Zombies! (Episode 10): State of Emergency by Ivan Turner

infestation of zombies around the city, it wasn't as if anyone was going to deliver a pizza. So Alicia boiled up some pasta and defrosted some ground beef in a pan. They had half a jar of spaghetti sauce which turned out to be moldy. That sort of limited their options. Alicia got a little creative and threw some seasonings into the meat and onto the pasta. In the end it all worked out okay. Even Mellie ate.
     
    By 6:00, they were done and cleaning the table. Mellie was watching TV in the living room. Every station was broadcasting emergency information so she was relegated to the DVR. In the kitchen, Heron had the radio at a low volume, just listening for important information. He'd been telling the truth during his conversation with Satya. At least, it was the truth as he believed it. In his last few days on the job, he'd seen Homeland Security getting everything in order and preparing for a siege just like this one. They hadn't had enough information to be proactive, but they were certainly ready to react. As they cleaned up the dishes, he wasn't surprised to hear reports of the military and police recapturing infested sections of the city.
     
    Satya and his family came a little bit early. Heron could tell that they were edgy despite his reassurances and the reassurances of the news media. Banni was a small woman, younger than Satya by at least five years. Under her coat she wore a red blouse and a pair of blue jeans. She also wore a red head scarf, which she kept on. She was quiet, barely uttering a peep as she greeted the Herons. Namdev, their son, held tightly to his mother's hand. His wide eyes kept flitting from one place to another inside the house until he caught sight of Mellie in the other room. From her vantage point, she could see them, grown-ups saying hello. The television screen cast a flickering light over her in the dark room. Namdev's hand tapped out a rhythm on his leg as the music from one of Mellie's shows drifted out of the room.
     
    "Why don't you go in and sit with her?" Satya said to the boy. "It's all right."
     
    Namdev looked up at his mother. Letting go of his hand, she nodded, and he was off.
     
    "The coffee's almost ready," Alicia said to them. "Why don't you come in the kitchen and sit down?"
     
    The four of them retired to the kitchen and found seats around the table. The conversation was awkward at first, new people getting to know each other. Both Banni and Satya had been born in India but Satya's family had moved to London when he was just a boy. The two of them had met at school several years earlier. She had been in her first year and he had been assisting a professor. Their affair and marriage had come quickly and Namdev had come shortly after that. Banni hadn't even finished school. Satya, who had majored in English literature and published several papers even at his young age, had been offered a professorship with the City University of New York, specifically Brooklyn College. Leaving England had been difficult for them. They had been in the United States barely six weeks when the first of the zombie stories had hit the news.
     
    "That was the Sisters of Charity story," Heron said, remembering.
     
    Satya nodded. "I was fascinated by the whole thing. It seemed so fantastic. You were on the telly the next day."
     
    Heron nodded absently.
     
    "If you don't mind my asking," Banni said. "Why did you leave the police?" Her accent was far more Indian. There was only a hint of the English to it.
     
    Heron thought about just how to phrase his answer. The situation had become so complicated that he felt he should be telling them the whole story from the moment he and Stemmy had met with Shawn Rudd and began their search for the Koplowitz family.
     
    "Basically, I was fired from the zombie squad."
     
    This admission seemed to make their guests extremely uncomfortable.
     
    "It's not as bad as it sounds," he quickly added. "Homeland Security came in and took over the operation.