“I’m tired, daddy.” Coral whispered to him, “When are we going to rest?”
“Soon, honey.” he said stroking her sweaty hair, “Do you see the fairgrounds over there?”
She pulled back the branches of the birch tree they were crouched by. There ahead of them stood the high fence of the fairgrounds. High field lights lit up the area. She remembered going here every August with her family. Now, it was being patrolled by National Guardsmen and civilians with shotguns.
“Yes, I see it.” she answered in a melancholy voice that broke Len’s heart, “Is that where we’re going?”
“We’re going to try.” he answered scanning the surrounding area.
“Is mom going to be there?” Leigh, the oldest asked.
“I don’t know, honey. Hope so.”
“What if she’s not?” Leigh’s voice started to crack.
“We can worry about that when we get there, honey. Right now, we need to work on getting in there, okay?”
“Daddy!” Coral said out loud, “There’s one!!”
“Shhhhhh!” Len put his dirty hand over her mouth, “They’ll hear us.”
A wobbly figure came from the shadows and into the light of the field lights. Walking with some purpose, slowly limping its way toward the fence. It was hard to get a clear view of it from this far back, but they knew what it was.
Just then, gun fire erupted from one of the guardsmen and with efficient accuracy the figure’s head exploded after only two shots and it fell to the ground.
“Got it!” the shooter hollered to his cohorts.
Len shielded both his daughter’s eyes from the scene. They shuddered at the sound of gunfire.
“Are they done, daddy?” Leigh asked.
“Think so, babe.” He looked off to where the figure came from to see if any others came.
“Okay, kids.” he uncovered their eyes, “It’s time.”
They broke cover and ran into what used to be the grass parking lot. It was covered with mud from the previous rains.
Some of the guardsmen shouted at them as they trudged towards the gate.
“Don’t shoot! Don’t shoot!” Len shouted.
“Get down! Get Down!” the guardsmen were shouting.
Len looked behind him and off to the left came three of them. One was female and the other two were male. Half rotted and running impossibly on deteriorating sinews. Their eyes blank like all the rest and mouths caked with dried blood from their former feasts.
“Oh God!” Len pushed his daughters to move faster.
His foot got stuck in a mud puddle and he went down. His daughters stopped and looked back at him.
“Daddy!!!” they screamed in unison. Leigh tried to run back to him.
“Keep going!” he yelled at them, “Get to the fence!”
They stood in horror as the three figures came shambling rapidly towards them. Len got back up on his feet covered in mud and grass.
“Go, goddammit!” he yelled at them.
“Daddy!!” they yelled just as the female had closed in on him and knocked him down.
The stink was horrendous, pungent with decay. Her breath of sour meat and her skin rubbing against his own, dry and leathery; where he could sense the dead flesh under it. Like a fish trying to wriggle from beneath her. Her teeth kept snapping at his skin.
“Oh god! Oh God! Oh God!” he yelled at the top of his lungs trying to stave off those murderous hungry teeth shown through ragged lips.
The other two males came at him as well, he could hear their moans of new found food. Then shots rang out in the night air. Something was hit, and he was hoping it wasn’t one of his daughters as they screamed. Another shot and the shoulder of the female atop him blew apart and her arm came off. Maggots spilled into his face as he groaned in repulsion.
Another shot over the sounds of his daughters screams again. This one struck the center of the female’s head and her dead eyes rolled up into her skull and she fell forward onto him. He gagged with the smell.
He shifted onto his stomach as the female slid off to his side. He crawled hurriedly onto his feet when he saw that one of the males had been killed and was lying in front of him, the other was rushing up on him. He turned, hearing an oncoming hiss, and a bullet cut its way through the things eyeball, scattering the remains of its head behind it. His girls were at the fence being pulled into the other side as they screamed for him.
“Run daddy!!” they yelled, Len not knowing if there was another behind him. He had lost a shoe and the ground was too thick to run fast.
He heard two shots and then accompanying hisses past his head. A grunt behind him and then a thud as whatever it was hit the ground.Without breath he made it to the gate and collapsed into the arms of a stranger who was holding a 9mm. Leigh and Coral ran into his arms crying.
“Let’s get you three inside the hockey arena.” one of the men said
The three of them were given chemical showers as a precaution, and then given new clothing. There was a cache of new and used clothing from WalMart and the Salvation Army. Also stacked up along the bleachers inside were rations of food and medical supplies.
“Do you see mom anywhere?” Leigh asked.
