by Raymond Lee
“Whoa, kid. What’s wrong?” Torres’s hand rested on her back and started moving in small circles. “You OK?”
“No one’s coming to save us,” she said once she felt she’d sufficiently squelched the need to vomit. “We’re all going to die.”
“No, we’re not.”
She looked up at him. “If trained soldiers are getting killed by these infected people, how are we going to make it past them?”
Torres lifted his hand from her back to flex. “Like you said, I got these big muscles. Remember?”
She rolled her eyes. “I’m stuck in the zombie apocalypse with a muscle-bound idiot.”
He barked out a laugh. “Hey, if it comes down to it you can trip me and run away while the zombies get derailed trying to eat through all my muscle mass. Seriously though, you’re going to be fine. I promise you, pequenuela, you will not die on my watch.”
“What does that mean? Pequenuela?”
His eyes softened as he studied her. “It means I’m going to protect you like you were my own blood.”
“Why?”
A frown tugged at the corners of his mouth, but instead of answering he leaned his seat back and closed his eyes. “Wake me when the sun comes up or if you see anyone.”
Sky opened her mouth, but closed it, unsure of what to say. He clearly didn’t intend on answering her question and she didn’t know if it was smart to push him. He hadn’t done anything to harm her, but he was still pretty much a stranger, a stranger who had killed at least one man. If he hadn’t killed the second man who’d entered the store he’d still left him defenseless on the floor. She looked inside the store and her belly rolled, knowing what had attracted the zombies there and kept them. She looked over at Torres. He appeared peaceful as he rested with his eyes closed but he radiated a contained energy, and even though she might be young she knew in her gut the man could be dangerous if that containment snapped. Should she escape in case it snapped on her?
She could hear Raven’s voice in her head, replaying all the times she’d been warned away from strangers, especially men. Of course those warnings usually came after she broke up with a guy or got into an argument with one, like the stupid soldier she was always texting then getting mad when she’d discover him flirting with someone else on Facebook. And Raven wasn’t with her. Raven had left her.
Torres pulled the car to a stop in the middle of the street and rubbed his hand over the back of his neck. “We’ve covered the whole grid. Three times.”
Sky chewed her thumbnail and searched the street. They were a couple blocks past the store, having expanded their original parameters when she’d suggested maybe Raven had gotten farther than they’d thought. She’d seen a record store her sister would have liked, but doubted she’d seek shelter somewhere that didn’t have food. They’d crept along every street, searching every alley and side street, looking up to every balcony and window, doing their best to fear the worst with every dead body or in some cases, undead body, they crossed. There was no sign of Raven anywhere. “We have to find her.”
“Honey, if the two of you didn’t have a plan and she thinks you are that little girl splattered outside the hotel there’s no telling where she is now. We’ve seen quite a few abandoned cars, some without much damage at all. She could have jumped in one and took off for one of the camps they’ve been talking about on the radio.” He sighed. “We’ve covered a big area today and although we didn’t find her we have seen some shady looking dudes out here. I’d rather not run into any more of those guys, especially after it gets dark, which won’t be long. Right now we need to find shelter. I saw a few decent places we can try. I really don’t want to spend the night in this car. We might survive the zombies in it as long as we’re quiet, but we’d be sitting ducks to any punks who want our wheels.”
“Our wheels?” She arched an eyebrow at him.
“Our wheels. I won this car fair and square.”
Sky chose not to argue. She wasn’t sure if he’d won it fair and square, but she couldn’t dispute that the guys who’d had it first no longer had need of it. “You said you’d help me look for Raven.”
“And sweetheart, I did. We’ve looked for her for hours. I also told you that keeping you safe was my number one priority.” He put the car back in motion and eased up the street. “Let’s pick out a place up this way. It’s past where you last saw her. We’ll pick out a place with a view of the street so we can keep an eye out for her. How’s that sound?”
“It sounds like I might as well give up… like she gave up on me.”
