Run Read online

  From outside I hear the wailing of a siren as it drives through the area. Going wherever the police are responding too. Hearing the siren gives me the idea to pull up a police scanner for the area and listen in to the police chatter. Using Google I search the phrase "police scanner for Bunting county". I load up the first result and hit the play button. Immediately my speakers spring to life.

  Female voice "Ongoing assault at 38th and main st"

  A male voice "This is unit fifteen responding. ETA two minutes."

  female voice "Ten-four"

  I continue listening to the radio for some time. The quality is shit but from what I can make out the police are being sent all around the Plaza. And around the area surrounding where this whole nightmare started.

  If I didn't know any better I'd think the outbreak started with that one crash victim but how? Did the driver hit an already zombified person or did being hit and killed by a car turn him? fuck! Too many questions I have no way of finding an answer for. What do I do? I sit thinking about emergency preparation. What's the first step? I jump up as an idea explodes into my mind. Camping gear! I have a full camping setup and as a runner, I have plenty of lightweight running tights and thermals for warmth. Racing into my bedroom I grab all the clothing I think will prove useful. I grab an extra blanket as well before dumping it all on my couch. Striding into the spare bedroom I snatch up my backpacking pack. It's already loaded up with my tent gear. Only need to grab my sleeping bag and hammock under-quilt that I have hanging in the closet. Where I keep them to not damage through compressing them over long periods of time. Dropping off the bag and quilts in the living room next to the pile of clothes. I head back to the bedroom this time to grab a change of clothes. I only now realized I'm still wearing all my running clothes.

  "Bang, Bang, Bang"

  I hear a pounding come from the backdoor. I freeze in panic. 'Fuck fuck fuck' is the only articulate word running through my mind considering the sound.

  "'Bang, Bang!' James you in there?"

  I vocalize to myself "Adam?" I dart from the bedroom to the backdoor. Regaining my caution long enough. I check through the window confirming it's him before throwing the door open. I grab him and yank him into the apartment. Once he's in I close and lock the door. It has three locks in total only two of which can unlock from the outside if one has keys. Sliding the curtains closed across the window. I turn around pushing Adam deeper into the apartment.

  I ask him "What happened, it's been hours?"

  Adam answers "When we got separated the zombie followed you not me. So I turned back since it was following you. I took a breather at the corner store hiding behind the dumpster. The problem was while I was catching my breath some other zombies showed up. I guess they were chasing someone that ran into the store. Anyway, they weren't all that close to me. But from the dumpster enclosure, there was nothing but an open parking lot to the street. I had no chance of sneaking away, And I didn't want to try and outrun them. I was already exhausted from all the other running. I didn't have any energy left in me to outrun anyone else. In the end, I figured I'm safe so long as they don't know I'm here. For the first twenty minutes, I crouched at the corner watching as they were all trying to get into the store. The doors must have been blocked off or something I don't know couldn't see. I ended up taking a seat and waiting. I don't know what happened. But after what seemed forever. A police car went zipping past sirens blazing and all the zombies took off after it down the street. I waited another ten minutes and watched the empty lot. As soon as I felt secure enough to make a move. I went for it. I moved from hiding place to hiding place until I made it here. I did see others while on the way but I wasn't taking any chances."

  I fill Adam in on everything I've found out. Which is absolutely nothing outside of the police chatter. Which is still popping off in the adjacent room from us. The only information that anything unusual is happening so far has come from police radio. And all I can tell from it is police are responding to calls centered in the Plaza area which is only two miles south of us. Most of the calls are labeled as assaults or fights.

  "I can't be sure but it seems this all started at that car crash." I take a breath before continuing "At least we're safe now in here."

  "Safe for how long?" Adam grunts out as he walks past me towards the bathroom. "I've got to piss," he says right before turning the corner into the hall.

  I check my watch it's eight in the evening and I realize with all the excitement I haven't eaten since lunch. I walk over to the fridge and pull out two bottles of water for us and check what food I have on hand. The selection isn't great and I settle on bananas and a frozen pizza.

  "What are you doing?" Adam asks as I'm setting the oven to preheat.

  "What, oh I'm gonna make a pizza. we need to eat" I say as I toss the bottle of water to him. "I also have some bananas here. I point them out on the counter" And grab a couple for myself.

  Adam snatches up the last three bananas. He follows me into the living room. Where I shove the piles of gear I was packing to the side allowing us enough room to sit down.

  "What's all this?" he asks me. eyeing up the clothes and assortment of items I have sitting around the couch.

  "I was packing up some camping gear and clothes in case I needed to make a quick exit" I respond.

  "Oh, don't have a two-person tent in there do you?" he asks

  I grimace before responding "Sorry dude. I only have a hammock tent. wait! I do have a second hammock though" I say as I jump up and run into the other room to grab the second hammock. I come back grinning with it in hand.

  "I've got you covered. Though, I don't have any insulation for it other than a regular blanket. Better than nothing." I shrug and throw him the hammock and walk over to the closet where I keep my regular backpacks.

