Previously on BSMFBH...
The noise of Lisa's breathing filled the tiny space.
With the door closed, there was no light at all in the money drop drawer. She had rolled into a fetal position to fit inside, and her spine was killing her. She tried to remember to call her chiropractor if she survived all this, assuming her chiropractor wasn't killed by zombies.
She tried to control herself, tried to think of something else, but her loud choppy breaths continued no matter what she did, and her only other thought was what a bad time it was not to have her seizure medicine.
Outside, the vault door opened with a gentle click. It was too late to change the plan. Either the zombies would be out there or they wouldn't. Her breathing got louder. By the time she came out of her hiding place, Lisa thought, it would already be decided whether she lived or died. The gun went off. The zombies were there. It was up to Kaveh.
She heard them moaning. How many were out there? Were they eating Kaveh right now? Her back spasmed. She needed to get out of the confined space, but she stopped herself from opening the door. That wasn't the plan. She'd know soon enough if Kaveh reached the security guard.
A second gunshot reached her ears. He had the other bullets. There was another shot, then two more.
Kaveh would be out there, alone with the zombies, until the end. The only chance for the rest of them to survive was for him to shoot as many as he could before they got him.
The shots stopped. Lisa tried to figure out what was going on, but she heard nothing but her own breathing. Then she noticed a distant thumping that radiated out to her hands. It was her pulse.
Lisa opened the Alice in Wonderland sized door the smallest crack she could and listened closer. There were no zombie moans. She opened it a little wider. She could see part of the opposite wall, where Speedy was coming out of his drop drawer just as cautiously. He saw her too, and they both froze.
There were no zombies in sight. The baseball bat was on the ground between them, but Lisa knew the first to climb into the open would be the first to get eaten. There was a chance she could get out and close the vault door, but it would make the whole plan useless.
Her back spasmed again. It didn't matter if they were out there. She couldn't take it any more. She shoved the door open, pulled herself out and spilled onto the floor.
Every muscle was tight, and her back wouldn't straighten. She lay on the floor of the vault, helpless as a baby in a crib, the bat just out of reach. It was the last place she wanted to be. She forced her limbs to move, pushed off against the wall with her legs and grabbed the bat with her hands. Every part of her tensed back up. "Ow," she said involuntarily.
A moan came from the bank. She'd been heard. She clenched her lips and held still. Her quick breaths seemed quieter in the larger space.
There were two gunshots, and the moaning stopped. Was Kaveh still alive? Lisa fought to get to her feet but only managed to reach her hands and knees.
Speedy crawled out of his drawer slowly, stretching each muscle as he went. Lisa saw him trying not to stare at the pile of blue deposit pouches they'd pulled out to make room in the drop drawers. He crawled over to her with a grin on his face. "He did it," he said. Lisa wasn't so sure, but Speedy continued. "Go see what's happening."
It made sense, since they needed to know what was out there, but when Lisa thought about leaving the vault, her pulse pounded in her ears and her limbs went rigid again. She didn't want anyone to see her like this. She needed her medicine. "You go," she said as quietly as she could.
Speedy shook his head. "You have the bat," he said, his eyes drifting back to the money. He wasn't too scared to go, he was too greedy.
Lisa opened her mouth to offer him the bat, but a noise came from behind them, something inside the vault. She turned to find Helen peeking out of her drawer. "Are they gone?" said Helen.
Lisa held a finger to her mouth to indicate silence. "We're not sure," she whispered.
"Why don't you check?" said Speedy, still eyeballing the money.
Lisa was now the senior living employee in the bank. If anything happened to that money, she'd get the blame. She used the baseball bat to force herself to her feet. She knew what Speedy really wanted. She didn't want to start a fight over it, but she wanted to go outside even less. She pointed at Helen. "I have to stay. She needs my help," she said.
Speedy narrowed his eyes. He stood up and took a step towards Lisa.