“Hey.” Torres frowned at her. “She didn’t give up on you. From what you’ve told me, she sacrificed herself for you. The infected inside that hotel could have killed her, but she made sure you got out and risked her life to do that. I can imagine what went through her mind hearing you scream after that and coming out to find a dead little girl about your size face down on the ground. Wherever she is, I guarantee you she’s in agony. She has no idea you’re alive.”
Sky wiped away a tear and went back to looking out the window. “Fine. Can you find a place with a bathroom? I really have to pee.”
Almost an hour later, Sky sat in the car, Torres’s gun in her hands as he checked out the inside of a bar. He’d shown her how to point and shoot and told her not to place her finger over the trigger unless she was prepared to shoot, and that she’d better be prepared to shoot if anyone tried to snatch her. He’d gone in with only his baseball bat and his muscles, apparently feeling confidant those were the only weapons he needed. Her leg shook as her bladder threatened to burst and she hoped he’d return soon before she gave up and went all over the passenger seat. The thought that he’d run into trouble and gotten injured or worse—killed— flitted through her mind but after seeing how long it had taken him to pick the lock on the front door she figured it was more likely he was just taking forever to thoroughly check the interior for threats because breaking and entering was clearly not something he excelled at.
Movement up the street caught her attention. A shadowy figure ran onto the street, sending Sky’s heart right into her throat. She reached for the door handle but stilled as the person turned and she made out the woman’s features. She was too tall and too big in the chest to be Raven. The woman ran, disappearing around a building and three shambling infected followed her trail.
A knock on her window ripped a shriek out of her and Sky turned to see Torres standing next to the car, bloody bat in hand. Matching streaks had splashed up his arms. It appeared he’d tried to wipe it away but mostly ended up smearing the mess. He frowned at her, clearly not happy she’d made such an attention-grabbing noise.
She unlocked her door and opened it. “You scared me.”
“Yeah, I noticed. You should have been focused. Unlock the back door and help me grab stuff. This place will do.”
She reached back, unlocked the back door, and stepped out of the vehicle. “You smell,” she said, wrinkling her nose as she caught a whiff of something rotten floating off of him.
“There were three infected people inside. That’s what took me so long. I got some of their blood and who knows what else on me while I took care of them and dragged them into the alley out back. There’s bathrooms inside so don’t worry about it. I’ll clean up.”
“I thought getting through the door is what took you so long.”
He gave her a bit of side-eye as he grabbed the bags they’d thrown into the backseat that morning, giving her some before removing the rest. “Picking locks isn’t easy.”
“My sister can do it in no time at all.”
Now he grinned at her. “Is your sister a cat burglar?”
“No, she’s a former juvenile delinquent.”
Torres stared at her a moment before laughing a full body-shaking laugh. “You’re not, are you?”
“No, I don’t think so. I don’t really know what it is. I just know Raven got caught breaking into somewhere and had to go away a while. She said it was l
ike school but if you were in detention all the time and all the kids there were bullies.”
Torres’s eyebrows rose but he didn’t comment on the new information as he closed the back door and led her inside. The entire left side of the building was a bar and small round tables filled the majority of the right side of the room. A jukebox stood near the end of the bar just before a hallway with a sign for the restrooms. The end of the room featured a small stage and a small dancefloor before it. Another hallway opened on the right of that but there was no signage to indicate where it led. “There’s no power so I lit these candles they have for decoration on the tables. Watch your step. I have to mop up the blood from those zombies I dragged out. Upstairs is pretty clean. Turns out it’s a small apartment. I guess the owner lived above the bar.”
“What if he comes back and finds us here?” Sky asked as she followed Torres up the staircase next to the hallway leading to the bathrooms.
“I’m pretty sure he already found me. One of the guys I dragged out back looks like the guy in a picture I found up there. He had a chain on that said Ronnie and that’s the name on the mail in the apartment. I’d say we’re safe to stay.”
