Survive (5 page)

We also do not recommend trying to enter Massachusetts or New York at this time as both states are under martial law. Boston is a battle zone, and Manhattan is burning to the ground at this very moment. We will continue to do our best to safeguard the good citizens of this state. Both the National Guard and the State Guard have been mobilized and are now setting up relief and aid stations that will be stocked with food and water, as well as medical units. We will announce the locations of these stations as soon as possible. Good luck, and God bless.”

The radio announcer came back on as soon as the recording ended.

“
That was a message from Governor Gary Bradford. Wel,l at least we know Montpelier hasn’t forgotten about us. Good news, since we have just learned that Burlington International Airport has reported two cases of the ‘infected’
a
nd has been quarantined.”

John continued to drive as the announcer kept speaking. Sara looked out her window, watching the beautiful greens and yellows of late summer pass by. The moon shone down, bright enough to see the fields of tall grass and darker green shrubbery as they drove past them at over 80 miles an hour. She rolled her window down a little, despite the air conditioning, just so she could breath in the fresh Vermont air.

Sara had always heard John say how he always seemed to let out a big sigh whenever they crossed over into Vermont. She’d just thought he was imagining it, but this time she felt it herself. She looked at John, his face silhouetted by the lights from the cluster. He was staring ahead, watching the road intently, but for the first time since they began their journey, he seemed relaxed. The little lines in the corners of his eyes were less pronounced. Sara smiled.

They passed the first exit to Brattleboro without slowing. At exit two, John pulled the Volvo off the highway, and turned right towards West Brattleboro. The streets were deserted.

After several minutes, they turned up Green Pond road, and drove until the pavement ended. At last, they passed through the tight pass through the ledges that had been blasted in the rock decades ago to allow passage in to the small valley the Masons lived in. As they passed through the ledges, the valley opened up and John could see the little pond down on the valley floor glittering in the moonlight, along with the few little houses surrounding the pond and the fields beside it. John looked across to the other end of the valley, where the road wound up and out of sight through the only other entrance, through another set of ledges, before joining with another paved road and heading south. The two houses on the other side of the valley, where the Masons’ neighbors, the Culicos and the Kensingtons lived, were both lit up. Down at the pond, both John’s parents and his aunt and uncle, May and Patrick Mason’s house were lit up as well. The little cabin behind them was dark except for the small porch light.

“Dad must have turned the light on for us.” John mused aloud.

“Nice of him. I’m kind of sick of the dark right now.”

“I know, babe. We’ll be inside and cozy in a few minutes.”

They pulled in to the driveway a few minutes later. John’s father, Harold Mason was standing on the little porch of the cabin as they got out of the car.

“You’re mother put some coffee on and made a pie. Don’t look at me like that, just come eat some and pretend to like it. She’s worried.” He nodded to them as John opened up the back door of the Volvo and let Princess out. She ran excitedly over to the elder Mason, flopping down on her back as she reached him. The old man bent down and gave the pup the obligatory scratch on the belly before walking off toward his own house. John noted in passing the old man was wearing his old Ruger Blackhawk on his hip.

“Go on inside, sweetheart. Get some lights on and open some windows. I’m just going to bring a few things in. We’ll get the rest in the morning. I don’t want to keep my folks waiting,” John said as he pulled a duffel bag out of the car.

Sara nodded and followed Princess inside. Turning around back onto the porch, she addressed her husband, “Hey, John? Speaking of open windows, are we sure this thing isn’t airborne?”

“Well, it doesn’t seem like any body’s sure of anything. But I don’t think so,” he said.

Sara looked pensive for a moment, and then turned around and headed back in the cabin.

John came a few minutes later, dumping two large, green canvas duffel bags on the floor inside the door. He took his AR 15 off his shoulder and set it down, leaning it against the wall. He made another trip, bringing in two more bags as well as the tactical rifle case he’d taken from the dead State Trooper’s car. Sara was taking stock of the items they had left in the cabinets from their last weekend away, pasta, soup, a bottle of white zinfandel. She smiled as she remembered the two of them wading in the pond and visiting the farmer’s market. It was a shame this time wouldn’t be as restful.

“That’s enough for now,” John said, breaking Sara from her reverie. “I’ll get the rest in the morning. Let’s go see my parents.”

“Alright. Let’s get this over with.” She gave John a smile that almost looked genuine.

“Oh come on, it might be fun. I mean, it might not suck too badly.”

The couple walked, hand in hand, with a bounding Princess somehow managing to not trip them while running between them to the elder Mason home. They entered in to the cozy living room and followed the sounds of conversation to the brightly lit kitchen. As they walked in, they saw John’s father and mother sitting at the table across from Patrick and May Mason. Everyone had a steaming mug of coffee in front of them and there was a sizable plate of homemade donuts sitting in the middle of the table. Next to the donuts, an untouched dark brown pie sat, somehow managing to look both dangerous and forlorn at the same time.

Patrick yelled in his best indoor voice “John boy! ‘Bout time you got here.”

May got up and gave both John and Sara a hug. John then bent down and gave June a hug as well.

“Sit down, son. Sara, can I get you some coffee?” June asked, already pouring a cup for John. “Let’s keep it down a little. Jen, Kelly and Jacob got here earlier. They’re sleeping upstairs.”

“I’d love some.” Sara said, smiling as she sat beside her mother-in-law.

There was a comfortable silence as everyone settled themselves again. John gobbled down a donut quickly, then grabbed another one, eating this one a bit more slowly. He smiled contentedly.

Harold finally broke the silence. “Son, just what the hell is going on?” He sounded exasperated.

“Dad, I don’t know if you’d believe me. Anyway, it’s just speculation. You’ve been watching the news too, I’m sure.” John said around a mouthful of donut.

