“You still not talking to me?” Lane asked for the fifth time.
I thought he would have got the picture by now.
“Do you feel sick yet?”
“You'll know when I feel sick. I'll make sure to puke all over you.”
“Smart-ass.”
“Not that smart, if I was I would have given you the slip weeks ago.”
I stuffed my empty hand in my pocket and Lane edged his way over to me.
“I'm hungry.” he grumbled.
“Join the club,” I said, giving him a sidelong glance. I knew what he was after.
“I know you still have half a packet of crackers hidden at the bottom of your bag.”
“You shouldn't be looking through my bag,” I said, smiling at him.
“You told me we didn't have any food left.”
“We don't. Those crackers are for emergencies.”
“This is an emergency. I think my stomach is about to turn hostile and eat all my other organs.
C'mon, Alex, I'm starving!”
“You want a cracker then you have to earn it.”
“What?”
“How about each time you kill a zombie you get a cracker.”
“That's savage, Alex. I need my strength to fight off zombies. I'm like, double the size of you.”
I laughed.
“I need more food than you.”
“My crackers. My rules. You. Kill. Zombie. You. Get. Cracker.”
“Alex,” Lane whined.
“No!” I grinned.
I sped up as he tried to grab my arm, unsuccessfully, but it didn't take him long to catch up to me.
He grabbed me from behind, this time, wrapping one arm around me, trapping me to him. I tried to
pull away, but even with only one arm restraining me Lane easy overpowered me.
“Alex,” Lane said in a soothing voice against my ear.
“No. Get off.”
“Give me a cracker and I'll leave you alone.”
“For good?”
“Yeah right, you know I'm never going to leave you.”
His words made me uncomfortable. I didn't want to get into an argument again. Lane had made his
feelings extremely obvious for me over the past two months, and I had spent the past two months
pretending I didn't care or notice him. It was a lie. How could I not notice him? We did everything
together, we spent every minute of every day with each other or within a few feet of distance from
each other. He rarely left my side. I wasn't blind to the way he felt about me. I was the one he
depended on, the one that made the decisions, the one that had kept him alive. But even though I
knew all this, I pretended he meant nothing to me. I was still secretly grieving my parents, I didn't
want to become too attached to Lane because I never wanted to feel that way again if I lost someone
close to me. I knew realistically we could be killed any day or one of us could become infected. I
didn't want to spend another year grieving Lane. It was best not to get attached, which meant I
always kept him at arms length. There were the odd moments I let him get close to me, but I
regretted it afterward, feeling guilty when I saw that glimmer of hope in his eyes.
“Lane, stop. Get off me.”
He sighed heavily, let go, and walked ahead.
I started to follow him, but my feet soon slowed down and I spun around on the spot trying to locate
the sound. I turned my head slightly, not sure if I was hearing things.
Lane had noticed I'd stopped and was on his way back over to me.
“Do you hear that?” I whispered.
He was already on high alert checking the trees around us.
“No. Up there.” I pointed to the sky.
After another ten seconds, the noise grew louder.
“Is that...”
“Yeah,” I replied, taking off into the trees.
“Hurry, we need to get back onto the road.” I called back to him.
In a matter of seconds, he overtook me and darted through the trees ahead of me.
We had trekked through the woods to the river to clean up this morning, but we were almost back to
the main road.
I hurried as fast as I could, I could see Lane had already made it through the trees and was standing
on the road.
The plane flew overhead, I couldn't see much from in the trees, I could only hear it.
I was out of breath by the time I reached Lane. I doubled over, sucking in air.
“Did you see it?” I asked.
“Yes, it was making a drop.”
“Drop?”
“When I was living in the safe house facility they used to get regular drops. Supplies, food,
medicine, that sort of thing.”
“So there's a safe house around here somewhere?”
“Somewhere,” Lane said.
“Did you see it drop anything?”
“No, it flew that way, though.”
“Do you think they saw you?” I asked.
