In the Lone and Level Sands (65 page)

“Damn, Dad,” Dex said. He picked up a nearby
rock. “You act like you’ve never busted a window before.”

With barely enough warning to let Layne move
out of the way, Dex rifled the rock into the glass. It shattered,
leaving fragments hanging from the frame.

“Thanks, Dex,” Layne said. He dusted off the
bits of glass that had landed on him.

“No problem, Pop.”

Layne reached into the window, making his
way around the shards of glass, and pushed on the handle. The door
popped open. Taking the handle in his free hand, he carefully
removed his arm and then held the door. The group filed into the
building, and Layne closed it behind him.

There was no motion or sound inside, just an
empty hallway. Posters and flyers adorned the walls, and a glass
case in the center of the lobby held a big stone mascot—a bear—that
stood roaring in empty fury, permanently pissed off at an unseen
adversary.

“Ah, the memories,” Dex said.

“I’ve never been in a public school,” Ralph
said. “It’s so… messy, really.”

“Don’t let the upbeat tone fool you, the
place still has a way of boring the hell out of anyone who
enters.”

There was a map on the far wall of the
lobby, which branched off in both directions, leading to hallways
and eventually stairs. The group gathered around the map.

“Looks like downstairs we have the lobby,
the gym, the offices, the lunchroom, and the pool,” Layne said.

“I could totally go for a swim,” Lacie
said.

“I could totally join you,” Dex said, making
her giggle.

“And upstairs we have the classrooms and the
lockers.”

“There’s the teacher’s lounge,” Katie said.
She pointed to a room marked in pink on the map, right next to the
lunchroom. “I’ll bet there are some couches in there.”

“And the nurse’s office,” Keely said. “It’s
nowhere near the lounge, but there are bound to be a few beds in
there.”

“So,” Garrett said, “now that we know the
place is comfortable, let’s make sure it’s clear.”

The group split up and checked the ground
floor hallways and rooms, and then regrouped by the map.

“Find anything?” Layne said.

“Nope,” Dex replied, “but the pool’s still
full. Probably cold as hell, but I might go for a swim anyway.”

Garrett rolled his eyes. “There are four
couches in the lounge.”

“Three beds in the nurse’s office,” Layne
said.

“Well, seven of us will rest just fine,”
Warren said.

“It’s just as well. Unless you want to head
upstairs and check every single room in the building, I recommend a
few of us stand guard.”

The division was routine, by then. Warren,
Jessi, and Kara were guaranteed to have a bed and to not stand
guard. The others drew straws (number two pencils, one of which had
been broken) to decide who would get a bed, and who would stand
guard first.

Warren, Jessi, and Kara took the beds in the
nurse’s office. Jessi tried to fit Kara into the same bed, finding
it far too small (being designed to hold sick or injured
adolescents) and, despite Kara’s complaints, had to sleep separate
from her.

The pencils were kind to Layne, who was
tired from the events of the day; he was given the opportunity to
sleep first. Garrett, Katie, and Keely were the other lucky three,
and they followed Layne to the teacher’s lounge.

Layne lay down as Kyle, Ralph, Dex, and
Lacie talked about how to split up and guard the rooms. Layne
thought he wouldn’t possibly get to sleep before it was his turn to
stand guard, but he fell asleep almost as soon as he hit the
couch.

****

As far as he could tell, it was the lack of
noise that woke him up. It was dark in the teacher’s lounge, and
the other three were sleeping soundly. Not a noise came in from the
hall, and it worried him.

Layne sat up. He waited to see if he had
just woken during a momentary lapse of conversation, but after a
few moments of silence, he decided to get up and check on the
others.

There was nobody in the hall.

Layne made his way across the dark school,
toward the nurse’s office. Outside, on the floor of the hallway, he
found Ralph and Kyle playing with some cards by the light of their
flashlights.

“Hey, Layne,” Kyle said. “What are you doing
up? There’s at least an hour until your shift.”

“Couldn’t sleep,” Layne replied. He felt
like if he wanted to, he could lie down on the linoleum floor of
the hall and sleep for days, but he was worried about his friends.
“Where are Dex and Lacie?”

