When the Dead (26 page)

“Where
are we having breakfast today?” Ben asked Isobel after he’d finished brushing
his teeth with bottled water. The residents of Willow Brook had taken to having
weekly group breakfasts to create a better sense of community.

Isobel took a moment to think to herself who’d hosted the last breakfast.
“At Edward and Moira’s place,” she said as she stretched in front of the living
room window, “though I could easily have slept a few more hours.”

“Don’t go back to sleep, I’m hungry!” Ben said.

Isobel grabbed a sweater and opened the door to the hallway. Markus and
Jeff had just arrived at the door of 206 and Markus was knocking on it.

“Normally they have their door unlocked if they are hosting breakfast,”
Isobel said as she pointed to the doorknob.

Jeff reached out and tried it. “Locked,” he said.

Markus knocked again, this time harder and louder. A moment later they
could hear growling within the apartment. The growling became pounding and
clawing as Moira and Edward reached the other side of the door. They sounded
desperate to get out; like wild animals trapped in a cage.

“Not them.” Ben burst into tears and collapsed, hitting the floor
heavily.

“What’s going on?” Rob asked as he and Gabe approached the four a bit
late. He’d had to wait for the redness on Gabe’s cheek to diminish before
leaving their apartment. His son stood a small distance from him, still
slightly terrified of his father.

“Something happened to the Cabels. They are infected,” Isobel said
flatly. She was shocked.

“Gabe, go to Molly,” Rob told his son. He didn’t want the boy seeing anything
more that would traumatize him.

“But I’m hungry,” Gabe whined quietly and without making eye contact with
his dad.

“Breakfast is going to be a bit
delayed
. Go to her!” Rob yelled at
him. The others were surprised at the interaction. It wasn’t like Rob to be so severe
with his son. Gabe ran next door to find Molly while the others decided what to
do.

“It was only a matter of time before this would happen. We just didn’t
know when or to whom,” Jeff said.

“That doesn’t make this easier,” Isobel replied shortly.

She sat down next to Ben. “We need to deal with this,” she whispered to
him.

“I know,” Ben responded just as quietly.

“We should get Vaughn,” Isobel suggested.

“No!” Ben said. “He’ll turn it into a show. These are our people, not
his. We’ll kill them ourselves.”

“Come with me to get some weapons then, Ben,” Rob said. “The sooner we
get this over with the better we’ll feel.”

Ben stood and led Rob into Isobel’s apartment where he had a few unused
weapons kept. Molly came from her place to get more information.

“Gabe said something happened to Edwar . . .” she stopped mid-sentence
when she heard the wood of the door being torn apart and a wild shriek from
within the Cabel’s apartment. She shook her head in disbelief and walked back
stunned to her apartment and Gabe.

Ready with weapons the group stood in a half-circle around the door.

“I never thought I’d be trying to get
into
a room with zombies,”
Markus laughed faintly. He was scared to death about what he was about to see.

“We can’t leave them in there. They’ll get out and infect us or they’ll
rot,” Isobel reasoned.

Two swift kicks with Ben’s steel toe boots and the door broke inward
pushing the corpses deeper into the apartment. They instantly started back
towards the hallway. The semi-circle of residents expanded as the Cabels
approached. Moira’s mouth and neck were covered in dried blood. One strap of
her thin, blue nightgown had fallen from her shoulder, leaving a flat gray
breast exposed. Isobel wanted to pull the strap back up to cover her nakedness
but Moira wasn’t concerned with her partial nudity. Rob shot first but he only
hit Moira in her neck, which did nothing but absorb the bullet.

“Shit!” he said nervously. He aimed again and hit her in the forehead,
just left of center. She fell near the doorway.

            “No
no no no no no,” Markus repeated as he held his head and stepped backwards,
further away from the scene. He couldn’t take what he was seeing. He would
never be able to forget it. He nearly backed into Isobel’s gun.

            “If
you can’t help, get out of the way!” she yelled at him. Markus did as he was
told and went back to Jeff’s apartment.

Edward was disgusting. His face was unrecognizable as it was one open
wound. Moira had eaten the skin and chunks of muscle tissue from his cheeks and
nose. One eyeball was missing. A gentlemen in his life who had prided himself
on being clean and well-groomed, it was devastating to see that he had wet and
soiled his striped pajama pants before he passed. The smell was overwhelming.

“Oh Edward, I’m sorry,” Ben pulled his gun up with heavy arms and took
out Edward’s other eyeball and brain, causing his body to fall in the hallway.

            Hayden
and Vaughn had come down to investigate the source of the gunshots. Hayden’s
hand went up to her mouth in surprise and Vaughn leaned in to get a closer
look. They didn’t say anything, only gawked and left.

