Julianna's Day Off

Juliana, better known as "Julie" to her friends, scrubbed her face for the umpteenth time that day. It should have been a quiet end to a long day at the cabin. Instead it had been a non stop day of Bradley's whining, Jenna's bossiness, and crying all around. All three of the stressors could be traced back to a central point: the car ride in.

Both Bradley and Jenna were extremely car sick and the past four hours had been hell. Julie still didn't know who it was more hellish for; her, or the kids. The drive had been filled with vomiting, crying, wailing, tears, and clothing changes...lots of clothing changes. Julie loved her kids dearly, but sometimes the stress just piled on. Especially being a single parent.

Her husband George had died in Iraq. He was only twenty five when an IED took him from her. That was two years ago, though it seemed more like two decades. Julie had no choice at the time but to press on. Jenna had been three and she had just found out about Bradley two days before George's death.

It had been a stroke of luck that she had been accepted by St. Paul's hospital as a helicopter pilot in their emergency flight crew. It had better hours and paid much more than her last job as a mechanic. She did have a job before her stint as a mechanic, as a member of the air national guard.

She had loved her career in the service, the guard had taught her to pilot, shoot, work in a team and have greater confidence in herself. Once she had become pregnant with Jenna, she had to go on maternity leave. She had left with the promise that her job would be safe, that she still had a place in the guard.

All of it lies, when she tried to return she had found that her job was gone...her teammates had abandoned her. So she had put the mechanical knowledge her father had taught her to good use, securing a job in the field. The pay was dirt and several times she had been tempted to sell the very cabin she was standing in just to pay the bills.

The cabin, as well as the land it was on, had been Will's inheritance from his grandfather. Every time she had a thought of selling it, she kept coming back to the same impasse. It was George's. Eventually she had pulled her family out of the economic slump by securing the job at St. Paul's. All the while the cabin had sat, unused for years. Only inhabited briefly when Julie would periodically check on it.

Just recently, on the spur of the moment decision, she had packed her's and the kid's stuff, taken some time off work and driven George's old Pruis down to the cabin.

"MOMMY!!" Jenna's screech jerked her back to the present. "Bradley's poking me...AGAIN!"

Julie scrubbed her face. "Look you two," she warned. "If you can't be nice to each other mommy's not going to be happy, and what happens when mommy's not happy?"

"Nobody's happy." The two children chorused glumly. Julie noticed something else in her kids' voices, exhaustion.

"Alright kiddos, time for bed." Julie ordered. They had started driving at 6:00 in the morning so they could make it to the cabin for 10:00. She had pulled the Prius into the driveway at 10:30; it was 11:00 now. Bradley didn't put up much of an argument and she had him in bed within five minutes, Jenna was a different matter.

"How about you go to bed, get a little sleepy time?" Julie asked.

"No!" Jenna groused. "I'm not tired!"

"Honey you've got big bags under your eyes." Julie reminded her.

"No sleepytime!" Jenna screamed, even as she slurred the last part. Julie sensed that reason wasn't going to work with a surly five year old; instead she scooped her up and carried her off to her room. As soon as Julie laid her daughter on the bed it was like magic. One minute she was holding a kicking, screaming child and the next she was watching a sleeping little angel.

Julie watched her daughter for a moment longer before leaning in and planting a kiss squarely on her forehead. She crept out of Jenna's room and into Bradley's. Kissing him, she made her way into the living room. She eased herself into one of the big recliners, basking in the silence she picked up the book that she had brought down.

Into the investigator; The complete autobiography of William Munroe was the title of the book. A co worker had given it to her as a gift but Julie just couldn't get into it, the Private Investigator in particular seemed a bit too full of himself for her tastes. After just five minutes of reading, she snapped the book shut and shoved Munroe's smiling visage into the large bookshelf that took up a wall. Among the other titles in the book case many were reference materials, George was a great believer in 'doing it yourself' and correspondingly had a low opinion of literacy.

Fuck that shit, she thought in disgust. I need a smoke!She snatched her cigarettes and lighter from her coat draped over a kitchen chair. Julie made her way to the front door and quietly slipped out; outside she lit up a cigarette and inhaled deeply as she snapped the lighter closed.

