Nothing is Certain Read online

  Nothing Is Certain

  IRS Is Gone, and the Dead Walk

  Shawn McLain Copyright © 2016 Shawn McLain All rights reserved.

  ISBN: 1540436829 ISBN 13: 9781540436825

  A Good Time Spoiled

  The wait had been twenty minutes for a seat on a busy Friday night. The restaurant was not a fancy one but more of a casual dining experience. But for the seventeen-year-old boy who was paying for this date, it was rather extravagant. Tim Powers and Nikki McLaren had been dating for a year now, and this was their special anniversary dinner.

  Tim ’s smile was strained as he tried not to think about the few bills he had in his wallet. The waitress frowned as she handed them their menus and took drink orders. She knew a decent tip was not likely. Nikki glanced over the menu, noting Tim’s discomfort. She knew he wanted this to be special, but she also knew he didn’t really have much money. Trying to pick out the least expensive item on the menu turned out to be some pasta or a sandwich. She decided on a sandwich, as there was less likelihood of getting sauce on her shirt that way. She had taken more time than usual to look good for tonight and wasn’t about to ruin it with red sauce.

  Smiling, she began to look around. The walls were covered with movie and sports memorabilia. There was a bar in the middle of the restaurant that was on a lower level than the rest of the dining area. Their table was right next to the rail overlooking the bar. She wondered why they called it a bar when more people sat eating at it than drinking.

  “More like a lunch counter,” she mumbled.

  “What was that?” Tim asked nervously.

  “ Nothing, just looking around.” She smiled. Further conversation was interrupted by the waitress taking their order. As Tim debated his meal, Nikki returned to her observations. She noticed several families eating at the larger tables. There was what looked like a birthday party for a five-yearold where several young girls were making a lot of noise while a very pale, tired-looking woman tried to keep them in control. Her husband was doing what he could to help while constantly whispering to her. The woman would give a weak smile and wave off his concerns.

  Nikki watched the family until Tim recalled her attention by finally making a decision. With the ordering out of the way, Nikki gave her full attention back to her boyfriend. As they began to talk, she forgot about the other people around them. They talked about school and where they wanted to go for college. Tim was hinting about living arrangements after graduation, but Nikki breezed over it. She really liked Tim, maybe even loved him, but she was young and not ready for that kind of commitment.

  She noticed the disappointment in Tim ’s eyes, but he rallied quickly. He cast around for things to say until he noticed a drunk at the bar. The man was slumped over, and the bartender was shaking him by the shoulder, trying to talk to him. The drunk would move his head and shoulders barely off the bar. Nikki watched as the bartender leaned in close. The drunk seemed to be trying to talk to him.

  “Wow! That dude is seriously hammered!” Tim laughed.

  Nikki looked over again. She cringed as the drunk was being urged to his feet by a middle-aged waitress and someone who appeared to be the manager. “I just hope he doesn’t…ooooohhhhhh!” Nikki cried and covered her eyes as the man began to throw up on the waitress’s shoes. She cried out, letting the man go in disgust. He crumpled to the floor, apparently unconscious. Several people were now craning their necks to see what was going on. The manager was angrily whispering to the bartender as another waitress hovered over the downed man.

  Nikki felt bad for the birthday party, thinking the young girl would be upset. She glanced across the bar to the party table. No one there seemed to notice what was going on. Nikki gasped as she watched the harried mother fall over, convulsing. “Oh my God!” she exclaimed while rising to her feet and pointing at the woman.

  Tim turned in his seat to see what she was pointing at. Several patrons had rushed to help in both areas. Tim was watching the bar when, without warning, the drunk stood up. He swayed for a moment and then lunged at the waitress who was trying to steady him. She screamed as he bit into her shoulder.

  “Oh, here we go—afight!” Tim exclaimed grumpily. “Maybe we should…”

  The bartender had jumped over the bar to help the waitress. He screamed as the drunk bit hard into his arm. Blood blossomed over his white dress shirt. A man jumped forward and grabbed the drunk around the neck, pulling him off the bleeding man. Next moment, the Good Samaritan was also screaming in agony as he, too, was bitten. Blood poured from a wound on his cheek.

