She tugged at the door
with caution, but smiled when it opened. Yay! The mall was open. With
a sigh of relief, she pulled off the sunglasses and stuck them inside
her bag.
The air was nice and
cool inside the mall and after nearly an hour on the highway with the
sun beating down on her, she was happy to be indoors. Since budget
wasn’t going to be an issue today, she headed straight for
Saks. Three stories of shopping bliss.
She didn’t pass a
single soul on the way there and she noticed with disappointment that
several of the smaller stores were closed. Notes posted on the doors
said they were temporarily closed due to illness.
Saks was open and
Karmen nearly cheered. Even if she just spent the whole morning in
this one store, she’d be happy. She made her way to the shoe
department, but after choosing six different pairs to try on, she
couldn’t find anyone to help her get the right size. Annoyed,
she called out to the empty store.
“Hello?”
No one came running out
from the back or from anywhere. She checked the desk for one of those
little service bells, but there wasn’t one. This place was just
dead.
Annoyed, Karmen peered
into the back room where they kept all the shoes. “Hello?
Anyone here? I need help with a shoe size, please.”
Still no answer.
Karmen rolled her eyes
and gathered the display shoes in her hands, weaving the straps
around her fingers so she could carry all six pairs at once. Then,
she stepped into the cool room. Shoes were stacked on racks from
floor to ceiling. She navigated through the pairs until she found the
one she liked best—a pair of ultra red heels. She slipped off
one of her mom’s Prada’s and set the red one on the
floor, but just as her foot slipped inside, someone screamed.
The sound made her jump
about a mile into the air.
At first, she thought
maybe the manager had discovered her here in the back and was yelling
at her. But when she looked around, she didn’t see anyone.
Her heart thundered
against her ribs and her mouth went dry. She leaned against the shoe
rack for a second, catching her breath, then peeked around the corner
to see if she could figure out who was yelling.
When she looked out
into the main department store, she heard another scream to her left.
She jerked her head toward the sound, but only caught sight of a rack
of clothes as it toppled over. Footsteps clacked against the tile
walkway in the distance. More screams. Two or three people now.
And another scream
coming from further in the distance. Maybe upstairs?
Karmen backed away from
the door. What the hell?
She stood, frozen, not
sure where to turn. What if this was some kind of mall shooting?
She’d heard of things like that happening before, but she
hadn’t heard any shots. But something was obviously terrorizing
people out there.
A woman ran into view
and Karmen stepped forward again, clutching the door frame. Fear was
plastered across the woman’s face. She kept looking behind her,
her eyes wide and crazed. Something behind her moved among the
clothing racks and Karmen’s mouth dropped open. She looked
away, pretending she hadn’t just seen a man with his face
covered in blood. What was happening?
The woman screamed
again and took off at a run, but somewhere on the other side of a
makeup counter, she stumbled and fell to the ground, out of Karmen’s
site. The woman’s screams were horrifying and something
growled, low and hungry.
Whatever fear had held
Karmen to her spot in the dark back room let her go and she ran. She
darted through the shoes, past the perfume displays and out into the
main mall. Behind her, glass broke and scattered across the floor.
She didn’t turn around. Growls and moans echoed through the
hallway and something that sounded like bare feet slapped against the
floor, running toward her.
She flew through the
mall, retracing her steps back to the main entrance. She pushed
through the doors and out into the sweltering heat of the
mid-morning. When she got to her car, her hands were trembling so
badly, she had a hard time getting the key in the ignition.
After several misses,
she finally felt the key slide in and she turned it, the car roaring
to life. She threw the car in reverse and dared a single glance
toward the entrance. Something inside slammed against the glass
doors, blood spraying against them.
Karmen screamed and
punched the gas, spinning her tires as she sped away.
She took the side
streets home this time, and got halfway there before she even noticed
she was still wearing one red shoe and one black.
The sound of her
mother’s voice filled the room.
Parrish let the beauty
of it wash over her. The recording was from her mother’s last
performance of Madame Butterfly at the Kennedy Center, the year
before Zoe was born. Even though they’d had their
disagreements, Parrish had always loved to hear her mother sing.
For the first time
since her mother’s death, the truth of it all came crashing
down on her. Tears flowed out of her like a river of regret. She
would never get the chance to tell her mother how much she loved her.
Or how sorry she was for every time she’d talked back to her or
complained about her obsession with Zoe’s music.
Parrish sank down to
her knees on the soft carpet of the living room floor.
Sobs shook her body,
and her cries mingled with her mother’s soaring voice. She’d
been so good at pushing everyone away, so scared that if she let them
know how much she cared, she’d end up hurt. But now she was
alone and she’d never really told her parents how much she
loved them.
Un bel di, vedremo
levarsi un fil di fumo sull’estremo confin del mare. E poi la
nave appare.
Her mother’s
voice was so pure beautiful. It echoed deep inside Parrish’s
heart.
What was she going to
do? She was all alone, and she didn’t even know if her father
was still alive. Was Zoe still alive? She’d promised her sister
she would come for her, but how was she going to get there on her
own? She’d been watching the news. The highways were flooded
with people trying to get away from the sickness, but the truth was
there was nowhere to go. The infection was everywhere.
New York City had to be
complete chaos. Everything she’d seen online or the news about
the city said there was looting, car accidents and even fires taking
over parts of the city. How was she going to find her sister in the
middle of all that?
She doubled over and
let her head rest against the floor as she cried.
Parrish groaned. The
sound began deep in her belly and vibrated up through her ribs and
her chest. She pounded her fists against the floor and let her sorrow
consume her. Nothing would ever be the same again.
A strange burning
coldness on her cheek caught her attention and she sat up suddenly.
She raised her hand to her cheek and there it was again. Frozen
tears.
