In the Lone and Level Sands (81 page)

“The gym would probably be where everyone
would’ve stayed,” Christian said, looking down an empty hall.

“Yeah, just need to find the damn thing,”
Evelyn replied.

“It can’t be that hard to find,” Jordan
said. “Let’s keep going.”

Other halls branched off from the main one,
but the survivors had no plans of visiting them. They rounded a
corner and saw zombies idling in the hall, some just in front of
the doors to the gym. Alex shot one that came from another hall,
and Christian took care of the small group ahead. A final bullet
casing hit the ground and bounced a few times, each one echoing
through the halls, and then the school was silent again.

“These shits are smarter, knowing to keep
quiet when people are around,” Christian said.

The gym doors were closed, and they couldn’t
hear anything from inside. Jordan looked at Ashley, still holding
her hand.

“They could be in here,” she whispered. “Are
you ready?”

“Yeah. Although…”

“What’s wrong?” Alex asked.

“I think I want to go inside alone.”

“We understand,” Evelyn said.

“Actually, Ash, will you come with me?”

“Of course I will, Jordan.”

“We’ll stay out here and guard the doors,”
Christian said. “Don’t hesitate if you need help, okay?”

“Don’t worry. Thanks, guys.”

“Here,” Alex said, offering Jordan his
gun.

“Be careful, you two,” Evelyn said. She,
Alex, and Christian waited outside as Jordan and Ashley opened the
doors and entered.

The gym looked like it had been converted
into a slaughterhouse. Blood had been slung on the walls, bodies
lay among several rows of cots. Many were overturned, and blood had
soaked into the fabric. Jordan and Ashley exchanged glances and
kept moving. At the end of the gym, facing a wall, was a woman. She
was leaning over a body.

“Jordan, is that your mom?”

“Oh my God, it is!”

“You don’t think—” Ashley started, but
Jordan was already running, avoiding the cots and bodies.

“Mom!”

“Jordan, be careful!” Ashley said. She
followed him.

“Mom! Hey, what happened… here…”

Jordan’s mother turned around, blood
dripping down her cheeks. Beside her on the floor were the remains
of her husband. Jordan’s heart sank.

“Reaaahhhh,” Mrs. Lackey said.

“That isn’t your mom!” Ashley said. “That
isn’t her!”

“They said it would be all right.” Jordan
faced his mother, and Ashley placed a hand on his shoulder.

“It’s not safe here. We need to go. I’m so
sorry.”

“We came here for nothing.”

“At least you know. You would have just
wondered, otherwise.”

“Mom, how could I have let this happen to
you?” Jordan said.

“It’s not your fault, Jordan. We should just
go—”

“We can’t just leave her like this!” Jordan
raised his gun as his mother approached, slowly. She moaned, and
almost sounded sad. Jordan took aim, shut his eyes, and pulled the
trigger.

Mrs. Lackey grunted as the bullet lodged
into her forehead. She collapsed, and Jordan opened his eyes,
wishing he was waking up from a terrible dream. He wasn’t. The gym
was still there, with all the blood, bodies, and his dead mother
just in front of him.

His father’s corpse was against the wall.
Jordan stood in silence for a minute, Ashley by his side, then he
made his way toward his father’s body.

Jordan’s father held a tape recorder in his
hand. Jordan recognized it as the one he had at breakfast every
morning, for recording story ideas. He reached for it, almost
stopped, and then grabbed it. Jordan pressed the rewind button for
a moment, and then pressed “Play”.

“…
There is a gray spot on this couch that
wasn’t here before… How strange. Something that may scare some
people, but I won’t be startled by th—Jordan… if y-you are hearing
this, it’s over. I’m sorry I couldn’t see you before the end. We
were blindsided! Your mother was bitten… I’m sorry I c-couldn’t
protect her.
” His father coughed and wheezed, and then he
sighed. “
We love you very much. Please know that, son. If you
hear this… get out. While you still can. Keep living as long as you
can. Ah… God. I remember one day I—I asked you why you always went
in to work when someone called in. You told me it was your
responsibility. Jordan… You’re still a kid, Jordan. You have to go
on living, now. Growing up, that’s your… Re… Respon—
”

The tape stopped. Jordan and Ashley left the
gym.

