The Most Uncommon Cold I - Life in the Time of Zombies by Jeffrey Littorno Read Free Book Online

better than most.”  He nodded toward several piles of newspapers on the floor against the wall.  “I’ve followed your writing, and that’s why I chose you to get this story out.”
         I grinned at the compliment. “Okay, so let ’s get started.  Of course, I need some facts about you and then you can tell me the story from the beginning.” 
         Clark took the seat behind the desk, I pulled the folding chair closer, and then I entered the world of Jerry Clark. He was fifty-four years old, never married, member of several groups dedicated to revealing conspiracies surrounding the Kennedy assassination, UFOs, oil production, and other matters of which I had not heard.  Nothing I learned about Jerry Clark added any trace of credibility.
         “Okay, let ’s start on what happened yesterday.  Was there anything that seemed out of the ordinary before the incident?”
         He tilted his head slightly to the right and looked at the wall behind me as if sorting through his memory.  “I can ’t really think of anything unusual.  I mean we just finished the Easter rush, and there’s no big holiday for a while, so the crowds were pretty small.”  He shook his head slowly.  “No, there was nothing that should’ve been a warning. Nothing unusual until... Well, you saw it in the video.  Passengers were disembarking in an orderly fashion. The chutes were being filled correctly.  There were three of us in our corrals.   Victor Martin, me, and the new guy whose name I can’t remember.”  He paused as he was obviously thinking about something.
         “Mister Clark, tell me the first thing you saw that signaled something was wrong.”
         “There was no signal!”  Clark took a deep breath before continuing, “What I mean is the first thing... I was reviewing the visas in a passport when there was a scream.  I looked in that direction but couldn’t see anything other than a crowd of passengers hurrying away from something on the floor. I kept watching and then all at once the bodies parted.  Someone was spread out on the floor, but the terrible thing was the person attacking. There was a young man sitting on top of the body clearly biting the other person.  Well, you saw it!” 
         Clark ’s voice was getting louder and more agitated, so I broke in with a question in an attempt to calm him.  “How long before airport security responded?” 
       Clearly irritated by my inability to grasp the point he was making, the customs agent stared at me for a moment. Finally, he let out a long sigh and answered, “I guess it was a coupla minutes before security showed up.”
         “Now, I talked with Ben and Berry Morgan.  Do you know them?”  Clark shook his head.  “Well, they’re with airport security, and they responded to the attack.”  I looked down at my notebook.  “They told me about a woman with half her face eaten off and a, quote, guy flopping around on the floor with blood spraying out of his throat, unquote.” 
         At my mention of what the Morgan brothers had seen, Clark’s face turned ashen.  He coughed roughly. “I think I’m gonna throw up,” he muttered as he launched himself from behind the desk and out of the room.
         I assumed he was headed off to the bathroom.  The assumption kept me in the folding chair for about ten minutes.  I strained my ears but could hear no sound in the house.  Finally, I ventured off to find Clark.  From the doorway, I called, “Mister Clark!  Are you okay?”  No answer.
         I moved slowly and carefully down the dark hallway.  The glow from the computer screen cast an eerie low light. The light switch was nowhere to be found. After a few steps, I stopped again and listened for any sound that might lead me to Jerry Clark. There was no sound other than the hum of a refrigerator.  Finally, I reached a white door that looked to be a bathroom door.  I knocked on the door and