“What’s that?” asked Bobby.
“Do a full story on all this government cover up shit with the different strands. If the people knew they may have had a better chance.”
“You got it,” said Bobby as he let go of Sampson’s hand. They left each other for the final time. After nearly two days of being hunted by murderous goons in search of the answer for putting an end to the mayhem, the three men parted ways. Bobby and Troy loaded into the bus and closed the door, looking at Sampson as they pulled away. It would be a long and treacherous journey home, but with hope and faith, they would make it back in one piece.
HOME
Nikki’s struggle to keep Eddie quiet in the closet had nearly brought out the worst in her. She had feared over the past two days that she would accidently take her own son’s life. The only thing she feared more than that would be taking his life purposefully. He tested every nerve that she has in her body and the strain of dealing with his restlessness was breaking her body down to the point beyond repair. The night before had been a complete nightmare, something of the sorts out of a 1970s horror movie. It’s been four days since she’s had to barricade herself in the house with Eddie terrorizing her from within and the blood thirsty crazies trying to break in every once in awhile when they would smell the fresh blood that would occasionally drip from the wound on Nikki’s arm. She wondered aimlessly about the house trying to make sense of everything and why she had to suffer so much more than anyone else.
She had occasionally checked on Eddie throughout the night to make sure he was still alive. She dared to not open the closet door and she didn’t want to wake him and start the bloodthirsty whines and fits he would throw from inside the closet. She did her best to lean as close to the door as possible without making a sound so she could hear his breathing from the inside and know that he is still alive. At one point around three in the morning she thought that Eddie had died in the closet. She became so terrified that she pulled the chair away from the door and just before she opened it Eddie started banging on the door and screaming. He had sounded as though he were speaking some devilish language that would come from the mouth of someone during an exorcism. She had felt relieved that she had not opened the door in fear of what Eddie would do to her and she felt a sense of relief that he had not died in the closet. She hated herself for thinking about what people would think of a woman leaving her only son in the closet to die. There would be no form of child abuse more tragic she imagined.
Nikki reached down and grabbed her aching arm. The blood had clotted and her arm had finally stopped bleeding during the night. The blood soaked bandages clearly needed changing, but the only thing left would be a ripped piece of t-shirt or a kitchen towel. She had been keeping the bandages changed regularly so that Eddie wouldn’t get a smell of the blood and start off into another one of his “vampire” type fits.
Nikki wept nearly the entire four days, wondering if Bobby was still alive and if he would magically come back and save them. She missed her husband and wished that he were there to help her during the hardest time of her life. It’s becoming too much for her to handle and her time of need is now. She wants Bobby home more than anything and she hates the fact that he had left even after Eddie had gotten sick. She felt anger against Bobby’s boss and wished that Mr. Masterson died a horrible death. Being eaten alive by his employees at the news station wouldn’t be too far fetched and seemed like a logical possibility. She reassured herself that the prick son of a bitch is dead because even if someone were not blood thirsty and crazy they would kill the asshole anyway. She would probably do it herself if she wasn’t stuck in the house with Eddie flying off the deep end constantly. She kept playing it out in her mind about the old bastard forcing Bobby to take the trip to Kentucky to do a stupid news story for them. The only people that watch the Cheyenne news actually live in Cheyenne and if they wanted to know what’s going on in some other place they would watch one of the big dogs. Not the Channel 4 News.
She looked down at her arm as she sat at the kitchen table and wondered if there would be any end to the madness. It’s ten o’clock in the morning according to the battery operated radio sitting on the kitchen counter. The power had been out for nearly two days and the food in the refrigerator is beginning to spoil. The milk had long since gone bad and she dared not drink it. She wouldn’t take a chance to consume anything that had come from a cow, much less any other animal for that matter. No sense in taking any unnecessary risks. She had been living off the packages of noodles in the pantry and the bottled water that she kept in case of emergencies. She laughed for a moment as she thought of Bobby hounding her for stocking up on extra canned goods and bottled water. He had said, “That’s silly honey. They’re not going to close any of the restaurants up here during the winter. This place was built in the snow.” But it wasn’t built during the fucking apocalypse now was it Bobby? She laughed again as she looked out of the kitchen window. She wondered what it would feel like to be outside once again; what it would be like to live peacefully as though nothing had happened and if everything was back to normal. It would be wonderful, she thought.
