The Infected (Book 3): Nightfall (13 page)

“Pee-wee’s Play House.”

“I’ll always remember that
day. Here comes little Cliff running up to me in the kitchen and he asks me if
I knew that Pee-wee was real. I asked you what you meant by “real” and you
said-”

“He’s alive and not a
cartoon.” Cliff smirked. It wasn’t the first time she told him this story.

“He was real Mama and not
a cartoon you said. It took me a little bit to figure out what the hell you
meant by not a cartoon. I sat down and watched the dumb show with you and then
I could see what you meant. He acted like a fucking cartoon character. So damn
funny.” Morgan giggled to herself. “He’s real!” She laughed a little harder.

“I was five. I thought
everything on TV was a cartoon.” Cliff playfully defended himself. Morgan’s
laughter calmed down and then she reached over and patted Cliff on his knee.

“I love you too.” She
winked at him. “You son of a bitch.”

Cliff chewed on his lower
lip. It had been a long time since she had said the “L” word. He leaned over
her armrest and pulled Morgan in for a kiss on the cheek.  

“Damn it, stop that,
that’s why I don’t let this shit get mushy. You turn into a wet noodle and want
all this affection bullshit.” Morgan muscled him off of her. He released her from
the kiss and sat back in his own chair.

“You love me,” Cliff
teased.

Morgan rested her weary
head in the palm of her hand, “Please, shut the fuck up.”

Jim exited the bathroom
fresh and clean. He had removed the bandage from his forehead and the jagged
stiches on his forehead made him look like Frankenstein. He thought it might be
a good idea to let it air out before he had Tina wrap it again for the night. He
sported Cliff’s old black T-shirt and blue jeans. He felt a million times
better with the dried sweat and blood cleaned off his body. Now he was ready to
eat. He could smell its amazing aroma from the bathroom. The pit in his stomach
begged for a full meal. The cereal he had scarfed down was only an appetizer
and now his appetite for meats and vegetables had to be fulfilled. Both Bert
and Ernie were cleaned so he placed them in his main backpack for safe keeping.

Everyone else had just
fixed themselves a plate of food and found a place to sit at the table or in
the living room.

“Help yourself,” Tina
pointed to the range and then she took a bite off her fork.

“There’s cold beer in the
fridge,” Cliff added.

“Thank you,” Jim found the
plate and fork that was left for him. He piled the food high onto his dish and
snagged a fresh can out of the fridge.

He entered the dining room
and took a seat at the table next to Frank and Sara. Jim popped open the can
and took a long swig of Tacate. He dug into his food and the flavor was overwhelming.
He tried to pace himself and not just shovel it into his mouth, but it was
difficult to hold back. The apartment was quiet, except for the soft sounds of humans
chewing. If Jim concentrated he could hear the chaos outside. The sound of
gunfire and chaos continued on and Jim thought to himself.

Was this what it was
like for the families in wartorn Europe during World War II?

Your life must go on
even though someone else’s was coming to an end?

The internal noise his
mouth made while chomping the food helped drown out the new war taking place in
the background.

Jim finished off a fork
full of beef and turned to his hosts, “This is amazing. Thank you guys for
everything.”

“It’s our pleasure,” Tina answered.

More silence.

It was tough for the group
to conceive an appropriate conversation. They weren’t friends and this wasn’t a
party. What could they possibly talk about? What do normal people talk about at
gatherings? Movies, TV shows they had recently seen, music, books, online
videos, gossip, things you saw on Facebook and the other day to day bullshit
people love to retell. All of that seemed pointless.

Who cares if you liked
a silly piece of pop culture?

Every one of us had
almost died today.

Well that’s something
in common.
Jim thought
.

As he finished his food
and beer it dawned on him that who they were in the past didn’t matter anymore.
The only thing that mattered was survival.

Did they have what it
would take to make it through this?

Jim hoped so, but he
wasn’t sure. Could this be stopped? Was there a cure? Or was this the future?
Would they soon all be racing around on homemade muscle cars, wearing football
pads, mohawks and killing everyone they came across in the barren wasteland
that was once Vancouver, Washington? It was a depressing thought.

Finally after nearly
fifteen minutes of silence they were all done eating, Frank cleared his throat.

“I got up early this
morning to go do some fishing, like I always do.” Frank’s hands were laced
together over his empty plate and he kept his head down, almost in prayer as he
talked. “I crept out of the house so I wouldn’t disrupt my wife sleeping. My
boy had come home for the week. He was on leave and we were supposed to go
fishing together, but his old high school friends had taken him out to a bar
last night and he had gotten pretty wasted. I found him passed out on the
couch. He reeked of booze and I knew it would be more torture than fun for him
out on the boat so I let him sleep in.” Frank paused to take a sip of beer.

