Infection: Alaskan Undead Apocalypse (27 page)

Neil wasn’t quite sure what to think or how to treat the situation. Officer Ivanoff wasn’t making it easy either. His behavior had all of them on edge. In fact, most of the people in the house, including those who weren’t privy to the details of the goings on in the other house, just kept their distance from him. Neil knew that they weren’t going to be able to avoid Malachi for long, but for the time being it seemed to be the best thing to do. If Malachi was having a psychotic episode though, the pistol on his hip made both Dr. Caldwell and Neil very nervous.

“I think we’re ready.”

Neil looked at Emma and then at Meghan, who had just spoken. He, of course, had been dreading this moment. Secretly, deep down he guessed he’d been hoping that things would have changed before then so that they wouldn’t have to go outside and confront the horrors that awaited them. He could only hope that he would rise up to the challenge. He knew that if he did, it would happen without his thinking about it. If he had to think about it, then there was little to no chance that he would be able to act. Just imagining going outside had kept sleep at bay a number of times since he and Tony had ventured down the street. Even Meghan sleeping next to him hadn’t allayed his fears much. While they worked, it was easy for him to stay occupied and avoid thinking about the possibility, but as the work was eventually wrapping up it became increasingly difficult to find distractions. And now, with Meghan’s statement there would be no more denying the reality of their situation. They were soon going to be on their way.

Tony asked, “Has anyone thought about how we are going to get out?”

All eyes turned to Dr. Caldwell and Neil. Neither of them had even begun to think about that. They’d been busy plotting a route away from their sanctuary, trying to avoid the main streets and the most likely spots of high vehicle congestion. They’d considered what of the dwindling supplies to load into the vehicle and where to sit people to maximize their limited space. They’d thought about all of that, but hadn’t given much thought to their very first step.

Kim suggested again, “Maybe we could just shoot a bunch of them and make it so that we can get out while they regroup.”

Neil, doubting the effect of that ploy, said nonetheless, “Yeah, maybe.”

Kim, like a dejected child said, “Well, it was just an idea.”

Sensing her disappointment, Neil followed up with, “Kim, it isn’t a horrible idea. I just don’t know if it will work. Have you ever seen any war movies about the Revolution or the Civil War or anything?”

“I guess so. Why?”

“Well, I’m afraid that what will likely happen, just like with those lines of soldiers from those movies, that as one of the things is shot down from the front rank another of them will move forward and fill his space. There may be no way to shoot enough of them fast enough to make an opening.”

“Okay. I see your point.”

Dr. Caldwell interjected, “What we need is a distraction.”

From the window, Tony said in a matter of fact manner, “I’ve done my part with distractions. No more going out there to start another fire.”

“Maybe we could just forget about the car and make our way out on foot,” Emma suggested. “Go out the back and sneak away.”

Rachel said dryly, “And how far do you think we’ll get before they smell us out? And then where will we be, huh? On foot and out in the open? My fat ass—sorry kids—can’t move that quick and what about the kids? How long can they keep up?”

Emma shot back, “Well, what’s your idea? We’ve gotta be able to open the garage door and get out. We can’t do that with those things standing out there, unless you’re planning on opening the door for the rest of us.”

“Not likely.”

“That’s what I thought. If we can’t get the door open, then we’ve gotta think of other options. Right?”

Danny, sitting on the fringes of the group and watching Neil, got an idea. He got up and ran downstairs to the bookcase in the hallway. He remembered seeing some keys there and thought that they might be Meghan’s. He found the keys on the top of the low bookcase and, peeking in at Officer Ivanoff as he darted by, ran upstairs with the keys jingling and jangling as he went.

Neil asked, “Whatcha got there Danny?”

“Keys.”

Meghan, recognizing the Hawaii key chain her fiancée had gotten for her from a trip down to the island paradise a number of years back, said, “Those are mine.”

“Yeah. Does this alarm thingy work?”

“Well, yeah. Why? You afraid someone is going to try and steal my car?”

“No but...”

Neil saw where Danny was headed and finished his thought for him, “But you can set off the alarm with your panic button can’t you?”

“Yeah,” Meghan said, realizing the possibility too.

Neil began, “Well, we can hit that button and see if it draws those things away. Then we can get that door open and get the hell outta Dodge.”

Neil looked over at Danny and gave him a thumbs up sign. “Good job, Danny. You may have just come up with the opening that we needed.”

Danny smiled and felt more a part of the group finally. He’d contributed and maybe saved all of their lives. And more importantly, he’d impressed Neil. Regardless of the situation, Danny felt like Neil and Jerry were the two coolest adults he’d ever met. They were smart and nice and listened to what he had to say. And the cool thing about that, to him, was that he wasn’t a son, a nephew, or any other relation to these guys other than just a kid that got hooked up with them under some pretty bad circumstances. They didn’t have to show him any attention or any respect and yet both did. He was glad that, if he had to be trapped with anyone, at least he was spending his time with these two guys. The others weren’t bad either, although that cop really kind of freaked him out a little. When he went downstairs to get Meghan’s keys, that cop was just sitting there. It looked like he was watching TV, but that couldn’t be possible. Danny wasn’t even quite sure that the cop noticed him when he looked in at him, even though he’d stood in the doorway plain as day. That guy just gave him the creeps. The others were all right, he guessed. They weren’t mean to him or to Jules, but they treated both of them the way most adults treated them. He’d heard the phrase, “Children should be seen and not heard,” before and he felt like most of the people in the house lived by that standard. At least they had since he’d been around them. Neil and Jerry though were different. They were good guys and he knew that he could trust them to look out for him and Jules. In movies and in games, for the most part, kids didn’t die and he thought that if anyone could help that to become a reality it was Neil and Jerry.