Christian took one look at Jordan’s face and
said, “I’m sorry it went down this way.” He patted Jordan’s
back.

“It’s okay,” Jordan said. “We should go,
though. I don’t think I can stand to be here another minute.” The
survivors walked down the halls.

“I wonder what happened,” Alex said. “What
could have happened to cause a safe zone like this to fall?”

“It never was safe,” Jordan replied.
“Nowhere is.”

“Where will we go, then?” Evelyn asked.

“Somewhere safer than here,” Ashley
said.

“Somewhere less dangerous than here, you
mean,” Jordan said.

Evelyn kicked a bullet casing. “Maybe we can
go back to one of your houses and wait.”

“Wait for what?” Christian asked.

“Some good luck. Maybe the end of this.”

“You still think there’ll be an end?” Alex
said.

“Everything has an end,” Jordan said.

“Not everything.”

“Most things.” They made their way out of
the school. Jordan looked at the car, then he sighed. “Wherever we
go, I don’t want to stay in my h—”

Jordan’s eyes lit up. The others looked at
him.

“Something wrong?” Christian asked.

“I just remembered something,” Jordan said.
“Something I have to do.”

They got into their cars and pulled away.
Jordan tried to push the fresh memories out of his head, but the
wounds were raw. They wouldn’t heal anytime soon.

They headed back through Big Springs, back
along the country roads and I-70, back through the crash site that
marked Aiden’s grave. They headed all the way back to Gladstone,
where a small can of black paint still sat in Jordan’s
driveway.

Everyone got out of the cars for a stretch.
Jordan took the can in his hand and scratched out his message,
leaving a big, black stain on the garage door.

“There,” he said. “Now no one will ever have
to set foot in that place again.”

Ashley slipped her hand into Jordan’s.
Christian cracked his neck.

“So what do we do now?” Alex asked.

“The only thing we can,” Jordan said. “We
move forward.”

~ ~ ~ ~

68

In the Park

“You shouldn’t be here,” Max said. “It’s
dangerous.”

“You think I don’t fucking know that?”

Max was got to his feet. “Didn’t you see the
signs? You were supposed to follow those, not the flares.”

“What signs?”

Max looked at her. “They’re everywhere. How
about the gigantic one on that building in the city?”

“I wasn’t in the city,” the girl said. “Do
you really think I’d stay in the middle of the damn city? I’ve been
staying in that house!” She pointed to one across from the
park.

Max had never even thought of what would
happen if any of the nearby houses were occupied. He and the other
soldiers had just assumed they’d been evacuated long ago.

“And it was going fine, until you and your
military boys came along and fucked everything up.”

“Do you have any idea what we’re doing? We
built a safe zone!”

“Nowhere is safe,” the girl said. Max raised
his gun and fired. She cried out and ducked, but he fired well to
the side of her. A zombie dropped dead.

“You’re right,” Max said. “No place is safe,
not anymore. But the company of others, that’s safe.”

The girl looked at him. “I’ve been just fine
on my own.”

Max looked her up and down, noticed that she
had some bruises and scrapes, that she looked too thin. “When’s the
last time you ate?” She didn’t say anything. “And how many bullets
do you have left?”

“I think I used the last one on your ass,”
she said.

“Thanks,” Max said.

“What?”

“I said ‘thank you’. For saving my life. You
should try it sometime.”

“Greenwald!” Ortiz said. He was much closer,
his flashlight scanning left and right.

“Here!” Max said, raising his gun. Ortiz
caught up to him.

“Are you okay?”

“Fine. She saved me.”

Ortiz looked at her, Max thought he
recognized her.

“You shouldn’t be—”

“Yeah, I get it,” she said.

“What’s your name?” Max asked.

“Nikki.”

“Okay, Nikki,” Ortiz said. He stopped to
think. “We need to get you out of here.”

“Why?”

“It isn’t safe. We’re about to light more
flares.”

“Why can’t I stay and help?”

“You haven’t been properly trained.”

“Are you joking?” Nikki pointed at Max.
“What about him? He looks like he’s fifteen!”

“So do you,” Max said.

“If you want to help us, you can do so by
getting to safety. That’s what we’re doing this for.”

“Well, I guess I’ll be on my way, then,”
Nikki said. She rolled her eyes.

