Riding The Apocalypse (9 page)

Chapter 10

“No problem, I’ll get the popcorn too.”

A flash outside the glass doors caught my attention and I spotted a rapidly approaching car about a hundred yards out and heading more or less straight for the garage. The erratic pattern of the running lights suggested the car was swerving as it rounded the long left hand corner. The car then lost front-end traction and sideswiped a VW Bug as it cleared the apex of the corner.

It was a blue Corvette.

My heart stopped for the few seconds it took to be sure it was who I hoped it was. Seconds later, the driver made a sharp right turn just as the car approached the gate. This erratic maneuver put the car into a four wheel slide, throwing both of the driver’s side tires up and over the curb. I heard a loud pop as the tires simultaneously blew out. In a cloud of tire smoke and dust, Emily and her cobalt chariot came to a screeching halt just outside the gate.

“
Who
the hell is that?” Ed asked as he ran to the shop window.

I ignored him, unlocked the office door, and sprinted toward the dust-filled scene. I stopped short as I approached the gate.

“Shit, no key!” I cursed to myself.

Before I could turn around, Emily forced the door open and tried to step out of the car. In her haste she did not release the seat belt, which acted like a giant rubber band and snapped her back inside the car. It would have been funny under other circumstances.

“Damn it!” she cried loudly.

As I turned to go back for the key, Max brushed past me.

“Go to her, fucker!” he shouted as he unlocked the gate and stepped aside to let me pass.

Emily wriggled herself free of the belt and lunged out of the car just as I reached her.

Our eyes met.

Emily pushed away from the car and threw herself in my arms. She looked hysterical, terrified, and beautiful all at the same time. Her long brown hair was disheveled, and her clothes tattered and dirty. Yet, she was still Emily, her eyes were her natural color, and I was relieved to note her beautiful olive skin.

Max held the gate as Emily and I twisted sideways to get inside. She refused to wait for the gate to be opened wide enough for us to pass cleanly, and subsequently, her belt hooked on the cyclone fence. The force of the belt catching the metal pulled violently to her right, sending her body on a collision course with the fence line. I caught her before she hit the gate, and clenched her tightly as she collapsed into my arms. She was breathing rapidly, and began to cry. I guided her safely inside the gate and took a knee, then let her full weight rest on my leg and shoulders. She gripped me like a vise, with a strength I’d never seen in her before. I grimaced, but welcomed the pain of her embrace. As we held each other, Max locked the gate while Buell stood guard.

Teamwork.

With a few words we all acted simultaneously and efficiently. It was confidence inspiring. I made eye contact with Max, and thanked him without the use of words.

I glanced to Buell, who had stepped forward and to my right. His expression was deliberate, as his eyes focused on the street in front of us.

“I don’t wanna break up this lovely moment, bro, but I see a lot of the monster dudes coming around Big Lazy,” said Buell.

Big Lazy was the name Buell had affectionately given the turn leading to the cul-de-sac from the main expressway. The turn was long, smooth, and wide—though arguably the best attribute of Big Lazy was the fact that it lacked cross-traffic. Buell tagged along when I originally looked at this garage with an eye to purchasing. He’d tried coaxing me to buy the building before we even went inside because he envisioned taking the turn at speed every time he stopped by. For Buell, the utility of Big Lazy was impetus enough for him to recommend the location.

On a side note, down the street a bit there is a non-official sign attached to a light pole with screws and plumber’s tape. The sign reads
Big Lazy.
You want to guess who mounted that sign? Yep, and Ed even had the plumber’s tape in his overalls.

Emily’s epic entrance brought additional company. The cul-de-sac was getting more populated with the monsters by the minute. Not wanting to attract more of a crowd, we headed inside. I noted the monsters seemed to have exceptional hearing, even appearing to favor it over vision at times. I periodically saw them cock their heads ever so slightly, then look. The monsters appeared capable of triangulating our position among each other without the use of direct sight. As the initial shock of Emily’s grand entrance subsided, I walked her inside. I paid little attention to the group of undead that picked up her tail and were funneling into the cul-de-sac.

When we were back in the garage, all eyes turned to Emily. With the black mascara running below her eyes, she resembled a sad raccoon at a quick glance. I don’t usually notice her makeup, but I saw it then. Max, being Max, was back within seconds with a box of tissues he grabbed from the office.

“Here you go, sweetie, you okay?” Max said as he handed her the tissues.

She took them from him and smiled for the first time since she arrived.

Fucking Max.

“I am better, thanks.” She blotted her eyes and blew her nose. “I tried to call you, Rem,” she said looking back at me. “But my phone didn’t work. I tried a landline, and the operator said
all circuits busy
or something like that, so I gave up and started driving.”

Emily took a large breath, ran her fingers between her ears and her hairline, and stood straight up. She wiped her eyes, took another breath, then spoke softly.

“I am okay,” she said as she held up one finger as if to hold our thoughts, and blew her nose with the other hand.

Just when I thought she was going to break down again, she pulled it together before our eyes.

Just like that.

Hell yeah, we were all impressed.

“Rem, remember when we were in bed watching this—”

“Aw yeah!” Buell laughed, making the familiar porn music sounds.

“C’mon, Buell, really?” Max said, furrowing his brow.

Emily ignored him and continued. “We were shocked it all happened so fast, remember?” Emily spoke with conviction, there was not a hint of the vulnerability and panic she had arrived with.

“Yeah, I still can’t believe it, but I have seen the footage ’em, Em. Those cannibals are everywhere. Maybe it’s airborne,” I said with uncertainty.

“No, Rem, it is not airborne, it is mass murder,” she stated stoically.

