Dead of Knight: A Zombie Apocalypse Survival Tale (4 page)

              Gotta get through today first.

              Dinner was, oddly enough, fairly normal, thanks to my wife who drove the conversation.  We talked a lot about what the kids were doing in school and what was going on with their friends for Christmas.  That stung a bit.  I was well aware that no one’s plans for Christmas were the same after today.  But I kept my mouth shut for a while.  It was difficult.  I wanted to make plans and talk about lists and inventories and the like.  Only Tabby seemed to be worked up.

              “Dad, I want to make sure Justin is okay.”  I wasn’t sure who Justin was, but I didn’t always keep up with school friends.

              “Well, Tabby you’re welcome to call, text or email him.”

              “I haven’t been able to get a hold of him.  It’s not like him to not get back to me.”

              “I’m sorry honey.  Does he have a house phone?  Or, do you know his mom’s number?”

              “Nobody has a house phone anymore, Dad.”  She was getting angry now.  “I want to go see if he’s okay.”

              “No, Tabitha.  I’m sorry but we’re not going outside.  Certainly not as it’s getting dark.  You remember what we just saw on the TV, say 20 minutes ago, right?”  I looked over at Sam for help.  Obviously, Justin was a boyfriend or whatever passed for a boyfriend at 14.

              “Tabby, keep trying to get in touch with him.  Maybe tomorrow we can go out if things are better.  Maybe,” said Sam.  She spoke in a tender, loving tone that I didn’t seem to ever possess.  It worked on Tabby for the moment.  I took that opportunity to go fetch dessert.  Thor padded along.

              When I came back from the kitchen with dessert, my wife was speaking in hushed tones with Malcolm.  They were trying to be nonchalant about it in that obvious way people do.  Once I had sat down, Sam spoke.

              “Mal has a question for you, Ryan.”

              “Oh?  What’s that, Mal?”

              “Will we still have Christmas?”

              “Of course, buddy.  I don’t know what the future will bring but I do know that we will always be together to celebrate Christmas.  Your expectations about Christmas might have to change though.”

              “What does that mean?”

              “Well, like I said, I don’t know what the future will bring.  But, what if we don’t have lights up all over the outside?  Or, what if we can’t put the light up deer out in the front yard?  Would that still be Christmas to you?”  The light up deer were the hit of the street.  I had four of them and they got placed around a large number of blue lights on the ground that looked like water.

              “Why wouldn’t we have the deer?”

              “We might not have electricity.”  Apparently he hadn’t thought of that.  Maybe the reason he was so calm all afternoon is that he really can’t process what’s going on.  I’d been so proud of him, both my kids all day.  Maybe I’d overestimated their capacity for this emergency.

              “But if the electricity is off, how will the TV work?  Or the PlayStation?”

              “They won’t work, Mal.  Without electricity we have no lights, no TV, no air conditioning.  Thankfully we have a fireplace for heat.”

              “Surely it won’t come to that Ryan.  You’re scaring the kids with all this doom and gloom.”   That bothered Tabby, who was still upset because of Justin.

              “Mom, I’m fine and Mal is fine.  This is a really big scary thing.  I think Daddy’s right.  This will be bad.”

              “Tab, these people are sick and they will get better.  As long as we stay away from them we’ll be fine.  It’ll all be over soon.”

              “Samantha, are you ok?” I asked.  “You watched what we watched in the other room, right?  This will not end well.”  She started crying and I felt bad.  But she had to understand.  I got up and stood behind her putting my hands on her shoulders.

              “I’m scared, Ryan.  God, I don’t want to do this in front of the kids.  I want to protect them from all this.”

              “We can’t, Sam.  I’ll do my best to protect each and every one of you, I promise you that right here and now.  But they need to know just how bad this will get.  We can’t hide it.”  She looked up at me.

              “Just how bad do you really think this’ll get?  The government will mobilize the Guard or something, right?”  I kissed her head and sat back down.

