Sacred Heart ~ and Other Stories From The Zombie Apocalypse

What We Find in The Dark

What We Find In the Dark

June 4th 2022 4am

Bristol Apartments, 3rd Floor

Avro pulled himself from the depths of a black sleep like a man dragged from deep water. Consciousness came with a rhythmic drumming, which he at first thought were gunshots, but after a groggy moment of panic, realized were more likely someone knocking at his front door.

Lifting himself from his drool puddle and blinking blearily at his battery powered alarm clock, he groaned. Four in the morning meant power was still out and he'd only been asleep for an hour. He gritted his teeth and turned over onto his back. Something heavy shifted at the foot of his bed and he flinched, his sleep-fuddled mind already certain that it was a zombie. A familiar snuffle reminded Avro that it was his week to keep Tia. He and his team of three EMTs worked an ambulance out of Sacred Heart hospital, and Tia was their holder dog. She didn't have a proper owner. Technically she was government property, but the government wasn't going to feed her or take her for walks.

Avro reached around in the pitch black until he found Tia's wide, blocky head. He scratched her docked ears and received a sloppy kiss in return. Tia wasn't an alarm dog and apparently that meant she could sleep right through someone knocking at his door.

Avro braced and slid his legs from under his blankets. The knocking hadn't stopped. It paused, presumably to give him time to answer, before picking up again. Avro swatted at his nightstand, bumping his clock and an empty plastic cup. Finally his hand closed around the cool cylinder that was his flashlight. A hefty, industrial light that he took home from work even though he probably wasn't supposed to. He clicked it on as the knocking recommenced. "Coming!" he rasped. Ever since his neighbors had found out he was an EMT Avro had become everyone's favorite helper. That meant being woken up at all hours to come look at twisted ankles or deep scrapes. Mostly he was there to tell people whether they needed to make the dangerous trek to the hospital.

Tia dragged herself from the bed with a grunt and trotted off into his dark living room. Avro followed, carefully picking his way around the clutter of laundry, a stray dumbbell, one of Tia's toys. His right ankle twinged, but he ignored it. Just a little strain he'd earned on his last rescue of the night. He and his team had retrieved a laboring mother in distress and brought her to Sacred Heart. Well worth any soreness now.

The knocking had stopped.

Avro hove through his small kitchen, the cold floor a shock after carpet on his bare feet. He wished he could just switch a light on, but there wouldn't be power until 8am. Keeping Tia back with a leg Avro cracked his door and shone his light out. "Yeah?"

No answer.

He pushed the door further and swept the light cautiously down each hall. He was ready for a zombie to lurch from the dark. Tia's attack command was on the tip of his tongue. His light swept over a small figure walking away to the left. "Darnell?" Avro raised an eyebrow as he recognized the skinny boy in a green, basketball jersey.

Darnell turned, jerking like Avro had grabbed his shoulder, but when he saw the flashlight beam he padded back Avro's way. "Hey Av." Darnell hugged himself and looked shyly up at his neighbor. The kid was only ten and skinny as a twig.

"What's up? Is it your Gradma? Did she run out of oxygen?" Avro swept the hall with his light one more time for safety, then opened his door all the way. Tia slipped past him, docked tail wagging furiously, which meant her whole body wiggled. She wasted no time covering Darnell in sloppy kisses. Avro noted that the kid was still in jeans and shoes rather than pajama bottoms, and frowned. "Darnell?"

The boy seemed to struggle to refocus.

Avro knelt in front of Darnell, unceremoniously running his hands up and down Darnell's arms, sweeping over his shoulders and back. "Are you bit?" Darnell shook his head, but Avro was so busy checking for a bite that it took two head-shakes to make him realize. Avro leaned back, holding Darnell at arms length. "What's going on?"