In the Lone and Level Sands (21 page)

“There’s one in the break room,” Evelyn
said.

“Lead the way.”

They headed for the stairs that led up to
the break room. “I’ll grab it real quick,” Erin said.

As she reached the top of the steps, she
heard a slight knocking on the door to the left of the time clock.
It was the assistant store director’s office. It occurred to her
that when they checked for survivors, they forgot to look upstairs.
Erin turned the doorknob. Before she could react, someone jumped
out. It was Quentin Till, the assistant manager.

Quentin was not the biggest man, but he
could hold his own, and he could hold Erin. Together they fell to
the floor, and Erin yelled. Quentin dug his teeth into her neck,
grunting as he bore deeper. Blood splattered onto his white shirt.
Erin let out one hard scream as Quentin lifted up with muscle
tissue hanging from his teeth.

The others reached the top of the stairs,
and Christian quickly sent a bullet into Quentin’s head. He slumped
over on top of Erin. Everyone helped move him off of her.

Erin tried to speak, but nothing came out.
Blood gurgled in her throat. John turned away, covering his
mouth.

“Someone get something to stop the
bleeding!” Evelyn said. She put a hand over the wound, stopping the
blood flow a little bit, but not nearly enough.

Erin slumped over and stopped moving. She
lay beside Quentin’s body, with blood pouring onto the floor from
both.

Above them was a big cloth with a large
laminated paper pinned to it. It was used to track how well or how
badly each department was doing in sales. Evelyn stood up and took
it down, undoing the pins and tossing the laminated piece away.
John stood near his office, his hand over his mouth, staring at the
break room door. Evelyn began to cover the bodies, and the others
helped her.

“John!” she said. “Get the fucking
microwave!”

John gave her a look that said
who the
fuck are you to order me around?
and then walked off, the keys
in his pocket jingling loudly. A moment later he came out of the
break room with the microwave in his arms. The cord dangled behind
him, dragging across the floor.

“Let’s just get back,” John said. Not a word
was said as the six of them headed downstairs and to the back room.
The store was silent, minus the random announcement that played
about the meat sale that was scheduled to start the next day.

They had brought hand baskets to haul the
goods up to the conference room more efficiently, as they couldn’t
get the carts upstairs. While the others did this, John went to the
breaker box and shut off all the front-end lights. Even with the
blockades and the locked doors, it was better to be safe than
sorry. With no windows in the back area of the store, John felt
comfortable leaving those lights on.

The survivors rested in the conference room.
They had moved the table against the wall, with the chairs pushed
in on either side, to make room to sleep on the floor. The
microwave was plugged in at the end of the table and all the food
was organized on a mostly unused shelf. There was also a mini
fridge they put the perishables in.

The room was carpeted with a thin, rough
carpet, but it was better than nothing. The survivors lay around in
the center of the room on blankets they’d taken from the store.

Jordan and Ashley were next to one another,
and Aiden was on the other side of Ashley, but a bit farther away.
He fell asleep first, lying on his side, facing the wall.

“This shit’s real,” Jordan whispered to
himself.

“What, Jordan?” Ashley asked.

“Nothing. You as wide awake as I am?”

“Yeah. It’s hard to fall asleep on this,
even with these blankets. But I’m also thinking about my parents. I
wonder when I can call them.”

“I know how you feel, Ash. I wish there was
something I could do. I just find myself wishing this was a dream,
that I’ll wake up soon.”

“Well,” Ashley said, “at least we’re
together in this.” Jordan’s spine tingled, and he smiled.

“Yeah.” He turned his head to her and saw
she’d been looking at him the whole time. “That’s a big part of
what’s getting me through this, really.”

“You know, I always wondered why you never
asked me out, Jordan.”

“I… don’t know. It’s just that we’ve always
been good friends. I didn’t want anything to ruin that.”

“I don’t think it will.”

“Maybe not.” Jordan smiled and sighed, a
weight lifted from his shoulders.

“Good night, Jordan.”

“Night, Ash.”