They reached the top of the stairs and Torres opened the door for her. Sky stepped inside to find a small apartment. There was a sofa bed folded out in the middle of the room before a dresser topped with a TV, DVD player, and small stereo. A small kitchen area was to the right of the door. It held a regular sized refrigerator and stove, plus a small microwave and a round dining table with three chairs. Two windows in the main room gave a view of the street they’d parked on.
“Bathroom’s over here on the left,” Torres said as he placed the bags he’d carried in on the table and grabbed the ones she’d packed in. “Go pee. I’ll run back to the car real quick to lock it all up and be back to clean up. You’ll be safe. You still have the gun.”
Sky hesitated for a moment, not quite brave enough to stay inside the apartment by herself, but only a moment because the mention of a bathroom seemed to weaken her already overstressed bladder. She was going to wet herself if she waited a second longer.
When Torres returned she was sitting on the windowsill, the gun still in her hands. Torres placed a weird looking object on the dresser and opened a drawer. “You like that gun?”
Sky shrugged. “I feel safer holding it than not holding it.”
“It’s yours,” he said, pulling a T-shirt out of the dresser. “Just don’t shoot me with it, and it is not a toy. The bullets in it are all we got right now. You only use it when absolutely necessary and keep the safety on the rest of the time. Don’t forget that every time you take a shot you’re ringing a dinner bell for those things out there. Understand?”
“I understand. What’s that thing you put on the dresser?”
“Distributor cap. If anyone tries to steal the Mustang they’re going to be really disappointed. It won’t run without this.” He grabbed a few more things from the dresser and headed for the bathroom. “I know you’re watching outside for your sister. If you happen to see anyone else don’t let them see you.”
Torres closed the bathroom door behind him and shortly after the shower started. Sky turned her attention back to the street. A young woman walked into view, or did something close to a walk as she dragged her feet, one of them missing a shoe. She wore dark clothes and looked like she’d been pretty before her eyes clouded over and she’d somehow gotten covered in blood and grime. She was about the right size and age… She could have been Raven if she had blue hair. Sky pulled her bottom lip into her mouth as she watched the young woman shuffle along and tried to keep her mind from wandering to a dark and scary place. She didn’t want to think about finding Raven only to find her like that.
“Laugh and I’ll toss you out there to the zombies.”
Sky turned to see Torres standing outside the bathroom, hands on hips. The black sweatpants he wore bagged around his ankles and the dark gray T-shirt was stretched to capacity over his broad chest. She could see the outline of his pecs and abs so well the material might as well have been sheer. Laughter exploded from her. She slapped a hand over her mouth but it did little to muffle the sound as she doubled over, pointing at the ridiculous sight before her.
“This dude was like six feet tall and nowhere near as ripped as me,” Torres said. “It’s not funny.”
“No, it’s hilarious,” Sky said, tears leaking from her eyes.
“Laugh it up, Chuckles. I’m still gorgeous,” he said, doing a sassy little snap, “and at least I have something dry. How are those jeans feeling?”
“Oh they feel just fine now,” Sky answered, wiping her eyes. “Are you going out like that?”
“Hell no,” Torres answered, moving toward the kitchen. “I washed my clothes out in the shower. I’m switching back as soon as they dry. Hopefully this guy had some real food in his cabinets. I have to feed you something other than junk.” He reached up to open a cabinet and the T-shirt ripped right down the center. “Sonofa—”
Sky held her belly, laughing harder as Torres cursed and peeled what was left of the shirt off. A black skull with a scorpion crawling out its mouth had been inked into the skin over Torres’s left pec. Sky pointed at it. “What’s that?”
“A memory of a former life,” Torres answered, tossing what was left of the shirt to the floor. He went back to searching the cabinets, letting out a victory whoop when he found boxes of cereal and instant oatmeal. “It’s not steak or pasta but given the situation, I think Cheerios or oatmeal is a decent meal, better than a candy bar, at least.”
