“This is a stupid question,” Lana started.
“No stupid questions,” said Neal.
“Okay then. Anyone know her blood type?”
We all looked from Gabby to Miss Pre-Med.
“Sorry,” Neal said. “That is a stupid question.”
There was nothing else to do but wait. Tom and I took turns going upstairs to see if the zombies were getting bored with the house. The first time Tom opened the door, he didn’t even leave the basement. The sound of his foot on the first floor was enough to get the zombies going, and they rattled the house like it was a snow globe. I clutched Lana’s hand until Tom was back below ground. When I went to look, everything was quiet. I hoped that we might have our out. If we could just make it back to the med wing then Gabby might have a chance and we could eat and…
Then I heard the zombies’ nails scratching the first board we’d hammered just above the sink, and I flew back down the steps.
This went on all night. We took turns sitting with Gabby. When it was Lana’s shift, Tom paced the room. Neal was huddled on one of the other chairs with his arms around Morgan.
I sat beside Lana.
“Any change?” I asked.
She shook her head.
This was bad. Worse than it had been before we’d left the med wing. I bit my lip and forced myself not to cry. Especially not in front of her. Gabby was still alive because of Lana, and she’d know what to do with the gun when the time came and…
And I heard Lana softly sobbing.
Her shoulders moved up and down as she pressed her hands to her mouth.
“Lana? Hey. Don’t.”
I placed my hand on her arm.
“I’m sorry,” she said as she turned to me and wiped her nose with the back of her hand.
“I’m just… I’m so scared.”
“Well… at least you’re in good company.”
Her face went blank for a moment, but then she finally smiled at me.
“Looks like.”
She sighed and rested her head on my shoulder. My arm felt heavy as I placed it around her.
I saw her eye the shotgun.
“I do know how to use it,” she said as she pointed at the firearm.
“I believe you.”
She lifted her face to me.
“Then… then maybe we should just… I mean, I could make it quick and painless. For all of you. Then I’d turn it on me.”
Her voice and her eyes were totally defeated as she spoke. And I believed that she would do it if I didn’t say the right thing.
“Lana, Lana we can’t give up. We… we still don’t know… we’re barely off campus.”
I had nothing to fall back on but my bad idea.
“Maybe,” Lana finally said. “But how are we supposed to get out of here?”
I started to speak but quickly realized that I didn’t have the answer. The only thing I could thing to was try to change the subject.
“So… pre-med. Tough course load?”
Now she didn’t seem to know what to say.
“Um… yeah.”
“I bet. So… so what? Like bio and stuff?”
She nodded.
“Oh, man. I was never good at that kind of thing.”
I wasn’t good at a lot of things.
Lana smiled and ran her fingers through her hair.
“Maybe I could tutor you or something. You know. When this is over?”
Our eyes locked. She barely looked serious, but I kept playing along.
“That’d be awesome. Thanks. But… but I don’t have bio this semester. Got a chemistry elective though. Pretty bad at that, too.”
Lana smoothed her hands down her face.
“Chemistry? Nothing to it. You just have to memorize what goes here and there and voila. What was a bunch of separate things is now just one thing and you can you use it to serve…”
I waited her for her to keep talking when her eyes widened, and she let out a low gasp.
“Lana?”
She pulled away from me and fell to the floor. Her sudden movement stopped Tom in his tracks and drew Neal and Morgan from their half sleep. She grabbed one of the cans of hairspray and examined it closely. Then she moved to Tom’s stash and pulled out a box of tin foil.
Tin foil ?
“What’s that supposed to be for?” I asked Tom.
He shrugged his shoulders and stuffed his hands in his pocket.
“I thought… I thought like the sharp edges on the box would come in handy.”
Lana leapt up and waved the box in Tom’s face.
“I know, I know,” he said as he started to back away from her. “As dumb as the hand, right?”
Lana furiously shook her head.
“Not at all, Tom. And I… wait!”
