The Home: A Zombie Survival Short Story (3 page)

"Someone else, is or was here," Carlton whispered back. He pointed to the body of the nurse.

"That was Penny. She was my aunt and uncle's favorite nurse. Seems she got infected. I wonder if between her and Mildred, if one of them had bitten the other."

Leaning further around into the hallway, he could see the cleanup area. It was stacked with dirty dishes. The doorway to the kitchen was obscured. He moved around the half wall and into the cleanup area. Light spilled out from underneath the kitchen door.

Carlton reached out with his left hand and pushed the door open and glanced in. There on the floor was a middle aged black man. He sat bolt upright and picked up a heavy cast iron frying pan. His eyes were wild and he looked panicked.

Before anyone could say or do anything, five patients stood and moved in front of the man. As far as Carlton could tell, they were all uninfected. Most had a far away look in their eyes. One of the patients was immediately recognizable. It was Uncle Bill. Before he had a moment to say anything, Bill pointed at Carlton.

"Damn it, the gooks are in the perimeter. We need fire support. Sergeant, call HQ and tell them we need some Hotel Echo in the worst way!"

Bill shouted this at the top of his lungs and started moving towards Carlton with a frying pan in his hands.

"Shit, not again," muttered Carlton. He then stood straighter and barked out in a parade ground voice, "Captain Wilson, I need a status report."

Much to the amazement of the girls and to the man that the patients were protecting, Bill Wilson came to attention and saluted.

"Forgive me colonel. Things have been a bit tense here on the front. We are out of ammo. The enemy has breached out position and we have had to resort to fighting with entrenching tools."

He held up his frying pan with that last bit.

With a serious frown on his face, Carlton continued, "what are your losses captain?"

"Sir, they are quite severe. I have two men out on forward patrol. The rest of my command is here in the bunker. Without resupply, I don't think we can hold out. Are the rumors true, sir? Are these gooks really the red Chinese?"

"I am afraid so, soldier. May I speak with your men?"

"Be my guest colonel."

With that, a spark that was in Bill's eyes vanished. He slowly moved off and sat in a chair. The other patients likewise moved to sit down either in wheelchairs or in chairs that had been brought back into the kitchen.

"Hello there Amos. What are you doing here on the floor?"

Amos put the frying pan down and tried to catch his breath. He tilted his head sideways to his right side and had a look of concentration. His eyes narrowed as he thought. In a flash they opened again with recognition.

"Carlton, is that you?"

"Yeah, it's me. What are you doing here?"

Carlton came fully into the room and looked around. The kitchen was a mess. The five residents and Amos had obviously been living there for some time. Amos wrinkled his forehead and asked the question that had been bugging him about Carlton's exchange with Bill.

"Carlton, what was all that stuff you and Bill were talking about?"

"Ah, yes. Bill was a captain in the Korean War. His men were nearly overrun when the Chinese intervened in the conflict. It seems that he thinks the zombies are Red Chinese infiltrators. He had flashbacks like this before. It's worse in winter when he sees snow. Before he moved in here, I had to take away his bullets for his rifle least he shot the mailman. His mailman was Vietnamese. Bill accused him on more than one occasion of being a communist infiltrator.""

Feeling alone and scared, Meredith and Mikayla soon came into the kitchen as well. Carlton introduced them to Amos. Since Amos was at ease, the residents did not rise up as they did when Carlton had first entered.

"What happened here Amos?"

"Well, when things all went to shit, the staff packed up and left and ordered me out too. I went home, but it did not sit right to let these people just die here without help. I'm no nurse, but I can cook for 'em. So I came back. I found Penny walking back. She said her car got in a wreck and that some man bit her. We came to the place and I started work cooking for the folks. Penny was giving out the meds and then she turned. The funny thing is, she only attacked one resident, Mildred. Poor Mildred just stayed there in her chair. Bill started shouting that 'the gooks were in the wire,' whatever the hell that means, and came into the kitchen. He grabbed a pan and killed Penny. Things were pretty quiet here. With no one to give them their meds, the patients started dying pretty quickly. I am sorry to say that Jenny did not make it. She was peaceful at the end, though. We have not had any visitors, but as far as I know, there are only seven residents left. Jerry is outside as is Henry."

