EYEHEARTZOMBIES

The knob turned easily. The door wasn’t locked and the knob was new enough to not stick. The first inch of opened door didn’t show anything, it was too dark. Virginia held the flashlight with its weak beam in her right hand and she moved it so it’d shine into the dark restroom as she was opening the door. Another inch and another still showed nothing. At six inches, she could see her flashlight dimly reflecting from the mirror above the sink, and a dull shine off of the white porcelain sink. The room glowed slightly from the light and she could see a black shape beginning to be sihloutted from the backsplash of light.

Steeling herself, Virginia yanked the door all the way open and gasped. Jeb sat on the toilet, slumped over. He hadn’t been using the bathroom, at least not when he ended up like this. He seemed to be dead or unconcious, and a slight trickle of blood from his bald head seemed to indicate the latter. He was sitting on the closed toilet lid, his arms at his side and his head laid back over the top of the tank. His eyes were closed and his mouth open, his tongue lolling out to the side. “J — Jeb?” He didn’t stir or move or blink or anything. Virginia took a deep breath and pushed the door open to rest against the basement wall.

She stepped into the little bathroom, filling up the rest of the room. “Jeb?” she asked again, this time tapping him on the shoulder with her left hand. He still didn’t move. Well, what could she do? She turned around and ran a little cold water into her hand and threw it into his face. With her now-cold hand, she rubbed his forhead and washed off a bit of the blood. It was a small cut. A quick scan of the room with the waning flashlight showed that there was a bit of blood on the side of the mirror-faced medicine cabinet. He must have hit his head when the power went out and knocked himself for a loop.

She splashed a bit more water on Jeb. It always worked in the old movies and cartoons. She stirred a little and groaned. Holy cow! She’d never expected it to actually work! “Jeb? Jeb, honey? Can you hear me?” She leaned in close to him. He was definitely breathing. She took one wrist in her hand and felt the pulse. Strong and steady. Thank Jesus, he wasn’t one of them… creatures. She pulled a couple of paper towels off the roll and wet them in the sink. A quick squeeze to get rid of the extra moisture and she laid it gently on his forehead. His eyelids flickered.

“Jeb? Jeb, you need to wake up. The power’s out and we got a bad situation on our hands.” He didn’t move, but his eyes fluttered again. “Jebediah!” she called loudly to him, all whispering and polite calling gone away. He needed to wake up NOW! She could deal with being alone, but she didn’t want to be now that she knew someone else was here. He would wake up and he would wake up now! And his presence, just his being there, would make her feel better. She shook him, gently at first.

A few hard shakes and he started to come around. His hand came to his head and found the wet paper towel. His eyes opened and he saw Virginia’s face in the dim bathroom. He moaned again and closed his eyes, his hand pressing the wet paper down onto his forhead harder, water running out of it and dripping down the sides of his head. “What happened?” His voice was thick and sleepy sounding.

“Jeb, we gotta get upstairs. Come on, honey, can you sit up?” Virginia tried to help him up with a hand on his shoulder but he shook his head.

“Not just yet, Ginny. Gimme a minute. Why’s it so dark down here?” His eyes were still closed, but voice was clearing up. “Did something happen to the lights, Ginny?”

“Yeah, something happened. The storm blew out the power, Jeb. All over the city from what I hear. Come on, Jeb, try to sit up for me. Sit up so you can come back upstairs with me. I needs some comp’ny up there.” When she was stressed, her childhood country really started to come out. She put another hand on his shoulder and he let her help him sit up straight. “The power’s out and it looks like you knocked yourself silly on the med’cine cab’net. Something else’s come up, too, but I don’ wanna talk ’bout it ’til we gets ourselves upstairs. Think you can stand up and walk?”

“Jesus, woman, lemme be for a bit. I DID knock myself silly on that mirror door there. Last thing I remember was the lights flickering. I turned to see what was goin’ on and smacked into that edge. Damn bit o’ pain, too, I tells ya. Lucky I didn’t crack my gourd open on the toilet, too. Damn lucky.” He had opened his eyes and they shined white in his dark face. “What’s this ’something else’ you’s talkin’ about?”

