Tim Meyer - Less Than Human

A horn honked, interrupting the peaceful silence around him. He found himself standing in the middle of the highway. A car barreled toward him. He could smell the rubber tires grinding against the asphalt, the squeal of the brakes slamming his eardrums. He had no time to react.

Josh Emberson remembered his shoulder hitting the hood really hard before the world went completely opaque.

“You awake?” Ross asked.

Ben twitched. “Yeah, I’m awake.”

“Can’t sleep, huh?” Landry was asleep, his head resting on his father’s shoulder. Everyone else was asleep with the exception of Josh. He sat with his back against the wall, counting the minutes until their captors revealed their master plan. “Me neither. My adrenaline is still going I guess.”

“Thanks for doing that, by the way,” Josh said. “I would have done it myself, but…” Josh motioned to the four chain-linked walls around him.

“Yeah, well, it was my pleasure. Kid deserved it.”

“So where you from, Ross?” Ben asked.

“Carver’s Grove, New Jersey. Not sure how far we are from home. What about you?”

“Red River,” Ben said.

“We’re practically neighbors. I have a few buddies at work who live in Red River.”

“Ben is trying to get to Pittsburgh. To save his son,” Josh told him.

“Is that right?” Ross asked, rubbing Landry’s shoulder.

Ben nodded.

“Damn. If I were in your shoes, I don’t know what I’d do.” He peered down at his son, grimacing affectionately. “I don’t know if these chain-link cages could keep me contained.”

“Well, I don’t plan on staying here very long,” Ben said.

“Easier said than done, brother. You heard, Bozo. They had him in here for weeks. Weeks.”

“Well, we don’t have weeks. We have a few hours. Maybe less. I don’t know.”

Ross glanced over at Josh, who shrugged casually.

“What are you talking about, brother?” Ross asked, a trace of uneasiness in his voice.

“Yeah, Ben,” Josh said. “What the hell are you talking about? Before our friend started shooting his mouth off, you were saying something really bad was about to happen. What is it?”

Ben’s eyes darted around the room, surveying the other prisoners. “I didn’t want to say anything before because I don’t want to cause a panic. We’re in enough trouble, and if we’re going to get out of here, we have to have our wits about us.”

“Well, everyone’s sleeping,” Josh said. “Tell us.”

Ben inhaled unclean air, then exhaled. “Okay. I got in touch with my ex. Things out there… aren’t looking very promising.”

“What do you mean?” Ross asked.

“I mean the entire East Coast is one great big ball of fucked.” He closed his eyes, wishing he didn’t have to be the one to tell them. “The government has decided to contain the outbreak by dropping a bomb on us.”

Josh shook his head. “No.”

“Yes.”

Ross’s eyes became glossy as they drifted toward the floor. “Shit.”

“Yup.” Ben stood up. “If we don’t find a way to—let’s say Ohio—in the next few hours, we’re going to become awfully crispy.”

“They’re going to bomb us?” Paul Scott asked, removing his trucker’s hat. He wiped away sweat from his forehead.

“So much for everyone being asleep,” Josh muttered.

“Yes, Paul—it is Paul, right?” Ben asked.

Paul nodded.

“Paul, we would like to keep this a secret. We don’t need the others freaking out and panicking. Okay?”

“The government…” he repeated, almost catatonic. “Washington. They’ll bomb themselves, I suppose.”

“For the greater good, Paul,” Josh said. “Or because they simply don’t know what else to do.”

“I thought the government was supposed to look out for its people. Not destroy them because they don’t know what else to do,” Ross chimed.

“I don’t know,” Ben said. “But what I do know, is that my son is out there and I need to find him.” His eyes began to sting. “I will find him.”

Ross nodded. “I’ll help you, brother.”

“I appreciate that.” Ben turned to Josh. “You in?”

“Hell yeah. I’m not doing anything but waiting to become human charcoal.”

“Paul, do I have your word you won’t tell the others? Not until the moment’s right.”

Paul shrugged. “When is the right moment to tell a person such a thing?”

Ben shook his head. “We’ll know when it happens. Until then…”

“My lips are sealed.”

“Thank you.”

He wondered if he would even get the opportunity.

Hours later, some of the other prisoners started waking. Ben dozed off a few times, feeling as he had the night before: exhausted and running on empty. The sickness was gone, but he was dehydrated and malnourished like he had been with the flu.

Ben awoke to the sound of two voices arguing over something his brain had not yet processed.

“Oh, here we go,” Josh muttered.

“Here we go nothing,” John sneered. “Are we going to pretend that we don’t see the obvious? That man is right,” he stated, nodding to Paul, “the government doesn’t give a shit about us. If they did, they would’ve never let it come to this. Hell, they’re probably the ones who created this shit, letting it spread across the coast to see how many people it infected. Just to see what would happen.”

So much for the right moment, Ben thought. He scolded Paul Scott with his eyes, but the trucker intentionally dodged Ben’s hard gaze.

“And why would they want to do that?”

“Who knows. Maybe they’re testing biological warfare. Or maybe, they’re looking to thin the numbers. Population control, or something.”

“Oh, yeah. That’s believable.”

“What do you know? You’re just a pathetic junkie,” John grumbled. He coughed, softly at first, but grew louder in succession.

Josh smiled. “That’s right. Choke, motherfucker.”

“Quit it,” Ben said to both of them.

Glaring at Ben, John’s coughing subsided. “What? You didn’t know your fellow road-tripper was a junkie?”

“I did actually. And you know what? He’s well on his way to kicking the habit. So it’d be real nice if you got off his ass about it.”

John laughed raucously between another series of coughs. “Yeah, right,” he wheezed. “That’ll be the day.” John turned to Josh. “You know what I wished for when the dead started coming back to life?”

“That they’d actually listen to anything you had to say?” Josh said.

“That I’d be there to watch you turn into one of them. So when you came back to life I’d be the lucky one to put you down like a lame stag.” John Vander smiled hideously. “And the best part? No one would even give a shit. Not even Olivia. Because you’d be a fucking zombie!”

“Well, I’ll tell you what, whack-job. I didn’t kill your little girl. You did. And she died long before the zombies came along.” Josh pursed his quivering lips. He gritted his teeth as he continued. “You smothered her, John. And you know who she turned to? Someone like me.” He giggled softly. “Yeah, I’m a liar. I’ve cheated. Stolen things. Did drugs. Lots of them. And you know what makes girls want to date scumbags like me? Overbearing fathers who try to control their daughter’s lives, John. Like you. So do me a favor and kindly keep your fucking mouth shut.”

Josh exhaled. For a second no one said anything. He caught Ben smiling behind his hand. Ross smirked as well. Josh rested his head against the cage and sighed. Fishing for the smokes in his pocket, Josh remembered that the Three Little Pigs had cleaned him out before locking him up. He muttered an obscenity that no one heard.