“If they did they're not likely to stop, and I guess from up there we probably just look like zombies,
but that means there are other people alive around here.”
“Before when the safe houses were set up it was only for the selected few.” I said, and Lane nodded.
“Do you think they'd let us in now?”
“At the last safe house I was staying in, when the people on the inside started becoming infected
and the numbers started to die down, they started taking in other survivors.”
“Let's start walking, maybe we'll find it before sunset.”
Twenty-Five Minutes Later.
“I don't see this safe house anywhere.” Lane complained. “I think we missed the turning.” he added.
“I doubt it, there have been no other roads leading off.”
“Hey, Alex,”
“Yes?”
“Can we split a cracker now?”
I slowed down and lifted the flap on my messenger bag, finally giving into Lane. I'd had enough of
his whining and listening to his stomach rumbling.
“Here, you can have two. Will that shut you up?”
“Yes, ma'am.” he said, taking the crackers from me.
I didn't have any crackers, instead, I took a sip of my water. I only had half a bottle of water left and
Lane was drinking a bottle of
Coke
he had found in the last vehicle we had come across.
He gave me a look when he realized I wasn't going to eat anything.
I shook my head. “I'm fine.” I said.
“Now you've made me feel like a greedy pig.”
“It's okay, I'll probably find some berries later.”
“I hate berries!” Lane grumbled.
“You may hate berries, but they have been keeping us alive.”
The corners of his mouth twitched, barely a smile. I could tell he was feeling down today. He had
days like that. Lane was usually the sunshine for both of us, telling jokes, mostly inappropriate
jokes, making me laugh, making me smile, then there were days like today when he just looked sad.
I was probably the cause of his sad eyes today.
“Lane,”
“Hmm,”
“I'm not mad with you anymore.”
“Really?”
I nodded. “Just promise me no more toilet trips in the middle of the night.”
“I'm sorry.”
“It's okay. I'm sorry I said horrible things to you.”
“You're only saying that because if I get killed in the next five minutes you'd feel bad for being such
a bitch to me.”
“Maybe, but you're a real dick sometimes.”
He smirked at me and I returned his smile.
We were still smiling at each other when we heard the sound of an engine. Up ahead there was a
turning, a vehicle had just pulled out and sped off down the road.
“Did I just imagine that?” Lane asked.
“Nope. I saw it too.”
“They looked like they were in a hurry.”
“Maybe there's a zombie parade heading this way.” I said, looking sideways at him.
His eyes darted back along the road.
“I was joking.” I said, nodding my head to the road.
He followed me and we hurried to the turning.
“Do you think they saw us?” Lane asked.
“Probably not, they probably didn't even look both ways, what's the point? There isn't likely to be
any other vehicles coming.”
We stopped at the turning, hidden amongst the greenery was a sign.
Lakewell Science Laboratories
“Well, we found the Lab instead of the safe house.” I said.
“There's probably nothing in there, that's why they were leaving, or it's full of zombies and they
wanted to get away.”
The bushes and shrubbery had grown wild on either side of the road leading to the Lab, I didn't
even know how far down the road the Lab was.
“What are you thinking?” Lane asked.
I was still staring down the road in the direction the vehicle had gone.
“We should check it out,” I said.
“Why? There's nothing down there.”
“We won't know until we see for ourselves.”
“Alex, there was a reason why the Jeep drove off in that direction.”
“I'm walking, you coming?” I asked.
“You're wasting your time.”
“You can wait there if you want.” I said, resting my weapon on my shoulder, walking away. I knew
Lane would follow me no matter what.
He stood on the same spot, grumbling to himself, and after a couple of minutes, he was walking
beside me with another cigarette in his mouth.
He put one hand in his pocket and held his shovel in the other.
“Nothing down here,” he mumbled with the cigarette still in his mouth.
“I'm sorry, I didn't catch that. Try talking without your mouth full.”
