Zombie Sex (Zombie Apocalypse) (3 page)

-4-

I didn’t even smoke. ‘Got a
cigarette?’

He adjusted his glasses and
patted his pockets. ‘Uh, sure I got some.’ DNA didn’t bless this guy. He was
short, thin, and
did
look like a worm. And by the looks of it, he
couldn’t see too well either. He rummaged his behind and ripped his hand out.
‘There we go knew they were in there somewhere.’ He chuckled. ‘Need a light?’

I nodded. Two puffs later, and
I wanted to cry. I can only imagine what was going to happen to me. Twenty-nine-year-old
locked up for the rest of her life for lying. But I didn’t do anything. Except
for sleeping with a married man. I rubbed my forehead. I need to get out of the
shade; need some sunrays on me. He grabbed my chest – when he realized he was
touching my breasts he contracted his arm faster than a speeding bullet.

‘Sorry I, sorry didn’t mean to
touch you there.’ I gave him a
time-to-go-work-another-eight-hour’s-shift
smile. ‘You can’t leave ma’am.’

‘Why?’

He swallowed and touched his
glasses. ‘Orders.’

‘Are you guys going to lock me
up?’

He laughed as if it was a joke.
When he saw my face, his laughter lost fuel. ‘Nope.’

A few cars coughed past. I
looked at the blue sky. ‘Then why can’t I leave?’

‘Just protocol. After a, big,
when something big happens. Like murder – I mean when a body.’ He scratched his
head. ‘You know what I mean don’t you?’

No I don’t. ‘Think I do.’ This
cigarette was losing length. ‘When do you think I can go?’

‘My guess, hour or two.’

A tear slid down my face; I
made sure to look the other way. I heard an engine roar behind the building.
Then I saw a truck, one of those long tube one’s, rattle past. It had a logo of
a leprechaun in the middle smiling and dipping its hand into fuel
,
with
a tag line, HAPPY FUEL HAPPY CAR. I chuckled. They should replace the
leprechaun’s face with the man next to–

Thunder clapped. A wave of heat
brushed past me. I shielded my face. Thunder struck again. Metal whined and
cracked. I fell to my knees and winced when I realized I was clutching my hand
with the cigarette inside. I felt another wave of heat tickle over me and
coughed. I could smell the fuel as if it was on my neck. When I lowered my
hand, I was staring at a plume of orange fire; swirling with black lines. The
plume had a voice of its own. It spat fire and screamed a twisting metal sound.
I had to close and open my eyes to see if this was really happening. I walked
backward against a pillar and saw people storm out from buildings. The plume
carried on rising. I heard screaming behind me, I was wrong. The screaming came
from the explosion. A ball of fire was running down the road – hollering. The
person waved his fiery hands until he fell down. His screams melted into
whispers – then it all stopped. I shifted my focus to the towering smoke (that
was now falling back to earth). A hand grabbed my shoulder. The person told me
to watch out. He screamed. And then pushed me against the wall. I turned and
saw why. A car rode over the side walk and impaled the side of the building. A
wheel shot across the road. Hollers echoed from afar. This only happened in
movies – not real life. I held my chest and tried breathing – the only thing I
breathed in was smoke.

‘Everyone inside!’ The black
officer screamed. Looking at him from a floor’s perspective made him seem
different. He reminded me of those football guys. Could imagine him lit a cigar
and then telling me to get up in a slow-deep-cheesy voice. God, think I was
losing my mind. It hurt. I rubbed my forehead. When my vision returned I saw
him next to me.

‘Come.’ He helped me up. While
stumbling toward the door, I glanced at the plume of smoke and thought of that
slogan, HAPPY FUEL HAPPY CAR. I began to chuckle.

-5-

There were so many phones’
ringing that I thought I was in some orchestra session, and the amount of legs
galloping in every direction made me think that this wasn’t your typical sunny
afternoon either. Officer Football, surrounded by five, was dangling his arms
around like an octopus. I was on the floor, against the wall, scratching my
neck. Above me was a clock making a rusty
ticking
sound. I looked at it
and frowned; it gave me an extra layer of headache. I glanced to my side and
saw a vacant seat.

Just as my bum went down, a
baby’s cry pierced my ear. I swallowed and glanced to my side. Angeline came
tip toeing toward me with her newborn nested under her arms.

‘Oh my God are you all right
Velvet?’ The baby went quiet when it saw me. And then burst out crying.

‘I’m, fine thank you.’

‘Let me look at,’ she reached
for my neck, ‘that scratch.’ She caressed the baby’s head with her right and mine
with her left. ‘You need to get this checked out sweetie.’ I brushed her hand
away.

‘Thanks.’ The chaos around me
was too much: the rusted ticking, the sea of chatter, the baby’s holler, and
now her, Angeline’s soothing voice, trying to assure me that everything will be
fine. I closed my eyes and saw the leprechaun waving at me, HAPPY FUEL HAPPY
CAR.