She disappeared into one of the other rooms. I could hear her knocking things in every direction. The zombies would never leave if she kept that noise up.
“Lana?”
There was no answer, and I was suddenly terrified that she’d used the box to slice her wrists open.
“Lana!”
I started after her when she reappeared with her face beaming.
“Look!”
She held a box of sparklers left over from a long gone Fourth of July in each hand. The package of tin foil was under her arm.
Was she planning to set the house on fire?
“Lana, what are you doing?”
She brushed past me and fell to the floor.
“Getting us out of here. Well, one of us at least.”
She tore a huge piece of tin foil off the roll than started crushing the sparklers. Except for the fuses. She kept those intact.
“Lana?”
She wasn’t answering me and just kept pulverizing the forgotten fireworks. They had someone’s full attention now.
When Lana was done crushing, she took the hairspray and placed it in the center of the foil and carefully brushed the sparkler dust around the rim of the can. She repeated this three times until she had a perfect circle that was just foil. Then she placed the hairspray in the circle and bent the wires of the fuses against the can. When she had that done, she started to wrap the foil around the cylinder.
Neal slowly moved to see just what Lana was doing. Morgan held his arm and raised her lips to his ear.
“What is she doing?” Morgan whispered. He held one finger to Morgan’s lips and smiled.
“She is being brilliant!”
“What do you mean?” I asked.
Neal stayed silent as Lana finished wrapping the can. Then she held it up to all of us in triumph.
“Not bad, huh?”
I had no idea what was happening. Neal knelt down and gently touched the now shinier bottle.
“Not bad at all,” he said with a smile.
Lana rose and handed the can to me. I didn’t know what she had made, but I was scared enough to back away.
“Sam?”
“Lana, what is that?”
She rolled her eyes.
“It’s a bomb, Sam.”
My breath started to come more quickly. I was on the verge of taking my chance with the zombies when Neal started to speak again.
“Inspired.”
“I know! Now we just need a light…” she started to look in her pockets then turned her attention back to everything on the floor.
“Now I thought I saw some matches---”
I began waving my arms frantically in the air.
“What are you doing ?!”
Neal took the can, and Lana grabbed my hands. Suddenly, I was really afraid of her.
“Sam? Chemistry ? Great call! Now one of us just has to get up there, get some distance between us and them, and just toss this bad boy to confuse the zombies.”
Neal slapped his hands together.
“They won’t know which way to turn.”
Tom was scratching his head, but he quickly joined in with the others.
“And then we run?”
>
Lana snapped her fingers.
“You got it.”
It was a plan. The first one we’d had in hours that seemed like it might work. We’d throw the zombies off their game and make a break for it and---
“But who has to be the one to throw it?”
Morgan was stating the obvious. But it was a question that required an answer.
We all stared at each other. It was a suicide run for sure, and one of us would have to do it.
Tom spoke first.
“Well… well she built the thing,” he said as he pointed to Lana. I stepped in front of her.
“No. She’s not doing it.”
Tom grabbed my shoulders.
“But she’s probably the best one to handle it, Dude.”
Lana scoffed and took the can from me.
“It’s not going to go off until you light it,” she said as she tried to offer the can to Tom.
“You can handle it,” she said.
Tom shook his head.
“No! Not me. Give it to the old guy. He’s … like smart and stuff.”
I turned to see Neal considering the offer and almost on the verge of making the sacrifice. Then his fingers curled around the homemade bomb.
Morgan stepped in front of him and started to plead with Tom.
“No! Please don’t make him go.”
“Why shouldn’t he?” Tom asked. “Women and children first, right? Or… or something.”
Tom would go there. Neal looked like he wanted to hit him, but then he seemed to resign himself to being the odd man out and started up the stairs. Morgan clung to his arm as he moved.
“No! No please stay here.”
Neal turned back. He pressed the can to his thigh and held her face.
“It’ll be okay. I’ll catch up with you.”