He took the cigarette out and blew smoke in my direction.
“Thanks, that was nice,” I said, pushing him away.
“Who do you think was in that Jeep?”
“I dunno, maybe the Terminator.” I joked.
He chuckled. “Maybe it was Buffy the Zombie Slayer.” he added.
We walked for another ten minutes and I was starting to wonder where the Lab was.
“I don't see no Lab,” Lane said.
“It's got to be down here somewhere.”
“This was a bad idea.”
“Will you stop moaning, you're like an annoying kid.”
“Are we nearly there yet?” Lane said, trying to be funny.
We walked around another bend in the road and the Lab finally came into view in the distance. As
we got closer I could see the Science Lab consisted of one large building with more adjoining
smaller buildings, and a large parking lot with a chain-link fence around the perimeter.
Rattle-Rattle-Rattle
We heard them before we saw them.
My feet became rooted to the ground. Lane froze beside me.
“What the hell is that?” Lane asked.
“Humans did that.” I said, moving closer.
“Whoa, wait,” Lane grabbed my arm and pulled me back a step.
“Lane, it's okay, they're all chained to the fence. They can't get us.”
Lane reluctantly released my arm and I gingerly walked closer to the fence.
One-Two-Three-Four,
I counted seven zombies in total, all chained to the fence by their ankles. Then I remembered the
zombie from last night had also had a chain around its ankle. It must have come from here.
“Why would anyone want to chain zombies to a fence? What's the point?” Lane asked.
“It's a distraction.” I replied.
“What?”
“To keep people out, or zombies.”
Out of the seven zombies, only four were interested in us. The other two were crouched down,
possibly asleep, and one was lying face down on the asphalt, possibly dead.
“You think there are human survivors in there?” Lane asked.
“Yeah I do now, especially after seeing this. If other zombies were to come down here a couple of
these zombies might tickle their taste buds so they wouldn't be interested in what's over there.”
“I don't like the way they're looking at us.”
“And what way is that?” I asked, keeping my distance from the fence, but still walking forward.
“Like we're part of the menu. This is really freaking me out, we should get out of here.”
“In a minute.”
“Alex,”
“I wanna know what's in there.”
“Don't you think this is a little weird?”
“No, I actually think it's really clever.”
“It's really fucked up is what it is.”
I ignored the zombies as they desperately tried to reach for us, all gurgling or making weird noises
that sounded like they were possessed. They must have screamed themselves out, and they didn't
look like newbies anymore. Torn clothes, patches of hair missing, dried blood smeared down their
chins, dirty skin, dirty overgrown nails, bloodshot eyes, and gaunt bodies.
I stood at the gate inspecting the loosely tied rope holding either side together.
“You think the Jeep came from here?” Lane asked.
“The road leads to this Lab, there's nothing else down here.”
“Do we go in?” he asked, looking through the chain-link fencing.
“I dunno, I'm thinking, what if they think we're zombies and shoot us on sight?”
“If they have guns,”
“Most people have guns.”
“I don't have a gun,” Lane said.
“You do realize you can find a gun pretty much anywhere, people leave guns behind all the time.”
“Well, I never found one.”
“Too busy looking for smokes,” I said, winding him up.
He was about to say something to me, probably something that would start another argument
between us...
Vroom
We both heard a vehicle approaching. I wasn't sure whether I wanted to be seen straight away. I was
considering diving into the hedges opposite, but the Jeep cruised around the bend and whoever was
behind the wheel would have seen us by now.
The Jeep slowed down as it approached. I stood a few feet away from Lane, my hand resting under
my denim jacket, ready to reach for my gun.
“Just because they're humans doesn't mean they're friendly.” I whispered to Lane before the side
door swung open.
Lane gripped his shovel and I tightened my grip on my own weapon.
A boy not much older than us hopped out. He had a grin on his face, short dark brown hair and was
wearing military camouflage gear. He jogged over to us and I got a glimpse at the others inside the
Jeep. Another older man behind the wheel and a teenage girl in the front seat.
