Hurricane Dan (A Zombie Novel) (2 page)

Chapter 3

             
It took an hour and a half to walk, Barns leading the whole way. When he finally stopped walking they were at the Manhattan Bridge. At first everything seemed normal, just an average bridge with cars flying every which way. This proved not to be the case, however, for when Barns brought them around, underneath, nothing seemed normal at all.

The first word that came to Dan's mind was Hooverville. A whole village had been erected, spanning the entire shadow at this end of the bridge. Each hut, standing
ten feet tall at the most, was made entirely of garbage. At any given moment, it seemed to Dan, he had a thousand brand logos staring out at him from the walls of the huts. It actually made the place quite colorful, although a lot of the color was now faded by the weather. There was no uniformity to the place, the huts had been thrown up seemingly at random, making it feel crowded. Add the homeless people lounging around everywhere and it became so stinky and so dirty that Dan refused to touch anything.

Most of the homeless were gathered in the open areas where garbage cans had been set up with burning fires.

Barns and Dan made their way through the town, Barns seeming to know exactly where they were going.

"Who got the flippy flop?" Barns said as they approached one of the flaming garbage cans.

"Bones!" one of the men heating himself cheered. The guy looked cleaner than the rest; still scrubby, but cleaner. It appeared to Dan that this guy must have had a home to go back to at the end of the day.

"
Fo’ da last time, my name is Barns. I don't even know no Bones," Barns said.

"
You come looking for a good time? I got some new shit that will send you to the moon, Bones."

Barns shook his head. "Just thought you might got some flippy flop."

The man pointed to a crate on the ground. It was packed with dirty old milk bottles that were filled with murky water. "Yeah, I got what you're looking for, mixed it up this morning. Today it cost one dollar per jar."

Barns pulled a crumpled dollar
bill from his pocket and handed it over. The man at the fire bent down and retrieved one of the milk jars. Just when he was beginning to reach out, Barns snatched it from his hands and cradled it to his chest. He immediately twisted the cap off and took a swig.

"
Eeww that good, that good!" he said.

"And what about you?" asked the man, looking at Dan.

Dan looked down at the crate and wondered what filthy materials that crap had been made out of. There were probably enough toxins in there to kill a small village. "I think I will pass."

"Tough costumer, you must be new. Let me guess, just lost everything because of the hard stuff?"
He reached into his long trenchcoat and pulled out a syringe. The liquid inside was green and a red biohazard symbol had been painted into the glass. "This more your style? One dollar and it's all yours."

Dan stared at the syringe, wonder
ing what in the hell it was. "Is that some form of acid?"

The man began to laugh
. "Acid? You think this is acid? Hell no, this is some new shit. I pulled all my strings for a case of this. It came straight from a laboratory. The only reason I’m willing to sell it to you for so cheap is because I don't know what it does and I want to find out."

"So you came all the way down here to test it on a homeless person?" Dan asked
. "Sick fuck."

"I had to come by here anyway, these people beg all day long so they can have money to buy drugs. Who else is going to sell to them? I provide a public service. Is it a crime that in return I get to test my new products out on them?"

"Yes," Dan said, "there is nothing about what you just said that is not a crime."

The man by the fire turned away as if he were done talking to Dan. "High and mighty homeless punk, let's see how you feel after another two weeks on the street. You'll be begging me to sell to you."

"I'll never buy from you, prick," Dan said.

The man ignored him, instead look
ing over at a crowd of homeless people huddling up under a dirty blanket. "First person to stand up gets to go on the trip of a life time."

The blanket fell to the ground as five people struggled to their feet. They all looked frail and brittle, there was no meat on their bones. The first to make it to his feet was an old man with no hair and no teeth. He was old and wrinkly, wheezing from the effort of standing so fast.

"Come here," said the drug dealer, pulling the green syringe from his coat.

The toothless man stumbled over, licking his lips and making a wet smacking sound. Dan noted that there was a piss stain on his pants. When he reached the dealer he held out his arm, there was a rubber band that looked to be permanently tied to his bicep. He was covered in tracks, as if he had stuck his arm into a beehive.

The dealer placed one hand on his elbow and injected the green syringe with the other. "Now sit right here, I want to watch."

The toothless man did as he was told and sat down Indian style next to the burning garbage can. He sat there for a couple of seconds before laying down and closing his eyes.

"The hurricane is going to hit by tomorrow," a woman said, coming into the clearing. "I was just in the city and saw it on a television. Reporter said it was a bad one."

"That not good," said Barns, pulling the jar away from his mouth and gasping for air. "The commune don't do so good in no storm dat big. All da buildings fall down."

"Where are we going to go?" Dan asked.

Barns thought about it for a moment. "Well, I says we go back to the train tunnel. It gots a good roof and it's warm."

"Okay, well we should probably head back soon if we want to make it by a decent time." Dan said.

