Infection: Alaskan Undead Apocalypse (25 page)

He looked over at the two children who were still standing in the living room, just steps away from him, and apologized, “We tried and tried, but we just couldn’t do anything for him. Your brother died, I’m sorry.”

A bit confused but wanting to know, Jules asked in her timid little voice, “What about my Mommy and Daddy?”

The doctor shook his head and his eyes watery and sad, he said, “I don’t think they made it either.” To the others he continued, “That’s where it all started, like I said. Everything happened so quickly and so tragically. As one was getting knocked down, another was getting up. Things got out of control right away. There was nothing anyone could do to stop any of it. It all just happened so quickly.”

He told them of their retreat through the hospital and how their group was steadily whittled away. He told them about Simon at the hospital, and how he had helped them, only to fall victim to the fiends himself. When he spoke about the helicopter and their escape from the hospital, he heard his two companions finally exhale. They’d been holding their breaths while he spoke. They were reliving their flight and their fear in their own minds as he spoke. They couldn’t help it. While it was happening, it had all gone by in such a blur of violence and death. This had been the first time that any of them had talked about it...the first time that any of them had reflected on it out loud.

“And so now here we are.”

Tony said somberly, “Amen.”

Dr. Caldwell looked up at him and nodded. “Amen indeed.”

It was a handful of hours later. The newcomers, Emma and Dr. Caldwell anyway, had changed into new clothes. Emma had forgotten what it was like to wear comfortable shoes as she slipped on the sneakers taken from a woman’s closet. It was necessary for all of them to wear shoes and sweatshirts and whatever else they could find to stay warm. Despite the fire still burning in the fireplace, it was getting cooler and cooler in the house, and their woodpile was getting smaller and smaller. They couldn’t continue to burn wood indefinitely.

Rachel walked from room to room looking for something. Finally, Jules, after having watched her frantically searching, asked her, “Whatcha lookin’ for?”

“My coat. I’m looking for my coat. You remember what it looked like?”

“Yeah, it was a cool, shiny black one. It was pretty.”

Rachel smiled and touched the child’s head, “Yeah, it is a cool jacket isn’t it? My Mom gave that to me for my birthday.”

“Your birthday? When did you have that?”

“About two weeks ago.”

“Did you go to Chuck E. Cheese?”

Smiling and laughing a little, Rachel answered, “No, I guess I missed out, huh?”

“Yeah, they got the best pizza and have you ever played skeet ball?”

“Yeah, I think I have.”

“That’s the best, and then you get tickets and you can go get cool stuff at the shop. Last time we went, I didn’t have enough tickets to get the purse and make-up that I wanted so Marty gave me some of his tickets. Danny did too. I still have the purse but I used up all the make-up.”

“Did you have fun?”

“Uh huh. But it wasn’t my birthday then. We just went because we’d all been good and Mom said that if we were good and quiet on Saturday then we could go on Sunday as a treat.”

“I guess you were good then.”

“Yeah. If you didn’t go to Chuck E. Cheese, then where did you go?”

“My Mom took me out to dinner at a place called Glacier Brewhouse. We had a really nice dinner and we talked and talked. It’s nice just to sit and talk with your Mom sometimes.” Feeling herself start to get emotional, Rachel turned away and said, “Well, my Mom gave me the jacket that night. She knew that I wanted it but knew that I’d never buy it for myself. She just wanted me to have it.”

“I’ll help you find it.”

“Thanks kid...Jules, I mean.”

“You’re welcome. My Mom always asks me ‘Where do you remember seeing it last?’”

Crying now, Rachel said, “Mine too, Jules. Mine too.”

They looked upstairs and down but could not locate it. They even looked out in the garage, despite the fact that Rachel couldn’t remember the last time that she’d even been in there. Someone may have moved it and set it in there by mistake. They looked and looked but in the end came up empty handed.

It was early afternoon by then and things had started to settle down. Most of the activity in the house was happening, not surprisingly, around the fire. There wasn’t anything specific that was happening really, they were just hanging out and waiting, activities that had become the mainstay of their day-to-day lives.

Emma wasn’t in the room. She was down the hall in one of the bedrooms. She was still angry and hurt by what had happened between her and Officer Ivanoff. She couldn’t be in the same room with him anymore. She was frankly concerned that she wouldn’t be able to control herself around him anymore and fly off in a rage that might just leave him dead. She was carrying one of the pistols that Neil had scavenged from Fred Meyer. It was a smallish silver revolver that smelled of oil and was somewhat heavy in her hand. Deep down, she hoped that he’d try it again and she could stop him permanently. As it was, she just avoided being around him. She figured that was just the safest thing for all of them because she knew that a gunshot would certainly give their sanctuary away. She wouldn’t, however, hesitate to use the gun, regardless of consequences, if he ever came at her like that again.

For his part, Officer Ivanoff was downstairs alone in the darkness of the boarded up family room, staring at the blank television screen. He was remembering past football games that he’d watched on his own television. He missed his ritual. Living in Alaska, he’d grown accustomed to the fact that NFL games started early in the morning. The hassle of having to wake early on Sunday mornings to catch the games, especially Seattle Seahawks games, wore off after a very short time.

Sitting down in the dimly lit basement family room, he was suddenly startled to see his youthful cousin sitting comfortably with his feet up on the couch. His boyish frame and smiling face appeared exceptionally comfortable on the small couch. His father was there too, standing in the doorway with a bag of his favorite chips, Lays Barbecue. The Seahawks had the ball and were all set to snap. The three of them held their breath while they watched Hasselbeck scramble behind his defensive line. He couldn’t seem to be able to find a target and then he saw him; a streaking receiver running along the sideline. He arched back and tossed the ball, a perfect spiral, into the air.