The boy slowed down in front of us, keeping his distance. To be honest, I would be a little wary of
us as well, Lane and I did look a little hostile, holding a shovel and a handmade weapon.
“Hi,” the boy said.
“Hi,” I replied, letting my weapon fall against my leg.
“You guys all right?” he asked.
“Err,” I let out a shaky laugh. “I've been better.”
The boy smiled. “It's okay. You're safe now. I'm Scottie.”
“Are you military?” Lane asked.
“Um, no, these are borrowed.” he answered, referring to the clothes he was wearing.
Borrowed?
“Help me with the gate.” Scottie said, nodding his head at Lane.
Scottie untied the rope and they both pushed the gates open.
I moved aside and the driver of the Jeep swung the Jeep around the bend and through the gate. I
noticed through the windows the backseat was filled with boxes. I hurried through the gate, and
Lane helped Scottie close the gates again.
“What's with the zombies?” Lane asked.
“To keep the other zombies entertained.” Scottie replied, smiling over his shoulder at me.
I felt Lane tugging on the back of my jacket, pulling me back a step to him. Scottie secured the
gates with the rope again and we followed him along the road. The Jeep had driven around the back
of the Lab and out of sight.
“You have vehicles here?” I asked.
“Yes, but they're running on fumes now,” Scottie answered.
“Did you see the plane?” I asked.
“Yes, it was delivering our supplies.”
“Is that where you've been?”
“Uh-huh,” Scottie said, just as two men walked around the building on the left, holding guns.
“The patrols, we take it in turns to wander around the perimeter.”
“So this is a safe house?” Lane asked.
I gave him a look. I wasn't sure either, but he didn't need to sound so suspicious.
“Um, it wasn't at first. The safe house was about a forty minute walk from here, but it got out of
hand and overrun. I was there when it went down. A group of us left and relocated here.”
“And the delivery drops?” I asked.
“Before the shit hit the fan the main operating base was informed to continue making the drops, at
the time it was still a functional facility. Then we lost radio contact, and had to evacuate, but they
still leave the drops. We just have to make the journey to collect the supplies.”
Something about Scottie's story didn't sound right to me. I noticed Lane watching me, probably
thinking the same thing.
We reached the main doors and another man walked out followed by three other men.
“Scottie,” the man greeted Scottie.
The man was tall with strong features, looked to be in his late forties, with a smooth face and
chocolate brown hair and looked like an older version of Scottie, he also had a gun tucked into his
waist belt.
“Hey, dad, this is um,” Scottie looked at me.
“I'm Alex and this is Lane.” I said.
“Well, Alex and Lane, we are always pleased to welcome new guests to our Lab. I'm Dominic and
this is Tim, Maxwell, and Ron,” he said, tilting his head to the other guys. I recognized one of them
from the Jeep.
I gave a curt nod. “And you've already met Scottie, my son.” he said, ruffling Scottie's hair.
A girl walked through the doors, she had short straight cut dirty blond hair and was super skinny,
dressed in jeans and a large sweatshirt, she was the other passenger in the Jeep.
“Ah, Carmen, we have new arrivals.”
She smiled and joined Dominic's side. The two patrolmen walked toward us, the older one flashed
me a smile and said something to his friend, they both walked passed chuckling to themselves, and
the older one looked back over his shoulder at
me.
“Don't mind them, that's just Darren and Jeff. Shall we go inside,” Dominic said.
I hesitated and felt Lane bump into me.
“You can leave your weapons outside. You won't be needing them.” Dominic said.
I looked down at my most treasured possession, it had saved my life so many times, and I'd become
so attached to it I had even named the thing
Butchy
. Lane looked down at me, waiting for me to
make the first move. I smiled politely at Dominic and stood my weapon against the wall, and Lane
placed his shovel beside it. Then we followed the others inside.