Containment (22 page)

Jerry continued, “We can look for a new car or something on the move. We’re bound to find something. Besides, Charles already said the only cars in a several block radius don’t have keys in them.”

Charles added, “And I drained most of the gas from all of them already too. Sorry.”

Neil shook his head, “You don’t have to apologize for that. Any other ideas or questions?” The room was silent. “C’mon people. This can’t be just left up to me. What do all of you think?”

Claire said, “I think we should stay here, but you guys seem to know what you’re doin’, so I’m in.”

Neil let out a single, half-hearted chuckle, “Don’t kid yourself. There are no experts for what is going on. We’ve been lucky, that’s all. Jerry’s thoughts about those things aren’t absolute. There was no training or preparation for any of this. We’ve been learning as we went, and only time will tell whether the lessons learned are helpful or not.”

Dr. Caldwell interjected, “I think we’re all just safer when we stick together and watch out for one another. I think Neil and Jerry are right about staying on the move though. Out there, we’ll find more cars, more food...”

Art chimed in, “And more of
them
.”

The doctor, not fazed by Art’s comment, continued. “Perhaps. But how long before they find us here and then we’re forced back on the road on their terms and not ours? We still have ample sunlight and enough supplies that we can carry to keep us moving for days to come. I think if we are going to be back on the road, I’d rather go now than later. And Neil, I think we should head north. We can get onto Elmendorf and then cut east toward the Knik Crossing. Who knows what we’ll find on the military base?”

Art added, “Yeah, who knows for sure? How fast will we be able to move with two kids in tow and our backs loaded with stuff? If we get into a chase with those things, we’re screwed. Has anyone considered that?”

Claire shot him a look from across the room, started to speak, thought better of it, and then let go with, “Art, shut the fuck up! You act like you’d be lookin’ out for anyone other than your own ass! You don’t care about these kids any more than you care about anyone else sitting down here.”

Art looked stung. He took in a deep breath while she spoke and then let it out in his defense. “Listen to you, you hypocrite. If you hadn’t followed me and done exactly what I did, then you would never have made it. You aren’t any better than me or anyone else who’s still breathing. Instead of accusing me of being somehow less of a person than you, maybe you oughta be thanking me. I can’t believe how stupid you can be and how deluded. Jesus Christ! Look at you over there, smug and secure in your opinions of yourself. You ran just like I did and you’ll do it again. When all is said and done, it’s every man for himself. At least I’m adult enough to admit it. So yeah, I am primarily interested in saving my own ass. Are you willing to tell me that you aren’t?”

She shook her head.

“Bullshit! When we’re being chased and those things are right on our heels, are you going to be willing to carry that little girl there and slow yourself down? I don’t think so and neither will any of the rest of you. You’ll just keep on running and try and not hear her screaming for help. Afterward, you’ll convince yourself that it was for the best anyway. You’ll swallow your guilt—or maybe not—but you’ll still be alive and that’s what matters. That’s what we all want.”

“I don’t want it at any price,” Claire spat. “I’d never abandon this little girl.” She paused and looked over at Jules and then at Danny, “Never. I’d give up my own life before I’d do that. Do you both understand?”

Art sneered. “Oh yeah? What about Joan? Your friend back at the hotel? When she was grabbed, did you stop to help her?”

Claire shook her head and tried to hold back the tears, “That wasn’t the same.”

“Why not? Wasn’t she your friend? Hadn’t she saved your life? The only difference here is that she was an adult and these are kids. You ran then and you’ll run again. You’ll see. All of you will. When the fear fills your thoughts and pure instinct takes over, the only thing that you’ll be able to do is run.”

Claire was crying by then and shaking her head as she stared at the floor, “You’re wrong.” She whispered emphatically, “You’re wrong.”

Art stood up and went up the stairs, saying as he did, “We’re making a mistake. You’ll all see.”

They decided that it made the most sense to leave the next morning so that they would have a full day of sunlight in which to move. They packed backpacks full of cereal bars, water bottles, various survival supplies, and ammunition for the guns they elected to take. The backpacks were heavy, but there was a sense of security in their weight. Everyone, including Jules and Danny, carried supplies on their backs. Despite the still warmish days, they also each wore extra layers of clothes, so that vital backpack space would be available for the other necessities.

At first light the next morning, they all rose and headed out the door. Charles and Moe walked them out across the Park Strip and into the edge of downtown.

Neil and Charles shook hands. “You look out for them and everything will be all right,” Charles said as he looked over Neil’s shoulder into the deserted streets of downtown Anchorage. “If you get into a fix, make your way back here. Moe and I will keep an eye out for you.”

Neil nodded and said, “Thank you so much for all that you’ve done for us. You’ll never be forgotten, and if we do find a way out of this mess, we’ll be sure to come back for the two of you.”

“You just worry about getting yourselves to safety. Ol’ Moe and I will be just fine. Won’t we old boy?”

Jules left Emma’s side and ran to Charles. She wrapped her little arms around his legs and hugged him tightly. He placed his palm on the top of her head and stroked her soft blond hair. “Now you run along, Jules, and keep an eye on these folks for me and Moe.” She looked up at him but didn’t say a word. He looked back down at her and smiled. With that, she ran back over to Emma and took her hand.

As they walked away, Charles and Moe turned themselves about and headed back to their home. Neil wondered if maybe they were making a mistake by leaving. There was a sense of security back at Charles’ house. He knew, though, that the security was more than likely a mirage that could be shattered at any given moment; like the security that all the residents of Anchorage who had lived and worked in the buildings to either side of him had embraced for so long.