Ashley turned on her side and put an arm
over Jordan’s chest. They fell asleep within minutes of one
another.

Jordan dreamed a lot, mainly old memories
stored deep in his mind, random details a little stranger than they
had actually been. They were of Ashley, for the most part; there
were birthdays and family outings, but they would always go back to
Ashley. Jordan had never realized how important she was to him, but
just like the world around them, Jordan had changed. His eyes were
a little more open, and now he would never let her go.

28

In the House in Astoria

Layne turned around. It was dark in the
house, but he was able to count everyone who had survived the
ordeal. They were all breathing heavily. Jessi was still crying.
She was hunched over, and she lurched a few times before throwing
up.

Warren stood up and took a deep breath.
Katie was surveying the area they had just confined themselves
within. Kyle stood somewhat apart from the rest of the group, in
the entryway of another room, and he looked like nothing out of the
ordinary had just happened. Layne turned his attention to
Jessi.

“Hey, I’m… God, I’m sorry.”

She hugged him. He could hardly recall
seeing her without Kara in her arms. Kara was being surprisingly
quiet, and it worried him.

“So,” Warren said after a long silence,
“what do we do now?” The group looked around at each other. There
was a slight tap at the door.

“I guess we barricade this,” Katie said. She
and Layne pushed a nearby shelving unit in front of the door.

The shades of all the windows were already
down, and what little light entered the house was dark blue. Layne
could make out a set of stairs directly in front of the door. To
the right was the doorway Kyle was standing in, to the left was an
open area with two tables in the center. The chairs were stacked on
top of the tables, and all of the room’s furniture had been pushed
into the middle, against the tables. Layne assumed it was for easy
movement in the dark. Light was far too much of a risk, as was
one’s escape route being obstructed.

“Hey, do you think anyone is still in here?”
Jessi asked. Her hand was already searching for Kara’s, and without
looking, she found it. It was a motherly instinct that Layne was
surprised to see in someone who was not anyone’s mother.

“We should find out,” Dex said. Kyle peeked
into the room he was near.

“Hey, anyone in here?” he said. No response.
Layne could see the left side of the house well enough to know that
no one was there.

“I guess that just leaves the upstairs,”
Katie said. Layne looked up the staircase, which ascended into
darkness.

“All right, then. Who’s coming with me?”

“I’ll do it,” Katie said.

“Okay. If anything happens down here, let me
know, all right? Stay safe, guys.” Layne and Katie headed up the
stairs.

“So what should we do?” she asked. “I mean,
on the grand scale.”

“I don’t know,” Layne replied. “We obviously
can’t stay here for long.” They reached the top of the stairs. A
hallway extended in both directions. It had a door at each end, and
some along the way.

“Split up?” Katie said.

“Too dangerous.” They headed right. “We can
stay the night, but if we get a chance to get out of here, we
should take it.”

They reached the first door. It was on the
left side of the hall. Layne pressed his ear against it, but heard
nothing. He knocked softly. Still nothing. He turned the knob and
opened the door.

It was a normal bedroom. It was dark, with
the shade pulled over the only window, but there was nothing out of
the ordinary.

Layne closed the door, and they headed to
the next one. They looked inside. This room was also empty.

“Every room has a queen-sized bed,” Katie
said. “Remember how many chairs there were in the living room, and
the tables? This place is probably a bed and breakfast. Maybe we
could hang out here a few days after all.”

“There aren’t enough beds for each of us to
have our own,” Layne said. He smiled. “Some of us would have to
share.” Katie laughed.

They made their way to another door and
cautiously checked the room beyond it. It was empty.

“So what put you on that plane to begin
with?” Layne asked. Katie took a deep breath.

“I was on my way to Seattle to see my
girlfriend,” she said. Layne paused. She looked at him. “Something
wrong?”

“No, of course not. I’m just… I didn’t know,
is all. When I said that stuff about sharing beds and… I didn’t
mean to offend you.”

Katie smiled. “Not at all. I’m sorry I
didn’t say anything sooner. Didn’t seem like a good time.” She
sighed. “I do wonder if she’s okay, though.”

