After the Bite (26 page)

“What
’s the hold-up?” Liam said.

“Just leave him alone
,” Jeff said. “He lost his girl.” Brent cringed at that, ignited the engine, then pulled out and went down the street, which was sinking deeper into Hell. There was a man on the sidewalk eating a woman who’d run from her home. People wandered the streets. A man in tears ran to the car as it slowed at a stop sign and slapped at the windows. Brent hit the gas and left him in the dust; he stood there, still visible in the rearview mirror, with a look of defeat on his face.

“Fuck this traffic!” Henry
said. “Everybody’s got the same damn idea.”

“I doubt
everyone is going to the stadium,” Nathan said. “It hasn’t got enough room for all these people.”

“Yeah, some of these road-cloggers are probably trying to get out of town, somewhere where this shit isn
’t,” Jim said.

“Do we really want to be trapped in some stadium for this?” Liam asked. “I mean, a man
’ll go crazy locked in one place after a while, and that’s without… zombies.”

“Give me a break,” Jeff said.

“Well, what do they look like to you? Whatever they are, you really want to lock yourself in a stadium with them outside?”

“You got a better idea, Liam?” Brent
said.

“Yeah, besides, this can
’t go on for too long,” Jim said. “We’ll just hang out in the stadium, eat some free food for a few days, and wait for this whole thing to blow over.”

“That
’s the plan,” Jeff said.

“If it
ever ends,” Henry mumbled.

On a normal day,
the drive to Lynnwood would be about twenty minutes, but the roads were heavily congested. There were honking horns, people yelling for others to move. When Brent and his friends finally arrived at the stadium, there were lots of people waiting to be taken in. Police kept them as orderly a crowd as possible.

The
stadium doors were open, and people filed in after being checked by police and having their firearms confiscated. Any other dangerous items were also taken, and Jeff’s bat was no exception.

The doors led into an area where there were several vender stations, none of them up and running, and there was also
a ticket counter. Beyond that was the doorway to the stadium. There were stairs leading elsewhere, but the stadium guests were told to ignore them. The field was where the people were supposed to go.

“Look at all these people!” Jeff
said while scanning the crowd. There were maybe a hundred people in front of him, and twice that behind. More people were joining the line.

“Yeah
,” Brent said.

“Brent, are you doing all right?” Liam asked.

“Not in the least,” Brent
said. He hoped turning to look across the field would end the conversation.

“For what it
’s worth, I’m sorry about what happened to Erica. I know it must be tough.”

“You have no idea,” Brent
said. “But I appreciate the sentiment. Could we just not talk about it please?”

“Yeah, I
’m sorry,” Liam said.

The six guys got to their cots
, which were more comfortable than they’d imagined. None of them were hungry when the stadium had food set up, but they all went to grab some anyway. Brent brought the cards from the poker game, and they resumed their session, minus the actual money. They played until lights went out so people could sleep. Throughout it all, they talked very little.

Every exit was boarded off
and barricaded with wood and spare furniture. There were two officers guarding each exit, and they switched out from time to time with the ones patrolling the field.

Brent decided to call his parents and see if they were okay. He dialed and waited for something, but the call
wouldn’t go through. He tried multiple times, but there was no service. Brent lay back down on his cot, wanting so badly to cry. He hadn’t much since Erica’s death. He couldn’t.

W
hen morning came, the hot stadium air was filled with chatter. The police were serving food, and many around Brent and his friends were eating. Brent and the others decided to get up and get some for themselves. There were tables to eat at but Brent and his friends preferred to eat by their cots. They made small talk, but Brent turned to people watching, just trying to keep his mind busy.

A few yards away, another group of people was eating by their beds
. One of them was an old woman. She nibbled on her food, and hovered over a small picture frame for the longest time. A man not too far from her was scribbling in a notepad.

“I wonder what th
at guy’s writing about,” Brent said.

“Probably his feelings
,” Jeff said. “He’s no woman, so he must be a fag.”

“I write in a journal every now and again
,” Liam said. He laughed.

“
That’s because you’re gay,” Jeff said. He playfully shoved Liam’s shoulder. Brent rolled his eyes, wishing he hadn’t brought it up.

“That woman looks freaking old
,” Jim said. “Like she’ll keel over from a heart attack or something any minute now.”

“Why would you say something like that?” a nearby woman
said. Brent and his friends turned to look at her. She had been listening to their whole conversation.

“It
’s called people watching, lady. I’m not really serious.”

“Well, that
’s horrible of you to say something like that. Did you ever stop to think how her family would feel if she did have a heart attack and die in this fucking stadium?”

“I don
’t really care,” Jim said. Brent just wanted to stay out of it.

“You know, you
’re a horrible person,” the woman said.

“
And you’re a bitch who can’t mind her own damn business.”

“Everybody just shut up,” Henry said. “Seriously.”

“I can
’t believe you people!” the woman said. “You have no heart!”

“Look at that guy!”
Jeff said with a grin. He pointed to a random middle-aged man several cots to his left. “He’s such a dumbfuck, probably retarded. He should have died on the way here. Should have been used for zombie bait.”

“
Guys, just shut the fuck up!” Brent said. He didn’t care that Jeff was just trying to egg the woman on. He’d heard enough from all of them. The woman turned away, and Brent noticed his friends were staring at him. “What?”

