First Date- a Novella (6 page)

Hearing glass break, everyone turned to see Ginger twisting a brass pole that supported the lamp. Opening the pack with the tool belt, Daniel dug around and pulled out some heavy wire cutters. Walking over, he cut the wire that led through the pole to the lamp housing.

“You better be glad I unplugged it, or you would’ve gotten shocked and had to postpone our date,” Ginger said, grinning at him as she unscrewed the sections of the pole.

“I saw it was unplugged, hot stuff,” Daniel said and leaned over, kissing her with a peck on the cheek. Handing the cutters to Joe, Daniel walked off as Ginger smiled after him.

As she worked, Daniel unpacked the bag of supplies, laying them out. When she was done, Ginger laid down three heavy, shiny, brass pipes. Two were the same length—around two and half feet—and the other was barely two feet long. Grabbing the two longest ones in each hand, Ginger twirled them around. “A bit heavy and long, but I can use them as batons.”

Looking along the wall, Daniel saw five more lamps. “Take ’em apart,” he said, waving his hand. “I’m going to look for more weapons.” He walked over and grabbed Ginger by the hand then led her to the end of the room to the door that led to Mr. Barron’s office. The other door on the wall with the lamps led to the hallway to the other executive offices.

He walked in and pulled Ginger close. “You and I can leave now,” he said in a low voice. “We have mountain climbing experience, and so does Malik.”

“Daniel, if we just hang that hose out, all of them will fall and get hurt or killed.”

“The longer we stay here, the harder it is going to be to leave,” he said, grabbing her hand. “I’m sure our reservation’s been canceled though.”

With a startle, Ginger jumped back. “You think this is happening in other places?”

“Oh yeah,” Daniel said, letting her hand go and stepping over to the wall of windows. Grabbing the cord for the metal floor-to-ceiling vertical blinds, Daniel tugged them open, and Ginger sucked in a breath as she looked out over the city.

“We are in some hellacious bucketfuls of pig shit,” she mumbled, seeing black columns of smoke rising everywhere. Stepping up to the window, she glanced down at the street to see throngs of people staggering around. Noticing fast movement, she turned to see a person running, weaving around the staggering ones. Further out, she saw a garbage truck plowing through those staggering along the street.

“You already looked?” she asked, turning to him.

“Nope,” he said, walking away. “I knew we were in shit because the police never showed.”

“Daniel, there has to be away for the others to get down,” she said as he started digging through Mr. Barron’s desk.

“How far are you willing to go to put your life at risk for them?” he asked, not looking up as he rummaged through the desk. “Besides Malik, none of the others have done anything to help fight or help—period—for that matter.”

Ginger looked out the window. “This is a bit much,” she said, waving her hand.

Pausing his digging, Daniel looked up. “You are functioning quite well,” he said then returned to his task.

“Daniel, you know why I learned to fight?” she asked, and he looked up. “When I was in high school, a senior took me out on a date and tried to rape me. I got away, but I swore then nobody would ever be able to take me without a fight again.”

Reaching in a bottom drawer, Daniel tossed a satellite phone on the desk. “I shall have to pay this man a visit,” he said, standing up, then started looking at the items on the desk. He grabbed a round, glass sphere that had a scorpion suspended in it. Tossing it up and catching it, he figured it weighed about three and a half pounds. “Maybe,” he mumbled and set it beside the phone.

When Daniel walked away from the desk to the shelves on the wall, Ginger followed, looking at the shelves for any type of weapon. “He’s in prison for drugs now,” she said.

“He gets out at some point,” Daniel said, shaking his head. “How come I have to work for a pussy that doesn’t have swords or suits of armor in their office? Too bad I don’t work for Bruce Wayne,” he said, throwing up his hands.

“Hey, we’re doing okay,” she said, walking over to him.

“You didn’t answer my question; how far are you willing to risk your life for people who aren’t trying?”

Lifting her chin, she said, “When we hit the ground, they are on their own, but if they don’t help in the meantime, we just leave,” she said.

