Living Dead (22 page)

2

Driving to work at my usual pace, I barely listened to the radio, focusing more on the unusual amount of traffic that seemed to be on the road.  The Governor of my state was likely going to be indicted, he said he was innocent, the president was meeting with other world leaders about the new threat, and someone was having a sale on last years model cars.  Blah, Blah, Blah.  I really didn’t listen until I heard the word virus and Chicago.  All of a sudden, I was interested, since I lived only thirty miles outside of the city proper.  The talk show was discussing the new virus that seemed to be on everyone’s mind.  They said there have not been any cases yet reported in the Chicago area, but New York seemed to be having a difficult time containing it.  A sound bite from the mayor of Chicago reassured everyone that precautions were being taken, and antibiotics were being stocked up.  I laughed at this.  Antibiotics are useless against viruses, but it made the masses rest a little easier.

I pulled into work, and the first thing I noticed was a general lack of activity.  Usually, there was a group of kids running around, but today it was quiet.

I went to my office and spent what was essentially a normal day, dealing with the normal problems of running a school.  Kids showed up, we taught them, and they went home.  It wasn’t until later, when I started to get that old familiar feeling again.

Ellie called me on my cell. “Hey you!  Just wanted to touch base with you.  I’m at Cost Go and wanted to know if you wanted anything special for dinner.” I could hear Jake squeaking in the background, as he always does when he rides in a shopping cart.

I thought for a minute. “Just stock up on everything you think we need.  Get a lot of canned goods and dry goods, stuff that we don’t need to refrigerate. Extra toilet paper, batteries, everything.  Don’t worry about paying for it, just use the credit card.”

Ellie seemed baffled. “What’s going on, John?  What are you preparing for?  I am not going to be acting like some lunatic Y2K fear monger.”

I knew I would lose a protracted argument, since I tended to lose them all.  However, I also knew that Ellie was nothing, if not practical. “Just taking some precautions.  If the virus spreads, people are going to panic, and then everything will be up for grabs.  Why not get what we need now, and not worry about it later?”  I stood by my office window as I spoke, and that allowed me a good view of the surrounding neighborhood.  I watched an old man stumble a bit around his yard, like he didn’t know where he was. Alzheimer’s, I thought.  Too bad. Judging by the bandage on his arm, he had managed to injure himself.

Ellie’s voice cut off my observation. “All right, but don’t complain to me if you get tired of soup and rice,” she said.

“Thanks,” I said, looking out the window again.  The old man’s caretaker was coming out into the yard. “I’ll see you soon.  Love you!”

The caretaker walked out into the yard and I could see the old man turn his head and look at her.  He reached out with one arm, and the other one hung limp.  Stroke victim, I thought, feeling sorry for the old guy.  Staggering steps were taken to the caretaker, who walked forward to give him a hand. When she reached him, his hand grasped her shoulder, and his head snapped forward to her neck.  “Jesus Christ!” I yelled, watching as blood sprayed over both of them.  My secretary poked her head around the door.

“What’s up?”

“Call 911 right now!” I yelled at her, not being able to take my eyes off the scene across the street. “A woman is being attacked on the other side of Hampshire Street!”  The man had dragged the woman down and was furiously chewing on her neck and face.  She was struggling, screaming, trying to get him off, but I could see she was weakening from the loss of blood.  The old man bent down and tore another chunk out of her neck, and the woman shuddered once, and then was still.  I watched in horror as the old man tore at her stomach, ripping the clothes and skin open and tearing out hunks of flesh, barely chewing the meat, just forcing it down.  I couldn’t believe what I just saw. There was no way that just happened.  I looked around to see if anyone else had seen or heard anything.

I yelled at Janet, “Where the hell is 911?” 

“They said they are busy at the moment, but call back in fifteen minutes.”