“I hope so,” Layne said. They reached the
door at the end of the hall, and Layne pressed his ear to it and
listened. It was silent.

“What about you, then? What got you a seat
on that flight?”

“Well, I was—” Layne opened the door, and
Katie screamed, but stifled it with her hands.

A decimated body lay on what was otherwise a
well-made and beautiful bed. All of the limbs had been massacred in
some way, and Layne could barely make out a head. There was blood
on the walls and floor around the bed.

“What the fuck,” Katie said. She was trying
not to throw up. Layne was trying pretty hard as well.

“Maybe we should get out of here,” he
said.

“Wait, look!” Katie pointed to the wall
behind the bed. There was a message scrawled in what Layne could
only assume was blood.

SAFE ZONE

GO TO CHURCH

HEAD NORTH ON 12
^TH

The blood faded toward the end of the
message. Layne and Katie looked to each other. Layne wasn’t sure
what was more disturbing: The body on the bed, or the fact that
whoever the body used to be couldn’t possibly have written the
message on the wall.

“So how safe do you think this safe zone
is?” Katie asked after the two left the room and closed the door
tightly. There was a loud thud from downstairs.

“A lot safer than here,” Layne said. They
rushed to the stairs and descended carefully but quickly. “What’s
going on?” Everyone was staring at the door.

“We’re not sure,” Jessi said. There was
another thud.

“Something knows we’re in here,” Warren
said.

“Shh, it could’ve just been zombie luck,”
Dex said. “You know, something just bumping against a door it
thinks is pretty.”

The group listened, but heard nothing. Layne
walked over to the window and peeked out, but he didn’t have a good
enough view of the porch.

“Should I check?” he asked.

“I really don’t think we should open that
door,” Kyle said.

Layne thought for a moment. “We don’t have
to.” He walked over to the door, pushed the dresser away as quietly
as he could, hunkered down, and lifted the mail slot. A moment
later he closed it, stepped away from the door, and pushed the
dresser back in front of it. “There was one of them on the porch,
but it left.” The others sighed in relief.

“So what exactly are we going to do?” Warren
asked.

“There’s a safe zone set up at a church
north of here. We’ll rest here for the night, and in the morning
we’ll head out.”

“How do you know?” Dex said.

“Found a note,” Layne replied. “Katie and I
are going to check the rest of the rooms and figure out which ones
are safe.”

Layne and Katie headed up the stairs again.
They checked the rooms on the left side of the hallway, and all
were clear.

“So that leaves five queen-sized beds,”
Katie said.

“Jessi and Kara will probably share a bed.
So will Dex and Lacie, if she’s comfortable with it.”

“So Warren and Kyle get their own beds, and
you and I will take one. Deal?”

“Sure, if you’re all right with that,” Layne
said. The two headed back down the stairs and informed the
others.

“Nobody go near the room at the end of the
hall on the right,” Layne said. Nobody even questioned why not.

It wasn’t late, but everyone went straight
for their rooms. Since most of their belongings had been dropped
when they started running, Layne stayed downstairs and gathered
food and water from the kitchen. He gathered everything into a pile
he could easily find later, even in the dark, and then went to his
room. Katie was lying down on the bed, but she was awake.

“Can’t sleep?” Layne said as he sat down and
removed his shoes.

“If I had a choice, I’d never close my eyes
again,” Katie said. Layne could sympathize.

“I just hope this church is safe. And I hope
it has some answers for us. Our plane, the people on the
helicopter, Astoria… God, could this thing be all over the
world?”

“I don’t know,” Katie said. “I really just
don’t know.” Layne lay down next to her, watched the dim light
slowly become pitch black, and eventually fell asleep.

****

When Layne woke up, the bed was empty. He
sat up. The room was dark. He could hear muffled voices through the
floor and footsteps coming from the stairs. He got up and left the
room. He met Katie at the top of the stairs.

“Oh, you’re up. Good. We were just
discussing what we should do.” The two of them went downstairs,
where Dex, Jessi, Warren, and Kyle were waiting.