Tech: Zombie Effect Chapter 1
Title: Tech: Zombie Effect
Characters: Logan Bryant/Carter Allen
POV: Carter
He couldn’t catch them. They were faster and seemed to know his every move. The five of them worked together to evade capture no matter how hard he tried. Carter doubled down his effort; he refused to be defeated. He was almost victorious when his concentration was broken.
“Do you have big plans for today?” Logan asked in a tense voice.
Carter sighed and gave up on trying to catch the last five sugared flakes floating in his bowl. Looking up, he saw the dark circles under Logan’s eyes. He’d been working overtime for the past month. And it was showing on his face as well as his terse tone.
“No, not really. I don’t have another job for a couple weeks. I thought I’d start winterizing the house.” Contracting as a civil engineer kept Carter busy during the spring and summer months. He typically took a couple weeks off in the fall to catch up on sleep and household jobs.
“I need you to run a few errands for me,” Logan said. He pulled out a list and laid it on the table. “I need you to run into Springmeadow. Go to SAMs and get this stuff. I need you to get as many of each as you can.”
Carter reached over and picked up the list: flour, beans, rice, the list continued on. “What? We don’t need any of this.”
“Listen to me,” Logan said urgently as he leaned forward. “I need you to get everything on the list. And as much of it as the store has. This is important. Here, here’s the money.”
Carter’s mouth dropped open as Logan pulled out a large stack of bills. “What? How much is there? Where did you get all that money?”
“I took it out of our savings account.”
“What? That’s our honeymoon money!” Carter and Logan had been saving every penny they could to go on a special honeymoon. Like most of the people their age, they were both deeply in debt with student loans. They had made a goal to have all their loans paid off by the time they were thirty-five, which was seven years away. Once the loans were paid off, they wanted to get married in a courthouse wedding, but have an extravagant honeymoon.
“Carter, please, just do what I ask. I’m begging you. There are things happening. Bad things. I’ll explain it all tonight. Just please, get everything. Get it all. I have to go.” Logan’s voice was full of desperation. Standing up, he pleaded, “Promise me, Carter. You’ll get everything on the list.”
Seeing the distress in his partner’s eyes, Carter promised. “I will. I’ll get everything on the list. But you damn well better have a good reason.”
Logan engulfing him in a tight hug whispered, “I do. You’ll know it all tonight.”
As Logan grabbed his jacket and started out of the house, he turned back and said, “If you have any money left over, go to every store you can, and get more.”
Carter frowned but nodded his head. Picking up the bowls, he noticed that Logan hadn’t eaten hardly any of his cereal. Whatever it was that was bothering him, Carter hoped it would be resolved soon. Logan had been staying late at work every night for a month. He’d dropped weight in that time, weight that he really didn’t have to lose. Quickly, he washed the bowls and spoons and laid them to dry next to the sink.
Walking back over to the table, Carter picked up the list. Besides the flour, rice, and dried beans, there were also items that they’d never bought before like dehydrated milk, canned applesauce, instant potatoes. There was more on the list, but Carter decided if he was going to get all of it, he needed to head out.
He put the money and list in his jean’s pocket, then went to the coat closet by the front door. Winter seemed to be coming early this year with temperatures in the low thirties. He took out his heavy wool coat and buttoned it up. The door creaked as he opened it. The old house really needed to be winterized but instead, he was going to stock up on things they had no use for.
The money felt heavy in his pocket as he turned the key in the lock. It’d taken them years to save it up. The only reason they’d been able to save that much was because his grandmother had left the old farmhouse to him when she’d passed away. Walking across the porch and down to his car, he sent his grandma another silent thank you. She’d opened her arms and her home when his own parents had disowned him. She hadn’t cared that he was gay. She took him in when he was fifteen years old and made sure he graduated high school. He’d thanked her a thousand times since then.
