Surviving Beyond the Zombie Apocalypse (25 page)

     “Okay, let’s start there.” I chuckled. “They can’t hide from us, right?”

     Christina giggled. “Right!” she answered.

     There were restrooms at both ends of the terminal. The little girl grabbed my hand and I grabbed Kat’s. We travelled train style through the terminal. Several people looked at us. The good news had improved the mood in the building, and people were clearly feeling more positive and smiled at our playfulness. 

     Christina led us to the women’s restroom at the right side of the terminal. We stopped at the entrance. “Sorry, us girls have to take it from here,” Kat said, releasing  my hand and grabbing Christina’s.

     “Wait here, Kevin, okay?” the little girl asked with complete seriousness.

     “I’ll be right here. Call if you need me,” I said, taking up position to the right of the entrance.

     The two of them headed inside the restroom, and I listened for any sound of trouble. I barely made out the two of them speaking in quiet, unintelligible voices.

     After a couple of minutes, a toilet flushed and water ran in the sink. Christina appeared at the entrance, followed by Kat.

     “Empty,” Kat pronounced.

     “Yeah, empty,” the little girl echoed.

     “Well, what now?” I asked.

     “I think we just need to be patient,” Kat said. “I bet they will turn up soon.”

     Kat’s words made me a little curious. If we were unable to find them, chances are they had left somehow.

     I started to say something to that effect when Kat cut me off. “Christina, why don’t you go see what Taylor is doing. Maybe he’s seen Mikey.”

     “Okie dokie,” she answered, dashing off. I watched her run off for a moment

     “Just be patient, really?”

     Kat shook her head. “There’s an open window in there. It looks like they must’ve snuck out.”

     The idea seemed ridiculous. “Why would Mikey and his mother take a chance like that?”

     As the question left my mouth, the answer came to me. The only reason to sneak out of the terminal would be if you had a reason for avoiding the soldiers. Since the general had always made it clear that anyone was free to go out if they wished, the boy’s mother had no reason to believe she would be prevented from leaving. Unless…

     Kat and I spoke at the same time, “Mikey is sick.”

     I felt a little sick myself at the possibility. “There must be some other reason. Something else we don’t know about.” Even as I spoke I wondered if I was trying to do anything other than convince myself.

     Kat recognized my state of denial. “Well, I hope you’re right. I really do, but we have to consider the possibility that you’re not.” She carefully watched my reaction. “No mother would put her son in danger by leaving the terminal and facing the zombies outside unless staying presented more of a risk.”

     “That means,” I started and then finished together with Kat. “Mikey is sick.”

     “Of course, we might be totally wrong. Mikey and his mom might be sleeping somewhere else in the terminal,” Kat tried to sound as though she truly believed her words. However, her eyes betrayed her.

     “Well, let’s keep looking,” I offered.

     We looked all over the terminal, in the other restrooms, around the dining area, and in the smoking room. Neither Mikey nor his mother were anywhere to be found. Kat and I talked to a number of people about where Mikey and his mother might be. The general response was something about not having noticed their absence and that it had been several hours since anyone had any memory of seeing them. The idea that this woman had simply disappeared with her young son became more disturbing as time passed.

     “Well, I’d say they’re definitely gone, and we’ll probably never know exactly why,” I finally said to Kat. “I’m certainly not going to go looking for them, especially since we’ve got a way out of here in the morning.”

     Kat did her best to smile as her eyes showed some concern. “Okay, let’s try to concentrate on that.”

     We found Christina and Taylor in a group of young people. I watched with amusement as Taylor tried to maintain his cool teenage image as Christina kept pulling on him for attention. “Some things never change, even in the middle of a global catastrophe,” I thought.

     We sat together and ate the rations the soldiers handed out to us. Everyone was clearly in a much more positive mood than ever. That may have been the reason that the plain military meal tasted better than ever. I listened to Christina tell a story about how she wanted to learn to swim like a mermaid around the island, which would be our new home. Taylor laughed and commented, but I also caught a number of glances over at a cute Asian girl in another group. Kat and I held hands like teenagers and shared an occasional kiss to which our young companions reacted noisily.

     After dinner as I carried the empty ration packs to the trash cans, I sensed the presence of someone walking closely behind me. I turned to find Curly, the solid young man who had interrupted me earlier. For a moment, I figured he had come looking to act upon his frustration and tensed for a confrontation.

     Before I had a chance to say anything and try to defuse the situation, Curly stuck out his hand. “Hey, man, sorry about being such a douche before.”

     I shook his hand. “No problem. We’ve all heard a whole lot of BS in the past few months. I don’t blame you for being suspicious.”

     Curly nodded and pulled me in for one of those kind of half embrace-shoulder bump-backrub things that young men do. I did my best to hide my awkwardness.

     “Okay, see you in the morning, bro.” Curly turned and walked away.

      “Yeah,” I answered. “See you in the morning, bro.” I barely contained my laughter at having used the word bro.

     The rest of the evening was very pleasant. People moved around the terminal greeting others and sharing positive feelings about the impending journey to what they hoped would be an island paradise.

     The groups slowly broke up as people headed to what had become regular sleeping areas. Taylor came over after his female companions had to join their families.

     We talked for a while before heading off for what we hoped would be nice dreams. Christina moved into an area as close to Taylor as he would allow and went to sleep. Kat and I snuggled and kissed for a bit before fading off to sleep.

Chapter 17

     I enjoyed a deep, dreamless sleep until someone shook me awake.

     “C’mon, Kevin, wake up.”