The air stirred as they made their way into the city proper. There were large professional buildings to either side and the empty cavernous barn of the new convention center in front. Whatever isolation or desolation any of them had felt in the suburban sections of the city paled in comparison to wandering the stark emptiness of a city as large as Anchorage. The grey city streets, typically packed with walking pedestrians and driving motorists, were as vacant as a tomb.

Neil was careful to put them on a course to detour them around the Transit Center, the public transit hub of downtown Anchorage. He didn’t know if they should suspect pockets of zombies anywhere, but he figured it just made sense to play it safe and avoid places to which people might have fled and then been trapped. He was only guessing though. There were no sounds or smells or anything really to help his decisions; only gut instinct.

Marching in a single file line down the middle of the street like a claustrophobic parade, the column of survivors kept a vigilant watch on windows and doors and alleys and cars and.... There just seemed to be an endless list of threats and traps all around them. Neil was concerned that the farther they went, the deeper into danger he led them.

A flutter of movement from a recessed doorway caught all of their eyes. They gathered themselves into a tight circle while Neil and Jerry went forward, weapons at the ready, to investigate.

Neil suggested as they walked forward, “Use your scope and see if you can make anything out.”

“I already looked through,” Jerry replied, “but there are potted plants and walls in the way.”

Breathing deeply and letting it out slowly, Neil nodded and continued ahead. There in the doorway was a group of ravens. He remembered that a group of crows was called ‘a murder’, and wondered about the name applied to a group of ravens. The two species of birds seemed to share so much in common. It was of little consequence that Neil didn’t know a group of ravens was called ‘an unkindness’ because both names seemed fitting under the circumstances. Whether it was a murder or ‘an unkindness,’ the birds, black as nightmares, were picking away at something on the ground that was still out of view.

“What is it?” Meghan asked from back in the group, startling both Jerry and Neil.

Neil raised his hand as they cleared the last of the obstructions. The brown, blood-stained and shattered bones of a corpse, mutilated and dismembered, were being picked clean by the fluttering scavengers. There were tiny bits of clothing on the ground around the body but, other than a blizzard of bird droppings, not much else was present.

Again Meghan asked, “What is it?”

Neil and Jerry jumped again at hearing her voice. They looked at one another for just a second and then Neil said, “It’s nothing. You guys just keep moving on up the road. Just some birds getting into some old trash.”

Jerry said quietly, “I think maybe we should get away from these birds. If they’re carrying the infection, there’s no telling how it could affect them. Remember the dogs.”

Suddenly very concerned, Neil raised the shotgun in his hands toward the birds and then backed away with Jerry.
And this is only the first block
, Neil thought to himself grimly.

And thus began the not-so-enthusiastic journey through the barren remains of a city ravaged and claimed by a plague.

Have you ever been somewhere that you could have sworn you’d been before, but try as you might, you can’t seem to make anything about it seem familiar? That was happening with every step as the group of survivors marched slowly into the heart of Anchorage. To Meghan, it reminded her of the time she came home from school and found a man in their kitchen who sounded like her dad, was wearing her dad’s clothes, and acted like her dad but was missing his trademark mustache. It was the weirdest thing. She was set completely off balance by the alteration. It actually took her a couple of days to truly get used to the new look. She wasn’t sure that an entire lifetime would afford her enough time to get used to the “new” Anchorage. Only thing was, Anchorage’s mustache hadn’t been shaved off; it had been ripped viciously from its face. The mangled mess remaining could never again look as it once did.

Walking in a generally northerly direction, Jerry suddenly stopped when he caught a whiff of an unfortunately familiar stench. “I think I can smell ‘em. Yep. It’s definitely them. That’s an odor that sticks in the memory.”

Dr. Caldwell asked, “Coming from where?”

“I don’t know but it’s not that strong. Either there’s just one of ‘em or they’re not too close.”

Claire almost cried, “I fucking hate this. Why didn’t we find a car first?”

Jerry said over his shoulder, “We’re gonna be okay. Just...”

At that moment, from the building to their right, a window several floors up shattered into a thousand glistening shards of glass and rained down on the street next to them. And quickly on the heels of the glass, three of the undead beasts fell to the pavement with a horrible wet slapping sound. The three were piled one atop the other and still writhing, tangled and mingled like worms in the bottom of a can.

Claire did cry this time, “Oh sweet Jesus.”

From the top of the pile, the first of the zombies finally got its hands under itself enough to raise up to its feet. Its movements were stiff and seemingly inorganic, like a living statue...a golem come to life. Its skin, an ashen, lifeless grey, was drawn tightly across its facial features, starting to recede slightly from its eyes. It didn’t look real and it certainly didn’t look like it was once a human being. When its jaw lowered, it exposed a mouth utilizing a hit or miss approach with teeth. There was a molar missing here and an incisor missing there. This incisor was cracked in half while that eyetooth had been honed into a threatening point. Its first steps were no more fluid or natural than any of its other movements.

As it stepped forward, the second one from the pile arose in much the same fashion as the first, though this second one had been a woman, under better circumstances. The third didn’t seem to be moving at all. Perhaps the fall had crushed its skull and ended its misery.

Malachi stepped forward and fired two shots in quick succession into the closest one. The first shot took off its still lowered jaw and the second shot caught it just below the eye. The impact from both rounds hurled the beast tumbling head over tail backward where it came to a motionless rest, looking more like an abandoned pile of rags and trash than a body.

The second one, wearing a dress and one high-heeled shoe, didn’t seem to even notice that its accomplice had been dispatched. It just came awkwardly forward with its emaciated arms extending out toward them. Its horrible, hunger-filled moan reached out with its own icy fingers to tickle their spines. Neil, firing from his hip like a Hollywood action movie hero, hit her across her right upper chest and shoulder. She spun and twisted to the ground, but with a grunt and a series of audible pops and clicks from her shifting bones, she rose back to her feet and continued forward apparently unfazed.