Lisa stared him down. "Go check outside," she said with authority. Her voice came out louder than she expected. She covered her mouth and regretted saying anything, but it'd worked. Speedy was browbeaten, and Lisa's big girl voice hadn't attracted any zombies.
Speedy turned and walked out of the vault back into the bank without a weapon. Lisa turned around to find Helen on the floor, stuffing one of the deposit pouches into her purse. The situation was getting completely out of control.
"What are you doing?" said Lisa. "I'm responsible for that." She leaned down using the bat as a cane and tugged on the pouch.
Helen tugged back. "Dooon't," she said in a drawn out whine.
"That money belongs to the bank," said Lisa.
"They're not paying us enough to go through all this," Helen said.
Lisa tugged harder on the money. "I'm gonna lose my job," she said. A shout came from the bank, and the two women stopped pulling.
Lisa stared at the open vault door, but the blank wall it faced gave her no new information. She needed her medicine. She let go of the money and went to the door.
Speedy came around the corner, the gun in his hand, his grin long gone. He looked like he was fighting back both tears and vomit. Had he been bitten? He motioned with the gun for them to follow and walked away.
Lisa followed, scared to see what had caused his reaction but drawn forward by her need to know what was going on. "Come on, Helen," she said behind her. Helen zipped her crammed purse and went with them.
Before she even rounded the corner, Lisa saw the first two bodies, their heads blown open, brains oozing out of their skulls. She walked past them into the bank, where sprawled corpses covered the floor, and the powerful smell reminded her of the maggot covered deer she'd found on the shoulder of Route 10.
None of them were moving, but more zombies could show up any second. She searched their faces. These things were strangers, their features rotted away, but then she recognized the security guard, Vince, ten feet closer to the vault then he'd been before, his vacant expression showing no reaction to the bullet hole just above his right eye.
Speedy stood over his friend in the center of the room, and Lisa joined him. Kaveh was dead, and a large part of his intestines were gone, but his head was intact. It was time. Lisa looked at the young Mexican cook. "Okay Speedy, shoot him."
Speedy shook his head. "No," he mumbled, the tears still not far off.
Lisa stood over Kaveh's body. He smelled like he'd been dead for a week. "He didn't want to be a zombie," she said.
Speedy's forehead twisted in anger. "Leave him alone," he shouted. "Haven't you done enough?" He stood still, except for the raising and lowering of his shoulders with each breath.
Lisa was shocked by his intensity, but she couldn't blame him for wanting to leave the body in peace. When she'd pointed the gun at Kaveh, she hadn't been able to pull the trigger either. She said, "Let's just get outta here. Check the doors?"
Speedy's forehead went back to normal. He held up the gun and went to the front doors.
Lisa looked down at Kaveh. She had a strange feeling in her chest, something she didn't recognize. The muscles in her hands twitched. She held two fingers to her neck and felt her pulse pounding. At least she knew she was human, since circulation was the first thing to shut down when people became zombies, but she still couldn't explain what was happening to her. She had nothing to compare it to. Her breathing was still heavy. Maybe it was a seizure. She needed her purse quick.
She looked up to find Helen staring at her. "What's wrong with you?" asked the teller.
Lisa felt the heat of her face starting to flush and the tingling panic inside her shoes. "What?" she said to buy time. She and Helen had worked together for a year and a half, and Lisa had never told the woman about her medicine. She was so afraid of what people might think, she'd kept her secret from almost everyone.
Helen looked her in the eyes. She said, "I've never seen you so jumpy."
Lisa brushed past her coworker to avoid eye contact. "You're one to talk, Helen. You were screaming your head off before," Her voice shook as she said it. What was going on?
"But I'm always like that," said Helen. "I didn't think anything could get to you. If you're scared of those things..." She trailed off. Her eyes glazed over as she went back into shock.
Lisa tried to comfort her coworker. "No, it's not them," she started.