He had a captive audience
and this unprovoked story came from left field. Jim just figured the silence
had gotten to Frank and out of the uncomfortable awkwardness he felt compelled
to tell his tale.

Frank set down his can,
leaned back into his chair and continued, “The waters were calm and the fish
were biting. It was a perfect spring morning. By noon I was ready to call it a
day so I packed up and headed home.” Frank’s voice took on a slight tremor as
he went on. “The second I got home I knew something was wrong. I could smell it
in the air. Sick smell to the living room. On the couch where my boy’s head had
been laying was a pile of vomit. I got so mad at him. I couldn’t believe that
he hadn’t cleaned it up. One of the reasons my boy joined the service was
because of his O.C.D. He was the cleanest, most orderly kid I had ever met and
the military was right up his alley. When I called out his name I did it in
anger. I yelled, Michael! There was no answer. I set down my tackle box and rod
on the table then there was a noise upstairs. I went to see what was going on,
maybe he had passed out in the bathtub? The closer I got to my bedroom the louder
the noise grew. I couldn’t make it out. When-” Frank’s voice cracked and his
eyes filled with tears. Sara reached across the table and held his hand. “When
I opened the door. I didn’t understand. I couldn’t make out what was happening.
I could see my wife’s legs poking out from the comforter, but everything looked
red. Like it was all covered in red. Michael’s head rose up from the center of
the mattress. His eyes were black. His face was caked in his mother’s blood.”
Frank’s tears streamed down his face as he relived the nightmare. “He launched
across the room at me. I’m no coward, but Michael is two hundred pounds of pure
muscle and if he wanted to hurt me there was nothing I could do to stop him. So
I ran. I slammed the door in his face and ran. He had choked on his own vomit,
died, came back as one of them and killed his own mother.” Frank wiped away his
tears and fought to get control, but the day had been too much for him and he
needed to get it out. “If I had waked him up. If I had made him come with me.
They would both still be alive.”

Jim reached out and took
Frank’s other hand. They squeezed each other’s palms, “I’m so sorry. I can’t
imagine how you are feeling right now, but know this. The three of us,” Jim
indicated Sara, Devon and himself, “we wouldn’t be here if it wasn’t for you.”

“We are a new family now,”
Sara told him as she wiped away a tear from her own cheek.

Jim nodded his head,
“She’s right. We stick together, watch each other’s backs and we will get
through this.”

Frank took in a long full
breath and let it out, “Okay. I’m okay.”

Tina brushed away a salty
drop from her eye, “Oh my God you guys. You’re killing me over here. My heart
is going to explode.”

“I think we all need
another drink,” Cliff said as he got to his feet and headed for the kitchen.
“Anyone else need a new one?” He asked.

“Yes!” Everyone but Devon
answered.

Karen laid in her mother’s
bed. The soft glow of a nightlight filled the room. She could just make out the
shapes of the furniture in the room. A little girl was tucked under each of her
arms. She had just finished reading them a story and now they were snuggling
until Robin fell asleep. This had been the routine for the last year and it
worked. She had downed the double shot that Leon had mixed for her right before
she told the girls to head for the bedroom. It really hit the spot and helped
Karen feel a little more relaxed. She wasn’t quite ready for bed herself, but
it was late enough to get Valerie and Robin down for the night.

“Mama, why are we sleeping
in Ganny’s bed?” Valerie rolled over onto her side to look at Karen’s face.

“We are having a sleepover
with Uncle Troy and our new friend Leon. Doesn’t that sound fun?”

“What’s a sleepover?” Valerie
slunk back down into the nook of her Mama’s armpit.

“It’s when you stay over
at someone else’s house and your friends get to stay there with you. Go to
sleep, baby.”

“Mama? I’m tired.” Robin
spoke soft and low. She was very close to falling all the way asleep.

“Good. Close your eyes and
sleep.”

“Okay,” Robin made one
last turn over to her side and less than a minute later she was out. That’s
what Karen was waiting for. She could get up and head back out to the living
room as long as Robin was asleep. Valerie could lay there by herself until she
finally succumbed to the Sandman.

Karen slipped her arm out
from under the little redhead’s noggin, “I’m getting up to check on Uncle Troy.
You stay here and make sure Robin keeps sleeping. Call me if you need me,
okay?”

“Okay, love you Mama,”
Valerie lifted her head to allow her Mama to escape. She reached out her arms
for one final hug before her night came to an end. Karen leaned over the bed
and hugged her baby.

Valerie cupped her hand to
her mouth and whispered, “Mama, I got a secret to tell you.”

Karen got her ear close to
Valerie’s cupped hand, “What is it?”

“I like sleepovers,” that
was as juicy as her secrets got.

“Me too,” Karen planted
one last kiss on her forehead and then she stepped over to the bedroom door,
“Love you baby. Now go to sleep.” As Karen exited the room she kept the door
open in case they called for her.