‘Let’s go there,’ she pointed
at a room. ‘There’s water.’

We were in one of the cubicles.
It had a glass wall, a desk with a computer, a water dispenser, and the most
important thing of all, a door. As soon as it closed, every bit of sound, that
gave me a headache, disappeared. It’s not to say that Angelina and her baby’s
voice were God’s violin.

She bobbed the baby in her
arms. ‘Any idea what’s going on out there?’ I walked over to the dispenser and
cracked out a cup. I wonder if I should just tell her, say, “Hey, you know your
dead husband? We were fucking behind your back.” I pressed the lever.

The cup shook in my hand.
‘Truck exploded.’ I sipped. ‘Collision.’

‘
There-there
,’ the baby
went quiet. ‘That’s a good Zoe.’ She leaned toward the window and peeked. ‘Do
you know when James’s coming?’

A mouthful of water, which now
tasted of egg yolk
,
swirled around my mouth. I swallowed. ‘Excuse me?’
She looked at me in a way that made my bones go cold. Please, for the love of
God don’t tell me this was happening.

‘I haven’t heard anything from
him.’ My finger dipped into the icy water. I took another sip. I looked at the
baby in her arms and felt sick. They didn’t tell her that he was…was this
possible? My lips opened – stayed open – closed. My chest sunk toward the
floor. The door was my only salvation. I need to get out of this place.

‘Sweetie,’ she said. ‘You look
a bit white.’ I was being punished for what I’ve done; someone up there wanted
me whipped emotionally.

‘I need fresh air.’

‘Oh, ok, I don’t think you’ll
be able to go out they got the place locked–’

‘Yeah,’ I walked toward the
door. With my hand on the knob, the baby burst out crying, long drawn out
hollers. Zoe was telling me something only she knew (baby instinct), “You
killed my daddy,” she said, “I’m going to grow up fatherless,” she continued, “how
are we going to survive without income?”

‘Velvet.’ Her voice startled
me. I glanced.

‘Yes?’

‘You didn’t answer my
question.’ I looked at the baby.

‘He’s dead.’ I ran out and
closed the door before I could hear her cry. But I didn’t need to hear her – I
could see her through the glass wall – her face a tormented frown. She was
going to drop that baby I thought. I was almost out of view when my body hit a
wall. It wasn’t a wall – it was Worm. His glasses whacked the floor (think I
heard a crack sound) and he stumbled against the wall.

‘Jeeh, ma’am.’ I looked at him
as if he wasn’t there – through him.

‘Sorry,’ I shook my head and
walked away. But he grabbed my hand.

‘Ma’am stop please.’ He picked
up his glasses and put them back on. ‘You can’t leave.’ Who said I was leaving?
I know I was but you didn’t know that.

My fingers itched. ‘Why?’

‘We’re locking the place down.’
It was as if my eyes were in a trance. When I glanced around, I could see what
he meant by locking the place down. Two policemen were bolstering a window with
planks; three policemen were bolstering another; one man who looked like a
busboy with an overgrown moustache, were busy handing out rifles.

‘What’s,’ I had to think and
catch my words, ‘what’s going on?’ He scratched his head and pointed at a room.

‘Just go over there please.’ But
I don’t want to. What I want to do is go home and drown myself in bubble bath. I
saw Angeline in my peripheral, she had her hands over her face and cradling the
baby–

‘Fine.’ Anywhere was better
than near her. I made my way toward
interrogation room six
and had to
pause for a moment. Officer Football had his arms extended like he was on a
cross and shouted for people to be quick. I stepped back as a line of
policemen, with scary looking guns, ran past. They disappeared around the
corner but I could still hear the rattling of their firepower. My stomach
clenched. What was going on? I know it was a truck that exploded, but what was
with all the guns? And, what was with the planks on the windows? Wait don’t
tell this is some kind of terrorist attack. I grabbed my mouth. Something told
me that I was right. A hand snatched my arm – it’s going to leave a bruise.

‘In there now!’ He pushed me –
what the hell. ‘I said you need to–’

I raised my hand. ‘I’m going
jeez
.’
Is this how they treat women around here? He stared at me with his hand over
his rifle strap. I made my way toward the room and glanced back to give him a
rude stare – but he was gone. I could hear a barrage of chatter. I hope it weren’t–

My neck felt stiff. They were
herding the humans into
interrogation room six
. I stepped inside to join
a dozen others. A woman with Prada glasses (and attire so tight it said: I know
my shit) kept nodding her head while reiterating, “Tell me about it,” to her
cell. A man, sitting in the corner with blue overalls, with a few too many oil
stains, smiled at me. I didn’t smile back. I scanned the faces and didn’t
recognize anyone – looks like I’ll have to find a spot. I said
excuse me
to a few people and walked to the only place that looked decent. By decent I mean
a few feet of open space.

