The Week of the Dead (12 page)

Slowly and gently, he went to work on her. She extended her arms and grabbed a chuck of his hair as he went down on her. She made a noise a few octaves above what she usually spoke. He placed a hand over her mouth so she couldn’t alert anyone or anything that might be listening. Ethan only responded by dishing out the tongue lashing faster. Her body began to rock back and forth against his face. Her legs tightened against his temples. She began to twitch and breathe heavily as she pulled on his hair. Finally she stopped twitching and pulled him up by his hair on top of her. “Fuck me! Fuck me now!” she said as she pulled him close by the back of the neck. Things were beginning to get rough. He finally pulled away from her face, opened one of the condoms, and placed it upon himself. He slowly glided his throbbing membrane into her. She began to breathe hard once more. He grabbed the blanket and threw it over them, shrouding them in darkness. Somewhere in the darkness, they both felt better. They both felt at ease.

Noise at the Door

Chapter 26

Tuesday 0800 CST

Memphis

T
he morning sun arrived through the window. Ethan and Jenna were the first to stir. Her bedhead was matted against his arm. He looked at her, and she looked at him. They shared a good-morning kiss. She rolled over to look at the television. Still static. Ethan stood up, still naked, and began finding his clothes. As he returned his pants to his body, Josh walked out in his underwear. “Sup?” he said as he went to the refrigerator. He stopped in his tracks and looked at the foot sticking out from under the blanket and to Ethan putting his shirt on. They had a fist bump. “Well done, man. Well done,” Josh said. “You weren’t alone last night either, were you?”

“Nope!” Josh said as he found some milk and poured himself a glass.

“What did I miss?” Ethan asked as he took the jug of milk from Josh.

“Well, you passed out early. And…uh…something kinda happened.” Ethan reached down to grab his pistol from the gun belt.

“Not that,” Josh said as he slowly cracked a smile. “Follow me, and be quiet.” The two men crossed past Jenna who kept covered with the blanket from last night. They went to Josh’s bedroom door. He cracked it open to reveal Professor McMiller head and feet sticking out of Josh’s bed. Josh made eye contact with Ethan and slowly closed the door, not to awaken the sleeping woman. They walked back to the kitchen. Ethan broke out into a booming laughter. “What is it?” Josh said.

“We’re
so
getting extra credit for this!” Ethan said with a hand up for a high-five.

“Dude, that’s not cool!” Josh quieted down with disapproval of the high-five.

Josh began getting things out for breakfast. Ethan went to Jenna on the couch. “We need to get you some clothes, my dear,” he said as he handed her back her panties and shirt off the floor outside of her protective blanket.

“Hey, Josh, do you have any clothes the lady can borrow?”

“Yeah, spare closet. Whatever she wants,” he said as he began dancing in the kitchen. Ethan held out his hand to help the lady up from the couch. He stood in the direction of the kitchen to shield her getting dressed from the eyesight of Josh. They walked together into the spare bedroom.

She opened the closet door and started moving through the hangers. She picked up some sweatpants and put them on over her underwear. She found a jacket and some shoes as well. “Thanks for last night,” she said from inside the closet.

“No problem.” By this time, Professor McMiller had come into the hallway from Josh’s bedroom. She and Ethan shared eye contact. Ethan stood still as she slowly limped on her good foot. “Ethan, whatever you think—”

“It’s cool,” Ethan cut her off. “Not a word. I’m cool like that.”
Looks like I’m passing now
, he thought as he reflected on the previous day. “Josh is cooking breakfast, I think,” he continued and motioned to the kitchen.

They all sat in the living room. Ethan, Josh, and Jenna sat quietly and ate waffles and scrambled eggs while McMiller stared at the still static television. Jenna finally broke the silence. “So what now? Think we can stay here?”

“I’m cool with that,” said Josh.

“I think we need to go outside and have a look around.” Ethan stood up, kept his coffee mug in hand, and lifted one of the plastic blinds from the window. “Oh boy,” he said with a sigh.

“What is it?” Josh asked.

“Have a look.”

Josh came to the window to witness a large number of pale-skinned creatures standing around the cul-de-sac of Josh’s housing structure. “They’re standing still.” He said, “I don’t think they know we’re here.” As he said that, there came a noise from the door.

