Finding Utopia

Chapter Four:What's Going On?

As Jim sped away with Randy's body, Nina and Catherine stood together by the karaoke equipment sipping their drinks in silence. Lisa joined them, a troubled look on her pretty face.
"I know I should have gone, but Jim said that the hospital is under quarantine and they wouldn't have let me go in with him anyway." She wrapped her arms around Catherine's shoulders and buried her head in her shoulder, crying softly.
"It will be okay, sweetie." Catherine patted Lisa's back, knowing it was of little comfort at a moment like this. She had never felt so confused and useless.

"Hey, everyone. Wow, it's really dead in here!" Kendra Peters, a regular karaoke customer joined them.
"Hi, Kendra. Jim had to rush Randy to the hospital. He just collapsed for no apparent reason," Catherine explained as she continued to pat and rub Lisa's back.
"You want to sing the first song?" Nina asked Kendra. "Maybe it will get our minds off of things."
"Sure, I'll do 'Zombie'."

Kendra began to sing the popular Cranberries song,

"Another head hangs lowly,
Child is slowly taken.
And the violence caused such silence,
Who are we mistaken?

But you see, it's not me, it's not my family.
In your head, in your head, they are fighting,
With their tanks and their bombs,
And their bombs and their guns.
In your head, in your head, they are crying...

In your head, in your head,
Zombie, zombie, zombie, "

"Did you hear that?" Catherine stopped tapping her feet and singing along. "I thought I heard a scream."
"I didn't hear anything," Nina began.
"Help, someone help! He's biting her!" someone yelled from the back door.

Nina and Catherine raced to the back door. Looking out, they were shocked to see a young man chewing on Katrina Bates' arm. Katrina was trying, desperately, to push him away, but he seemed to have unnatural strength and, no matter what she did, she couldn't break free. Tears of pain streamed down her cheeks, she was sweating profusely, her gorgeous, long, curly black hair matted to her mascara streaked, yet still beautiful, face.

Catherine pulled her cellphone from her pocket and dialed 911. The recorded message announced that all circuits were busy and she shoved it back into her pants, frustrated and angry. How the hell could 911 still be busy? What was this insanity?

Nina was trying desperately to pull the man off of Katrina to no avail. Catherine hurried back into the bar and grabbed a pool cue. Back out on the ramp, she hit the deranged man as hard as she could in the head, but it didn't even faze him. He kept gnawing away on Katrina's arm which hardly even looked like an arm anymore. Blood flowed freely from the pulpy mess that used to be an arm and Katrina looked like she was about to pass out from either shock or blood loss.

"Nina!" Catherine shouted. "Please tell me you have a gun in your van?"
"No. I didn't bring any with me. When Jim gets back from the hospital I'll tell him to go home and get some of his."
"Shit!" Catherine hoisted the pool cue over her head and brought it down as hard as she could, but still, the man acted as if he couldn't even feel it.

Katrina's legs gave way and she fell to the ground, unconscious. The man landed on top of her, still eating away at her flesh.

"Lisa! Get Lisa!" Catherine screamed at Nina. "She has a knife!"
Nina ran back into the bar and, a few seconds later, Lisa came streaking out the back door, knife raised above her head. "Get off of my friend!" she shrieked at the lunatic as she brought the hunting knife down with full force. The blade drove deep into his skull. He fell on top of Katrina and was still.

"Katrina, honey, wake up," Catherine knelt beside her friend, tears streaming down her cheeks. "Please, wake up."
But, she lay there, deathly still, her chest barely moving.
"Oh, god, what are we going to do?" Lisa's eyes shone with unshed tears.
"I don't know. I'm worried. Jim should be back by now. We need to figure out what's going on around here and come up with a plan."