Dead Sector: Miami: The James' Strain (3 page)

The Powers that Be

We find three other couches in other offices and bring them into Remington’s office.  I sleep on the floor while the others take couches that night.  He has a corner office, so they all easily fit. We talk little and eat less.  We talk about taking watches, but decide to barricade Remington’s door with his desk.  We keep our weapons close.  Everyone falls asleep before me and I alternate between the TV and the window. The window shows little when it is dark besides the skyline. I can almost imagine none of this has happened. The TV makes sure I know this is not true. The military has managed to stop the spread of zombies just south of Orlando. There is no footage of how they have done this.  Instead, there is footage of the military traveling south on the road. Large trucks packed with men. I think I know how the military has stopped things. They set up a barricade and are shooting anything that tries to move past it. It isn’t pretty, but there is probably not much of a choice. There is much talk about the spread of the virus from Miami, and stopping that at all costs. There is little talk of saving south Florida.  The Keys have already been overrun. Fort Lauderdale and West Palm Beach have fared no better than Miami. It was only the relative lack of population and the Everglades that slowed the zombies down enough for a blockade to even be set up. The military was able to mobilize from Camp Blanding in north Florida and MacDill Airforce Base in time to set up.  They have had to fall back several times, and have resorted to using some pretty heavy weaponry to accomplish what they have.

I am not sure when I fall asleep, but when I wake up, Katrina is awake. She sees me.

“Something has happened. It is happening in other cities, but different,” she says. She makes space on the couch for me. 

“Different how?”

“The change is very slow; it is taking like a day or two after the bite. They are trying to figure out how to stop it, but as long as it is so slow, the police and military are able to contain it.”

“What are they saying about Miami?  How are they going to help us?”

“They have not said. They only talk about how important it is to keep the Miami strain from spreading. They are saying the virus, or whatever it is, must have mutated in that basketball player. They are even calling it the ‘James’ Strain.’”

“They are not going to help us,” I say. I feel bad for saying it, but this girl seems strong.  I think she can take it.

“Why would you say that? They have too.”

“No, think about it. They just want to contain this version of zombies.  South Florida fell in less than a day. If this gets out of Florida, the entire country could fall in a matter of weeks. We had a perfect storm.  An entire stadium full of people, nearly 20,000 people, turned in seconds. That spilled out on the city so quickly no one even had a chance to react. The farther north it spreads, the faster it spreads. I wouldn’t be surprised if the government fire bombed the city. Hell, I don’t even think nukes are out of the question.”

“That’s comforting to hear.”

“Sorry, I am just trying to be honest. I think we need to find a way out of the city.”

“Okay. Listen, I appreciate you saving me, but we only had a thirty second window and we barely made it. Danny died taking on two of those things.  Even with the weapons, I don’t think we would make it out of the lobby.”

“I agree. I am not saying I know how, I am just saying they are not coming for us and staying here can only mean one thing.”

“Will you take me with you?  If you figure it out, can I come? I don’t want to live in Miami anymore.  Those two women in the car with me, that was my sister and my cousin. The rest of my family lives down here and none of them are picking up their phones.”

“Yes, if I can figure out a way out, I will make sure to take you.”

“Promise?”

“Promise.  As a thanks for sticking up to Remington for me.” She smiles. It is the dead of night. I am in an office surrounded by strangers. I sit above streets swarmed with the undead. This girl’s smile gives me reason to hope.  I smile back and we both awkwardly look away, returning our eyes to the TV. 

We wake up hours later, the last to wake up. Katrina has leaned her head against my shoulder as she slept. She notices this as I do and looks surprised and embarrassed.  I smile and she sits up.

“Oh good, you two love birds are awake. We have a problem. The power is out,” says Remington, “I knew you should have scavenged the other floors sooner.”

“And if we got stuck? No skin off your back, right? You have barely let this office,” I say. He smirks but offers no retort.

“It is going to get real hot in here real soon. With all these windows, and that south Florida summer sun, we are going to cook before we can starve,” says Tom.

“So we figure out a way to insulate this office,” says Anne.

“Why don’t we just move into the interior offices and shut the doors to the outer offices,” says Katrina.

“No, I want to stay here,” says Remington.

“Whatever we are going to do, we need to act soon-before it is too hot,” I say.

“Let’s do both,” says Tom, “did the kitchen have any aluminum foil?”

“Yeah, a couple of rolls,” says Anne.

“We put that on the windows facing the sun, right Tom?” I ask.

“Yes, we could probably tape some card board boxes up too. It will keep out some of the heat. But we also spread into the two outer offices. We need the room and those offices might be cooler during the day.”

“Not to change the subject, but have any of checked your phones? With no power, the Wi-Fi is down too and I am not getting a cell signal at all,” says Katrina.

We all pull out our phones. None of us have service. It occurs to me I never got to talk to Sarah again, never got to make sure she was safe for Danny.

“I don’t understand,” says Tom.

“Is this like what you said last night?” asks Katrina. 

Anne gives us a questioning look.  “Last night?  What did you say last night?”