She leaned back in the chair and looked at the white speckled ceiling and it brought back the memory of Eddie’s birth. The bright lights in the delivery room of the hospital had shined in her eyes and she could feel the pain of the lights burning her eyes. She was surprised at the fact that she could feel anything else besides the terrible stretching of her womanhood being torn between her legs. My God, how ironic, she thought. Eddie was born at 10:05 a.m. With that thought, she shook herself back to reality and stood up from her chair. She walked to the hallway and looked at the closet. The chair was undisturbed and resting peacefully in front of the door. She wondered if Eddie was dead on the other side. She hated herself for the thought, but told herself that if it were true then the pain and suffering would be over for them both. Maybe Eddie is dead, she thought. Maybe he isn’t suffering anymore. Maybe I can open the door and reach in and grab him, just hold him in my arms and rock him. The thought hurt, but it kept consuming her mind. Eddie being dead seemed more logical of a solution to the problem than letting him continue to suffer. She looked back in the kitchen and her eyesight seemed to be drawn straight to the kitchen knives that rested in the wooden stand on the counter. There’s one empty slot that usually housed the butcher knife that she had used to carve her neighbors up a few days ago. She had put it in the dishwasher so she wouldn’t have to watch the blood rinse away under the water coming from the sink faucet. She stared at the handle of next largest knife in its wooden slot. She wondered to herself if she could do it. Eddie has had to suffer more than anyone the past four days. He hasn’t eaten or drank any water. He must be suffering. I have to do something. He’s my son for goodness sake.
She grabbed the handle of the knife and pulled it from the wooden holder. It made a slicing sound as its shiny blade protruded from the wood and the morning light from the kitchen window reflected on the long blade. She gripped the handle tight and held it as though she were ready to slice and dice a tomato. She felt her heart skip several beats. Her breathing sped up and she felt a strange wheezing in her chest with every breath she let in and out. Her hands trembled and she nearly dropped the knife at her feet. She had to sit down. She can’t do it just yet.
Time passed slower than a dying clock with a cheap battery. Nikki sat in the kitchen chair with the knife clenched between her palms as she stared at the floor. Memories of her and Bobby kept playing over and over in her mind. Memories of Eddie would come and go. She tried her best to not think of them both. She wondered if she would have to go on the rest of her life without Bobby and what it would be like to take care of a son that is infected with some unknown disease. She wondered how long Eddie would live in the condition that he is in. She told herself that the most caring mother would do it in her situation. Why put the boy through anymore suffering than he has already been through. Just do it already.
She stood up from her chair and looked down at her hands and stared at the knife. Her legs began to shake. She could feel a strange trembling sensation run up and down her spine. Along with it came a slight pain that struck her from head to toe and back to her head again. She turned to see the dimly lit hallway and listened for Eddie. She heard not a sound and hoped that it wouldn’t be necessary to use a kitchen knife to take away his pain and suffering. She walked to the doorway between the kitchen and the hallway and looked at the chair against the closet door. Still no sound. She walked into the hallway and stopped in front of the chair. Still no sound. I hope he’s dead already. God, please spare me from this horrible deed that I must follow through with. She looked at the closet door and a strange feeling overtook her body. She felt light headed and weak in the knees. She reached for the closet doorknob, but before she could grasp it, she collapsed in the chair. She had fainted.
There had been no communication from the television or radio towers for four days and not one sound from a helicopter or a military vehicle driving by. Nikki had been scared to look out of the windows, but whenever she mustered up the courage, she could see nothing but rotting carcasses and abandoned vehicles. The smell of the bodies laying in the streets had crept through the inefficient window seals and filled the house with a foul smell that would surely take years to cover up. Not a living soul had been in sight for days and Nikki had begun to think she and Eddie were the only two human beings left alive. It was as though they were on some deserted island, left to fend for themselves with little food and water they couldn’t consume. It is literally a ghost town in the middle of Cheyenne. Something that she never thought would ever be possible given this day in age. Cheyenne had been just like any other town. Even in the snow, people would still be wondering about. There is no snow on this autumn morning, but the town is deader than any place Nikki had been to across the country.
