A Glimpse of Decay (Book 3): Lost in Twilight (11 page)

“Look, there’s another one!” Shondra screamed as she pointed behind Vincent.

Vincent spun to look at the new threat.  Stumbling towards them was a reanimated woman with blonde hair.  It was Hailey.  The large blood stain across the front of her shirt had turned brown and her once pale skin was now a light green shade.  Vincent raised his bat and screamed “No more!”

Shondra didn’t want to see another savage display like the one she had just witnessed, so she quickly brought up her rifle and sighted in on Hailey’s forehead.  Before Vincent could launch his attack, she squeezed the trigger and a bouquet of blood, bone and brains filled the air around Hailey’s head.  The corpse fell to the ground in a heap.

Caught off guard by the shot, Vincent ducked and looked back at Shondra.  After a moment of processing what had just taken place, he came back to his senses and looked at the bat that he was holding.  It was covered in blood and rotting tissue.  He flung it down to the ground in disgust.  “What the fuck was I doing?”

“You lost it, baby,” Shondra sobbed.  “You lost it.”  She lowered her rifle and stepped towards her tormented friend.  She wanted to grab him and hold him, but she was afraid that any show of emotion would set him off again.  She was about to say something to him to comfort him and bring him back down, but she caught sight of a group of reanimated that were starting to filter out of the neighborhood.  “Shit, there’s more of them!”

Vincent turned and looked at the menacing group and then turned back to Shondra.  “We gotta get back home.  Let’s go.”  He grabbed the heavy bag of food from Shondra and glanced back at the bloodied bat and what was left of the carriage and Brianna’s body.  He found himself stuck, fixated on what he had just done.

“Come on, we gotta go!” Shondra yelled.  Vincent shook himself out of whatever trance he had fallen into and he grabbed her hand.  The two then broke into a full run and made their way back towards the office building in the gathering dusk.

***

After securing themselves in the office, Vincent immediately went up into the bathroom and turned on the water tap to the sink.  He looked at himself in the mirror and saw all the dirt, blood and grime that was covering his face.  He drifted off and found himself replaying what had happened in the park.  Feeling shame and guilt, he began to cry.

Looking up at the ceiling, his tears streaked from his eyes and rolled into his hairline just over his ears.  H gulped and whispered, “I didn’t mean to question you.  Please forgive me.  I was weak in my faith.  I know you wouldn’t abandon us.”

“Who are you talking to?” Shondra asked as she walked in behind him.

Vincent looked down at the running water and he soaked his face with his cupped hands.  “Can you give me a towel or something so I can get this stuff off of me?”  He didn’t feel like answering her.

Feeling put off by him, Shondra reached over to the towel rack and tossed him a small wash cloth.  “So, who were you talking to?”  Her voice was full of fear and uncertainty.

Still trying to ignore her, Vincent scrubbed his face vigorously.  He then looked up and said, “I’m just gonna take a shower, okay?”

“Sure, that would probably be best.”  Seeing that he didn’t want to answer her question, she decided not to push it.  “I’ll go down and put something together for us to eat.”  She turned to make her way out of the bathroom.

“I’m sorry,” Vincent said as he pulled off his shirt.  He turned on the shower and didn’t say anything else.

Shondra walked down to the kitchen and put away the cans that she had gathered from the house.  As she tried to decide what to choose for the night’s meal, she began to worry about Vincent’s state of mind.  She also worried for herself.  Today had been a bad day for them emotionally.  She felt uneasy at how quickly the two of them had broken down out there.  She began to question whether they could handle other, more unpleasant things, especially after they had cracked so quickly at the sight of a dead child.

Breaking herself away from her uncertainty, she opened a can of spaghetti and min-meatballs and spooned it onto a plate.  She shoved the plate into the micro, punched in the time setting and sat down as she waited for the food to heat up.  Gazing at the plate as it rotated on the carrousel, she looked down at her watch.

