Resurrection (2 page)

     His stepfather motioned to him and then walked out into the hall. Mark followed and closed the door behind him. The relationship between the two of them had been frosty for several years. They stood silently in the hall, both looking down at the floor.

     “She really missed you the past couple of years you know,” his stepfather said, finally breaking the silence.

     “Why didn’t you notify me?” Mark asked.

     “Hell we didn’t know where you were, we had no idea how to locate you besides after the last blowup between you and I, I, don’t know. No matter what you may think and no matter how things were I truly loved your mother. I was not a good man, takes a man getting older to realize his mistakes.”

     “How long has she been ill?” Mark asked.

     “About two months ago at my insistence she was vaccinated against the flu, down at the pharmacy. But you know your mother, she caught it anyway, if there was something going around she’d come down with it.

“She got over the flu though and seemed to get better. Then, about three weeks ago she started feeling poorly again, and then she got real bad. Finally, she lay in her bed and just never got up again.”

     “Why is she not in the hospital?”

     “Everything’s gone to the dogs in the past month Mark, hospitals are all full and people are dying all over town, hell, her doctor died last week. There’s been no power for the past couple of weeks, everything has just gone to shit so quickly and nobody seems to have any answers.”

     Helen quietly opened the bedroom door, “I think she’s going,” she whispered.

     She turned and walked back into the room, his stepfather put his hand on Marks shoulder and he saw a crystalline tear roll down his stepfather’s cheek, it shimmered in the yellow light from the coal oil lamp.

      Mark’s gaze followed his stepfather and from him to his mother. He remained in the hallway and from there the events unfolding in her bedroom seemed surreal, it was as if it was a scene from a painting. Seems he remembered seeing one similar in a book somewhere. He leaned against the door frame and watched the events evolve before him as if they were part of a dream.

Chapter 3

     Mark made the journey back to the store later in the afternoon as he wished to be inside well before dark, intending to heed the deputy’s advice. He planned to return to Trois Croix the day after tomorrow for the wake and funeral of his mother. His heart was heavy from the events which had unfolded that day.

     His mother’s passing had been peaceful and it did not appear that she had suffered, at least at the end at any rate. His one regret was the fact that he had not seen her before she became so sick. If he could go back in time, but no, things are as they are and no matter the amount of pain, remorse cannot change what is and that is that.

    He parked the truck in the garage and pulled the door down. He had, after the deputy left, conducted an inspection of the outside of the store, every window and door to make certain that none of the metal security guards had been compromised by any nocturnal visitors.

He had walked the length of the metal roof to make certain nothing was loose and though nothing seemed amiss, he planned to replace some of the lag bolts holding the screens in place with longer heavier ones where possible.

     He looked through the crates of supplies for something to eat. he had figured early on that he had enough canned and freeze dried food to last for at least a couple of years if things came to that, which now appeared possible.

      In addition to food there were fifteen pallets of bottled water as well as five pallets of one gallon jugs of drinking water. Canned juices and soft drinks of all kinds lined one wall in the warehouse, yes he had all he needed right here.

     Without warning the lights suddenly flickered out, the compressors and fans on the freezers went silent and the ceiling fans ceased turning. He went to one of the shelves and found a flashlight and then walked to the back to check the breakers, none of them were thrown; he had lost power!

     The silence was almost deafening as he stood motionless in the darkened warehouse contemplating his next move. Suddenly a thought flashed across his mind, why hadn’t the emergency generator kicked on? He opened the side door and carefully assessed his surroundings and upon seeing nothing he went to the side of the building where the generator was located; it was gone!

     A concrete slab and some bare wiring were all that was left. He saw tire tracks in the gravel and mud next to the pad. He wondered how someone could have stolen something that big without his knowledge and he cursed himself for letting it happen.

     Now, his earlier confidence in the belief that he had all he needed seemed a bit tarnished. He walked back inside and went to the front door and looked out, the sky was darkening quickly and he would be in total blackout soon. He sighed and for the first time realized that his life was never to be the same again.

     He gathered up all the gas lanterns and fuel he could find and put them in the back of the store, he pulled all of the flashlights and batteries from the shelves as well.

He filled several of the lanterns with fuel and put batteries in the some of the flashlights.

     He sat down on a pallet of canned soup and took stock of his situation. How had it come to this? The world was spiraling out of control, none of this made any sense. He had just watched helplessly as his mother passed away, her body destroyed by an unseen and cruel assailant. The town he had grown up in was nearly empty of people.

     He went into gun room and locked the steel door and put his weapons within easy reach. Whatever was happening with the earth, the constant deluge of rain, the endemic disease, could it really be that this is how it all ends.

Chapter 4

     He spent the next day shoring up the security panels on all the windows and doors on the building. He sprayed graphite into all the door locks. He determined the back door was the Achilles heel in his security plan so he attached two three quarters inch pieces of plywood over the door, attaching them to the frame with six inch lag bolts.

     He replaced the bolts holding the security screens to the window frames with heavier and longer ones made of stainless steel. He did the same with the door screen and replaced the padlock with a new heavier one.

     He picked from one of the store shelves an emergency weather radio, installed some batteries and then sat down to eat some supper. He scanned the radio dial trying to find some music but soon realized there were only a couple of stations broadcasting and they were both broadcasting emergency alerts, one was in Baton Rouge and the other in Lafayette.

