To Live and Die in Louisiana

Thursday, September 20, 2007, 9:30 PM CDT

Blue Note Jazz Club, Lafayette, Louisiana

With the Blue Note secured, and zombies scratching and sniffing at the windows, Natasha Alexander and Chuck Williams rolled the corpse of Bruce Campbell in a sheet and dragged him into the walk-in freezer. Eric Schroeder — ex-Force Recon marine — decided to go upstairs and have a nap.

No one else in the bar could sleep, or do much more than watch the unfolding horror on CNN. Most were in a state of shock. Tania Jackson of the Festive Kennedys sat sobbing. The "z" word wasn't uttered, and all but Chuck, Eric, Natasha, and maybe one or two others, didn't truly believe it. It was a riot, or a disease.

On the other hand, none of them believed the government would ride in to save them. They had all seen close up FEMA's response to hurricanes Katrina and Rita.

As Eric slept, Chuck went into another upstairs bedroom and stared out the window. He could see shambling movement all around. There were gun shots and sirens in the distance. It disturbed him somewhat that the sirens did not seem to retreat or advance, but remained as a constant, distant wail.

Flashing lights caught his eye. Something with strobes was heading up the street. Chuck began flashing the lights of his room. Flash. Flash. Flash. Pause. Flash. Flash. Flash. Pause. Three flashes at a time, the international symbol of distress.

An ambulance drove up the street. It slowed as it reached the Blue Note, and then stopped in front of the guest house.

Chuck yelled out to the ambulance. An EMT or paramedic in the passenger seat rolled down his window and yelled, "You okay in there?"

Chuck yelled back, "Call the number!" He pointed to the guest house's sign.

The EMT waved his hand. A minute later, the phone rang downstairs. Chuck ran down to the bar.

Natasha answered the phone as Chuck appeared beside her. She told the EMT that they were trapped. Someone was trying to get in the back door. The EMT asked if everyone was okay. She said they had one person dead, but the others were alright. Chuck told her to ask the EMT to back up the ambulance. They would hop out the top window, climb into the ambulance and get out of there.

Before she could relay the information, the sound of breaking glass crackled in the phone. There were yells and screams and moans. The phone went dead.

Chuck ran back upstairs. He looked out in time to see a crowd of zombies drag the EMT out the passenger side window. They were swarming over the ambulance. The EMT disappeared in the mob, which surrounded the man in a horrible frenzy. The van swayed back and forth as the zombies tried to get into the vehicle.

Chuck took out his pistol. He had an idea where the ambulance's gas tank was located. He took careful aim and fired a single shot. With incredible fortune, the bullet must have clipped an electrical lead at the same time as it punctured the gas tank. The tank exploded, engulfing the ambulance in flame. Those zombies that were not torn apart were set alight. One flaming zombie quite calmly sauntered down the road.

The explosion woke up Eric. He and Chuck descended the stairs. Within a couple of minutes, a distant helicopter shot of the burning ambulance was shown live on CNN. For some reason media helicopters were not allowed to fly right over the city. Nevertheless, Natasha recognized the shot as their neighbourhood. The flame was from right outside the guest house.

Darren Isler, Eric's producer, walked up to Eric and said in a calm voice, "We've got to get out of here." Eric told him that they couldn't leave, not at night when they couldn't see what was out there, not with those things sniffing at the door. Darren started to get more agitated. He wanted out, and right away.

Norm Newbill put his hand on Darren's shoulder. Darren sat down while Eric continued to explain why they couldn't leave that night.

Natasha went upstairs. There were several planters outside of the windows of four rooms. She picked up a planter and dropped it on a zombie. The planter just missed. She tried again. She hit a zombie, embedding shards in the zombie's skull. She tried again, this time destroying the zombie with a direct hit on its skull. Several minutes later, another zombie was down and all the pots were broken.

Eric, Natasha and Chuck decided that they needed to set a watch that night. Eric quietly added that he didn't want to leave Darren alone. They came up with a schedule where five people would be awake at once. Three would patrol the building, one would watch the back door — which was actually the direct entrance to the bar, and the way out to the parking lot — and the last would watch the front door. Eric would take the first watch with Darren, Norm, and the two college girls. Next up would be Chuck and the Festive Kennedys. Last, Natasha would watch with Phil, Neil, Sarena, and Vee. They presented the plan to the others, and it was accepted.

Beds were pulled down from the upper floor, and everyone slept dorm style on the floor of the bar, though it was sometime after 1 AM before they turned off the TV and the last of the bar inhabitants lay down to sleep. They were just too wired to sleep deeply, at least right away.

