Of Mice and Zombies

There was only one piece of the last cake that his wife would ever make him left in all the world... And there were mice on it.

Fucking mice. No-one wanted them to be here. But they were. Taking stuff for nothing. Making everything smell like shit.

At any other time in his life Gus Thumb would’ve leapt to his feet and done something about them. But right now? Would there really be any point? There were far bigger problems in this new world than mice.

And Evie would’ve kicked his arse if he’d even considered hurting anything so small and innocent.

She was a good woman. Better than he deserved.

But she’d died just before the world changed. And Gus was still here. He’d never worked out how that was fair. At least she’d been spared the fallout. She’d never have to see what had happened. So maybe it was the fairest thing there was.

The lights had blinked out two nights ago. The radio had died with them. The gas still worked for now. So there was heat. But Gus couldn’t remember the last time he’d showered.

BANG, BANG, BANG, BANG…

There were sounds in the halls outside. Beneath the floor. From somewhere above the ceiling too. There were constant creaking and scratching sounds from everywhere. At all hours of the night. From all directions. But what was worse were the creatures making them.

Since the change, there were new things in the world outside. Things that looked like people but weren’t. Not really. Strange, miserable creatures. Blind. Loud. Hunchbacked…

They’d taken over so fast.

They were men... At least they’d started out as men. But men had souls. Men had a sense of clemency.

Now everything was upside down. If these things had thoughts… they thought differently. In ways that Gus didn’t want to understand.

BANG…

Since the fall, he’d only been out once. He’d stood amongst the remains of so many good people. Good men and women. Just memories now. Gus had no desire to go outside again. So the dead-bolt on his front door had stayed locked after that.

When the power had died and the fridge had become useless, Gus moved what food he could to the bathroom. It was easier to keep it away from the mice in there and it was cooler away from the gas heater.

But he hadn't remembered the freezer until a giant puddle of recently frozen water began inching its way across the kitchen floor.

Opening the freezer door to a glacial waterfall that spilled down his front, Gus let out a gasp and quickly removed two steaks, a bag of peas, a box of melted cornettos and one piece of chocolate cake before dancing quickly to the bedroom to change his wet clothes.

The mice wasted no time discovering what he’d left for them on the counter. The cake was clearly their favourite.

Evie would’ve wanted them to have it.

Leaving them a small portion, Gus broke off a piece to keep for himself and took the rest to the bathroom for later, then lay down on the couch and closed his eyes.

The next day, and the one that followed, Gus brought out another broken portion of cake placing it on a teacup saucer in the middle of the kitchen floor. The man would watch patiently… but the mice wouldn’t come out. He’d strain his ears. Concentrating. Searching for the smallest of sounds in the dark. But the more he did, the louder the scratches and the creaking and the banging outside became.

Each night he would fall asleep and wake to see the cake had gone. And he found himself increasingly disappointed that he’d missed it.

On the third day, from a gap beside the fridge, a curious tiny nose extended, catching the scent of cake on the air. Gus held his breath… silent as it mustered the courage to step forward. Each step away from the security of the fridge more careful than the last.

Two other mice appeared at the fissure to watch. Wide eyed and just as interested as Gus.

BANG, BANG! The mouse spun and vanished into the crack, All three disappearing into blackness. Gus exhaled and swore quietly to himself.

The banging never stopped.

Gus could see lights from the balcony. Evie used to love sitting out here in the summer. From the third floor apartment they could see all the way to the ocean and would watch the flocking birds find their roosts as the sun went down. The thick braid of white hair falling over the dark skin of her shoulder. When they’d retired here it was quiet. Peaceful. They were happy.

But there were things moving around down there now and everything was grey. Gus had no intention of dealing with any of it while there was still food in the apartment. It wouldn’t last forever… but he didn’t eat much.

BANG, BANG, BANG…

Evie had died a week before the world changed. And now everything had fallen apart.

Outside, there were the shrieks and howls as things clambered down the hallways beyond the apartment door. Inside, there was the darkness and the mouse droppings that covered every surface.

The photographs on the mantle that had always made him smile, looked ghostly and strange in the moonlight. Nothing was the way it should be.

Even the silver, heart shaped locket he’d bought Evie 23 years ago, before the world had fallen, lay upside-down on the shelf looking more like an arse than a heart now. Everything was upside down. And everything smelled like shit.

It had all happened so fast.

The old man set the saucer of cake on the kitchen floor.

He stroked the grey hairs of his beard slowly. His eyes boring into the darkness beside the fridge for any sign of movement. His ears straining. And, for the longest time, there was nothing.