     He tuned to the station in Lafayette and heard an announcement from the government concerning the flu and vaccinations. The government, rather than urging citizens to receive the flu vaccine as had been the case in the past, was now demanding that all Americans be vaccinated. After a person was inoculated they would be given a photo ID with the date of their birth and the date of the vaccination.

     He switched to shortwave and there he learned that the situation nationwide was becoming worse with each passing day. There were long lines at all food distribution sites throughout the country and that there were serious shortages of food and freshwater, rioting was widespread as a result of these shortfalls.

     Fires continued to burn in every large city in spite of the rainfall. Bands of armed criminals emboldened by the lack of law enforcement were roaming the streets. There was chatter that the situation in the Lafayette area was quickly becoming dire as well.

     He turned the radio off and started locking down the store for the night, he triple checked each door and window before he was satisfied. Then he went into the gun safe and locked the steel door behind him.

     At about two a.m. he was awakened by what sounded like someone pounding at the front door. He grabbed his light and put the leather holster with the .45 around his waist and he carried the .410 revolver in his hand and placed the shotgun against the wall as backup.

     Cautiously he felt his way to the front of the store in the dark carefully avoiding obstacles in his path. About halfway there he stopped and hid behind one of the shelves.

Through the glass he could see several individuals wandering aimlessly about and now and then one or two of them would stumble up to the security screen and bash their fists against it.

     He crawled on his belly out into the aisle to get a better view of what they were doing. Suddenly, they all turned in unison and faced the door and he could see their eyes glittering in the gloom.

Then at once they ran at the door hitting the security screen with such force that the glass exploded inward. A gust of humid wind rushed into the building. He was shocked by the fury of their attack and ran behind the gun counter. He grabbed the shotgun and waited for the horde to come screaming inside, but after a moment he realized they had not broken through the screen.

     He peeked around the shelves and saw them looking in at him, he turned on his light and shined it into their faces and a guttural scream arose from among them and they backed quickly away from the door covering their faces with their hands.

     He backpedaled behind the gun counter and stood there, what was he going to do now? If they got in he would be trapped in the gun safe, would they leave the store in the morning? What if they did not leave but remained inside? He would quickly run out of food and water and he had not planned for this possibility.

      They attacked again and it was then he realized they were not only at the front door, he also heard them running on the roof, they were at every window slamming their fists and bodies against the metal cover, the overhead door in the warehouse groaned and rattled as they attempted to find a way to force it open.

     Then, as if on cue a deathly silence pervaded the air. He remained completely still; the only sound was that of his own breathing. Then, he heard far in the distance a faint, high pitched wailing sound.

     It seemed to emanate from the woods on the opposite side of the canal and resembled an animal howling. As the sound came nearer it became more audible and the din began to echo within the building.

     Abruptly, and to his horror he came to the realization that this was not some animal he was hearing, it was a human voice. Someone must be out there he thought, did they need help? Whoever it was they were coming closer to the store and finally he was able to make out what they were saying.

     “Maaaarrrkie, Maaarkie!” The words pieced through him like a sword.

     “Maaaaaaaarrrrrrkiiie!”

     He froze, his body became granite and panic began to rise in him.

     “Markie, Maaaaarrkie!”

     The sound was now coming from just outside the front door. As if in a trance he slowly moved from behind the gun counter and out into the open.

     “Markie!” The voice called to him.

     He shuffled down the aisle. His vision wavered as the howling apparition slowly drew near the screen.

     “Maaarrrrkie.”

     His mother appeared to him, she reached out her hands and her flowing white dress glowed in the glare of the streetlight. His hand tightened around the keys on his belt.

     “Markie.” She pleaded with him, her arms outstretched, reaching for him.

     He came closer to the screen, their faces now mere inches apart separated only by the harsh metal grate. A soft smile appeared on her face, she turned the handle on the screen back and forth and Mark removed the keys from off his belt.

     “Maaarrkiie, Marrkiie,” her arms were ready to embrace him.

     Mark held the keys up and shook them and she glanced down at the lock on the door. He then slowly placed them back on his belt and she fixed her gaze on his face with her dull and cloudy eyes.

He heard a low growl in her throat and the smile on her face changed to a wide grin. Her mouth suddenly opened wide and her ashen lips curled back baring her teeth, she hissed loudly and quickly moved backward out into the driveway.

    She paused for a moment and glared at him, then ran headlong into the security screen. Her body was repelled by the barrier and she bounced off and fell back onto the muddy ground, but she was back on her feet immediately.

     Her attack was viscous and she gnashed her teeth at Mark. A dark liquid oozed from her shredded fingertips as she tried to force them through the screen. Mark was not repulsed by her, he felt closer to her now than he had at any time throughout his life.

     Her cold, dead eyes fixed upon him and then suddenly, from out of nowhere, the others who had been waiting in the shadows rushed the door. Their assault released him from his catatonia and he backed away. The monsters screamed at the sight of him. Blood began to run down the screen as they mutilated their flesh on the sharp steel.     

     The creatures caterwauling and their drumming on the outside of the steel building became more than he was able to bear. The sight of his mother with those cadaverous eyes and gnawing daggers of teeth, terror enveloped him and he forced himself into a corner behind the gun counter and lay in a fetal position. He became insane with fright and his mind shut down.