The air outside was humid and oppressive, Julie knew they were in for a scorcher today. Unconsciously her eyes flickered to the solar panels mounted on the roof, George had been a huge environmental activist and it showed. The Prius, solar panels, eco efficient lights, low flush toilets and the list went on and on.

That's what a lot of the reference books in the case were for but Julie had never taken the time to read any of them, just like George had never strayed near her collection. Just doin' my bit for the planet dear he had always said, whenever she asked him about all the enviro crap that he did.

Julie continued her little walk around the property, taking in all the things she had forgotten about this place. The creaky swing that she and George used to cuddle on, the fire pit that they used gather friends around and crack a few beers, and the large front yard where they used to play with their Basset Hound Droopy, before he died of an ear disease.

Tears welled up in Julie's eyes as she firmly pushed aside the ghosts of the past; snubbing the cigarette out on the ground she walked around to the back of the cabin. The view was stunning, a panoramic vista that included the lake and the edge of the nearby town.

The view held Julie's gaze for a second longer before she broke contact. She headed back into the cabin. She quietly shut the front door, careful to not wake the children. Walking down the hallway she fished the key from her pocket, standing in front of the only door lock to the house that fit the key she pushed the key in and turned.

The lock gave way with a quiet snick and she twisted the knob. Julie flicked the light on and stepped into what some would consider a museum, an armory would be an accurate description as well. Weapons adorned the far wall; all of them were World War two era. Two rifles, a machinegun, three pistols and two knives rounded out the small arsenal.

From what George had told her, a lot of the weapons had come from his grandfather actually looting them off of the various battlefields and sending them back to the states. George had spent a lot of time in the room when the two of them came down here every summer, before the kids...before his death.

She quickly shut the door and locked it. What had once been the center of George's activities down here now sat unused and sealed, a mausoleum to the hobby of a dead man. Not wanting to be caught up in the old echoes of anger and loneliness, Julie made her way back to the living room.

Not wanting to sit next to the big bookcase, Julie cracked the patio door and stepped out onto the deck. Built right into the side of the huge drop off that led down to the lake, it offered her more of the same view that she had down on the grass. The difference was that up here she could sit and relax.

Julie didn't know that she had fallen asleep until Jenna jumped on her. She grunted as Jenna knocked the air out of her, she popped open her eyes and was about to give Jenna hell, until she saw the look on her face. A look of fear "Mommy, something's wrong with Bradley." Jenna said in a trembling voice.

Julie was instantly alert at the thought of danger to her child. All but jumping off of her chair, she barreled down the hall. As she drew closer to the room that Bradley had picked out for himself, she heard his uncharacteristic whimpers of fear and a banging at the window. She threw the door open and took the situation in at a glance, Bradley was pressed up against the far wall of his darkened room. At the room's only window stood one of the ugliest men Julie had ever seen.

As the man smashed his head through the window, his face entered the small rectangle of light emanating from her doorway. Julie gasped in horror, the man wasn't only the ugliest she had seen...he was also dead. At the sound of the door opening, Bradley flew into Julie's legs with the speed of a child possessed.

"Mommy, mommy!" He sobbed into Julie's leg. "There's a scary man out there!"

"I know Bradley, get behind mommy!" Julie commanded tensely. As Bradley ducked behind her, the man that she could only describe as a "zombie" spilled into the room. Before the kids could get a look at his horribly rotted visage, she slammed the door shut in his face.

A split second later, the incessant scritch scritch of the zombie resounded throughout the cabin. Bradley further buried his face in her leg, while Jenna ran to her and hugged her other leg.

"Mommy I'm scared!" Jenna cried. Julie brought her kids in close,

"Alright guys," she soothed. "Let's get back into the living room."

Ignoring the scratching as best she could, Julie snatched up the phone in the living room. She punched in nine-one-one as fast as she could; raising the receiver to her ear she lowered it just as fast. The "all circuits are busy message" echoed out from the receiver, painfully loud to her panic stricken ears.