“I — I don’t want to talk ’bout it down here. You just sit there ’til you feel good enough to walk up them stairs with me and then I’ll tell you all about it. I’ll show you, too!” She had been hunched over him like a mother hen and now she stood up straight. Imagine, her, mothering him when he was easily twenty years her senior. Thirty! Jeb wasn’t an old, old man, but he was easily sixty-five or seventy years old. Still strong as an ox, though.

“Alright, alright.” He stood up, a little wobbly, but he caught himself against the sink. “Let me get my feet back under me, then we can go see this news of yours. Glad you woke me up, Ginny. ‘Twas having a horrible dream. Jus’ horrible.” He shook his head and wiped his face with the wet towel. He threw it into the basket next to the toilet. “Can I see your light, there?” She handed him the flashlight and he shined it on his head so he could see the cut in the mirror.

“Ah, I’ll live. Just a little cut. Already done bleedin’.” He handed the flashlight back to Virginia with a muttered “thank ye” and turned to face the door. “You ready?”

She looked at him a moment longer. “What was your dream about, Jeb?” She stepped backward out of the bathroom and turned toward the stairs leading up. He stepped out right behind her.

“I don’t remember much of it. I just know I was running from people in them paper gowns. You know? Like them ones they give you in the hospital. The ones that always shows your ass to the world. These people were all wearin’ those and chasing me all ’round town. I think they caught me at one point, or near enough so.”

“Yeah, I heard you moan. That’s how I knew you were in there.” Virginia looked at him. She hadn’t seen any of those creatures running around in paper gowns. Yet.

“I bet I was moanin’ when they caught me. I know I was cryin’ and moanin’ in the dream. Ain’t nothing never scared me so bad. They was bitin’ and scratchin’ at me.” He shuddered in the dark. “Thanks again, Ginny, for wakin’ me up.” They started walking toward the steps, she was still holding the flashlight.

“While we’re down here, Jeb, you know of anywhere I can find some batteries for this here flashlight?” She shook it and the beam brightened for a second.

“Heh, nope. I was jus’ thinkin’ ’bout that myself. I don’t think I got any batteries that’ll fit that thing down here. Maybe up in the circ’lation desk. But your guess’d be as good as mine on that one.” He shrugged. “I could run to a store or something. My bicycle is chained up in the back like usual, ‘less some hooligan done made off with it.”

“No. No, I don’t think the power’ll be out that much longer. I’ll just put them on a note for the next time someone goes shopping for supplies. Be good to get another flashlight and some candles, too. Just in case the power goes out again.” He nodded. They reached the stairs and started up, Viginia leading. The library was still silent with just the wind and rain chiming in occasionally.

“OK, Ginny, here we are. What’s goin’ on that you didn’t want to tell me about in the — ” his eyes had seen the two pools of blood on the floor. “What happened here? Are you alright, Ginny?” He turned toward her, his eyes wide with worry. She nodded quickly.

“Yeah. Yeah, I’m alright. Come sit over here with me.” She led him to the reading area and they sat at the first table, which was out in the open where it was relatively light.

“I don’t know all the details, of course,” she started, “but the first thing I know about it was a little girl got hit by a taxi.” She continued to tell him about Seth and Elijah bringing her — Naomi — in, the power going out, and Seth trying to get the police on the phone. “They said they was all tied up, but when he keep repeating it was an emergency, that the girl was dyin’, they said they’d send someone when they could.”

“So the girl was alive?”

“At that point, yeah. Anyway, he got ahold of ‘em on the phone downstairs. You musta been out too cold to make any noise or I’m sure he woulda found you and brought you up. Maybe it’s a good thing he did, though.”

“What do you mean?” Jeb’s forehead was creased with worry.

“No, I’m getting off my story. Let me get back to where I was. We all kind of sat around until the amb’lance arrived. No, wait, Seth and Ruth, the girl I told you about, went outside for a minute. They found the little girl’s purse. That’s how we know her name was Naomi. She died while Seth was down talkin’ to the police, too. That really messed him up.” Viginia told him about the ambulance arriving. “Then it got really bad, Jeb.” Her eyes were wide and her hands started to shake on the table.

Jeb put both of his hands over hers. “It’s alright, Ginny. You don’t have to tell me ’bout it.”