Before Barns could say anything the drug dealer began to scream. Dan looked over in time to see the toothless man with his mouth on the drug dealer
’s calf. He must have had a tooth in there somewhere because when the drug dealer pulled away there was a huge tear in his pants. Blood poured from the wound.

The drugged man got up to his feet much faster than he had the first time
; he also didn't look winded like he was before. He turned and locked eyes with Dan. Or at least that was what Dan assumed, he couldn't tell because only the whites of the man’s eyes were showing. He looked dead, Dan was so caught up in staring that he was caught off guard when the man took two steps and tackled him to the ground.

The drugged man bit down onto his shoulder. Dan winced but felt no pain. Where was the blood? A glance into the man
’s mouth showed one rotten tooth on the far side. As luck would have it, the drugged man’s head had been turned at the right angle so Dan received nothing but gum.

Before the drugged man could try again
, he was ripped off by Barns who shoved him back towards the drug dealer.

"It be time for us to go," Barns said, helping Dan up. "Let the commune take care of that one."

Dan didn't argue. As soon as he got to his feet they were moving, trying to put as much distance between them and the drugged man as possible. For a moment the drugged man seemed to try and follow them; he lost interest quickly and went for somebody else. 

By the time they got out of the homeless community they were both breathing hard. It had been a long time sense Dan had exercised and he doubted Barns was any better.

They made their way up a steep hill and were met with a heavy wind when they reached the top. Looking up into the swirling dark clouds, the same clouds that had seemed to glare at him from the drugged man's eyes, Dan knew they had to get to shelter. A storm was coming.

Chapter 4

             
The wind failed to let up the entire walk back to the city. It took them so much longer to walk back that the sun had gone down and the city lights had begun to spark to life.

Dan was more miserable than he had ever been before. He was cold, his muscles were tired from the effort of walking into the wind, and he was hungry because he had been working his muscles so hard.

If Barns felt the same he did not let on. He just hummed along, muttering an incoherent phrase and taking a swig of his “flippy flop” every so often.

It wasn't until they entered the city limits that they found any relief. Though it wasn't much, the buildings blocked the wind a little.

"It is so cold, I can't feel my face," Dan said when they were a ways into the city.

Barns smiled, showing his dirty teeth. "I can't feel my face either but it ain't ’cause uh no cold," he said and took another swig.

They were only a few blocks away from where they had slept the night before when Barns stopped to check a garbage can.

It wasn't long before he was waist deep and singing, "one for me, one for you, one for me, one for you, two for me, one for you!"

He came out holding two handfuls of peanut shells. "The left hand is fo’ Dan!"

Dan looked at the nasty handful of dirty, empty, peanut shells, "Oh no, the left hand is not for Dan."

When Barns realized Dan wasn't going to take the nuts his eyes lit up and he shoved both handfuls in his mouth.

Dan still knew he had to eat something so he checked every garbage can on the way to  the subway. In the first garbage can he found a half-empty bottle of water. In the penultimate can, he found a slice of pizza inside of a closed to-go box.

The pizza was the greatest tasting thing to touch his tongue in what felt like years. Dan savored the taste all the way until they were back down in the piss-smelling subway station.

Barns walked over to his bench at the far end of the room and sat down; Dan followed.

"You know something Barns, this wasn't that bad of a day," he said.

"Nope, not a bad one to be in at all."

Dan watched a subway train stop and let off a single passenger before speeding away. The passenger avoided looking in their direction as he scurried along on his way.

"What a pathetic waste of life," Dan said, "all that time spent working. I mean, come on! They make you slave away all month long and for what? So they can take everything back when the bills come."

"Who are they?" Barns asked.

Dan shook his head. "I don't know, society. It's the whole system, Barns. They want you to pay a million dollars to go to a school so you can get a job that requires that education but doesn't need it. You could be the best qualified person in the world but if you don't have a degree, you will never get the work. And if you don't have a degree there is no option for you. The only job you can find is just enough to not get by. The whole thing is insane... hey, can I get a swig of that?"

Barns hesitantly handed over the bottle. "Dan, meet the flip flop. It make you see that things ain't so bad."

Dan took a swig, it tasted like straight gasoline. He fought the urge to cough it back up. "How did you end up like this, Barns? Sick of the system like me?"

Barns's eyes grew wide and he snatched the bottle back. "I was a fire fighter... but da wife killed da kids, said a ghost told her to. I found da bodies and her wid da knife." He turned away and slammed the rest of the bottle.

"Oh," was all Dan could think to say.

Barns wasn't much for conversation after that. At first he was just distant, eventually chugging whatever was in the bottle must have caught up with him, because he grew incoherent. Dan decided to let him be and went to his own bench to fall asleep.

Was this better? He asked himself, as he laid there. Hell no, was the answer but what other option did he have? He would not go back into a system that rejected him. He would do something, maybe talk to the drug dealer. No, that was stupid, he would come up with something better in the morning.

His mind was racing, fighting to come up with an explanation of what he would do next. At first it kept him awake, it was entertaining, but eventually he fell asleep anyways.