  I've only got one camping pack. But I do have a regular backpack that I grab out of the closet. And toss over to him along with a fleece throw and sweater.

  Adam stuffs it all into the backpack. Before continuing to eat the bananas and guzzle the whole bottle of water. I sit back down long enough to gulp my own water down and stuff bananas into my face.

  "beep, beep" The oven begins beeping letting us know it's finished preheating. I get back up to toss the pizza in the oven. Coming back from the oven I decide I need a shower.

  "I'm going to take a quick shower. M ake yourself at home," I say as I walk to the bedroom to grab some clean clothes. I grab clean underwear, jeans, and a tee-shirt as well as a pair of sweats and

  tee-shirt for Adam. I walk back into the living room and toss the clothes at him.

  "here are some clean clothes if you want, you can take a shower after I finish too."

  "Thanks" Adam mumbles.

  I take a long hot shower. With the warm water cascading down and around me I can almost pretend it's a normal post-run shower. Remembering the pizza cooking I don't waste much more than ten minutes in the shower. With a shower and clean clothes on I'm feeling significantly better. Adam heads into the bathroom to shower. I sit back and kick my feet up on the table for a minute before the oven timer goes off letting me know our pizza is ready. I head into the kitchen and pull the pizza out and onto the counter.

  'ding ding ding ding' both Adam and my phones wail. I drop the pizza cutter I was pulling out of the drawer and rush to my phone to see what it is. I snatch up my phone and read the screen.

  "Emergency broadcast. We advise everyone to immediately head indoors and stay there until further notification. This is not a test."

  "Oh fuck, I was just starting to hope this was a bad dream" I mutter under my breath. Adam's phone goes off again startling me from my thoughts. I reach over and press buttons to shut it up and head

  Back over to the kitchen to finish cutting up the pizza. I grab a plate and stack half the pizza on it heading back towards the couch. I sit down but I've lost my appetite. This whole ordeal only becoming more real with the emergency message. Until that warning I was harboring hop
e, this whole ordeal would be isolated. Due to some super quick acting disease or something. I don't know but still seems more realistic than zombies.

  Adam finally finishes his shower and joins me on the couch.

  "Not hungry?" he asks, eyeing the pizza.

  I hand him his phone mentioning the emergency broadcast. I slide the plate in front of him gesturing to help himself. I take my water and head back out to the porch sitting in the chair. I stare out into the city hoping this is a bad dream. I'd really like to wake up now.

  #

  Chapter 4

  We're jolted from sleep the next morning by the sounds of gunfire echoing from outside. I slept on the ground while Adam had the couch. I could have used my bed but after everything the day before I didn't want to be alone. And I didn't want to invite Adam into my bed. The situation being what it is that would still have been a weird conversation.

  The gunfire continues sporadically. Now that I'm awake I can better gauge the distance. The shots are close but not on my street. I'm estimating two or three streets over from us. I roll over kicking off my blanket. I get up heading towards the windows. That now has sunlight streaming behind the curtains. I pull the curtain to the side gazing along the street. At first, nothing seems amiss until I make note of the number of cars and the silence. Living in midtown you sort of become numb to the constant noise of traffic, sirens, and people. But this morning the only sound is the wind rustling through the trees and the gunfire in the distance.

  Adam moves up beside me asking

  "See anything?"

  I reply "No, nothing out there. What time is it?"

  Adam checks his phone and says to me "9:17 am"

  "Any news come through while we slept?" I ask as I pull back from the window and make my way over to the computer intending to load up all the local news sites again.

  "Just woke up, haven't checked yet," he says.

  I sit at the computer not remembering having turned it off but none the less it's off. I hit the power button, nothing, no response from the machine. I hit it again, still nothing. I look around for any indication power is working. I hop up and move over to the front door. reaching over to the light switch next to it for the living room lights. Flipping it several times in succession, Nothing.

  "Shit the powers out" I utter before stating "We better make the most of what we can from the fridge for breakfast. without power, it'll all spoil."

  Adam looks up from his phone saying "No cell signal either"

  "Fucking great" I mutter.

  I start making my way towards the toilet hoping that at least the water still works. I walk into the bathroom and give the toilet an exploratory flush. The toilet flushes no problem and I can hear the hissing of water refilling the reservoir tank. Relieved I pull down my pants and take a seat to do my business. However, before I can get going I hear hurried steps from the building stairwell. followed by rapid knocking at the front door. I start to panic at first as I scramble to pull my pants up. Darting into the living room and to the door. I freeze before opening it. I think of how the building's front stairwell access is shared and is a secured entryway. Only someone who has a key or was already in the building could get into the stairwell. Not counting if the main door is broken anyway. B ut I'd have heard the door breaking if that was the cas e.

  I stand at the door listening. The interior doors don't have peepholes or windows overlooking the stairs. I can only guess who may be on the other side of the door. All I know is it's likely not a zombie with no way to confirm. Before I am able to decide what to do

  "Hello. I heard the toilet. I know someone is in there." A female voice whispers through the door as the knocking slows and stops.

