The Earthworm

            “What are you going to tell him?” I asked rushing after my husband as he approached the house. “You can’t just knock on someone’s door at this time of the night.”

            He didn’t listen and knocked on his boss’s door before I could catch up with him. Craig answered the door with a surprised look.

            “If you don’t sign my proposal, I’m going to go over to the other district and tell them everything,” my husband demanded of Craig.

            Craig shrugged, “Do what you need to do, Joaquin.” He turned to go back into his house, but did not close his door.

            I had the sinking feeling in my stomach that my husband had just gotten himself fired. I reached out to pull my husband back, but before my hand touched his arm, Craig turned around laughing. I was confused until I saw Joaquin laughing too. I could see it was a joke they had planned, but I was not laughing.

            Suddenly, they became serious as quickly as they had burst into laughter just moments earlier.

            “So how are you going to do it?” Craig asked Joaquin in a hushed voice. Joaquin shrugged his shoulders vaguely and looked around as if he expected to be overheard by someone other than the two of us.

            “Don’t worry,” was his only response. It was not comforting to hear.

            “Well, be careful. I know you’ll get the job done.” Craig’s response was not reassuring either.

            Joaquin ushered me back to the car. I bombarded him with questions about where we were going, what were going to do, was it dangerous, what was his plan. Joaquin just told me to trust him, which quieted my mouth, but not my mind. I was a nervous wreck and I didn’t even know what to be nervous about. Sensing my distress, Joaquin patted my leg as he drove to the unknown destination, “I just have to get this disk drive from these guys.”

            We pulled up to a building that was round, tunnel-like in shape, but it was still so dark, it was hard to make out any distinguishing features of the building. Two men greeted us and directed us inside. They motioned for us to enter silently and I followed full of apprehension. We crossed a hallway and entered a small room. All it contained was a bed and a computer desk. One of the men was getting us the disk drive when everything started to shake.

            “Earthquake,” I whispered.

            “No,” said one of the men, his voice full of panic, “Earthworm!” I turned to Joaquin speechless. “We’re in an earthworm. Close the window quick. It’s going down into the ground.”

            I looked out the window in disbelief. All I could see was dirt on the other side. Joaquin slammed it shut. I couldn’t quite register the imminent danger. The men could see that we didn’t understand the seriousness of the situation.

            “Earthworms eat dirt. As this earthworm goes further into the ground, its insides will fill up with dirt more and more. Pretty soon this whole room will be full of dirt, which means we’ll be buried alive in dirt and we’ll suffocate. When we try to breathe, we’ll breathe in dirt.” One man hurriedly explained.

            “Well, then we have to get out of here,” I shouted, no longer concerned about being quiet.

            “The disk drive isn’t finished downloading. We can’t leave yet,” the other man’s voice cracked as he gave us the news.

            Joaquin looked at the men, nodded, and then rushed me to the door. Despite my fear, I was beginning to feel relieved that we were getting out of this earthworm before it was too late. Next thing I knew, Joaquin was pushing me out the door and slamming it shut with him inside. I stood outside dazed and alone. I could only assume my husband was going back for the disk drive.

            I felt dizzy and sick. I knelt to the ground, my heart pounding in my head. I was helpless. The earthworm was completely submerged now. The “building” we had entered was no longer visible. I had no idea how or if Joaquin would make it out and I was overcome with grief. Tears streamed down my face and even though I felt my body overheating with emotion, I was shivering.

            I had to do something. I forced myself up from the ground and commanded my body into action. I ran to our car and drove back to Craig’s house. I found him sitting at his piano in the middle of a party. My grief turned to rage. How could he be having a party while my husband’s life was in danger? How could he sit there with a smile when my husband could be dying because he was getting a disk drive for him?

            Breathing heavily, my heart now pounding in my ears, I told Craig what had happened. His smile disappeared and the color drained from his face. Only when I finished did I realize I had been yelling and my fists had been clenched.

            My anger did not dissipate. “If anything happens to him, anything, it’s on you,” I hissed with contempt pointing my finger at Craig’s face.

            He could not answer, but I saw his eyes fill with tears.