     It took me a few seconds to remember where I was and to recognize Kat’s face in the dimly-lit terminal.

     I bolted up. “What’s wrong?” I looked over to see the sleeping forms of Christina and Taylor.

     Kat giggled quietly. “Nothing’s wrong. Let’s go.” She stood and pulled on her pants.

     “Where we going? What time is it?” I mumbled, wiping my eyes.

     “Just follow me,” Kat whispered and took my hand.

     She led me through the dark terminal. We crept past groups of sleeping people to the women’s restroom at the end of the terminal.

     As soon as we entered the room, the automatic overhead lights came on and filled the area with brightness. It took a moment for my eyes to adjust. Kat stood looking at me with a seductive smile.

     One of the stalls had a yellowing piece of paper taped to the door: Out of Order. This is where the exciting young woman led me.

     Not to brag or anything, but I have had sex, made love, in a variety of unusual places and not always with the most satisfying results. The only thing that matters is that early morning with Kat in the bathroom stall of the Tiburon Ferry Terminal had to be the most satisfying, pleasurable experience of my lifetime. As we started to kiss, everything else melted away until all that remained was the two of us exploring each other until we reached an incredible destination.

     After we finished, it was difficult to return to the reality of our situation. I sat on the toilet and held Kat tightly for a long time. We were sitting like this when we heard someone enter the restroom.

     Kat started to giggle, but I put my hand over her mouth to quiet her. After a moment, she bit me gently until I removed my hand.

     We listened carefully for any sound to tell us what the visitor was doing. The door of the stall next to us squeaked open and clicked as the bolt slipped into place.

     Kat made funny faces, trying to get me to laugh. Instead, I looked at her with an exaggerated stern face, complete with furrowed brow.

     When the trickling sound started, we both nearly exploded with laughter. Fortunately, we remained silent, and after a few minutes, the person left the restroom.

     “Feels like I’m back in high school,” Kat said.

     “You did this in high school?” I asked. Before she could answer, I said, “All I know is that was incredible, and now I want to curl up next to you and sleep.”

     That is exactly what I did for the next three hours.

     People had already begun moving quietly around the terminal when I awoke at 4 am. Given the coming events of the day, the restlessness was understandable.

     Smiling as I recalled the time spent in the stall of the restroom, I reached for Kat but found only an empty space. I sat up and saw her folding some towels and a couple of shirts Christina and Taylor had brought with them. She looked over at me and smiled.

     I glanced over at where they had been sleeping but saw no sign of Taylor or Christina.

     “They’re supposed to be cleaning up in the restroom, but I suspect they’re playing somewhere,” Kat said, reading my mind.

     I crawled over to where she was and pulled her down on top of me. We shared a long, deep kiss.

     “I love you,” I said without thinking.

     “And I love you,” she answered and punctuated it with a kiss.

      We lie together for a long time until I dozed off. When I woke up again, Kat was staring at me as her head rested on my arm.

     “Boarding will begin shortly!” One of the soldiers announced, shattering the quiet.

     We jumped up and began gathering belongings. I looked at the pistol the general had given me, wondering if I would ever need it again. After a moment, I tucked it into my belt.

     “Where are Christina and Taylor?” I asked, experiencing the same panic any parent of a missing child must have.

     Kat looked around and then as if to reassure me as well as herself, said, “I bet they’re already in line.”

     I nodded and tried to convince myself that her words were more than simply wishful thinking.

     We walked over to where the line to the boarding gate was already forming, but saw no sign of them. Curly had taken up position near the front of the line, and I asked if he had seen either. He had not but offered to help me look. I considered his offer and thanked him but did not want to delay his boarding.

     No one we asked had seen them. The line began moving quickly toward the gate, and I told Kat to wait in line and board in case I missed them and they got on the ship. She reluctantly agreed. I kissed her quickly and hurried off.

     With no clear idea of where to look, I scurried around the terminal. I pushed my face near a corner in the big front windows now covered with plywood. A gap between the sheets of wood gave me a slight glimpse of the area in front of the terminal. With my limited view, I could see no movement.

     It suddenly occurred to me the restrooms were the most likely place for them to be. I sprinted to the first of the lavatories. I stood at the entrance and yelled, “Taylor! Christina!” The returning echo of my words came as the only reply. I ran in and gave the place a quick search to confirm its emptiness.

     I repeated this process for two more restrooms. Finally, I stood at the entrance of the last one. This was the place Kat and I had shared an unforgettable respite from the horror of the outside world. The tension and excitement returned for a few fleeting seconds before it got replaced by fear and a sense of overwhelming dread.

     I had to force my uncooperative legs to move forward and carry me into the brightly lit, cream-tiled restroom. The squeak of my shoes on the floor was the only sound. At least, it was the only sound I heard at first.

     As I moved into the room, there was something else. It sounded like some sort of slapping. The sort of noise you would hear in a fish market as the live fish flopped around gasping for air before having their heads chopped off.

     I moved slowly towards the sound. Naturally, the sound led me to the door of the stall upon which a paper saying Out of Order had been taped.

     I stood there listening to the slapping sound for a long time. It finally stopped, and I pushed the door open slowly. The first thing I saw were the legs stretching out from the toilet. I looked up to see Taylor leaning backward across the toilet with his throat torn open and blood still oozing down his front. He suddenly twitched, and I recognized this as the slapping sound I’d been hearing. I pushed the stall door completely open and saw the blood covering the floor. His eyes were still and staring blankly at the ceiling.