Leon had the TV switched
over to a news channel. He sat a few feet from the screen with the volume down
low. Only he could hear what was being said by the news anchor.

Leon noticed Karen at the
entryway, “It’s global. Every inch of the Earth has been touched by this
madness.” Leon sipped at his glass.

Karen took a seat next to
her brother on the couch, “Turn it up.”

Leon got up, pulled his
chair back and thumbed the volume button.

The TV had a satellite
photo of the Earth with red splotches all over the map. At the top of the
screen read the words “Infected areas marked in red.” Every single major city
was covered.

“…areas with a dense
hospital population were hit the hardest today. The numbers of fatalities are
impossible to calculate at this time. Some experts have estimated over
twenty-five percent of the world’s population has been lost due to the
infection and the number is steadily climbing.”

The video footage cut to a
long shot of the White House. Infected monsters milled about on the front lawn.
A gun battle had taken place and the humans had lost. The white exterior of the
President’s home had been charred black and the building was half burnt down.

“The President and his cabinet
are unreachable at this time and there have been no updates coming out of
Washington DC.”

The footage cut to a shot
of the Pentagon. Dead bodies littered the surrounding area and fires poked out
of the building’s windows. A security team raced across the parking lot toward
a helicopter. They blasted their side arms at the encroaching horde that chased
after them. The helicopter’s rotors began to twirl as the team entered, but
before they could lift off, the horde crashed into the chopper and overtook it. 

“The Pentagon’s last
report was logged an hour ago and its final words mentioned that they were
under heavy attack from the infected humans and were about to be overrun.”

The footage cut to a shot
of an army base. Fires burned, explosions blasted smoke into the sky and
infected people roamed the grounds like lost children. Machine gun fire popped in
the background, but they had clearly lost this battle.

“Military bases have been
hit hard. Small pockets of resistance are still fighting to take back control,
but communication has been lost and reinforcements are scattered. Repeated
tries to contact anyone in charge has failed.”

The footage cut to a set
of black and white cruisers that were covered in blood and gore. A trapped
infected woman sat in the backseat of the cruiser. It banged its cuffed wrists
against the window, unable to smash its way to freedom.

“The police have been
decimated along with the fire departments and first response medical teams.
Even the National Guard has folded under the pressure of this infection. Other
startling news that we have recently confirmed is this disease is communicable
for all mammals. We have shocking footage taken from the San Diego Zoo.” Text
scrolls across the bottom of the TV’s, it read disturbing footage ahead.  

It was cell phone footage
of a woman running. Her cries for help distorted the audio. The video shook
violently and was facing the direction from which she was running. A large
object, too blurry to make out, rampaged through a crowd of people. It knocked
pedestrians to the ground and ripped their limbs off. The creature leaped
through the air and landed feet from the woman running the camera. She spoke
English, but they could only understand every tenth word. “No and God” were the
only ones Karen could make out. The object became clearer as it stormed in her
direction. It was a four-hundred pound Gorilla. It wasn’t just loose and
running wild, it had been turned. Its powerful fangs ripped into a human only
feet from the camera. It was a wrecking ball. A human eating machine. In the
minute long video it killed and turned twenty people with its bites, hits and
stomps of its monstrous feet. The gorilla chomped down onto a woman’s shoulder
and snapped her leg at the hip. It tore the mouthful of meat off her body and then
tossed the dead body into the camera operator. The screen went red and the
impact distort the audio.

The video cut and changed
to a security camera. It was black and white and angled down, overlooking a few
different animal habitats. An infected rhino plowed over park visitors like a
tank. It impaled them on its horn, snapping most of its victims in half. The
beast gnawed on the bodies that hit the ground. Then it took off again and
crushed skulls into blood stains on the concrete pathway as it trampled over a
group of men that were trying to stop the infected beast. The rhino was
unstoppable. It ran through another group of fleeing humans then it veered off
camera.  

The video cut and changed
again to another camera phone. The shot peered through some bushes and the
voices behind the camera whispered.

“It’s right over there.
Quiet.” A hand shook as it reached out and pulled a branch down out of view and
the camera focused on a normal looking lioness. She majestically ate the guts
out of what looked like a zoo worker. The workers tan outfit was splayed open
and covered in dark red stains. The lion laid out on the ground with one paw
draped over its meal. It looked perfectly content. Lord knows how long it had
been since it got to hunt for its meal. Suddenly the dead zoo worker’s arms
jerked alive and wrapped around the neck of the lion. The infected zookeeper
had flipped the table on the animal and now lion was on the menu. The camera operator
stifled their whimpers. The lion retaliated. It nearly swiped the head clean off
of the zookeeper’s neck with a powerful swat of its razor sharp claws. The
damage had already been done. The infected had sunk its teeth into the skin of
the lion and it had drawn blood. It didn’t take long for the transformation to
occur. The lion dropped to its side, shook violently on the ground, turned and
rose to its feet. The infected animal sniffed at the air and lunged toward the
cameraman. The video cut with a hardy crunch.