Ethan grabbed the shotgun from the side of the couch and moved silently toward the door. He peered into the peephole. He saw a familiar basketball jersey number brushing its arms against the door. “Sssshhhhhhh-it!” Ethan quickly made it back to the window to peer out. The other beings in the cul-de-sac were beginning to shamble toward their place of residence. “Fuck fuck fuck fuck!” he said quietly. “Everyone, get your shit as quietly as possible.”

“What is it?” Jenna asked.

“A problem. A big fuckin’ problem,” he said as he moved to the kitchen and quietly removed books and notepads from the backpacks he carried yesterday.

He tossed his empty one on the floor and began rooting through Parker’s backpack. Something stopped him in his tracks. He quietly picked up the object and held it out in front of the others. “Holy shit!” McMiller said as she saw the object. Parker’s backpack held a large bag of marijuana, along with some books, which were dumped, and an index card with something scribbled on it. He quickly stuffed them back into the bag and moved onto the pantry of canned food. Josh went into his bedroom and grabbed his gun from under his mattress. He found a box of ammunition in his closet. He too emptied his book bag and began stuffing it with random items in his house. Toilet paper, socks, a phone charger, more condoms, and miscellaneous hygiene products were crammed into his bag. They all reconvened in the living room.

The banging on the door intensified. More creatures were pressing against the wooden door with the chain and dead bolt beginning to move. “Couch!” Josh shouted as Ethan quickly helped him push the couch to brace it against the door.

“Does this place have a back door?” McMiller asked.

“Yeah.” The four of them gathered their things and made it out the back door to Josh’s small backyard. Josh’s shoes on Jenna’s small feet clopped on the ground as she walked. Ethan took the lead with the shotgun and the pistol on the gun belt. They silently made their way around the side of the house. The creatures were still focused on the door. “OK,” Ethan whispered. “They’re busy. Only a couple of them can see us. I say we make a run for the truck.” He took the keys to the security truck from his pants pocket.

“How far?” Josh asked.

“Thirty feet max. We can make it.”

“Ladies, we’ll lead. Give Josh the backpack. Jenna, I’m gonna need you to help her into the truck. M’kay?” She nodded and made eye contact with the teacher.

“Ashley. My name is Ashley.” The teacher said to Jenna.

“We’re ready,” Jenna said to the men. Ethan gave her a quick kiss on the lips and turned to pace to the truck. Ethan stuck the keys in his mouth and gripped the shotgun with both hands.

When they got closer to the truck, Ethan tossed the shotgun to Josh who stood guard as Jenna helped the still-limping Ashley into the car. Ethan struggled with the key, scratching the paint on the white security truck. The noise caught the attention of those banging on the door. They turned in unison toward the truck. Jenna finished pushing Ashley into the backseat of the truck as Josh threw his bag into the passenger seat. One of the creatures made its way to the tailgate of the truck. Josh took aim with the shotgun and fired a round into the crowd. It didn’t faze them. “Fuck this!” Josh said as he mounted into the truck. He closed the door as one of the creatures pressed its face against the window. “Go, dude. Go!” he said as he pointed the shotgun at the window. Ethan squealed tires as he launched the truck out of the cul-de-sac.

Junk Food

Chapter 27

Tuesday 0630

Millington

D
evin and Erica had driven for a while in their respected vehicles. They pulled over next to some fields and got out of their vehicles. Devin and Erica hugged for a few seconds. “What did I miss?” Erica said as she released herself from Devin’s arms.

“Not much. Saw some people. Got some supplies. ”

“Were they…normal?” she asked sheepishly.

“Yeah, most of them,” he said with a smile. She reached in the minivan and grabbed the basket of stuff from the gas station that recently got wiped from the surface of the planet. She grabbed a sweet bun and began to crinkle the wrapper as she opened it.

“Where are we?”

“Um. No idea. I know we’re on a back road, and I know there are less of those things in the wild.” She looked at the empty fields of cotton. It seemed so strange that the world became so empty so quickly. She began to munch on the prepackaged pastry.

“I see you made some friends along the way,” she said as she motioned to the soldiers crawling out of the vehicle. There were a couple of vehicles that pulled over behind them on the side of the road. They looked like common folk, and they approached them as they munched on junk food.

