Clay

Clay Morgan might have never discovered the possible cure to the apocalypse had he stayed in bed this morning.

The shrill wail of the alarm clock sliced through the dank air. Clay peeled open encrusted eyes, blinking away bleariness. A numb arm snaked out from the tangle of soiled sheets and batted at the nightstand, finally silencing the shriek. His hand closed around the fresh beer bottle waiting beside the overturned corpse of last night's indulgence. Liquid courage. Clay tipped it back, sucking down a few gulps. The acidic fumes singed his throat yet failed to pierce the cottony removal numbing his senses.

Crusty whiskers grated against his palm as he scrubbed a hand across his stubbled face. God, he reeked of stale booze and regret. But at least the throbbing in his skull had receded to a dull pounding for now.

Something flickered through the haze muddling his thoughts - hadn't he needed to be up for something? Right, the kids... Clay squinted at the numbers glaring in harsh red on the digital clock. 5:07 AM. He was supposed to visit them, be a model adult. A mirthless chuckle wheezed out. As if he could even stand up straight right now, let alone be a responsible adult.

Two hours of restless tossing had been all the sleep he could manage again. Even the trazodone didn't help anymore. He reeked of stale beer - not a good look for teaching the kids' classes soon. Dragging himself up, he stared dully around the darkened bedroom. Piles of crumpled clothes and empty bottles littered the floor. When had he last cleaned up in here? A wave of queasiness rolled through him and he clutched the bottle tighter. Maybe after another few swigs...

The kids. That’s who he was waking up for.

The sour stench of stale beer clung to Clay's pallid skin as he peeled himself from the sweaty sheets. A dull throbbing drummed behind his eyes in time with his pulse. He blinked against the hazy daylight slashing through the curtain gaps, grimacing at the dim shadows now wavering across his rumpled bedclothes.

Leaden feet carried him towards the bathroom, legs wobbling like rubber. The shock of cool tile made him shudder. He cranked the shower handle, water hissing through the pipes. Steam began swirling as he sloughed off his damp boxers and stepped under the spray, eyes screwed shut against its needling pricks. Clay tilted his face into the deluge, letting it sluice away the previous night's excesses. He clutched the slippery bar of soap, scrubbing himself raw until the reek of fermentation no longer cloyed his nostrils. Only then did the vise around his skull finally begin to loosen its grip.

Damp fingers fumbled with his toothbrush, prying apart his sticky jaws to let the mint foam scour away the cottony aftertaste. A grimace twisted his lips as the floss sliced between enamel, scraping off clots of God-knew-what. But at least the kids wouldn't have to smell it on his breath. Toweling off, Clay caught his pallid reflection in the fog-streaked mirror. Bruised half-moons sagged beneath his hollow eyes. He dragged a comb through his lank hair, smoothed his stubbled jaw, straightened the crisp collar of his shirt. A mockery of put-togetherness disguising the truth rotting inside.

One foot planted in front of the other, he steadied himself against the wave of vertigo crashing over him. Just make it through today. That's all he could ask anymore - to hold this waking facsimile of functionality together for a few more hours until the night's oblivion beckoned once more.

Clay cinched his belt another notch tighter, smothering the quaver in his leaden steps.

---

In another hour, Clay looked less like he felt and more than how the kids wanted him to look. His shirt tucked into his pants, hair combed over and clean, and he smelled like lavender. His beard had been shaved down as if he was heading for an interview rather than entertaining children for the next 8 hours.

Keeping a tight rein on his roiling guts, Clay strode down the dingy corridor with as much poise as he could muster. The cloying reek of industrial cleaner and recycled air made his nostrils flare, fighting back the sour burn threatening to unleash the morning's indulgences. He gripped the sleeve of his neatly-pressed shirt, using the coarse fabric to dab away the cold sweat beading on his brow.

Each thudding footfall sent tremors lancing through his skull. Clay winced, hunching slightly as he forged ahead through the fluorescent-lit haze. The hallways filled with activity, families on their morning walks to the mess hall for breakfast, soldiers running back and forth.

