In the Lone and Level Sands (79 page)

“It’s big. There’s a little platform with
the laundry machines, and the rest is a big open area. And a
furnace. Seems like the perfect place to gather everyone and wait
this thing out.”

“Yeah.”

They reached a big door marked “Basement”.
Derrick took a deep breath. Zoe took his hand. “Hey,” she said.
“Whatever we find down here… We have each other, okay?”

“Yeah,” Derrick said. He opened the basement
door.

****

The basement was dim and glowing red, as the
furnace was ablaze. The place smelled terrible.

The tiny flight of stairs that led from the
platform to the lower, main area of the basement was broken. The
room was filled with zombies. They were pushing and crowding near
the furnace, taking turns trying to get in. The door was a tiny
door-within-a-door, the outer one being much larger, but latched
shut. A zombie would force its way into the smaller door and burn
to death, eventually leaving just enough room for another to fight
its way in. The rest of the zombies stood lazily around the room,
waiting their turn, losing interest when the view of the fire got
blocked by other zombies, regaining it when another small glimpse
of that maddening orange flame came into view.

“They like the fire,” Zoe whispered. She
didn’t think Derrick was listening.

Derrick and Zoe stood on the landing,
watching. The zombies were nearly a full person’s height below, and
they either didn’t notice the two or didn’t care, preferring the
fire.

“Derrick,” Zoe said.

“I don’t see her.” Derrick scanned the
crowd, looking for Mara.

“Maybe she isn’t here. Maybe she got
out.”

Another zombie made its way into the fire,
sending the flames higher. There was so much smoke, it couldn’t all
fit into the exhaust pipes, and some poured into the room, filling
it with an orange haze, making it difficult to see anything.

“There she is,” Derrick said. Zoe followed
his eyes to someone standing near the back of the room, facing the
wall, a few feet from the furnace. She had long brown hair, and
wore a pink blouse.

“Are you sure?” Zoe asked.

“Yeah.”

“Derrick… I’m sorry.”

“Maybe she’s okay. Maybe she’s just
pretending to be one of them, waiting for a chance to get out.”

Zoe looked from Derrick to the girl at the
back of the room, then back to Derrick.

“Derrick, you know there’s virtually no
chance that she’s… alive, right?”

“Maybe I should call out and see if she’s
okay,” Derrick said. It was loud in the room, but Derrick knew he
could be heard over the roar of the flames and the moans of the
zombies, if he tried.

“Then they’ll know we’re here,” Zoe
said.

“I don’t think they can get up here.”

“Derrick, even if she was okay, calling out
wouldn’t help her. She couldn’t call back, or they’d notice
her.”

“Y-you’re just jealous,” Derrick said.

“What?”

“You’re jealous. You always have been. You
don’t want Mara to be okay.”

“Derrick, you’re being ridiculous! I can’t
believe you’re even considering this! Don’t be stupid!”

Derrick looked across the room filled with
zombies at the girl in the pink blouse. He and Zoe stood there for
what seemed like forever. Zoe couldn’t stand the thought of being
alone again. “Derrick,” she said. “Let’s get out of here. Please…
Don’t leave me.”

Derrick looked at her, then across the room,
then back at Zoe.

“I’m sorry, Zoe,” was the last thing Derrick
said before he hopped off of the landing and into the room below.
It took all of her strength not to scream. She didn’t know what to
do; she could follow him, but then she’d be dead. She could provide
cover fire, but there were too many zombies. The best she could do
for Derrick was to wait on the landing and keep quiet, hoping the
zombies below didn’t notice him.

But they did notice him. He made his way
across the room, bumping into zombies in the crowd, being scratched
and bitten as he made his way to Mara, and when he got to her and
spun her around to see that same vacant, incorrect look in her
eyes, Zoe finally cried out.

“Derrick! You idiot!”

The gnashing and biting didn’t stop. Zoe
fired into the crowd, as futile as it was. Some of the zombies
tried to climb onto the landing, unable to make it at first, but
quickly piling on top of each other, getting closer and closer to
mounting the platform.

Derrick was overwhelmed. Even Mara was
sinking her teeth into him. He pushed his way to the furnace,
unlatched the bigger door, and opened it.

