In the Lone and Level Sands (20 page)

“So, what’s the plan for today?” Jason
asked.

“I’m thinking we should open up one of the
windows and put up a big SOS sign. There’s bound to be a helicopter
or two flying around sometime.”

“That’s gold. Is there anything big enough
to write on in here, Daisy?”

“Art probably had some poster board or
something in his closet.” Daisy stood up and headed for the closet
to the left of the bathroom. A light flickered on when she pulled
the string dangling from it, and she searched for a few minutes,
but found nothing useful. She turned back to everyone and shook her
head. “Nothing.”

“What else will work?” Jason asked.

“Hey, here’s an idea,” Cynthia said. She
pointed to a blanket draped over one of the couches. “What if we
stick a blanket out the window? It’ll stay in place with the window
closed, and just flutter in the wind. Anyone flying by would know
someone’s in here, and maybe they’ll stop if they see it.”

“That sounds like a good plan,” Evan said.
Cynthia went for the blanket, and Evan for the window. He cracked
it open enough for Cynthia to stick the blanket out. She pulled her
hand back in, along with a few feet of blanket. Evan closed the
window, and the group peered out at the blanket flopping in the
light breeze.

“I hope that works,” Jennifer said.

“Don’t we all?” Jason replied.

“It’s a good plan,” Stephanie said. “As long
as someone comes by, it’ll work.” She bore a confident smile, and
looked at Jason, who smiled as well.

Eugene wheezed, then dug through his things
for his inhaler. He raised it to his mouth and took a nice long
breath.

“Are you okay?” Stephanie asked.

“I’m f-fine.”

“I just thought of something, Eugene,”
Stephanie said.

“What’s that?”

“That inhaler, how much medicine do you have
left? You could be in some serious trouble if you run out.”

“I just g-got it refilled the day b-before
yesterday. I’ll be good for a little while.” He pulled the small
container back out and looked at it briefly, and then handed it to
Stephanie. It read, among other things:
Albuterol, prescribed by
Dr. Kellon, PhD. Take once every four to six hours as needed for
shortness of breath.

“That’s good.” Stephanie sighed, smiled, and
hoped Eugene was right.

26

At the House in the Woods

At first, no one answered. Zoe waited on the
steps, wondering if the house had been abandoned. She walked across
the porch to one of the front windows. It was old and dirty, and
hardly transparent anymore. She cupped her hands to the sides of
her head and peered inside the house.

What little she could see was nothing out of
the ordinary. It was mostly furnishings, old chairs and shelves and
lamps.

Zoe returned to the door and knocked again.
There was a doorbell, but it didn’t look like it had been used in
ages. Zoe didn’t bother pressing it, as the door was open when she
looked back at it.

An old woman stood at the door. Her eyes
twitched with a mixture of horror and curiosity.

“You,” the woman said, “you’re not one of…
One of
them
, are you?”

“No, ma’am,” Zoe said. “I escaped the city.
I spent the night in the woods. I’m fine.”

“Well, what are you waiting for? Come in,
quickly!” The woman opened the door wider and motioned for Zoe to
enter. Zoe stepped inside. The woman looked around outside to make
sure no one had seen, then shut the door.

“Pardon the mess. Suffice it to say I’ve
never had any visitors.”

“It’s no bother at all,” Zoe said. There was
a fine smell of must and dust about the place, but it was better
than the smell of blood and dirt. “It beats the woods at night,
anyway.”

“You poor dear,” the woman said. “Come, sit
on the couch, rest up a bit. I’ll put on some tea and we can get
you warmed up.”

Zoe sat down, and the woman left the room.
Zoe looked around. The house looked the same as it had from the
outside. Everything in it was old and seemed mostly unused. The
lights were all off. Zoe reached for a lamp on an end table, not
because the minimal light in the house bothered her, but to see if
it even worked. Feeling a bit foolish, she decided against it and
withdrew her hand.

“The lights are off so that they aren’t
attracted here,” the woman said. Zoe had no idea she had been
standing there, nor how long it had been since she left in the
first place, but she was carrying a tray with a pot and two cups of
tea on it.

