Reeling in the Zombie Apocalypse Ⅰ

By Jane

Part 1

The PA system crackled overhead and I looked up. Attention! Code Yellow.

I glanced at my badge since I had never heard a code yellow called before. My badge lists code yellow as an external disaster.

I glance at the shelf of medical charts. I will need to push myself today to clear the shelves if we are going to be getting an influx of people from whatever disaster is under way.

I work in the medical records department which is hidden down in the basement next to the cafeteria and the morgue. My job is to convert paper records to electronic ones. It can be boring work but it pays the bills.

I start scanning my next chart, a patient with a heart attack who was in the hospital for a week, when I hear an unusual noise. It sounds almost like scratching on the door. I don't know why anyone would scratch or even knock at the door when there is a doorbell. Still, I hear it again and decide that I should get up and at least look out the peephole of a window set high in the door.

I glance out it trying to see what is making the noise.

I blink because what I see shouldn't be. The scratching isn't my door but the respiratory department door across from me. A man in a hospital gown is standing against the door. He isn't attempting to open it, which is just as well since it is a secure department and one has to badge in. Instead, he looks as if he is trying to walk through the door. Maybe he is one of the mental patients.

His head is bent at an odd angle and I wonder if I should go out and help him but I'm not actually supposed to leave my department and I don't actually have the training for crazy people.

I go to the phone and dial the hospital operator. No answer.

I try hospital security. No answer.

I feel the hair stand up on the back of my neck. Is everyone trying to help whatever victims have come in from the external disaster?

I glance at the clock. It is just after ten.

I hit 9 to dial out and then I punch in my home number.

"Hello," Jenny, my wife and the love of my life, answers after only two rings.

"Hey baby. How are you feeling?"

"Tired," she says with a sigh.

"Junior didn't let you sleep?" I ask. Apparently, having a tiny person doing somersaults in your belly is not conducive to a good night sleep. Who knew?

"Actually, I just was feeling a bit strange."

"Like, going into labor strange?" I ask feeling a sense of sudden panic. She isn't due for another month.

"Not exactly. Do you remember the night my grandmother died how I told you I felt like something awful was going to happen? Well, it was like that only no one has called and I don't want to call my parents and worry them."

"Have you watched the news this morning?" I ask.

"No. Why, did something happen?"

"I don't know what but something is going on. Would you take a look for me?" I ask feeling unease. Jenny has always doubted herself but I never have. Every time she has felt uneasy there has been something bad happen. I don't remind her that the night before the September 11 terrorist attacks, she was up throwing up. Her mom was sure it was just a stomach bug but as soon as I saw the news, I knew it was her other sense though I didn't tell that to her or her mother. They are too sensible of people for all that.

"It must be a joke," Jenny says with a nervous laugh.

"Tell me," I say perhaps a bit harsher than I should.

"The reporter says there is some kind of epidemic. People who appeared dead getting up and attacking people. One of the reporters thinks it might be some mutating strain of rabies. I mean, that is crazy right." She wants me to say that I agree it is crazy but I can't because I saw the man at the door and I was raised on Zombie flicks and first person zombie shooting games.

"I need you to listen to me carefully. Call my parents and yours and tell them to lock their doors and get out of sight. Tell your dad to load up his guns. There are infected people in the streets and he may need to defend himself until we get there. We will be by to pick them up soon."

"Honey, they live eight hours away. I don't think-"

"I want you to get into the closet and pull out the suitcases. Fill them with clothes. Good warm clothes and sensible shoes. No heels. No jewelry. Bar soap."

"Honey this is crazy-"

"Then, I want you to open the door of the garage and turn on the light. If anything moves you close the door and barricade it. If not, I need you to grab the canteens off the third shelf of my camping gear and fill them with water. There should be granola nearby too. Then, if you can safely make another trip out there, and Jenny do not take any risks, I need you to grab my fishing rod, tackle box, and the two extra reels. They are in boxes labeled Piscifun. Actually, just grab anything that says Piscifun on it. I don't know what I might need. Put them with the suitcases. Don't leave the house. Don't load the Yukon. Stay in the house. If anyone tries to get in, get up to the attic."

"Alex, don't you think you are overreacting?" she asks and I am well aware she thinks I have lost my mind.

"I'm not going to let anything happen to you. I am going to keep you safe," I vow.  "I love you."

I hang up the phone and look out the peephole to see a second man trying to walk into the respiratory door.

I grab my keys from my pocket. I have no idea if the mace I have on my keychain will have any effect on the zombies since they don't need to breath. Still, it is the only weapon I have at the moment and I need to get past them. I need to get home to my wife.

I steel myself as I place my hand on the knob of the door.