In the Lone and Level Sands

by David Lovato

  “No!” Jessi said. She lunged forward, but Layne held her back.

  “Shit!” Layne said.

  Dex limped down the steps, then cupped his hands over his mouth. “Lacie!” He listened, but only heard Layne and the others a few feet away.

  “Help me!” Paul said. Layne was struggling to hold Jessi back.

  “Paul!”

  “Jessi, we have to go! You know what happens when one of them bites!”

  “Get the fuck off of me!” Jessi said. She broke free of Layne and ran toward Paul. As soon as she got to him, he shoved her back. “What—”

  “He’s right, Jessi,” Paul said. The zombie seemed to be resting, its teeth in Paul’s skin, like it was enjoying the feeling, the taste of his blood. Paul was no longer trying to escape its grasp.

  “Paul, you can’t be serious!”

  Layne caught up to Jessi. She took a step toward Paul, and Layne stopped her.

  “Jessi, we gotta go,” Layne said. “There’s nothing we can do, now. We need to get inside.”

  “Go, Jess,” Paul said. “Get somewhere safe.” Another zombie was approaching from his side.

  “But Paul—”

  “Go!”

  Layne tugged at Jessi, and she finally turned, with tears in her eyes. “I’m sorry, Paul,” Layne said. The other zombie reached him, and a third joined in. He made no attempt to stop them.

  “I love you, Jessi!”

  “Paul! I love you so much!”

  Paul and the zombies became a dark mass in the fog. It got smaller as Paul presumably fell to the ground, and the zombies closed in. Layne wasn’t sure if Paul was still conscious, but he hoped not.

  “Dex, let’s get inside,” Layne said.

  “Dex!”

  Dex turned and saw Lacie rush down the steps of the house next door. Dex hugged her when she reached him, and he blushed and let her go.

  “I didn’t see where everyone went,” she said.

  “Jessi, get inside,” Layne said. He turned back to Lacie. “Were you bitten?”

  Lacie shook her head.

  “Come on, get your asses in here!” Katie said from the door.

  Lacie and Dex went inside. Layne reached the top of the steps and looked back. Some zombies were looming closer, but many farther out in the fog wandered away, having lost sight of the survivors. Layne entered the house and closed the door.

  25

  In the Cardigan

  The group reached the big corner office that belonged to Daisy’s fiancé. The door was open, and the light was off. No one was inside. They entered the room, shut the door, and turned the lights on. It looked more like a condo than a businessman’s office. Daisy locked the door behind them.

  “Nice digs,” Jason said.

  “He must be pretty successful to have a corner office,” Stephanie said as she set her bag down and looked around.

  “Yes. He was.” Daisy turned away, walked over to the miniature refrigerator, and began unloading things.

  “Okay, everybody,” Evan said, “put the perishables in the fridge, and everything else can go on the counter next to it. Jason, help me move the desk in front of the door.”

  Evan and Jason picked up all the knick-knacks that were on the desk and set them in a neat pile on the floor. Following that were a few books, and the computer. Evan got on one end of the oak desk, and Jason aided him on the other side. Together, they lifted it and carried it to the door.

  “Should we block those windows?” Jason asked. He pointed to the windows that framed the door.

  Evan pondered for a moment. “No. I don’t think that’s necessary. They’re not big enough for any zombie to squeeze through, even if one breaks it. I would stay clear of them, though.”

  They set a filing cabinet on top of the desk and made sure it would all hold up if jiggled or bumped.

  “I’m exhausted, but I don’t know if I can sleep,” Cynthia said. She yawned.

  “We’ll be fine,” Evan said. “We’re up twenty-some floors in the air, and the only door is barricaded. You and Mal can take one of the couches.”

  “Can I have some water?” Mal asked. “My throat’s really dry.”

  “Yes, honey,” Evan said. He went over to the fridge and opened the door. It was packed solid with various goods. There were eight bottles of water; Evan grabbed one and gave it to Mal.

  “Thank you, Daddy.”

  “No problem.”

  “Can I sleep on the other couch?” Jennifer asked. “I’ve been having back problems lately.”

  “Sure,” Evan said. “There are plenty of pillows for the rest of us to use.”

  “Thanks.”

  “Let’s set up camp and get some shut-eye. We have no idea what’ll happen tomorrow, so we need to be ready for anything.”

  On that, the group moved the pillows around and made themselves comfortable. It wasn’t long before most of them fell asleep.

  Evan lay on the floor on top of the decorative shag parallel to the couch Cynthia and Mal rested on. He was situated on his side, looking up at Cynthia. She hung slightly over the edge of the couch. Her eyes were glued to Evan’s. “What are we going to do in the morning?” she said.

  “I think we’re going to have to take this shit one day at a time. We don’t want to make any mistakes. We should have enough food to last a few days, and we have water from the tap when the stuff in the fridge runs out.” Evan cleared his throat and looked over at the window. Moonlight poured in through the half-closed blinds.

  “What happens if we run out of food?”

