Chapter 19: They Walk Among Us, Part 2

She stared at the driver who had her hands up in front of her face. Only a few feet from Pranthi, a car coming the other direction hit the truck and sent both vehicles spinning across the road.

The zombie walked through the chaos untouched, as if Pranthi and he were on a deserted street instead of in the midst of mayhem. She was going to die. If the zombie didn't get her, a car would turn her into pulp. If she were braver she'd step into the path of the destruction and be done with it.

The collision spread as brakes squealed and metal crunched. A dozen times she should have been killed, but another car would intervene as if some giant hand played with her life. Horns and people screamed, glass flew through the air drawing blood from her face and arms.

A truck hit a hydro pole and lines dropped across the road and lay like snakes over top of vehicles. The wires sparked and hissed, lighting pools of gasoline. One pool snaked between her and the man. He walked through it becoming a flaming shambling mass.

He reached out to grab her, close enough that the flames heated her skin. She couldn't force her feet to move. To shift even the slightest would be death. To stay frozen was to die.

A car braked hard, the squeal of tires rising over the sounds of chaos. It smacked into the zombie bursting him open, covering the car and Pranthi with red spatters. The car spun into another pole. This one leaned but didn't fall.

There were no more cars. Pranthi's legs quivered like they had been holding her for hours. Even now when the collisions stopped, she stood in the street unable to move. Bystanders rushed to help who they could. Sirens wailed as emergency crews approached from all directions.

Drivers and pedestrians were cut and bruised. People shambled about dazed, like they'd become zombies by the process of disaster. A young woman ran up to Pranthi, but Pranthi refused to move. The paramedics lifted her, still rigid and put her on a stretcher.

When she got to the hospital, Pranthi called Dan. He came over, put on suit, mask and gloves, then held her until she stopped shaking.

"It's starting again," Dan said. "Reports have been coming in across the city."

"Why now?" Pranthi asked.

"Who knows?" Dan said. "There is always some new weird thing. This is just it for this year. We'll figure it out and life will go on."

"Not for everybody," Pranthi said.

"No," Dan said, "but for most people. Humans are resilient creatures."

"What if I become one of them?" Pranthi asked. "I don't want to cause more destruction."

"You were one of the first," Dan said, "and you haven't turned yet. I don't think you're going to. Only a small number of people have." He put a card on the table. "There is a group at the university who are studying the fungus and people who've been affected by it. I'm sure they will want to talk to you. They asked us at Victim Services to try to encourage people to talk to them."

Pranthi picked up the card and looked at it.

"I guess it would be better than hoping I die before I become one of them."

The doctor released her to go home. She agreed that going to the study at the university was a good plan.

Her sister called while Pranthi ate dinner and Pranthi managed not to cry. Just another day of people dying around her.

She sat in front of the television and watched the news report on the crash. Someone had video of her standing in the middle of the road while destruction circled about her. She looked brave in the video, not like she was trying desperately not to wet her pants.

Her sister phoned back.

"You didn't tell me you were in an accident?"

"I wasn't in the accident," Pranthi said, "I was in the middle, not a part of it. Just like most of my life."

"How can I take care of you if you don't tell me things?"

"Exactly."

"What do you mean?" her sister's voice sharpened and Pranthi held the phone away from her head. The words came out of the receiver garbled now. Pranthi sighed and hung up the phone. Her sister meant well, but could never make up for being a day late to rescue Pranthi. She couldn't explain it to herself, never mind her sister.

Pranthi's body wanted to go to the roof-a remnant of the whispers in her head. She took the elevator up and mounted the stairs, but the doors were chained and locked. Jack might have found a way past them, but Pranthi wasn't going to. The voice wasn't that strong.

For the first time in years, Pranthi took a sleeping pill and lay down on her bed, not caring if she woke or not.

She dreamed that the truck kept missing her legs. No matter how many times the driver tried he couldn't touch Pranthi's legs. Then they put her brother on the road and pushed Pranthi away. The truck drove over him and left just a red spot on the road.

***

Pranthi woke with a gasp. Sunlight beamed in through her window.

She hadn't been out for weeks. Her camera bag accused her from where it lay on her table. Before she could change her mind, Pranthi picked up her bag and headed out the door.

"Where are you going this morning?" Frank asked as he walked up to open the door for her.

"Somewhere with no traffic," Pranthi said.

"You might try the university, then," Frank said. "My grandson just finished his year there, so there won't be a lot of people. Nice architecture, too, if you like that kind of stuff."

"Thanks," Pranthi said, "a new challenge may be what I need."

She walked out and flagged down a cab. The university campus did look interesting. Gardens surrounded old buildings. She alternated macro shots of early flowers with pictures of the campus buildings. She even found some gargoyles sticking out from the eaves of one of the buildings.

Using the camera again helped the knots in her body to loosen. She was so used to pain that the tightness in her shoulders and back didn't register until it was gone. Instead of making her feel better, it accentuated the pain in her legs. Time to sit down.

Pranthi found a bench in a warm spot and sat, enjoying, for the moment, not doing anything. She rubbed her thighs a little and sighed. Maybe she'd just call a cab to pick her up here. When she pulled out her phone to call, the card Dan gave her fell out.