Sickness In Town P. 4

By: Asa Montreaux

*

When they reached Payton’s house, he was not sure there would be a place for here in the home. Did she make noise? Did she use the bathroom. She probably did. Zombie pee. Hmm. What colour is it? Surely very dark. 

He texted Payton from outside on the front porch that he was there. Payton came out and met him and led him into the backyard. There, they weren’t through a door down to the basement. Payton explained this was the only place were he could keep here. “Or else they’ll definitely hear her. And the smell! “

Neil agreed that it was not going to be possible to have her upstairs anywhere. The basement was the best place, though it all felt very like the movie Frankenstein. “Any chance of her escaping?” He asked.

“Nah,” Payton said. “There is almost no chance whatsoever. I have a key for this door, and I will snatch my parents key, will just have her in this room, and we will just trap the smell inside. Zombie’s can’t open doors so there shouldn’t be an issue with her opening at locked door at all. If they cannot open them, they cannot pick locks, can’t open locked doors. It is not possible.

It obviously was not possible. “I agree,” Neil said. “But what if her super strength comes back?”

Payton looked at the ground a little shamefully. “I doubt that will happen. But if it does maybe my parents are goners. I hope they will be okay.”

“She probably won’t escape. I am sure she won’t. And what choice do we have?”

“Payton thought about it, “There is really nothing else to do, unless you know some place down by the docks, or whatever.”

“No, we really don’t own any of those buildings.”

“I agree,” Payton said. He smiled. “Let’s not break the law. So let’s stash the zombie girl here.”

“Alright. Lock the door.”

Payton locked the door.

*

Payton and Neil sat around talking just about how to check on Bernie while still going to school and everything. They decided they would try to leave her alone for no more than a couple hours. So they could both run back to the house between classes. They could study while watching her, and they could sleep down there on alternating nights.

After they had talked about everything about it, they got to talking about what was going on around the disease spreading, and infecting everyone. “It has been going around the school that people have been getting it all over the West Coast. And like it was all in Europe but we are just hearing now. It will be on the news soon.”

“I imagine it will. Going around the school?” Neil asked.

“Yea just people have been talking about it. And they say no one knows what the hell it is. But what else people are saying is one guy, just one guy, has a hunch. He thinks he might be able to make the disease go away. But no one is sure yet.”

“Who is it?”

Some inventor. Young guy. He may be able to cure it by taking it out of the airspace. You know, taking it out of the atmosphere so we don’t breath it. I guess he’ll kill the disease and not cure us. But we may lose a lot of people before then. But basically everyone thinks you inhale the disease, and when you smoke, drink alcohol, or have sex, you can get the disease. I think I am okay, but it can happen to latino people, and to black people. Bernie had some ancient black relatives, so she got it. Pretty scary, huh?

“Yea. For sure. So the inventor agrees that’s how you get it?”

“He thinks that’s it. He’s almost sure, everyone was saying. So he is already on that, curing the disease. You feeling alright? You look a little pale.”

“Yes. I am alright. And you are sure you don’t have it?”

“Yea. I am almost positive. I barely drank all month and everything.”

“Okay. Sounds like everything will be perfectly alright.”

*