“Jesus,” Jess said. “You’re fucking sick!”
Jess stomped out of the room and went back to the balcony, wondering how he could get out of the building. His hands clenched around the smartcard.
Jess hit a few buttons and it was soon dialling Michael’s number. The kid never went anywhere without his PAL.
The line cut out like it couldn’t make the call.
“Orson, can you try again?”
Sorry, this customer is currently unavailable. Please try again later.
“I need to get out of here,” Jess said, and stood up.
Aaron put a hand on his shoulder. “You can’t,” he said. “Not yet. We have to figure out a plan.”
Jess knocked his hand off.
“Where is the radio?”
“In the kitchen,” Aaron said, and he followed quickly behind, unsure of Jess’s mind frame.
The radio was sitting on the stove beside a clear plastic bag filled with dozens of tea lights, one of which was glowing in the corner of the kitchen. The radio was roughly the size of a television remote control, but cylindrical. Jess found the handle, turned it around in circles, the sound of which would have made Dustin think of helicopter blades whirring in the distance. He found the button that turned it on and a dial that navigated through the various channels. Aaron was right; they were all dead, giving off varying levels of empty static.
He sat back down beside Aaron.
“I was just kidding about eating the girl.”
“I don’t care about the fucking girl, but I’m still not eating her. I just want to get out of here. How many of those things do you think are outside the door right now?”
“I don’t know. There always seems to be a handful out there, but I’ve never opened the door to find out. My guess would be maybe four or at any given time.”
“But don’t you think that most would have been attracted by the opening at my place? They’ve probably all gone in to see what the commotion was about, don’t you think?”
“I don’t know man; all I know is every crazy motherfucker who has gone out there probably became hamburger meat.”
Aaron was repeatedly looking towards the hallway that led to the bedroom. Jess was trying to put the thoughts out of his mind about what had happened there.
Hunger has many meanings.
They took turns using the bathroom. Aaron was insistent that someone always eye the balcony and Jess couldn’t help but wonder how long it had been since Aaron had slept. They were there for about an hour. Jess was trying to formulate plans of escape.
Just when Jess started to feel certain that it was pointless to watch the balcony, the monsters on the other side found a way to break apart the wall that separated the two balconies.
The crumbling barrier was an altogether different sound that had both of them on their feet instantly. The things had been scraping at the bricks all night long. Soft scratches – flesh against concrete. It seemed harmless, like a prisoner banging his head against steel pipes. But something brought the wall down. Only a crescent moon section about a foot wide fell away, but it was enough to let some of them bridge the distance and others to whittle away what remained even further.
Aaron put his ear to the door.
“There’s still some in the hallway. Fuck!”
The creatures were coming over the expanse now like the critically injured from the worst of imaginable wars. They were all carcasses, walking somehow, some of them with flesh that was missing and hanging from their bones like old rotting leather.
Four of them were in the apartment when Aaron decided to dash to the kitchen. Jess picked up a screwdriver from the floor. Aaron came back with fire in his hand. A torch perhaps, or a burning rag – it was hard to tell, but he flung it at the first of the beasts through the balcony door.
“Back!” Aaron yelled, pushing Jess out of the way.
The first creature had a little patch of flame on his chest that slowly grew into an-out-of-control blast of fire.
The second and third creatures forced their way past, catching and dragging Aaron down to the ground. There were screams – first Aaron’s and then more coming from the bedroom. More were behind, coming towards Jess. His hand was already on the deadbolt of the door and he turned it, pulling open the door and flinging himself into the darkened hallway.
There were indeed monsters out here. Two in fact, but both in such bad shape that they couldn’t stand up. One was a short old man in a blue workman’s outfit on who growled at Jess as he stepped over them carefully and found the stairwell that led him back downwards.
Going down the stairs presented new difficulties, and although it was less strenuous physically than going up, he was moving slowly, making sure his foot was firmly planted before shifting his weight. His footsteps echoed all around him and small noises could be heard off in the distance. It was like a giant concrete vacuum that he descended and it created a strange cocoon of sound. At one point he heard screaming and panicked. He started to move faster, despite the darkness, only his foot slipped on something and he fell down the better part of a flight of stairs, slamming his shoulder and face into the wall.