Friday, September 21, 2007, 4:20 AM CDT

Blue Note Jazz Club, Lafayette, Louisiana

The first two watches went without incident. Just after 4 a.m. Phil and Neil slipped into the kitchen to check the heavy metal door there. As they came back into the bar proper, they heard the front door close. They ran to the front door. It was unlocked, but it didn't look like anything came in; instead, somebody left.

Natasha, Vee, and Sarena were upstairs patrolling. They ran down as Phil woke everyone up. They looked around. Darren was missing. So was Norm.

There was a shot outside, followed by the sound of a car starting. Someone peeled out of the parking lot with a squeal of tires. Norm and Darren had made a break for it.

The sun would be up soon. No one was going back to sleep now. Chuck went upstairs and surveyed the area. There were now more zombies than ever around the bar. Their situation had grown more desperate, not less, as they waited for daylight.

Chuck, Natasha and Eric talked over their options. The plan they came up with was risky. They needed to get the zombies to the front of the building. And they needed to take out the zombies. Chuck and Eric set about preparing their plan.

Eric rigged the gas furnace so that it would leak gas into the building. He set up a trip wire. Chuck opened up a window to the front of the guest house. He stood in front of the window with a fan behind him. He banged on a pot. The plan started to work. Zombies from the rear of the building, where the bar and kitchen exits were located, started to wander to the front of the house. Most of them, anyway, but not all of them.

As the sun rose, everyone except Chuck went to the kitchen door. Eric and Natasha would rush out first, Eric with Bruce Campbell's shotgun and Natasha with her pistol would be out the door first, to take care of the zombies that didn't take the bait. Phil would follow with the bar's shotgun. Neil had Chuck's shotgun. Eric gave Chuck his pistol, so that Chuck wasn't unarmed in the house.

Vee was worried about her bar and guest house. Eric lied, telling her that only the kitchen would be scorched in the ensuing fire. Insurance would pay for the damage. Vee was convinced. She let them tamper with the gas line into the house.

When everyone was ready, Chuck threw open the front door. Zombies started to stumble into the house, which was filling with gas. Natasha and Eric burst out the back door. There were four zombies out back. Natasha and Eric each shot a zombie in the head.

Chuck ran through the house. He knew where the tripwire was, between the bar and the front of the guest house. He did not slow down, but simply vaulted over the wire. His foot slipped as he took off. He barely missed triggering the wire as he landed face down on the floor.

Natasha finished off her zombie. Eric dropped another. More zombies were coming around the corner.

Phil ran for the van owned by the Festive Kennedys. He got in and started it. The band joined him, as did the college girls and Sarena, the waitress. Neil ran for Chuck's truck with the king cab. Vee followed him.

More shots rang out. Another zombie fell.

Chuck got up and ran through the bar, out the kitchen door, and past Eric and Natasha. He was in great physical shape and ran marathons as a hobby. Natasha and Eric followed him into the truck. Chuck rode shotgun in the front passenger seat. Eric and Natasha sat in the back seat of the cab, with Vee between them.

Neil backed up the truck, slammed it into first gear, and screeched out of the parking lot. Phil followed in the van.

The guest house exploded. The gas destroyed the building, blowing out the walls and turning the roof into kindling. The blast blew out the rear window of the van.

They sped down Johnston Street, heading toward the Evangeline Throughway, and then — hopefully — up to Interstate 10. Natasha called Phil on her cell phone. She asked if anyone was hurt. A couple of them were cut with glass, but no one was seriously injured.

They approached Clinton Street. A young man by the side of the road waved to them. He was obviously not a zombie. Eric told Neil to slow down. Chuck pointed to the truck bed and told the young man to jump in.

The young guy climbed into the truck. Two of his buddies showed up from between a couple of buildings. They didn't appear to be zombies, either. One of them jumped into the truck. The other did not.

This third man pulled out a gun. "Get out of the truck!" he yelled, as he pointed his pistol at Chuck.

Natasha and Chuck held their pistols. They aimed at the hijacker. Eric pulled out his own pistol. The hijacker fired at the same time as Chuck. The hijacker missed. Chuck didn't. The man fell to the ground, unconscious.

The two men in the truck bed pulled out guns, too. They weren't going to settle for just getting a ride. Eric brought up his gun and fired through the cab's back glass. It shattered, but the bullet missed.

One of the men had his gun out already and fired. As he pulled the trigger, Neil swerved the truck. The bullet missed. Eric fired, hitting the man, who slumped and bled in the back of the truck.

"Get out! Get out!" yelled Eric. The third guy did not get out. Instead, he aimed his gun.

Natasha fired, wounding the man. Eric fired, killing him.

"That's it! From now on we don't stop for anyone!" cried Eric.

The truck went through the S bend on Johnston Street. Before them was the Evangeline Throughway.