Foamers (2 page)

Alpha charged off into the night, no longer thinking, no longer human, following
the instinct that was now his master.

* * *

When Kade awakened on his bathroom floor the morning following the party, he wanted
to puke, but his stomach felt too empty to purge. One look into the toilet bowl and
he understood why. He flushed the toilet, changed into his work pants and the undershirt
he must have hung on the door before he passed out, and stumbled into his room where
Tiny and Ashton were sleeping on opposite sides of his bed.

All of his years working as Ashton’s soccer coach had paid off in a full ride for
her to UNC Chapel Hill, a Division I school, where she had a solid chance of starting
as a freshman. He worried about Ashton a great deal more than he used to before
she tore her Achilles. Her drive for soccer had gotten her into a good college, and
he knew from there she’d find her way into a great career, even if he wasn’t around
to see it. She decided to take a semester before going to college to rehab her injury,
but he worried she would get comfortable with life and not attend UNC. Since she’d
gotten a job at the local sporting goods store she seemed to be settling in too well.
He would just have to stay on her about it and make sure she didn’t fall into a life
of nothingness that too closely resembled his own.

He walked under the katana that hung above his door. His dad had brought the sword
back from a business trip to Japan. Kade’s family had aided his apocalyptic prepping
tendencies in an effort to rejuvenate his desire to live. This covered anything from
supplying him with weapons to buying him memberships to shooting ranges. He stepped
silently downstairs in case others were sleeping.

Rounding the corner, he found Mick asleep on the couch, still wearing his police
uniform. It was rare that Kade saw him out of uniform; especially now with three
quarters of the local PD sick with the flu. With the reduced numbers, Mick practically
worked around the clock. Kade knew him to be one of the cops that actually believed
in what he was doing. For as long as Kade had known Mick he had wanted to help people
and being an officer was his way of doing the most good. Mick took the code to heart.

Kade continued toward the kitchen, but stopped as he came around the wall and found
a German shepherd sitting in his foyer with a bulletproof vest beside him. As he
took a step closer, he noticed a note folded into the dog’s body pack. The animal
watched his every move, but didn’t stir an inch as Kade retrieved the paper.

“Come on,” Kade said as he moved into the kitchen. Argos quickly followed, licking
at Kade’s hands the whole way. In the kitchen, he situated the dog with food and
water, and then went about getting himself some Lucky Charms. He already felt lucky
since today would be far less busy than yesterday. The vaccine release had brought
most of the town through the store.

The Feline Flu vaccine was the brain child of his twin brother, Damian, who had been
trying to save the world since their mother died of Huntington’s disease when they
were twelve. Afterward his father had all the children tested. Kade was thankful
neither of his siblings had the disease.

He would be the only one of them to suffer the fate of losing muscle control and
brain function, dying young, being unable to recognize those he loved.

Stomaching those test results had put him on the verge of suicide on more than one
occasion, but in the end he settled for just quitting at life. Kade’s diagnosis had
the reverse effect on Damian, who decided to save the world from sickness and disease.
Damian skipped entire grades and took summer classes so he could hurry off to college.
When he was taking the SATs, their father made Kade take them as well, hoping it
would spark some life back into him. Even though he’d outscored Damian by fifty points,
Kade still wanted nothing to do with life.

Damian hadn’t been discouraged and continued on through school at lightning speed,
becoming a medical researcher by the age of twenty-two. Now at twenty-four he headed
the research team that created the vaccine for the Feline Flu. Kade was destined
to die, and Damian was to be the savior of the world.

When Kade was halfway through his cereal, Ashton poked her head through the serving
window from the living room.

“You’re late for work. Put down the cereal and get in the car,” she said.

“Cough, cough. I’m sick.”

“I don’t have time to kick your ass today. Get to work.”

He slurped the remainder of his cereal, pulled his Rite Aid vest off the back of
the chair, and slung it over his shoulders. His body slouched in conditioned response.
Every day he dreaded work. He headed for the door as if he was on the way to the
electric chair.

Stepping into the fall morning, he noticed an envelope sticking out of his mailbox.
A hand-written letter was about as rare as a dinosaur walking down the street. After
a moment of staring at it in awe, Kade took it from the box.

The air rushed from his lungs as something slammed into him from behind. He felt
a pair of arms wrap around him, tackling him into the bush beside his walkway. He
kept his eyes closed for protection against the branches. Struggling to fight what
he hoped was a prank by one of his friends, Kade couldn’t find the leverage to dislodge
his attacker.