  “Oh God! He’s chewing on it!” Tim cried, jumping to his feet.

  Screams erupted across the room. Everywhere Nikki looked, she saw panic. She was watching through a tunnel as her attention focused to the birthday party. Everything around her seemed to go into slow motion. The woman who had fallen ill was now in a seated position on the floor. She was holding the arm of a struggling little girl and chewing on the little girl’s severed fingers, letting the bones fall from her mouth as the young girl screamed. The woman’s husband was trying desperately to pull the girl free as the other children ran in terror. Time seemed to go from slow motion to regular to fastforward as Nikki took in the entire scene.

  The bartender lay on the floor, a pool of blood spreading around his fallen body. Several people had now run for the door. Nikki watched, frozen in her place. Another woman was now pulling on the little girl, trying to help; this went unnoticed by the one happily munching on the little girl’s hand. The man heaved, and the little girl flew to him. Blood sprayed across a Dracula poster from the empty shoulder, her arm still back with the blood-soaked woman on the floor. The waitress, shirt covered in her own blood, turned, with ragged flesh hanging from her mouth as she searched for the meal that was taken from her. The girl’s screams were drowned out by all those screaming around her. The man tried to stem the flow that kept spraying from the torn shoulder. The feasting woman looked down at the severed limb. A look of anger crossed her face, and she dropped it. The little girl went limp in the man’s arms. The woman was on her feet, grabbing at the people running past her. The bartender was now on his feet. Blood dripped down his chin as he bit into the waitress with vomit on her shoes.

  Chaos reigned. The exit door was now crammed with people trying to escape. Tables crashed to the ground, sending plates, glasses, and food clattering to the floor. Chairs that were flung aside by fleeing patrons tripped up those scrambling for the exits. Nikki’s chair collided with her knees, sending her crashing painfully into the table as the large woman behind her jumped to her feet. Hands grabbed her, pulling her off the table. Nikki screamed in terror and pain as her legs became tangled in her fallen chair. She felt as if her own arm was being torn off by a large man with a wild beard. As she regained her feet, the burly man yelled something and thrust her into another set of arms. She calmed slightly at seeing Tim. He was holding her roughly around the waist, pushing her with the rest of the crowd toward the exit. All breath was forced from her when the bearded man yanked both her and Tim back. The bartender, the waitress, the drunk, and many others were now attacking the plug of people at the exit.

  A window shattered behind them. Tim ’s grip failed him, as the huge arms were around Nikki again. She was pushed along with the throng toward the newly opened escape portal. She craned her neck and saw what looked like Tim running across the bar toward the takeout-order door. The woman from the party lunged at him, but Nikki couldn’t see what happened next. She was off her feet. The beard was in her eyes as the man picked her up and threw her out the window, a thorny bush cushioning her fall. His huge feet landed on the ground next to her, and he grabbed her arm and pulled her away from the building just in time to avoid being trample
d by the flood of bodies scrambling out.

  “No! No! No! I have to find my boyfriend!” Nikki screamed, tugging her arm free of her savior.

  “Come on, girl, we have to get out of here!” exclaimed the huge man. Blood ran down his arm from a long gash. He stutter-stepped, backing up.

  “I have to find Tim!” she cried.

  The man held out his hands, gave her an imploring look, and then ran off to the parking lot. Tires squealed and screams rang as Nikki stood on the sidewalk being jostled as people ran by. Finally she ran toward where Tim had parked.

  A man was running across the lot as a truck barreled around the corner. It slammed into the man, sending him flying through the air. Nikki watched, transfixed, as the man gracefully arced through the air, his arms and legs out like a huge jack, spinning end over end. Then, with a horrid crunch audible over the screams, he hit the ground. Nikki stood staring as the sight sank in. The truck hadn’t even slowed. Slowly there was a twitch. The man raised his head and half of his body. The other half, turned at an impossible angle, stayed still on the bloody pavement. He reached out a hand with broken fingers toward her. His bloody face held no sign of distress. The hand he held out was not pleading for help. His mouth opened, showing broken, red-stained teeth. His eyes wanted her; this man wanted to kill her. She felt it in her soul as she stared back into those blank, hungry eyes.