"I don't see anything out there," said Speedy. He stood on Lisa's desk as it barricaded the doors, peeking through the hole the zombies had punched their way in through. Lisa's purse had been on that desk. She knelt down to look underneath. It was down there alright, completely crushed under the heavy oaken desk. She couldn't get her medicine alone.
From on top of the desk, Speedy looked down at her. "What are you looking for?" he said. Speedy and Helen watched Lisa on her hands and knees.
Her breathing sped up again. She couldn't say what she really needed. She didn't even want to think it. She didn't want them to worry she might spaz out on them. She pointed under the desk, saying, "My keys."
"It's okay." Speedy dug a set of keys out of his pocket and looked at them sadly. The silver K-shaped keychain was dull from age and wear. "We'll take Kevin's truck," he said. "He won't mind anymore." He lay belly down on the desk, stuck his legs through the hole in the door and pushed himself backwards until only his head was inside the bank. "Come on."
Helen climbed onto the desk and mimicked the process, dropping ass first on the sidewalk in front of the bank. Lisa looked at the clock above where her desk had been. Seven thirty. The pharmacy on Pine Street didn't close until nine. She could still make it. She followed Helen over the desk.
When she finally got her head out of the bank, the sunlight hit her. She turned around and looked at the world for what felt like the first time. This was a world with zombies.
The sun hugged the horizon, pushing a warm breeze across the town. Up on the mountain, the taller trees overshadowed their neighbors in the horizontal light. Below them, the western walls of every building in town were bathed in orange, and the streets in between were empty, usual for this time of day. Next to the bank, all their cars sat in the parking lot, Mister Shankly's Beemer, Lisa's Honda, Helen's Range Rover and an old Chevy pickup. Speedy went for the pickup.
In a way, it was better Lisa didn't have her car keys. It wouldn't be safe for her to drive right now, but squeezing into the cab of that pickup meant one of the women would be straddling the gear shift. She turned to Helen to ask about her car, but she found her coworker staring at the ground with her eyes open too wide.
Lisa looked down to realize she was standing in a pool of blood and clothing scraps and felt her own blood pump harder. A stained sidewalk in front of the doors of the bank were the only remains of Mister Shankly and Logan Swanson.
Lisa couldn't imagine what Helen was going through at that sight. "Let's get in the truck," she said and took Helen by the hand. Speedy started the truck. Lisa rode in the middle and tried to ignore Speedy using the gear shift between her knees.
They pulled out of the parking lot. "Take a left at the stoplight," said Lisa. They were the only car on the road.
"I need to check on my family," said Speedy. "And somebody has to tell Kaveh's sister."
"That's important," said Lisa, "but we need to make a quick stop on the way." Pine Street Shopping Center was less than a mile away, and the pharmacy would close in just over an hour.
"Why?" said Speedy.
She didn't want to fight about it. She said, "The gun store on Pine Street."
"We already--" Speedy stopped at the red light. There was a police roadblock in front of them, three cop cars in the intersection with their lights spinning silently. The cops were gone, leaving only bloodstains and bits of flesh and uniform. The sawhorse signs instructing people to keep back were knocked to the ground and broken. Nobody said anything, but Speedy drove between the cars and took a left towards Pine.
They drove for blocks without seeing another human being. Helen tried to break the silence. "Where is everyone?" Lisa didn't have an answer.
Speedy took a right onto Pine Street and slammed on the brakes. There were more than a hundred zombies in the parking lot of the strip mall, roaming from store to store.
Speedy put the truck in reverse and backed away slowly.
Lisa could see the lights on in the pharmacy. "Wait. I can't go without my medication," she said. She was afraid the other two would freak out when they heard that. She took a deep breath and got ready to explain, but she couldn't do it. She couldn't bring herself to tell them about her epilepsy, that she'd been taking anticonvulsants for years to keep the seizures under control and antidepressants to control the side effects of the anticonvulsants. Between the two of them, she'd been able to keep it all secret, and she hadn't had an attack in years. Now that assurance was gone, and she was truly frightened.
Coming up, Chapter Four - Cranial Culinary Academy