Neil took the keys from Danny and gave them to Meghan. “Will the alarm still work with the car problems you’ve been having?”

“Yeah, the alarm was never the problem. It was always the engine...the fuel pump to be exact. What are you thinking then?”

It was decided that Tony would open the garage door. He was the strongest and most fit person in the group, and therefore, stood the best chance of getting the door up quickly and getting himself into the van. Kim wasn’t too thrilled with the idea, but even she conceded that he was the most likely choice. Dr. Caldwell offered to help in getting the door up, but having to get a second person into the car and then get moving quickly just didn’t seem to make much sense to any of them.

Everyone except Neil, Dr. Caldwell, and Tony loaded themselves into the vehicle. Neil took a moment to take Lucky the dog into the backyard and drop him over the fence. It wasn’t ideal, but they all felt like the dog would have a better chance than being left in the house or in the backyard with no food or water. Jules wasn’t happy about the arrangement, but they all agreed that it wasn’t practical to take the dog with them.

After caring for the dog as best as Neil was able, he joined Jerry in the living room. It took both Jerry and Neil to coax Officer Ivanoff out of his room downstairs and into the van. When they entered the television room, he looked at them with confusion in his eyes at first. Neil was convinced that the man either wasn’t hearing or didn’t understand him when he first began to speak. Finally, after explaining the plan and the need to get going right away, the police officer stood up and walked out to the garage. When he saw all the people in the van, he turned around and started to walk back inside. He didn’t say a word to anyone.

Jerry, who was coming back downstairs after a final walk through of the living room and the upstairs bedrooms, caught sight of him going back into the downstairs room again. “Officer. Officer. Hey, Mal, where’re you goin?”

“I don’t think I’m supposed to be here.”

“That’s why we’re leaving. None of us are supposed to be here. This is all just a mistake of colossal proportions. We need to get going right away, though. Do you think you can get yourself into the van so we can get to it?”

“The van?”

“Yeah. The one out in the garage. We need you to sit on the middle bench seat and be ready to close the door after Tony gets in from opening the garage door.”

“Tony?”

“Yeah. You know. Tony. The big guy.”

“He’s going to hell you know.”

“What?”

“Sodomites. They’re all going to hell.”

“Well, I don’t know anything about that.”

“I do. They’re all to be damned.”

“Mal, can we worry about that later. Right now, Tony is going to help all of us get out of here and for that I think that we all can cut him a little bit of a break. Don’t you?”

The police officer shuffled back out toward the garage mumbling unintelligibly for the most part. He sat himself down in his assigned seat and didn’t say a word to or look at anyone around him. Jerry climbed into the small space set aside for him in the back seat next to Emma and Kim, who each had a child in her lap. Rachel was supposed to be sitting on the bench between Meghan and Officer Ivanoff, but was presently standing/stooping partially between the two front seats, appearing to be anxious, worried, and unable to sit.

Neil, Dr. Caldwell, and Tony were all standing in the upstairs window looking down at the yard and street below them. It was amazing to think and remember that those things that were even then hungering for their flesh were once ordinary human beings. The vibrations in the air from their constant moaning had continued to rise in amplitude.

Tony said to the others, “It’s a good thing that we’re leaving. I don’t know how much longer I can take that sound.”

“Or the smell,” Dr. Caldwell added, “and I’m a doctor. But the aroma of rotten flesh is downright overpowering for even me. I can only imagine what it’s like for everyone else.”

Neil jumped in, “Hopefully we won’t have to deal with much more of either. If we can get ahead of those things and just keep them behind us, we might just be okay. It’s not the sound or the smell that bothers me the most. It’s their teeth that worry me. We ready?”

The other two nodded and stepped away from the window. Neil lingered just a second longer. He hoped they were making the right decision, afraid that there would be no recovering from it if this was a mistake. And if it were a mistake, the error would be fatal for all of them. He swallowed hard and closed his eyes. He wasn’t much for praying. He wasn’t even much for believing in that sort of thing, but he found himself wondering more at that moment than he had in decades. And then he wondered about those ghouls outside. If there was a higher power of some sort, had their souls ascended or were they trapped? Trapped? He remembered a scene from the movie
The Exorcist
in which the little possessed girl’s mother showed the attending priest her daughter’s stomach. At first there was nothing, but slowly, and with the appropriate accompanying music, the words “help me” appeared on her skin from the inside out. That scene had always tugged at the terror strings in his own belly. She was still in there and the demon was tormenting her. She was still in there but had no control whatsoever of her body or her faculties. She was still in there. He wondered for just a heartbeat if those poor souls out on the front lawn were still in their battered and decomposing bodies. Was it a form of purgatory or damnation? He couldn’t even begin to imagine and hoped that he would never have to find out for himself.

Realizing he was alone now, he took one last look around. The fire was still burning in the fireplace warming a room that was carpeted with colorful pillows and blankets scattered all over the floor and furniture. The kitchen table had empty cracker boxes and opened plastic wrappers on and under it. There was a disorderliness to it that resembled a more comfortable than typical refugee camp. It was time to move and he knew it.

He removed Meghan’s keys from his pocket and looked out again. The zombies were crushing themselves against the house with more and more desperation. They bit and clawed and pounded their fists against the walls, doors, and boarded up window. Neil said aloud to the empty room, “Christ, I hope this works.” He pressed his thumb against the remote’s panic button and from down the street came the echoing clarion cry of Meghan’s car’s alarm.

He looked down again at the beasts outside. There was a pause for all of them, including Neil, while everyone tried to figure out what the sound was. The walking corpses leaned away from the house at first, not moving but halting their persistent assault on its walls. Starting with those furthest away from the walls, the things started to turn away in the direction of the new sound. Was that the sound of food? With some anxiousness to their steps, as a group they began to shuffle toward the possibility.