He looked around at the people moving nervously about the hockey arena. He didn’t see her.
“No, but she could be helping somewhere else too, kiddo.”
He expected to see more people, but as it was in here, there were only about 36 that he counted. Perhaps there would be more in the other buildings.
A National Guardsman came up to him, holding out a .45 caliber pistol and an M-16. His daughter’s eyes widened as he took the weapons.
“You are to remain armed at all times.” he said, “You will be set up for sentry duty on a rotating shift. Until that time, you and your family are to remain inside this building unless instructed otherwise. Have you handled a firearm before?”
“Yes.” Len answered trying to absorb the situation.
“Very well, there are plenty of open cots available, and food is rationed out 3 times daily by the Salvation Army. Any questions?”
“Daddy, ask about mom!” Leigh insisted.
“I’m looking for my wife.” Len asked awkwardly, “Her name is Amy Emerson. She is a nurse at the hospital. I’ve lost contact with her when….when…well, when this all began.”
The young soldier looked grim, “We’ve mobilized everyone from the hospital here. Anyone from there or who has any medical emergency were issued to the 4-H building.”
“So she could be…”
“Sir?” the soldier added quietly, “There was a confrontation at the hospital. The hospital was overrun with these things. Not a lot of people…survived the skirmish…I can’t guarantee your wife is here with us.”
“Can I go over there and see if she’s there?”
“I’m afraid you’re not allowed to leave the building until your sentry duty comes up, I’m sorry. But we have to keep those not on duty inside, otherwise you could either get mistakenly shot, or killed by those things. Trying to keep you safe, sir, and you probably need your rest anyways.”
“I want to see mom!” Leigh whined.
“Me too!” Coral added.
“We need to rest right now, kids. We’ll try to find her in the morning, okay?” Len pleaded.
“Is mom dead?” Leigh asked. She was always the grim one.
“I don’t know, honey.” then he corrected himself, “No, I’m sure she’s fine. Probably helping over at the med center here. We’ll find her, okay?”
That didn’t appease her, but they both were exhausted from the day’s events and let him lead them to a cot. An old woman came over with a couple of brown bags filled with food.
“You look famished, honey.” she said to the kids, “Better eat something before you head off to sleep.”
“Thank you.” Len said and took the bags from her.
Inside there was PBJ sandwiches, bags of chips, and apples. They all three wolfed the food down and chased it with a carton of milk.
He tucked his daughters in to their cots and sat stroking their hair until they fell asleep.
“They’re angels.” the woman who handed them the food complimented.
“Hmm?” she shook him out of somewhere else, “Oh, thanks. Yes, they are…they look like their mother.”
“You from the Fairmont area?” she asked making small talk.
“No, not originally. We’re from Minneapolis. My wife took a job down here as a nurse up at the hospital. We’ve been here for about 8 years.”
“Name’s Ruth, Ruth Gaiman.” she held out a large calloused hand. She must have been a farmer, he guessed.
“Len Emmerson.” he shook it, “Nice to have met you.”
“What did you do, Len, before…all this happened?”
“Well….I was a writer. I used to write commercials for Mankato KEYC-TV. Guess I won’t be doing much of that now. And you?”
“Oh….I used to farm with my husband Neil.” she took on an expression of sorrow, “But he didn’t make it through this…this…scourge.”
“I’m sorry.”
“Not as sorry as I am, Len. I’m the one who had to put the bullet in him. If you don’t hit those suckers in the head…they keep coming.”
“I’m hoping my wife is over at the 4-H building helping with the med center there.”
“Well, Len, you’re in luck. I go on sentry duty in about 45 minutes. I’ll run over and check for you if you’d like. If I find her, I’ll tell her you’re here.”
“Oh, God, that would be wonderful!” he sighed with relief, “Wake me if I’m sleeping, but I’m fairly certain I’ll be awake most of the night.”
Surprisingly enough, he was wrong. He went right off to sleep after she had left him. It was dreamless and he only awoke once in awhile to check on the kids.
The next morning Len was awoken by Coral pulling at his shirt.
“Daddy, get up!” she ordered. She sounded excited about something, “Daddy, hurry, get up!!”
He opened his eyes and looked around trying to get his bearings and then focused on the set of blue and brown eyes that looked at him joyfully.
“They found mom!!” Leigh spouted, “She’s not here, but she is with an army guy about 5 miles from here! She’s okay, dad, she’s okay!”
