Black Friday (3 page)

CHAPTER 2: JUDY

T
HANKSGIVING
M
IDDAY
…

J
UDY
SKIDDED
to a stop in the fresh snow and threw the car in park. She had circled the car, slipping and catching herself on the hood, before the door had even slammed shut behind her. Judy ran up the steps to the heavy wooden door that was closing.

The movement had made her stop. Except for the traffic signal swaying in the snowy November wind, it had been the only movement she’d seen since everyone disappeared. She tugged on the door. It didn’t budge. Judy pounded on the wood and leaned back to look at the huge front of the church. From her angle, the stone seemed to extend upwards all the way to the gray clouds, which spat down grainy snow.

She heard a thunk and the door slid open an inch.

“If you’re here to volunteer, they’ve all left for the Bayside kitchen,” a woman’s voice said.

“No, I’m not here for that,” Judy said. “Everyone’s gone. It’s just me and…” Judy tried to catch her breath. She tried to force herself to sound sane. “I’m afraid something has happened.”

“Everyone has left for the kitchen,” the woman behind the door said. “If you’ve got some other troubles, then perhaps you should call the police?”

“May I come in for a second?” Judy asked.

“Please do,” the woman said after a moment. The door slid open silently and Judy squeezed through the gap as soon as it was wide enough. The woman was tiny and wore a black cloak over a white shirt and long black skirt.
 

“Thank you so much. I’m Judy.”

“Sister Glen.”

“Thank you for letting me in, Sister Glen. So you’re not aware of what’s going on out there?” Judy asked.

“Out there?”

“Yes,” Judy said. “Everyone is disappearing. Or, I mean,
has
disappeared. They’re all just gone.”

“We’re here.”

“Yes, but I just drove five blocks and I didn’t see anyone. You’re the only sign of life I’ve found.”

“It’s Thanksgiving,” Sister Glen said, “I’m sure everyone is at home enjoying a meal with their families. Most of our people are down at the Bayside kitchen, preparing a meal for homeless veterans. In fact, that’s where I’m headed now.”

“Great, okay. May I go down there with you? Maybe I’m wrong and everyone will be down there.”

The sister considered the question for a moment. “You’ll have to take your own car. I have to drive the van, and our insurance doesn’t allow us to take any passengers along.”

“Sure, no problem,” Judy said. “And maybe once we get there, I can volunteer or whatever.”

“That would be lovely. You go wait in your car and I’ll pull up from the side. You can follow me down there. Parking is tricky,” Sister Glen said.

“One thing, sister, before you go out there? I know this seems a little crazy, but better safe than sorry, you know?”

“Yes?” Sister Glen asked. She took a half-step sideways, towards the door to show Judy out.

“Do you have a cell phone? Could you just try to place a call? I tried to call the police several times before I left my apartment and I never could get through.”

“Whom should I call?” Sister Glen asked.

“Anyone. It doesn’t matter, at least on my phone it didn’t matter who I tried,” Judy said.

From under her cape, the sister produced a cell phone. She propped her glasses up onto her head before studying the display. “It shows four bars,” she said, just above a whisper. After she tapped in a recipient, she held the phone to her ear. She must have had it set to speaker, because Judy could hear the fast busy signal from where she stood.

Sister Glen tried another number, and another, with the same result.

“I think the phone is out,” the sister said, returning it under her cloak.

“Mine too,” Judy said. The lobby was warmer than outside, but Judy pulled her arms in tight and shivered inside her jacket.

“Come in for one second,” Sister Glen said. “There’s a phone in my office. We can try that before we leave.”
 

She led Judy down a short hall and through another heavy door. Behind the desk, Sister Glen sat down in a giant chair. She looked like a child sitting in that chair. She waved Judy to one of the other seats. Her black cloak slid back from her arm as she reached for the receiver of the old phone. It was just as loud as the cell phone—Judy could hear the dial tone coming from the receiver as she sat down next to the window.
 

Outside, the sandy snow pelted the wavy glass. Judy could feel the wind seeping between the panes.
 

“Is your power on?” Judy asked.

Sister Glen held up a finger to silence Judy and then punched the last digit of the phone number. She switched the receiver to her other ear and then pushed the plunger several times to reset the connection. After dialing again with no luck, she returned the receiver to the cradle.
 

“This phone isn’t working either. It’s an old phone. I wouldn’t be surprised if it has finally given up the ghost.”

“Is your power on, sister?”

“I assume so,” Sister Glen said. She reached over and flicked the switch on a sturdy desk lamp. Nothing happened. “Try the one by the door?”

“Sure,” Judy said. She rose halfway up from her seat and flipped the light switch. Both women looked at the ceiling for a moment, as if they expected the lights to eventually come on. Judy flopped back down into her chair.

“I need a moment to think,” Sister Glen said. “Tell me again how you came here?”

Judy told her story beginning from the moment she woke up.

CHAPTER 3: ROBBY

R
OBBY
TURNED
,
THOUGHT
FOR
second, and then ran for the pizza counter. He figured that all three restaurants must have a back exit for the staff, and the pizza place was the closest. Lyle stepped out of the shadow of a big potted plant and stood in Robby’s path. Robby backpedaled his feet, his stolen shoes slipping, and fell to the floor. His elbows jolted down on the hard floor and Robby clawed backwards to get away from Lyle. His gloved hands slipped on the tiles.

“What’s the matter?” Lyle asked, smiling at Robby.

Robby regained his feet and sprinted away from Lyle. The man’s grasp scraped at Robby’s back, but Robby lurched away just in time. He ran to his right, away from the man, away from the food court, and away from the locked doors. A wide hallway had big signs that pointed the way to the bathrooms and Robby found himself back in the lobby.
 

