Friday Challenge Entry #5

For the Friday Challenge.

“Last Hallows Eve”

Zach's toothless smile began to creep me out as we stood outside the back entrance to the funeral home. His cheery demeanor didn't lessen the impact of why we were there, and despite every rationalization I could think of, I knew it was all my fault.

Watching my breath fog the air between us, I thought back to how this all started less than a week ago, back before I'd brought the world and everyone on it to the brink of extinction.

I'd been looking forward to the Fall break and the trip home during my favorite holiday since August. Closing up the lab had been a last minute pain in the ass rush-job that professor Martin had foisted on me without any warning.

She was out the door before I had a chance to ask her if she would get someone else to do it, but I figured if I got it over with quick enough, it wouldn't delay me by too much. Oh to have that day to do over again....

I walked down the crowded rows of lab equipment ensuring everything was properly stowed and secured for the short break in studies. Checking off each item on a clipboard, I double checked to make sure everything that was supposed to be turned off was off, and that any experiment that had been left running wouldn't be a danger if left unattended.

I hadn't been watching where I was walking when it happened.

My left hand barely brushed a beaker full of some noxious fluid, knocking it over and spraying the fluid across the counter right into the path of a Bunsen burner I'd yet to turn off. The brilliant flash of light and heat as the chemical ignited threw me back into a terrarium full of Brazilian moss cultures and set the entire south wall of the lab aflame. In less than a few seconds I found myself struggling to find a way out through the blinding and choking plumes of smoke and fire.

Already disoriented by the scene of carnage I'd manged to create, I wasn't helped when the lab's special fire suppression system went off dousing the room in a fine mist of halon and fire retardant foam, all the while high pitched peals of the fire alarm rang in my ears.

Completely unsure of where I was in relation to the main exit, I decided against feeling my way through the shambles of the lab. Quickly praying to God that I wouldn't die, I made my way through the lab, occasionally bumping into a desk or piece of equipment. It wasn't until I hit something large and metallic that I knew for sure where I was. The central wash station at the front of the room, only thirty-five steps from here to the door, I realized quickly becoming enervated by this minor bit of good fortune.
Once I'd managed to reach the door I hurriedly pushed my way out and into the hallway for my first lungful of fresh air since the accident. The rush of escaping death and finally being able to breathe made me a little light headed and as I slid down the wall landing on my ass, the growing crowd of people who'd gathered to see what was going on faded from my field of vision as I passed out.

I awoke hours later, in almost the exact same position I'd been in before losing consciousness. Almost as if someone had tried to move me but gave up and walked away. Looking around at the hallway, two things immediately struck me as strange, the alarms that had been blaring were still going, and there wasn't another person within sight.

Getting to my feet, I shambled back to the dorms hoping to find out what was going on, and to take a shower to wash off whatever chemicals I'd been marinating in.

The usually boisterous atmosphere of the senior wing's lobby was eerily quiet and the few people who were present didn't even seem to acknowledge my presence. Taking a moment to try to talk to each of them was a wasted effort and I assumed they had all already heard what had happened and decided to ignore me for some reason.

A TV left running in the common room was blaring a sci-fi movie from what I could make out, something about a killer plague and a mass evacuation. Deciding to skip the flick I sullenly walked toward the elevator and pressed the up button.

“Probably a stupid SyFy piece of crap anyway.” I said to myself waiting for the doors to open.

Later sitting on the edge of my bed, I noticed the fact that Taylor, my roommate was nowhere to be found. This was odd because he had spent the better part of the week annoying me into dragging him home with me. He'd finally managed to win me over by repeatedly waking me in the morning with an air-horn and threatening to do so for the rest of the year unless I took him with me.

Taking a moment to jot down a note for him, I mentioned that I had waited for a whole hour for him to show up, and couldn't delay a minute longer. Grabbing the small gym-bag with my clothes for the trip I pinned the note to our door, and locked the room, hoping Taylor wasn't drunk enough to forget his key, or else he'd be spending a long weekend locked out.

The drive back home was pretty uneventful, and once I got within a few miles of my folks house I decided to pay a quick visit to a few friends before I stopped home.

The guys hadn't changed much, and after a few quick beers and a half hour or so of catching up, we made plans to hang out the next night, maybe watch a movie, or something.

My Mom almost crushed me to death with a bear hug the second I was through the door, and Pop, well a handshake and a quick “How's things?” was about the best I could expect.

I hadn't been home less than an hour and already it felt like I'd never left.

“Where's the runt?” I asked Mom as I set down my bag, looking around for my younger brother Zach.

“Jake it's 10:45 at night, he's sleeping.” she said pointing out the obvious.

“Are you hungry, or did you eat on the drive home?” she asked dragging me by the hand to the kitchen not waiting for me to answer.

“I thought you were bringing a friend? You called and said something about that, I'm sure of it.” she said stopping to look at me before stepping behind the counter and scooping the guts out of a partially carved Jack O' Lantern.

