New Friends

The woman was my height, but considerably thinner and far more athletic. She was Asian. What nationality? Not every person of Asian decent was Chinese. The question would have to wait. She had naturally tanned skin, not the orange glow of sauna or chemical tans. She was young. Maybe in her twenties? Young enough to outrun three men in hoodies. She wore a t-shirt and shorts, both dirty and not a little bloody, and she had no shoes on. Was the blood hers? She didn’t look wounded. There were smeared footprints of mud and blood on the linoleum now. They were roughly feet shaped. She had tracked both in while she fled. What happened to her shoes? She collapsed back onto the stairs heaving. The flight, the panic, was settling. It was washing over her and she had a moment to reflect on her situation.

“We need to get you upstairs. I know you’re scared. I know you have no reason to trust me. But I don’t want to stay down here, and I don’t want to feel bad leaving you down here. Do me a favor okay, don’t make me. I can’t hurt you. I walk slow. You could run circles around me. Just follow me and we’ll get to a safer place.”

She looked up at me with an almost bewildered expression. I know she was probably hoping for the whole “Are you okay?” routine, but what for? I knew she wasn’t. I had helped stop several men from chasing her down. Several men who were still milling about five feet away with only a heavy metal door between us. I could see them pacing. Occasionally they would try the door or pound on the glass. Who’s okay right after being chased by hooligans? It would be a stupid question. Still, it was obvious that she was looking for the trained kind of insipid politeness that had been instilled in modern society.

“We need to get you cleaned up. While the water is running, you can take a shower. Not sure if it’ll be hot. There is probably still warm water in the tank. My clothes are going to be huge on you, but you can swim in them for a while and then we can raid some other apartments for something more suitable. But we can’t do any of that on this stairwell.”

She still didn’t move.

I didn’t help her stand, but I was ready to help if she asked. She needed to feel safe and I didn’t think she would if I started groping her. It seemed to have been a good choice. She stared at me for a bit clearly thinking her position over. I could see it in her eyes. They went from me to the door. The hoodies were still outside. They were laughing and egging each other on and only periodically slamming objects against the door now. I was getting annoyed. If we left the stairway, they might go on their way. If we stayed, they would likely see it as taunting and keep trying to get in. The door was heavy, but they could probably get in eventually if they had the encouragement to keep hitting it with things.

I began making my way up the stairs. If they did get in the building, there was little chance of me getting away. In my apartment, I could shut the door and hide. These idiots probably wouldn’t waste time beating down another door. There would be plenty of open apartments. They would loot and leave. If she was down here maybe they would just take her and go. I was glad to help her, but she had to help herself too. If she chose to just play the victim, that was her choice.

“I’m just up this flight of stairs and down the hall a bit. Fourth door on the right. There’s a lot of crap in the hallway, but it’s easy enough to get around. It was easy for me, and I am nowhere as nimble as you. What do you want to do here? We can stand here together and encourage our friends out there. Go up. Or I can go up and leave you here if you want.” I had already made up my own mind, but there was no harm in letting her make up her own.

The woman stood. She followed behind me. Maybe she was just as bad as those men. Maybe she would rob me, or kill me. Whatever. There were tons of variables. She had a working body. Just minutes ago she was being chased down. I needed someone who functioned better than me physically. Fate sent me this girl. She looked past me, then up the flight of stairs. She chose the stairs and I gave her a few seconds before starting up. We made our way toward my apartment in silence. The hallway was filled with soft LED lighting and, despite the refuse, was serene.

“I’m Jason,” I said. Introductions seemed weird, but necessary. Weird because introductions always seemed awkward. Necessary because it was what you did when meeting someone. If I was going to share with her, I needed to know her name, and she needed to know mine. I opened the door to my apartment and let it swing open. I moved aside so she could enter first.

“Robyn.” She kept it short. She looked around at the apartment. My apartment. I wondered what she was thinking. It was on the second floor, was spacious and austere. Knick-knacks sat haphazardly on shelves alongside books: philosophy, religion, and history. All useless information for stopping apocalypses. Religions were usually ushering them in. There were novels too: fantasy, science fiction, and classics mostly. Well, at least a zombie kaiju eating Italy was not out of my wheelhouse. Why not a zombie kaiju? What else could eat Italy?