Confused, she stood up
and walked to the mirror over her mom’s piano. It was smashed
to hell, but there were a few pieces that were still intact. Parrish
stared at her reflection in awe. Her violet eyes looked even more
purple than usual. They seemed to glow deep inside and there was
frost gathering on her eyelashes. She brushed her fingertip across
her lash line and tiny flakes of snow flew off into the air.
Her mother’s aria
finished, drenching the room in silence. The hairs on the back of her
neck pricked up, and Parrish suddenly knew that she wasn’t
alone.
Slowly, she turned her
head to the right. An older man she didn’t recognize stood in
the doorway of her living room. He was dressed in a soldier’s
uniform. Camouflage green with thick black boots. His eyes looked
funny.
Parrish felt an
overpowering urge to flee, but something deep inside calmed her. Her
bones hummed with an energy she’d never felt before. Every inch
of her body was on alert.
“Can I help you?”
she asked. Her voice sounded much calmer than she expected.
The soldier did not
answer. He just stared at her with his milky eyes. Drool ran down his
chin, and Parrish grimaced. What was he doing in her house? Was he
hurt? Did he need help? Something wasn’t right about him. After
all the recent news about looters, she wondered if he was here to rob
her.
Or worse.
“Take what you
need and get out of here,” she shouted.
The soldier took a step
forward. He walked with a weird limp, and Parrish thought it looked
like maybe he had a broken ankle. It was pointed at an angle that
looked extremely painful, but the soldier didn’t even seem to
notice. How was he even walking on that thing?
From the corner of her
eye, she saw movement on the other side of the room. The front door
of her house creaked open. Stepping back, she looked toward the front
door and saw another figure lurking in the shadows. The living room
had two exits, and now both were blocked by strangers.
The figure in the front
hallway stumbled forward. It was a woman. She had grey hair and was
wearing a blue nightgown smeared with blood. Unlike the soldier,
Parrish recognized this woman as an older lady who lived at the far
end of the subdivision, but she couldn’t remember her name. She
looked bad. Worse than bad.
As the woman staggered
into the room, Parrish saw that her mouth was dripping with dark red
blood. Her eyes were glazed over with a milky whiteness, just like
the soldier. Something was definitely very wrong. Parrish felt her
heartbeat vibrating all the way up through her chest and into her
throat. She tried to take in a deep breath, but it felt high and
shallow.
The soldier took
another awkward step forward. His boot caught on the carpet and she
heard an awful crack as his ankle turned all the way around. She
looked up at his face in surprise, expecting him to react or scream.
Instead, he kept moving toward her, dragging his ankle along the
carpet.
Parrish felt her
stomach lurch, but she swallowed it back. These people looked similar
to how her mom had looked the night she died. Deep, hollow pockets
with dark circles under their eyes. Dried out lips and skin. But they
were different, too. Worse.
Their eyes looked dead
and their skin was almost grey except where the dark bruises made it
look more black or dark purple.
How were they even
walking if they were so sick? Her mother hadn’t even been able
to lift her head toward the end.
“Do you need
help?” she asked, reaching for a large shard of broken mirror
on top of the piano. The old woman’s head jerked toward her
when she moved.
That’s when
Parrish remembered the sword. Her katana lay on the floor just out of
reach.
The old woman took
several steps in Parrish’s direction, her arms reaching
forward. A low moan escaped from her open mouth, blood dribbling onto
the floor. Parrish stepped backward, her back pressed against the
wall.
She didn’t think
she’d be able to get to the sword without getting too close to
those things.
“What do you
want?” Parrish shouted at them, but they still did not answer.
“Get out of here!”
The two strangers
ignored her shouts. They staggered forward with slow, awkward steps.
Parrish suddenly
realized she was cornered. If she didn’t move now, she wouldn’t
have any where to turn. She didn’t know exactly what the
soldier and the old lady wanted from her, but she knew it couldn’t
be good. The closer the woman got to her, the more she started to
growl. She bared her teeth like a hungry animal, and Parrish got the
creepy feeling the woman wanted to bite her.
The soldier took
another step, so close now that Parrish could smell his stink. He was
foul, like a rotten melon or a dead rat.
He lunged toward her,
his jaw coming unhinged.
She screamed.
The music blasting next
door was driving her insane. Karmen wasn’t exactly a fan of
listening to some woman practically screaming her guts out through a
loud speaker. Especially after the day she’d had.
Outside, it was a
really nice evening. One of those rare summer nights when the breeze
was steady and cool. Karmen had opened the windows in her bedroom
after the sun set and the breeze rolled in. Then, she sank down into
her comfy bed and pulled the fluffy down comforter over her body. It
had been days since she’d really slept.
Losing contact with
everyone you know kind of did that to a girl.
Now she had this image
of the woman’s face from that department store to deal with,
too. She’d never seen such terror in someone’s eyes. And
what was up with the bloody man?
Like a miracle, she had
actually been able to find sleep despite her gruesome thoughts. For
approximately twenty-eight minutes. Then the music started.
At first, Karmen had
just tried to ignore it. She didn’t want to unravel herself
from her cocoon, so she burrowed in deeper, pulling a pillow over her
head.
But the music was so
loud.
With all of the windows
open, it was practically as if someone was standing in her room
singing at the top of their lungs. She knew exactly where the music
was coming from, too, which only annoyed her more. Who else would be
listening to opera at this hour?
Parrish had been her
neighbor for as long as she could remember. They’d even been
best friends way back when. But ever since they got to middle school,
Parrish had turned into a total weirdo. She stopped talking to her
about normal things like boys and clothes. Instead, she started
pouting and listening to weird music. Her style completely changed
and she just got so depressing. Karmen had no idea what Parrish’s
problem was, but she didn’t care.
She just wanted to
sleep.