The First Days: As the World Dies (2 page)

    "Listen, I need you to take my cell phone and call the first number in the speed-dial. 911 is not working right now, but hopefully we can get through to the police department. I can't pay attention to driving and call."

    Just then she had to swerve again. This time it was to avoid a pack of rabid humans racing toward the truck from a side street. The chaos was spreading quickly throughout the neighborhood. It was getting worse by the second. The pack tried to pursue the truck for a few seconds, but was drawn off by another car tearing out of a garage in an attempt to escape.

    The dark-haired woman nodded and took the phone from Katie. She flipped it open and stared at the tiny screen. On it was a picture of a lovely woman with short-cropped brown hair and amber eyes.

    "She's pretty," the woman whispered.

    Katie choked back a sob and fought the hot tears suddenly stinging her eyes. "Yes, she is." She brushed her mouth with her hand and tried her best not to cry. She couldn't think of Lydia right now. She just couldn't. She had to find her way out of this hellish neighborhood and to safety.

    The woman worked her way easily through the menu and pressed dial.

    Even Katie could hear the busy signal.

    "Keep trying, okay?"

    "Okay."

    Katie drove on past a school bus. It was empty and the open door was smeared with blood. The rest of the block looked peaceful, but she knew it was not. Whatever was happening in the rest of the city was happening here.

    They had to be very careful. Katie had seen too many horrors this morning to think they could be safe.

    "I'm Jenni. With an "i", not a "y". I like it spelled that way," the woman said softly beside her.

    Katie smiled despite everything. "Hi, Jenni with an "i". I'd say I'm happy to meet you, but under the circum-"

    "The little boy, that was my son, Mikey. His Dad…he…my husband…Lloyd…did something to him. To him and Benji…"

    Katie shuddered slightly as the harsh, brutal memory of seeing Jenni pursued to the truck by a ravaged little boy and his blood splattered father passed through her mind's eye.

    "I'm sorry." It was all Katie could think of to say.

    "It's still busy," Jenni answered changing the subject. She stared at the phone.

    "Please, keep trying."

    Jenni nodded and pushed the button again.

    Katie spun the steering wheel and headed around a corner, barely avoiding two cars racing past her. She saw frightened families inside and whispered a silent prayer for them. She was hopelessly lost in suburbia and not sure where to go. She and Lydia lived ten miles from this new, modern cookie-cutter suburb. Their home was a custom built home Lydia had designed. It was tucked into a hillside overlooking the lake and the city. It should have been safe there. It should have been, but the terror of this morning had even reached there.

    Her feet were aching in her high heels and she wished she had found better shoes in the truck. The old man's hunting coat was comforting and warm. It reminded her of her grandfather and smelled of fresh tobacco.

    How had this happened? What did it mean? One minute she had been sitting in her brand new convertible, top down despite the cool morning, enjoying a cup of coffee and readying herself for a long day at her job as a prosecutor. The next she had been fighting off a man who had reached across the passenger seat, grabbed the jacket of her brand new Ann Taylor suit and tried to drag her out of the car. She had slipped out of her jacket, grabbed her briefcase and battered him with it. She struck him so hard she had heard his skull crack.

    She had leapt from the car ready to fight when she saw that his throat was torn out and he trailed a long train of intestines behind him. But that did not stop him from trying to climb over the car to get to her.

    To her growing horror, she had seen more mutilated people rushing straight for her through the early morning rush hour traffic that always snarled up the narrow road leading down into the city. She had turned and started to run blindly, past honking cars, vehicles with music so loud her teeth throbbed, and SUVs packed with children going to school. All of them seemed oblivious of the danger quickly running toward them.

    "Hey, missy!"

    An old man had stood outside his white truck, waving at her, a shotgun clutched in his hand. "Get in my truck! We'll off road it! Hurry!"

    She hadn't needed to look behind her to know she was pursued. She had heard the slap of their feet against the pavement.