Ben and Rob donned gloves and wrapped the bodies of the Cabels in their
bloodied bed linens and then dumped them off the balcony. The dead surrounded
the two concealed bodies, doing their routine investigation for food but, finding
no life left, they dispersed.

The men spent midday with gloves and masks on cleaning and disinfecting
each lamp, side table, and every inch of carpet in 206. They couldn’t afford to
lose another apartment on the second floor to the gore of violent death. Every
last speck of blood and body matter was gone by three p.m.

“What happened here?” Isobel asked as they finished the job.

“Moira didn’t have any wounds so I’m guessing that she died somehow, came
back and then killed Edward,” Ben said as sweat dripped from his brow.

“Why do the dead come back even if they aren’t bitten? How did she get
the infection?” Isobel wondered aloud. “That bicyclist did, now that I think of
it.”

“Maybe it’s airborne too. Maybe we are all hosts and the processes of
death set off the disease,” Rob suggested. “You can die from a bite and then
the disease takes hold of you or you can die naturally but it will end the
same. We’re all doomed to be monsters.”

“Have you been thinking about this a lot? Maybe you could give the CDC a
hand. You sound like one of them,” Ben said.

“It’s all Gabe talks about so I’ve been thinking a bit on the subject,”
Rob replied.

            Isobel
went into the bathroom. The rest of the apartment had been covered in blood. The
bathroom was spotless but for an empty pill bottle in the trash.

The
residents ate dinner together that night. It felt much better to be a group
than to be lonely individuals, especially after losing Edward and Moira to the
infection. Ben, Isobel, Rob and Gabe, Molly, Jeff and Markus all found a place
at the makeshift table setup in the common area of the second floor. Even
Hayden came to eat and to offer her condolences but she hadn’t been able to
convince Vaughn to join.

“On the menu tonight,” Ben announced, “is Edward’s apocalypse favorite.”

“What’s that?” Gabe asked with an equal mix of caution and curiosity. He
didn’t want his dad to hit him again.

“Hmm, I know,” Isobel smiled. “Cream of chicken soup, green beans, and
crumbled crackers all mixed up together.”

“Sounds gross,” Gabe said.

“Gabe,” Rob said. “Be polite.”

“Sounds like the poorest excuse for a casserole I ever heard of.” Markus
shook his head.

            “Taste
it, Markus. You may change your mind. You too, Gabe,” Ben suggested.

They drank the last of Moira’s tea stash with dinner and chatted softly
in the candlelight as they ate. Ben stood up part way through eating to read a paragraph
from one of Edward’s favorite classics: Grapes of Wrath.

“’They's a time of change, an' when that comes, dyin' is a
piece of all dyin', and bearin' is a piece of all bearin', an' bearin' an'
dyin' is two pieces of the same thing. An' then things ain't so lonely anymore.
An' then a hurt don't hurt so bad.’”

            “I
wish I could agree. This hurt doesn’t feel any different though. In fact, it
feels worse,” Molly sighed.

Ben closed the book. Dust was forced from its pages and, rising, it
brought to his nostrils the smell of Edward, a comforting mix of tobacco,
paper, and pomade. He sat down heavily, enveloped in the smell.

 “I liked them,” Gabe said.

“I did too, Gabe,” his father said. “They were good people.”

“We all liked them a lot. They would be happy that we are thinking of
them,” Isobel added.

“We’re going to die too and come back, aren’t we?” Gabe asked, directing
the question at Molly. Rob was too taken aback by his son’s complete
understanding of the situation to answer. Besides, he had asked Molly so Rob
waited for her to address Gabe’s question.

“Not for a long time, ok?” Molly smiled gently at him. “So we don’t have
to worry about it.”

“Do you think Mommy came back somewhere?” he asked his father.

Rob answered quickly. “No, she didn’t. She’s been gone for too long. We
talked about that already.”

“But it would have been nice to see her though, don’t you think?”

“We can look at her pictures.” Rob tousled his son’s hair lovingly.

“You can show us all a picture of your mom, Gabe. I think it would be
nice for us to see her,” Hayden said.

“But it would be nice to see her for
real
again,” he countered.

“Gabe, it wouldn’t be mom!” Rob was clenching his fist on the table,
holding his fork tightly in the grip; suffering the old pains of his lost love.

“But . . .” Gabe’s eyes had started to tear up.

Molly put a hand onto Rob’s clenched fist.

“Yeah, ok, you are right. It would be nice to see her again,” Rob
admitted solemnly, his hand relaxing under the warmth of Molly’s. There was no
point in arguing with a child that his mother wouldn’t be beautiful, or loving,
or even clean. She would be just another of the walking dead on the lawn,
covered in her own gore, rotting away with no love in her heart.