“No. No you won’t. They’ll hurt you. Please.”
She fell at his feet and started to cry as she wrapped her arms around his legs. Neal sneered at Tom who suddenly couldn’t make eye contact with the professor. Gabby stirred under her blanket. The room fell silent as she gurgled. Lana took her pulse and touched Gabby’s face. We all waited for the verdict.
Lana looked back at us with a shaking head.
“Fever, guys. Not good. One of us has to---”
“I’ll do it.”
And the room was silent again.
I stepped past Morgan and took the can from Neal.
“Kid, you don’t have to.”
I knew he meant it. I knew that he would take the hit if it meant the rest of us staying safe. When I looked down at Morgan, I knew she’d fall to pieces if he left. Gabby was out of the question, and she would need Lana’s help.
And I looked at Tom.
He could be a jerk, but he was still my best friend. Tom just wanted to find Leslie. If I had someone who needed me, someone who might be hurt, I’d have done the same.
Besides, we were all here because of me.
“It’s okay, Prof. I got this.”
Neal started to protest, but when he saw my eyes, he just nodded.
“Thank you,” Morgan whispered.
Neal helped her up and wrapped his arms around her. He slowly led her away from the steps.
“Dude?”
I grasped Tom’s arm.
“Just find Leslie,” I said. Tom’s eyes misted over, and he retreated to another corner of the room. I was left with only Lana’s eyes.
“You sure?” she asked.
I nodded.
She grabbed the shotgun and took my hand.
“You’re very brave, Sam.”
If I was going to die, at least I’d go out a hero in someone’s eyes.
“Come on.”
I spied the floor and found a pack of matches as we left the others and returned to the kitchen.
I could hear the zombies’ breath moving against the house. As good as Lana’s plan was, how was I supposed to get out of here.
Lana aimed the gun at every sound. I pictured the house enveloped by the undead. She pressed her ear to each boarded up window and wall. Again and again she turned her head away and shook it sadly.
This wouldn’t work.
“Wait.”
She moved to the front door, the first door we had tried, and gazed through the peephole. Lana looked back at me with a smile.
“They might be on the porch,” she said.
“They probably are ---”
“But if you can run fast enough, you’ll have a shot. Sam…”
Her eyes scanned my bad leg. She lowered the gun and grabbed my wrist.
“If… if you tell me that you can, I promise I’ll believe you.”
She pointed the gun at the door.
“And I’ll… I’ll keep you covered while you run.”
I heard her voice cracking with every word, and I knew I had to move now. Or I never would.
“Okay, Lana. Open the door.”
She did.
And I bolted.
I didn’t look behind me as I raced down the steps. But I could hear the zombies starting to turn in pursuit.
I didn’t look back. I couldn’t.
But I could hear Lana getting off shots like an expert markswoman as I turned the corner away from the house.
There was nowhere else for me to go but back under the gate and into the thick of it.
I barely had time to think if Lana had enough time to shut the door, board it up, and return to the others. I was running so fast that I almost crashed into one of the outer dorms. There might be more of them inside, but it was the only chance I had. The building seemed empty as I climbed up the steps.
I made my way to the roof and looked down. Most of the zombies had followed me. I could see the porch. Lana was still shooting. Tom had obviously gotten over his fears and was there, too. Swinging my bat. And I knew the others were waiting in the basement. Maybe I had gotten them into this. But now I would be their way out.
I whistled and started to scream.
“Hey! Hey you zombie tools ! Up here!”
Every undead set of eyes moved to look at me. Lana saw me, too, and Tom dragged her back into the house. They were safe. They had a shot at escape. But only if I followed through with the mission.
I fumbled with the matches, finally struck one and lit the fuse. I threw it to the ground and fell to the roof with my hands over my head.
And then I heard the explosion.