“Derrick! God damn it!” Zoe said. Tears
poured from her eyes. She still thought about jumping down there.
Death might have been better than being alone.

“Zoe, get out of here!” Derrick said. The
zombies pushed and shoved into the now wide-open furnace, no longer
trying to climb the landing, instead jumping into the fire in
groups of three and four, the rest pushing and shoving and trying
their hardest to get inside. Derrick disappeared into the orange
haze, his cries fading away along with his face, the smell of
burning flesh and hair filling the room.

Zoe’s feet finally made the decision her
head couldn’t, and she fled the room, the building, and the
city.

****

The car rested in the sand. The door was
wide open.

Zoe stood on the beach, staring at the
ocean. She looked to her side, and for a moment saw Derrick
standing there, watching the waves with her.

No,
she thought.
Not
anymore.

And Derrick was gone. It was just her
standing there, looking into the water, watching a storm approach,
the waves increasing in size.

Zoe didn’t know what to do. Derrick’s MP3
player was playing in her ears, drowning out the sound of the
waves. She listened to “Good Riddance” and “The Girl With Broken
Wings” and then “Pitch and Resin”. The battery was running low. She
didn’t care.

Zoe watched the waves until the battery died
and the music stopped. For a moment, she thought of throwing the
thing into the ocean; that last piece of evidence that she had, at
least for some time, not been alone. But she decided to keep it, to
remember all that had happened, all she had learned. Maybe being
alone was best. After all, was being with someone worth losing them
later on?

With no music, she listened to the waves,
and she thought about Derrick. The sun was going down and the air
was getting thicker with the coming storm.

Alone, Zoe turned back, got into the car,
and drove away.

****

She didn’t know where to go. For only a
moment, she thought of visiting the house they’d burned down, but
wouldn’t that defeat the purpose? She drove along I-80, unsure of
where she was going. After a few hours, she decided it didn’t
matter. She’d follow the road wherever it would take her.

Somewhere in Nevada, the car ran out of gas.
Zoe recognized the scenery, remembered there was a small town
nearby, so she decided to walk.

It was hot out, but it was still early, and
she figured she could reach town before noon. She had food and
water and had charged the MP3 player somewhere in eastern
California, so she was set.

Ahead, Zoe could see a small crossroad.
Beyond that, the first signs of the town were blurring in and out
of sight, and somewhere between the two was a small, dark
figure.

Zoe had just passed the crossroad when she
realized it was a person walking along the opposite side of the
road, heading toward her. It was a man hardly older than Derrick.
Zoe guessed he could see her, too. As the two grew closer, she took
her earphones out. Finally, they stopped walking, the faded yellow
paint dividing them.

“Hey,” the man said.

“Hi,” Zoe replied.

“I haven’t seen anyone in a while. No one
normal, anyway.”

“Me either.”

The man looked back the way he had come.
“There’s a town, that way.”

“Yeah,” Zoe said. “I know.”

“Anything out this way?” He motioned down
the road.

“Another town. A little farther than this
one, though.”

“That’s all right.” He smiled. “I have
water.”

They stood there for a minute. A warm breeze
blew by.

“Where are you headed?” he asked.

“Wherever this road goes. You?”

“California, for now. Eventually
Oregon.”

“That’s a long way.”

He shrugged. “I’ll find a car
somewhere.”

“Yeah.” Zoe adjusted her bag’s strap on her
shoulder.

“Look… if you’re not really headed anywhere,
you could come with me. If you want to. Sorry if that seems weird,
it’s just… being alone kinda sucks.”

“Thanks,” Zoe said, “but I think I’ll
pass.”

“All right,” the man said. He started
walking again, then stopped and turned back to Zoe. “I hope you
find whatever it is you’re looking for, out there.”

“Thanks. You too.”

Zoe put her earphones back in and walked on.
The town ahead faded in the heat rising off of the road. She
stopped, took the earphones out, and looked over her shoulder at
the crossroad, felt the sun beating down on her and the hard
asphalt below, and thought about the young man, still within
earshot.

~ ~ ~ ~

67

Leaving Gladstone

Before they reached the cars, Jordan stopped
in the driveway and set his basket of supplies down. The others
turned to him. “I think I’ll make a sign, so that anyone who passes
by can see there’s a safe place to go,” Jordan said.