Then the scurrying of tiny feet. Lightning in the dark. A thundering patter.

“Hey Mr! You doing alright in there? You feel like coming out?” His unused voice was a horse whisper.

But to the mouse, Gus didn’t make any sense. It couldn’t understand him.

And once again the old man fell asleep watching from the couch.

Even before the world had fallen. When everyone was still trying to act like things was going to be okay… The mice had moved in. He’d wanted them gone but couldn’t kill them. Evie had just passed. Imagine what she’d think of him?

Everyone else in the apartment block had had an exterminator in. But the mice kept coming back. And everyone knew why. Even if they did keep taking stuff for nothing and making the apartment smell like shit. Gus couldn’t bring himself to kill them.

Overall the people in his apartment block were polite enough about it. One young man next door in particular. Most would usually just knock and leave a letter asking if he’d please consider the exterminator. They had no way of knowing that the world was about to end… that pretty soon, none of it would matter.

A lot of young people had moved in lately.

Gus hadn’t eaten for a couple of days now.

His pale weathered fingers shook as he placed the cake on the floor. Not as steady as they used to be.

Evie used to tell him that he was ageing well. A better looking man with every year that passed.

“So handsome.” She’d mock with a grin, “you could charm a shark!”

But the mice didn’t seem to think so.

And Gus realised that he was crying.

He fell asleep on the couch again. He still couldn’t bring himself to sleep in the bedroom.

Evie died when the world changed.. Or had the world changed when she’d died?

He’d only been outside once since everything had gone bad. He hated cemeteries.

Everything was upside down.

He hadn’t paid his electricity bill in a while.

He couldn’t remember the last time he’d seen the point in showering.

Who’d care. Who’d even notice.

No-one would look at him. No-one looked at the world anymore. Not unless someone else had taken a picture of it and posted it online. Men used to hold their heads high. Now no one even looked up.

To Gus it seemed like the whole world had gone blind.

In his 20’s he’d been to war and learned very quickly that the stupider someone was, the more they seemed to believe volume an acceptable substitute for intelligence. People who talked too much rarely had anything interesting to say. And people who did it loudly usually got shot first.

But now everyone was loud… loud all the time. And there were no bullet shaped lessons to teach them any different. Gus used to feel guilty about thoughts like that. But not anymore. Not since Evie.

The world had fallen. And these poor, sorry, sons-of-bitches that’d been born into it didn’t even seem to notice. They had no way of knowing any different. Blind. Loud. Banging around til all hours of the night.

The people that’d moved into his building over the last few years made no sense to Gus. He couldn’t understand them.

Evie made sense.

And the man he was made sense to her.

Men used to be men. Gus remembered.

Men had pride for the right reasons. Not just for the way they looked in pictures that they took of themselves.

Men did what needed to be done without complaining about it. They were tough without being abusive. And they dealt with shit without needing a therapist to hold their fucking hand.

It used to be such a quiet neighbourhood. It had all changed so fast.

There was a knock at the door again. BANG, BANG…

This is how they'd dealt with things. These young “people”. They’d Knock on the door and run away leaving a note. Men used to be men.

On the eighth day after the power went out, Gus lay the saucer on the kitchen floor for the last time. It was the last chunk of the last piece of the last cake that his wife would ever make for him.

Gus had decided that he liked the mice. He understood them. Even if they didn’t understand him.

No one wanted the mice to be here. But they were.

Taking stuff for nothing.

Making everything smell like shit.

No-one wanted The old man to be here. But he was.

Getting a pension for nothing.

Making the whole apartment block smell like shit.

Life had all happened so fast.

There was a movement in the shadows. And again the twitching nose came out of the dark with a timid squeak.

“It’s okay. You can come out.” The old man croaked.

The tiny mouse looked at him with its curious dark eyes… then back to the cake. Then back to him again.

It stepped forward.

“Well, you sure took your time, hiding away in there, didn’t you?” Gus said with a smile. The mouse twitched its nose and sprung forward like lightning, jumping onto the teacup saucer and tearing off a chuck of chocolate cake with its tiny paws.

Gus pulled out the small piece that he’d been saving for himself and held it up to the little creature. Its two friends leapt forward.

“To Evie.” He nodded.

Gus knew that they’d come out eventually. He’d just needed to be patient with them. There was nothing for them to be scared of. But they had to see that for themselves.

Knock, knock, knock. Came the sound from the old mans locked front door.

Gus heard the voice of his young neighbour.

“Hey Mr? You doing alright in there? You feel like coming out?”