Fingertips: Hey Now Everybody Now

Fingertips: A Flash Experiment, is a project where I’m writing a different flash story for each bit of the They Might Be Giants’ “Fingertips” songs from Apollo 18. See info here.

Hey Now Everybody Now

The crowd milled about, frightened, threatening to break like a stampede of cattle, or shoppers at Christmastime. It might as well be Christmas. We were trapped in a mall, there were too many of us, and we were very, very cranky.

“Mommy, I’m hungry,” said my six-year-old son, Jeffrey.

I rubbed his head affectionately, noting that his hair needed washing. Silly mother thoughts in the midst of a crisis – sure, we had a very real zombie situation, but I was worried someone would notice my son’s greasy hair.

“I know, baby,” I said. “Mommy can’t get you anything to eat right now, but soon. I promise.”

I rummaged through my purse looking for a snack, but knew he wouldn’t want anything that came out of there. He hated bland crackers and goldfish, and those are perfect to-go snacks. I tried to hand him a piece of gum and he just glared at me. I shrugged.

We were trapped inside a record store, the chain door having slammed on us after we had all gathered there for safety. Some of the more leader-types (you always knew the types – beefy males, with plaid shirts, usually) were puzzling options and trying to pick the lock to release the door with little luck.

I looked around at the crowded store. I wasn’t ready to die in this situation, especially not with my son here to protect. The city had mostly fallen to either zombies or fire, the humans thinking they could burn the undead clear. Cutting off their nose to spite their face, I thought. I thought my shotgun had been a good defense, but you do run out of shells eventually.

I had no idea where my husband, Jeff Sr., was. He had been at work when the zombies broke in. He worked in the police force so the zombie emergency had needed him, while my job as a dentist wasn’t so vital, so we’d closed the office. We’d reopen after the fighting was over, I was determined.

After the zombies had broken in, I’d worked the shotgun until I was out of shells and then Jeffrey and I had fled out the back door. I saw some humans heading for the mall a couple of blocks away, so I followed. After another brief scuffle we gathered up everyone we could and ended up in the record store, accidentally locked in. I hoped those leaders felt stupid.

We needed something to get out of here. My kid needed to eat, and it had been hours since I’d had a meal as well. I knew the crowd could have some power if we worked together. “Jeffrey, get under the counter here,” I said, making sure he was free of being trampled. He obeyed.

I walked past the men working on the gate and climbed on the counter next to the door. “Hey now everybody now!” I shouted, gratified that the crowd immediately focused on me. “We are not going to be trapped in here. If we band together we can break this gate-”

They began to shout in support of me, but I stopped when I heard a voice I recognized behind me. “Peggy? Holy shit, is that you?”

It was Jeff Sr., my beloved husband, his gun raised and pointed at my head.

I leaped from the display case and the bullet tore through my shoulder. I felt nothing. I landed and grinned at him. “Hello dear.”

I turned to my son and said, “Jeffrey, there’s food here.”

My son joined the mass as they surged forward, pressing against the chain. I was crushed between the bodies and the door, felt my flesh rip and my bones break. I continued to grin at my husband as he took a step back and scrabbled for his radio to call for backup. The chain gate began to give, and he emptied his clip wildly into us, and then took off at a run, sobbing.

The gate broke at last, and those at the front fell underneath the feet of those behind. I let them all walk over me, breaking more bones and crushing my organs. It was fine. We were free. The curse was new to most of us, letting us actually try to puzzle our way out of the room instead of just doing what was best and attacking it as zombies would.

But now we were fully fledged zombies, and hungry. As the last vestige of my rational thought and humanity melted away, I propped myself up on my arms and began to drag myself along, searching for food.

This is released under a Creative Commons Attribution-Non-Commercial-Share Alike license.

Fingertips 4 – Hey Now Everybody (LP Version)

Fingertips: A Flash Experiment by Mur Lafferty is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-Share Alike 3.0 United States License.