“Millington?” One of the driver, an old man asked. Devin nodded. He motioned to the rest of his caravan. “It’s them!” he shouted as he motioned for the rest of the party to exit their vehicle. “You got the weapons, you got us out of there, and we’ll follow you,” he said to Devin and the soldiers.

Biology

Chapter 28

Tuesday 0800

Memphis

“W
here are we going?” Jenna asked.

“Millington. There is the air base. There are soldiers with bigger guns, and that seems like the most logical place to go,” Josh said to her as he steadied the security truck. Josh and the two women sat in the truck quietly for a few moments while Ethan rode in the back holding his shotgun tightly. Ethan tapped on the back window. Ashley opened the sliding window, and a rush of wind came with Ethan’s voice.

“Air base?” he asked. Ashley nodded with bright eyes of hope. “Traffic is going to be a nightmare!”

“I’m not sure if you know this, but we’re in a nightmare!” Josh retorted from the driver’s seat.

“Only if you want it to be!” Ethan said with a whirl of air as the truck raced down the street.

“What does he mean by that?” Jenna asked.

“Well, my companion here believes there is a normal order to things. He’s quite a complex character,” Josh said with a smile. “He’s always looking on the bright side of things…only with a sarcastic and pessimist attitude.” Jenna turned to look at the man she had spent the night with. His hair was blowing in the wind, sunglasses hiding his eyes so the world could not see his true feelings. Everyone was scared, but she knew this man was strong. He positioned himself in the corner of the truck bed against the window. He began opening the toolbox attachment on the bed of the truck trying to find something useful.

“What about you?” Ashley asked as she touched Josh for the first time since their encounter last night. He could feel her warm fingers on his shoulder, as she moved herself to the middle of the backseat with Jenna in the front passenger seat looking at the two.

“Me? I’m just a college kid trying to find roots. I try to stay open minded about everything.”

Ashley then turned to Jenna. “What about you, Jenna, right?”

“Yeah, I’m just a dog groomer. I like animals more than people.”

“Well, you’re certainly going to love Ethan when he gets angry.”

“Why is that?” Josh snorted as he recalled a time when he played a prank on Ethan. “He starts turning into an animal. He’ll pound his chest like a gorilla, lower his head like a dog, and one time he actually howled like a wolf.”

“Did he get ferocious and hump your leg or something?” Ashley asked.

“Oh shit!” Josh exclaimed as he slammed on the brakes. Ethan, who was busy looking through the toolbox, slammed his body against the back glass. “Aw! Fuck!” he expelled from his aching body. Ethan reached down his back and pulled his fingers up to reveal small amounts of blood. He was cut from a broken shard of glass. “What the shit!” Ethan said furiously. Josh sat with an idling engine as all three of them peered from the cab. Ethan placed a hand on the roof and stood himself up. His head peered over the roof of the truck to see an ungodly sight.

Many of the former residents of the college had come back to life. They were standing in the street looking for their next meal. Ethan immediately ducked his head into the window of the truck. “How many?” he said.

“Can’t tell there are too many cars.”

“Can you go around?”

“Maybe.”

“Wait,” Ashley said as she placed her hand back on Josh’s shoulder. “Look at them. They aren’t human anymore.”

“We’re kinda aware of that professor! Some new information would be helpful!” Ethan forcibly whispered not to attract any more attention to themselves. “Watch how they move. You might learn something. Slow, uncoordinated…Look!”

All eyes focused on a human man. He was tall and slender in a black shirt and baggy pants. He wore a backpack, and his only mode of transportation was a skateboard. The skateboard made a rubbing sound as the wheels rolled over the rough concrete sidewalk. The plastic wheels became a dinner bell for the large group of former college attendees. “He’s coming this way!” Josh said as the skateboard rolled past the truck.

“Sh! Get down!” Ethan said as he lay in the bed of the truck with the shotgun in the ready position. Jenna rolled down her window.

“Kid! Get in the truck!” she whispered as loud as she could without breaking a decibel. The man on the skateboard didn’t hear her. He was too busy trying to roll away from everything that had happened to him in the last twenty-four hours.

“Jenna. Roll up the window,” Josh hissed as he crouched in the driver seat.

“Why are we hiding and not running?”