    Katie had almost been to the truck when suddenly the old man was grabbed from behind. A woman bit into his throat and viciously dragged him down to the ground. Katie had almost stopped, but the old man had waved to her.

    "Get in the truck! Take the gun! Get out of here! Go! Go!" He had continued to fight with the woman that had assaulted him, but he had faded fast. His blood had been a fountain against the pavement.

    Pausing for the barest of moments, she had grabbed the shotgun from his quivering hand and had dove into the open driver's door. Slamming it shut, her hand had reached for the ignition only to realize the truck was already on.

    The old man's gurgling voice had shouted, "Go! Go! Go!"

    She had obeyed: shifted gears and went. In the rear view mirror, she had seen the small pack of mutilated humans reach the old man and dive onto him. As she had driven down the shoulder and past the stopped cars that honked at her, she had seen the old man one more time. His mutilated form had been running with the rest of the pack.

    "Don't turn here!"

    Kate shook herself out of her memories and slammed on the brakes.

    "Shit!" It was a cul-de-sac. She quickly started to turn around when she saw a nightmarish vision. Around fifteen of those things erupted out into the street and began to race toward the truck cutting off their escape route.

    Her hands tightened on the steering wheel as she quickly pulled the truck around.

    "Just do it," Jenni said softly beside her. "They're not real anymore."

    Katie aimed right for the center of the throng, floored the truck and braced herself. The deer guard caught the first few and flung them away from the vehicle. One skinny teenager bounced onto the hood and he clung to hood, beating at the windshield with one hand.

    Katie slammed on the brake and the momentum carried him off the hood and his hand, already barely fastened to his arm by strands of tendon and skin, snapped off.

    "Oh, God," she whispered.

    "It's okay," Jenni said softly. "Really."

    Katie hit the accelerator and they both were jostled when they drove over the youth's body. Maybe it was just her imagination, but she could have sworn she heard a mushy popping sound.

    "What is happening? What the hell is this?" Katie shook her head, her blond hair falling softly across her brow.

    "The end," Jenni sighed. "The end."

    

    

    

    The white truck hurtled down the streets of suburbia that were quickly falling into bloody bedlam. It was obvious that whatever was happening was spreading at an accelerated pace. Gunshots rang through the morning air.

    People's screams rose in a cacophony. Cars careened crazily through the streets. At times it was only Katie's quick reflexes that saved them from an accident.

    Beside her Jenni hit the Redial button once more. Katie couldn't bear to look at the phone and see Lydia's beautiful face smiling out at her.

    If this wasn't the end, it sure did look like it. It had to be terrorists. Some sort of weapon that made people crazed. PCP, something. Katie rubbed her mouth with her fingers. That had to be it.

    Since Jenni's proclamation of the end, they had both been silent. It was too much to absorb.

    Too much to comprehend.

    They just had to keep moving.

    They had to keep going.

    But where?

    If only her Dad would answer his cell phone. Of course, he was probably going nuts trying to reach her. She could see him now in the center of the hub being the strong police chief of legend. Big Bruce was certainly doing his best to get this insanity under control. Tears threatened to fall as she thought of his strong craggy face under his military buzz cut. It was a soothing thought in this moment.

    And then his voice filled the truck cab.

    "Hello? Katie?"

    And Katie started to cry as Jenni said, "No, but she's here with me."

    Katie grabbed the phone away from Jenni. "Daddy!"

    "Katie, are you and Lydia okay?"

    Katie shook her head and whispered, "No, no. I'm fine, but Lydia, she didn't make it. She…Daddy…she…"

    "I'm sorry, Katie-baby. I'm sorry."

    She could tell by his voice that he truly was. Despite his misgivings with her lifestyle, he had come to accept and be quite close to Lydia. Though her mother had remained blissfully in denial until her death, her father had tried hard to understand. His painful, sometimes embarrassing questions had only showed her how much he was trying. And when he had shown up at her wedding, dressed in his military uniform, beaming and near tears, to walk her down the aisle, she knew that he loved her even if he didn't understand her completely.