“Ben, you were right,” Markus said after licking his paper plate clean.
“That was delicious.”

“Well you can’t have the recipe,” Ben said playfully.

“It has three ingredients!” Markus held three fingers up.

Rob was happy for the change of topic and he’d try to thank Markus and
Ben for that later.

“Hey everyone, I think it would be fantastic if we went around the table
and each of us could say something that reminds us of the Cabels. I’ll start! A
tobacco pipe,” Isobel chimed.

“That’s too easy!” Rob yelled. He thought for a moment. “Talk radio.
Edward always had that thing on.”

“Mummies!” Gabe exclaimed. His answer made everyone laugh uncomfortably
until Rob explained how Moira and Gabe had talked about them in “school”.

Hayden closed her eyes and thought for a second. “I didn’t know them very
well,” she said. “I guess maybe knitting needles.”

“Nice one, Hayden,” Jeff said.

“Books, of course,” Ben held up the novel.

“I’m going to have to say religious conviction. It may have been
questionable these past few weeks but they went to church
every
Sunday
and every Wednesday evening as well,” Markus added thoughtfully.

“How do you know that?” Jeff asked.

“Hello, I’m gay. I don’t know how many times they invited me to go with
them.” Markus silently counted on his fingers for added affect.

“They tried to ‘save’ you?” Rob asked incredulously.

 “Informally, yes. I don’t hold it against them,” Markus said holding his
hands up.

Vaughn appeared at the head of the table. He had been listening from the
top of the stairs and had finally come down to join the group. “Blue, blood-soaked
night gowns,” he said with a smile. Stunned silence fell over the diners.

“What did you just say?” Ben asked angrily.

“Blu-” Vaughn began to repeat himself.

“Don’t say it again.” Ben pounded a fist on the table. Rob had pulled Gabe’s
chair closer to his side. Vaughn sauntered over to Hayden, paying no more
attention to the rest of the group.

“Come on, girlie! Now that we’ve said our goodbyes to the old folks let’s
ditch this somber party and go have some fun!”

He took one of Isobel’s extra crackers and chomped it messily, getting
crumbs on his shirt. He reached his hand forward again but this time he was
aiming for Hayden’s breasts. He didn’t see the horrified look on Markus’ face.
He didn’t see Jeff rest his own face in his hands. He didn’t see Ben’s right
hand set down his fork and disappear under the table to grab his gun from its
holster. Vaughn was looking only at Hayden but she didn’t want to go with him. She
tried to pull his groping hand from her body but he grabbed her hand and pulled
her from her seat. Her chair toppled backwards.

“Hey!” Molly stood up and yelled at him. “Can’t you see she doesn’t want
to go with you? Have some respect and leave her alone!"

Vaughn had turned to face Molly and just as she finished her berating, he
punched her. She fell back into her chair and blood started to fall from her
nose. Ben was out of his chair with his gun pulled on Vaughn. Vaughn saw the
gun and Gabe’s wide eyes full of fear. He saw the blood on Molly’s face, the
tears on Hayden’s. He released his grip on Hayden without a word; no muttered
apology, nothing and he went back upstairs to his porn and his bottle.

            “What
the
fuck
was that?” Isobel asked.

            “Inhuman,”
Ben said as he holstered his gun with shaking hands. “He would have shot me if
he’d had a gun with him!” Ben walked weakly to Hayden’s side. He picked up her
chair and sat her back down in it. “Are you ok?” He asked her, stroking her
hair. Hayden didn’t respond. She only brushed his hand away and continued
eating what was left on her plate.

            “Unfortunately
the night is still young,” Markus said eerily. “I’m going to bed before anything
else happens.”

            “Ditto,”
Jeff said as he picked up his trash and threw it in a garbage bag. “Night
everyone, don’t forget to lock your doors.” He waved a farewell as they walked
back to his apartment.

            Rob
picked up his son who had been crying into his side and carried him off to bed.

            “Are
you going to be ok, Molly?” Ben was looking at her nose, trying to be helpful,
but anything he did only made her flinch more.

            “Can
you just walk me to my couch?” she asked in pain.

            “I
can take you,” Isobel offered.

            “I’ll
stay here until you get back, Isobel. I’m going to watch for Vaughn,” Ben said.

            It
was now only Hayden and Ben at the table. Ben returned to his chair and sat
back down. He collected dirty paper plates within his reach and stacked them in
a pile, ready to be thrown away. He waited for Hayden to say something,
anything at all. But she was embarrassed beyond belief at being publicly
groped. She especially didn’t want to talk to Ben, who she’d shared a bed with.
She carried what food she still had to finish and sought refuge in the
apartment she shared with Molly.