“We don’t have any milk for cereal, do we?”
“Honey, I’m not opening that refrigerator to find out. With no telling how long the power has been out on this street and what all’s in there I highly recommend you don’t either. Once we let that smell out we’ll probably never get rid of it.” He crossed over to her and sat on the opposite side of the windowsill, the box of Cheerios between them. “Eat up. You can do that and watch for your sister at the same time.”
Sky took a handful of the dry cereal and watched the street below. “Will we look for her again tomorrow?”
Torres was silent for a moment, seeming to think about it as he studied the Cheerios in his hand. “We’re going to stay here and wait for help as long as we can. Tomorrow we’ll go out for supplies. You’re going to need more than one pair of jeans and I’d love to eat the pasta I found in the cabinet but we need a way to cook it without a working stove. We need to hoard water. That shower was the last one I’ll get for a while. With the power out the water isn’t going to last very long. We can look for Raven while we’re out getting supplies. Maybe we’ll get lucky and hit up the same place. She’ll need supplies too. Hopefully we’ll be able to get gas.”
“Eventually you’re going to tell me no when I ask that question, aren’t you?”
Torres met her gaze. “Maybe. We could find her tomorrow, but there’s a chance we might not. For all we know she’s met up with a group headed for one of the military camps they keep talking about on the radio.”
“Or she could have found a place like this.”
“It’s possible. If we don’t find her soon we might have to give it up and have faith that she’ll stay safe. I checked the internet on my phone and couldn’t get online but I’ll keep turning it on daily and checking as long as I have battery left. We’ll find batteries for that stereo tomorrow and keep the radio on. Once the military gets everything cleared we’ll get the two of you back together.”
“You said the military wasn’t trained for this. The man on the radio said they aren’t doing anything.”
“The man on the radio was scared and frustrated. We all are. They might not have been prepared for this, but it doesn’t mean they won’t figure it out. It’s going to take time.”
“What if it takes too long?”
Torres sighed and looked out the window at the darkening sky. “We’ll go to them. It’s going to be a bitch dri
ving to Nebraska without GPS.”
4 weeks later
“Drop the gun and kick it over to me!”
Sky kept her gun trained on the woman and tried to ignore the way her heart threatened to jump right out of her chest. Her hands shook with nerves and she hoped the woman couldn’t see her as clearly as she could see her, her eyes being used to the darkness inside the bar.
“Don’t make me repeat myself,” Torres warned, his own gun trained on the intruder. “My kid has a nervous trigger finger.”
“What about you?” the woman asked.
“I’m not nervous at all.”
Sky had been sitting on the windowsill, hidden behind the curtain, eating a granola bar while monitoring the street below when she’d noticed the woman creeping up the street. She was short and thin with long greasy blonde hair, dark at the roots, and sunken in cheeks. Her eyes had darted everywhere as she moved down the street. She’d tried the Mustang first, which they now kept parked across the street so no one would think they were holed up inside the bar, but couldn’t get the doors open. The moment she’d started walking toward the bar Sky had alerted Torres who’d been napping. They’d made it downstairs and gotten in position, Sky behind the bar and Torres off to the side of the door, just before the woman succeeded picking the lock and stepped inside their domain.
“Drop the damn gun. I won’t tell you again.”
The woman placed the gun on the floor and slowly stood, hands in the air.
“Kick it over.”
She did as asked, her eyes darting between Torres and Sky. “I didn’t know anyone was in here. I’m not a thief. I’m not violent.”
“Why do you have a gun?”
“Why do you?’ she threw back at him, a little attitude in her tone. “Do you have any idea what it’s like to be a woman alone in this mess? I got that gun off some asshole who tried to rape me three days ago. I haven’t eaten in longer than that. I saw this was a bar. I thought it wouldn’t be picked over like the convenience and grocery stores. I thought there might be some peanuts.” Her voice broke, but no tears escaped.
