Zombie Farm

Hey, Buddy!

The rain was wild.

I couldn't tell you the last time I saw rain like this. It was like something out of one of those end of the world movies. The house shook from thunder, the shutters clattered and the gutters couldn't drain fast enough.

I went to the kitchen, opened the fridge and closed it just as fast, trying to stifle the urge to vomit. Everything was rotten. I let out sigh and moved to the dining room where the phone hung on the wall. I dialed Jeke's Pizza and placed an order for a small supreme pizza to be delivered within the hour. Thin crust, of course.

I sat at the dining room table with my hands folded in my lap and my eyes glued down the hall where the front door was. I could see through a small glass pane and would be able to see the delivery driver when they arrived.

I couldn't put my finger on it but something about all of this felt so damn familiar. Probably because when I was a kid, Nana, Papa and I used to do this all the time. We would sit together in wild storms just like this and tell each other stories with only one or two candles flickering in the middle of the table to set the mood.

One time, unbeknownst to myself, Papa had called my Uncle Benni and told him to hide in the back hallway closet until he gave the signal. Crazy bastard snuck up behind me and grabbed my arms before screaming in my ear. It was a good thing though, that he grabbed my arms. If he hadn't, I probably would have swung a fist at him or something. What a mess that was. I think my scream woke up every animal in the barn that night.

As I sat there reminiscing and thinking back on the wonderful times I had with Nana and Papa growing up, I saw lights flicker through the front door window. I stood quickly and moved to the door so I would be ready to greet the unfortunate soul whom would deliver my delicious Potitos Pizza in the ravenous rain storm.

I opened the door as I heard the footsteps approach and smiled when I saw a familiar face. "Buddy!" I called with delight, letting out a short laugh. "Buddy Mcree! No way!"

The young man looked up at me. He was mid twenties, like me and just finished school, like me. I only knew about him personally because one of our mutual friends had mentioned him to me a few weeks previous. He had long, sandy blonde hair and brown eyes. He was just an average joe in highschool but some time in the gym had served him well that's for sure. He smirked at me. "Get outta here," he called to me, nearly dropping the pizza box when he realized it was me. "Girl, I was just talking to Tommy about you the other day. He said you graduated from Oshkosh, a degree in Farm Tech or something?"

I couldn't help but smile wide this time. "Uh, yeah, that's me," I told him, letting him step in from out of the rain. "Sorry for making you-"

Suddenly, Buddy's demeanor seemed to change and it was as though he wasn't listening to me at all. "Hi Nana, hi Papa!" He called. He had stayd here with us a few times. When they didn't respond, he looked confused. He looked me, dead in the eyes. "Isn't this for your grandparents?"

I waved it off and tried to dismiss it but he insisted. Buddy pulled the pizza away and looked at the side of the box. He smiled the darkest smile I've ever seen. "Oh, duh! I grabbed the wrong pizza. Since I've brought your grandparents pizza every week for a year, I assumed it was there's. I'll just be a second." He turned and ran back into the rain, loaded the pizza back into his car and took a few moments to get the right pie.

When he returned he just pushed the pizza into my arms, mumbled something that sounded like 'call me if you need anything' and turned to leave.  Before I could stop him, the door had closed behind him and he was headed back to his car. I thought about stopping him for a moment but it was too late, he had already sped off down the rain covered driveway.

I let out an exasperated sigh and took the pizza into the kitchen. I set it down on the table and flipped the lid open. Instead of just a pizza, there was a piece paper floating in a puddle of grease that pooled up on top of a layer of cheese. It only had two words written on it but it was enough to make my stomach churn.

Get out!

Suddenly a flash of lightning and a raucous clap of thunder caused the entire house to shake and a moment later the lights went out. I now sat in total darkness, all alone, with my pizza, my thoughts, and anything else my Nana and Papa's farm had to offer. I felt around the table and pulled out a chair and then sat down, allowing my nerves to settle. I took a slice of pizza and then another and ate until I was full.

In the darkness I started hearing things. Things like creaking and scratching and breathing which when I was a child would have terrified me and driven me crying to Nana and Papa. Now, as a college graduate and a young adult, I knew better. My brain slowly decoded each sound.

The scratching, just tree branches swiping the shudders.

The breathing, only the wind sneaking through cracks in the house.

The creaking, well that was simply the house swaying in the tumultuous weather. I was safe here. I felt safe with my memories of Nana and Papa. I hoped they would be well soon and come home by me. I wondered how long they would need treatment. I closed the pizza box and slid it to the other side of the table before standing and beginning to search for anything I could use for a light source. Eventually I found an old kerosene lantern that thankfully had been filled recently. I lit it up and used it to find my way to the back of the house. I knew if the electricity was out in the farmhouse that it was more than likely out in the barn. I figured I would start the backup generator out back and then, set to tending to the animals.

I moved to the back door of the house, the kerosene lamp slowly waving side to side as I reached for the rusted but still working latch. I snapped it over and pushed the door open. The howling winds stopped me for a moment as a burst of humid summer air mixed with pebble sized rain drops pelted against my chest.

My feet seeped onto the waterlogged backyard and mud rose up over the sides of my sneakers. The earth seemed desperate to slow my approach at any cost. A blinding flash of lightning and then a loud Kawhoom of thunder shook me momentarily. I stifled my nerves and held the lantern out again.

The old shed out back didn't look like much but it held so many tools and my Grandpa used to tell me there was no job he didn't have a tool for.

There was a large wooden beam that held the shed shut and as I removed it, as though some mystic force somewhere was watching over me, the two heavy wooden doors slowly creaked open revealing the insides to me. I held out the lantern and saw the big, gas fed generator resting silent at the back of the shed. I hung the lantern inside the doorway, walked to the back, picked up a jerrycan of gasoline and shook it to make sure. Loaded to the brim.

I opened a port on the top of the generator just like I had seen Grandpa do so many times during storms and proceeded to fill the generator. After, I primed the machine by hitting a big, red, flexible rubber button over and over again until I could feel marked resistance. Then, I threw a lever that said ignition and the generator blared to life suddenly.

The lights in the shed came on, the ones in the house followed suit soon after but the barn, that was a different animal entirely. Those lights flickered...rapidly. Grandpa had told me about this. I would need to adjust one of the plugs at the back of the barn to fix the issue. I extinguished my lantern and walked from the shed to a nearby light pole that was no less than 20 feet high with an old incandescent bulb showering the nearby landscape with soft yellow light. I moved quickly, only stopping briefly to wipe the water away from my face before coming to a familiar, double wooden door that I knew all too well.

I grabbed a curved iron latch and lifted it, freeing both sides of the door from its clutches before proceeding to pull the left side open. It swung far out to the left and I could see the flickering light the moment it first moved. Then I heard the sounds of the animals crying and moaning. It was quite terrifying really. But Grandpa had been through this before. In the big storm of '81. Nothing our family hadn't been through, that's for certain.

I entered the barn with a gentle stutter to my step. Honestly, I couldn't tell you why but something felt off. It wasn't until I saw the smeared bloodstain across the back wall of the old barn that it became apparent to me.

***