hello?’ Stephanie called. ‘It’s okay, we’re here to help.’

  It was silent as we got to the upper floor. The bedrooms were empty. We made our way to the master bedroom, where the window was that the woman warned us from. Looking out, I could see our car parked in the driveway.

  ‘Hello?’ Stephanie called again, looking around the bed.

  I walked into the en-suite bathroom and a reflection in the mirror caught my attention. The lady was lying between the toilet and bath, crimson streaks running down the porcelain, and pooling on the floor. Next to her lay a bloodied razorblade. On her leg was a large bite mark. Did she know what was going to happen next? Or was the pain of losing her family too much to bear? Whatever the answer, she had decided not to live anymore.

  The others didn’t need to see this – we’d seen enough death today. I walked out of the bathroom and closed the door, locking it. She may have killed herself, but she had been infected and I was sure she would turn into a zombie at some point.

  ‘Was she in there?’ Nkata asked.

  I nodded. ‘She’s dead, but she was bitten.’

  ‘Damnit,’ Stephanie said, sitting on the bed. I sat next to her and we stared out the window at the blue bicycle on the driveway.

  ***

  By the time we got to the car Nkata had loaded his bike into the boot. My phone buzzed in my pocket.

  It was a message from Freddy: Gate is open! They’ve detained me. Found the blood in the bathroom & think I have something to do with it.

  I showed Nkata the message.

  ‘What do we do?’ he asked.

  ‘We stick to the plan,’ I replied.

  ‘We had a plan?’ He joked. ‘So far we’ve been flying by the seat of our pants!’

  ‘We head down towards Oak Street and see if there are zombies there like Stephanie’s mom said.’

  ‘And then what,’ he asked, starting the car.

  ‘I don’t know yet.’ I looked around to Stephanie in the back seat.

  She nodded at me as if to agree with my plan or lack thereof. I looked down at my phone again, scrolling to my conversation with Dad, hoping a new message would pop up saying help was on the way.

  My fingers hovered above the keyboard, wanting to type him a message. Instead, I locked the phone and put it back in my jeans pocket.

  ENTRY 14

  The park near Oak Street was worse than we could have imagined.

  ‘I count twelve,’ exclaimed Stephanie with panic in her voice. It felt like my heart stood still when I saw it.

  The dozen bloodied zombies were all huddled around the jungle gym – on the top bar was a guy with a bald head and black-rimmed glasses. He was perched on the top curled up in a ball, looking amused at the hoard below reaching up towards him.

  ‘They’ve got that guy, trapped,’ Nkata said.

  ‘I see,’ I replied, my mind racing. A few houses away, we saw a woman with short blonde hair, wearing in a tracksuit march from her front door heading for the park. Seems like people love their tracksuits during lockdown.

  ‘Quickly!’ I yelled, pointing at her.

  Nkata got the message and accelerated forward. We caught the lady as she stepped into the road. She stopped abruptly and looked at me cautiously as I jumped out of the passenger seat. Stephanie lowered the rear window and stuck her head out.

  ‘Ma’am, you have to go back indoors.’ I forgot I still had the axe in my hand. The woman took a step back, before letting rip at us.

  ‘What is going on here? Do you people think it’s Halloween or something? There is a country-wide lockdown! The President has spoken, and you think it’s a joke, carrying on like fools!’

  I tried to get a word in, but the woman was a pro at arguing and was most probably the type of customer that was a waiter’s worst nightmare.

  ‘Is this one of those social media challenges? Dress up like a Dracula and scare people for likes on your page. That poor man is being harassed,’ she continued, waving her arms.

  ‘Lady shut up!’ Stephanie suddenly shouted.

  The woman stopped talking and glared at her. ‘How dare you...’ she started, but it seems Stephanie was also a pro at getting her point across.

  ‘This is not a joke, lady. Those things over there will kill you. They are very sick – it’s a mutation of the GEOIT-20 virus.’

  That got the woman’s attention. As soon as Stephanie said GEOIT-20, the woman covered her mouth and nose with a cupped hand as if the virus was suddenly present.

  ‘The police are on their way, so unless you want to get sick a thousand times worse, you will listen to my friend and go back inside and lock the door.’

  I was surprised how calm Stephanie’s voice was at giving orders to this woman. The woman looked at all of us and without saying a word turned and jogged back towards her house with her nose in the air.

  ‘Impressive,’ I said and gave Stephanie a high five.

  ‘You’re too nice, Boy Scout. I had to do my thing.’

  I got back into the car. Nkata was staring out his window at the zombies in the park.

  ‘Walter’s there, brah,’ he said sadly.

  I looked past him, and in the middle of the crowd of zombies I saw Walter, still in his stained pyjamas.

  ‘How are we going to save him, brah?’ he said, looking forlorn.

  ‘I don’t know,’ I replied, putting my hand on his shoulder.

  I wanted to tell him that everything was going to be alright, but that was a lie. Walter was a zombie now, and from what we had witnessed so far, there was no coming back.

  Near him I also
saw the guy in running gear Siya told us about, and the vagrant zombie that attacked Stephanie this morning. They were the first to be infected and the rest must have been people they had bitten since last night.

  Staring at Walter, I couldn’t help but think if we knew then what we know now, perhaps we could have done something to stop it? Perhaps we should have stopped Walter in the field instead of running last night? If we had, maybe these innocent people would not just be mindless, flesh-eating zombies. That’s a lot of ‘ifs’- but I pushed it to the back of my mind - right now there was a guy stuck at the top of the jungle gym.

  ‘We have to go save him,’ I said.

  ‘We just drive up and pick him up like an Uber?’ Stephanie asked, almost sarcastically.

  ‘Yes, but he won’t be using the door,’ I replied, tapping the sunroof.

  ***

  Nkata mounted the pavement and slowly drove across the bumpy grass of the park. As we got closer, we caught the attention of a few zombies, who peeled off from the crowd and started walking in our direction. Nkata momentarily braked.

  ‘Keep going,’ I urged. ‘I don’t think they can bite through metal.’

  The zombies walked straight towards us. I told Nkata not to stop –keep driving at the same speed and we’ll use the car like a steamroller if we have to.

  A zombie in shorts, a vest and boxing gloves had his arms out as if he was going to grab us with his gloved hands from behind the windshield. His plan came to an abrupt end as he bounced off the left headlight, toppling sideways and rolling on the grass.

  Another zombie in loose pants and only a brah was walking straight for the middle of the car, like it was a very slow game of chicken. There were chunks bitten out of her arms, and her light brown face was covered in a light green paste.

  ‘What’s on its face?’ asked Nkata, squinting.

  ‘Facemask,’ replied Stephanie nonchalantly. ‘Obviously her beauty routine got interrupted.’

  ‘Do I keep going?’ Nkata asked as we approached the head-on collision with the beauty treatment zombie.

  I nodded as the bonnet of the car connected with the zombie at 5 kilometres per hour. The impact was soft, and the zombie gripped the bonnet with both hands as it slowly buckled over backwards and disappeared under the car, hands streaking down the bonnet with a squeaking sound. There was a thump as the back wheels went over it.