As she clicked off the telephone, the bedroom door that was holding the zombie rattled in its hinges. The door shook again, Julie jumped and the kids huddled behind the couch as splinters rained down from the door. "Stay here." Julie commanded as she walked back down the hall, as she approached the banging became more frantic and the door groaned in its frame.

Knowing the door couldn't take much more, Julie barged into George's gun room and eyed the display cases. By the time she had smashed the one with the American rifle in it, the opposite door was already starting to give way. Quickly Julie snatched up the bayonet underneath the rifle and snapped it onto the barrel, just like she'd seen in Band of Brothers.

At that moment the bedroom door broke free of its frame with a screech of tortured metal and the smashing of wood. Julie whipped around, rifle in hand. The guy had lost half of his face in what looked like a giant bear attack, his right eye hung limp out of its eye socket and the right side looked more filleted than any fish.

Jenna's piercing scream echoed from the living room. Deciding to go after the screaming little girl instead of the motionless adult, the zombie half turned half staggered down the hall. He only made it a handful of steps before the bayonet punched deep into his head, like Mike Tyson at the height of his career.

Mr. Zombie went down like a sack of potatoes, stepping over his still twitching body, she drove the bayonet into his head repeatedly until he stopped twitching. She looked like a butcher once she was done; the zombie didn't look much better. Looking up from her brutal act, she realized that Jenna was in danger of peeking out from behind the couch...seeing the atrocity she had just committed.

"Jenna Elise, back behind the couch NOW!" Julie commanded, Jenna dove back as if struck. Turning her attention back to the scene of carnage in front of her, she was horrified at what she had done. She knew it had to be done but...damn, viscera and grey matter streaked the cream colored walls around her. The zombie's brains lay before her like a particularly uninviting dish of casserole, setting the rifle against the wall she barfed all over the fresh corpse she had created.

Straightening up, Julie wiped the excess vomit off her lips with her sleeve. Staggering to the kitchen, Julie snatched an apron and a pair of rubber gloves. Donning the apron to hide her bloodstained clothes, scooping the kids up she carried them to her room, all the while making sure they couldn't see the dead zombie.

Once the kids were secured in her room, with instructions not to leave, Juliana returned to the corpse. Snapping on the bright yellow gloves, she took a deep breath before she reached in and grabbed the body under the armpits. The stench was ungodly, more than once Julie had to stop and stick her head between her knees so she wouldn't wretch.

After much grunting and muttered curses, Julie finally managed to drag the corpse outside. Julie unceremoniously dumped him on the lawn, as she straightened up what she saw made her gasp in shock.

An unbroken line of traffic streamed off the mountain like a river, horns blared and impatient drivers bickered with each other like children. Julie noticed one of the calmer people as Dustin, Dustin was a hunter who lived up higher on the mountain. He always had an honest smile for her and had taken care of some business for her regarding the cabin just after George’s death.

Now though he was walking next to the road, eyeing the drivers with a look that contained equal parts pity and disgust. He was also adorned in full hunter’s garb, with a full pack on his back and at least three loaded weapons that Julie could see.

“Hey Dustin,” she had to shout above the noise of cars. “Over here!”

Dustin’s head snapped around at her voice, the other people on the road paid neither of them any attention. Dustin waved his rifle above his head, in acknowledgement of her greeting before jogging over to where she stood.

“Hey Jules,” He boomed, looking genuinely happy to see her alive.

“Dustin, what the hell’s going on here?” Julie asked. Dustin’s eyes darkened as he looked down at the desiccated corpse, “You’ve got what’s going on right in front of you Jules.”

“What…zombies?” Julie asked in disbelief.

“That’s right,” Dustin answered grimly. “They’re all over the damn place.”

“What, you mean the town?”

“Naw Jules,” He corrected. “I’m talkin’ all of America and pro’aly the rest of the damn world.”

“So you mean it’s…the apocalypse.” Julie replied with dread. Dustin cracked a grin at her words,

“Well I certainly wouldn’t have put it that way, but yeah…the apocalypse if you want to call it that.”

“Oh Jesus!” Julie whispered in fear.