    Now they shared a moment of silence over the woman Katie had loved so much.

    "I'm sorry, honey," he said again. "But you can't let it affect you right now, understand?"

    "Yes, I know. I'm trying to keep a cool head."

    "Good girl." A tinge of pride crept into his tone, though it remained dominated by fear. "Listen, Katie, whatever the hell this is, it's all over the city. You need to get down to the police department. We're barricaded in and you'll be safe here. We got the National Guard on its way."

    "Okay, Daddy. Okay. We'll be there as soon as we can."

    "Katie, be careful." His voice was rich with emotion and she wiped a tear away.

    "I'm armed, Daddy. I have a good vehicle."

    "Not that little-"

    "No, no. A truck. I'm in a truck."

    "How…nevermind…this day…too many weird things."

    Katie nodded and pressed the cell phone tighter to her ear, ignoring the little stab of her earring against her skin. "Daddy, what are they?"

    "I don't know. I don't know. The damn Ruskies are behind it. I know it.

    We never could trust them. Everyone else is saying terrorists, but I'm telling you, Katie, the Soviet Union never really died."

    She couldn't help but laugh a little. He was such a Cold War warrior. She could hear many voices behind him, demanding, questioning. Without a doubt her dear old dad was at the center of the storm.

    "Katie, I gotta go. I love you. Get here as soon as you can. Be careful."

    "Okay, Daddy. Okay. Love you."

    Katie snapped the phone shut and pressed it tightly against her lips. She couldn't think of Lydia right now. She couldn't think of how she had pulled up to their beautiful home to see Lydia tearing at the mailman with their neighbors at her side. She couldn't think of how Lydia had rushed toward her, not to kiss her and hold her and make the world better, but to kill.

    "I know what they are," Jenni said softly beside her. She was intently staring at her feet, especially her one bloodstained toe.

    "Yeah? Well, what are they then?"

    "Zombies.”

    Katie laughed bitterly, then her voice died away as the crested a hill.

    Before them lay the city. It was smoldering. Down in the city, chaos ruled.

    Even from their high position, they could see clearly that it was overrun. The things were every where.

    The phone rang.

    "Katie?"

    "Daddy?"

    "Katie, don't come here! Don't come here! I just got word in. It's not safe to come in. The National Guard was overrun. Don't come, Katie! Run! Get the hell out of the city! Keep safe, baby, keep safe."

    Katie rested her forehead against the steering wheel. "Daddy…"

    "Just do it, baby. Just do it."

    Either he hung up or the lines finally went dead for suddenly there was nothing but a pulsing tone.

    Katie looked up through the windshield as she clutched the steering wheel. A car sped past her and down the hill toward downtown. She watched it for several blocks and then it was overrun by a horde of those things.

    "We need to go now," Jenni's faint, singsong voice said. She turned her glassy gaze to Katie. "We really do."

    Katie turned the wheel and they headed back up the road.

    "Turn here," Jenni said.

    Katie obeyed automatically. Tears streamed down her face.

    Jenni pointed again. "Turn here."

    Katie turned the truck and sped down a back road that sliced behind the suburbs nestled into the hill.

    "It will take us far away from the city," Jenni sighed and reached down and cleaned her toe with the edge of her bathrobe. "Away from the zombies."

    Katie whispered, "There is no such thing."

    "Then what are they?" Jenni's voice held a hint of emotion. "Some bum bit Lloyd last night when he was coming home from work. This morning he ate my baby!" Abruptly, her voice was on the edge of hysteria.

    Lydia racing toward her, bloody hands stretched out, her chest torn open…

    Katie drew in a sharp breath.

    "If they are not zombies, what are they?" Jenni's voice was shrill.

    Katie looked at her and reached out and grabbed Jenni's cold, clammy hand with her own.