              “Okay, let’s go through this and see how bad it’ll get.  Mal, these people died and came back to life.  Now, they want to eat other people.  What does that make them?”

              “Zombies.”

              “And what happens if you get bit by a zombie?”

              “You turn into a zombie, too.”

              “That’s right.  Sam, this is how bad it is…  There were 50,000 tainted flu vaccines.  That’s 50,000 zombies to start.  How many zombies could they make?  Don’t forget, all those people that were killed or injured today become zombies.  They’ll just wake up in a morgue or a hospital or on the street and bite whoever is closest to them.  Then what about the people who lapsed into comas at home?  They’ll turn too.  Think of that.”

              “We should check on the Thompsons next door.” She said.

              “No way.  Not after dark.  I called them earlier and they didn’t answer.  Their car was in the driveway.  Maybe they weren’t near the phone but I don’t think zombies answer the phone.”  That made Mal chuckle a bit.

              A hush came over the table.  Tabby was looking down at her plate.  Mal was looking at her and my wife just looked off toward the kitchen.  No one spoke for what seemed like minutes.  Finally, I couldn’t take the silence any more.

              “We’ll stay together and work together and we’ll get through it.  Everybody does their part.  Get it?”  Everyone nodded and Mal asked the question this time.

              “What comes next?”  I thought about the ways I could answer that question.  There were many.  I decided on the broadest answer I had.

              “Everything changes, Mal.  For everyone.

              While the table was being cleared and the dishes cleaned up, Samantha needed a clarification of my broad answer to Mal’s question.

              “What kinds of changes can we expect?”

              “That’s hard to answer.  It depends on a lot of things.  Not the least of which is can the government get a handle on it?  Can they identify everyone who is infected and contain them?  The short answer to that is ‘no.’ we’ve already seen the problem spreading.  Everyone who was bit today is, theoretically now a zombie.”

              “But, aren’t most of the sick people in hospitals?”  Tabby asked.

              “Most probably started in hospitals, yes.  But you saw what happened today.  They got out.  And hospitals are the worst place for something like this.  Doctors and nurses, by nature and training are going to help.  Then when the infected dies and comes back, the doctor or nurse is right there trying to help.  Makes them likely to get bit.  And it’s against their very nature to kill one of these infected people.”

              “Gotta shoot them in the head.”  I had almost forgotten about Mal.  He was being quiet while he dried some plates.

              “That’s right Mal.  It’s the only way to be sure to put them down if they’re zombies.  You must destroy the brain.”

              “Ryan, is all that necessary?  ‘Put them down?’ that’s horrible to say.”

              “Yes it is, Sam.  But it’s true.  If you mother was a zombie she would not recognize you or care who you were.  Her only desire is going to be to eat your flesh.  You’d have to kill her.”

              “I don’t think I could kill anyone,” said Tabitha.

              I walked over and put my arms around her.  My wife did the same.

              “I hope you never have to.  Your mother and I will do everything we can to protect you and Mal.”  Mal came over to join in the new group hug and we stayed like that for a few moments.

              Okay, I want everyone to take a shower tonight.  And make sure to wash yourselves, Mal…”  Mal laughed.  He had a habit of getting wet but not soaping up.  “I don’t know when we’ll lose the water but if the power goes then who knows.”

              “Why would the water go out?” asked Tabby.

              “People are staying home because of this.  The power stations won’t work on their own for too long.  Coal plants have to have coal shipped in probably every day and that won’t happen now.  Hydroelectric ones might work for a few weeks but without someone pushing buttons when needed even that will stop.  Nuclear plants.  Geez, let’s not even go there.  But when the electric stops, then the pumps for the water stop.”

              “When do you think we’ll lose power?”  Sam asked.

              “If I were willing to bet, I’d say three days.”  No one looked as though they liked that answer.  “It’ll be like camping.”

Even Mal groaned at that.  In spite of my best efforts, my family was not what you’d call, outdoorsy.