Ralph and Kyle exchanged glances.

“They aren’t by the teacher’s lounge?” Ralph
asked.

“No.”

“I haven’t seen them,” Kyle said. “But if I
were you, I wouldn’t look for them.”

“Well, you aren’t me,” Layne said. He knew
Kyle was probably right, but now anger was replacing his fear.

“Want us to help you look?” Ralph said.

“No. Stay here and keep an eye out. You guys
are doing a good job.”

Layne left them to their game and headed for
the swimming pool.

****

He slipped into the room unnoticed. They
were there all right; the majority of their clothes were strewn
along the benches near the pool, and Dex was in mid-dive as Layne
quietly closed the door. Lacie clapped and gave Dex a ten out of
ten once he resurfaced. Layne waited for them to notice him, and
when they didn’t and instead drew closer to each other, he opened
the door behind him and slammed it shut, sending a loud
shlack!
through the room. Dex and Lacie turned to him,
frightened. Whether it was because they were expecting a zombie or
because they were expecting him, he wasn’t sure.

“Hey, Layne,” Dex said. “You’re up
early!”

“You’re supposed to be watching out for us,”
Layne said.

“Yeah… Well, everything was fine, and we
didn’t see anybody around, so we figured—”

“I don’t know if you’ve been paying
attention, but we aren’t in any position to be
figuring
anything.”

Dex and Lacie had made their way to the wall
of the pool and were hanging onto it, but not getting out. Layne
wondered if they thought he was going to tell them to go ahead and
stay in and have fun. This made him angrier.

“Chill out, dude,” Dex said.

“I will not fucking ‘chill out’!” Layne
said. It surprised him as much as it surprised the other two. He
wasn’t even sure why he was so angry. They were right; there was no
immediate danger outside the teacher’s lounge, and if there was a
zombie, it wouldn’t be able to get in, let alone know there was
anything worth getting in for.

The outburst embarrassed him, but he didn’t
know what else to do. Layne reached forward as Dex started to climb
out of the pool, grabbing him by the arm and yanking him out of the
water much harder than he had intended to. Dex looked offended, and
turned to help Lacie out.

“When I ask you to do something, I expect
you to do it,” Layne said.

“I’m not a fucking kid,” Dex replied. “I’m a
grown man, I can do what I want!”

“Not when you agree to help someone else
out.”

“There was nothing to help
with—
”

“You don’t know that!” Layne said. Dex
seemed to be searching for some retort, but was unable to find
anything witty.

“We were just having some fun,” Lacie
said.

“You can have fun some other time.”

“When, Layne?” Dex said. “All we do is
wander around the fucking country barely escaping death, so when
are we supposed to have any free time?”

“Free time doesn’t do you any good if you’re
dead.”

“Well, we’re not dead. Not yet. But if this
is what life has become, maybe I’d rather die having fun!”

“Fine then! Do whatever the fuck you want,
even if it costs the lives of everyone around you!”

“Maybe we will! Maybe in the morning, we’ll
just go our separate ways, and you can spend the rest of your
short-ass life watching dark hallways for things that aren’t even
there, and I’ll die laughing!”

Dex collected the pile of clothes, grabbed
Lacie’s hand, and stormed out of the room, letting the door make
its loud
shlack!
again.

Layne stood in the darkness for a while,
wishing he had handled it differently. It had taken Dex threatening
to leave for Layne to realize he had just expedited the thing he
was trying to avoid: Their family breaking up. Layne was angry
because he was scared that, little by little, these people would be
gone from him, and he would lose the last meaningful thing he had
in this world.

59

On Pacific Highway

It was quiet, save for the sound of the
engine and the occasional roll of thunder as the survivors traveled
down the long stretch of road. In Alan’s car, everyone stared ahead
or out the windows at the scenery. There was nothing else to do,
after all. Martha was lost in her photo, and Alan’s eyes were
trained on the road. He stole a glance at Martha every now and then
to make sure she was okay.

After a little while, Martha grew sick of
the silence. She set the frame beside her leg and looked at Alan, a
fine strand of gray hair falling into her face. She brushed it from
her view.

“Where are we going?”