“The news said that zombie outbreaks are happening everywhere, but it is only in south Florida that the change is so fast. In other cities, people are only turning after a day or two. The military has managed to stop the spread of the Miami type zombie in central Florida. Phillip thinks the government may give up on us and quarantine south Florida-or worse.”

“This definitely could be that,” says Tom.

“I agree.  So we continue our short term plan on making this place work, maybe we need to be thinking how to get out of Miami,” I say.

“And how the hell are we supposed to do that?” asks Remington, “are we just going to stroll out of the building and catch a waiting taxi.”

“You can do that, but I think I have another plan,” I say.

“Spit it out,” says Anne.

“I just thought of it as we tried to figure out how to insulate these windows.  The streets are no good, but just a couple of blocks away is Biscayne Bay. I interviewed at this firm with dreams of having a view of that very bay.  I dreamed of watching sail boats go by. And that is our way out of here… a sail boat.”

“That is ridiculous. I am staying right here, and I bet I am the only one that even knows how to operate a sail boat,” says Remington.

“Not true, I know how to do it. We have lakes and wind in Oklahoma, and my dad taught me a lot of things when I was a kid,” I say.

“But even if you know how to operate the boat, the bigger problem is getting there, right?” asks Anne.

“Right, and that one I am still trying to figure out. But I think we all need to think about that.  There may come a time when we don’t have a choice. We can’t stay here forever and I don’t think anyone is coming for us.”

We set to work on insulating the office the best we can. Anne goes around to close all the office doors. Tom gets to work setting up the inner offices. I get the foil and Katrina finds some boxes. Remington just watches. 

As we begin to cover the first window, I look for the man in the other building. He is there, looking out. He does not notice me at first and I begin frantically waving to get his attention. It takes a bit but he notices me.  I take the binoculars from Remington’s desk. The man has found an easel and has written something on it: Power is out, phone not working.  He flips to the next page: It is only me, but I have food. He flips to the final page: Back door code: 1408.

The others are watching by now. “This guy says he has food. He says the code to into the back door is ‘1408,’” I say, “we all need to remember that in case we have to leave this building.”

“That seems like a much better plan than taking some boat,” says Remington. 

We spend several hours insulating Remington’s office. The heat is unbearable by mid-afternoon and we all just lay around. The heat in the non-insulated offices is easily fifteen degrees warmer than Remington’s office, but the heat is still oppressive. I fall asleep sitting up in one of the outer offices and Katrina joins me. Tom sleeps in the other office.  Anne stays in Remington’s office with him. We all wake up well past sundown.

“Phillip?”

“Yes Katrina?”

“Why did you save me?”

“Because you needed help and it was the right thing to do. I saw your car crash and tried to save you that night. Your seat belt was stuck and hundreds of those things were coming at me.  I had to leave you there.  I felt horrible doing that.  I am sorry.”

“Don’t ever apologize for staying alive. You tried and we both would have died had you not done what you did. That seatbelt took me fifteen minutes to get off when I woke up.”

“What did you do before all this?”

“I was in law school.  You?”

“College, went to the Miami Dade College. Was going to get my associate’s degree and then maybe Gainesville for my bachelor’s. That is all gone now, huh?”

“I think so. Not sure I will ever be a lawyer, and even if I somehow pull that off, doubt it will be in Miami.”

We gather to eat. The food is still in the refrigerator, but with the power off, it is going to spoil much sooner than I expected. I have half a turkey sandwich and a banana. There are some chips and other non-perishables.  We managed to find two or three cans of soup.

“With the power off, this food is going to go bad before we eat it all.  We have maybe three days’ worth of food now. Most of what we had is perishable,” I say.

“We have to get to the other floors before that happens,” says Tom. 

“What about Danny?” asks Anne.

“We have to kill him along with the other two. We need to do it tomorrow while we are still strong, before we have no food,” I say.

“You can let Phillip or Tom use the gun. It should make it easy. They die like in the movies, just take out their brains,” says Katrina to Anne.

Anne moves her hand to her waist, where the gun is.  “No.  No, I can do it. I can shoot them. I know how. Just come with me for back up.”

Anne Kills Danny

I wake up the next day late afternoon.  It is hot and I am sweating. I try not to wake Katrina and quietly sneak into one of the unoccupied outer offices.  I have been making a habit of watching the zombies. I want to observe their movements, to see if maybe we have a chance to get to the other building or to one of the boats in the bay. They are still there, but there are less of them.  Many of them are huddled around the buildings trying to get in. The ones in the street, there is something off with their movements. They are no longer moving in sync with one another and they do not appear to be near as fast.  They don’t even appear to be running anymore. I zoom in with the binoculars and notice they also look far less human than before.  They have deteriorated at an incredible rate. Far faster than a normal dead person would deteriorate. They are missing entire chunks of skin and some of them are even missing limbs. Their skin that remains is pale and thin.

Anne comes into the room.  “Are you ready?” she asks.

“Yes, but are you?  Are you sure you want to take point?”

“I know how to fire a gun. I have one at home.”

“I understand. But killing someone, it is not easy. If you hesitate …”

“I won’t.”

“Still . . .”

“I am done arguing about this. It is my gun and I am going to use it. You will all stay behind me and I will take care of them.”

