Calamity (discontinued)

II

Seán stared out the window of his Uber. He didn't have time to lay his eyes on anything for more than a few seconds, as the driver wanted to get the trip over with. 

The driver was an early 30s looking guy, wearing a Huy Fong Sriracha longsleeve and stonewashed jeans. He had a worried face, as if he was just as concerned as Seán was about what was happening. As the car was pulling up to the side of the road where Seán's house was, Seán was already walking out the door to meet the driver. The driver leaned out of the window and said,

"I'm only willing to drive you a few miles, guy."

"I⎯What? You don't understand, I need to get to my friend's house. It's urgent."

"What exactly do you mean by 'urgent'?"

Am I really going to have to explain to this dude why I'm in a hurry? Doesn't he have any idea?

Apparently, the driver didn't. So briefly, Seán explained as the driver shook his head.

"For all you know, Your friend could be dead. And I'm not risking my goddamn life for you to possible waste both our time driving there."

"I'll give you 19 euros."

"What? Why would you waste that?"

"There are better reasons to spend money. My friend's alive, anyway. (They) live on the second story of a 30-story apartment building. (They're) doing just fine."

The driver's eyes narrowed at Seán, then at the money he held in his hand.

"I'll take it, then. Get in."

Now that he thought about it, Seán didn't think they'd get very far. He glanced at the gas symbol on the car's dashboard and the arrow was somewhat in the middle. But it was more on the side closer to the E than the full tank symbol.  Plus, the car was going over 80 mph. Luckily, there was barely anybody on the road.

Nobody on the road⎯in a car driving, at least.

As the car sped through the road Seán could see blurs of people lying on the ground. He saw tattered clothing and splats of blood next to the bodies. The road was obviously already swept through. The majority of the bodies he managed to catch his eye on were sprawled out next to cars with open doors. The doors looked like they were ripped open with aggressive force.

He looked at the GPS at the front seat and saw that there was about 5 more minutes left until he was to get to (Y/N)'s house. Then out of sudden curiosity Seán found himself peering over the front passenger seat to see if the driver had anything there.

Sure enough, on the seat was a bag of Cool Ranch Doritos, along with an M9 and some kind of semi-automatic pistol. Stray bullets laid on the seat next to the guns. On the floor were several cans of Red Bull and a can of Breckenridge gin. Seán winced at the thought of Red Bull and gin being in your body at once. His eye also caught onto the handle of a sledgehammer.

This guy was not one to be messed with.

The driver's eyes flicked to Seán. "Just in case," the man told him.

"I'm sure you'd be able to handle anybody, with all that caffeine you've had." Seán said in reply.

The driver kept his eyes on the road while pulling up his sleeve. "They almost got me, though. I had fallen for her trick." On his forearm were teeth imprints. Around the marks was a faint hue of purple.

"Who's 'her'?"

He paused to take a left turn and continued. "Two weeks ago I was driving home when I saw a woman on the side of the road. She was sitting on her knees, looking straight ahead into the woods. Of course, I was concerned, so I pulled over and got out of the car. I was cautious, so I called out to her instead of touching her immediately. Seemed like the right thing to do. But she didn't answer, instead she stood up and her head started twitching. Then she turned around to face me; she looked horrid. I saw the gash on her cheek. It was an obvious bite mark."

The car stopped in front of (Y/N)'s apartment building.

The driver pulled down his sleeve. "Out of nowhere another woman-zombie who looked like she had lost the plot lunged out to me. She was growling. I, on the other hand, was flailing around and trying to hit 'er. The zombie grabbed onto my arm, and just as she was about to sink her teeth in, I used my other arm to elbow her face. It stunned her for a bit and I just took off."

Seán chuckled as he unclicked his seatbelt. "Yeah, a gun would've been useful there."

"Sure would. Stay safe out there, man⎯you don't need to give me anything."

Seán had been adding money to his fee on Apple Pay. "But I already had you drive all the way out here and⎯"

"It's fine. Those extra euros were enough. Besides, it's the apocalypse. There are better reasons to spend your money."

"Well, thanks..."

"Leo."

"Thanks for the ride, Leo." Seán said as he opened the car door. He shut it and raised a hand as a wave to Leo and turned to face the building.

Seán walked inside through the automatic doors and looked for the directory. The last time he was here was about 3 months ago to help (Y/N) move in.

The directory said that (Y/N)'s apartment, 116, would be on the first floor. Technically, as (Y/N) stated once, the entrance was the first floor. But for some reason the people in charge made the (technically) second floor the first floor. 

Seán walked to the elevator and stepped inside. He heard the faint non-lyrical indie music in it, just like it always played. He wished they would play a variety of music.

He felt the elevator jerk to its stop, and as the door opened he rushed out of the elevator to the right.

"1-1-6...1-1-6..1-1..oh. To the left," Seán muttered to himself.

He walked sideways-ish to 115, then turned around to 116. He knocked on the door.

The door opened and Seán saw (Y/N) looking back at him, a tight-lipped grin on (their) face.

"Sup broski." (they) greeted. (Y/N) reached a hand in the Goldfish bag (they) were holding and stuffed the crackers in (their) mouth. (They) chewed slowly as Seán put his hand in the bag and ate the orange fishes. 

"Why don't you come inside, there are zombies running around. You wanted to see me?"

"Yeah," Seán answered. He walked in and closed the door behind him.

"Do you have a gun?" he asked. (Y/N) raised (their) eyebrow.

"I had one. Until they took it away. I couldn't have a firearm if I wanted to live here. But I have a switch that they never found."

"That's fine, we can pick them up if we look around."

"Why do you ask?" (They) put the Goldfish bag on a coffee table and put (their) hands in (their) pockets.

"I'll explain later. Just get a backpack and put some stuff in there. We'll stop by my house afterwards.

"What, are we going on a hike?"

"More like a road trip. A dangerous one."