“Yeah Mom, he couldn't make it, he came down with something. Sick as a dog.” I said lying to her face.

But knowing the truth wouldn't have set any better with her. Knowing my Mom, she'd have made me wait until Taylor showed up even if I missed out on the entire winter break.

Watching her pull seeds and pumpkin goo out of the incomplete Jack O' Lantern I was distracted just enough to not notice the odd sensation of something moving up the back of my leg until the last second.

Turning with a quick jerk I saw a miniature version of “Dr. Manhattan” running a hand up my leg like it was a spider.

“Boo!” He shrieked, smiling with a few more missing teeth than the last time I'd seen him.

“Zachster!” I shouted reaching down to scoop him up, before he could get away.

He laughed as I “flew” him around the room a few times before plopping him down on the counter next to Mom, and her Halloween handiwork.

“What are you still doing up, brat?” I asked tweaking his nose playfully as I looked at Mom, who was standing there smiling.
“Mom said if I was quiet, I could surprise you.” he said picking at the mess of seeds and pumpkin innards.

“Well mission accomplished, my good doctor.” I said complimenting his costume.

With a quick leap off the counter he bounded up the stairs, as fast as he could without another word.

“Isn't he gonna get awfully cold in that?” I asked my Mom, once he was out of earshot.

“Oh no, not nearly as bad as he was gonna be if he'd had his way.” she said smiling as she picked up the candle and placed it inside the now finished Jack O' Lantern.

Motioning for me to pick it up, she walked to the front porch and pointed out where she wanted it.

“What do you mean?” I asked her, already pretty sure of the answer.

Mom handed the long-tipped lighter as she pulled the top of the pumpkin.

“Well Zach had wanted to go as the “Authentic” Doctor Manhattan. Your father nearly had a coronary when Zach walked out of his bedroom pained blue from head to toe and as naked as the day he was born.” she said chuckling at the memory.

“This costume is a compromise, blue makeup and a pair black undies was as far as your father was willing to go. Besides it's Halloween, what's the worst that could happen?” she said giving my arm a quick reassuring slap.

I smiled as I stood in the slightly chilly October air, watching the amber glow of the candle flicker in the darkness.

It felt so good to be home.

The next morning I awoke with the king of all hangovers and morning breath that could kill an elephant. I hadn't really remembered drinking that much the night before, just a few beers with the guys, but the little men pounding pickaxes in my head tended to disagree.

Stumbling down the hall for some aspirin and a quick piss, I was struck by something odd. The usual sounds and smells of home were completely gone.
Our house wasn't a three-ring circus, but the normal amount of people milling about or getting ready for the day were completely absent.

Adding in the aroma of Mom's famous apple pancakes was missing too, I began to get a little unsettled. She always made that for the first morning when I was home.

Skipping the trip to the bathroom, I walked downstairs to find no one there, and more strangely the mess from the pumpkin carving the night before hadn't even been touched. While Mom may have quick stepped out to get something and taken Zach along, she'd have cut off an arm before not cleaning up a mess. It just wasn't in her, she was too much of a mom.

I picked up the cordless phone in the kitchen, thinking maybe I'd call Mrs. Schaeffer next door to see if she had any idea where my mom and brother were, but the dead line screwed that plan.

On an impulse I decide to check the garage, to see if Mom's car was there, and that's when I saw them. Mom was sitting behind the wheel of her car, her face totally relaxed and laying against the driver's side window, and once I got close enough to see him, Zach strapped into his car seat with his head lolled over to the side, as if they were both sleeping.

But as I stood there in the doorway, I knew that wasn't the case. I couldn't see their chests rising and falling, neither of them were breathing. In a moment of irrational panic I thought that maybe Mom had accidentally let the engine running and forgotten to open the garage door.

So that's exactly what I did.

I pressed the door clicker and walked numbly over to the passenger side, afraid of confirming what I already knew. They were both dead, and there wasn't a damn thing I could do about it.

Sitting next to the lifeless body of my mother I pressed the back of my hand to her cheek and felt the ice cold skin. Waiting hoping this was all some terror dream, I held two fingers across her throat hunting desperately for any trace of a pulse, but knew it wouldn't be found.

And that's where I was when it happened, when I found out what I'd done to doom everyone I'd ever touch again. The sound of a low-flying plane managed to snap me out of the blankly staring at my family, and the announcement repeatedly playing over it's PA system brought me forcefully back to reality.

“ALL CITIZENS ARE TO REMAIN INDOORS UNTIL FURTHER NOTICE BY ORDER OF MARSHAL LAW. FURTHER NEWS WILL BE BROADCAST ON CHANNELS 2, 5, 12, AND 16. ALL CITIZENS ARE TO REMAIN INDOORS UNTIL FURTHER NOTICE BY ORDER OF MARSHAL.....” droned the mechanical sounding voice as it flew back and forth past my neighborhood.
Running inside, I flipped on the TV, first to channel 2, catching the usually bubbly host mid-sentence as she was reading from a prepared statement.

