Apocalypsis 04 - Haven

helped her with the last bit of it. “Sauna my butt. Here, let me help you cinch this up really tight so you can enjoy your own personal sauna too.”
    A few seconds later Gretchen’s muffled voice came from behind her mask. “Wow. These things don’t breathe at all, do they?”
    The sweat was already trickling down my back, and I knew I needed to distract myself quickly or I was going to start freaking out about suffocating or something. It was going to take a gallon of water to rehydrate myself when we were done.
    “Okay, let’s go,” I said. “Open the door.”
    Ronald stepped over and pulled on the big metal handle of the refrigerator. I inhaled sharply as the interior was revealed, hoping the gas mask would do its job. I breathed out a sigh of relief when all I could smell was the odor of plastic coming from the inside of my mask.
    We gathered around the opening of the fridge and stared at the carnage inside. Bodies - or what used to be bodies but were now just piles of mostly dry muck, bones, and clothes - were stacked on top of each other from floor to shoulder-height. Maybe the caretakers had tried to do it respectfully at first, but at some point they must have just been tossing people in. There was a small space just inside the door that was kind of clear of skeletons, except for a single body that was lying on its side, curled up like it was sleeping. Not much of it was left but bones and old goo and the clothes the person had been wearing. It was impossible to tell if it had been a man or woman, but I was guessing it was a woman by its small size.
    “Jesus save me,” said Jamal, standing next to me, staring at the person who must have been the last one in. She’d closed the door behind herself and laid down to die, all while surrounded by dead bodies.
    “Dat’s disgusting,” said Bodo. “Look, dat head is just dare with no body on it.”
    I refused to look where he was pointing. “Let’s just get them in bags as best we can and then onto the carts. Work in teams of two,” I said. “One girl, one guy.”
    I paired up with Bodo, Gretchen went with Jamal, and Winky was with Derek.
    Flick looked at Ronald. “We’re out of chicks.”
    “Yeah, but we’re not out of Flicks,” said Ronald, giggling behind his mask. “You can work with me, Chick Flick.”
    “Dude, that was lame,” said Flick. I could tell he was smiling though, because his eyes were crinkled up in the corners.
    Jamal and Gretchen grabbed a stack of black rubber bags they’d found in the supply closet and dumped them on the floor just inside the door. “Put the bodies in here if you can,” said Jamal. “They’re not big enough to fit an entire person in, but I don’t think we’re going to have to worry about that.”
    I stared at the mess in front of me with extreme distaste. I knew what he meant; they were so decomposed they were probably just going to fall apart when we touched them. My stomach rolled uncomfortably.
    “Come on. Let’s get this done,” said Derek, walking up to the body in the middle of the floor. He bent down to lift her by the upper body and the funkified gelatinous mess that used to be her torso sludged out on the floor and over his boots.
    This sealed fridge had apparently been the perfect storm for awfulness. It had accelerated the decomposition with its heat but had kept everything from drying out completely. Without any fresh air getting in or bad air getting out, what should have been totally old bones, dried up and without any goo … were just not. Total ew.
    He stood up quickly and twisted his upper body around to face us. I could see his complexion under the mask, and it was a lot whiter than it had been thirty seconds earlier.
    “Uh …” He swallowed loud enough that I could hear it. “That’s not … uh … gonna work.”
    “Be right back,” said Gretchen. We all stood pretty much frozen in place until she returned about a minute later. “I found this in one of the pantries over there.” She held up a shovel.
    “Why would they have a shovel in a kitchen?” I asked.
    “I think it was used to make big batches of stuff. It was in a huge garbage can thing full of sugar.” She thrust it out at Jamal. “Here you go partner. Have at it.”
    Jamal just stared at the handle. “I’m not sure I can … I don’t know if I …” He ran out of the entrance to the fridge and across the room, where he whipped off his mask and bent over a trash can to vomit. As soon as he was