89.4 Zombie Radio

"Seriously? None of you believe me about the little girl?" I asked when we were halfway down the next block.

"I believe you Jessie," said Brock. "The one shot at us, so why not some that talk?" I felt better that at least someone believed me.

"I don't doubt you're story at all," Jack added. "I mean, its possible you could have been hallucinating, but its also entirely possible that some of these bastards are more evolved than others."

"You could say that they're less evolved too couldn't you?" asked Carter. "Think about it, maybe some aren't quite to the later stages in the disease, or whatever this is, yet. Maybe the final stage is the rampaging, thoughtless, carnivore, psychopath. Maybe the first stage is just violent behavior and that sort of thing."

"No, this girl knew what she was doing," I told them. "She had the other ones helping her, and it was a total set up from the start. If it was just violent behavior, she would have just cussed me out while trying to bite me. This was thought out and planned. There was also this weird mark on her forehead. It was black, and it looked like it was carved into her skull. None of the others have that, especially during the early stages. I remember seeing people with rashes and stuff, but nothing like that."

"She's right, I never saw anyone with that," said Jack, taking my side in the debate.

"I still don't buy it," said Dean. "It could have been anything, maybe she was in an accident when she was younger. You don't know. Like I said, I need proof."

"That's a lot of detail for her to be lying," Brock argued.

"Let's just drop it, okay? It doesn't really matter what she saw. For now, let's just find someplace to stay before night falls. The sun's going down, and I honestly don't feel like fighting these things in the dark," said Jack.

I knew the street we were on very well, it was one Nimel and I walked nearly everyday. "Why don't we just stay at my place?" I asked. "It's just up a couple of streets."

"Are you sure its not swarming with zombies right now?" Brock questioned.

"Well, it wasn't when I left. There's only five other people who live in my building, so even if they're there, we shouldn't have too big of a problem," I told him.

"Yea, that sounds like a good idea Jess. Let's do that," Dean added, actually taking my side on something for once.

"You did it again. Its Jessie, not Jess, I'm going to hurt you next time Dean. This is your last warning," I said, not joking around. I wanted to kick him in the crotch right then and there. I could not stand being called Jess, and I thought I had made that perfectly clear already.

"I'm sorry babe," he said.

"I'm also not your babe, or your baby, or whatever other little pet names you want to give me. I'm Jessie, and you can call me that, and that's the last warning I'm going to give you." I couldn't stand being called things like that. I had a name and I don't think its too hard to remember. Dean never used to be like this. He was the nice boy, who lived next door and never caused any trouble. He was never so conceded and full of himself like he is now. I don't know what happened to him since I last saw him, but I was going to find out by the time this was all over. I would just wait for a chance where I could get him by himself.

I led them down the block and to my building. We all got ourselves ready for anything that would be inside. A lot could have happened in the time I was gone. I got up front and started leading the way. My apartment was on the second floor, last door on the right. Like I had said, there was only five people living there at the time. An old man who lived downstairs and played Frank Sinatra records at obnoxiously loud volumes. I think it was because he couldn't hear. Then there was a middle aged lady, who walked around singing opera all the time. The other three I had seen in the hall, but never talked to. They seemed nice at the time, but becoming a zombie tends to make people a little cranky I've noticed.

We were halfway up the steps, and so far hadn't encountered anything. The building seemed completely dead. It felt like I was coming home at three in the morning. I opened my bag, and started digging through my purse to find my keys. The contents of my bag were a little more unique than usual. Boxes of ammo, a pistol, a crowbar I forgot I had, a bloody butcher knife, baggies for Nimel poop, makeup, snacks, and of course tampons. I finally found my keys in all that mess and we got to my door. Everyone who lived here must have left, and for once something went down without a hitch.

We got inside and we all sat down. It felt so good to finally get off my feet. I thought it funny that after all that work, I ended up in the same place that I started. That was just my kind of luck I guess. I could only hope that tomorrow went better, right now I was just glad to be home, safe and sound. Nimel was glad too, he went right to his water bowl and drank the whole thing. I filled up his food bowl, and he ate it in one sitting. After words he went to my room, hopped on the bed and slept. I wanted to do the same thing myself, but I decided I'd sit up and chat with the boys for a little while. I was always the type to fight sleep, no matter how tired I was.

"So what's the plan for tomorrow guys?" Brock asked. It was something we needed to think about. We needed a solid plan to get out of this city, improvising hadn't done much for us so far. It just led us in a big circle. We had to think of something, this city would literally eat us alive if we didn't get out soon.

"Well, we need to find a car or something to make our way out of the city in. From there, I'm not really sure where we should go. Anybody got any plans?" Jack asked. I was surprised, for once he didn't have a plan.

"Does anybody have a car we could use?" Dean asked, "Oh and Jack could you please look at this gash on my arm? Its still killing me." Jack reluctantly walked over and untied the shirt on Dean's arm. It was still bleeding, but not near as bad as it had been.