"Thank you for that, Amos."

"I can't take care of them. You smell that out there. I started putting the dead ones in their rooms and locking the doors. But I just can't go on much longer. It's just too hard. I'm doing my best. There here can do some stuff for themselves. When Penny turned, I could not do her job. She came right after me. She ignored the patients and came right after me. If it was not for old Bill, I'd be dead."

The man started to sob.

"You did all you could Amos. More than anyone had a right to expect you to. Thank you for taking care of my Aunt and Uncle."

Amos nodded. The four sat there quietly for a while.

With a loud sniff, Amos asked, "How did you get here, Carlton? No other patients' families have come for their kin. Why did you come?"

"Yeah, I found myself having dinner with these two. They were home from college break and wanted to talk. They were in my fifth-grade Sunday school class if you can believe it. I catch up with a few of them each time they are in town. It just so happened, we were there together when things fell apart. We had my car for a while, but now we are stuck on foot. Mikayla here is diabetic. She needs insulin. Do you know if the med fridge has any?"

Amos scratched his chin, "Yeah, it should. Jenny had a ninety-day supply around here somewhere. Let's see what we can do."

He got up off of the ground and moved to the locked refrigerator. It was a normal looking fridge. It had a latch and padlock that spanned the two facing doors securing them together.

"Do you have a key?"

Shaking his head, "Naw, you don't need one. That is just there for looks. The front wall of that fridge is cheap as shit."

He grabbed the lock and pulled. The lock and clasp pulled out of the four holes that it's screws had been resting in.

"That damn lock was just there for looks. No inspector actually looked closely at it. We only unlocked it when there was an inspector checking us."

Opening the fridge, Mikayla found what she wanted. There was a bag labeled Jenny McKendrick. She opened the bag and saw the vials. There had to be something like thirty of them. That was a considerable amount of medicine. She took the bag out of the fridge and set it on the counter.

Taking off her bag, she rested it on the table on the right side of the room. A quick search had her find the syringe she was looking for. She asked the doctor to show her how to refill the pump when she was just 10 years old. The doc, who surely was dead or undead now, actually showed her how to do it. He even let her do it when she came into the office a few times.

With a practiced hand, she filled the syringe and then refilled her pump. It took a couple of fills, but then the light changed back to green. She had picked up plenty of batteries. Now all she needed was a way to keep the other vials cool.

The four sat in the room quietly for a few minutes when Mikayla spotted a small insulated lunch box.

"Can I have that?," she pointed to the lunch box.

Amos looked behind himself and shrugged his shoulders, "Why not. Penny does not need it anymore."

With a couple of quick steps she grabbed the lunch box and opened it. Thankfully, there was nothing inside and it was clean. She placed the bag inside the lunch box cooler. While she was doing this, Amos went to the walk-in freezer. He came back out with about five small cold packs. He placed them on the table next to Mikayla.

"They ship us the meds that need to be refrigerated with these. Andrea, the administrator here, does not throw anything that could be useful away. Take them. That should help you out.

Mikayla threw her arms around Amos and gave him a hug.

"Thank you. These are perfect."

She proceeded to place them inside the lunch box, then zipped the seal. The lunch box found its way inside her backpack a few moments later.

They heard a moan outside the door.

Carlton shook his head, "You know, half of the stink out there is from Jerry peeing on everything, don't you."

The residents stood again and moved in front of Amos again. Amos' eyes grew wide and he motioned for Carlton and the girls to come next to them and duck down.

Whispering, Amos said, "That ain't Jerry."

The door slowly pushed open. A man in a business suit entered with a shuffling gait. He was missing his left loafer. They could see his legs and little else from their crouched position. The man stopped. Another pushed in behind the first. This one was wearing jogging shorts. The left leg was mutilated with multiple bite marks. Dried blood was caked all around the wounds.