  I recognize the voice as my downstairs neighbor whose name I've never learned. I've lived here for two years now and she's been under me the entire time. I inch open the door ready to slam it shut if needed but it proves unnecessary. The neighbor girl is standing back a few steps wearing blue jeans with the knees torn out. A black v-neck tee-shirt with shoulder-length black hair and tattoos covering her arms. The most prominent one being her right arm. A purple dragon looping up around the forearm. Link is there holding the triforce centered in the dragon's tail as it circles around the inner wrist. For a split second, we stand looking at each other before her eyes sparkle. She recognizes me and jumps at me wrapping her arms around my torso burying her face in my chest crying.

  "Oh thank god, I was by myself all night and terrified after what happened with my roommate and then the phone alert." She sniffles before proceeding "What is happening?"

  I pull her into the room trying to extract myself from her grip. She isn't letting her grip go. Instead, I twist her around further into the room so I can close the door and lock it using my left hand to the side of us. After closing the door I try once more to pull out of the embrace, again she doesn't let go. I look over to Adam helplessly. After several minutes of the girl crying all over me, I get a bit frustrated. Enough is enough. I wrap my arms around her in a bear hug. Lifting her off the ground carrying her over and softly depositing her on the couch. She finally lets go of me and straightens her sitting posture on the couch. She apologizes and asks again what's going on.

  I sit down and ask Adam to grab some water for us and see if there is anything to eat that will go bad without power. so that we can avoid wasting food.

  Adam agrees walking into the backroom. I return my attention back to the girl noticing for the first time that she has Green eyes.

  "Uhh so maybe a bit awkward now but I've never known your name," I say with an uncomfortable grimace. "Hi, I'm James," I say, extending my hand. This is a weird introduction and a couple of years late but we need to start somewhere.

  "You're an idiot," she says with a flat face. "Two years and you never thought to at least look at the names on the mailboxes! I'm Sarah"

  I chuckle and shrug. I begin to tell her everything that happened to Adam and me the evening before. The crash victim, the biting, the EMT falling dead and getting back up. I tell her of the frantic run home. And the chase where I barely managed to get away thanks entirely to using fences as obstacles.

  Adam walks over dropping a half-full half-gallon of milk on the coffee table. "This is the only thing in the fridge that doesn't require cooking that's going to go bad," he says.

  I jump up thinking great, "Tell Sarah here what happened to you after we split up and I'll cook us a bunch of bacon and eggs! I have a gas stove. We don't need power for it!" I exclaim, already heading to the kitchen. I snatch the bacon and eggs out of the still cold refrigerator noticing the temperature. Still, cold power must have cut out shortly before waking up if they are still this cold. I grab a couple of frying pans and begin preparing the bacon and scrambled eggs. Throwing a bit of milk in the eggs to give them a fluffier texture and taste.

  Adam walks in asking "Any chance we can make coffee?"

  "Great idea. In the cabinet behind you are coffee beans and over here is the grinder" I say before realizing we don't have power. "Oh wait we'll have to hand grind the beans. I have a hand-crank grinder in the drawer," I say as I pull it open and hand the hand-powered coffee grinder to him. I grab a large bowl and dump the eggs into it. before pulling the bacon out of the pan onto a paper towel-lined plate to settle. I fill a small soup pan with water and place it over the stove to begin heating it for the coffee. And pull out three large mugs.

  "Water is on the stove heating," I say as I place the bacon and eggs on the coffee table. I sit and the three of us start digging in. Adam must have decided to hold off on the coffee until after eating. I'm the first one done eating breakfast. the anxiety of the situation clearly lowering my appetite I was only able to eat a few mouthfuls. So instead I make myself useful. By grinding up a bunch of coffee beans and dumping them into the now simmering water. And using filters to pour the resulting coffee into the three mugs. The coffee tastes horrible but nobody complains. We drink the coffee in pensive silence.

  "Y
ou mentioned an incident with your roommate?" I say looking at Sarah. Remembering her earlier comment about the incident that led to her being home alone.

  She looks up at me over her mug.

  "Oh yeah, I almost forgot about it." She says looking gloomily back down at her coffee. "Amanda and I were walking back after having a bite to eat at the Burger House. When we saw someone on their hands and knees. From behind it looked like they were bobbing for apples or something. I know obviously that's dumb but it fits the motion. When we got closer though we could see the guy was feasting on someone's body!" Sarah shudders from the memory as she takes a breath to compose herself. "I screamed as soon as I realized what was happening. The ... ." S he pauses looking for the words, She shakes her head instead before saying "The damn zombie! heard me screaming and looked up at Amanda and me for a moment before it jumped to its feet and came after us. We ran and ran but the zombie caught up to us and got Amanda. I can still hear her screaming for help as I ran the rest of the way here." Sarah finishes as tears begin to no t so quietly fall down her face. "I left her behind to die."