Pieces From The Beginning: Piece Two- The City

The zombie apocalypse begins for different people in different ways...

           A siren was going off. Or maybe it was someone’s stupid car-alarm, Dani really couldn’t tell. For the tenth time, she went to the window and stared down at the street, hoping she would see him coming in the front door of the apartment building.

            He wasn’t there.

            For the thirtieth time she punched the button on her phone.

            The phone connected and began to ring.

            “Come on, pick up.” Dani said through clenched teeth. “Pick up the….”
There was a click then his cheerful, but somehow flat voice, came the line.

            “Hi! It’s Jess I can’t get to the phone, even though it’s a cell and it’s here in my pocket!”

            There was a pause as if he expected a reaction to his wittiness.

            “Anyway, leave me a message.”

            Dani disconnected before the beep. Twenty-nine voice mail messages were probably enough.

            She went to the window again.

            It had been a stupid fight, even as far as stupid fights go.

            They were usually pretty happy. Sure, they had the “Did you empty the dishwasher?” and the “Why do you insist on leaving your underwear in the floor?” arguments that all cohabitating people have. But really they didn’t fight about much.

            Except for the zombies.

            Dani admitted that she might be a little obsessed with them. But to be fair, he had his obsessions too.

            There had been the G.I. Joe years where every available surface had a G.I. Joe doll… action figure… displayed.

            “And let’s not forget Elvis.” Dani mumbled to herself and made a face.

            For her part, the obsession was everything sci-fi. That was why she went to the convention in the first place. That’s where she got into the whole “zombie apocalypse” thing.

            At first it was just fun. The first discussion Dani had wandered into had been about the “What ifs” of the idea: “What if… they rose and we had to fight them?”

            Mostly it was a rehash of what all the movies talked about. Some agreed that the movies were “accurate” and some dismissed them as “just Hollywood”.

            Then Dani went to one that was more about the logistics of what people should do. A lot of it was useful for any emergency situation and some of it was zombie specific. And then there was a guy who used to work at the CDC who said that… that … it could happen.

            Even in the form of a memory his words still frightened her.

            He said that it was possible that something, some virus or bacterium, could mutate.

            Jess told her it was bullshit. When Dani tried to explain to him what the guy had said, he cut her off and practically screamed “BULLSHIT!” in her face. He went on to say that the guy was a nutcase and questioned if he actually had been with the CDC and even if he had been, he wasn’t now. Didn’t Dani wonder why? Huh? Did Dani think of that?

            He acted so oddly that Dani said nothing. Dani remembered how big and wild his eyes had been and how he was sweating even though it wasn’t that hot outside. He had walked a few steps away from her and then turned around and said:

            “Not another word about zombies.”

            Of course that might be part of what made her so fascinated with them. Dani loved Jess but she also had a stubborn streak. He should have known that making it a “forbidden subject” would only make her want to be more involved in it.

            So the books and movies started coming. Her news and networking sites updated her on any “unusual” stories that might be related to murders and cannibalism .And, being a talented artist; they began to come out in her work as well.

            Jess, of course, hated it.

            One day he tried to “reason” with her by asking her a simple question: “I work at a hospital. Don’t you think I would know if this was possible or not?”

            Dani thought about that seriously for a moment. He did work in a hospital lab. He did do research on various things that would put him in the know.

            So Dani asked him. “Well, is it? I mean, have you ever seen anything… weird?”

            Looking back on that conversation, Dani realized that it had not been the response he was looking for. He thought Dani would take his words as a reassurance, not as a challenge to question it. Again, he should have known her better than that. And the more Dani thought about it, the fleeting look of fear she thought she saw became more of a certainty.

            “No! We get, you know, crazy people in and people do horrible things to people. But they’re just people, Dani. People are horrible enough; they don’t need to be zombies to be scary.” He shook his head and walked out of the apartment.

            Just like he had today. Except today they hadn’t been fighting about zombies. Today they had been fighting about a job he wanted to take. The problem was that he would make less money.

            “I thought you liked your job.” Dani said. Sure, he had been less happy about it of late and often came home irritable and sullen. And sure, he didn’t seem to be sleeping very well and refused to talk about it. But he had worked so hard to get where he was. He loved working in the lab, what would make him decide to leave it?

            “You just don’t understand.” He said.

            “Because you aren’t telling me anything!” she snapped right back.

            Dani remembered him mumbling something about an agreement he signed and that things would be so much simpler if she would just not question things so much.

            As if.

            So he left. A walk to “clear his head” as he had done before. Except today he had been gone longer than before. And today there were the odd reports that kept popping up on the newsfeeds from her websites. She turned on the TV to see if the local news was reporting anything.