He stopped in the foyer and stepped forward to the glass, peering into the darkness. Those things were still walking around the front lawn, though there seemed to be less than before. He waited a few moments, wondering if Toni was going to show up again, perhaps noticing his scent.
There were also some lying on the ground, writhing grey bodies on the grass and concrete like they had all come out the wrong side of a gang war. These were likely the ones who had fallen from above. Broken bones and twisted appendages but still none of them quite seemed to be dead. Some moved, low groans escaping their mouths. None asked for help.
He checked his pockets for something, anything that could be used as a weapon. He came up with Toni’s keys in one hand and in the other a small vial of vodka, enough to warm him up and possibly give him the courage to carry on. The key was ridiculously heavy. In years past people used to apparently walk around with a dozen keys on a ring, which now seemed completely preposterous.
The lone key was for the safe place at her parent’s house. The old couple were sensible that way at least – he was still a parent and they seemed to genuinely care for the welfare of Dustin and Michael.
The lobby had a small cloth sofa against a far wall. Jess made his way to it and sat down. He opened the bottle of vodka and questioned his motivation.
He had been fighting all this time; the thing keeping him going was the thought that Toni and the boys would be alive. Now Toni was one of those sick monsters and the boys were missing - potentially anywhere in this giant rat maze.
The vodka threatened to melt his nostril hairs when he placed the bottle to his nose. He wished he had found a bigger bottle.
But before he drank, the key fell out of his hands onto the floor and started a thought in his head. The accident had happened quite late and Toni would have likely been getting the kids ready for bed since it was a school night. The high school was several streets over. Not far at all if one was lucky and young.
His mind was racing with possibilities. What if they were dead? They could be anywhere. Even if they were at the school – what would they be eating? He brought the bottle to his nose and smelled. It was such a welcoming odour –
drink me and I’ll make it all go away
.
“I’m tired Orson,” he said, raising the bottle to his lips. “Is there any way out of this?”
“Historians believe the men who met with most success in life were those who had a passion for something that kept them going – I guess you need to find that passion.”
Jess kept thinking about the school. Nowadays, they built those buildings like fortresses, with bars over the windows and locked doors everywhere – parents couldn’t even get in without the right authorization.
When he picked the key up he saw the one for Toni’s car. He went back to the stairwell and descended each step, his pace quickening with his new found enthusiasm back in place. The key was held tightly like spikes between the fingers of his fist. He remembered many years ago Toni coming home from a self-defense course and telling Jess about the idea. Move to punch someone in the face and the key could end up hitting an eye. In desperate circumstances, it seemed like a good plan.
The parking garage was like a dark cavern full of unknown dangers. It curved like a circular spiral about three floors down. There were thick concrete support beams between each parking space that lent plenty of space for shadows to play their tricks.
Jess got to Toni’s parking spot and found the minivan arse-out, as Toni was apt to do.
“Orson, can you unlock the doors.”
“Let me check. Okay, the doors are now unlocked.”
There was an audible click as the locks on the doors gave way.
He flung open one of the back doors, expecting nothing but inside was Dustin, cowered down in the space designed for legs and feet. Michael was in the front and screamed a torturous scream and came flying over the seats and out the door, punching and kicking like a crazed person.
Jess wrapped his arms around his oldest son, saying: “It’s me, Michael! It’s me, dad!”
Michael still struggled a few brief moments until he was able to make out his father’s face. Dustin also perked up and piled on top of the hug.
Jess pushed them back in the car and locked the doors. It smelled like something awful inside.
He hadn’t noticed this from the outside but the boys had stuck black garbage bags to all the windows.
“How long have you guys been in here?”
“I don’t know,” Michael said. “A few days I think. After the explosion mom told us to wait here. She said she was going to talk to the superintendent for a minute. We went upstairs about an hour later but we couldn’t find her.”
“Okay, you did good. It’s going to be alright now.”
Dustin sank back down in the rear seat and spoke quietly: “Where is mom?”
“I don’t know,” Jess said. “Maybe we can find her. There are a lot of sick people out there who just aren’t doing well. I don’t know if this was a chemical attack or what, but it’s not safe. Now what have you two been eating?”