“I’m not really sure,” Alan said. “Somewhere
safe, I hope. Someplace we can feel safe, anyway.”

“I suppose that’s all we could hope
for.”

“We’ll need to stop and get gas soon. We can
also fill those cans I grabbed back at the store.”

“Sounds good,” Martha said. She yawned.

“You might want to get some rest,
Mo—Martha.”

“You may be right, dear. This car seat may
not be a bed, but it’s better than those damn cots by far.”

“I’ll let you know once we’ve gotten to the
gas station,” Alan said.

“Thank you.” Martha leaned her seat back a
little and closed her eyes.

Emily was deep in her thoughts. The look on
Beverly’s face, the words she spoke haunted her. Why did she want
to stay back there, when they could have helped her? As much as she
hated to admit it, she knew she was kidding herself. There was no
way to fix people once they’d been bitten. Once that happened, it
was all over. The beginning of the end.

Emily was surprised by Billy’s touch. She
jumped.

“Hey, sorry,” he said.

“It’s okay.”

“Are you doing okay?”

“How do you think I’m doing?”

“Well…”

“I lost my baby sister and my best friend in
the same week. I’m just peachy.”

“I can’t begin to imagine how hard that is
for you,” Billy said. “Do you wanna talk? Maybe it’ll make you feel
better. Angela was just doing what she thought was right. She
didn’t go in vain.”

“That doesn’t mean I can just ditch grief,
you know. She acted callously and it got her killed. What am I
supposed to do? Just forgive her for that? It should have been me,
not her!”

Billy narrowed his eyes. “Don’t even go
there! You know what that would do to Francine and me!”

“Or me!” Martha said. “I lost Angela too,
and it’s horrible, but she saved your life!”

“You’re right, but she didn’t have to.”

“But she did.”

“Maybe we should just change the subject,”
Alan said.

“Yeah,” Billy replied. “I was thinking. When
we get to a gas station, we could switch, and I could take the
wheel.”

Alan thought about it for a moment. He
looked in the rearview. “I think that would be good. I wouldn’t
mind taking a rest. Thanks.”

The survivors noticed a car parked near the
entrance of the gas station, and some zombies beyond the parking
lot, hopefully too far away to cause any problems.

The cars pulled up to a pumps right beside
each other. A few zombies noticed, and moved slowly in their
direction. They were normally much faster, but they seemed almost
cautious of the survivors.

“Wonder if that car’s owner’s still here,”
Billy said.

“There’s no one in it,” Martha said. Alan
turned the car off and got out to pump the gas. Phil and Jesse were
getting out of Francine’s car.

“Phil, why don’t you and the others go
inside and grab some food?” Alan said. “Who knows how long we’ll be
on the road.” Phil nodded and walked toward the store. Martha and
the others headed there too, but Martha stopped and turned back.
“Go on ahead. I’ll be in after you all. Oh, and Francine?”

Francine stopped. “Yeah, Alan?”

“You need gas, right?”

“I do. I guess I should fill the tank before
I go inside.”

“I’ll take care of it.”

“Thanks.”

“Mom? Are you coming?” Emily said.

“Yes, dear,” Martha said. She waved, then
hurried after the others.

They walked into the station and looked
around. The store was empty as far as they could tell. Displays
that once held merchandise were on their sides, what was left of
their wares was scattered across the floor. Near one of the racks
were the skeletal remains of a woman. Her clothing was ravished,
revealing her chest cavity, which was split wide open. The insides
had been cleaned out. The sight made the survivors gag. Martha
nearly vomited. Near the body was another, mostly intact body, very
likely that of the zombie who had defiled her.

“Chloe, please stay in here, darling,” a
voice said from a room farther off. “I’ll be right back. Just need
to see who’s come to visit.”

A man came out of a supply closet down a
short hall past the fountain drinks. He stepped into the main area,
looking puzzled. There was also fear in his eyes.

“Hello,” he said. “Who are all of you?” He
scratched at the back of his balding scalp.

“Not important,” Billy said. “Are you
staying here, or passing by?”

“You know, I’m not real sure.”

“How can you not be sure?” Phil asked. “It
can’t be safe here.”