“Okay, so wait, what? You can’t call these people, or whatever they are, murderers, can you? Isn’t it the virus that is causing them to do this?” Buell interrupted as he sat down on the fender of the Impala, obviously needing to take a load off.

“True story, or are we missing something?” Ed asked incredulously.

I had forgotten Ed was even there, and watched as he sat down quietly, eagerly awaiting an answer.

“Okay, yes, these things are killing people, but the outbreak is no accident.” She stared at me.

Just then I saw something I hoped only I could see. Emily was struggling with something internally.

“Hey! Those monsters  are trying to take your tape deck Em, is it a pull out?” Buell laughed while looking out the window at the monsters still milling about Emily’s Corvette.

I smiled and welcomed Buell’s attempt to lighten the mood. From where Buell was sitting atop the Impala fender, he had a direct line of sight out the window and into the street. I could tell Buell was getting a bit worried, his nervous joke was a telltale sign.

“Keep an eye out, Buell, and let us know if they get it. I gotta hear this,” I said as I took a quick peek at the monsters trying to climb into the Corvette. They were still behind a locked gate and only a dozen strong. Even the undead could not resist a Corvette. I was not worried about them at the moment; I wanted to hear what Em had to say.

“Go on, then. I gotta leave before dark if I can, enough of the twenty questions,” Ed snapped in a far more serious tone than I had ever heard him use.

“Okay, bu—”

“I am sorry, hon, I didn’t mean to be rude.” Before Emily could respond, Ed interrupted with a softer voice. “I am just in a kind of a hurry, and you got me captivated here. You go on, dear.”

Good guy Ed is, never disappoints.

Emily nodded and went on. “It’s in the flu vaccine.”

“Huh, no shit?” Max said as a light seemed to go on in his head and he perked up.

“Yes,” Emily said as she stood and looked out the window at the undead still trying to get into her car. “It was planted in the flu vaccine by a man with high clearance in the CDC.”

“Jesus, this is a perfect storm. I heard on the radio that they were setting up tents and mobile centers for people to get the flu vaccine ’cause of the scare,” Ed said solemnly.

“No wonder it spread so fast, especially in the hospitals. The more people got sick and turned into monsters, the more people got the vaccine,” Buell added.

“I read somewhere during flu season over a million people a week get that damned shot,” Max said.

“Over two million this week, and over forty million so far this year,” Emily added as she wiped her rose colored nose.

“How did you find this out? Are you sure?” Ed asked.

Emily sat slouched down in the chair Max had set out for her from the office and looked up at me. “I overheard someone talking about it at my office after I brought Mom there.”

“Who?” I interjected. I sensed the trepidation in her voice.

“Look can we not get into this here, now?” Emily pleaded while looking directly at me. “It doesn’t matter how I know, I just know. I overheard them talking about it, and I tried to call you, but your phone was dead. I wanted to warn you not to get—”

“Wait, anyone here get a flu shot?” Max interrupted and looked around nervously.

Everyone shook their heads no. Thank goodness for procrastination.

Now it made more sense to me…the little girl at the gate with no blood or wounds, poor thing. Well, at least she turned before someone attacked her, I thought. Wait, was that a consolation? She was a child who craved human flesh.

Ed looked at Emily. “So, do they know this now? The powers that remain, I mean? Did you tell everyone there what you heard, or was it common—”

“I left my mother there, and I told her everything. There are rooms full of police, military, and media there. When your cell phone was dead, Rem, I had to come. I knew you would be here.” Emily smiled as tears began to well in her eyes again.

“Don’t be so hard on yourself, Em. You got here, your mom is safe, you’re getting the word out. Relax, hon, you’re doing great,” Max said.

 I think Max also perceived there was something else on her mind. Max was not born today, but he wasn’t born yesterday either.

“Have a Fiber One bar, and some Maker’s, that always does it for me.” Buell smiled. “You really should drink something, Em, at least water,” Buell continued with genuine compassion.

Emily brought that out in most guys. She was that engaging. I bested Max to the water cooler and handed her the paper cup. She took a long drink and forced a smile.

“So what do we do now?” said Buell when Emily had again pulled it together. “The military knows how it’s spreading. You think they are gonna get ahold of this? Do we just sit tight? You sure your mom got to the right people?”

I smirked to myself at this, Buell had obviously never met Emily’s mom.

“My mother is the Assistant to the President of the California Board of Health. She knows who to talk to and what to say to get their attention. She was all over their asses when I left her.”

She is a bulldog, I thought but did not say.

“My mom was so wrapped up in sounding the alarm, she didn’t even see me leave. We have nothing to worry about in that respect.” Emily sighed. “But I just panicked and didn’t know what to do once she was getting the word out. I didn’t think it through, I just wanted to come to you, Remy, that’s all I wanted to do.” She smiled and added, “I am glad I didn’t think, Rem, glad I came here.”

I felt a surge of emotion for Emily I had not felt in a long time, but tried desperately to stay on topic. There would be time for the gushy stuff later. So I continued pressing Emily for information, ignoring the warm fuzzy feelings.

“Who was it, Emily? Someone we know? You might as well tell us too,” I said with a softer tone.

I wanted to know who caused this mess, but even more than that I wanted to know why the hell Emily knew who caused it. She seemed composed enough to tell us, and I had no patience for secrets. Our lives were forever changed, and I wanted answers.

I think we all did.

“It was Dr. Howard Evans,” she said without preamble. “He was the one who tainted the flu vaccine.”

“What? The head of the CDC?” I asked.

“Yes, Michael was on the phone with Dr. Evans in my office and I walked in and overheard Michael yelling. I went back to my assistant’s desk and tapped in to the call.”

“Michael who?” I asked, alarm bells ringing.