Weekend at the Cabin

            We were all at the cabin. My dad and I were upstairs working out the sleeping arrangements for everyone, since so many people were staying at the cabin this time. Some people were going to get beds and some were going to have to sleep on the floor in sleeping bags. I was feeling frustrated because I did NOT want to sleep on the floor, which was part of the reason I agreed to come upstairs and help my dad figure out where everyone would sleep.

            Suddenly, there was a lot of commotion going on downstairs. I didn’t really think much of it, because we were having a party, after all. (Another reason I was annoyed at the moment: I was stuck upstairs while everyone was downstairs enjoying the party.) The commotion only made me feel more irritated.

            Joaquin came running upstairs, “We gotta get out of here!” My dad and I exchanged confused glances.

            “What are you talking about?” I questioned irritably. “The party just started and I haven’t even had the chance to go downstairs and join in the fun. Plus we’re staying the night here.”

            “No, there’s no more party,” Joaquin began to whisper and the look on his face was starting to make me worried. He was afraid. “Everyone already got out safely; it’s just us now and them.”

            My dad and I had no words. Either something was very wrong or Joaquin had lost his mind. We were speechless.

            “We have to sneak out past them. It’s the only way out. They’re blocking the door.” Joaquin continued to explain in a whisper despite our bewildered faces.

            The look on our faces must have been asking, “Who is ‘they’?” because before we could ask, Joaquin urgently whispered, “Zombies!” He whispered so the zombies wouldn’t hear us, but “ZOMBIES!” screamed through my mind.

            My heart was pounding so loudly, I was worried the zombies would hear the now rapid rhythm of my heartbeat. My mouth suddenly dry, my body in a sweat, my mind raced, “Zombies? Zombies! Zombies don’t exist! How can this be? How do we get away from zombies? I don’t know what to do! I’ve never had to deal with zombies before!”

            Joaquin seemed to read my mind, “Just act like them. Maybe they won’t know the difference and we can sneak out that way.”

            We walked downstairs slowly and deliberately, trying to avoid the squeaks in the steps. I peaked around the corner and saw the zombies milling around the living room. They were hideous! Their mouths hung open unnaturally wide. Their pale faces were full of scabs, gashes, and, of course, their lifeless but hungry eyes. Their movements were stiff and irregular. Their moaning shook my nerves and I felt like sprinting for the door. I knew I had to stay calm. Even though they seemed so slow, there were so many of them, I knew I couldn’t get through the crowd alive if I brought attention to myself with movements of the living.

            I anxiously moved slowly with jolting steps, mimicking their agape mouths and groans. I kept my face and limbs stiff and rolled my eyes in my head. Their rotted bodies brushed against mine and it took everything in my power to stop myself from screaming. I must have been holding my breath, because when I made it outside, I choked the air back into my lungs. I was crying as my dad, Joaquin, and I rushed down the driveway of the cabin into the neighborhood.

            We caught our breaths once we were down the street. I don’t know how much time had passed before we were able to speak.

            “We have to find the others,” I said.

            We began searching through the neighborhood and we saw some people up ahead. We ran up to them and realized they were zombies almost too late. We stopped in our tracks and dove into the bushes on the side of the road.

            “Can they see us?” I whispered.

            “If we don’t move, I don’t think they’ll be able to make us out,” Joaquin answered, suddenly an expert on zombies.

            My body was shaking. I didn’t know how I was supposed to remain still. Luckily, the zombies didn’t see us.

            “This is real serious,” I stated the obvious. “Now there are zombies everywhere. It’s going to make it a lot harder for us to find everyone.”

            We crept along in the shadows and the bushes. We found my mom and my sister hiding in the shrubbery. They were safe and I began to feel hopeful for the first time.

            And then I was alone. I don’t know how I lost my family or how they lost me. I was just alone and afraid. I wandered aimlessly and without caution. I saw a group of zombies approaching and ran to hide. I thought they were a just the doomed hunting for in the night. I didn’t see that they had a human in their clutches until they were right in front of my hideout. Before I could even gasp, the zombie bit the unknown girl on the arm. I knew it was too late for her. She was a zombie now. I turned to run and crashed right into an open mouthed zombie. The zombie grabbed my arm with surprising strength. As it was raising my arm to its mouth, I was paralyzed with fear. All I could do was scream over and over, “Jeanne, wake up! Jeanne, wake up!” Then, I did.