“Okay.”  We stand silent for a long moment.

“So, Katrina?”

“What do you mean?”

“Are you two a thing?”

“Frankly, I don’t know. She seems nice and I am glad I was able to save her, but any one of us could be dead before tomorrow.”

“Yeah.  Well, I wanted to let you know I think she is nice.”

“Okay, thanks I guess. Since we are putting stuff out there, why are still letting Remington boss you around?”

“I am not.”

“You kind of are.” She does not respond.

We go to Remington’s office to strategize. Even Remington argues with Anne to not go first, but she cannot be moved. 

“I will not play the damsel in distress,” she says.

We give up, and all head for the door-except of course for Remington.  He lets Tom take his bat. As I hold my sword, I worry that as cool as it looks, that it won’t hold up. It is only a replica after all. What if after the first strike, it shatters. No time for that now. We are here. Tom and I move the desks that were barricading the door.

“Anne, I will open the door and back up. Do not go into the stairwell. Let them come to us. Aim for their heads and shoot them as soon as they get through the door. The three of us will be right behind you to step in,” says Tom.

“Do it,” she says. She has the gun raised and aimed at the door. She looks confident. Tom complies and quickly runs back. Danny is standing in the doorway. Half of his face is sagging and his jaw appears to have lost its place.  He is missing a hand and he is just staring at us. He begins to head for Anne, but slowly. He does not run like the others from before. His gait is off and he moves like the muscles in his legs barely works.

“Wait for him to get through the door,” says Tom.

“I know.”

She waits until Danny is three steps in and shoots him directly between his eyes with one shot. He falls backwards. The other two zombies stand in the doorway now-the emo guy and the teenage girl with braces. Anne only lets them two steps into the doorway before shooting them both with equal skill. She was right. She knows what she is doing. She turns around to face us.

“See, I told you I could do it. I have been firing a gun with my dad for 20 years. He used to …”

My mind wanders from the conversation. Something here is not right, but I can’t quite place it. We left three zombies in the stairwell and she killed three zombies. Danny, the emo kid, and the girl with braces. Danny,
the emo kid
, and the girl with braces. Fuck. The emo kid was not in the stairwell-he was in the lobby. The third zombie we left in the stairwell was the …

“Help me,” Anne says. The man in the suit has grabbed her from behind.  He has his teeth sunk into her neck and is ripping out the flesh. Blood sprays the floor and the two of them tumble to the ground. I go to act, but Katrina grabs my wrist and pulls me back. From the stairwell comes more zombies.  It is full of them. The book case did not hold.  Four more of them are on top of Anne. They are biting her and ripping at her with their hands.  She still has the gun in her hand, but there is a zombie on that arm.  She is looking at me in the eyes, but I don’t know how to help. She is screaming and the man in the suit sinks his teeth into her mouth. He bites hard and comes back holding a portion of her lip in his teeth.  He swallows and goes in or another bite. Her screams grow louder. One of the zombie has his hands inside her stomach. He is pulling out her insides and eating them.  We all stand there motionless, until we don’t.

I pull away from Katrina and swing the sword in an upward motion at the man in the suit. The sword cuts through his chest, into his neck, and finally through the bottom part of his jaw. He falls off of her and I stab at the other on her arm holding the gun. I miss its head, instead piercing its shoulder.  The sword is stuck and it grabs at it as it come for me. Katrina hits it hard across the temple and it falls, leaving the sword in my hands. Tom swings at the one eating her insides and connects on the back of its head. There is a large crunch and its head implodes inward. It falls on top of Anne who is still screaming. Tom rushes for the door before more can get through.  Katrina is being backed into a corner by one of the remaining zombies that attacked Anne. I grip the sword as tightly as I can and I swing for the thing’s neck.  I am trying to behead it, and fail.  I hit neck bone and the sword stops.  Its head hangs half off its body and it falls. Katrina screams and points behind me as the last zombie in the office grabs me from behind. We both fall forward.  It is on top of me and I drop the sword.  I wait for the bite and I hear a gunshot. There is blood on the back of my head, but the zombie does not move.  Katrina helps push it off of me. 

I am up and have the sword again. I look at Anne, who is still holding the gun.  She saved me despite everything they did to her. Tom is fighting to get the door closed. There are arms reaching through.

“We have to open it,” I say, “open it, push them back, and then close it.” He nods and opens the door. One of the zombies falls inward and grabs Tom’s leg. It bites his shin as he kicks at it. He manages to kick it into the stairwell.  I slash at the other two blocking the way and they fall back. The way is clear and I close the door, but not before looking into the stairwell. I count maybe six zombies total in view. There are not as many as I would have thought.

I turn my attention to Anne and Katrina is already kneeling beside her.  Anne is trying to say something, but she is nearly in shock. Half of her face has been eaten. Her insides are open, and she is covered in bite marks. Anne is handing the gun to Katrina. She manages to finally talk, “not a damsel, and …not … one of …those … things.” Katrina nods and I expect her to hand the gun to me to do what is necessary. Instead, she points it at Anne and Anne shakes her head. Katrina pulls the trigger.