Ygor, one of my two tuxedo cats, poked his head around the corner of my bedroom door. He looked up, saw the strange woman, and darted back inside. “That’s Ygor, he’ll be under the bed or something for a while. There’s another, Renfield. He’s less wary of strangers. Look, I’m not sure how you’re going to feel safest, and I’m going to be as cautious as I can – but some really strange shit has happened and I was trying to eat breakfast when it happened and I have no clue what’s been going on. As I said, feel free to clean yourself up. Clothes are in the bin. Sorry, I don’t usually fold them, but they’re clean.”

The woman didn’t respond. She held herself defensively and continued to stare around. She was adjusting to not having to flee for her life anymore. She was probably wondering if she had taken candy from a stranger. Was I a pervert? Was I dangerous? Was I a dangerous pervert? There were probably a million scenarios that were running through her head. I hoped some of them involved good things like safety and food. When she saw Ygor she eased a little. I walked slow and had cats. I probably wasn’t an immediate threat in her eyes. There was no way to convey that I needed her as much as she needed to get away from those hoodies.

She walked into the bathroom and shut the door. I heard the shower turn on. I put a pile of clothes nearby. She had probably just intended to use her old ones. We would have to find her shoes. Her feet were smaller than mine. We would have to raid the abandoned apartments and search for a pair that would fit her. If she could run that fast without shoes, she was probably faster with them.

I stared out into the hallway again. It was quiet. The ground was littered with a few handy things. Supplies for the coming weeks. We would have to spend the days foraging. Non-perishable foods, matches or lighters, and, of course, water. Shelter was good to go. We could hold up here, collect stuff, survive. We would have to get information too, but that could wait. Or, she would just kill me and take everything for herself. I can’t live like that. Well, I wouldn’t be alive but, I needed to trust her. First, I’ll find out a little about her. I grabbed some smaller clothes for my new guest along with a baseball bat and a flashlight. There were no shoes. Okay, first foraging session complete. There was more to be sure, but I didn’t want to stray too far. I headed back in. She was out of the bathroom and sitting on my one couch. She was wearing a mix of her old clothes and my mine. The couch was a loveseat. A hand-me-down from my parents. It was mostly a perch for my cats, it was covered in fur. A scratching post too, the arms there torn up, but she didn’t seem to care.

“So, Robyn. Do you want something to drink? I’m not a coffee drinker, sorry, but I have water and cranberry juice.” I had milk too, two percent, a full gallon, but that was likely going to become a rare commodity very soon.

“Water,” said Robyn. She took a long pause and then added “please.” Her voice was lower, almost husky, and she was clearly exhausted. She was trying to still calm down. As she was relaxing, she was slipping into a torpor. She had just run for her life. She had likely never done that before. This was the suburbs. If you weren’t running for exercise, you weren’t running.

“Sure.” I went to the kitchen. I had a water filter. I would have to keep it full. Was it enough to remove bacteria? You were supposed to boil water to kill bacteria right? Was I gonna have to boil water soon?

She followed and seemed to isolate herself in a chair at my small kitchen table. Her legs were rigid and her arms were pulled around her. She wasn’t just going to let her guard down so easily. She stared toward the door to the apartment. I had closed it and had made a point to tell her it was unlocked. I could lock it if I heard someone outside. I was going out of my way to assuage her fears as much for me as for her. I didn’t know what she was willing to do if she felt threatened or panicked. I hoped saving her had won me some points.

“Here you go,” I said and placed the cup in front of her. She did not touch it. “Just so you know, I can’t run and my right arm doesn’t work well. A stroke broke my body. My balance is all fucked up. There is no point in being coy about it. If I was scared, I wouldn’t have opened the door downstairs and let you in. So, Robyn, any idea what’s happening?” I tried using her name a lot. I read about it somewhere. If you use people’s names it created a connection. I think hostage negotiators did it a lot. I think she would have given them a run for their money, because she seemed completely oblivious to the tactic. It was the second of my cats that broke her ennui. He leapt onto the table in front of her and gently sniffed the air before him. She turned slowly at first, then smiled, then reached out and ran her hand down the length of his back. He arched his hind quarters and then thrust his head at her affectionately.

“That’s Renfield. He’s less skittish, obviously.”

I checked my phone. There was no service. There probably wouldn’t be again if this was actually an apocalypse. It was fast though wasn’t it? The internet taking a nose dive. All I had seen was everyone running and some people in hoodies chasing a girl. I didn’t have a ton of friends, but the ones I had were tight. I hoped they were alright wherever they were. Those last texts were ominous. I felt a moment of irritation that none of them were here, but they were probably trying to save themselves. My best friend lived close, but he had a whole family to protect from Russians, and zombies, and kaiju.