My mind reeled.  I looked out again and saw the old man had gotten up from his kill, the front of his shirt completely covered in his victim’s blood.  He began his shuffling around again and I could not believe he was staying near the body.  I watched as a neighbor came out and walked over to the fence.  The old man made a moaning sound and lurched toward the neighbor.  Get out of there! I silently screamed at the neighbor.  The neighbor held out a hand to the old man over the fence and when the old man got close enough, he grabbed the hand and promptly bit the arm it was attached to! The neighbor yanked his hand back, and ran toward his house, screaming bloody murder all the way.

“Jesus Christ!” I yelled again, not understanding what I had just witnessed.  Janet again poked her head around the corner.

“What now?”  She asked.

“The old man who just killed that woman, was eating her and the neighbor came out and the old man bit him, too!”

“What?”

“I’m serious!  Right there! Look!”

Janet came over to the window.  She glanced out and nearly gagged. “Oh, God!” she said, covering her mouth with her hand.  The woman’s body wasn’t pretty.  Her face and neck were covered in blood and bites, and there was a raw open wound in her stomach.  Entrails were hanging by her sides like blue-grey ropes.

“What did 911 say?” I asked, turning her away from the window.  “Exactly, what did they say?”

Janet refocused, “They said that they had received numerous calls, and were dealing with them as quickly as they could.  If it was not a life-threatening emergency, then we would have to wait.”

I looked at the scene across the street.  I guessed the waiting for help to arrive had just started.  I decided I needed to get home and get with my family right now.  I said as much to Janet and suggested that she leave right now as well.  She didn’t argue with me, having three children of her own waiting for her at home.

As I packed up to leave, I looked out the window again.  The old man was gone, and so was the woman.  Blood was all over the grass, turning brown in the sun. I guess 911 came to the rescue after all.  Hope the guy with the bite on his arm was okay.

As I walked out into the parking lot, I was struck by how quiet everything was. I didn’t hear any trains going by; I didn’t hear any kids playing. Unusual for this neighborhood.  I did hear an odd moaning, but I figured that was the wind.  As I got to my car, I thought I heard several pops, like someone lighting off fireworks. It came from the east, where the hospital and clinic were, but I didn’t think anything of it.

As I drove home, I kept the radio off.  I kept replaying what I had seen in my head and nothing added up.  What would make an old man attack someone like that?  Alzheimer’s did not turn people violent, and most certainly did not turn them into cannibals.  I was so lost in thought I barely felt my cell phone vibrating.  It was Ellie.  I snapped it open, not sure of what I was going to tell her. “Hey, you!”

“Hey, John.  Just wanted to touch base with you.  I’m still at Cost Go right now and have picked up a lot of things. Is there anything else you think we need?”

“Off the top of my head, just extra batteries for the flashlights and the toys, some extra medicine stuff like aspirin and baby cold medicines for Jakey.”  My voice shook a little as I spoke to her. 

“Are you sure? That seems like a lot.”  Ellie seemed skeptical and reluctant to spend so much.”

“Trust me; I’d rather be on the safe side.  Look at it this way; you won’t have to go shopping for a while.”  I tried to be humorous, but I kept seeing that old man attacking that poor woman.  Jesus, what the hell?

“All right,” Ellie said. “I’ll see you at home.”

A thought occurred to me. “I may be home a little later. I want to make a couple of stops.”

“Right.  Pizza okay for dinner?” 

“Sure.”

“Bye now.”

“Bye.”

I looked to see where I was and I realized that I needed to get over quickly to catch the interstate.  I had three stops to make, and would need to move fast to get home in time for dinner.  As I merged on the interstate, I noticed there was a lot of traffic leaving the city, but that seemed normal.  It was a Friday, and people generally left the city for relatives and other places.  I caught the ramp to another highway, and moved toward the street I needed.  I briefly hoped that I would be able to get through the traffic quickly, but one never knew.