“Look Jules, you look pretty scared,” Dustin replied soothingly to her fear. “So why don’t you come with me up to my cabin in the north.”

“I can’t Dustin; I brought the kids with me.” Julie declined.

“Right,” He said, sounding dejected. “Well I’ll be seein’ ya Jules.”

“Yeah…you too Dustin.” Julie replied, not believing a word of it. Dustin tipped his widebrimmed hat and resumed his cautious walk down the mountian road. Julie turned and quickly strode to the patch of backyard that was beside her deck. The view was a much diffrent one than before, on the north side of town an inferno blazed unchecked, out to the south the sounds of shouts and weapons fire echoed from the national guard fort and all the way in between chaos regined.

All of this taking place in the span of a bright , sunny day. This is fucking insanity. Julie thought in shock before she jogged back to the cabin. Working quickly and tirelessly, Julie ended up getting the entire area cleaned of zombie leavings in just under an hour. Another half an hour, to grab one of the few sheets of plywood that didn't look half rotted from the shed, some nails, a hammer, and nailing the plywood sheet to the broken window.

Once that was done, Julie brought the kids out into the living room, the rifle now loaded and within reach. Thumbing the remote on, the face of a newscaster filled the screen, "-and while we don't know the nature of these infected people, we do know that they are attacking humanity and that their bites carry the contagion within them. We also have unconfirmed reports that the very act of death itself could result in reanimation however these reports are sti-"

"How about we watch some cartoons kiddos?" Julie asked her silent kids, doing her best to hide her fear. Julie rapidally thumbed through the channels, only to find that all of them had either been reapproited for emergency broadcasts, or shut off all together. In other words, not a cartoon to be had. Julie thought sourly.

Flipping off the TV, she tossed the remote onto a nearby chair. "Well no cartoons, how about we play a board game?"

Both kids lit up instantly, even little Bradley. "Monopoly?" Both children asked eagerly.

"Ok, ok we'll play Monoply." Julie submitted with a sigh, she had never been very good at the game and had cosequently refused to play. Now though, Julie figured that desprate times called for desprate measures to keep her kids calm, while she figured out what to do next. The game was in full tilt, Julie had just landed on Boardwalk with a hotel when the reality of their situation came crashing down around her.

"Mommy, I'm HUNGRY!" Bradley whined.

"Me too!" Jenna chimed in.

Julie realized that there was nothing in the house to eat. She had been planning to go out later to pick up groceries, judging from the sounds and what she had been able to see of the mass influx of people, Julie was sure she wouldn't be able to get anywhere near the store.

The answer came to her in a flash, jumping off of the couch she moved to one of the windows. Just as she suspected, most of the homes were without light. Since the town's power was still on, this told Julie that a lot of the houses were abandoned...perhaps full of food. Of course the owners could have taken everything with them when they left but Julie had to try, aside from the water which was artesian there were no other consumables in the house.

Julie's mind tried to remind her of the moral implications of what essentially stealing, but one look at her two kids made the arguments disappear like dust in the wind. Picking up the rifle, she slipped the bayonet into her belt. After emptying her pack, she slung it over her shoulder. She hunted for about a minute before she found a powerful LED flashlight, just in case and slipped that onto her belt as well.

Giving the Bradley and Jenna strict instructions to stay inside, she took a deep breath and stepped out into the yard. The world didn't look much diffrent than the one she had stepped into hours ago, the difference was that it was pratically devoid of people. Scanning with the heavy rifle, Julie caught a glimpse of a blood red sunset.

Red sky at morning, saliors take warning, Red sky at night, salior's delight. Julie pushed the old ryhme out of her head, squaring her mind on task, she moved out in a slow combat walk towards the closest house. The only light that shone was from the kitchen, even that dim light was enough to make out some of the blood stains.

Swallowing her fear, Julie stepped up to the front door. Trying the knob first, she was unsurprised to find it unlocked. Shouldering the rifle, she aimed it at the level of the lock and squeezed off a shot. The shot sounds more like a clap of thunder in the quietness, as though the whole world could hear it.

