by Jason Davis
“Call in the cavalry, I guess. See who you can get,” Tom said as he finished buttoning up the shirt and reached for his pants. “I’ll be there in ten minutes. Call me back in five with a status report.”
"Will do,” Samuels said, hanging up.
Chapter 3
“Hey, Nancy! Nancy!” Was someone calling to her? She heard something familiar, but wasn’t sure. “It’s been a good game so far. Glad it’s almost over, though. Hey, have you talked to George about the yearbook yet? Everyone is really curious to see what you do with it this year after you did such a great job last year.”
Nancy stopped and let the larger woman catch up to her. She felt like she knew her. A familiarity tried to push its way out from deep in her thoughts. This woman, she knew her. It was there, but buried. She knew this woman. She just wasn’t sure from where. And where had she been going? Her thoughts tried to surface again.
The concession stand… That’s right. She had gotten up and had left the gym to go to the lunchroom. She had felt really strange as she sat there watching the game, voices in her head telling her to feed. She didn't feel hungry, but the voices told her she was.
“Hey, Nancy, are you all right?” the woman asked.
Nancy looked at her. Was she? She thought so, but she wasn’t sure. She didn’t really feel anything. All she felt was nothingness, disconnected. Her mind swam, while her body seemed to be on autopilot. She had felt hungry, but didn’t really react to it. Yet, somehow, she had gotten up and started to make her way to the concessions.
She didn’t really feel hungry. In fact, she didn’t feel anything. Yet something pushed her and told her she was hungry. She couldn’t stop the thought. It was there, instructing her. They needed food, needed space.
Who needed food? Who needed space?
“Nancy, I think you should sit down. You don’t look well. You look a little peaked,” someone said.
Nancy had a brief moment of recognition. Mrs. Gentz. She was the principal. She had been talking about the yearbook. Was Nancy still working on that? Somehow, she knew she was, but she felt like that was no longer important, felt like something from a previous life.
Nancy saw the woman reach out for her, trying to lead her to the stairwell. However, as soon as the woman glanced at her arm, she stopped, her expression growing more questioning, eyebrows raised. Slowly, Nancy looked down at her arm. When had that happened?
Her skin had long gashes. Some were were very deep, and in a few places, she saw broken parts of fake fingernails lodged in her skin. Long flaps of flesh dangled. At first, the skin looked like it wasn’t too bad, but as soon as Mrs. Gentz gingerly lifted her arm, Nancy saw the hideous scratch marks, but there was no blood. Shouldn’t there be blood if she had been scratching herself like that?
She looked at the large woman examining her arm. She didn't feel like the appendage was a part of her. She saw how it connected to her shoulder, but she didn’t feel any pain. She didn’t even feel the woman holding it and moving it around.
Then she looked at the woman. She didn’t fully understand, but something inside told her there was food right there, ready for her to devour. She yearned for it. She needed it. She needed to reach out and take it.
As a prisoner in her own body, she watched herself move forward. In a second, she was on top of the woman. Together, they fell to the floor. Mrs. Gentz cried out in surprise, then pain.
As soon as she had reached her and they started falling, Nancy had pulled the woman closer and bit into her cheek. As soon as the blood flowed into her mouth, she heard them inside of her, screaming with delight. The woman tried to push Nancy off, but she just kept biting.
The woman had gotten a hand up, trying to protect her face, but Nancy just bit off two fingers. Mrs. Gentz screamed, a bloody mess beneath her.
Around them, the gym broke out in chaos. Others had started to feed, as well. Nancy didn’t know how she knew, but as she continued to eat and spread, she knew the others were also spreading.
Chapter 4
Denise didn’t like waiting, not knowing what the hell was going on. That CDC guy had gone into her husband’s office just over an hour ago. Since then, she had heard some loud pounding sounds and screams, the high-pitched howls of someone calling out for help.
She had gotten up and ran across the gravel, getting to the door before she had caught herself. She couldn’t go in. She wanted to be with her husband, but the moment she crossed that threshold, she would be in the quarantine. There was no coming back out after that.
So she had to stay out and listen to the screams. He yelled something about the spiders crawling into his mouth, then the screaming had stopped.
She heard gurgling. She didn’t know how the man could be that loud when she was still a few feet from the door. It didn’t seem possible, but she heard it, knowing she was listening to him die.
That was when her tears started. She didn’t know they
were even coming at first. She just felt the first one streak down from the corner of her eye. Before she could stop herself and acknowledge the pain she felt, the storm came upon her and she collapsed onto the gravel.
She hurt. She felt an emptiness in her chest, while a massive weight pounded on her. Then there was the sickness, the acid-like feeling in her stomach. She didn’t know how so many things could go in different directions at once. Her body felt like it was falling apart. All she wanted was to close her eyes, push it all away. At least she had some kind of sense that kept her from doing that. No, she just stared at the wooden back door of the doctor’s office.
