You have to Start Somewhere

[Austin Entry]

Homer and Chants had come back into the sports health center before the first lightning bolt hit the tower. The sun had begun to set when Jackson and I, discussing our options, noticed the thunderhead. Maybe it was what we had been going through or maybe it is the cause, or just an effect, of this plague but the storm didn’t look right. The thunderhead was thick and gummy, the clouds moved like the jerking of a living thing. And when the lightning would flash the grey-black front would show a sickening yellow-brown.

We had all stopped what we were doing and were just staring at the storm in abject terror and revulsion. That is when I realized that this wasn’t just a plague on man, but on the earth entirely. In this silence we all heard Adam gasp.

Jackson and I stood but didn’t approach. Sandra was grabbing at Adams shoulders and chest as he gasped wide eyed trying to take a breath that never seemed to come. Adam was like a fish out of water, back curved and arms shaking. If any of us had been medical students maybe we would have known his lungs were full of fluid and he was drowning in mid-air, instead we stood and watched as he died. Sandra was controlled enough to close Adams eyes with a kiss on each eyelid before braking down into huge gasping sobs.

I turned back to the storm, unable to look at the best friend I had failed. Not thinking about the consequences of his death but only of my own pain and sorrow. I failed the only other person he had cared for more than himself.

Sandra stopped crying. Adam’s eyes were open and staring into her own. Sandra leaned forward to kiss the young man she thought she had lost, before anyone could stop her.

Adam gripped Sandra’s head and shoulder and bit down on her cheek sending a spray of blood across the blanket that had been keeping him warm. Adams teeth clamped down onto the right side of Sandra’s jaw bone, forcing her mouth partially closed and changing the pitch of her scream to something feral and wrong. Adam, not quite getting what he wanted with the first bite he reared his head back and drove for her throat and the warm blood still flowing there.
Jackson grabbed two handfuls of Adam’s hair trying to keep Adam’s teeth from their target, and Homer grabbed Sandra around the waist lifting her from the ground. As hard as they pulled they were unable to separate the two lovers. With a rending sound, like biting into a ripe apple, Adam shot toward Sandra’s throat and Jackson fell backward, his hands still gripping Adams hair and scalp.

Homer hadn’t expected such a sudden loss of resistance. He fell to the floor bringing Sandra and Adam down on top of him. In utter revulsion and fear Homer skittered away from the writhing pair, moving across the floor on his back. In an instant Sandra’s scream had gone from ear piercing, to a forced gurgle, to nothing as Adam tore away her wind pipe leaving it hanging from the ruin of her neck and returned for more meat.

Chants stepped up and delivered a kick into Adams side that hit so hard the sound of breaking ribs echoed through the room, but Adams grip only tightened. Chants kicked again and again, and finally stopped when Homer, having regained his feet, picked up his bat and drove it into the slick red exposed skull of Adam, as though her were chopping wood.

Homer reached back to deliver a similar blow to Sandra, but I stopped him. I had stood frozen through the entire incident, unable to come to either of my friends aid. But I couldn’t let Sandra be clubbed to death she deserved more, they both did. I walked to my back pack that had been left on a table upon entering the room. fished out the 9mm and fired one shot between Sandra’s eyes.

We gathered our gear in silence and moved to the other side of the sports medicine facility. We ate what we could and are going to sleep in shifts. We’re going to need all of our strength tomorrow to make it to the Army Base, but first we’ll need a diversion something to draw the undeads away from our movements. And I can’t think of a better way to honor Adam and Sandra than the first step of our plan.