“You got me, now get off me,” Kade said.

The order was answered with a growl. As Kade attempted to grab some part of his
attacker’s body, Argos charged through the open door and barked at Kade’s attacker.
The weight suddenly lifted off of Kade, but by the time he rolled over, all he could
see was a person scrambling away on all fours. Kade rushed faster than his beating
heart into the house, followed by the barking dog. He locked the door, and braced
it with his back.

He didn’t want to frighten Ashton, so he waited against the door as his body functions
returned to normal. He composed himself by taking in deep breaths.

Argos sniffed at his clothes, while Kade’s attention settled on the crumpled envelope
in his hand. There was no return address, only initials.

D.Z.

___________

Kade pulled out his phone and made a call while leaning against the front door.

“Hey,” Jem’s voice said.

“Jem, stop whatever you’re doing—”

“
Shenanigans
. You know where I’m going and how I’m getting there. Call me back if
you can. See you on the other side.” Kade stabbed his thumb against the red button.

“I’m not here right now. Please don’t waste my voicemail on generic messages. I promise
if you need me to call you back, I’ll return the missed call,” Jem’s voicemail finished.

Their destination was a small medical college in Houghton, New York, where Damian
had done his undergrad work. While visiting Damian, Kade had noticed how great the
location would be for his vision of the Primal Age. It was surrounded by two very
important things: farms and running water. Everyone with whom Kade had ever discussed
the Primal Age knew that this was where he would head.

* * *

X lay on his double bed, which was bare except for a sleeping bag. His body was
curled against the wall, and a lacy bra poked out from beneath him. His phone blasted
the song “Gonna Be” somewhere under the sleeping bag. X moaned and searched with
his eyes closed.

Fishing the phone out and checking the ID, he decided it was worth answering. He
hit the button and laid the device on his ear.

“I can hear you breathing,” Kade said.

“This better be important,” X replied.

“
Shenanigans
.”

X ended the call and sat upright. The only thing covering his naked body was the
sleeping bag. He held the bra in front of his face, trying to piece his fragmented
night together. He tried to remember the woman who had been wearing the garment
only a few hours earlier, or at least her name.

“Jen, Jess, Jordan, Jackie, Justine … I think it starts with a J … Jabberwocky?”
he hollered through his house. Silence was his answer. He figured she had come to
her senses and left, or she was deaf. Either way, he had a hangover to cure and work
to do.

* * *

“Did you forget something?” Ashton asked while petting Argos in the kitchen.

Kade pocketed his phone and looked at his sister, the one thing in the world that
mattered to him.

“There’s blood on you. Why’s there blood on you?” Ashton asked.

Kade checked over his shoulder to see a wet red patch. “Damian messed up.”

“What does Damian have to do with blood on you?”

“I’ll wake Mick, you wake Tiny. We need to get moving,” he said as he hurried into
the living room.

“Mick!” she yelled. The police officer shook awake and jumped to his feet, surveying
the room. She gave Kade a victorious smile. “You get Tiny.”

Kade reluctantly climbed the stairs. He stood in the doorway watching Tiny sleep
while he decided on the best way to wake her.

“Tiny,” he whispered, and then a little louder, “Tiny.”

He repeated her name, getting louder with each step as he approached the bed. Even
though he was yelling by the time he reached the bedside, she hadn’t moved an inch.
Tiny had always slept like a bag of bricks, but a new terror spread through Kade
as he feared she may have received the vaccine and was now comatose. Before she’d
left for military duty she had been terrified of needles. Kade desperately hoped
she hadn’t conquered that fear.

Tentatively, he reached out and touched her bare arm. Before he knew what happened,
he was on the ground in a pretzel shape, struggling to breathe. She was a fraction
of an inch away from ripping his shoulder out of its socket. He had never been so
glad to be in pain. She wasn’t vaccinated.

“Kade? You should know better than to sneak up on me,” Tiny said as she released
him. He lay flat on the floor, catching his breath. She offered a hand and helped
him to his feet.

“Sorry.”

“I almost killed you, and you’re sorry?” Tiny went to his closet and helped herself
to one of his sweatshirts. “Are you bleeding?”

“It’s not my blood.”

“Whose blood is it?”