As he got in his car, he looked up at the big house. It had been in their family for several generations. A large, two-story house with a basement was more than he and Logan needed, but there was no mortgage on it. At one point, the surrounding area had been farmed by his family. Little by little, acres were sold off until only five acres were left. A small river ran behind the house that separated it from a new subdivision that was being built. The charm of the countryside was fast losing out to cheap cookie-cutter houses. So far, only a handful had been built. With the new houses popping up, the town had paid for their house to be put on city water instead of the well water they’d always had. As a civil engineer, Carter oversaw the project.
Driving through the Ozark mountains, he shook his head at the developments that were sprouting up. The beauty of the trees and hillsides were now pot-marked by humans moving in. Just a few years ago, there were only a handful of houses along the forty-five-minute drive to the larger town of Springmeadow. Now there were clusters of houses nestled into the small mountains. Despite the developments, the trees still blazed in reds, oranges, and golds during the height of autumn.
The winding two-lane highway merged into four lanes as Carter reached the outskirts of the city. Traffic grew heavier keeping his mind from wandering anymore. The large discount grocery warehouse was on the edge of Springmeadow and soon came into sight.
The parking lot was fairly full. Carter assumed people were shopping for Thanksgiving dinner and maybe getting a jump start on Christmas. Shaking his head as he pulled into an empty slot, he thought that Christmas this year would be null. Almost all of their savings was in his pocket to buy things that they didn’t even need.
Carter forced himself to get out of the car and go into the store. He was afraid he wouldn’t get anything and tell Logan that he refused to spend the money they’d so diligently saved. But Logan was the most level-headed person he knew. He’d get everything that Logan wanted him too.
Just inside the doors was an alcove with shopping carts. Pulling out his list, Carter decided on the big flat-bed cart. Of course the cart he chose had a broken wheel. He clanked his way toward the dry goods section.
The large bags of flour were on wooden pallets. Carter loaded the cart with all the bags they had. Thinking in his mind, that eight bags of twenty-five pounds of flour was more than anyone household needed, he pushed the cart down a few feet to the sugar. He continued to stack the cart up with sugar, corn starch, and oats. He then turned to the next aisle which was filled with beans, pasta, and rice. After he’d loaded the dry goods on top of everything else, he saw the dehydrated milk on the corner. Making a face at the thought of drinking the nasty stuff, he piled it on as well. The cart was stacked full, Carter pushed it to the front of the store. He’d get another cart.
“Excuse me, ma’am,” Carter said to a bored looking woman at the service desk. “May I leave this here? I’m getting another cart.”
“Yeah,” was the disinterested reply.
Carter thought there would be questions of why he was buying so much, but the woman apparently didn’t care. He got another cart, another cart with a broken wheel. As he pushed the squeaking cart, he noticed the pharmacy aisle. It wasn’t on the list, but Carter decided he may as well stock up on lubricant. If they weren’t going to be able have a fantastic honeymoon, at least they can have plenty of sex at home.
By the time he’d loaded the second cart, he had taken his coat off. It was somewhere under the pile of supplies. Clumsily navigating the cart to the checkout, he smiled at the cashier. “I’ve another cart right over there, I’ll be right back.”
He started to jog to the waiting cart, but when he heard the woman sigh and start to complain to another cashier, he decided he’d take his time. He’d not put himself out if the cashier was going to be a bitch.
Ringing up all the supplies took some time. The cashier huffed and rolled her eyes as she had to take the portable scanner and come out behind her counter to scan all the big bags he had stacked up. Once everything was tallied up, Carter took out the wad of bills. He laughed silently to himself as he counted out the money.
After taking the money, the woman picked up her microphone and called out for baggage help. Carter was thankful despite the woman’s bad attitude. He didn’t want to have to make two trips to load all of the stuff in his car.
Once he’d thanked the young man who’d helped him load everything up, Carter got in the car and pulled out the remaining cash. About two thousand was left. Carter took out a hundred and decided if he was going to spend their honeymoon money, he was going to at least go have a decent lunch. He’d do that first and then stop at all the stores afterward to get more groceries.
End chapter 1
On to chapter 2
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