              “After everyone showers, then we do like we said.  We stay in, hunker down and see what the morning brings.  Mall and Tab, when you’re done with your showers do you think you guys could sleep in the same room tonight?  We can move the Wii and whatever else and you guys can play till you’re sleepy.  Is that okay?  Tab?  Mal?”  They both nodded.  “Thanks for your help, guys.  I mean it.  Okay, off with you then.”

              Sam and I kissed the kids and sent them off.  It was too early for bed but I thought it would give them a chance to talk without the grownups around.  I figured they’d need that time together.  Plus, it’d been a stressful day, to see the least, for all of us.  But, I didn’t think it would be the last.

              “Ryan, do you want a drink?”  I actually pondered this.  Rarely do I turn down a glass with rum in I but I didn’t want to be impaired if something happened.  I decided that the chances of something happening in our neighborhood tonight were slim.  After tonight, who knew?  “Not too strong.”  I answered and we settled down on the sofa together when she got back from the kitchen.  After a brief silence holding hands, Sam spoke.

              “What are you thinking?”

              “It doesn’t look like the government is going to get anything under control.  I think that we have to plan for the worst and hope for the best.”

              “What’s your best case scenario?”

              “The government gets mobilized at an unheard of rate and scale, find the infected and neutralize them.  Takes a week or two, tops.”

              “Do we have enough supplies for two weeks?”

              “If we’re careful and we help the kids be careful we have two weeks’ worth, yeah.  If the power goes and the water with it, well…  It’s the water I’m worried about.  We waste a lot as a society.  But, each person is supposed to need at the minimum a gallon a day.  There’s four of us plus the dog.”

              “I know I’m gonna regret asking, but what’s your worst case?”

              I paused before I answered.  I knew what the worst case was, but I needed her to understand, too.

              “You want to protect the kids, shield them from what’s going on.  I get it.  But, you can’t do it this time.  The world is going to change in ways we can’t even predict right now.  And, I need to know that you know that.”

              Samantha nodded.

              “Okay, here’s my worst case.  If the government can’t get a handle on this in the next 24 hours, it’s going to get bad.  And I think that’s what’s coming.  It took five days to get water to the Superdome in New Orleans after Katrina, remember?  And only a small area of the country was affected by the storm.  So, people continue to die then come back as zombies.  They eat more people who die and come back as zombies.  And, they eat more people who die and come back as zombies.  And this continues until there are only a handful of us left.  The power goes out and the water stops flowing.  There’s no gas for our cars or machinery.  We’ll have to figure out how to grow food and find fresh water.  There’ll be no medical care, no dental care.  Every little injury becomes an emergency.  The only way it gets worse is if we don’t get to live through it.”

              “You’re just full of happy, aren’t you?”

              “You wanted to know.”

              “Which do you really think is more likely, best case or worst case?”             

              “I think we’re fucked.”  My wife chuckled and took me by the hand leading me into our bedroom.  And we spent the next hour doing what I’d suggested without suggesting it.  Looking back, it was the best sex we’d had in our lives.

              “What are we going to do, Ryan?”

              “We’ll figure it out together, Sam.  We always do.  Team Knight, remember?”  She managed a weak smile.  I sat up.  Thor looked up from his place at the foot of the bed.  “Look, I’ve thought of nothing else today.  Water is number one.  Without it, we have three days, tops.  In the morning, let’s fill all the containers we have with water.  Anything with a lid.  Let’s clean the bathtub, one of them anyway, and fill it with water.  We’ll have to boil it but we’ll have it.  We can also use the water in the toilet tank if we clean it out first while we still can.  I think I remember that the water in the water heater can be used too.  Food is second.  We have to make sure we don’t waste anything.  And since we don’t know when we’ll lose the freezer we have to use the frozen stuff and the fresh stuff.  And, just so you know, I don’t know how we will cook with the power out.  I haven’t figured that out yet.”