“I promise I’ll tell you, but it’ll be easier if I only have to say it once.”

Tiny followed him downstairs, where she joined Ashton and Mick on the couch. This
was a familiar situation for them. Kade often drafted end-of-the-world scenarios
and would toss them out for everyone to sort through: who would come, what they would
do, and what would happen to the rest of the world. This preparation had been a way
for him to deal with the knowledge of his own approaching doom. This was the arena
he knew best; death was his constant companion.

Kade took a moment to gather his thoughts as the other three passed the letter.

“90 percent of the American population received the vaccine yesterday. According
Damian’s letter, 20 percent of them will die, 20 percent will be immune, and 60 percent
will transform into some sort of blood thirsty monster called foamers,” Kade said.

“Foamer? That’s the best name you have?” Tiny asked.

“Damian’s name, not mine.”

“There was blood on you. Did you injure it?”

“No. Their mouths foam a red liquid. Forget about the foamers for a moment. Only
26 percent of America is still alive if we don’t factor in collateral damage,” Kade
said.

Ashton’s eyebrows knitted together. “What’s collateral damage?”

“Accidental deaths, like people who were behind the wheel when the coma hit, or people
whose stoves were on and burned down the neighborhood. Not to mention how many people
became breakfast for foamers. A conservative estimate would be half of the 26 percent
could already be dead.”

“You’re forgetting about police and firemen,” Mick said.

“How many officers did we have yesterday? Now there are less. What we have is a silent
Armageddon. America is dead; we have to focus on surviving. Any of you get the vaccine?”

“I didn’t have time with work,” Mick replied.

“I haven’t got one since I had that bad reaction,” Ashton said.

“It completely slipped my mind,” Tiny said. Kade knew she remembered but wouldn’t
admit to her fear in front of the others.

“Great. We need to get the plan in action,” Kade said.

Ashton sarcastically applauded. “This is the best you could come up with to get out
of work?”

The boy who cried wolf must have felt something like this, Kade thought. After years
of presenting his friends with fake apocalyptic scenarios he understood why they
wouldn’t believe him, but was frustrated by it nonetheless.

“So, I put blood on myself and forged a letter in Damian’s hand writing to get out
of work today?”

“You’ve done shit like this my entire life,” she replied.

Mick shrugged. “She’s right.”

There was a loud boom from upstairs and all four trained on the noise. Kade was familiar
with the sounds of his house and this wasn’t natural.

“Ash, who’s in your room?” Kade asked, as Argos growled.

“Someone passed out in my bed last night. I tried to wake him but he was out cold,
so I went and slept with Tiny in your bed,” Ashton replied.

“No idea who?”

“Didn’t recognize him.”

“Mick, do you have your gun?”

Mick drew his pistol and the four of them plus Argos crept up the stairs. Whatever
was in the room continued to throw itself against the walls. On the next impact,
something shattered.

“Stay here,” Kade said, pushing Ashton out of the group.

As Kade, Tiny, and Mick traveled the hallway, a weeping sound came from the bedroom.

“Who asked to stay over?” Tiny asked.

“You two were the only ones who asked,” Kade replied.

Mick put his back against the wall beside the door and twisted the knob.

“Tiny, mind giving it a boot?” Mick said.

On cue, Tiny kicked the door, while Mick swooped into the room.

“Freeze!” Mick shouted.

On all fours beside the bed was what looked to be a person. However, red foam gurgled
out of the man’s mouth and down his shirt, making him appear feral. His hands were
torn and bleeding and the walls were covered blood and scratches. Argos pushed through
them and barked at the man. Kade barely recognized him as one of Jem’s friends from
the night before.

The man spun in a panic, his hands and feet tearing across the room as he vaulted
over the bed and through the closed window. The man’s body exploded through the glass,
showering shards across the yard. Kade’s jaw dropped open as the man fell out of
sight. Jem’s friend had just leapt out of his sister’s second story window. There
had been plenty of boys he had wanted to throw out that window over the years, but
never thought he would see the day.

Mick rushed into the room and looked out of the shattered window while Tiny hurried
back downstairs. Kade stood in a dumfounded paralysis until he heard something smash
into the sliding door. The sound reminded him of the occasional bird that had the
bad luck of crashing into a window, but was much louder.

Taking the steps two at a time, Mick and Kade ran downstairs. They joined Tiny and
Ashton in front of the glass door, which was spider cracked and smeared with blood.