The news woke him up immediately. He hugged his kids and kissed their heads. He then wondered what happened to Ruth.
“Have you guys seen Ruth?” he asked them.
“Who’s Ruth?” they asked still buried in his chest.
“The lady that gave us food last night, have you seen her?”
“No.” Leigh answered.
“Who told you about mom, then?”
“The army guy who gave you the guns. Can we eat now, daddy? I’m hungry.”
“Me too.” echoed Coral.
“Yep.” he stood up stiff but feeling well rested and famished, “C’mon, let’s go guys.”
He passed by the young soldier he was briefed by last night, “Excuse me, I heard you’ve found my wife?”
“Yessir.” the young man said, “Her and another infantry man are holed up right now down on Woodland Avenue. He contacted us by shortwave.”
“Will you be sending a rescue party to get them?”
The boy cleared his throat, “No, sir. I’m sorry. But if they’re to get here, they’ll have to do it on their own. We can’t risk any more personnel and there are just too many of those things out there to count. We have to keep this perimeter secure….It’s the last stronghold for miles.”
“But, that’s my wife out there…these children’s mother! How can we just sit here while there are survivors out there?”
“I understand, sir, I truly do. But I’m afraid those are orders. She’s in good hands, Mr. Emerson, Ronny was in Afghanistan with me; he’s a good soldier.”
Len wanted to take off to find her but he knew he couldn’t bring his girls with nor leave them behind. He’d have to figure something else out.
“Do you know where Ruth Gaiman is?” he asked the soldier, “She was on sentry duty last night about 2:30am?”
“Dead, sir.” the boy looked down.
“Dead? How can she be dead? I just talked to her last night?”
“We had a breach last night on the east perimeter. She was overtaken by about 4 of those things. By the time we dispatched them, she was far too gone to save.”
“Oh, my god.” he gasped, suddenly losing his appetite.
ver at the 4-H building helping with the med center there."n'mer, he guessed.
te led with food.
afe, sir, and you probably need
The kids ate their share of scrambled eggs and hash browns. He only played with his own food with thoughts of Amy in his head. He wanted to figure out a way to get to her without putting the kids in danger.
Another group of about 4 kids came over to their bleacher and asked if Coral and Leigh wanted to play. Len nodded at them and they went off reluctantly to play with them. He threw out their garbage into the trash can and walked over to the soldier he was talking to before.
“Is there any way I can talk to my wife?” he asked hopefully.
The young soldier looked around and then said, “Sure, come with me.”
He walked him back to what used to be the ice skate rental office. It was now set up as a command center for the hockey arena. A few soldiers sat in front of computer screens and ham radio equiptment.
“This is Len Emerson.” the soldier announced, “His wife is with Ronny down on Woodland Avenue. Have we heard anything from them recently?”
One of the other soldiers took off his headset, “Yeah, just spoke with him about 10 minutes ago.”
“Can I talk to her?” Len asked.
“Sure.” the soldier said and stood up offering him his headset, “N-zero-K-I-P, this is Martin County Base, come in, over.”
There was a long pause and then, “Martin County Base, this is N-zero-K-I-P, over.”
“We have Amy Emerson’s husband here and he’d like to speak with her if that’s possible, over?”
Len’s stomach fluttered with anticipation.
“Len?” it was her voice, and he immediately grabbed the mic.
“Amy!!” he shouted, “Oh my god, Amy, thank god you’re all right!”
“Lenny! How are the kids, are the kids all right?”
“Yes, they’re fine…scared, but fine! Are you okay, honey?”
“So far.” she coughed a bit into her microphone. It was a juicy cough that got him worried, “It’s been real tough, almost didn’t make it here.”
“What’s wrong? You sound sick?”
“I’m okay, honey. I was attacked at the hospital, I escaped in an ambulance when I tried to make it home. But everything is so crazy out here…I lost control of the ambulance and flipped it….This nice young man found me and we made it here. But, I’ve been bitten by a few of those things, making me feel really sick. I gave myself some morphine to keep the pain down.”
He panicked. He didn’t know what a bite from those things could do, but he was sure it couldn’t be good. If she was ill, Ronny the soldier wasn’t going to be able to mobilize her quick enough to get through any attack. They were going to have to stay where they are.
“Are the kids by you?” she asked.
“No, but I’ll get them.” he went out into the arena and found them playing a game of UNO.
“C’mon, guys, mom’s on the phone!” he lead them back cheery to the command post.