“Sorry,” Zoe said. “I kind of wanted to see
if it works.”

“It works.” The old woman said didn’t sound
angry at all. “But better safe than sorry, yes? Or, in this case,
better safe than well-lit. Tea’s done.”

She handed Zoe one of the cups, and Zoe
sipped the warm tea. It was all so comfortable and soothing after
the long night on the hard ground of the woods.

“You’re welcome to stay as long as you
like.”

“Thanks,” Zoe said. “But I think I might
leave later tonight, or maybe tomorrow.”

“Somewhere to be?”

“Somewhere not to be, actually. I think I’ll
head for the outskirts of town. You know, that road that runs along
the woods. I’ll lie low, travel at night, and follow it out of the
city.”

“Somewhere else out there you know of?”

“No. But I’ve been in this city my whole
life. I think it’s time for me to leave it behind.”

“I understand. I’ve done my fair share of
walking away, dear.”

The woman smiled. Zoe liked her, but she
couldn’t stay, and she knew the woman couldn’t follow her. If
things had been different, Zoe probably would’ve tried to find out
the woman’s name.

“You can sleep in the guest bedroom. Just
steer clear of the closet beneath the stairs. Nothing pleasant in
there.” Zoe didn’t ask why. She figured it had something to do with
the zombies. The woman did, after all, know about them somehow. Zoe
had a clear vision of the locked cabinet, that inside would be a
small space occupied by a body, wrapped in something—probably a
blanket—with blood seeping through in some parts, laid to rest
there beneath the stairs, never to be found again. Zoe tried to
steer her thoughts in a different direction.

“So the electricity works?” she asked.

“Yes, but there’s nothing on the television.
And phones don’t work, either. Neither does the radio.”

“Mind if I plug something into the wall?
It’s an MP3 player. It needs to recharge.”

“Go right ahead, dear! Use the electricity
while it’s still here. Who knows when it’ll go?”

After Zoe plugged in her MP3 player, she
spent the rest of the day chatting with the old woman. They made
sandwiches and talked into the night, until it was time for bed.
Zoe took the guest bedroom, which was safe on the second floor of
the house. She fell asleep to thoughts of the kind woman, who
seemed somehow personal and familiar, the grandmother Zoe never had
in her life. She was sad that she’d be leaving the next day, but
was happy to have had the experience.

That night, as she tried to sleep, Zoe
thought she could hear bumps and shuffling coming from the space
beneath the stairs, but she knew these to be figments of her
imagination. And even if they weren’t, they were nothing she wanted
to have anything to do with.

The morning came and went, and in the
afternoon, Zoe said her goodbyes and headed out into the woods,
toward the road.

****

There weren’t any people or zombies in the
woods, but the screams and moans of the nearby city grew louder and
louder. Finally, Zoe found the road. It was small and paved, and
the woods continued on both sides of it. One way down the road led
to bigger roads, and eventually back into the city. The other way
led to more woods, a few residences, and a great unknown.

Zoe began her trek. She didn’t walk on the
road but in the trees, just close enough to keep sight of it,
hoping nothing else could keep sight of
her
. She would leave
the trees if the road was becoming too difficult to spot, or if it
curved, but very seldom did she walk on the road itself.

Eventually night fell, but her walk
continued. All the while the moaning and screaming and gunshots of
the big city faded, until Zoe could no longer physically hear them.
But she knew they’d never completely fade away.

27

In the Barricaded Ferrington

John Kensington sat in the security camera
control room in the back of the store. The cameras were positioned
to watch over the north and south foyers, the parking lot, and some
of the aisles. John stared at the monitors before him, sizing up
the emptiness and overturned groceries that filled the Ferrington,
his
Ferrington. He sighed.

“John?” Jordan said. It occurred to John
that Jordan had said it several times.

John’s eyes didn’t leave the monitors.
“What?”

“Is it all clear?”

“Of course it is,” John said. He imagined
Jordan rolled his eyes before leaving. John stared at the monitors
a while longer. He could hardly believe what the little group he’d
been stuck with was about to do.

John, Evelyn, Erin, and Christian started in
the produce section. They began gathering food, enough to last a
few days. John clutched a shopping basket of his own, for his own
purchases. He planned on paying for everything he took from the
store.