“I think his leg was broken,” Tiny said, as they all stared into the fractured view
of the backyard.

Kade clapped his hands, startling them. “Folks, we don’t have time to go into shock.
You read the letter. A foamer just jumped out of Ashton’s window. I know you guys
may think there is a lot I would do to get out of work, but I don’t know a single
person I could have paid for that performance. It’s time for
Shenanigans
.”

Ashton’s breath was quick and forceful and her face drained of color. “What’s the
plan?”

“Make some phone calls. Anyone who is still alive and can meet us at Lucas’s by sundown
can come along,” Kade said.

“How do you know Lucas didn’t get a flu shot?” Tiny asked.

Kade answered Tiny with a smirk.

“Right. Stupid question,” Tiny said.

“While we make our calls, I want Ashton to pack some practical clothes and the first
aid gear,” Kade said.

“Did you really have to say practical? I’m not an idiot,” Ashton said.

Kade rubbed his temple with his middle finger and continued. “Tiny, take an empty
hiking pack and load what you can from the kitchen. We’re going to need the bus.”

“I wouldn’t consider leaving Old Yeller behind,” Tiny replied.

“Mick, I just want you to stand guard in case our new friend decides to come back.
Regroup in fifteen minutes,” Kade said and everyone dispersed.

Kade made his way to his room. He sat on his bed, staring at his phone. There was
one number he had to call for his brother. One number he knew he should call. The
same number he dreaded calling. He listened to the phone play back classical music
as he waited to see if his brother’s ex-fiancé would take his call.

Kade still had no idea why his brother had left her, but shortly after he was recruited
by the company developing the vaccine, he had called off his engagement over the
phone. The last time Kade had seen Victoria was when she had come to the house looking
for answers. When he had none for her, she became wild and violent. A situation he’d
rather not remember. She was a medical researcher like his brother, but unlike him
she was emotionally driven, making her both powerful and dangerous.

“Make it quick,” Victoria said over the phone.

“Did you get a flu shot?” Kade replied.

“Like I’d accept anything from that asshole.”

“That’s good. That’s great. Look, I don’t know how to say this in a way that will
make you believe me, but I got a letter from Damian that basically says the world
as we know it is over. I want you to come with my group.”

“You’ll have to forgive me for not jumping for joy at an invitation to join your
survival team, but—”

Kade could hear her moving around. One of the sounds was a noise every man knows;
the sound of a remote dropping on a coffee table. “Victoria?”

“There is no news.”

“What?”

“None of the news channels are broadcasting. There’s nothing.”

“I’m going to send you the address. If you do plan to come, pack a bag with food,
water, and any medical stuff you have.”

“… okay.”

“And drive straight there. Victoria, this is important. Whatever you do, do not stop
for anyone or anything. Understand?”

“Yes.”

“Hope to see you soon.”

Kade hung up the phone and rounded up the few things he still needed. He continued
to call numbers while he moved his belongings to the bed. The only person who answered
was Lucas, who was already prepping his supplies.

On the bed Kade set his go-bag, a shoe box, a book, two rifles, and his katana. He
owned no pistols because he was a terrible shot with them. Logically, if a threat
was ever too close for a rifle, then it was time for his katana. The amount of time
he spent training every week on the skills he was trying to perfect, he didn’t have
time for pistol training.

One of his rifles was a .30-06 bolt action hunting rifle, while the other was a .22.
The small caliber rifle was what his father had used to teach Kade and his siblings
how to shoot. For that reason it always held sentimental value. Though he was a great
shot with the .22, he had to give Ashton credit for being able to outshoot him with
it, though he would never admit that to her. He still had the first target she bested
him on folded in his shoe box.

The old shoe box stored his life’s letters and memorabilia. At some point he knew
he would lose his memory and wanted something to remind him of those he had loved.
This box had become his personal backup memory device. He took the book and placed
it inside of the shoe box.

The book was a guide to surviving the Primal Age and rebuilding civilization, called
The Doomsday Doctrine
. This was the book that had hooked him on prepping. It was
a hobby that gave his otherwise empty life some form of meaning. He had even gone
so far as to make all of his friends read it in preparation for the hypothetical
Primal Age. His hope was that it would help them all find their primal selves more
quickly in the event of a cataclysm;
Getting Primed,
or Priming, as the book liked
to call the metamorphosis.