Tim Meyer - Less Than Human

“What do you mean?” Ben asked, turning back to Melissa.

“On the radio—just before the batteries died—they said that someone was going to drop a nuclear bomb on the United States. Several of them.”

“Who? Who is going to drop a bomb on us?” Ben asked. “Isn’t the whole world like this?”

“I don’t know. The man on the radio didn’t seem to think so.”

“Jesus Christ.” Ben paced back and forth a few times. “So what do we do?”

“How… How the hell am I supposed to know?” Melissa shook her head. “David said we might be safe down here, you know, if…”

“If a nuclear bomb hits anywhere near here, Mel, it’s not going to matter where you are. The fallout will swallow us no matter where we hide. No, staying down here is just as dangerous.”

“Well, you got any better ideas?”

Ben didn’t. But he knew they had a better chance of surviving somewhere other than the basement. At least for a little while longer. “Do you know how long we have?”

Melissa shook her head. “No, the guy on the radio said a day. But that was yesterday, so…”

“Alright we’re getting out of here.”

Ben grabbed Jake by the hand and led him to the stairs. Melissa jogged behind them. When Ben started up the stairs, he felt someone’s hand on his shoulder. He turned to his ex-wife. She looked terrified, haggard, on the verge of losing her mind.

“I… just want to say that I missed you,” she said.

Ben looked at her. Under normal circumstances, he might have told her something different. Instead, he faked a smile and said, “Yeah, me too.”

The three of them hurried upstairs.

Hands waved at them through the broken kitchen windows. The moans of the horde outside echoed throughout the house. Ben led his son and Melissa through the kitchen and into the living room, where they found a dozen zombies feasting on the remains of a fifteen-year old girl. The clump of meat in the middle of the room barely resembled Emily Torres. The dead cannibals nibbled remnants of organs and splashed about in a large pool of blood. Ben saw Josh had become one of them. He was eating what little meat remained on a bone. Victoria was there too, snacking on her daughter’s innards. Brittany as well. She looked up at Ben as he entered the room. She dropped the hand she was gnawing on and rose to her feet.

Ben quickly looked away from the carnage and led his family upstairs. The front door was blocked by numerous corpses looking to join the house party. They lumbered toward Ben with surprising speed, Melissa shrieking when she noticed how close they were getting. Ben hurried them up the stairs, allowing them to go first. He booted the first zombie to reach the bottom of the stairs, sending him crashing into a few of his buddies. Three of them lost their balance and fell to the floor, creating distance between them. Ben rushed up the stairs, following Melissa and Jake, who had already disappeared down the hallway.

“Go to Jake’s room!” Ben shouted.

He reached the top of the stairs. Melissa helped Jake inside his room. Ben sprinted down the hall, following them into the bedroom. The walls were littered with posters of Batman and Spider-Man, and half a dozen other comic-book heroes. Comics and young-adult novels were messily thrown across the floor, along with dirty laundry. Ben narrowed his eyes at Melissa, remembering the many trivial arguments they had about keeping the boy’s room clean. She smirked faintly, understanding exactly where his thoughts were. Her expression changed when she heard footfalls down the hallway.

“Where to now?” Melissa asked.

“The window. Hurry.”

Ben looked behind them. Shadows formed on the hallway wall.

Melissa slid the window open.

“Out. Now,” Ben commanded.

Melissa crawled through the open window without any hesitation. Once she was onto the roof, she looked back and waved Jake on. He turned to his father with tears in his eyes. His small lips trembled.

“Can I have my PSP?” Jake asked. “Please, Dad? I really want my PSP.”

Are you kidding me? Now was certainly not the time to go searching for a hand-held video game system. On the other hand, it was certainly not the time to argue with a ten-year old either. “Where is it?”

“In my closet, I think.”

“Go with your mother. I’ll grab it.”

“Okay,” Jake said. He turned to the window, reaching out, grabbing his mother’s hands. She pulled him through and the boy collapsed in her arms.

Ben rushed toward the closet. He began throwing things around. Clothes. Toys. Books. Comics. The kid had too much shit, plain and simple. How much came out of his child support, he did not know. How much David had paid for (or the other fuck-buddies Melissa had since their separation) he did not want to know. “I can’t find it, kiddo,” Ben said.

Jake poked his head through the window. “Check the black bag!”

Ben spotted one black duffel bag. He remembered it. It was a bag he helped load into Melissa’s van, the night before they left for Brown Valley. He opened it hastily. Turning it upside down, he dumped numerous toys and video-game discs onto the closet floor. The PSP was the last thing to come out. He grabbed it, slipped it into his pocket, and turned toward the window.

Melissa screamed.

“Daddy!” Jake called out.

Several zombies stood in the doorway, looking hungrier than ever. They commenced forward, lunging for Ben as he darted toward the window.

Josh Emberson led the attack.

Ben barrel-rolled across the bed as if he had suddenly caught fire. He landed on the floor on the opposite side, next to the open window. Melissa and Jake screamed for him, reaching for his hands. He dove for the window, feeling the presence of the dead behind him. Their moans grew louder as they inched closer. The room filled with their rancid odor. Ben reached the window and pulled himself up. Melissa and Jake grabbed his arms, yanking him through.

Then, Ben screamed. He felt pain trounce the back of his leg. He felt hands gripping his ankle. It took a few moments, but he was able to shake them free. He pulled his body through the window, his legs quickly following. Ben turned over and looked back. He saw Josh standing in the window, a bloody flap of skin dangling from his mouth. The zombie devoured it quickly.

Ben glanced down at the back of his leg. Half of his calf was missing. Blood streamed down his leg from the cavity where the muscle used to be. Bloody tissue dangled from the wound. Ben winced, the pain overbearing. He lay there for a minute trying to ignore it, hoping it would go away. But the constant throb only worsened as the seconds passed, spreading to neighboring areas.

Josh began climbing through the window. Ben scooted forward, kicking him in the chest with his good leg, causing the zombie to fall back. It sprang back to its feet immediately, several of his dead friends accompanying him back to the open window. Ben shouted, telling Melissa to close the window. She rushed over and slammed it shut. A zombie’s hand got caught while reaching out for Ben. Melissa crushed it when she slammed the window sash down with all of her strength. Bones broke, but the zombie didn’t flinch. It glared at her through the glass. She brought the sash back up and Ben kicked the corpse again, sending it sprawling on its back.

This time, Melissa closed the window without any interference.

The three of them watched as Josh and several other dead faces filled the window, desperately craving their next meal.

The sun had just about disappeared behind the horizon, leaving the sky to bask in a beautiful arrangement of orange and purple cloud-clad streaks. The three of them sat near the edge of the roof, captivated by something they had only ever seen in movies and elegant paintings that hung in rich people’s dining rooms. The magnificent scenery absorbed them so intensely that they were able to ignore the window pane breaking and the noises from the dead crowd that gathered behind them. A traffic jam had formed and it looked like it wouldn’t clear up for quite some time.