Malachi could feel his heart begin to race. Would he catch that pass? It seemed like such a long shot. If he did though, it was smooth sailing all the way to the end zone. He looked over at his cousin. He was chewing feverishly on his snack of choice, Slim Jim beef sticks. He returned Malachi’s stare and smiled.

When he looked back, the television wasn’t on anymore. He was back in the dark room. His father was gone, as was his cousin. Malachi was alone again. He stood up from the recliner and moved to the small couch. He touched where his cousin had been sitting and felt around for any evidence that he or anyone had been there. The fabric was cold and the empty wrappers from the beef sticks weren’t there anymore either. He massaged his sweaty forehead and temples, trying to will away the doubt and confusion. They had been here with him, but how? And where were they now?

He sat down on the couch and about screamed when he looked over and saw his father sitting in the Lazyboy recliner. “What’s wrong Mal?”

“Daddy?”

“Yeah, buddy. I’m here. What’s wrong?”

“I...I...but how...where...aren’t you...?”

“Just like you, Mal. Can’t put together a single thought and get it out of your mouth. Nothing’s changed has it?”

With his eyes as wide as his mouth, Malachi looked around. The game was gone from the television and his cousin was still absent, but his father was definitely there.

“How long have you been here, Daddy?”

“What do you mean by that, little man?”

“You know I don’t like it when you call me that.”

“Father’s right I guess.”

“Why are you here?”

His father, still watching the blank television screen, asked, “Why are you?”

“What do you mean? We had to come here or else we would have been...”

“Would have been what? Have you been a bad boy again?”

“No, Daddy. I just...we just...”

“You and your friends haven’t been setting fires again have you?”

“No, Daddy. I’ve been a good boy.”

“You’d better. Remember what happened to your cousin at the school?”

“Yes, Daddy, I remember. I haven’t been playing with matches. I learned my lesson. You don’t have to...”

There was a long pause during which Malachi looked around the room again. When he looked back at the recliner, his father was gone. Malachi’s childhood uncertainty, long forgotten and set aside, was still there, though. The soreness of bruises from decades ago returned to his arms and shoulders; he could almost feel the knuckle indentations on his skin.

He heard a voice again but couldn’t make it out clearly. He heard it again. He looked around trying to figure out from where it was coming. He couldn’t make out the words, let alone their source. He held his breath and concentrated.

“Officer? Officer? Are you hungry?”

He opened his clinched eyes and saw a big Asian guy standing in the doorway now. It took a second more before he recognized the man as Tony from upstairs. He looked at the man for a good long while. He bit his lower lip, chewing on the raw, chapped skin there.

Tony waited a moment longer and then entered the seemingly subterranean room. It felt like a dungeon down there. The meager light coming in around the edges of the plywood covering the outside of the window barely provided any illumination at all. He was afraid that he might be disturbing or even waking the man. Though he couldn’t see him well, Tony could sense a degree of uncertainty in the other man’s body language. He stalled a second or two longer, hoping that the other man would speak up or at least acknowledge his presence in the room.

“Are you okay?”

Officer Ivanoff finally leaned back and said, “I’m good.”

“You hungry?”

“Naw, I’m good. If I get hungry, I’ll come up.”

“D’you want some company down here?”

Shaking his head, “Naw, I’m good.”

“Okay. You need anything, just holler.”

At that, Tony went back upstairs. He found Dr. Caldwell sitting in the kitchen with Emma, Neil, and Meghan. Tony leaned into the wall and waited for the discussion to come to a pause, at which point he could interrupt. They were talking about what they had seen and where. The doctor was describing the numerous police barricades they’d seen while they flew over them in the helicopter. Neil had an Anchorage city street map on the table and was moving it around to mark the locations of each of these failed barricades. They were trying to plot probable escape routes and identify alternate routes around possible roadblocks and problem spots.

Finally, Tony couldn’t wait anymore. He looked over his shoulder to make sure that he was only talking with the four people at the table. “Guys, I don’t know if that cop downstairs is doing alright.”

A knowing smile spread across Emma’s face and she said acidly, “That guy only wears a cop uniform. He’s nowhere near being an actual cop. No cops I’ve ever known would or even could do the things that he’s done.”

Dr. Caldwell understood Emma’s comment, but everyone else’s faces were questioning. Emma was about to clarify for all of them when she caught the doctor’s eyes and thought better of it. She accepted the fact that there would be a more appropriate place for Malachi to have to answer for what he tried to do to her, and for his cowardly behavior. She didn’t like it, but she did trust Dr. Caldwell’s judgment.

Dr. Caldwell looked at Tony and asked for him to elaborate.

“Well, I was down there with him for a few seconds but I don’t think he knew that I was there. He was looking right at me but he just didn’t know. And then, when he did realize that someone was in the room with him, I don’t think that he knew that it was me. I mean, I’ve seen some blank stares in my time and even some nasty glares, but he was totally...absent.”

Caldwell asked, “What was he doing?”

“Nothing. Just sitting there watching a blank TV screen.”

“Did he threaten you or appear to be a danger to himself?”

“No. He just didn’t seem right to me.”

“It’s probably just exhaustion. Give him some room and if he wants to stay down there by himself, well, we’ll just have to accommodate him on that one. Let’s all keep an eye on him, though.”

Emma added, “Yeah, we don’t need a Columbine or Virginia Tech on our hands.”

With that comment, Neil was suddenly concerned about the presence of the newcomers. He could tell that there was something more going on, especially with Emma, but he wasn’t sure what it was. He needed to know because they couldn’t afford any surprises. There just wasn’t any room for problems in their little sanctuary.

Forgetting about his unease when he was downstairs, Tony began to munch on a can of Hormel chili that had been cooked in the fire. He asked, “So what’s going on?”