Despite the gripping ache sloshing through his veins, he refused to let the mask slip. Couldn't have the kids seeing the poor bastard he'd become again. They needed their smiling, dependable Mr. Morgan - not this pitiful, jaundiced wretch reeking of shame and Burnett's Vodka.

A familiar voice pierced the droning white noise, making him wince. "Mr. Morgan!"

Jenna's perpetually chipper tone grated in his throbbing ears. The young counselor jogged towards him, strawberry-blonde ponytail bobbing, eyes alight with concern. Of course she'd be out patrolling at this hour, ever the consummate girl scout.

"You should've stayed in bed," she clucked, drawing closer to inspect the gruff older man. "We've got volunteers that can watch the kids today if you're not feeling--"

Clay raised a leaden hand, cutting her off with a curt shake of his head. The motion sent another lance drilling behind his eyes. He squeezed them shut, jaw tightening as he willed away the nauseous tide.

"I'm fine." The lie felt as stale as the acrid tingle coating his tongue. "Just need a minute."

Jenna's brows knit together, rosy lips pursing. For a moment, her customary bubbly veneer slipped - those youthful features hardening into an expression of uncharacteristic severity. She saw straight through his hollow bravado, peering into the abyss he worked so diligently to conceal.

Clearing his throat, Clay forced his shoulders back into a semblance of steadiness. "You know how it is," he mumbled, the gruff timbre of his voice sounding foreign even to his own ringing ears. "Kids like having me around. Need to see a familiar face, you know? Let 'em know everything's...copacetic."

The word felt leaden, ash coating his mouth. But the facade had to be maintained at all costs. For their sakes, if nothing else.

Jenna's skeptical look remained, though she gave a curt nod. "Well, actually...that's not the only reason I flagged you down." She chewed her lip, seeming to weigh her next words carefully. "We just got a priority SOS from one of the scout teams outside the bunker's perimeter. Could be a straggler or..."

The implication hung in the air, unvoiced yet palpable. The possibility of a child in peril out in that irradiated hellscape. In the back of Clay's alcohol-addled mind, a flicker of memory sparked - a cherubic face, a high-pitched giggle echoing down a suburb's pristine sidewalk. Lara...

His fists clenched at his sides as Jenna's voice faded into white noise, drowned out by the roaring in his ears. If there was even the slimmest chance, no matter how foolish or futile...he had to try. Had to make one last grasp at some vapor of redemption, or be consumed utterly by the charnel pit of his failures.

"Just tell me when we're leaving," Clay growled, already turning on his heel towards the armory. If a child's life hung in the balance out there, he would stop at nothing to reach them - defy the very laws of nature if need be. Ignoring Jenna's protests, he forged ahead into the bunker's echoing depths with a sense of grim purpose. One way or another, he would not fail again. Could not. For you, Lara. He winced at the memory, shaking his head. No, he was doing Lara’s will. Take care of the kids, day in and day out, keep them happy, keep them safe. That was all he had to do.

That was all he had left to do.

---

New York looked as shitty as the day it had fallen.

Clay Morgan emerged from the dim confines of the bunker, chest constricted, throat rasped raw by the recycled air. Each step out into the open carried a leaden weight, an anchor of unease he fought to shake. Weapons studded his hips, calves—every inch primed for threat, though mercifully his role amounted to little more than reassuring any frightened children.

Four soldiers flanked him, names unlearned and unimportant. One, younger than the rest, Keldan he remembers, called out: "You been topside before, Morgan?"

Clay's mumbled "Unfortunately" spoke volumes. The world above promised only escalating dread with each shuffle forward into its seeming infinity. Panic swelled in tandem with the yawning sky and horizon's taunting vast, tightening its noose around his hammering pulse. Better to return below before too long, he knew—what if one of the kids needed him now, voice cracking with fear he could have soothed?

The doors ground shut behind them with damning finality. There goes his decision.

