Chapter II-Good Morning
Jenny was asleep in her bed. Laying face down with the white sheets pushed away from her by her feet probably sometime in the middle of the night. She's 23, Caucasian, with long brown hair, green eyes, athletic build, 5'5, wearing a black pair of boy shorts and a red t-shirt. The phone rang down the hall in the main room of her apartment. The phone rang a second time. She moved from the noise and quietly moaned while grabbing a pillow to the left of her and covering her head to suppress the noise. The phone rang again, and again, and again.
"Hey this is Jenny please leave a message after the beep." There was a loud beep. "If your there please pick up it's very important. All hell is breaking loose down here. Jenny please if you're there pick up now." There was a short pause. "Hey when you get this message call me back."
Jenny removed the pillow from her head and looked up. "Vince?" She said to herself in a groggy tone.
She turned onto her back and looked straight at the sheets on her bed, then she looked at her stomach and sucked in her flat stomach. "I gotta stop eating." She said getting up from her bed sitting on the edge looking at the floor rubbing the back of her neck.
She got up from her bed and walked out of her bedroom. She gently wobbled as she walked down the short hall and into the main room of her apartment yawning as she moved into her kitchenette to her left. She grabbed the coffee pot full of water in the coffee machine on her counter top. She poured the water into the coffee machine, put the empty glass pot back into the machine, and flipped it on. As the hot steamy coffee started dripping, Jenny walked over to her cordless phone that sat on the glass top table next to her couch and pushed the message button.
"You have three new messages." The automated voice on the machine said.
"Hey Jenny why are you with that loser Vince? I got a bigger..." Jenny rolled her eyes and pushed the delete button on the machine.
"You have two new messages." The automated voice said.
"Jenny are you coming in tomorrow? I gotta know cause Ben and I were thinking of calling in sick. Please?" Jenny could hear mocked puppy whimpers in the message as she started to laugh at the message. She pushed the next button on the machine.
"You have one new message." The machine's automated voice said.
"Jenny if your there please pick up it's very important. All hell is breaking loose down here. If you're there please pick up now." There was a short pause. "Hey when you get this message call me back." She got a look of concern as she picked up the cordless phone and dialed Vince's number.
She heard a ring tone, then a second ring tone, then a third ring tone, then a fourth ring tone, then someone finally answered.
"Hello Vince?" She said.
"Hold on." Vince replied. Jenny could hear a loud pounding noise on the other end of the phone.
Someone started screaming while the rapid pounding continued. Jenny began to wonder just what the hell was going on the other end of the line. She began to hear something that sounded like Vince crying. She remembered the sound from the night Vince told her that his grand father died.
"Vince are you ok? Vince?! What the hell is going on?! What's happening are you ok?" Jenny said frantically.
There was a pause until she heard Vince's voice on the other end of the phone. "Jenny? It's bad... very bad. Turn on... turn the news channel 13." Vince replied over the phone.
Jenny grabbed the TV remote and switched on WJZ news. There was a zoom in shot of the army of undead coming toward a police barrier with a small army of police and SWAT officers firing there handguns, shotguns, and machine guns at the large group of zombies.
"HEY CAN I HAVE A GUN!?" The reporter yelled at the cops.
Jenny looked at the TV with dread. She ran to her balcony and opened the shutters. She couldn't believe what she saw from the view of her apartment. She saw black smoke rising from multiple fires around the city. A police helicopter flew past in a hurry.
"Vince, I think we should get out of Baltimore. We need to get your dad." Jenny said closing the shutters and walking away from the balcony door.
"Ok I'll be right over." Vince replied on his end of the phone.
"I'll get ready."
"Ok just wait there I'll be right over. Don't go anywhere." Vince was about to hang up. "I love you." Vince said as if he wasn't gonna see her again.
Jenny bit her lower lip as her eyes began to water. "I love you too." Jenny replied before Vince hung up.
Jenny pushed the "end" button and closed her eyes as she touched the phone to her forehead. She stood there for a second looking at the closed shutters of the balcony door. A morbid curiosity went through her wanting to look through the shutters but she quickly shook that feeling off. She ran to her front door and peeked through the peep hole. She checked to make sure the door was locked. She grabbed a chair from her dining room table and propped it up against the door tightly incase of looters that she thought would be running around.
Jenny briskly walked back through the main room, down the short hallway taking off her t-shirt along the way. She walked into her bedroom tossing the red t-shirt aside as she walked to her dresser, that was located across from her bed, opening the top drawer and grabbing a black bra. She put it on, hooked it, then moved the straps up onto her shoulders. Jenny next went to the closet and grabbed a dark blue t-shirt and pair of green cargo pants. She threw them both down on her un-made bed. She picked up the cargo pants and put them on, she double tied the white straps to keep the pants up. Next Jenny grabbed the blue t-shirt and slipped it right on.
As she pulled the t-shirt down she walked out of her room but paused halfway along the short hall. She turned around and went back into her room to her gray night stand and opened the middle drawer of the three drawers. Inside the middle drawer was a Colt Model 1911 .45 automatic. She took the gun and tucked it in the back of her cargo pants, reached down in the drawer, and pulled out four clips each containing seven rounds of .45 ACP ammo and a box of .45 ACP ammo. She put the four clips in her left pants pocket and the box of ammo in her left back pants pocket. She went back out into the hall, and down to the main room. She made a left to the kitchenette and grabbed an empty cup from the cabinet above the coffee maker. She took the now full pot of coffee from the coffee maker and filled up the empty cup.
After emptying a packet of sugar twin and some coffee mate in she was about to take a sip until she thought about Vince's dad who worked as a security guard at the Baltimore Museum of Art. She took a sip of coffee then laughed about the jokes he always makes about the artsy people he sees every day. She began to think about how sweet he is and how he's always been the father she never had.
"God he must have no idea what's going on out there." Jenny said to herself before she took another sip of coffee. She stood there for a minute as if she was staring into space. "I need to get there now." She hastily put the cup of coffee on the counter top and ran to the front door grabbing her tan deer skin jacket.
Jenny stopped and removed the chair that was propped up against the front door. She pulled out the Colt 1911 and pulled back on the slide bringing a round up into the chamber and cocking the gun. It was ready to fire if she needed it.
"The Lord is my shepherd; I shall not want. He maketh me to lie down in green pastures: he leadeth me beside still waters. He restoreth my soul: he leadeth me in the paths of righteousness for his name's sake." Jenny said as she put the gun in her left hand as she began unlocking the door with her right hand. "Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil: for thou art with me; thy rod and thy staff they comfort me." She slowly opened the door and peaked out. She saw nothing down the hall from where she was looking. "Thou preparest a table before me in the presence of mine enemies: thou anointest my head with oil; my cup runneth over." She opened up the door completely she peeked around the corner and saw nothing down the other end of the hall. She walked out the door closing it behind her. Jenny reached in her jacket pocket pulling out her keys and locked up her apartment so no zombies could get in just in case they knew how to open doors. She began walking down the hall to the right heading toward the elevators. "Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life: and I will dwell in the house of the Lord forever."