            “Unconfirmed reports, again unconfirmed, that there have been several assaults around the city…”

            As Dani watched, it was apparent that something was going on but the news anchors didn’t really know what it was. They were trying to rehash what little they had to make it sound new but the fact was they didn’t really have a lot to go on.

            Of course what little they had was scary enough.

            “…of several cannibal-like attacks…”

            “…from the morgue of the hospital…. “

            The hospital.

             Dani looked at the TV. The feed had gone to a live shot. The picture showed a reporter in front of the hospital.

            The hospital Jess worked at.

            Dani turned the volume up.

            “… as I said, the reports are unconfirmed at this time but from what I’ve been told, there were several bodies that…uh… disappeared from the morgue. The…”

            There was a high pitched screech from off camera. It didn’t even sound like a human scream at first. As it reached its peak, it was suddenly cut off. The reporter stood silent staring off in the direction the sound had come from.

            “Uh . . . oh.” He said.

            The camera swung around to show a man holding a woman in what, at first glance, looked like a romantic embrace.

            Is he…? He’s kissing her. Dani thought.

            The man then raised his head and growled at the reporter and cameraman through a mouth full of the woman’s face.

            “Uh... oh” the reporter said again.

            The face eating man growled louder and dropped the now silent woman. The cameraman said something unintelligible and dropped the camera. All Dani could see now was the face eating man’s feet moving toward the reporter. Dani knew he was still standing there because she heard him say “Uh...oh” again before the feed was cut.

            In spite of her collection, her fascination and the numerous renderings around her in the apartment, for a moment Dani couldn’t wrap her mind around what she had just seen. It was as if her mind would not, could not, conclude the obvious.

            Of course the obvious was too horrible and unbelievable to conclude.

            Dani heard harsh, rapid breathing and started backward before she realized it was only her own breathing she was hearing.

            “Zombies!” Dani said and clamped her hand over her mouth as if saying the word made it real. But the reality was there, on the screen. Or had been there. The feed was now from the newsroom where the news anchors stuttered and tried to keep their composure.

            At the convention, in one of the zombie discussions a guy had claimed that the media would squash any reports about zombies until it was “too late”. That we would be over-run by the undead before we knew what was happening because the media would be “in on” the cover-up.

            Another person told him he was “nuts”: Why would anyone keep a zombie apocalypse under wraps? What would the media, or the government for that matter, have to gain by letting everyone die?

            Dani stared as the pretty blonde news anchor repeatedly tried to get some response from the field reporter. She kept saying his name and trying to keep a smile on her face. She looked like she wanted to cry.

            There was screaming outside, a lot of it.

            On legs that didn’t seem to want to support her, Dani moved to the window. In the street below people were running past her building. As her gaze travelled back the way they had come, she saw people walking.

            Except... they weren’t really walking. It was more like...

            Shambling. Jerking, halting, wooden, movements.

            Dani wanted to scream, to cry out the terror that had made a sickening ball in her stomach.

            A thin whine was all that came out.

            Her tear-filled eyes were drawn to movement and a noise close to the building. The front door of the apartment building had been blown open by the wind and banged against the wall. Her eyes turned back to the street.

            They were closer.

            What to do. What to do. Whattodowhattodowhattodo….

            Dani remembered her bag.

            At the convention, there was a group who gave lectures about emergency readiness in the guise of “What to Do When the Dead Rise.” Their hook was zombies but really they were giving tips about what to do in the event of any emergency crisis. They stressed the “bug-out” bag and showed how to put one together.

            Dani had one in the back of the closet.

            Running to the bedroom, Dani dug the bag out of the back where she had covered it with a box of Christmas ornaments. It seemed heavier now then when she had originally filled it with protein bars, a collapsible tent and bottles of water. Of course at the time she filled it, she hadn’t really expected to have to use it. Not really. Dani opened it and pulled out the 9mm pistol. She had bought it after the convention, then, because she thought Jess would think it was silly, had hidden it in her bag “just in case”.  Though Dani had target shot with it a couple times, it felt alien in her hand.  She racked a round into the chamber as the instructor at the range had shown her to do. Heaving the bag up on her shoulder, Dani headed for the front door.

            There was a sound from outside the front door. It was soft, a scuffing noise as if something had brushed the short pile carpeting in the hallway.

             Dani hesitated, listening intently.

            The sound came again. Then she though the door handle moved, just a little.

            The scream she had wanted to give voice earlier, rose into her throat but she clenched her teeth against it. She quickly assessed her alternatives.

             Sure, there was a fire escape, but the ladder had fallen off of it during a bad storm which had also broken the window. The super fixed the window but the ladder was still gone.

            The door was the only way out.