Michael opened his backpack. He had a half-eaten banana and some crackers.
“We’ve been rationing our lunch.”
“Okay good, but that’s not going to last long and you guys stink. Let’s go inside to the laundry room and get cleaned up.”
The laundry room was a communal area with five washing machines and five dryers. There was a mirror, a big washtub sink and a small bathroom. The boys objected at first to bathing out of a large sink, especially without a privacy barrier but Jess insisted.
“You guys smell like you’ve been rolling around in each other’s sweat and shit for days. As happy as I was to hug you both, it was pretty disgusting all the same. Besides, I just might have something to make it worth your while.”
Out of his jacket pocket he retrieved the smartcard and held it out for his boys to see.
Michael’s eyes lit up.
“Orson?”
“Yep. Battery isn’t doing too well but I have a charger in my van.”
“Since when do you drive a van?”
“Since yesterday. Don’t ask.”
After they had cleaned themselves Jess handed over the PAL. Michael sat back with it and Dustin leaned in close to watch.
“Hi Orson,” Michael said.
“Just going to do some digging around, don’t mind me.”
“
I certainly won’t
,” Orson said.
Michael pressed a few buttons and then they all heard the ringing that indicated an outgoing call was in progress.
Hi, this is Toni. I can’t take your call at the moment...
“That means her smartcard is powered and on,” Michael said.
“It’s probably deep in her purse where she can’t hear it,” Dustin added. “She never answers.”
“It doesn’t seem she has her GPS on and I can’t reach her PAL,”
Orson added.
“Well, it gives us some extra hope,” Jess said. “Now listen, you guys look like you haven’t had a good meal in days. I’m going to go get the van ready and look for food at the store across the street.”
“I want to come,” Michael said.
“No way. It’s dangerous out there. People are acting crazy and violent. I need you to both wait here until I get back.”
Dustin started crying, big open-mouthed wailing like Jess hadn’t seen the kid do since he was a very little boy.
“What are you doing?” Jess said. “What’s going on?”
It was like he was consuming the sobs, trying to force them back inside so that he could talk.
“That’s what mom said before she left.”
“I won’t leave you guys for long, I promise,” Jess said. He looked into their eyes and saw uncertainty. “Michael, what time have you got?”
“8:46”
“Okay, good. I’ll be back within 30 minutes. That’s like no time at all.”
Jess closed the door behind him, saying as it shut: “Remember, don’t open the door unless you’re sure it’s me.”
He went back across the sharp cornered layout of the garage. There was a blue water hose coiled up on one side of the garage. He unscrewed it from the wall and attempted to siphon H-gas from some of the cars still in the garage. He had never done this before but saw it in movies – what he didn’t know was that the gasoline had a sweet flavour to it. Some had remained on his lips as he started the flow with his mouth. He had filled most of a large plastic bottle that he found in a nearby garbage bin.
There was a long set of stairs leading up to the rear of the building. He noticed that the garage door was open - probably the default action for when the power cuts. The boys were lucky the things on the street hadn’t found their way down. His face collided with various spider webs as he climbed the stairs. He pushed the door at the top open and was confronted with a cold wind coming off the valley at the back of the building. He hated having to leave the boys again so soon after finding them but it was incredibly dangerous out on the street and he needed a plan to get them safely to the van.
It was dark and save for the wind, quiet. A small children’s playground was covered in grey ash, not a single footprint had disturbed its cover. He walked slowly out to the front of the building, thinking that he could maybe move undetected in the darkness if he was quiet enough.
It took a few minutes to get to the van but it still sat where he left, windows all intact and nothing to be seen within the interior. He opened the rear doors and threw the empty can in the back.
When he turned, he was confronted by Toni.
She stood still and again cast her face upwards to the dark sky. Jess could have sworn for an instant that he saw her nostrils moving open and closed like a dog searching for a scent.
The opportunity to analyze the situation was soon lost as Toni’s attention suddenly changed and her white marble-like eyes moved to his position. Her arms went up and for a split second Jess remembered how badly he wanted to hold her all this time. Her mouth opened showing dirty teeth and she took a menacing step forward.
But at the exact moment that Jess’s brain was deciding whether to run or hit her, a phone rang with a melody that Jess found familiar.