Part 3
Right before the explosion, I felt more scared than I had been since the start of the apocalypse, or whatever this was. For the first time in too many days to count, I sort of knew what was coming next. Lana’s homemade bomb would send up a stream of smoke and chaos. I wanted the zombies to get a taste of their own medicine and be back in my shoes. I was betting on the smallest part of them, the part still remembered what it was to be human. I was human enough to duck for cover and hang on to nothing as I pressed my palms to the roof.
During the explosion, it was like I had stepped out of my body. I was above seeing my cowering form and the zombies flailing about in confused horror. In my mind’s eye, I gained the ability to peer through walls, and I believed that I could see Tom and Lana rushing back into the basement. My ascent with Lana had been careful. Now was the time for speed. The bulk of their focus was on Gabby and getting her out if she had a chance. I pictured all of them hoisting her plump body into the air. Just moving her would shake her back to a semi-conscious state. I could hear Lana promising her help, and I saw my group move as one as they brought Gabby back into the light. They stepped to the porch and saw the plan successful. Then they made a run for it. I smiled at them over the edge of the dorm. It was there that I found that I had suddenly gained the ability of flight. With a quick stretch of my arms, I sailed down to meet my friends, old and new, and led the charge back to the med wing. Once returned, Gabby would be saved. Sure. I was the one who had butchered her, but I imagined repaying all debts in full and basking in a hero’s applause when s
he ultimately survived the bite and did not turn. So she’d lost a hand. I could show her a thing or twenty about living with a limitation. If me and my bad leg could save the world, then Lana could probably show Gabby how to perform the most delicate surgical procedure with one hand.
I thought all that during the explosion.
In the moments after, the scent of burnt leaves reminded me of home and bonfires reigning supreme over long Thanksgiving weekends. The smell of normal pulled me from my night dream, and I crawled across the roof. I finally caught hold of the ledge and expected the gang just waiting for my graceful descent.
No Lana. No Tom. No no one I wanted to see.
Just more zombies. Lots more
I rubbed my eyes and blinked. It couldn’t… how could it… no!
The explosion had accomplished something. The zombies who couldn’t have numbered more than thirty seemed to have increased their numbers to fifty. They were all lumbering towards the dorm and me, the midnight snack just waiting to satisfy their hunger. What did I expect? That had been the plan. I was the one who had drawn attention to myself.
Some of the zombies started to scale the building, Spider-Man style.
So they were the ones with the superpowers.
And I didn’t even have my bat.
I considered all options. If I hung tight until most of them were on the roof… well maybe I couldn’t fly. But I could jump. The promise of broken legs and arms seemed preferable to their gnashing teeth. Or maybe… maybe they were so hung up on the walls that my best option was to slither back to the steps. The zombies would reach the roof, and I’d just walk out the front door and make my way back to the house. I could already see Lana and the others cowering upon my homecoming. My face would tell them all that they had to know.
We needed a new plan.
I couldn’t fly. No matter how much I wanted to. So I opted for the steps and crawled backwards. I kept my eyes on the ledge that was about to be full</I of zombie appetite. I could hear their desperate moans, but at that second I could only see my breath hitting the air. I was sweating too much to feel cold, but the air from my lungs taking form told me that temperature had dropped well below freezing. It was too cold for November. But why should the air make sense when nothing else did?
When I was safely back in the dorm, I sprang to my feet and retraced my steps to the staircase.
I had never boarded or even locked the door. The result was a stream of more zombies taking their time as they started up the steps towards me. They smelled like sweaty socks that had been forgotten in the back seat of a trunk roasting in August heat. The burnt leaves and all their memories wafted away. If there wasn’t a dozen drawing closer with rotting teeth and creamy blue eyes, it was pretty close. I couldn’t breathe as I pondered my options. There was no way I was making it out the way I came in. And by now there had to be another party forming on the roof. For the first time in forever, I just wanted to crawl back to my dorm. I was used to not getting invited to other people’s bashes.
Zombie University (The Complete Series): How I Survived the Zombie Apocalypse Page 6