“I can live with that,” Daniel said then snapped his fingers. “Come on,” he said, moving to the door. Cracking it open, he didn’t see anything in the hallway. Easing out, he moved down the hall until he saw the reception area and stopped, seeing a bunch of people staggering in the hall outside the glass. It looked like someone tried to paint the outside of the glass with blood.

Easing in, he moved to the maintenance cart and pulled it back slowly until he couldn’t be seen from the windows. “They can’t break those windows,” Ginger whispered. “They are inches thick and drilled into the floor.”

“Yeah, but the doors to the cubicles are open, and they can get in here,” he whispered back. “Give me my ID back.” Swallowing hard, Ginger dug his ID from her jacket. “If they come in, run,” he said, easing around the reception desk to the cubicle doors.

One of the people in the hallway saw Daniel and moved over, hitting the thick glass with a dull thump. Hearing the noise, Daniel moved quickly to the scanner beside the doors and waved his card, making it beep. He quickly pressed numbers on the key pad, and the light turned red. A magnetic thump sounded from the cubicle doors as they sealed.

Feeling much better, Daniel turned around as a thud sounded on the sealed doors. He ignored it. Daniel walked over to the coffee table and looked at the flags on either side. One was a state’s, and the other was Old Glory. The flagpoles were polished wood with a brass spear point on the top. Looking at the bottoms, he saw they were set in an inverted narrow brass holder.

Grabbing Old Glory, Daniel pulled it out of the holder and grinned, seeing a sharp brass point. “This is a real military flagpole,” he said, twisting the pole to roll the flag up. Grabbing the other one, he laid them on the cart.

Moving behind the reception desk, he started rummaging. Before he closed one drawer, Ginger grabbed a stack of mouse pads. Not asking, Daniel kept looking and stopped at a box of gold metal executive ink pens. He picked one up and nodded, rolling it around his hand. He tossed it back in the box and took the whole thing. Looking under the desk, he saw a small fire extinguisher. 

Grabbing it, he looked at the large funnel. “Fire is our last worry,” Ginger said, looking at the window wall as the crowd continued to grow, beating on it.

“We need some kind of standoff weapon,” he said, grabbing the stuff they pulled out and carried them over to the cart. “Take this back, and put everything out on the table so we can see what supplies we have and get everyone to start on weapons. One of the flagpoles is mine.”

Nodding, Ginger pushed the cart back as Daniel moved to the other offices. When she got back, all the lamps were broken down and spread along the table. “The flagpoles are ours, but we need to lay everything out to see what we have,” she told everyone, and all except Gary moved over and emptied the cart.

Teresa grabbed the satellite phone, pulling it to her chest. “Can I please try my kids?”

“Sure.” Ginger smiled as she unloaded the cart.

Turning the phone on, Teresa dialed her house, and everyone stopped what they were doing when they heard the phone ring even with it pressed up against Teresa’s ear. “Hello,” a young boy’s voice answered real soft.

“Ben, it’s Momma. Are you okay?”

“Mom,” the boy said louder, and everyone heard someone in the background say, “Sshhh.”

Almost whispering, the boy said, “Mom, are you coming home soon?”

“Yes, baby, but are you and Carrie okay?”

“We’re in the attic, Momma. Some sick-looking people broke in the house, and one of them is Mr. Goodwin from next door.”

Teresa closed her eyes, dropping to her knees in relief. “Baby, I want you and Carrie to stay there. I’ll be there as soon as I can.”

“When, Momma? You won’t believe what we saw some people doing to Violet on the street. They were eating her, Momma, as she screamed for them to stop,” Ben said, sobbing, and the phone was pulled from his hands.

“Mom,” Carrie whispered. “When are you getting here?”

Teresa looked over at Ginger, who looked at the table, shaking her head. “Tomorrow,” Ginger said, turning back to Teresa.

Closing her eyes, Teresa nodded at Ginger. “Carrie, I should be home tomorrow, and I want you and Ben to stay in the attic till I get there. Understand?”

“Can’t you get here sooner?”

“I wish I could, baby, but this is everywhere.”

“Mom, where do we use the bathroom?”