The TV program cut from
the footage to a visibly shaken news anchor. She didn’t have time to prep with
makeup or fix her hair. She looked like she was in desperate need of a nap. Her
eyes held the telltale signs of heavy and recent crying. She scrambled to
reshuffle her papers in front of her once she noticed the camera was back on.
She cleared her throat, “There is still no known cure for this new disease. At
ten o’clock this morning it began to spread at multiple locations all over the
globe.”

Pictures of famous cities
covered the screen just over the anchors shoulder. New York, Paris, London, LA,
Mexico City, Hong Kong, Tokyo and Rio were all ablaze and looked like war zones.
The footage was all shot from the windows of tall buildings. They panned over
the cityscape and down on the action on the streets. Humans raced from the
growing hordes. Some tried to stand their ground. They fought back with melee
weapons, but were quickly gobbled up. A man tossed a Molotov cocktail into a
group of infected. The burning bodies spread the fire all over the street.

“With the little information
we have on its origins some specialists have concluded that it is not
biological warfare. We have been unable to reach anyone at the CDC to confirm
that theory or to give us an explanation on this infection. No terrorist organizations
have stepped forward to take credit for the attack and all regions of the globe
being affected, it is unlikely to be the act of a single group.” The anchor
shuffled her papers and a graphic of a cross appeared on the screen next to
her.

“Reverend Toby Blake, the
leader of a Christian Coalition of America posted this online. “God’s wrath has
descended. This is the end of times. Prepare to meet your maker. To the Godless
whores, homosexuals, atheists and all the sinners of the world, ready yourselves
to burn in hell for eternity.” End quote. With so many unanswered questions
about this pandemic perhaps it is the end of times or maybe Mother Nature has
had enough of mankind and is wiping the slate clean. For continued coverage of
this outbreak please stay tuned. We will remain on the air for as long as we
can. I’m Kristina Swan and this is CNN News.” The broadcast cut to a commercial
about adult diapers.

“Holy shit!” Troy sat up
and pulled the icepack from his forehead. “We’re fucked!” His sudden lucidity
caught Karen off guard. He reapplied his ice pack, leaned back, closed his eyes
and said, “I’m sleeping off this nightmare. Don’t wake me until the world is
back to normal.” Karen couldn’t tell if that was Troy’s dark humor talking or
his head injury.

“It certainly does seem
like we are fucked,” Leon said as he finished off his glass of vodka.

“Nothing is certain.”
Karen tried to keep her hopes up. She couldn’t bear the thought of raising the
girls in this new world.

“In one day, a quarter of
the world’s population was snuffed out. Two billion dead! That’s insanity!”
Leon set down his glass and rubbed at his temples.

“We survived and we will
keep on surviving if we keep our heads.” Karen stood up from the couch, “Show
me how to hotwire this car.” She did not want to sit around and talk about the
world’s end or dwell on facts she could not control.

“Should I make another
round?” Leon asked as he stood up from his chair.

“No, I want to be able to
remember how to do it.” Karen headed straight for the garage.

Leon whispered to himself
as he headed to the kitchen, “Well, I need another round.” He picked the bottle
up from the counter and headed to the garage.

I earned this drink.

He poured a fresh glass as
he entered the garage. He set the bottle down on the hood of the Subaru. Karen
was already sitting in the passenger’s seat waiting for her lesson.

Well this isn’t how I pictured
this going down.
Thought Leon.

He had been so excited
about the idea of teaching someone his trade. He was especially excited about
getting Karen alone.

Be smooth and cool.
Don’t jump the gun.

We have plenty of time
to let whatever this is blossom into a relationship.

Hearing that almost a
quarter of the world’s populous died in one day was definitely a dick shrinking
bit of info. Tonight was not a good time to try and make any kind of a move on
her. Not yet anyways. The only good news he took away from that broadcast was
the fact that Karen’s husband was most likely dead. If he was dead then that
made Karen a widow. There was nothing hotter to Leon than a widow. He knew it
was wrong, but that was part of the thrill.

Bad news for her, but good
news for me.

No matter what, she was going
to need to talk it out. Women loved to “Talk it out.”

She can tell me all
about her feelings, right? I’ll let her talk and be a good listener.
Leon had mapped out his plan for the evening. He
would show her the basics of the car and then let her rant, cry or talk about
her feelings. Leon opened the driver’s side door and dropped down next to Karen.
He set his glass up on the dash and then turned to face her with one forearm
resting on the top of the steering wheel and the other against the backrest.