Posts
10/17/2010 (for 10/16/10)
The Good, The Bad and The Writing
The Good
Woke up at 7am after drinking until... you know, I have no idea what time we left our friends' house Friday night or Saturday morning. No hangover though. I love my metabolism. Oh wait, I know why I had no hangover. I woke up still drunk. So I commenced drinking water. Showered and dressed and out the door we went. We stopped at Chachos for some breakfast tacos. Why do I always order more than I can (or should) actually eat? The world may never know. One ham and egg, one loco (chorizo, egg, beans, cheese), one bacon and egg, and one bean and cheese. I didn't like the Loco this time. It was too bland so I only ate half of it. Saved the bean and cheese for the road as well. Off we went. I sat in the back seat and Mrs. My Little Demon drove. It was teaching time for me. Time to work on math with the boy while we drove to Arlington to watch the Rangers play the Yankees.
Math accomplished, I climbed back into the front seat. Shortly thereafter the Mrs. turns down the radio and says, "I hate to ask this, but did you bring the tickets?" Ever experienced that sinking feeling of dude, how many times am I going to make this same damn mistake? Well, for the third time in my life I had to admit to forgetting the tickets for the event at home on the fridge. And since we were already 242 miles into the road trip we had to come up with an alternate plan. The boy and I both came up with the public library. Since the tickets were e-tickets and sitting in my email, I could access them and print them out from a public computer.
So we found the closest public library to the stadium and did just that. Woohoo. And bonus, now I have an Arlington Public Library card. Why is that a bonus? I have no idea.
Off to the game we go which was literally 1.8 miles from the library. Sweet. The first playoff game I have ever been to. Twas awesome. I loved the sense of importance to the crowd. I've been to well over 200 baseball games and the closest to this that I've ever experienced was during a pennant race. But even this was a step up from that. Needless to say, the Rangers won 7-2. Then it was time for the 5 hour drive back to San Antonio. We didn't get into our bed until 2:45am. almost 20 hours after we got out of it the morning before.
All in all, a great day.
The Bad
No writing because of the long day. I was doubly disappointed in myself for missing two days in a row. But I am attempting to make up for it today.
The Writing
Sunday September 16, 2012 4:30am
If the circumstances weren't so fucked up I would be writing this with quite a bit excitement right now. Jess is asleep in my bed next to me. I told her I wouldn't sleep until she got up in a few hours. This has really turned into a nightmare. We are essentially barricaded in my apartment. And I don't know what the fuck is going on outside. Let me go back a bit.
I passed out around midnight. Jessica called around 1:30am. She was frantic (ha found a new word). It took me a minute to figure out who it was that was screaming at me though the phone. Something about men trying to get in and the police not answering. I told her to calm down and tell me what was happening. She said there were some people trying to get into her apartment. She used the word zombies. That shocked me awake in a hurry. Hundreds dying, and now zombies? I couldn't bring myself to believe it. An event that I had joked about for the better part of my adult life...? There could be no way it was actually happening. I got her to tell me that her place was locked and that she was locked in the back bedroom. I got directions from her and told her that I would stay on the phone the entire way over to get her. Best laid plans right?
Well, it turns out that the word she used was indeed correct. All those that had died? Yeah, they were up and walking around now. They are pretty slow moving. Thank God (or whoever) for that small miracle. I had grabbed my softball bat before leaving the apartment and I went out into the dark. I gotta tell you that when faced with this event, no amount of disaster preparedness is enough. There were "people" walking around inside my apartment complex. Inside the gate. Shrouded in shadows I sensed movement from every direction. Luckily, I parked close to my front door and there were none of the (are they really dead?) between the door and the car (my Pathfinder). Jess was either calmer or she was going into shock. I got into my car and locked all the doors with the push of one button. I turned the key and slammed the gear into reverse without pausing. I hit the gas and back up 15 feet and threw it into drive and sped through the complex avoiding the shambling figures as I went. I got to the exit gate and stopped while the sensor detected me and slowly opened the gate. The other side of the gate was illuminated by my headlights and the way was clear. To my right however, I could see the apartment manager shuffling toward me. At the rate he was moving, I would be out of the gate and it would be closed behind me before he got to where I was.
