Zombies! (Episode 10): State of Emergency (16 page)

But Olden was a pro at listening to no one.

Finally, after Henry had presented all of his arguments and Olden had beat them all down, Henry resorted to his final tactic. He illustrated the situation before them and asked Olden how much work it would be to explain that a civilian had stolen
two
snow plows and created the necessary window for he and his men to beat back the hoard of zombies that had threatened to overrun them. Olden was not someone who could be intimidated so the underlying threat went unnoticed. However, he did realize that he would have a lot of work ahead of him if he continued with these arrest proceedings and all he would have accomplished was taking an average, if not slightly above average, citizen off of the street.

He dropped it.

Sam was passed out as Abby and Martin entered their apartment. They brought him to his room and stripped him of his clothing. Normally they wouldn't have cared, but the day and night had put them all into places where who-knew-what could have gotten on them. They struggled him into his pajamas and he didn't bat and eye lash.

When they finally went to bed, they moved in close to each other, holding each other, kissing each other, basking in the presence of the other. Before five minutes had passed, they were both asleep.

***

The late dawn brought clear skies and bright sunlight. According to the news reports, the police had been successful in rounding up and destroying the bulk of the zombies but people were advised to remain in their homes for the weekend while the city was secured. The Mayor came on the air to praise Agent Kraemer and his efforts. The plows were working double time to clean up the roads so that things could return to normal for the work week.

Heron watched for an hour, sitting on the living room couch and sipping coffee. Alicia and Mellie were still asleep. Satya and his family hadn’t left until close to midnight. They’d had a nice time and Heron hoped they could do it again soon. In fact, he couldn’t think of any reason why not.

When his coffee was done, he put the cup into the dishwasher and went to get his coat, hat, and gloves. It was time to clear the walk. Outside, the temperature had risen into the mid thirties. A number of people on the block were already out with their shovels and snow blowers. Heron waved to Satya.

For a while he worked alone, building huge mounds of snow on the side of the house. Early risers on the block finished up and went inside while late risers came out with gloomy faces. Heron didn’t mind. When Alicia came out with Mellie, they built a snowman. Snow angels were out of the question because there wasn’t a flat place left on the block. A plow came down the street and pushed snow into Satya’s clear drive. It was the first time Heron ever saw anything that resembled a dark emotion cross the man’s face. He went across and helped clean up the mess.

When they were done, they went inside and had some hot chocolate. He watched the news. Intermingled with the sports report and the weather report and the business report, there were stories about the goings on in the city the night before. There was also talk of zombies on the national and international news. But it was all part of the regular show now. Zombies were there to stay. The infection was just another disease that hadn’t yet been cured. Each case was tragic but not earth shattering. When all was said and done, the flow of grant money would keep hundreds or thousands of researchers working for the rest of their careers.

In the early afternoon, Heron went for a run. As he ran, he thought back upon the months that he had spent hunting and fighting zombies. He couldn’t believe he had approached it with such intensity. But that had been his job. And his intensity had allowed others to live their normal lives. Now it was someone else’s job. Hopefully, that person would approach it with the same intensity so that others could live their normal lives. So that
he
could live a normal life.

When he arrived back at his house, he pulled out his pack of cigarettes and his lighter and looked around. Everyone had long since finished their shoveling jobs and the block looked like a powdery underground with corridors dug throughout. With the cigarette in his mouth, he struck the flame and then hesitated. He just wasn't in the mood.

Putting the cigarette back into the pack, he crushed the whole thing in his fist. Then he went back to the garbage and threw it in. He was not a religious man but he thought,
Maybe if I do just this one thing right, God will give me a second chance.
And that was the thought he adopted as he went back into his house and back to his family and forward to a life with an ending unforeseen.

***

It's over!

Where's the apocalypse? Sorry. No apocalypse. But that's really the point, isn't it? No matter how dire the situation, bringing about the apocalypse is difficult business. It doesn't just happen overnight and the longer it takes, the more likely we are to stop it.

What's next?

Why, Zombies Series 2, of course! Because of all of the terrific support I've gotten these past ten months, I've decided to start on Series 2. Like this first series, it will be released as a 10 episode set starting with Episode 2.0 the last Monday in September. Series 2 will feature a whole new set of characters as well as come back to the old ones from time to time as well. I hope to see you back at that time.

In the meantime, you can keep up with me on facebook and, sometimes, twitter. There's a cool Zombies! group on facebook that doesn't have nearly enough members. The ones we have though, are great. Their energy and dedication to the series motivated me to keep on going when I was tired or just out of ideas. Every time I came close to missing a deadline, it was the infectious enthusiasm of those people that drove me to work late and finish up on time. I owe all of my readers tremendous thanks.

Of course, there's a whole summer between now and Zombies! Episode 2.0 so try out my full length novel,
Forty Leap
. There aren't any zombies in it but I like it all the same. I think you will, too.

See you in September!

Ivan