I didn't dream at all, he thought when he woke up, that or I am dreaming right now.

In the span of however many hours he had been asleep, all the subway tracks had transformed into a raging river. The rushing water was only inches from the platform where people would wait to get on the train.

"Barns!" he yelled.

Barns snapped awake and stared at the rushing river only thirty feet away. "What in da hale, it's the Mississippi. Dan, it be time to go!"

He didn't have to ask Dan twice, they were soon both up and heading for the exit.

When they reached the stairs they were met with more water rushing at them. It was high enough to cover their ankles and forced them to use the railing in order to pull themselves up. Dan went first with Barns close behind, screaming and laughing the whole way up.

"We got ah built-in water park, Dan! Dan, we gots ah built-in water park!"

As soon as Dan reached the top, he was hit with a gust of wind that sent him face first into the pavement. He was momentarily submerged under water, fighting the current as it tried to suck him back into the subway. Barns caught him before he could get washed back down and pulled him to the railing.

"We got to get tah higher ground!" he yelled, trying to be heard against the wind and rain.

Dan nodded in agreement, coughing up the water he had inhaled.

The rain was coming down sideways, consuming everything in its path. Dan could barely keep his eyes open because the water stung so much. It was cold too, they had only been wet for a few seconds and Dan was already completely numb.

"Stay close!" he yelled as they began slowly moving up the sidewalk.

It was hard work, they had to use the buildings to leverage themselves forward. The wind kept knocking them down but, without the subway creating a current they were able to get back up and keep going.

They used each other to keep moving, placing one foot in front of the other, Barns in the lead. The rain hit them so fast and hard that it felt like pellets. It cut through them like a knife, soaking them to the bone.

After fighting their way for three blocks Dan was full of despair. As far as he could tell, they were the only two people within sight. There was no one opening doors to let them in, nobody cared about a couple of homeless guys stuck outside. No, it was just them and all the garbage, scattering their way through a hurricane.

Dan stopped when they had reached the fourth block. He had had enough, there was no more playing games, he would not die out in the storm.

He walked up to the entrance of the nearest building. The door and surrounding walls were made out of glass so you could see inside. It was dry in there, and nobody seemed to be at the front desk. When Dan tried to turn the large revolving door it did not budge.

"They don't want us in there," yelled Barns over the storm.

Dan looked around, trying to find something hard. There was a football-sized chunk of cement that looked as though it had broken off the curb not too far away; he picked it up. "I don't really give a fuck what they want Barns," he said and hurled the chunk of cement into the large window.

In an instant, the world outside and the world inside became one. The window morphed into a maze of cracks that buckled under its own weight. The pressure difference from the storm pushed the shards inward so it showered the brown marble floor of the lobby.

What was only seconds ago a scene of peace and serenity, a brown-tinted lobby with a flower on the desk, leather sofas and waiting elevators, was no more. Now everything was covered in glass, the flowers were knocked over by the wind and the sofas soaked by the rain. The storm wasted no time in its efforts to touch everything.

"Come on," Dan said, stepping through the broken window.

Warm air from the lobby rushed past them, draining quickly outside.

"We in fo’ a whole heap ah trouble if we stick round here," said Barns.

Dan had no intentions of turning around now. "Come on." He walked up to the elevator and pressed the up arrow.

The doors parted. Dan wasn't sure if there would have been power or not; he was relieved to find out there still was.

The rich atmosphere was beginning to comfort him. He could still feel cold wind from the storm and the noise was deafening, but warmer air and music brushed across him from the elevator.

He stepped inside and Barns reluctantly followed. They watched as the doors closed and the sight of chaos was replaced by their own reflections and the music. It was a soft melody, the kind you would hear when placed on hold during a phone conversation.

"What floor you plan on goin’?" asked Barns.

"Where else, the penthouse," Dan said and clicked the highest number.

Staring at his own reflection, Dan was surprised to see how tired he looked. He had dark bags under his eyes, his tie hung loose and wet around his neck. The fact that his clothes were sticking to him made his body look frail and weak. Barns on the other hand looked as if he had just emerged from a jungle after being raised by animals his whole life. His eyes were quick and shifty, as if the elevator reminded him too much of a cage. For the first time Dan noticed their height difference; Barns stood a whole head’s length taller.

The elevator chimed and as the doors parted, they found themselves staring down a dark hallway. It was not dark from a lack of light, but rather everything was painted black. It was only twenty feet to the end of the hall, where there stood a door with no number on it.

Dan walked over to the door and tried to turn the handle. It was locked. There was a rectangle of smoky glass that ran the length of the door; Dan wondered if they couldn't use that to break their way in.

As he stood there thinking about it, Barns walked up and put his foot through the glass.

"If we gone do it, we might as well do it all da way," he said, reaching around and unlocking the door from the other side.

"Not bad," Dan said and gestured him to walk inside. "Not bad at all."