Darkest Days

The beginning of the end started at the end of 2022. We had just finished Christmas dinner with the family when a news report came on that had my husband and I catching each other’s eye. Someone in China had been attacked on a commuter train and had his face eaten off while his fellow commuters had watched in horror, doing nothing. It was similar to what had happened in Miami only a few years before, but still, it didn’t sit well with us.

I looked at my father-in-law, my aunt, and the rest of the family that was there. Our son, only 15, had spent most of his life going with us up to Maine. We told him it was my family’s old vacation spot, until he turned 13. Then we told him the truth and started teaching him. None of the rest of the family knew we had a compound in the deep woods of Northern Maine, only that we had a small cabin in what my sister-in-law liked to refer to as King Land, after Maine’s native son, Stephen King.

We had to get them all up there somehow, before it all fell apart. We had to explain to them what we had, and that it was time to go.

Matt pulled me aside in the kitchen after everyone had adjourned into the living room to play a board game.

“What do you think?” He whispered, his gaze intent on mine.

“I don’t know. Miami was a false alarm, maybe this is too?” I replied, my hands deep in dishwater.

“Something isn’t right about this one though. The stench, the viciousness, the fact that this guy didn’t say a word, just moaned and attacked.”

“I know Matt, but we can’t base it on one isolated incident. You know the family won’t go based on that alone.”

He looked pensive, his serious look. I knew he was worried about his family. His father was ill with diabetes and heart disease and his aunt had M.S. It would be a major undertaking to get him up to Maine if we had to go during a full outbreak, but hale and hearty as he was, he would refuse to leave his home in Florida without a good reason.

I had no family to worry about except our son and Matt, and I was confidant we would make it. Matt’s family argued over what vegetable to have for dinner. We needed just a little more time to plan how to get them up there.

“Let’s just keep our eyes and ears open, and the SUV packed.” I suggested, reaching out with a hand full of soap bubbles and booping him on the nose with it. A hint of a smile broke through, but serious face came back quick enough.

He nodded absently, then went out to the garage, probably to check the SUV. It had been a cave-in purchase when my car finally died after 8 years. We had finally splurged a little and purchased a new Suburban with a roof rack. Matt, Sean, and I didn’t need to pack anything, but the rest of the family would, as far as mementos would go, so we had a roof carrier for that purpose.

I finished up the dishes and went to the living room to be with the rest of the family on this most joyous of holidays. I hoped Matt would come in soon and stop brooding.

x

Three weeks later, we put the house up for sale.

x

The occurrences of people having their face eaten away, and other parts of them, continued to snowball. The official blame was put on drugs, but we knew better. And others around us started to talk, as well. Chatter at work shifted from what sitcom people were currently watching to uneasy jokes about zombie apocalypses.

Two weeks after we put the house up for sale, it sold. We had thirty days to move out. We debated what to do with our belongings. I wanted to ship photo albums, hard drives, and family mementos to Maine, so we hired a shipping service to take care of that. I flew up to Presque Isle and rented a car for the drive up to our property off of Long Lake.

Once I got to the main house outside of the Compound, I let myself in and waited for the shipping company to drop off our belongings. Most people with “vacation” properties up in this part of Maine had caretakers who took care of this type of tasks for the absent owner’s but we didn’t want anyone to know what we had here. All the locals knew was that the property was bought by a fairly well-to-do family to use as a getaway from the corporate craziness.

Not that we were well-to-do, but the rumor worked well for us. The locals didn’t bother us, and in the event of a world collapse, there wasn’t a huge population to deal with. Plus, not a lot of people knew about the 500 acre hunting compound, so they just knew we had a main house with just over a thousand acres. We should be safe.

Once our stuff was delivered and put in the main house, I took the most pertinent items up to the compound. The rest were left in the large open living room. I let myself into through the steel gates of the compound and drove up the long drive to the first house inside the compound. It was in this house that Matt, Sean, and I would stay, along with my father-in-law and Matt’s aunt. The second house was for Matt’s brother and his family, along with their cousin.

While I was there, I checked the battery banks, the well pump, the power levels, and dropped off the items that had to be in the Compound, including my three hard drives. They contained movies, TV shows, music, banking information, medical records, and any other document that we could think of that may need to be saved. We were leaving five thousand dollars in each of our three accounts, along with a ten thousand dollar CD, just in case the world would be okay, and the rest of the money we had was currently concealed in the hat boxes that the shipping company sent up.