The world awaiting them lacked the chaos one might expect—an unnatural stillness clung to the state park surrounding their underground haven. Birdsong and a smattering of parked vehicles lent an eerie illusion of normalcy, as if the apocalypse had yet to descend. Clay’s chest constricted as he trudged up the bunker's steel steps, each footfall leaden. The yawning sky stretched infinite above, sunlight's glare stealing the moisture from his raw throat. Weapons dotted his form, studding calves and hip—meager reassurance when the earth's tranquil facade faltered.

There—a crumpled form marring the trail ahead, one of the unlucky forsaken four years prior when society unraveled. Clay's gaze snapped away, jaw clenched to stave off memories of that fateful day his life disintegrated alongside billions of others. Bile burned his esophagus; the scent of decay wafted by, unhurried reminder of their grim circumstances. Lara's voice whispered unbidden, memory of her gentle plea to establish a nursery echoing hollowly. Clay winced, squeezing his eyes shut against the onslaught of emotion those fleeting thoughts stirred. Not now, not when their path remained fraught with potential violence slumbering beneath the placid scenery.

He fell into step behind the four armed sentries, senses straining against the deceptive calm. A displaced corpse could stir at any moment, feigning death until the opportunity to strike arose. Or worse—those things could descend en masse, drawn by the siren call of smoke that prevented a merciful purging of the area.

They walked for 30 minutes, which was plenty of time for Clay to get restless. He wanted to go back to the bunker, as shabby as it was, it was safe. He could get drunk and lay in bed and not worry about his head being bit off. He held his gun out in front of him now, sweaty palms making it difficult to trust in his own shooting skills. The steady cadence of their boots crunching the litter-strewn asphalt grated on Clay's fraying nerves with each plodding step. A maze of cracked store fronts and toppled signs loomed from the periphery, mute testaments to the world's abrupt descent into bedlam. His gaze traced the faded letters of a Sears storefront, memories of idyllic mall trips in a simpler era flitting through his mind's eye before the acrid stench of decay banished them.

A tremor rippled through Clay, gun trembling in his sweat-slicked grip. Every shadow, each skeletal husk of an upended vehicle, concealed unspeakable peril awaiting discovery. Yet the soldiers pressed onward, expressions grim beneath the weight of grim resignation. They'd all born witness to the ravenous undead hordes that stalked the nights.

Keldan's assuring hand found Clay's shoulder once more, the younger man's mouth sculpting a silent "You okay?" Clay managed a taut nod, forcing his white-knuckled grasp to slacken around the rifle's grip. He couldn't afford such distraction, and definitely not in front of someone 30 years younger than him.

The once-bustling shopping plaza yawned in their path, a graveyard of toppled stalls and overturned vendor carts scattered amid the rubble. Keldan pointed towards a crumpled lump in the near distance—the unmistakable contours of a desiccated corpse sprawled with limbs akimbo, clothing tattered to rags.

Clay swallowed bile, Adam's apple bobbing. Any one of those crumpled forms could have housed the soul sending that distress flare. Every crunch of debris underfoot set Clay's pulse thundering, imagined groans of the revenant masses slithering in his mind's periphery. He flexed his sweaty palm around the rifle's stock, fingers caressing the trigger guard as their path carried them deeper into the festering heart of the dead city's remnants.

The distress signal's point of origin loomed ever closer with each agonizing step. Clay strained his senses for any telltale hint of the unnatural, of fetid breath and guttural snarls heralding the undead's inexorable approach. He knew their time dwindled; once night hit, it was time to head home and forget this.

The creak of shattering glass sliced the heavy silence, every head whipping towards the disturbance. Clay's finger tightened on the trigger, gun raised and searching as sweat beaded his brow - only to lower it begrudgingly as a scrawny bird fluttered away from the storefront window. His jaw clenched at Olsen studying the flare's point of origin on his phone, the faint tendrils of smoke still coiling from the broken pane.

"We're going in," Olsen muttered, the words dropping like lead in the stillness. "Stay close. Weapons ready."