Her husband was gone.
The man she had shared a bed with for the last fifteen years was not going to be there tonight. The man she shared every day with, the man she knew better than she knew herself, the man she had promised she would love until death do them part.
She tried to push back the memory, but suddenly found herself back on their wedding day. He had just graduated from medical school. They had wanted to get married sooner, and on those quiet nights alone, they would fantasize about running off and just making it official. They loved each other and had lived together for the previous two years. Many of their friends were already calling her his wife.
Everyone knew it was coming, joking that they should just run off and get it over with. However, they knew if they did, they would have hurt everyone’s feelings. Every one of their friends, and even many of his professors, looked forward to the wedding. They all wanted to be a part of their big day.
Still, on those nights, looking forward to their happy future together, it was hard not to say, “Hey, let’s just go and do it.”
Thankfully, they never did. One of them would often point out how it would devastate their friends and family who had already saved the date. Then, whoever talked the other out of it, would gingerly give a little poke to the others ribs. They would laugh and giggle about it, then she would rest her head against his chest. They would lay there, holding each other, looking forward to their wonderful and long future together.
She didn’t want that future to end.
She remembered as they stood in front of all their friends and family. He was trying to say his vows. They had both written them down and being the endless preparers that they were, they had rehearsed them repeatedly so they could say them from memory. When it came time for him to say his words, his face had gone so red and she could see how hard it was for him. He started to cry, stuttering over the words. She saw the love for her in his eyes, and see that he was trying so hard because he loved her so much. She knew he was having trouble breathing.
My god, she had thought. He is going to pass out.
She started making faces at him, like kids would do to get the other person to laugh, and he did. She saw that it helped him, too. He could get through his vows.
She was his and he was hers. She knew she would never leave him, and he would never do anything to risk their marriage. She knew it with e
very fiber of her being. She never had reason to distrust him. He was a part of her. He was her heart
But now her heart was gone. Her husband was…
Her husband was…
A loud sound came from the door, sounding like a large mass ran into it and bounced off. Then the sound quieted briefly, only to be followed with an even louder pounding against the door.
Something inside wanted to get out.
Was the door locked? Even if it were, it locked from the inside. If someone wanted to come out, all they would have to do was turn the door handle, so…
That obviously meant whatever it was didn’t know how to turn the handle.
A large part of her just wanted to stay there and let whatever was trying to come through that door have her. It wasn’t like her to just give up so easily. She had always been a fighter, one who fought through adversity. So why now did giving up feel so easy? Maybe it was because Luis was her center, that he held her heart.
It wasn't logical. Logically, that could be her husband who needed her help. That was rational, right? So why did she have a sudden weight in her stomach and the urge to run. Her intuition screamed at her to get out of there.
So she did. All of it felt so unreal, like she was trapped in a bad horror film. Maybe she was. She couldn't allow that to matter because, horror film or not, she was now a part of it. Was she going to be a survivor or a victim?
She didn't know what spoke up inside her, but she knew she wasn’t going to allow herself to be a victim. She had to get up and get out of there. She didn’t know where she was going, but had to go somewhere other than there.
Behind her, she heard another loud crack against the door, the wood splintering. It wasn’t loud, but she knew what it was. She guessed it would take them several minutes before the door gave way, but they would eventually get out.
She ran into the garage and her powder blue Prius sat there, looking meek as an escape vehicle. Something about the size and the color screamed at her that it was not the right vehicle to take. Maybe it wasn't. She hurried around to the driver’s side door and pulled on the handle. Locked.
She closed her eyes. The keys were in the key bowl in the house. She hadn’t expected to go anywhere, so why would she have her keys with her? And her cell phone would probably be right next to the key bowl by the front door.
Wait… She had been talking to her sister earlier and had been calling patients while sitting on the front porch. The cell phone should be on the table by the chair.
She hurried back around her car and rushed to the front porch. Keys, cell phone… She had to get out of there, then call Thomas. He was probably at the police station, but she would try him on his cell first. He had to be able to help them.
There was another slam against the door, which shook the walls of the building. She shuddered with the impact, swearing she felt its ferocity. The strikes against the door seemed to be strengthening. Maybe out of frustration?
She had a brief thought back to something her professor had once told her about chaos. She couldn't remember the exact phrase, no matter how many times he had repeated it. He was fond of defending his theories, but what it all came down to was that chaos couldn’t be contained. Chaos spread, destroyed life in order for new life to come from the ashes of the destruction. The most fertile ground, he would say, was found at the base of a volcano…It was his own sick and twisted way of eluding to the circle of life.