Carlton shouldered the rifle to prepare to engage. The two zombies just stood there for five minutes. A silent face off occurred between the undead and the patients. The zombies moaned. In an almost matching reply, one of the lady patients with their group also moaned. Both groups swayed slightly as they attempted to keep their balance. Looks were traded between Amos, the girls and Carlton. Mikayla's arms started to shake with fear. Sweat rolled down Amos' face. Carlton flexed his hands on his rifle and pulled it tighter into his shoulder. Meredith closed her eyes and her mouth moved in a silent prayer. Slowly, the two zombies turned around and went back out into the main room. The kitchen door swung shut behind them.

A shaking Meredith quietly asked, "What the fuck just happened?"

Amos wiped sweat from his forehead and held up a hand as he pulled his thoughts together.

"I saw this once before. I was trying to get the trash out regularly before. Then I came across one of the zombies. He came around from behind the dumpster and scared me nearly to death. I turned to run back inside and fell. I ended up crawling back into the building on my hands and knees. The zombie followed me in. Bill, Ruth and Charlotte were in the kitchen at the time. They stood up and stepped between the zombie and me. At first I thought they were committing suicide but they just stared each other down. It was like the zombie lost track of me. Bill was not having one of his verbal moments. They all just stood there swaying back and forth. Eventually the zombie just left. I never made another trash run again. I have been storing it in the walk in freezer instead."

The girls just looked at one another. Carlton rubbed his eyes with the palms of his hands. A thought occurred to him and he looked up apologetically to Amos.

"Amos, the front door is now broken. We did not know who was left in here. I broke the lock getting in. I have not seen the zombies open a door yet, but it looks like it has happened. We have seen more and more of them moving in packs. Do you want to come with us? There is a rumor that there are safe zones that the army has set up. We were thinking we might make for one of those. We might find out what happened to our families."

Amos just looked with sad eyes at Carlton and shook his head slowly.

"Everyone else has left these folks. I can't do that to them. There are not many of them left. I doubt they will survive another month. They can't take care of themselves. I am no nurse. Hell, I never changed my kids diapers let alone some grouchy old man's dirty drawers. But I can feed them. I will do that till none are left. After that, I will see what happens. Thanks for the offer though. I just can't leave them. They are just too pitiful to leave behind and too frail to travel."

Both girls hugged Amos after that. Carlton shook his hand.

Then Amos snapped his fingers, "Hey, do you have a car?"

"No, there is an abandoned one out front but its dead. We have been walking for four days now."

"Well, I am not only the cook, but the driver for Brighton Commons as well."

Amos fished around in his apron and came out with a set of keys and handed them to Carlton.

"It has gas in it and it works pretty good. It should help you out. I don't think we are going to be taking these folks on any more outings any time soon."

Carlton nodded, "You are a good man Amos. Thanks again."

Moving to Uncle Bill, Carlton leaned in close to his ear and whispered to him, "Captain, you take care of Sergeant Amos. He has vital intelligence. He must survive the war at all costs. Can I count on you?"

The old man looked up and his eyes brightened, "Carlton, it's good to see you. Have you seen Jenny? I can't find her anywhere. Give her a kiss before you leave. You are a good boy. We are fine. Don't worry about us."

With a tear in his eye, Carlton moved to the kitchen door. Again he pushed the door open with the barrel. Triggering on the light again he pushed his way out into the small room with dirty dishes. Checking the hallway to the right and left, he signaled to the girls that the area was clear.

They worked their way through the dining area. The man still slept at the table. They passed into the Atrium and walked by Aunt Jenny. Searching left and right, they spotted the two zombies in the TV room. The zombies spotted them and began to head their way. They moved forward until they encountered the half wall. Both stopped perplexed that they could not go forward even when they could see their prey.

Two soft pops later and both zombies had collapsed and Carlton lowered his rifle.

"Remind me again, not to piss you off too badly," whispered Meredith.