“Pick a corner, and don’t leave the attic,” Teresa said, and Ginger held up a hand. “Hold on a second, baby,” Teresa said and covered the mouthpiece with her hand.

“Teresa, we may not make it,” Ginger told her. “Tell them to wait for two days then head away from the city to any friend you know of.”

Teresa bit her lip so she wouldn’t cry. “Carrie, if I’m not home in two days, I want you and Ben to sneak out and walk to Ronald’s.”

“Mom, that’s like eighty miles,” Carrie said, and Ben shushed her.

“I mean it, Carrie. If I’m not there in two days, I’m not coming,” Teresa said with tears on her face. “Momma’s going to try to be there tomorrow.”

“Okay, Momma,” Carrie whispered. “I need to go. They can hear us and are beating the walls under us. Can I call this number?”

“Yes, baby, I love you.”

“We love you too, Momma,” Carrie said and hung up.

Hanging up the phone, Teresa held it up, and Malik took it and dialed his house. Ginger moved over beside Teresa and pulled her up. Glancing around, Teresa saw everyone move away with Malik as he talked on the phone. “Ginger, I’m begging you, please help get me home. I’ll do anything. Please,” Teresa begged in a whisper as she clasped her hands together.

“I’m in enough trouble as it is,” Ginger huffed but shook her head. “Ask Daniel. I’ll tell him I agree, but you have to convince him. Now I’m warning you, don’t ask where others can hear because we aren’t taking everyone home.”

Teresa sighed with relief as Daniel walked in carrying more stuff. Dropping it on the table, he turned to a huge copy machine at the front of the room. Not saying anything, he turned around and went back to Mr. Barron’s office.

Ginger followed with Teresa tagging along. They walked in to see him rake everything on a glass table onto the floor. Grabbing the table, Daniel flipped it over with the legs pointing up. The table had six legs with two in the middle, and Daniel pulled out a crescent wrench and started twisting bolts out.

When he was done, he held up a heavy brass leg that ended in a wide Y. “Hold this,” he said, tossing it to Ginger and walking over to a massive fish tank. Like the oddity Mr. Barron was, it was a beautiful tank but held no fish.

Sticking his hand to the bottom, Daniel grabbed a handful of black marbles. “You have a brass fork and marbles,” Ginger said, holding up the leg Daniel had taken off the table.

“Yep,” he said. Picking one out, he held it between his thumb and index finger, smiling. “This will do nicely.”

Watching Daniel study the marble, Ginger looked at the table leg then up to the wide fork and grinned. “You’re missing a very important piece,” she said as Teresa walked over to a small garbage can then brought it to Daniel.

“Thank you,” he said, dumped the marbles in, and continued pulling more out. “I know where to get it,” he said, glancing over at Ginger, and winked.

Ginger smiled and stepped closer. “When do you think we should try to make a run for it?”

“This evening,” he said, dumping a handful of marbles. “We have a date, but I think I’m going to have to make you dinner. Restaurants don’t usually open during an apocalypse.”

“I’ll make you a deal; I’ll cook dinner, and we can leave tomorrow. We have too much to do and are leaving in a few hours, and
we
,” she stressed, “won’t be ready.”

“Hey, I’m just keeping my word,” he said, dumping another handful.

“An apocalypse is an excellent excuse for moving a date back one night,” she smiled. “Besides, if you get hurt and we can’t have our date, I’ll rip your nipples off with pliers.”

“Whoa,” Daniel grinned. “Kinky.”

Glancing at the small trash can and seeing it was halfway full, Daniel dropped one more handful in. “Let’s get started then.”

He walked in to see everyone watching a TV showing footage of other major cities, and all of them looked like Chicago. Dropping another armload on the table, Daniel cleared his throat. “Alright, Don, Ken, and Joe, from now on, I’m calling you Larry, Moe, and Curly,” he said, pointing at them respectfully.

“The stooges,” Don, or Larry now, gasped. “Come on, man, how about the musketeers or something.”

“I have every movie and show they ever made along with the Little Rascals. Don’t downgrade them,” Daniel said as Malik chuckled.

Joe, or Curly now, grinned. “Hey, I like it,” he grinned.