Nikki awoke at the sound of the alarm clock on the kitchen counter. She had forgotten to change the setting from a.m. to p.m. when she set the time. It’s now three o’clock in the afternoon. She felt her stomach tighten up as she tried to sit up in the chair. She knew she needed something to drink, but the thought of Eddie suffering in the closet behind her took over her thoughts again. The knife had fallen to the floor in front of her and rested at her feet. She leaned over to pick it up, but the pain in her stomach jerked her back in the chair. She tried to muffle her painful screams in fear of waking Eddie, if he’s not already dead.
She slowly bent down and grabbed the knife. She looked at the long blade and how sharp it is. She pictured herself sliding it into Eddie’s little chest. It wouldn’t’ hurt him for very long. The pain and suffering would be over for him and he would surely be in a better place. She gazed at the knife and twirled it in her hands. She turned and looked at the closet door. Tears began to run down the sides of her cheeks. What is she thinking? She can’t kill her only son. It’s never too late. There has to be a way to survive this madness. She threw the knife from her hands and it landed at the end of the hallway and clanked off the baseboard of the wall. It rattled back and forth for a moment and then it lay still and lifeless. She closed her eyes and took several deep breaths and tried to rid her mind of the thought that she was only minutes away from killing Eddie. She wondered if she had gone through with it, would anything actually turn out better? She had seen a horror movie one time where the actor killed the others off so they wouldn’t have to suffer any longer. Nearly a minute after he pulled the trigger, he was saved. Bad timing for sure.
She pulled the curtain back in the living room and peaked out into the darkness. She kept her flashlight off just incase anymore of the hostiles would see her. She looked out in agony and sadness, wondering how such a thing could have happened, given all the medical technology and the advances in medicine in the country. She wondered to herself if this epidemic had spread worldwide. She sat down and leaned her head against the window ledge and began to cry. All she could think of was missing Bobby and him not being there to help care for their son. She wondered if Bobby had encountered the same ordeal and if he had made it through alive. She reassured herself that Bobby is a Marine with combat training. Her smile fell away and she became a little discouraged when she remembered that his job was taking pictures, not necessarily fighting off the enemy. She made herself laugh for a moment at the thought of Bobby’s using his camera to “shoot” someone to death.
Maybe he’ll come back with some nice pictures of this combat zone.
She laughed again, but abruptly stopped. Her laugh turned to a slight whimper, thinking about the town being a combat zone and the enemy being their neighbors. No one can be trusted, but of course, she hasn’t seen a living soul in four days and if Bobby did return, would she be able to trust that he didn’t turn into one of them? She tried even harder to hold on to her faith and promised to God that she would do anything He wanted so long as Bobby comes home alive and well.
Eddie was sleeping quietly in the closet in the hallway where he had been since she barricaded him in there when this all first went down. Nikki would slip food in between the door and quickly shut it back again. She could hear him eat as she cried out of sorrow for keeping her son locked in a closet for nearly four days.
Nikki sat on the floor in the kitchen, watching the clock on the counter as it slowly moved past two o’clock in the morning. The house was completely quiet as she sat there with her head in her palms. It was a perfectly quiet night, all except for a distant engine roaring down the road that seemed to get a little louder with each passing moment. She ignored it at first, thinking it was an old generator someone left running and the deadness of the night made it echo louder and louder as time went slowly by. As the sound became louder and more distinct, Nikki jumped up, surprised and scared at the same time, not knowing whether it could be help, or if the crazy meat eaters have figured out how to use vehicles to maneuver around the streets. The noise became louder and louder. It’s definitely a car engine, she thought. Nikki ran to the window and carefully peaked out. She held the curtain slightly back and looked out with one eye. She kept her flashlight off and tucked away in her shirt in case she would accidently push the ON button and shine the light, giving away her location. She could see the headlights in the distance. She became more scared and anxious as the sound and lights got closer. Suddenly, the noise became familiar to Nikki. It was a noise that she was all too familiar with from her childhood. She heard it every morning at 6:45 to pick her up and at 3:15 in the afternoon pulling away after dropping her off. And if you weren’t on time you were shit out of luck.