Thud, went the hand on my window to the left. I about pissed myself. I let out a girlie scream and depressed the gas pedal hard and shot out of the complex. My passenger side mirror clipped the gate on my way through and now it is hanging by a bit of electrical wire.
My scream apparently jarred something in Jess, as she began to barrage me with questions and panicked exclamations again. I spent the entire drive to her apartment trying to calm her down again. Her complex wasn't gated. I had been planning to go in and calm her down and maybe just hang out there for the night until we figured out what the fuck was going on. I immediately changed my mind. Many factors led to this change. First was the gated community issue. I needed to feel safe until I came up with a plan. Bars and a gate seemed like a good start. My apartment was in a suburb and hers was downtown close to the hospital. 2+2 still equals 4 in my book and I don't want to be anywhere near a morgue if in fact this turns out to be Z-Day. This became a rescue and extract mission. I tried to get all of this across to Jessica en route, but she didn't seem all that responsive to the idea of leaving her home.
When I got to her place it was worse than I had feared. They were everywhere. And to top it off I heard breaking glass through the phone followed by Jess screaming that they were getting into her living room. I told her to calm down and try to be quiet until I got to her. The only good thing about this whole scenario was the fact that she lived on the bottom floor at the front of the complex. Good and bad I suppose. Good that I didn't have to spend much time finding it, and bad that it was stop number one for "them".
I pulled into the parking lot and saw where her apartment was and saw about 20 of "them" in front of her window pushing their way in. A couple of them fell over forward because they didn't have the wherewithal to step over the sill. Ok, we had intelligence going for us then. Great. My headlights lit them up and they took notice. Almost as one, they all turned and started shambling toward my SUV. I told Jess to be ready. And when I honked my horn from right outside her living room, to come running. She was frantic, and I had a hard time convincing her to agree to this. In the end, she agreed and I had an idea. I explained it to her and sat in my idling vehicle as the zombies made their slow way toward me. I could feel my heart racing in my chest. I'm sure it would have exploded right out if I had another thud on my window. This time I kept an eye out both side windows and in my rear view. Watching the zombies (okay, I fucking said it, they are zombies) shamble closer. I counted down into the phone from ten to one. While doing this I primed my nerves for what was next. When I got to one, I slammed down on the gas and shot forward. The first zombie went down without flinching as I approached and hit it with the front end of my car. And the next did the same. Several glanced off to either side and I hit the curb and bounced up onto the grass. I almost lost control of her then and had to take my foot off the gas. I slowed and bounced over a few more of them and slammed my foot down on the brake and skidded to a halt about two yards from Jess' broken living room window. At the same time I laid on the horn and screamed into the phone for her to get out here NOW!!!
I expected this part to be more difficult. She apparently hadn't waited for the horn. She was out the window and reaching for the passenger handle mere seconds after I stopped. I threw the phone down when i saw her.
"Get IN Jess!!! GET IN!" I screamed at her as she tried the handle and tried to look every direction at once.
"I can't!", she screamed back at me. "IT'S LOCKED!"
"FUCK!", I reached for the button and the door unlocked and flew open at once. She jumped in with one last look behind the vehicle. She screamed and slammed the door shut behind her.
"You asshole! Get us out of here! GO!" and she slapped me in the shoulder.
All of this didn't really register at the time. I was already putting the car in reverse and backing up as fast as I could. A few zombies went under in the process and we got out of there.
There was no one on the road. No vehicles at least. Was I really the only one stupid enough to go out? Probably. Over active sense of chivalry. That was the last time. We got back here quickly and into the gate easily enough. There were more zeds out and about but not nearly as many as at Jess'. I pulled my car all the way up to my front door. Fuck parking places now. I didn't have to use the bat at all. We got in the front door and went up the stairs to the left into my living room. I have never been happier in my life to not live on the bottom floor.
Now, I have a sleeping beauty, pun intended, in bed next to me and an uncertain future ahead of me (us?).
Fuck, best not to think like that. No more chivalry.
Stay scared my friends,
My Little Demon
myltldmn@gmail.com
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