Everything was in working order. I looked around one last time, went back out the gates, which closed behind me, and then I was on my way back to Presque Isle for my flight out. I made a mental note to tell Matt that we should think about coming up for an extended period so we could get the livestock in. I also tried to wrap my brain around the logistics of getting the rest of the family up there with us.

x

“Hey Dad, what do you think about a family trip up to Maine?”

I broached the subject that spring. I was getting very nervous with all the news reports from around the world, and incidences in the US were on the rise. Our time for a safe flight north was coming to an end. The first few cases of what they were calling “Cerebral Failure” started showing up the week before, and it wouldn’t be long before it spread like wildfire.

I had officially quit my job the month before, and had been going up to the property every weekend, bringing in livestock and stocking the fridges and freezers. We didn’t want to start living off our animals and property too early, so we were setting provisions by that would sustain us for a year. I changed sheets, opened windows, and filled water tanks. Matt couldn’t leave his job just yet, so he stayed back in Florida with Sean in the rental apartment.

I had gone over to Dad’s house to bring him some bagels, even though he wasn’t supposed to have them. I wanted to see what he thought of a family “trip”.

“I think it would be good, but I don’t know that Jay or Heather would want to go. Karen might. She’s been dying to see your family’s compound.”

I started a little, almost bobbling the bagels. I knew the word compound was used in jest but it gave me a bit of a start.

“Well, Matt and I were thinking about leaving for it right after school ends.”

The family “vacation” had been Matt’s idea, but I had my reservations. What would we do with them once we got them up there? Surprise, we have an apocalypse-proof compound and we’re not going back to Florida because zombies are about to take over the world? Jay, Matt’s brother, would have an apoplexy and demand to be released from what he would see as a hostage situation.

“That would probably work for everyone all around. You want me to ask Jay and Heather about it?”

“Yeah Dad, that would be great.”

I kept my concerns locked up. Jay wouldn’t go willingly. Heather wouldn’t go without Jay. Jay’s idea of a vacation was going to Tampa to see his high school best friend. The man wouldn’t know how to relax if the opportunity came up and bit him. I didn’t know my thoughts would be prophetic.

X

Three weeks before the end of the school year, everything accelerated. They said it was because of a heat wave that helped spread the disease, but it’s just Murphy’s Law-everything snowballs at the end.

We had never gotten Jay to agree to a vacation in Maine. Matt and I were packing up what little we had from the furnished rental apartment and tying up loose ends in our finances. The Suburban was ready to go with a spare gas tank, a last minute, if ugly, decision. We could go almost 1200 miles without stopping for gas, although that was debatable.

Matt was home with me the day we had to run, and considering all that followed, I was happy we were together. Sean was in school, two miles away. The phone in the house rang, and I stopped building the sandwich that I was making to answer it.

“Hello?”

I didn’t hear anything but the sound of wind on the other end.

“Hello? Who’s calling?” I tried again.

“Oh my god Jess, you need to come!”

Heather’s voice pierced through the phone line. Matt swung around to me, having heard the screech come through the phone. He raised his eyebrow inquisitively.

“Heather, what’s wrong? Is Kaylee okay? Is Jay okay?” Kaylee was their 7 year old daughter, who had been home sick from school the past two days.

“Just get here. I have all the doors locked but they’re trying to get in! Please, hurry!”

“Okay, Heather, listen to me. I am going to hang up and call you from the cell phone, ok?”

I started gathering my purse, keys, anything I could get my hands on. Matt shot through the kitchen and ran into the bedroom, most likely going for his handgun and wallet. I had my 9 mm under the front seat of the SUV, and the rifles were in a bag at the top of our closest. Matt would be grabbing those, no doubt.

“NO! Don’t hang up on me! Jay can’t hold them by himself, and they’re banging the doors and windows! HELP US!!” She was not making sense, but she was obviously terrified.

“Heather, you need to hang up and I will call you RIGHT.BACK. Stay with the phone.” With that, I hung up the phone and unlocked my cell, hitting speed dial. I was out the door and in the SUV just as Matt came out with the bag of rifles.