The Caffeine Apocalypse, Part Three

Continued from Part Two.

Sarah and Melanie climbed the steps together, each holding a toddler in one hand and keeping the other hand on the guard rail. Jara trailed along behind them, relieved at not being the one who had to carry the children, but certain that they'd be dumped on her again when they reached the top of the building.

They went up the final set of steps -- bare concrete, and ending in a plain steel door which had been propped open with a cinder block. Jara caught a whiff of coffee as she stepped out into the sun, and blinked at the weight of the smell. She didn't really like coffee, but like everyone else she'd been drinking a lot of it lately. The alternative was too dangerous.

Sure enough, the professor - lean and wiry despite his gray hair - was hard at work on his machine. And, sure enough, he saw them emerge from the doorway and called, "Sarah, Melanie, I need your help."

Sarah came to her rescue. "Let Melanie watch the kids," she suggested. "Jara can help with this."

A rush of gratitude flowed over her as the professor nodded. Melanie looked surprised, but she took the toddler from Sarah's arms and went over to a corner of the roof, where the wall would offer the girls some shade. One of the twins started crying. Probably, Jara thought, she could smell the coffee and wanted another hit. Since the plague had struck, even the toddlers drank coffee.

"I'll be testing the pump," said the professor, raising his voice in order to be heard over the wind blowing across the rooftop. "Watch the line. If it leaks, we'll lose pressure..."

Jara nodded. The professor's machine was their only hope of salvation. If it didn't work, or if it lost pressure while they were using it, they were doomed.

The professor switched on the pump, and Jara watched one section of pipe while Sarah studied the other. She couldn't see any leaks; even a fine spray would have produced a visible rainbow. That was Evan's work, she thought admiringly. The professor might have designed the machine, but Evan was the one who knew how to put things together and make them stay. If he'd paid her even half the attention he'd paid this machine...

Maybe later, if we survive. Jara kept her attention on the machine. That was what mattered now. "It looks fine," she called, and heard Sarah echo her assessment.

"Excellent," said the professor, and powered down the pump. For a moment he slumped, looking exhausted. Then he grinned at them. "Can hyou get up ze ladder? Ve haff to put in ze grindinks."

It took Jara a moment to translate that. The professor tended to slip into a B-movie mad scientist accent when he wanted to put people at their ease, and it wasn't always easy to understand. Once she'd put everything together, though, she stepped onto the ladder and started climbing.

This was an older building, old enough to have a water tank on the rooftop. That was why they'd chosen it. The professor had built his machine around it, and now they needed to load it up so it could work. Sarah took a spot on the ladder just beneath her, and the professor started handing burlap bags up to them.

They were just starting to make progress when Evan and Doug stumbled out of the door and onto the rooftop. Evan turned and picked up the cinder block, while Doug slammed the door shut. A moment later they were wedging a makeshift wooden frame into place under the door knob, and setting the cinder block to hold it in place.

"Hurry," said the professor, and handed up another bag of coffee beans. "The infected are coming."

The Caffeine Apocalypse, Part Two

Continued from Part One.

Evan had just reached the bottom of the stairs when he heard the sound of breaking glass. He and Doug exchanged a look, then started cautiously towards the front door.

The sound of running feet reached their ears almost immediately. "Oops," said Evan, then turned and ran for the stairs. Behind them, they could hear the shrieks and howls of the infected.

Even with a head start, they only escaped because they'd prepared their defenses in advance, and practiced getting them into place. So, at the top of the stairs they turned and grabbed the heavy metal filing cabinet, then dragged it across until it blocked the top of the stairs. Then they grabbed the desk and pulled it into place behind the cabinet, filling the space between the filing cabinet and the far wall. No matter how many of the infected filled the stairs, they shouldn't be able to shove that aside.

Doug tossed Evan a door-stop, then turned to wedge another one in on the other side of the cabinet. They were little more than tiny rubber triangles, but they'd keep the cabinet from sliding sideways. "There," said Evan, and scrambled over the desk to join Doug on the far side.

There were two other stairwells in the building, but they'd blocked those off by chaining their doors closed. They were safe for as long as the filing cabinet blocked this central stair.

"Jesus," muttered Doug. "What set them off?"

"The professor must have started the machine." Evan tilted his head, as if trying to see up to the roof. "If they can smell us, they can sure as hell smell that. We'd better get up there... and block off everything behind us. If the infected make it up there before it's ready..."

Doug nodded, and they started up the next flight of stairs.

Continue to Part Three...

The Caffeine Apocalypse, Part One

Sarah pushed the curtain aside and looked down. Four stories below, a mob filled the street: standing, staggering, pushing in towards the building.

Doug stepped up beside her, and Sarah automatically stepped back. She didn't like Doug; the sleazy bastard had tried to hit on her three times now, and at least one of those attempts had taken place while his girlfriend was in the room with them. This time, though, he seemed to be just looking.

"How do they keep finding us?" he asked, sounding frustrated.

Sarah didn't answer. They'd argued it over before, but nobody really knew. Privately, she suspected that the professor was right: the shambling horde in the street below could smell them. It didn't really matter, though. However they did it, the infected had found them and surrounded the building.

"Hey," said a voice from the doorway. Sarah looked up, relieved at the interruption.

It was Evan: a young man just out of high school, who'd been working as a plumber's assistant until the plague had swept everything away. He'd been an invaluable help to the the professor -- and to the rest of them, for that matter -- and the fact that he treated everyone from the professor to the year-old twins with a sort of pleasant equanimity made his presence infinitely preferable to Doug's.

"Hi, Evan. How's it coming?"

"We're getting close." He paused, then asked: "Sarah, can you find Melanie and head up to the roof? The professor could use a hand, and Doug and I need to go check on the barriers downstairs."

"All right." Sarah crossed the room from the window to the small table beside the door. A coffee maker sat on the table, with the usual accoutrements: styrofoam cups, creams, sweeteners, and a box of little straws that were completely useless for stirring it all together.

The streets outside were swarming with infected, and the building was too isolated from its neighbors to offer any hope of escaping overhead... but the lower floors were blocked, the electricity hadn't failed yet, they had plenty of food and water, and the professor had a plan. No, right now the only thing that worried Sarah was the prospect of running out of coffee.

Doug went past her and out the door, following Evan down the hall. Sarah poured herself a cup of coffee and drank half of it. Doug was, she thought, at least willing to work... provided the tasks were manly enough. He wouldn't have been her first choice of companions for the end of the world, but then if she'd had any choice in the matter they wouldn't be having an apocalypse in the first place.

Still carrying her coffee, she went to look for Melanie.

Continue to Part Two...