Contemporary – Page 12 – Gillian's Notebook

Why Are You Doing This?

“I’m sorry what was that?”

“I… er… I’m sorry Supreme Commander I didn’t mean to question you. Please forgive me.”

“I was turned with my bad ear to you. I didn’t hear what you said. Please repeat it.”

“I… I… just asked why you wanted to take over the world?”

“Ah, that is actually a good question. You know know one has ever asked me that. In the past… let’s see I started planning in ’93 but my first attack wasn’t till ’95… twenty-one years, no one has questioned my motives. Do you want to know the truth?

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Lisa’s Story: Zombie Apocalypse – Chapter Five

The next day I headed outside again. This time I took a different route through the neighborhood to avoid the corner store and approach the superstore from the same way I had left yesterday. I was outfitted in much the same way as before, except this time I had a flashlight.

I walked cautiously through the deserted urban setting, bat out and ready, looking for movement and listening for any sound other than birds. Luck was with me and I made it to the superstore without incident. I slid an outer door open, slipped inside, and closed it behind me.

One of the inner doors was open a few inches. Had I left it like that? I thought I had closed it all the way. Maybe I hadn’t. I remember pushing it closed until it stopped moving. Maybe it had snagged on something and not closed all the way and I hadn’t noticed. I pushed against the door and it slid closed easily. So, I had closed it yesterday but today it was partly open. Someone else had been there or might still be there.

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Scenes of a Life

Cynthia hug tackled me from behind as I sat on the college library steps writing. “Hi Melissa,” she said into my ear.

“Hi, Cynthia. You’re early.” I said

“Class got out early,” she said, while laying her body against my back, “Aren’t you supposed to be in class?”

“I skipped,” I said and went back to writing. Cynthia humphed but didn’t say anything else. After a couple of minutes, I moved her arms from my shoulders to around my waist, when it became apparent she wasn’t going anywhere. Not that I really minded. The day had turned from mildly warm to slightly chilly. The long sleeve shirt I was wearing might have been enough, if the chill in the air had not also come with gusting wind that cut right through the t-shirt material. With Cynthia on my back not only was the wind mostly blocked but she also helped warmed me up.

A shadow fell over my notebook. I steeled myself for a verbal assault. Most people just walked past us but every now and then some guy would gawk at us and even rarer was the guy that would call us names. So, I was only a little concerned when I someone stopped in front of us. I looked up at the guy standing below us on the steps but still towering over us and smiled, “Hi, Richard.”

Did You See Something?

“Do you ever look at the ceiling and see stuff in the popcorn?”

“In the what?”

“The bumpy ceiling stuff is called a popcorn ceiling. So do you?”

“Um… no. Do you?”

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Lisa’s Story: Zombie Apocalypse – Chapter Four

Easing the outer doors open enough to squeeze out, I stepped out of the store. I crouched down, baseball bat clenched in both hands at the ready with an eye on the car I thought I had seen movement behind. Staring at the car, I wondered if I could leave without whatever I had, or had not, seen noticing me. Would it be better to make noise and see if anything happened? Should I try to sneak up on the car? My knees began to ache from crouching too long. Another fight with a zombie was not something I wanted. Any action that might lead to a fight was out. That left sneaking away.

First, I had to close the sliding doors to the store. It would be bad if one or more zombies wandered inside. Picking flashlight up off the ground, I clipped it to a belt loop with the attached carbine. Slipping my bat between the duffel and the small of my back, I turned around and pulled the doors shut. The hairs on the back of my neck stood up as I looked away from the parking lot. The doors slid closed easily and I scanned the parking lot again. Still empty. I pulled my bat out and began walking keeping an eye on the car.

Seven Time Machines

It seemed simple enough when she told you how to travel through time. So, simple that a child from four thousand years in the future had done it on a whim. Four thousand years is a long time for advancements to be made but you thought with a few expansions on the tech needed you could do it.

The first time machine prototype’s particle collider was undersized and the necessary expansion of space though the eighth dimension caused it to implode.

Lisa’s Story: Zombie Apocalypse – Chapter Three

I stopped at the highway between Andy’s convenience store and the superstore, aware of how silent the world had become. Tires on pavement, engines purring, growling, or sputtering, music fading in and out, the occasional car horn and yelled curse word. Instead there was only the chirping of birds and rustling leaves. I crossed looking for zombies instead of the erratic drivers that normally made it hazardous to cross.

From the last bit of cover at the edge, I surveyed the parking lot. A few cars had been left behind scattered around the lot but most of it was empty and thankfully zombie free. I hoped it would stay that way until I got inside at least.
The doors were shut and the store beyond dark. I pulled the tire iron out of my bag and stuck it between the doors. I pulled and pushed against the tire iron. The door creaked but remained locked. I looked around again wary of being exposed for so long. I removed the tire iron from between the doors and tried shoving it into the key hole twisting and turning it as much as I could. Several hard turns broke something loose inside and I pulled the lock out of the door. A minute of fiddling with the mechanism and the door unlocked. I looked around the parking lot one more time before slipping inside. I repeated my lock-picking skills on the inner doors.

A Whole World In My Head

“I just need to make a phone call,” I yelled at the uncooperative operator.

“Please deposit ten cents for the first five minutes,” the woman’s voice intoned for the fifth time.

“This isn’t a payphone,” I explained, “It’s a business phone. Please can you connect me to 555-5820 or just let me have a dial-tone.”

“Please insert twenty-five cents or hang up the phone,” she repeated cheerily.

“Please!” I pleaded, “Just give me a dial-tone!”

The phone began to scream a piercing monotone beepbeepbeepbeepbeepbeepbeep–

Lisa’s Story: Zombie Apocalypse – Chapter Two

Half an hour later I was physically and mentally clean of zombie head gore. I dropped my shirt and pants in a trash bag. Before everything went to hell, I would have tried to salvage them. The pants especially, since before I didn’t have many pairs and wasn’t exactly rolling in cash. If things went well on my trip, I wouldn’t have to worry about clothes. If they didn’t, I still wouldn’t need to worry either.

***

I redressed for my first trip out into the new world. T-shirt and jeans for ease of movement. A sports bra in case I had to run. My hair was pulled back into a sporty ponytail. I dug a duffel bag out of the closet and adjusted the strap until it was tight against my back. Baseball bat and pepper spray for protection. From the back of my closet, I pulled out a small tire iron I had kept from my last car and stuck in my the duffel bag, just in case.

Lisa’s Story: Zombie Apocalypse – Chapter One

Prologue

I began to make plans. There was a convenience store a few blocks away that would be a good first stop. Beyond that there was a superstore that had to be overflowing with supplies. But first I had to deal with a problem closer to home.

It had been more than a week, almost two weeks, I had lost track of the days, since my roommate had left to find her father. When I moved into the apartment, my roommate and I had split the cabinet and refrigerator space. Since the power went out, I had eaten all of my perishable food but hadn’t touched hers. Out of obligation to the roommate code I had respected her food rights, even as I piled her mattress against a window. I had believed she would be coming back after finding her father but now I doubted that I would ever hear from her again. I wished I had eaten her food. It was starting to smell.

Lisa’s Story is a story posted weekly about a trans woman trying to survive in a zombie apocalypse. Look for new chapters every Monday.