“Wait,” Ortiz said.

“Make up your mind!”

“Greenwald, take the Humvee. Get her to the
school, and give Johns an update. Then come back here.”

“I can’t drive,” Max said.

“It’s not hard.”

“You learn fast when your other option is to
get eaten,” Nikki said.

“Can you drive?” Ortiz asked her. She
sighed.

“Yeah. I’m seventeen.”

“Take the Humvee, follow the signs—”

“I’ll drive,” Max said. The other two looked
at him. “I need to learn sometime. Besides, we might need the
Humvee later.”

“Fine, whatever,” Nikki said.

“Your fake apathy is getting old,” Max
replied.

“You don’t act fifteen.”

“You grow up fast, when your other option is
getting eaten.”

They headed up the hill. Lou greeted them,
saw Nikki, and looked at Ortiz.

“Max is going to take her to the school,
then come back,” Ortiz said. Lou nodded.

“Take what you need from the Humvee,” Max
said. Ortiz and Lou grabbed most of the ammunition that was in the
back and lined it up near their other stocks.

“We left some for you guys,” Lou said.

“Light the fuses as soon as I leave,” Max
said. Nikki rounded the Humvee and got into the passenger side. Max
opened the door.

“We have green flares. If, for some reason,
we need you back here ASAP, we’ll send a green flare up.”

“Roger,” Max said.

“The keys are in the ignition,” Ortiz
said.

“I’ll be back soon. Don’t die while I’m
gone.”

“There is no tomorrow.”

Max took a deep breath. “There’s always
tomorrow.” He closed the door and started the engine.

****

The Humvee sped down the hill, bumping along
over the bodies of hundreds of zombies. Max made a sharp turn that
felt like it might tip the vehicle, but he steadied the wheel, then
headed up the road.

“Look—” Nikki said. Max plowed into a zombie
that had been in the road. It crumpled over the hood, then rolled
into the street and didn’t move. “…Out.”

In the rearview mirror, Max saw a ball of
red light fly into the sky. Zombies rushed past as he drove down
the road, toward the college. After about a mile, they thinned out
considerably.

Another zombie crossed their path. Max
slammed into it, this time with the help of a few dozen miles per
hour, and splattered it across the street. Nikki gasped and covered
her mouth, then collected herself.

The Humvee lurched and began to slow down.
Max looked around, wondering what was happening.

“The gas gauge,” Nikki said. Max saw the red
and white bar reaching beyond the big, bright letter E.

“Damn it,” he said. The Humvee pulled to a
stop.

“In all of your planning, in everything you
brought with you, you didn’t think to bring any gas?”

“We have a lot of it in canisters and
barrels,” Max said. “But it’s all back at the college.”

“Then I guess we’ll have to go and get
some.” Nikki got out, Max followed.

“You think we can make it?” he said.

Nikki was reaching into the back of the
Humvee for some ammo. “Listen, buddy… Um…”

“Max.”

“Max. There are two kinds of people in this
world: Those who stand around and ask questions, and those who do
what they need to to survive. Guess which kind gets eaten.”

They loaded their weapons and then headed
down the street. Max fired at a zombie, and it dropped dead. “We’ll
get some gas, but you don’t have to come back with me.”

“I’m not interested in standing around a
school-turned-refugee camp for the rest of my life,” Nikki said.
“Your car needs gas. We’re going to get some and bring it back.
Then we can go back to camp, you can get anything else you need,
and then I’ll check out your little safe zone.”

“Will you stay?”

“I… No.” She raised her pistol, aimed, and
killed a zombie.

“Why not?”

“Because.”

“You don’t have a reason.”

“You really think you know me, don’t you?
You have me all figured out, huh?”

“You like to pretend you don’t need anyone,”
Max said. He fired at an oncoming zombie.

“I don’t,” Nikki said. “If you keep people
around, it just makes it that much harder when you have to…”

Max didn’t need her to finish. He also
didn’t need to look at her to know that she was choking up, that
tears were welling up in her eyes.

“I know it’s hard,” Max said.

“Just shut up and shoot, okay?”

“Whatever you have to do to live… you just
have to do it.”

“You consider this living?” She shot at a
zombie, and missed. It rushed toward them, but Max shot it, and it
fell.