The squad melted into formation around Clay, guns leveled at every shadowed corner as they proceeded with agonizing slowness. Olsen up front, Keldan in the back, Polina and Gabriel on either side. An unnatural quiet smothered the world, the air thick and leaden with an intangible menace. As Clay moved, his boots made no sound on the pavement, as if the street itself held its breath in dread expectation.

A foul reek washed over them in a fetid wave, the charnel stench of decay clogging Clay's nostrils and throat. He fought back a retch, the alcohol still burning in his gut as they approached the market's shattered doors. The reinforced glass crunched underfoot, tiny splinters glittering like crystallized malice in the fading light.

A sense of profane wrongness seeped from the building's maw, the shadows gathered within seeming to writhe with sightless sentience. Clay's gaze flicked to the support beams spanning the entrance, half-expecting to see them drip with viscous ichor. Olsen's shoulders bunched beneath his vest as he reached for the door with painstaking care, as if any incautious move might rouse the dread entity slumbering inside from its uneasy dreams.

Silence. He could hear his own breathing, his heart racing in his ears, his eyes watering.

The hallway stretched out before him, dim and lifeless. Olsen's ragged breathing echoed off the scuffed tile, accompanied by the shuffle of boots on tile as they crept forward. His grip tightened on the rifle, knuckles whitening.

A shuffle from behind a half-open door up ahead. Clay tensed, heart pounding in his ears. Dust motes danced in the thin beam from Olsen's flashlight. Olsen's calloused finger caressed the trigger guard.

The door creaked open, hinges rusty with disuse. Something shambled through the doorway with a gurgling moan. Keldan's rifle barked once, twice - the thing crumpled to the floor in a boneless heap, skull shattered.

Olsen waved them on without a word. More shuffling up ahead, growing louder. Keldan's hand found the small of Clay's back, propelling him forward. No time for hesitation. The acrid stench of rot and decay clogged Clay's nostrils.

The next room yawned before them, shelving units cast into stark silhouette by the dim rays filtering through grimy windows. Olsen swept his light across the room. Too late - they poured from every shadowed alcove, decaying forms lurching and dragging themselves forward with cracked nails on tile.

Gunfire shattered the silence, hollow pops of suppressed rifles echoing through the cavernous space. Bullet-riddled corpses fell in clumsy heaps, trampled by the next wave of shambling figures. Keldan backpedaled, sights trained on the mass of gnashing teeth and grasping hands inching ever closer.

Olsen was shouting something - Clay couldn't make out the words over the chaos. He fell into step beside Keldan in retreat, firing in controlled bursts as Olsen and Polina laid down cover fire. No end to the seething tide of undead forcing them back towards the exit. Gunfire. Rot. Endless hunger. All narrowed to the tunnel vision of survival, moment to moment in the maelstrom of death that once was a city.

The sound of a bag of chips falling made Clays head snap sideways. In the dark corner of the store, someone was crouched. Keldan frowned, lips parting as if to voice a question, but the words died in his throat as another wave of undead lurched into view. He backpedaled, rifle thundering, buying them precious seconds.

Clay's own rifle barked, the recoil a familiar kick against his shoulder as he methodically dropped one shambler after another. But his gaze kept straying to that unnaturally still form amid the frenzy.

The zombies paid them no mind, clawing past within inches as they honed in on the living survivors. Clay's throat went dry. Who were they? Why were the zombies ignoring them?

A feral snarl split the air as a decomposing horror lunged for Polina's unguarded flank. She whirled, blasting it full in the ruined face at point-blank range. The thought hit Clay like a freight train:

Were they... immune?

Another deafening crack of gunfire jolted Clay from his stunned reverie. Polina backpedaled further towards the exit, her rifle chattering as she cut down the horde's vanguard. The person remained curled in a trembling ball on the floor while the undead tide flowed around them, unseeing.

It couldn't be. Clay blinked sweat from his eyes, chest heaving with exertion. A living person, untouched amidst this maelstrom of gnashing teeth and hunger? Impossible. Yet there they sat, Clay broke apart from the formation despite Olsens yell, laying fire on the zombies before sliding on his knees in front of {{user}}. "Hey, are you okay?"