  That was all it took; she was running now. Sounds were assaulting her ears. Sirens blared, tires screeched, and people screamed. Several times she staggered as someone ran into her, and once she was knocked into the street. She had nearly been killed by a minivan that ended up embedded in a storefront. Nikki was several blocks from the restaurant now. She cowered in a doorway, trying to ascertain where she was. She recognized the street. That was the coffee shop where she would go with Tim, and there was the crappy theater no one ever went to. She was in Glendale, not far from school. She knew where to go: one street over. She ran down an alley and across the road to the Stop-In Mart convenience store. The lights were on! Nikki ran to the door. Yanking it open, she ducked inside. Her friend Tonya was behind the counter.

  “Nikki! What the hell is going on? My parents keep calling me to come home,” Tonya demanded when Nikki slammed through the door. “And what the hell happened to you?”

  The fluorescent lights dazzled her eyes. Bending over to catch her breath, Nikki could see that the hard work she had put into getting ready for the anniversary dinner had been demolished. Her shirt was damp with sweat; what had been a pretty light blue was now filthy with blood and dirt. She wasn’t sure if it was hers or from the man who saved her. She felt guilty for not thanking him. The dirt was from the bushes and the several times she had been knocked to the ground. Her jeans, torn and stained, and her knees, bruised and bloodied, bore witness to that fact.

  Tonya had come out from behind the counter and was holding Nikki by the shoulders. “What the hell is going on? The radio is saying riots or something,” Tonya demanded, shaking Nikki slightly. Suddenly Tonya looked around behind Nikki. “Where is Tim?” she whispered.

  “I don’t know,” Nikki said, choking up. “We got separated.” Nikki then told Tonya everything that had happened.

  Both girls jumped as Tonya’s phone rang. She answered and listened. Nikki could hear Tonya’s father order her home. Nikki rummaged through her pockets but couldn’t find her own phone.

  “I gotta go home,” Tonya explained.

  “Can I get a ride?” Nikki asked hopefully.

  Pink crept up into Tonya’s cheeks. “I’m on my bike. I…I got caught speeding,and Dad took the car privilege away.”

  The phone rang again. Tonya listened for a second and then ran over to the counter. She flipped a couple of switches, plunging the store into darkness except for an emergency light near the back. Nikki heard keys jingling as Tonya hurried to the front. The light from Tonya’s phone went out. “That was my manager; he said to get out and lock up.” Tonya waited at the door.

  Nikki looked at her. “Can I borrow your phone?” she asked while holding out her hand. Tonya looked at the phone and then outside.

  “I really need to go,” Tonya whispered.

  “I’ll get it back to you tomorrow. I promise,” Nikki said, her hand still outstretched.

  “Come on,” Tonya replied while opening the door. “I need to lock up.”

  “I can do that, lock up. Please, I don’t want to be out there walking around.”

  Tonya looked from Nikki’s outstretched hand to her own bike and then back. Keys and phone in hand, Nikki turned the lock and watched her friend ride off. The phone rang, and Nikki answered.

  “Tonya, where the hell are you?” Tonya’s father’s voice boomed through the speaker. “Your mother says the police won’t let her downtown.”

  “She’s on her way home, Mr. Van Wert,” Nikki assured him.

  “Nikki? Is that you? Where are you? Why do you have Tonya’s phone? Is she OK?”

  Nikki told the story again to her friend’s father. It was harder now as she heard more sirens and what she assumed was gunfire. He listened carefully, telling her to call her parents.

  “Let me know the minute someone comes to get you. If I haven’t heard from you in an hour, we will come get you,” he assured her.

  Nikki thanked Mr. Van Wert. She crouched behind the counter, trying to decide her next move. A loud thud against the storefront and a bloody streak across the glass made a decision for her. Nikki crept to the back of the dark, empty store. She dialed her home number, and it rang and rang. She sat and racked her brain, trying to remember Tim’s number. He was always in her contacts list; she never dialed it. She tried several numbers. Finally after several wrong numbers and being screamed at for not being a loved one the person on the other end needed to talk to, she got his voice mail. She begged him to call as soon as possible. She then tried her family again; no answer. She tried Tonya’s family; no answer. She then couldn’t make any calls, as “all the circuits are full,” according to the voice in the phone.