"Jessie, do you have any rubbing alcohol or anything like that? Also I'm going to need something to bandage this up with. If you don't have any bandages or anything, we can just use a towel for right now. It's going to be okay, I promise, its not bad at all. Dean's just being a big baby about it," Jack said and started laughing.

"What's new there?" I asked.

"Fuck both of you! This shit hurts!" Dean yelled.

"I'm joking, calm down, I know it hurts, I've had it happen to me before," Jack told him. I couldn't help but laugh though, It was fun messing with Dean. It was becoming one of my favorite things to do. I got Jack some rubbing alcohol from an old first aid kit my mother insisted I have. I was glad I had taken it now. Also inside was a big roll of medical tape and some gauze. I was more prepared than I thought. I gave it all to Jack and watched as he dumped the rubbing alcohol on the cut.

"Fuck that burns!" he screamed. I couldn't help but laugh, everybody in the room was laughing with me. It didn't make me feel so bad.

"This is pretty deep, I'm not sure if I can get this to stay closed, and I have no idea how to sow stitches. So I'm going to cauterize the wound. It's probably the only way its going to stop bleeding, and I don't think we can keep this thing from getting infected in our situation.

"What in the fuck does that mean?" shouted Dean.

"It means I'm going to burn the wound closed," Jack answered. It didn't take long before Dean started randomly cussing. This was going to be interesting to say the least. I had never heard of sealing a wound like that.

"Jessie, get a frying pan, and set it on the stove. Crank the heat up all the way so it gets nice and hot." I did as Jack said, and dug my best frying pan out from under the sink. I barely ever cooked anything, so it was pretty much a brand new frying pan. In fact, I don't think I had used it once since I bought it. I put it on the burner and turned the heat up all the way.

"Oh! As far as a car goes, I have a few at my shop we could probably use to get out of here, but its all the way across town. So its up to you guys if you want to walk it," Brock said.

"What kind of shop do you have?" Carter asked.

"I own a little body shop across town. Work mostly on cars that were in fender benders and stuff like that. My real passion is building bikes though. I already miss my chopper, I think its stuck in an impound lot somewhere right now," Brock explained.

"Wait. You work on cars? Do you know how to hot wire one?" Jack asked.

"Ummm, I do actually know how to do that, yes," Brock replied.

"You have got to be kidding me! Weren't you the one who asked if someone knew how to hot wire cars?" I yelled.

"Uh, yea... I did say that, didn't I? Well... I was nervous about being around him!" Brock shouted pointing at Jack. "I didn't want to hot wire something in front of a cop! I don't know if there are laws still in effect or anything!"

"Ha! Laws. You were in the police station, I'm pretty sure there aren't any laws in effect right now. If there are, there aren't any cops left who are going to enforce them. I know I sure as hell don't care right now. Hell, steal what you want, take what you want, its anarchy right now. At least that's my take on it. We have to do what we can to survive." After Jack's speech, Brock gave out a sigh. I couldn't tell if it was from relief or embarrassment.

"Well, I'm sorry. I guess I didn't think about that," Brock said.

"You're an idiot," I told him. "If there were laws, you'd still be in jail. How stupid can you be? We would be out of this city right now and I wouldn't smell like garbage! Which by the way, I'm pretty sure this pan is hot, so I'm taking a shower. You guys figure out what we're going to do before I get out."

"You sure you don't want to hear Dean scream at the top of his lungs when this pan hits his arm?" Jack asked me laughing. I returned the laugh.

"I do, but I think I'll be able to hear it from in here," I told him.

I grabbed some clothes and took my shower. It felt good to get all the blood and dumpster washed off of me. I was glad that I ended up back here, I got to change clothes, take a shower, and get a good night's sleep in my own bed. Not to mention the cute British guy was in my apartment. None of this was bad at all.

Halfway through the shower I heard Dean scream and I almost slipped from laughing. When I got out of the shower, Jack was wrapping up Dean's wound. You could see the tears falling from his eyes, and he was still cussing under his breath. I started to feel the effects from a day of running from, and fighting, zombies catching up to me. I wasn't going to fight sleep tonight, I needed to rest. Tomorrow was going to be another busy day.

"Well boys, I'm off to bed," I informed them. "All the blankets and stuff are in that closet over there. Just help yourselves, its the last time anybody will probably use them, so don't be afraid to drool all over them. Oh, and somebody better have a plan! What is it?"

"Well, we're going to head over to that parking garage a block away, and have Brock hot wire us a ride out of here," Jack said, confident in his plan.

"Sounds good! Well, goodnight boys." I went in my room and locked the door behind me. I trusted the guys in the other room, but not that much yet. For all I knew, one of them was a serial rapist or something. You can't be too careful these days. I plopped on the bed and Nimel looked up at me. He crawled up and laid his head on the pillow next to me. Staring into his eyes was the last thing I remember before going to sleep.