As she continued to look at the time piece, she started to cry.  The watch had been a gift from her mother, and looking at it made her realize that she hadn’t even taken the time to ponder or mourn or even contemplate what had become of her own family.  With everything that was going on, she hadn’t taken the time to give much thought to anything except trying to survive.  Maybe that’s why she was breaking down.  Maybe things were starting to catch up with her.

She continued to weep and she lowered her head onto the table.  “What am I going to do?” she asked aloud.  “What am I supposed to do, Momma?”

The chime from the microwave brought her out of her daze and she stood up to get the plate, but as she reached for the door handle, she was plunged into darkness.  The power had gone out.

San Antonio, Texas

Magda Santos’s Home

Magda crouched in the corner of her room by her bed.  It was pitch dark.  The lights had unexpectedly gone out and she was trembling in terror as she began to hyperventilate.  She could hear her heart thumping in her ears and she was afraid that somehow, someone else—or something else—was also going to be able to detect her heart beat.  After allowing her eyes to adjust to the darkness, she stood up and warily walked into the living room.

Mindful not to bump into anything or make any unnecessary noise, she shuffled her bare feet over her polished wooden floor and she made her way to a front window.  Pulling the curtain to one side, she peered out into the darkness and could only see the dark forms of the surrounding homes.  Needing some kind of light, she went into the kitchen and felt her way to the pantry.  Hanging just inside the pantry door, she retrieved a small flash light that her husband had hung there.

Thank you Tino, thank you for always being so organized and neat
, she thought.  She flicked the light on and made sure to point it at the ground.  She was afraid that if she wasn’t careful with the beam, someone outside would see it.  From one of the counter drawers she was able to find a small candle and matches.  She lit the candle and turned off the flash light.  She knew that the batteries would only last so long and she wanted to save them by limiting the need to use them.

With the flickering dim glow of the fragrance candle, Magda went to the back door and peeked out of the window.  Again, total darkness.  Although she knew that both doors were locked, she re-checked them just to reassure herself that her home was secure.  After doing that, she went back into the living room and sat the candle down on a coffee table.  She sunk down into her leather sofa and contemplated what to do next.

She had been hiding in her home for the past five days.  After her harrowing experience downtown, she had finally been able to make it home in the news van.  It sat in her driveway, bullet holes and all.  With the phones down, she hadn’t been able to reach Tino or anyone else, including family and co-workers.  Not knowing what else to do, and with her nerves rattled and her fear overwhelming her, she had decided to lock herself inside and wait for some kind of help.  But help never came.

She had tried to watch the TV to see if any of the networks or local affiliates were broadcasting, but the few channels that were working were only displaying silent EAS messages and instructions that were running in loops.  Listening to the radio was useless; the only thing she could pick up was static.  She was completely baffled at how the TV and radio media had all been knocked out in one fell swoop.  And that terrified her.

Okay, I have enough canned food to last me about two weeks if I am careful with it, but I need to start collecting water.
  She stood up and walked back over to the kitchen.  Carrying her candle with her, she placed it down on a small breakfast table and went back into the pantry.  Sitting on the floor were several plastic three-liter soda bottles filled with different flavors of drink.  She hoisted them up onto the counter and twisted off their caps.  She emptied them down the kitchen drain and held one under the faucet.  As she turned on the water, she was surprised that the pressure was low and the water flow was weak.  She rinsed out the bottle and then filled it with water after several minutes of holding it under the faucet head.  She repeated this step for the remaining two bottles and by the time she was finished, the water was barely dripping from the faucet.

Please God, don’t let the water be out too, she pleaded.  She hadn’t realized that with the power being out, the water pumps throughout the city were working on back-up generators and the water pressure was slowly decreasing.  After putting the water away, she contemplated on whether to stay in her home or to load up the van and venture out for help.  She found three more candles and continued to weigh her options as she placed them next to the water.