            Checking to make sure the safety was off the gun; Dani crept to the door and put her eye to the peep-hole.

            She recognized the golden brown top of Jess’s head. The door knob rattled.

            “Oh my God!” Dani said as she fumbled with the locks and jerked the door open. “I am so glad to see you!”

            Jess raised his head and looked at her.

            Except that he wasn’t looking at her so much as through her. His eyes were glassy and blood shot. There was blood on his clothing. He made an odd groaning-hissing noise.

            Dani stumbled backward, almost falling over the entry way rug. Jess took a halting step into the room. Again he made the groaning noise, raising one stiff arm. Dani saw what looked like raw meat in his hand. She realized that that was exactly what it was, and that it had an eyeball still attached to it.

            She gagged and took another step backward.

            “Jess….” she said.

            He began to move forward.

            At the convention, one of the discussions had developed into an argument about what to do when faced with a zombie who had formally been a loved one. Some people were incredulous at recent movies and TV shows that portrayed characters who restrained their zombie relatives and friends in hopes of a “cure”. The idea of trying to cure zombies with anything other than a bullet to the brain was ridiculous, they said.

            The other side said that in “real life” it wouldn’t be so easy to blow away someone you knew. If you cared for that person, you would hesitate to shoot them if there was a chance you could help them.

            Yeh, hesitate and get eaten! Dani had thought. She didn’t say anything aloud though. She had just wanted to observe the discussion, not get yelled at. I could shoot a zombie. No matter what.

            Now she realized what they had been talking about.

            Jess opened his mouth and bared his teeth at her.

            Dani raised the gun, holding it with two hands because she was shaking so hard she thought she’d drop it. She was crying and the tears were making it hard to focus her eyes.

            “I… I’m sorry Jess. I’m sorry. I have to … um…..”  She closed her eyes, fired and screamed at same time.

            The bullet hit the door jam. Jess growled and took two more hurried steps toward her.

            Dani knew she had to shoot him in the head. The movies, the books… everyone at the convention… said so. And… didn’t it make sense really? The problem was shooting the head was easier said than done and her hands were trembling so much that she knew she wouldn’t hit it.

            Ignoring every instinct she had, she stepped forward, as close as she could to him without being close enough for him to grab her. She raised the pistol and fired point blank into his head.

            Jess went down like a marionette with its strings cut.

            Dani felt as if she might fall too. Her breathing came in ragged gasps as if she were having an asthma attack.

            I did it. I did it! She thought. Yes, it was Jess, and she had shot him. But he was a zombie.

            She had to do it.

            The reality sunk in slowly, leaving a wake of pain behind it.

            Jess. She shot Jess. Jess was a zombie. Zombies were….

            Zombies were real.

            A sob broke through her chest and now she did fall to her knees as tears coursed down her cheeks.

            There was a sound in the hallway.

            Dani looked up though her tears to see a man standing there. She swiped at the tears and saw a woman standing behind him. And another man behind her.

            They were moaning softly. The first man took a lurching step into the room.

            Dani slowly got to her feet, racked a bullet into the gun’s chamber, and raised the gun.

            At the convention the topic of fighting against a zombie horde was discussed. Some of the more cynical participants said that “most” people wouldn’t bother. “Most” people would kill themselves before the zombies got to them. They wouldn’t be able to handle it. Others disagreed. They said that the instinct for survival would keep “most” people from suicide. They would fight.

            Of course someone asked about a no win scenario. The one where you are surrounded and there is no way out.

            What do you do?

            Dani thought that it might have been the only thing everyone in the discussion agreed about.

            More zombies crowded in behind the first ones.

            She had agreed too.

            Looking down at Jess’s still corpse, she put the gun barrel to her temple.

            I was right about the zombies, Jess. She thought. I was right.

            She pulled the trigger.

Author's Note

It is what it is.

Reviews

[Asiram-Rose]

My goodness how powerful this story was, Like the way you introduced the characters. I can imagine something like this happening, though I would like to know how the people became Zombies, was it virus that spread? if I missed it then I apologize.

Jess's behavior was normal, I can absouletly imagine how it feels to not believe someone when it comes to zombies, Do you know ridiclous it would sound in real life?

I feel bad for Dani, she lost the only person she cared about, but survival does come first. The ending was not what I expected, I was really invested into the story and I look forward to more from you.

[Cari Kinz]

Thank you for reviewing. I am very glad you liked it.
To answer your question... I don't know how they became zombies. These "pieces" tell stories from the perspective of ordinary people who wouldn't know how it happened-just that it has. Perhaps another piece will reveal that, I'm not sure yet.
Thank you again, I look forward to reading some of your work as well.
Cari