I sent a text. “You there? You okay?” It came back unsent. Of course it was unsent. The internet was down. I figured it would go through if it came back up somehow. I sat there for a few minutes texting each contact in the hopes of reaching someone, anyone.

“I didn’t reach anyone before the phones died,” said Robyn. Her abrupt speaking gave me a start. I almost forgot she was there. I looked up at her and smiled. She was absently petting Renfield who seemed blissfully unaware of the apocalypse happening all around him. He just wanted attention. The traitor didn’t care where it came from.

“Nobody? Did you try a few people?”

“Over twenty. Nobody answered. I was in my car and I thought maybe there was a reception problem. I got out to try, I climbed on the hood, that’s when those hoodies showed up.”

“What did they want?” I felt the question was stupid the minute I asked it. “Why don’t you have shoes? Did they steal them or something?”

“I thought it was my car at first. Then money, my phone maybe. And then…”

“Don’t. It was a dumb question. Not that you’ll believe me right now, but I wouldn’t try anything like that either.”

“That’s just it. I don’t think they wanted to rape me or anything.” She seemed almost confused. Would that have been easier? It probably would have made more sense. I was told that women spent their whole lives worrying about it. “I don’t know why I don’t think that. I mean, they were running after me saying they wanted to take me with them. That they needed me. And no, they didn’t steal my shoes. I drive barefoot. Well, with socks on. When they started chasing me I didn’t have time to grab them.”

“Take you with them?” Maybe it was as a servant, or an offering. It couldn’t be an offering. An offering to what? No, it was probably as a servant. Maybe bait for something else? What was going on out there?

“Yeah.”

“That seems odd.”

“Yeah.”

“Okay, well. I’m not sure what we do now. Where did everyone even go? Were there a lot of people outside with you? It looked crazy out there for a little while.” Focus. You needed supplies first. Remember the games. You love survival games. Now it seemed like the whole world had become one. There was no save scumming in the real world. One save. One life. Do or die. Was I ready for that?

“For a while, yeah. Cars got stuck everywhere and people just started getting out and running in every direction. I was trying to call people, and I eventually realized I was alone. There were a few pets rummaging about, but no people. Well, until those hoodies showed up.”

“The internet was saying all sorts of things. Aliens, kaiju…”

“What?”

“Kaiju, um… big monsters, like Godzilla?”

“Oh.”

“Russians, viruses, and of course Jesus.”

“Jesus?”

“You know, the people who say that it’s Judgement Day. That want it to be Judgement Day. Their version of course. I wonder if they questioned why they didn’t get raptured?” I recoiled from my tangent. “Did you hear anything about what was really happening?”

“No, the radio was saying a lot of what you just repeated. The Russians and the Godzillas or whatever, but I didn’t see anything other than people panicking. I was driving when it all started happening. I was heading to work. The roads just started filling with cars. More than usual for a Tuesday morning. Horns blaring, people slamming into each other until the cars just stopped being able to move. Idiots all crammed their vehicles together. People tried driving into yards, onto sidewalks, whatever, but soon even they got filled.” She paused and looked around. “Do you have any Tylenol?”

“I don’t.” I said. I didn’t usually use medicine. Well, besides my regiment of pills. Crap, where was I going to get those? Did they just have bins of them at pharmacies waiting to be taken? Not taking meds for every little thing made colds last longer and headaches ache a little more, but I always told myself that it was just a little bit healthier doing things the hard way. Fat lot of good that did me. Now I felt bad that I didn’t have anything for guests. I didn’t often host for my friends. I just had what I needed.

“Maybe we can find some in some other apartments. They’re going to be empty, and I doubt everyone locked their doors with the panic they all seemed to be in. I didn’t even see anyone in the halls. Just what they left behind. I’m sure someone left some Tylenol or something.” In the games things were sparse. Like people had a chance to move, or were camels and could carry a ton of shit. It was probably not like that. This complex was probably filled with useful stuff.

“You could stay here and I’ll go have a look?” I said.

“No, I’m coming,” Her jaw was set and her eyes grew hard. She looked to the door and whatever was going on in her internal monologue was somehow far more badass than my own I felt.