The sound of breaking glass sent her ducking into a corner and she quickly blew out the flame of her candle.  The commotion wasn’t coming from her house, but it was close-by and Magda was terrified.  She heard more breaking glass and the sounds of grunting and moaning.  Trying to conceal her presence, she began to crawl across the floor.  Crying with fear, she slinked into her bedroom and then slowly stood up.  She found herself wishing that she had a gun, but Tino had always been a staunch anti-gun advocate and had never allowed guns in the home.  Magda, on the other hand, was an avid shooter and would often spend hours on the gun range with friends, including some police officers who she had befriended during the course of her interviews and news stories.

The grunts and groans had now turned into shrieks and wails and Magda thought that she heard someone moving around in the backyard.  She crawled into the bath room and shut the door, locking it.  She then went into her large walk-in closet and slid the door shut behind her.  Lying in one corner, she covered herself with sheets and blankets and towels—anything that would hide her.  In the darkness, sweating away but not daring to make a move or remove the blankets, she cried herself to sleep.

The diesel tractor dealership

“Damn it, I can’t believe the power went out,” Trent said as he and his friends made their way out of the office they had been staying in.  He was holding a flash light and was looking for Beau.  He saw the beam of another light approaching them from the far end of the show room floor.

“Is everyone alright?” Beau asked.

“Yeah, we’re all good,” Randy said.  “Just kind of got freaked out with the lights going out and all.  You think maybe a transformer blew out?”

“I wish,’” Beau said, grimly.  “I think the power is out.”

“You mean like temporarily?” Kara asked.

“No, I mean like for good.”

“But how could that be?” Trent asked, his voice full of fear.

“Well, the power plants around here are coal driven, and you gotta have someone there to keep feeding them coal.  If no one is there, then the turbines don’t get the fuel they need to generate electricity.  I’m surprised they lasted this long.  The only reason they were still running was because the probably had a store of reserve coal.”

“But what about the nuclear power plant?” Randy asked.  “I heard that the city gets some of its power from a nuclear plant.”

“They do.  But if there is no crew working it, if there aren’t people there to run the plant and the cooling system, it will shut itself down to prevent a meltdown or an accident.  I bet the whole grid is going down.  The whole country.”

“Shit, that doesn’t sound good,” Randy said.

“It isn’t.”  Beau heard footsteps behind him and turned to see that Stephanie was walking up to them.  “Hey babe, can you get the others to gather up here in about ten minutes or so.  I think the power is down…for good, so we have to figure out what we’re going to do.”

“You think it’s local, or do you think a grid is down?” she asked.

“I think it’s the grid.  Just make sure that the people on guard watch stay there.  We’ll fill them in later on.”

“Okay, let me go get everyone.”  She moved off and disappeared into the shadows and he could hear her voice as she began to inform the other families about the meeting.

“Uh, when you say that we have some decisions to make, what do you mean by that?” Kara asked Beau, suspiciously.

“Well, without power, that means that the water won’t be running for long.  We need to decide if we’re gonna stay here or move out and look for something else.”

“Move out?” Kara posed with a frown.  “Like to where?”

“Well, I really don’t know.  That’s why we need to talk about it.  Maybe we can figure out what’s best for the group.”

“Shit, it’s already getting hot in here,” Trent commented.  “The damn air conditioner is out.  I wonder if this place has a generator.”

“Probably not,” Randy said.  “If it did, it would have kicked on already.”

“I guess we’re going to have to get used to a few things now,” Randy said to Trent.  “Not having air conditioning is one of them.  And not having cold beer too.”  He chuckled half-heartedly.

Stephanie returned with the rest of the group and they formed a circle in the center of the showroom floor.  Beau kept his light on as he addressed the group.

“Well, one of my biggest fears has come to life,” he said.  “I think the power grid is down, so that means no more lights, no more water, no more cool indoors.  That also means that it’s going to be harder to get fuel because there is no electricity to run the pumps.”

“So what do we do?” asked a nervous looking woman who was holding a small toddler.

“Well, we decide if we want to stay here or move somewhere else.  We decide what would be best for all of us.”