  The hour came and went, and no one came. Then it was two hours. Several people ran by the store, but no one was looking for her. The sun rose to find her still staring out the front window, waiting for someone to help her.

  Worst Day Ever

  “Where is this place?” Ray demanded of his wife.

  “Turn left at the church; then go down a block and then take a right, and it should be the fourth one down,” Krissy informed her father from the back seat.

  “How did you…oh,” he began and then stopped as she held up her iPhone.

  His wife just stared out the window. He placed a hand on her arm. “He knows where we are going. He’ll be OK,” Ray told Jennifer.

  They passed a burning building and a wrecked car. Ray slammed on the brakes, swerving as several people ran out in front of the car. From the back seat, Krissy whimpered and ducked down, not watching as the car passed the group. Voices shouted unintelligible noise at them.

  “It’s OK, sweetie. They were OK.” Jen turned to reassure her daughter.

  “Oh shit!” The car slowed.

  “Ray!” Jen hissed. Ray returned her admonishment with a quick shake of the head.

  “ Krissy, honey, find your dad another way to Uncle Alistair’s place. Just look at your phone, OK?” Jen looked from her husband to the road in front of them. It was blocked. Their way was completely blocked by people slowly moving forward. It was them, the not-OK ones.

  Ray eased the car to a stop, trying to be as calm as possible. His heart pounded painfully against his ribs. He was aware that Krissy was beginning to panic in the back seat, and Jen was clutching the dashboard, white-knuckled. He put the car in reverse and began to turn around as quickly as he could, his foot jamming on the brake. A large truck barreled past them.

  Jen watched it as it smashed into the crowd that was blocking the road.

  “Follow him, follow him, follow while we can!” she screamed to her husband. Ray straighten
ed the car out and sped into the other vehicle’s wake.

  “ Close your eyes, Krissy—do it now!” Ray yelled at his daughter. She closed her eyes tight as the tears ran down her face. Hands hit the windows, and legs cracked under the wheels. Jen clutched the seat belt, willing the car forward. Ray held out as long as he could. The horde began to close in, and he let out a scream as they plowed through. Red splotches appeared on the hood and the windshield, and blood and hair stuck in the spider-web crack in the glass. Ray cried out in victory as the street opened up before him. Trembling hands clutching the wheel, he sped down the open road, barely slowing to take the turn by the church.

  “Kyle is gonna meet us, right?” Krissy begged from behind her mother, breaking the woman’s heart just a little more. She had no idea where her son was or how to tell her daughter that.

  Best Day Ever

  “ This is the best day ever!” Kyle shouted, pounding the ceiling of the car in jubilation. The tires squealed as he took a corner. A woman screamed as he came within inches of her. “Yeah, whatever!” he shouted out the window. His hand found the dash and clicked on the radio. He tried channel after channel before giving up with a disgusted grunt.

  “ Shut up! Fucking boring-ass news,” he grumbled and reached into the CD carrier next to him. Pulling the album to him, he flipped through the disks. “Crap, crap, double crap. Seriously? Who bought this shit?” he demanded of the interior while throwing the offending disks out the window.

  “ Sweet! Ozzy!” Sliding the disk into the player, he cranked up “Crazy Train” and reached for the handgun on the passenger seat. He slowed as he came to another corner. A man stood there, staring at him. His mouth hung open and slack. They stared at each other for several seconds. The man groaned while he reached out for him. Kyle smiled and pointed the gun at the man. He pulled the trigger, and the weapon jumped in his hand as the man’s head exploded into a crimson spray. The body crumpled to the ground. Kyle pumped his fist.

  “ Yes! Ten more points. Best day ever!” he shouted and grabbed a beer from the back seat. Popping the top of the bottle, he took a long, deep drink. He looked into the rearview mirror. A crowd was starting to descend on him.