She pushed the thought away, thinking about the two men who had come in that morning. She had barely seen them, but she had seen enough to think they looked dead. She knew her husband would not be acting like he was currently acting unless he was sick. She couldn't see him on the other side, but she felt him. She knew he was gone.
Shaking her head, she knew she couldn’t spend time worrying about it. She had to get out of there. Hurrying toward the door, she pulled in screen open. It slammed against the house and vibrated. She hurried past it and stopped to reach into the bowl on the table by the door. Her fingers lingered briefly on the keys under hers in the bowl. His keys, the ones that he would never use again.
She heard another powerful blow from the office. This time, she heard the splintering of the wood. She needed to call Thomas. She needed to get the police out there before they got out. She needed to make sure the quarantine stayed in place. They could not let whatever was in there out.
She rushed out of the house, dodging the slowly closing screen door. She went to the little table near her deck chair and grabbed her phone.
All she had to do now was run down the stars and dash into the garage. Just hold tight and she would be out of there. She just needed to keep herself together. She tried to breathe, telling herself to keep her head and not panic.
She took the steps two at a time. She turned toward the garage, but took a moment to look over at the office. She stopped, her breath catching in her chest. The door was open! It wasn’t cracked all the way through, but the splintering of the wood had warped the door enough so the lock had released.
Her heart skipped a beat. Part of her was relieved to see the door open. After all, that meant she would be able to see him, see that everything was okay. She would rush to him, smother him in kisses, see that it had all just been a big misunderstanding.
No. She had to stay logical. Everything was wrong. The part of her that had detached itself from all emotion now screamed at her to run. Don't look, don't try to see him, just run. Run and get away from here.
She hadn't run, though. She wanted to, but her legs wouldn’t move. She saw the mass of flesh that had landed just outside the door. She couldn’t make out much of it, but she recognized the shirt her husband had put on this morning. It had been a nice blue button-up shirt, worn only a few times. What was left of it was now torn and covered in blood. There was very little of the blue left.
He had his head down, trying to push himself up. He hadn’t looked up yet…and she really didn’t want him to. She knew that when he did, the reality would kick in, and the little hope she had that all of this was still just a nightmare would be lost.
Behind him, she saw two men stumbling out. Their clothes were also covered in blood. Their faces were shadows of their former selves, hollow and devoid of life. Skin that once had color to it was now white, and their eyes had faded to a light gray. Dead eyes that belonged to dead bodies.
Then her husband looked up. She felt that emptiness in her try to take control and drop her to the ground in a sobbing mess. He was gone. That…thing was not her husband. There was no life there, and if there was no life in him, what reason did she have to live. Without him, she didn’t have anything left.
No! That emptiness could not be allowed to consume her. She had to keep going. She had to get out of there.
She ran through the door to the garage and got in her car, opening the garage door. She turned the key in the ignition and the little Prius wheezed to life, all the power of the little electrical engine coming alive. The garage door was barely high enough for the car to clear, but she put the car into reverse and gunned it.
She wasn’t about to try and make a phone call. In her current state, she didn't think she could control the car and talk at the same time, but she had to get somewhere that she could. Should she drive a few blocks, then pull over and call Thomas, or should she just drive to the police station?
She wasn’t sure. She just knew that any decision she made, it was best not to wait there to make it. She turned onto the street, leaving the creatures behind her to stumble and try to follow.
Chapter 5
"Kalwalski and Daniels are on their way. Jackson is out of town. His wife sounded pretty upset about it, saying he just took off this morning without letting her know. She just knows he went fishing because the beer and boat are gone,” Samuels said.
Great. They must have been fighting again. Carter really didn't have time to deal with Jackson's whining anyway, so it may just have been a good thing he w
asn’t around.
“Okay. I’m pulling in now,” he said. His phone was tucked in his pocket, but could still pick up his voice.
“I see you now.”
He saw her sitting in her squad car, parked in the far outside right corner of the lot, obviously waiting. She must not have wanted to do anything until he got there. She wasn’t one who was rash. She was the type who would wait for another to make the decision, or for someone else to figure out what to do.
He pulled along her driver’s side. “So, what’s the status?”
“It’s all quiet. I don’t see anything strange.”
“You tried calling?”
She nodded. “No answer.”
Carter looked over his shoulder and through the back window. He didn’t have a clear view of the building, but it looked quiet. There were only a few cars where customers would park, and only a couple farther back in the parking lot meant for employees.
So...
If someone were in there and took hostages…, he thought, trying to make the mental plan as to how they should proceed. He really didn’t have much of a clue. If there were people in there and someone was robbing the place, that would mean hostages.
Maybe not. What if they weren’t trying to hurt anyone and just got freaked out when cop cars pulled in front of the building?
Should he use force, or try to work it out and play it cool?
“Okay, you hang back here for now, get out of sight and get ready to block the exit.”
Samuels nodded.