“Dude, your hands,”
Nathan said. Brent looked down at his hands. They were red, and as he unclenched his fist, one was bleeding. The immediate area was quiet for the first time, and Brent could swear he heard moans, the same ones the so-called zombies had made the night before, through the stadium walls.

****

They played poker for some time after lunch, and even invited other people to play along. They managed to get quite a few people in their area involved in various card games. Everyone seemed to have a good time, despite the sweltering heat and the more audible moans outside.

That night, Brent
dreamed about Erica, and any good left over from the day before was gone when he woke up.

The second
full day was worse than the first. It was hotter, and there was word that one of the barricades broke down. A few stray zombies were able to squeeze in through the breach, a few officers lost their lives, and several hundred stadium inmates lost their faith in the remaining officers’ ability to serve and protect. Everyone was talking about it for a while, and because of the excitement of it all, the same old woman that Jim had made fun of actually had a heart attack.

A large group of people around Brent and his friends
fell silent as the woman was rushed to the medical station the police had set up. Things began to calm down, until Jim noticed the woman from before giving him dirty looks.

“What do you want from me?”
he said. “She was old! Old people have heart attacks all the time!”

“You don
’t even care, do you?” the woman said.

“I
’m sick of your damn mouth, lady,” Jeff said. “Your voice is giving me a fucking headache.”

“Fuck you,”
the woman said, and after that they left each other alone.

People started to calm back down, and rumors were running rampant. People talked about barricades breaking down, the woman with the heart attack dying (though when she returned to her cot a few hours later, Brent knew that one at least was false)
. People did whatever they could to take their minds off recent events. Panic was spreading, the moans were getting louder, and as Brent looked around at the field packed with people, it reminded him of his aquarium back home. They weren’t going anywhere anytime soon.

****

Brent woke up in the middle of the night to his friends talking in low voices. At first he tried to ignore them, and then he heard what Jeff was saying.

“I’ll take out the man at the weapons cache. He’ll have the keys, and that way we’ll have the upper hand on the other cops.”

Brent sat up quickly, and Jeff
’s eyes darted to him. When Jeff realized it was just Brent, he looked calm. He actually looked a little excited. He continued. “We’ll tie them up and hold them until morning. Then we’ll alert the masses. We need to show them who the new bosses are.”

“That sounds good,”
Jim said.

“What are you talking about?” Brent said.

“Sh!” Jeff said. “Keep it down, for fuck’s sake. We’re taking over.”

“Taking over what?”

“The stadium.”

“You can
’t be serious!” Brent said. The others shushed him.

“Look around, man,” Jeff said when he was sure the police officers weren
’t around. “We’re sitting ducks in here. They won’t let us leave, they won’t let us defend ourselves. We can do a better job.”

“I don
’t know.”

“Come on, man. You
’re either with us or you’re with them.”

Brent looked at Jeff. “Of course I
’m with you. You’re my best friend.” Jeff smiled.

“Don
’t worry, Brent. Everything’s going to be okay.”

They
moved quickly and quietly through the darkness of the stadium, to the front where the police stored their weapons. It was near a barricaded entrance, and the moans were louder over there than at the center of the stadium. The officer guarding the cache was asleep, and the ones at the nearby barricade didn’t notice Jeff or Brent or the others approaching.

“Some guard
s,” Jeff said. “They could break in any moment, and we’d all be fucked.” Jeff snuck up and grabbed the sleeping officer’s gun from its holster, then grabbed the man forcefully. He woke up and nearly screamed, but was stifled when Jeff clamped a sweaty palm over the officer’s mouth. “Shut the fuck up!” Jeff pressed the gun into the man’s neck, and looked at Brent. “Brent, get his keys!” Brent snatched the officer’s keys and unlocked the weapons locker. There were AK-47s, several handguns, shotguns, and more.

Brent sucked in a deep breath. His heart was sinking, and when he picked up one of the guns it felt like it weighed a hundred pounds. He thought of Erica dying on the phone in front of him, and that made things easier. He didn
’t have anything else to lose.

“
Come get some, guys,” he said. “You’ll need ‘em.” Liam, Nathan, Jim, and Henry selected their weapons, and began loading them.

“Someone find something to tie our friend up with,” Jeff said. Liam
found some rope while Nathan and Jim quietly disarmed and knocked out the guards by the closest barricade.

Within an hour the group had quietly moved around the stadium grabbing the officers and tying them up, rendering them unconscious if they could, and gagging them all for good measure. They moved the officers into the medical tent, where no one would see. Jeff was discussing how they could get the officers
still out in the field when the answer literally came to them: The shift changed, and the officers headed for the barricades. Some were worried when the officers they were supposed to replace weren’t around, but Jeff and the others made sure they didn’t have to wonder very long.

They finished quickly enough that they were able to get back to their cots and get a few more hours of sleep.

****

Brent and his fellow felons
stood on the tables. They were heavily armed, and after exchanging glances and signaling that they were ready, they began calling those closest to them. All the officers were lined up in front of them, the men had moved them there just before dawn. Nobody seemed to notice or care enough to challenge them at the time, but now people’s eyebrows raised, and their whispers almost covered the moaning from outside.