“Yeah, but that don’t mean shit. You’re the one with connections, don’t any of your cop buddies know what’s happening?”

“I don’t have connections like that anymore, and the ones I do have aren’t saying much.” John’s memory flashed back to the message from his friend in the New England Constitutionalists. He frowned slightly, but said nothing about it. “All I know, Dad, is that these infected people attack and kill people, and then those people seem to get up and join them.”

“You mean like them zombies in your science fiction movies?” Harold asked, frowning.

“Well, sometimes science fiction, other times horror, and then still sometimes they are considered their own category...”

“We get it, John.” Sara said, sipping her coffee and rolling her eyes. “Don’t you know by now not to ask him questions like that? One time, I accidentally mistook Captain Picard for Captain Kirk. He didn’t shut up for two hours.”

The four elders collectively sighed as John and Sara bickered for two or three minutes about why nearly every Star Trek ship is called the Enterprise.
She just doesn’t understand outer space
, John thought.

Finally, Harold broke in with a sigh, “So, is that yes?”

“Is what yes? Oh, yeah, that’s yes. Zombies. Undead. Ghouls. Whatever you want to call them, I don’t care. I think I’m just going to call them Zeds. I like that better.”

“What are you, Canadian?” Sara asked, grinning.

“Can we focus for a minute?” Harold asked. “I don’t watch your stupid movies, so maybe you can tell us what we’re lookin’ at?

“Dad, from all the movies and books I’ve read, and from what I can pick up from the news, we’re looking at outbreaks in California, Texas, New York, Massachusetts, Florida, Georgia, and who knows where else in the U.S., as well as Mexico. I don’t know where else, but you can bet anywhere they evacuated wounded to. I think it’s the bite that transmits the infection, or bodily fluids, at least that’s how it works in the movies.”

John paused for a minute. “On the way up, we saw a car accident. A police car was parked behind the wreck. The trooper was dead in the front seat. It looked like he’d been mauled by a bear. Most of his arm was missing. I checked for a pulse, but he had none. Zero. And he was already cold. A few minutes later, he got up and ran at us. He was fast too.”

“Wait, I thought zombies were slow?” Patrick said, chiming in.

“Yeah, well, nobody ever wanted it to be fast zombies. We’re kind of screwed with the fast ones.” John said ruefully. “Anyway, they attack and kill, and the dead join them. Their numbers go up exponentially as the living die.”

“How are they going to stop them?” May asked.

John looked at his aunt, so different from his mother, but still they shared a family resemblance. His mother, June, and his aunt, her sister, had married brothers Harold and Patrick Mason.
It apparently wasn’t all that out of the ordinary back then
, John thought to himself. June and May’s other sister, Sally, married Harold’s best friend, Walter Sanderson, or Uncle Walt. That’s probably part of why the Mason clan was such a close knit family. John smiled a little at the musing going on inside his head. He snapped back to reality.

“They? What they? Watch the news. By the time the government accepts the reality of the situation, there won’t be anyone left to do anything about it. Half of Massachusetts is already a lost cause.” John lowered his voice as he saw Sara stiffen. “New York City is on fire and no one is putting it out. These things spread as fast as a man can run. Sometimes faster.”

“Oh John, it can’t be that bad.” June said, pushing the pie towards John.

John looked skeptically at the pie. He continued to stare at it as he said “Well, not as bad as that, but it’s definitely bad. You’re going to have to trust me on this.”

Silence reigned for a few minutes. Everyone seemed lost in contemplation. It was again Harold who broke the silence.

“Your Aunt Sally called just before you got here. They had no electricity. She said people were killing each other in the street outside their house. Walt was nailing the doors and windows shut, barricading themselves in.” He looked directly at John. “Then the line went dead. We called back, but there was no answer.”

June and May both had tears in their eyes at this, but neither allowed themselves to cry. Not yet.

“John, I admit I have no idea what to do here.” Harold said. Patrick stared down into his mug in silent agreement.

“Dad, I don’t know either. My plan so far is just to hole up here and ride out the worst of it. We’re pretty isolated up here. We have food and water, weapons, and whatever supplies we need. The electricity is still on but who knows how long that will last. We have wells, and plenty of game to hunt and fish for. Effectively, we can hide out here for however long it takes.”

“That ain’t much of a plan, son, but I don’t have anything better.”

They picked up their cups and headed in to the living room. June turned the television on and found a news station. CNN was reporting outbreaks in Europe and Africa. Australia had closed its ports and airports to all visitors. Video of New York City on fire was shown over and over again, along with highlights of the National Guard battling crowds of infected on the outskirts of Boston, taken earlier in the evening.

June changed the channel to a more local station. News from Burlington, Vermont, was similar to everywhere else. Bleak.

The announcer was just starting a new story as they changed the channel.

“
Breaking News from Montpelier. The Governor is missing. As the state government reported to an undisclosed secure facility, one interesting thing happened. The Governor did not show up. Calls to his house went unanswered. Has he abandoned us in our time of need? We will keep you informed as find out more about this disturbing event.”

“Great. Just great.” John muttered.

“Well, that’s one less politician telling us what to do.” Patrick said, sounding almost happy.

“It’s getting late. Let’s talk about this more in the morning. The twins are coming over tomorrow,” Patrick said, speaking of his daughters, Franny and Nancy, and their husbands Kurt and Roger, as well as their children. “We can get this sorted out then.”

They all agreed to reconvene in the morning. John and Sara hugged May and June goodnight, then walked back to their cabin, Princess dutifully following along, only occasionally stopping to sniff at this or that.

Sara and John got ready for bed. Despite the long, terrifying day, or perhaps because of it, they made love that night, a frantic, hurried kind of love that left them both exhausted. They drifted off into uneasy sleep to the sound of Princess snoring like a freight train.