My first stop was a little shop tucked away behind a gas station.  It had two floors, and the first floor was devoted to fishing gear.  Anything you needed for fishing except boats could be found there.  I wasn’t interested in fishing gear. I needed what was on the second floor.  I went up and found the place to be slightly more crowded than usual.  Racks of rifles and shotguns lined a display behind the counter, which held a wide variety of handguns.  As I worked my way to the back of the store, I caught snippets of conversation.

“Heard it’s spread to three cities now…”

“What’s this I hear about London and dead people?”

“What’s the damn government gonna do, set up another committee?”

“Can we waive the waiting period?”

I stopped in front of the reloading supplies and looked around.  Guns, I didn’t need, but ammo was another story.  I grabbed two cans of powder, two boxes of primers, and a box of 1000, 180gr HP 40 cal bullets.  I worked the supplies over to the counter and waited for a salesman to notice me.

An older gentleman came by and asked me if I found everything I was looking for.

“Sure did.  You guys are doing a good business these days?”

His eyes glanced into mine briefly. “Never seen nothing like it. Something’s got folks jittery.”

“Yeah, something,” I said, lamely.

“Follow yer gut, I always say,” said the old man, grabbing a couple of bags for my purchase.

I winced inwardly.  What if your guts were being ripped out?  Chase after the bastard who did the ripping?

I signed the receipt and headed out to the car.  As I was putting the supplies into the trunk, I noticed several more cars pull into the parking lot.  Maybe we all are following our gut this time.

I pulled back onto the interstate and headed south.  I needed to make another stop before I headed home, and I wanted to make as much time as possible.  So, I ramped it up to 80 and rocketed down the highway. The main mess of traffic had left at the interstate junction and the only people heading downstate or across the state were on the road.  I finally decided to turn the radio on.

“In world news today, there is a state of emergency in Africa.   The Enillo Virus has already claimed 3,000,000 lives, and more are expected to drop, as countries which up till now have been focused on military matters, now turn their attention to this growing crisis.  In Europe, Spain and Portugal have closed their borders, and England is no longer allowing any international flights to land.  Thousands of French have fled the country to the north, hoping to cross the English Channel to perceived safety.  French officials have denied reports that Paris is being overrun with infected persons, but several videos have surfaced on the Internet.  The grimmest scenes are filmed, posted on the Internet and viewers are cautioned, as they are highly graphic.  In Asia, China and North Korea have officially closed their borders, and North Korea has issued a statement that any foreigners will be shot trying to cross into their country.  President Trottman is expected to address the United States this evening.  In business news, the stock market took a sharp turn as investors began a big late afternoon sell off. Gary?”

I switched the radio off.  What the hell was going on?  Was the Enillo Virus as bad as all that? I began to worry about Ellie.  She worked at a hospital in the city and would have to go to work tomorrow.  If viruses hit the US, she’d be right in the crosshairs.

Lost in my reverie, I nearly missed the exit.  A truck was pulled over to the side of the road and it blocked my view of the sign nearly before it was too late. The driver was sitting behind the wheel, but as I flashed past, he raised a hand to the window.  I waved back and zipped down the exit.

At my next stop, I decided to buy ammo directly, and to hell with the cost. I grabbed up all of the hunting ammo they had for the 30 carbine and the target stuff too.  I left two boxes on the shelf, figuring to be kind if anyone came after me looking for it.  I noticed the shelves were empty of .223 ammo and 5.54x39 ammo. 

The clerk’s eyes didn’t even flicker when I brought the ammo to him.  “Will that be all?” he asked, reaching for my credit card.

I tried to make small talk. “Selling a lot of ammo these days?”

He smiled. “Quite a bit.  Must be a competition or something coming up.”

“Could be,” I said.  “Could you double bag that, I’d hate to have it spill all over the parking lot.

“Sure.”

I thanked him and took the ammo to my trunk.  As I backed out of my spot, I noticed an older employee come to the door with a sign that read, “Cash only for sales, please.”  I thanked God for my timely purchase and headed back to the road.  One more stop and I would head home.  I turned the radio back on.