“Okay, so let me just throw something out there,” Kara said.  Her interjection surprised Beau because he didn’t think that she cared one way or another what happened to the group.  In the dark, Stephanie gave her a disapproving look and was close to telling her that she didn’t have a right to say anything.

“Go ahead, Kara, please tell us what you think or what you suggest,” Beau said.

“Well, right in front of us is Interstate Ten.  It runs clear across the country.  We can go west or we can go east.  I think it would be good if we maybe move away from here completely.  Maybe towards Houston.  There are bound to be other groups, maybe even relief areas out that way.  Maybe the government or military.”

“Yeah, maybe she is right,” agreed the woman with the toddler.  The woman’s husband, an acne-scarred man with an uneven beard and gaunt facial features, spoke up in agreement along with her.

“Okay, that’s one option,” Beau said.  “Anyone else with a suggestion?”

“Why not just stay here?” Shawn asked.

“We could stay here,” Beau said as he pondered the suggestion.  “That could be something we could do…stay here.”

“Uh, I don’t know if I would want to stay here,” Jose countered.

“Why not?’ Beau asked him.

“Well, it would seem kind of…I don’t know…kind of risky.”

“Kind of risky, why?” Beau asked in a calm, compassionate voice.  He too thought that it would be risky for them to stay at the dealership, but he wanted to have Jose expand on his thoughts and then use those thoughts as a platform to explain why he thought that they shouldn’t stay at the dealership any longer.

“Well, we’ll all kind of be trapped behind these fences if those things ever surround us.  We’ll be stuck in here with no place to run.”

“Yeah, I guess you’re right about that,” Shawn agreed.  “We don’t know how many of those things are out there, just out of sight.  Could be thousands of them.”

“There could be…thousands of them out there,” Beau said.  “Lord knows that we haven’t seen many other people out there since this whole thing began.  Maybe most of the people have turned into them?  Maybe there are millions of them out there?”

Beau’s words brought a chilling thought to everyone’s minds, all except for Kara.  She had been watching how Beau had been subtly trying to direct the conversation and she wasn’t going to have any part of it.

“So then, if there are millions of them out there, we should go look for help,” Kara said.  “We should go east, where there’s bound to be someone else out.”

“And what makes you think that there are more people out that way?” Stephanie asked.  Kara could hear a little agitation in her voice.

“Because Houston is the fourth largest city in the country and I’m sure they had more resources allotted to them.  I’m sure of it.”

“Then if they’re the fourth largest town, I’m sure they’re crawling with that many more zombies,” Stephanie countered.  “It would only make sense.”

“Okay Beau, so what do you suggest,” Trent asked as he sensed that Kara and Stephanie were about to get into a rather nasty disagreement.  “And as far as Houston goes, when this thing first started, my wife and I talked to some people who had relatives there in Houston.  They told us that things had gotten real bad there…and that was before everything fell apart.  Hell, my wife’s parents live there and we couldn’t even reach them on their phone.  Can you imagine what it’s like now?”

“Well, I think that we should stick around here,” Beau said.  “Not here at the dealership, but here…along the outskirts of town.  We can work our way south along Sixteen Oh-Four.  It’s real rural out there…real country with lots of farms.  Maybe find a deserted one with a well.  We can rig up a hand pump if we need to.  That would take care of our water issues for the time being.  Maybe we could find some chickens or cattle or even pigs.  There’s lots of wood out there for fire.  Also, it’s pretty open, so we could see if something was coming at us.  That would give us time to bug out.”  He turned and looked out at the lot full of eighteen-wheeler tractors.  “We’ll try to get one of these rigs to start up and maybe load it with all of our supplies and as much fuel as we can carry.

If we can find a place like that, it will keep us from having to sneak out of here to go scavenging, and believe me, when we go scavenging, we expose ourselves to all kinds of dangers.  And finally, even if we go south into the county, we’ll still be close enough to the city if help does arrive.  If we get out on the open road, like heading to Houston, we could find ourselves in a bad jam that we may not be able to get out of.  That’s what I think.”