“Great idea,” Ashley said.

Jordan went to the garage and pored over
everything in it, from screws and other odds and ends to random
planks of wood and bits of piping. He found a can of black spray
paint, but nothing large enough to paint his message on. He headed
outside.

“Couldn’t find anything to use as a sign, so
I’ll just use the garage doors,” Jordan said. The others loaded up
the vehicles with their supplies.

Jordan stared at the big white garage doors
and plotted the message in his head. Before he could begin, he
heard what sounded like a pickup truck hauling ass. Sure enough,
one came around the corner, barreled down the street, and turned
when it reached the next corner.

“Guy’s in a hurry,” Aiden said.

“I’ll say,” Evelyn replied.

Jordan popped the lid off the paint can,
then shook it. The little ball inside clinked around. It was mostly
full, which was good, because the sign needed to be legible from
the street. Jordan pressed the tip and sprayed vibrant lines,
creating a message for passersby:

Safe zone in Big Springs,
Kansas!

“That should do,” Evelyn said. “Let’s go,
now. It looks like a few of them have seen us.” She motioned toward
the end of Jordan’s street, where a few zombies had gathered, drawn
by the sound of the pickup.

Everyone piled into the vehicles. Christian
rolled down the passenger-side window, then gestured for Jordan to
roll his down.

“We’ll be right behind you, kid. Just lead
the way!”

Jordan waved. “Will do!” He backed out of
the driveway, watching the zombies shamble toward them. Christian
pulled the Jeep behind Jordan’s car, and then both drove down the
street.

****

“So, we follow the highway for an hour
before we get to our exit to Big Springs,” Jordan said. “It’ll
probably take longer than it says on the map, though.” He peeked
into the rearview mirror (as he often had since they left) to see
if Christian and Evelyn were still following, and they were.

I-70 was packed to the gills. Jordan and
Christian had to weave in and out of static traffic, and sometimes
had to cross over the grassy median into the opposite road.

Jordan was disturbed by all the empty cars.
Some had bodies just resting inside. There were splatters of blood
every now and then. Finally, Aiden leaned forward. “Anyone up for a
round of The Sign Game?”

“Yeah, sure,” Jordan said.

“Already, I see… Samuel’s Apple Orchard,”
Ashley said. She pointed at a billboard just before they passed
it.

“‘Samuel’ begins with an
S
,” Aiden
said with a smirk.

“Hey, as long as one of the words begins
with the letter
A
, it works. Right, Jordan?”

“That’s how I always played it,” Jordan
said. He laughed, and Aiden frowned.

“Fine,” Aiden said, “
B
, where can we
find a
B
?” A couple minutes passed. “Blood!” He pointed to a
splatter on one of the cars.

“There’s no sign that says that, Aiden,”
Jordan said.

“Yeah, but it’s a sign of someone’s death or
injury.”

“Doesn’t count,” Ashley said.

“Smokestack Barbeque,” Alex said. He pointed
to a sign that detailed what awaited those heading down the next
exit ramp.

“Captain D’s!” Aiden said.

“Good one, Alex… and Aiden,” Jordan said. He
laughed at how quickly Aiden had shouted his contribution.
“Barbeque sure sounds great right about now. It’s not gonna happen
though.”

“Sad, sad day,” Aiden replied. “Chinese is
better, anyway. I could really go for some General Tso’s
chicken.”

“Who is General Tso, anyway?” Ashley asked,
then laughed.

“Maybe he was friends with Colonel Sanders,”
Jordan said.

“Don’t forget Cap’n Crunch,” Alex said. The
four of them laughed.

Jordan passed a sign with a black figure of
a road worker, with his little hard hat on. Below that, it
read:

Brake for Workers

Hit/kill a worker: is a $10,000 fine and
fifteen years in prison.

An unpaved lane was cluttered with
equipment. There were a few steamrollers, and a concrete grinder
sat abandoned. Some of the road had been laid with fresh asphalt,
but the rollers hadn’t gotten to all of it, and the mixture had
cured in a rough, lumpy state that wasn’t suitable for driving on.
Jordan and Christian slowed.