DELLMORE PART 1 by Blue09
December 11, 2008 Short stories
Alan was deeply apologetic as he transferred Karen from her wheelchair to her easy chair. They normally went out in the afternoons for a stroll into town. It broke up the day and let her get some fresh air. Unfortunately Alan, for all his vigor at age 60, was feeling fatigued and ill enough that they turned back 2 blocks from the house.
“I’m sorry dear heart,” he said again as he propped her on the pillows, “I’ll call the clinic and see if I can’t go in tomorrow to get checked out. Here, let me put the news on for you while I call, is that alright?”
Karen managed a slow nod. Fifteen years of Parkinson’s disease had slowly eroded her ability to move, and the frustration wore at her every day.
When they were in their thirties they had made their big, bold move to Dellmore. The town was essentially a mountain tourist town that supported the nearby ski resort in the winter, and outdoor recreation in the summer. The gamble of opening a bed and breakfast had paid off, and they enjoyed a good twenty years hosting a variety of people.
Parkinson’s had killed that. At first it had slowed her down a little, but Alan worked twice as hard to make up for it. They knew the road ahead for her, and Alan had become fanatical about his health to ensure he could care for her. He became a vegetarian, lifted weights, even took up yoga in his quest to remain well. When her fine motor control decayed to the point that she couldn’t walk and had difficulty speaking they sold the business and moved into a modest house to live in retirement.
Alan switched on the television and stepped into the hall to make the appointment. Turning her gaze from the door to the TV was as slow and deliberate as moving underwater. The network was providing continuing updates on a series of riots and murders linked to some sort of outbreak of rabies. The entire east coast was in turmoil as people fled from one place to another, seeking refuge from the chaos. Footage from a traffic helicopter showed a highway choked with traffic in each direction, and streams of people abandoning vehicles that were out of gas or unable to advance.
Throughout the afternoon and evening the coverage continued. Alan dozed in the chair much of the day, getting up to vomit occasionally. He made her dinner and fed her patiently, but she could see how rotten he felt. She wanted to tell him to relax, or to call their nursing assistant to help him get her ready for bed, but her mouth wouldn’t respond fast enough to form coherent words.
Part way through the night she woke to hear him retching as he sat on the edge of the bed. He got up, went to the bedroom door, then collapsed.
In her mind, Karen was screaming as he hit the floor. She stared at him, willing her eyes to see through the darkness, straining to hear if he was breathing.
She heard nothing.
She railed against her body, trying to move her arm towards the nightstand on his side of the bed which held the phone. If she could reach it she could dial 911.
She couldn’t even roll over.
Alan’s body slowly resolved itself as the pre-dawn light crept in. She stared at his back, desperately looking for breath. After nightmarish hours, she saw his arms move, and he slowly pulled himself to his feet.
Relief washed over her as she watched him take and unsteady step into the hallway. She heard the him bump the walls, before the sound of his footsteps began returning. He stumbled into the bedroom and paused to look at her. It wasn’t an expression she recognized. Alan always basked her in love and devotion. She saw nothing of that in the slack-jawed, blank stare he gave her.
She panicked, fearing he had a concussion from the fall, or worse, a stroke. She called to him, only managing a throaty wheeze.
He responded with the same sound before stumbling towards her. He opened his mouth wide and brought his teeth to her face.
How did he get infected?
Comment by Thomas on December 11, 2008 @ 11:18 pm
Obviously the virus is airborn or something like that in this story. Only problem with my airborn idea is why didn’t she get infected too? Either way I liked it good job wish it was longer though.
Comment by Sin "08" on December 12, 2008 @ 9:34 am
Hey, sorry it doesn’t make sense as a stand-alone story. I should have mentioned that this is sort of a prologue to a larger story set in WWZ. More to come in the next part, including the source of Alan’s infection. Definitely not airborne.
Comment by Blue09 on December 12, 2008 @ 1:37 pm
Hey Blue09,
Great story! Love the concept of someone with limited mobility coming face to face with a Zombie, it makes a refreshing change to the “rambo” type of lead characters in many of the stories.
Can’t wait for part 2. Is it written yet?
Cheers
Comment by Peter McCarthy on December 12, 2008 @ 3:56 pm
I like this.
I like how you outline the terror and the frustration of being helpless; of not being able to do a thing to make the bad-things stop.
That’s what’s always been scariest to me about horror stories; zombies in particular.
There’s nothing anyone can do if they’re trapped and weaponless.
Good job!
Comment by Christine on December 14, 2008 @ 1:08 pm
Good Job.
As a prolouge you left yourself some open ends and have something to develope on later (like you said, how he got infected?)
Lookiong forward to the second part too.
You have a good way of writing.
Comment by Pat on December 16, 2008 @ 4:42 pm
Its kind of written from her perspective so he may have been infected and not told her.
I liked it
Comment by Piratepete on December 17, 2008 @ 3:42 pm
Very cool. I love the views of people who are humans of error, rather than super-human heros. You can see how humanity can fall to the infected. Hope to see more!
Comment by Musycpyrate on December 20, 2008 @ 3:24 pm
I assumed he had been bitten at some point. The fact that the details of his infection were not spelled out was not a problem for me since I have all that I learned from reading WWZ and the Survival guide tucked away in my head.
Are the stories on this site meant to be read by someone who has already read Mr. Brooks’ books?
Comment by Brian on December 23, 2008 @ 12:57 pm
excellent story. Well written. It flowed well and built suspense. Your use of her disability was very efective and a refreshing concept.
Comment by Dave Knight on December 27, 2008 @ 11:22 pm
I wonder – when she turns, will she be able to walk???
great story.
Comment by Tiz on February 4, 2009 @ 2:27 pm
Great story it really captures the human element and left me feeling sad and scared for Karen. Also to Brian, the stories on this site are about zombies in general despite the name of the site. However I believe most of the community here are familiar with Max Brooks’ work.
Comment by John Kilborn on June 29, 2009 @ 12:21 am
Ah, now that sucks for poor Karen.
However, that gives me a great idea for the next great horror movie of our generation: “Rest Home of the Damned!” It’s about a mismatched group of orderlies, old people, and visiting relatives and their kids who STILL wish they’d stayed in the car fighting off an undead invasion of their retirment home.
Couldn’t you imagine the REVIEWS for this apparently original-but-good screenplay? 🙂
Comment by Liam on July 6, 2009 @ 11:17 pm
A buddy of mine looked into “if this actually happened”, the zombie apocalypse that is, and discovered that in all likely-hood the disease would be a proto-virus. Starting and changing very quickly till it came to rest in it’s final stage of direct fluid transfer. It fits into the airborne category at a relatively early stage as is the story time period. Very interesting read and very chilling.
Comment by Terry Schultz on August 14, 2009 @ 1:34 am
It had to be the bed and breakfast fleas…
Comment by Arthur C on October 26, 2009 @ 12:40 am