“God, this all feels so weird,” Evelyn said
as the four of them walked in a small cluster. “In a thousand
years, I’d never dreamt of staying the night in this place. I know
I’ve joked about being here so late that I might as well just stay
the night, but I never imagined actually doing it. And this… What
is
this? I wish the radio worked. I bet they have more
answers.”

“You think so?” John said. “You think anyone
really knows anything more than we do?”

“I don’t know,” Evelyn said. She tore a
produce bag from one of the rolls. “I’m sure someone has to know
something. Like, if it’s some sort of virus, or maybe they have an
estimation of how far whatever this is has spread. I don’t know,
something!”

“This can’t have gotten too far. It’s only
been a few hours. It won’t last.”

“What if you’re wrong?” Christian said. “I
mean, what if it’s gone farther than Gladstone? Missouri?”

John frowned. “I feel it in my gut. This is
not the end of us, Christian. It can’t be.”

“Well, I hope not,” Erin said.

John turned away and put a few more items in
his basket. The other three exchanged worried glances.

Evelyn sorted through their finds. “What
else do we need from over here? We’ve got some fruits, some other
little snacks, basically odds and ends type of stuff.”

“I don’t think we need any other food
items,” Erin said. “Jordan and his friends are getting more food.
Let’s get some first aid stuff.”

“The only reason we’d need first aid is if
one of us were bitten,” John said. “And if one of us were bitten,
we’d be doomed.”

“That’s not true,” Erin said. “One of us
could get a cut or something.”

“Fine,” John said.

“And maybe we could stop by the liquor
department,” Christian said.

John snorted. “This is an emergency, not a
booze run. Soon this mess will all be over, and I’m not returning
to hundreds of dollars of our stock disappearing because of—”

“Johnny!” Christian said. “I was kidding.
Lighten up! If you’re gonna be like this, we might just feed you to
the zombies.”

“Let’s just finish this up so I can try to
get some sleep,” John said. Christian looked at Evelyn and then at
Erin, grinned, and shook his head.

****

“Ash, you doing okay?” Jordan said. He threw
a few loaves of bread into the cart. They avoided the corpse of a
zombie Christian had shot earlier, as well as any merchandise its
blood had splattered on.

“I’m all right, I guess,” Ashley said. “It’s
just hard, getting used to all this. I’m worried.” Ashley hung
close to Jordan and the cart. Aiden walked beside her.

“Yeah, I know what you mean,” Jordan
said.

“Like my mom, and my dad in Chicago… I don’t
know if it’s gone that far, but I don’t know what I’d do if the
last thing I said to him was some half-baked ‘bye’.” Ashley stepped
a little closer to Jordan, and Jordan looked her in the eyes.

“I’m sure he knows you love him. I just wish
I’d been able to get a hold of my parents.” Jordan shook his head.
He tried to drive into more positive thinking. “I’m sure our
parents are doing fine.” Jordan looked at Aiden, who had been
silent the whole time. “How about you, Aiden? How’re you holding
up?”

“Not bad. Just chillin’. A lot of shit’s
gone down. Just kinda wish I knew what to make of it all.”

“Me too, man. Just try to stray away from
the negatives. We’re alive, now.”

“You’re right, Jord.”

“Let’s just get the rest of the groceries
and meet back up with the others. The sooner we do, the sooner we
can get some sleep.”

As they walked down the aisle, Ashley
slinked an arm around Jordan’s lower back, her hand cupped his
side, a delicate sigh escaped her lips. Jordan’s skin tingled, and
a wave of warmth went over him. He smiled and looked at Ashley, who
turned to him. They stopped and looked into each other’s eyes for a
moment. Neither of them said a word, but the moment was interrupted
by the sound of the others and their cart’s squeaky wheels.

“You guys about ready to head upstairs?”
Christian asked. Jordan and Ashley jolted and turned to him as he
and the other three came into view.

“Yeah, just got the last of it,” Jordan
said.

“Good, now all we need’s the microwave.”
Jordan smiled weakly and rolled the cart toward them, with Ashley
by his side and Aiden following close by.