“Yes, I do. It — it changes the whole world, Jeb. You gotta know or — or I dunno what might happen to ya.” Tears formed in her eyes but she wiped them away with the back of one hand. She took a deep breath and jumped back into the story. “The little girl, Naomi, she — she wasn’t dead. Or she came back to life. That’s what I think really happened. She came back and she attacked one of the paramedics. The woman. She attacked her and bit her and — and I don’t know what else. I hid behind the desk. Oh, Jesus, I’m sorry I did. I should have tried to help the woman, but I hid.” The tears came again and shew as powerless to stop them. They ran down her cheeks and fell onto the polished table. Jeb patted her hands and shushed at her.

“It’s alright, Ginny. It’s alright. If she came back, then that ain’t natural and ‘t’weren’t nothing you could do about it. You did good to hide. You did good, Ginny.” She nodded her head, her body hiccuping slightly with tears. She was trying to hold it together so she could finish the story.

“They — they killed her. Elijah got bit by her on the leg. The paramedic sewed him up afterwards, though. The lady paramedic. She died, too.” She looked up, tears making her eyes shine in the filtered sunlight. She stared straight into Jeb’s eyes and said “And she came back, too.”

Jeb didn’t blink or flinch. He just looked at Ginny. “She did?”

“Oh, you don’t believe me! I can tell!” The tears came again, not at the stress of the situation or sadness at the loss of lives in her library, but at the fact that he didn’t believe her. He probably thought she was crazy, that she’d cracked from the little girl’s death. “I’m not crazy! Jeb, I’m not!” She was nearly screaming at him, convinced that her volume would make him belive.

“I don’t think you’re crazy, Ginny,” he said, quietly. She could tell he was just trying to quiet her. “It’s been a stressful day, Ginny. Maybe you should close the library and go home to bed. I’ll clean up the blood, don’t you worry about it. I’ll — ” Something crashed against the front doors. The clang echoed through the stacks of books.

They both jumped and looked at the front doors. A few seconds passed and another loud bang came from the doors. Virginia jumped to her feet and started toward the door, fumbling with the keys in her pockets. “Ginny!” Jeb called from the table, half-standing on impulse when she had jumped up. “Ginny, what are you doing?”

“There might be someone hurt out there. I gotta see. You don’t know what’s going on! It might be Seth.” She had reached the door and pulled them open to go out into the foyer. Jeb came around the table and jogged toward the doors. He reached the foyer just as she was unlocking the front doors. The heavy wooden doors were supposed to swing out, but the one on the left wouldn’t budge. Virginia pushed the right door open and gasped, holding a hand to her mouth. Jeb joined her at the door.

An overweight white man was slumped against the other door. He was dressed in business clothes, a white shirt and tie. At least the shirt used to be white. It was splotched with red and pink now with clear bits where the white cloth had stuck to his skin. His head was bloody and it looked like his ear was missing. There was so much blood, though, it was hard to tell.

“Bob,” Virginia said, quietly. She turned and saw Jeb standing behind her. “Help me get him inside.” She went out onto the porch and Jeb followed. They grabbed the man by his shoulders and knees and half-carried, half-drug him into the library. They set him down on the tiled floor and the rain water ran off of him, out of his clothes, joining the blood already pooled on the floor.

“He was here earlier,” Virginia said once they had him in and the doors locked again. “He just disappeared at one point. I guess he went out.” She knelt on the floor beside him. “I wonder what happened to him?”

“Well, don’t touch him!” Jeb’s exclamation caused Ginny to pull her hand back. She had been just about to touch Bob on the side of his head, where it was now quite obvious his ear was missing. “OK, I’m… I think I believe you now. Nothing… NORMAL… would do this to a man. What — what did you say those things were?”

“I — I don’t know.” She came over to where Jeb was standing. “They just… the girl came back. Then the paramedic. They just… woke up.” She shuddered and hugged herself. “I don’t think he’s breathing.” She pointed at Bob.

“Yeah, I think you’re right,” Jeb said, squiting at Bob’s body laying on the floor. “If he is, it ain’t very strong.” He squatted down on his haunches next to the body. “If you’re right, and they just came back, then he might, too. He looks pretty tore up and I’d bet my ass it was one of them that did it to him. If the dead girl attacked the paramedic and then she came back, looks to me like that’s a key to it. So maybe we shouldn’t have him in here with us.” He turned back around to look at Virginia. “What do you think?”

Virginia screamed and pointed back over Jeb’s shoulder. Bob’s hand was twitching.