‘I just a don’t have time for
this fuckin’ what’s going on?’ Jesus, someone’s been drinking early. I glanced
and saw a scrawny black man, sorry – woman, with earrings so large that a baby
could probably use them as hula hoops. I looked away before she saw me staring,
we all know how people hate being stared at, can only imagine her vile words,
“Bitch what you looking at.”

A policeman walked in
(strapping on a vest). The “hospital light” in here made the beads on his
forehead glint. He looked up when he was finished strapping. ‘We are closing
this door. It is for your safety.’ A sea of whispers erupted. People looked
around like they were surrounded by ghosts. ‘Refrain yourself from using the
door. It is for your safety.’

Prada lowered her cell. ‘Excuse
me officer but I’ve got a meeting in an hour.’ He looked at her for half-second
and glanced away.

‘As I said. Stay in here.’ A
man barged past me.

‘When can we go out?’

He looked at us like he was
saying goodbye – for good. ‘When someone opens this door.’ The door closed. The
room broke out in a frenzy of confusion. The only person that didn’t seem to
mind was the drunk woman (who was lying down at the shaded window). Maybe I should
go to sleep as well. I reached for my cell and realized that I was purseless. I
took a deep breath in, and leaned against the wall. While air left my mouth, I
covered my eyes hoping that this was all just a bad dream. I don’t know how
this day can get any–

‘I just lost my signal!’ Prada
screamed. My sweaty hand slithered off my face. I chuckled. ‘Why isn’t this
stupid–’ she shook her cell ‘–thing working.’

‘Must be the room lady.’

She shot the boy a stare. ‘It’s
a room not an airplane.’

He crossed his arms over his
shirt that said SMILE IF YOU THINK I’M SEXY. ‘I’ve seen CSI Miami, they put
those stuff in the walls especially inside interrogation rooms to stop people
from–’

‘Doesn’t make any sense.’

‘
Whyyy
not?’ He said
slurping the never-ending-why. She shook her head and tapped her phone. I was
trapped in a room with lunatics. I covered my face again. I should be crying
right now, it wasn’t long ago that I – that I – oh God, I killed Angeline’s
husband. I can hear Zoe’s chanting:
why kill daddy why kill daddy.
I
need alone time.

‘Think the door’s locked?’
Someone asked.

‘Heard click.’

‘Must be.’

‘Someone go try it.’

I heard footsteps outside. And
then a baby laughing. I gritted my teeth. The door clicked open.

‘In you go ma’am.’ Angeline
walked inside. And with her, Zoe sucking on her breast. I swallowed acid. It
was only a matter of–

She rushed toward me. I felt
like disappearing. Like those magicians – please make me disappear. She came
stumbling over muttering words – the baby kept sucking.

‘Please tell me what happened
Velvet?’ I looked at the closing door. My day just went from worse to
I’m a
rat that just ate poison
worse. I wasn’t ready for this.

‘I’m sorry Angeline.’ For
sleeping with your husband. ‘Things got out of control.’

‘What do you mean?’ I could see
faces staring at us in my peripheral. Embarrassment scratched at my stomach.

I pressed my lips. ‘It’s under
investigation.’ That’s not going to cut it for one second.

‘H-how-how is he dead?’ She was
going to start crying again. Please don’t. Not in front of the baby. The people
next to me looked away but I know they were secretly listening.

I put my hand on her shoulder.
‘Angeline, let’s talk about this later.’ Her body started to shake like a
rattling toy. I’m going to lie to her it’s the only thing that would work. ‘I
have no idea what happened.’

‘But I spoke to him on the
phone!’ The baby wiggled its little toes and snorted. You are right Angeline.
You did speak to him. You spoke to him when he was at mine. And then he began
coughing blood. And then his cheek tore open. And then his eyes turned black.
And then your husband tried to bite my neck with teeth that were busy trickling
out. And then I stuck a knife–

Every head in the room glanced
simultaneously at the door. There was a burst of gunfire. And then yelling. It
was hard to tell what they were saying – the door must’ve been reinforced. Angeline
looked at me and frowned. And then another round of fire crackled. I held my
body – one hand on throat the other chest. Gunfire erupted like it was the Wild
West gone mad. I could hear people scream something down the lines of, “Look at
the road,” and “Don’t stop.” Sweat ran down the humps of my spine. Terrorists
were attacking us. Who else would be stupid enough to attack a precinct? I
grabbed Angeline’s shoulder.

‘Let’s sit.’ She complied with
a dazed expression. The people in the room did the same. I looked at the baby
and was amazed that she wasn’t crying.

The gunfire went on for a while
and then stopped.