“and the public is being urged to remain indoors until further notice by order of marshal law. To recap, a terrible and highly virulent plague seems to be cutting a swath across our state, and shows no sign of slowing. Reports of multiple deaths all originating at State University, and spreading to various point across the country have left our nation in crisis.” she said letting the impact of the words she was reading off the TelePrompTer finally hit her.

Switching to channel 5 wasn't much better, but at least all they just had was a news crawl at the bottom of the screen and a map of the infection's spread.

Looking at the various lines and dots constantly being updated on the map made me have a sick moment of realization. The sickness had begun at State University, my school, and the path that the majority of the illness had followed more or less mirrored the exact route I had taken home.

And that's when I thought back to what had kicked off the holiday break, the lab fire.

It was all my fault, everything that was happening had begun with me. Everyone I had touched or come into contact since was either dead or dying. And there was nothing I could do about it.

A sound out in the garage drew my attention away from my guilt if only for a second.

“If there's anyone out there, stay back I'm infected.” I shouted hoping to keep whoever it was at bay.

But when I saw my Mom and Zach walk into the living room I nearly fainted.
Trying to get to my feet was harder than I thought as I rushed to hug them, happy at the though that they were alive, that somehow I'd been wrong.

Maybe I'd dreamed it all.

But the second I touched them, I knew. The cold dead skin touching mine was proof enough it wasn't a dream, more like a waking nightmare. Every ounce of strength left my legs and I collapsed on the sofa, utterly defeated.

That old saying about truth being stranger than fiction? Totally true.
You try being comforted by the corpses of your family as you mentally breakdown. I challenge anyone to stay completely sane in a situation that surreal.

That was a few days ago...

I've spent the last couple of days preparing for Halloween. It was my favorite holiday after all. Mom isn't much help, but I think I have everything pretty much set up good enough to make her happy.

I found dad the second day, he'd died on the way to work, and his car had flipped halfway down the block, the driver's wheel had pinned him in his seat. It wasn't easy getting as much of him as I could out, but I think he'd be proud of my efforts.

Since pretty much everyone in my neighborhood had died over the course of the week, I had the run of the entire town, carte blanche as it were.
And I'd need it for the next part of my plans.

The National Guard armory had been left with only a skeleton crew, and in a few weeks time, I imagined that's all that would be left of them. Walking right past them I gathered what I'd need and strolled right back out.

At first the fact that the “zombies” let me alone bothered me. But as time passed I quickly got used to it. Maybe they saw me as “King Zombie” or something. I couldn't care less. As I drove Mom's car home packed down with provisions for tonight's celebration, I knew all I'd need was one more thing, and everything would be perfect.

Standing outside McCrory's Funeral home with Zach in tow, I wondered for a brief second if perhaps the unreality of the situation had driven me insane.

But then Mr. McCrory came to the back door with three small garbage bags and a look of disgust on his face.

“This is the last time I'm doing this.” he said setting the bags at my feet.

Reaching down to grab the bags I smiled as I returned that train of thought.

“Picking up brains for my zombie family to eat, sanest thing in the world.” I said to myself laughing as I reached down and took Zach's lifeless hand in mine.

He tried to laugh too, but found it quite impossible. I think that broke my heart the most as I led him home.

Seated around the dinning table, we almost looked like a normal family eating dinner. If you ignored the rotting corpses and the heaping plates of brain.

Well..brains for them, and Hamburger Helper for me. I was an adventurous eater, but not that adventurous.

Once everyone had began to eat I pressed the plunger down on the timer, and in exactly two minutes and forty-five seconds it'd all be over.

I had thought wiring up 100 lbs of C-4 would have been much harder, but it comes with instructions right on the side. Kinda convent really.

Honestly I had more problems hooking up my stereo system freshman year.

Taking a mouthful of food I looked around at my family as they devoured the brains on their plate. I never even realized what was happening as one by one their heads exploded in a spray of dead flesh and gore.

A bright light shone in my eyes blinding me right before a high pitched whine and a sharp pain in my head knocked me to the floor. Laying to the side of my chair a pool of blood forming beside me, I could do nothing as the men dressed in army fatigues rushed into my house, guns drawn.

“Dammit Perkins, you only winged that last one! Take better aim next time, you remember what happened to Smith when he missed a “Stinky”, don't you?” said the man standing at the bottom step in the living room.

As I moved to stand up he pulled his sidearm and fired twice, hitting me in the chest both times. A searing pain made me choke on the mouthful of food as I lay dying on the floor.

“Now go and clean that up.” he said to Perkins as he and the other men swept the house looking for more of the walking dead.

I'll hand it to Perkins, he was pretty sharp, he saw right away that I was bleeding and put two and two together. Too bad he never noticed the timer, or the C-4 I was weakly pointing at until he turned to alert the others.

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“Oh Shi---