Julie put her shoulder to the door and shoved it open. Before she had even made it a handful of steps, Julie just knew this place was going to be trouble. The smell of decomposition penatrated deep into her nostrils, a viscous layer of carmel like blood coated the floor and the solitary kitchen light flickered and flashed.

Keeping the rifle raised, Julie took another cautious step into the house, her foot splashing in a puddle of blood. Upstairs she heard a trmendous smashing noise. Pointing her rifle at the stairs leading to the second floor of the house, Julie slowly mounted the steps. She had just stepped onto the landing at the top, back to the railing that looked out over the expansive living room when disaster struck.

The smashing noise that Julie had heard down below, was one of the reanimated family members trying to break down a door. By the time Julie had made it to the top of the stairs, she could see that the walking corpse had almost succeeded and had sent two big horizontial cracks racing across the door.

He looked like the man of the house, once he saw Julie he shambled towards her, his interest in the door seemingly gone. Acting on instinct, Julie fired the rifle. The bullet ripped through the air, digging a trough through the dead man's head and planting itself right in his brain.

Since Julie had not bothered to brace herself, the recoil sent her staggering back a handful of steps, dangerously close to the railing. Catching herself before she could go ass over teakettle, Julie gave a little chuckle of relief. The dead man's massive dog had burst out of the weakened door and was charging towards her before the little laugh had died out.

While she googled in surprise, she reached around and grabbed the bayonet. It was just a little behind her leg when the dog tackled her with the force of a pneumatic ram. Julie felt the sensation of weightlessness for a second before she hurtled down to the ground, dog on top.

Julie hit a table with enough force to drive the air out of her lungs. Another cause for the air leaving her lungs was the short scream she let loose when the bayonet drove itself into the meaty part of her thigh. Fido meanwhile, was already on his feet and snarling at her, abandoning all atempts at intimidation the dog lunged.

Julie brought the rifle around as a club and smashed the dog upside the head as hard as she could. The dog flew across the room, hitting the carpet with a thump. Fido was fast on his recovery, but Julie was faster in her aiming. Pumping all seven shots into the dog, Julie watched as the dog seemed to jerk and dance with each shot until he stopped moving alltogether.

The loud ping of the cartridge ejecting brought Julie's intense pain to the forefront of her adrineline. She had to stifle a cry as her shaking hands loaded in another clip. As she slammed the bolt shut, she heard shuffling noises. Panning her rifle to the right, she saw three more corpses, the rest of the man's family. A wife and two daugters, all of them looked worse for wear with the wife looking she was partially fed through a woodchipper.

Setting the pain in her leg aside, Julie calmly lined up her shots from left to right. The wife's head was the first to be poped, bursting like an overstuffed grape. Next came the elder of the two sisters, her head exploded in a much less spectacular fashion than her mother's. Finally the youngest sister's head popped open, not nearly enough inside to match the two other explosions of her family members.

Julie let the rifle slump, breathing heavily from a combination of fear, exuastion and pain. Struggling to her feet, she groaned in pain as he injured leg touched the carpet. Julie was sure that she hadn't pierced any major arteries, otherwise she'd be dead by now. Still, the bayonet had to come out, one way or another.

Testing her weight on the leg, Julie discovered she could walk on it. Since the wound would blead like a son of a bitch if she took the bayonet out, and might even possibly kill Julie in her current state she left it in. As quickly as she could, Julie searched and stripped the house for anything that could be remotely edible.

By the time she had filled her backpack and partially filled a second that she had grabbed in the house, her leg was screaming in agony. She made the descision that what she had would have to last long enough, after scooping a few more cans into the half full bag she limped out of the house; back to the cabin.

Staggering in the front door she dropped the cans in a heap. Not wanting her kids to see her in this state she hollered out for them to stay where they were. Limping into the kitchen, she grabbed the compact but complete medkit before making her way to the bathroom. Shutting the door, Julie disrobed and set the medkit by the tub.

Settling into the tub herself, she grabbed a fistful of towels and brought the medkit in as well. Getting a firm grip on the bayonet, I hope it isn't infected was the last thought the flickered through Julie's head before she pulled the bayonet.