Three more corpses had joined the couple at the glass. When Robby came around the information counter, he saw that his security guard had begun to move as well. The old man hadn’t dragged himself towards the glass yet, but he had both arms raised in that direction. Robby gave him extra room—he didn’t trust the reaching arms, or the gore-stained thumb. There was nowhere to go. The two bathroom doors were the only exits on the wall behind Robby, and he’d already been in the men’s room. It didn’t have any windows or anywhere to hide except bathroom stalls. Robby crouched against the wall, near the security guard, and tried to make himself as small and still as possible. He pulled his knees to his chest and tucked his face down.

Lyle’s echoing footsteps preceded the man’s entrance. He seemed preoccupied with the dead people clustered by the glass doors. Through the slit between his knees, Robby watched him move. If Lyle kept moving, Robby could dart behind the information desk and beat Lyle back through the hall to the food court, but then what? Would all the doors of this roach motel be locked?

With his face pressed into his legs, Robby could hear his own breathing above everything else. Despite Lyle’s dramatic footfalls, and the dead pawing their dry skin against the glass doors, the lobby had an eerie silence. It felt like the walls were absorbing the sounds, or perhaps feeding on them. Robby shivered and hugged his knees closer.

Lyle’s voice filled the lobby, but the dead didn’t care. Only Robby listened to the words—“I see you over there.”

Lyle didn’t look in Robby’s direction. He kept his gaze focused on the unthinking dead at the glass doors. But, even without looking, Lyle’s arm raised and he pointed directly at Robby’s position.
 

“Shouldn’t we be talking about them?” Lyle asked. He moved his arm to a sweeping gesture towards the moving corpses. “These people are dead yet they move, and they don’t seem to hear me at all. I know the world has changed a lot in the past forty-eight hours, but isn’t this noteworthy?”

Robby looked at the security guard, sitting on the floor right beside him. The old man had no eyes, and couldn’t pull himself to go join his compatriots, but it
was
noteworthy that the old man was moving at all. Were eyeless corpses all over the southern part of the state doing the same thing? Were they all on some mindless trek, moving west until they hit an obstacle, or was this only a local phenomenon? The crackling in his head that fired every time he saw the lightning race down the highway coincided with the movement of the dead. Robby wondered if the two things were connected.

Lyle must have been thinking along the same lines. “I bet they’re trying to get to that blue light that keeps flashing down the road,” Lyle said. “What do you think?”

Down at the security guard’s side, a leather pouch was strapped to his belt. Robby inched forward and reached out towards it. He thought it was the right size and shape to house a utility knife, or multi-purpose tool. Robby pulled off his glove and flicked at the snap that held the flap down. The guard hadn’t seemed to notice the touch. With the tips of his finger and thumb, Robby pushed back the flap and pulled the item from the pouch. He held a cold metal cylinder with a plastic cap. In bright lettering, practically glowing against the black background, the can read “INFERNO,” and then in smaller letters “Pepper Spray.” Robby glanced up at Lyle and stuffed his gloves into his pockets so he could grip the cold can in both hands.

“I can’t wait to take some time and figure them out,” Lyle said. He turned to face Robby. Lyle stood about ten paces away. “But I don’t want to ignore my living guest. I’ve only been on my own for two days, but I’d seriously started to doubt that I might ever see another living face. Then you just walked into my world. What if we’re the last two left? I wouldn’t want to miss an opportunity.”

Robby could see that Lyle had spotted him. The man wasn’t just speaking in his direction. Giving up on the pretense of hiding, Robby stood up to be ready in case Lyle made another grab for him.
 

“What do you want from me?” Robby asked.

“Ah, so you
do
speak,” Lyle said. “I was beginning to wonder. I’m just looking for some company. What fun is it to live in a big empty world all alone? Humans are very social creatures.”

“There’s plenty more people alive,” Robby said, lying carefully, trying to think his way through as he spoke. “I’ve just left them.”

Lyle took a step towards Robby.

“Really? You were with other people and you came here alone?” Lyle asked.

“Yes,” Robby said. “We’re headed north, but I left first. They’ll be along at any time.”

“I hope they’re not traveling on the highway,” Lyle said. He took another step towards Robby. “You wouldn’t believe what that lightning does to vehicles in its path.”

“They’re coming the back way,” Robby said. “That’s why I walked down that road that leads to the employee parking lot. That’s the way they’re coming. They should be here any minute. Sam and Sarah are coming in the first car. Then Paul, Jim, and Haddie.” Robby pulled names from his own past to make the story seem more real, but reciting the names also made him feel even more alone. He clutched the pepper spray can to his stomach, forgetting what he held in his hands.

“That’s good news,” Lyle said. “I can’t wait to meet them. Perhaps together we can figure out what’s going on around here. First everyone drops dead and their eyes fall out of their heads, then we have blue flashes running down the highway and the dead people rise up and press against the windows. I wonder what would happen if we let them out.”

“Why don’t you?” Robby asked.

“What? Let them out?”
 

“Yes. Why don’t you unlock the door and see where they go?”

“What fun would that be?” Lyle asked. He was still moving slowly towards Robby. “There’s so much I want to know about them. If they wandered off, I might never find out.”

Robby had the security guard on one side and the bathroom doors on the other. He couldn’t back away any farther from Lyle. Robby’s back was already against the wall. Lyle was close enough that Robby could see how tall he was. The man towered over Robby, and swept his coat back to tuck his hands into his pants pockets. Lyle’s face was shadowed, lit from behind by the blue moonlight filtering through the glass front of the building, but Robby could see his smile.

“Besides,” Lyle said, “I saw some of the bodies out in the parking lot through the windows. They’re shuffling off towards the highway. I’m sure that’s where these would go if I let them. Then, I wouldn’t have them anymore, would I?”