  “We’ll just have to make a trip back down to the kitchen.” Evan looked back over to Cynthia. “I think tomorrow after breakfast, we’ll make a big sign and hang it out the window. Maybe someone will see it. A helicopter, or something. There must be rescue teams flying around somewhere.”

  They fell silent. Evan rolled over, sighed, and soon fell asleep.

  ****

  Evan opened his eyes at about a quarter to seven, and looked around. The sun was just beginning to rise, light filtered through the blinds. Cynthia was on her side with her arm around Mal; both were sleeping. Jennifer lay face-up on the other couch. She rolled slowly onto her left side. Jason, Eugene, and Stephanie were sprawled out across the floor four or five feet from one another. Evan didn’t see Daisy. That worried him. He looked at the door and sighed, relieved. The barricade still stood tall and strong. Then, Evan heard the sound of rushing water. Daisy walked out of the small bathroom several feet behind Jennifer’s couch.

  “You’re up early, hon,” Daisy said.

  “Yeah. Guess the body says I’m done sleeping for now.” Evan stretched and yawned. His eyes watered.

  “Sometimes, the body doesn’t know what it needs. You should try to get some more sleep. Lord knows I’m gonna.”

  “Hey, do you happen to have any ibuprofen?” Evan said.

  “Hon, when you do the job I do, you know better than to not have some pain killers.” She snickered, and went around the couch to her sleeping area and her purse. She found a little white bottle and tossed it to Evan.

  “Thanks, Daisy.”

  “Don’t mention it. Just drop it back in my purse when you’re finished with it.” She stretched out on the shag rug, rested her head on the pillow beneath her, and closed her eyes.

  Evan walked over to the fridge and pulled out a bottle of Aquafina. He downed the two tablets and tossed the bottle back into Daisy’s purse, made himself comfortable, and within a half hour his headache had vanished. Despite the relief, sleep didn’t return to him.

  The sun projected harsh horizontal lines across the room, and everyone woke one at a time. Stephanie and Jason went to the fridge to eat breakfast.

  Evan stood up and headed for the bathroom. He did his business, and upon exiting, he noticed Cynthia and Mal were awake.

  “How’d you guys sleep?” Evan hoped for a good answer.

  “Pretty good, considering the circumstances.” Cynthia rubbed her eyes. />
  “Okay, I guess,” Mal said.

  “Good.”

  “Are you hungry, Mallorie?” Cynthia asked.

  “Yeah.” Mal yawned and stretched her legs. Both of her knees popped loudly, and Cynthia cringed. Mal laughed. Cynthia hugged Mal and pecked her on the forehead.

  “I love you, Mallorie.”

  “I love you too,” Mal said. Evan sat down next to her. Mal switched over and hugged Evan. “I love you, Daddy!”

  “I love you too, honey.” Evan’s stomach grumbled. “Let’s get some breakfast now.”

  By the time Evan finished eating, everyone else had gathered in the main room.

  “So, what’s the plan for today?” Jason asked.

  “I’m thinking we should open up one of the windows and put up a big SOS sign. There’s bound to be a helicopter or two flying around sometime.”

  “That’s gold. Is there anything big enough to write on in here, Daisy?”

  “Art probably had some poster board or something in his closet.” Daisy stood up and headed for the closet to the left of the bathroom. A light flickered on when she pulled the string dangling from it, and she searched for a few minutes, but found nothing useful. She turned back to everyone and shook her head. “Nothing.”

  “What else will work?” Jason asked.

  “Hey, here’s an idea,” Cynthia said. She pointed to a blanket draped over one of the couches. “What if we stick a blanket out the window? It’ll stay in place with the window closed, and just flutter in the wind. Anyone flying by would know someone’s in here, and maybe they’ll stop if they see it.”

  “That sounds like a good plan,” Evan said. Cynthia went for the blanket, and Evan for the window. He cracked it open enough for Cynthia to stick the blanket out. She pulled her hand back in, along with a few feet of blanket. Evan closed the window, and the group peered out at the blanket flopping in the light breeze.

  “I hope that works,” Jennifer said.

  “Don’t we all?” Jason replied.

  “It’s a good plan,” Stephanie said. “As long as someone comes by, it’ll work.” She bore a confident smile, and looked at Jason, who smiled as well.

  Eugene wheezed, then dug through his things for his inhaler. He raised it to his mouth and took a nice long breath.

  “Are you okay?” Stephanie asked.

  “I’m f-fine.”

  “I just thought of something, Eugene,” Stephanie said.

  “What’s that?”

  “That inhaler, how much medicine do you have left? You could be in some serious trouble if you run out.”

  “I just g-got it refilled the day b-before yesterday. I’ll be good for a little while.” He pulled the small container back out and looked at it briefly, and then handed it to Stephanie. It read, among other things: Albuterol, prescribed by Dr. Kellon, PhD. Take once every four to six hours as needed for shortness of breath.

  “That’s good.” Stephanie sighed, smiled, and hoped Eugene was right.

  26

  At the House in the Woods

  At first, no one answered. Zoe waited on the steps, wondering if the house had been abandoned. She walked across the porch to one of the front windows. It was old and dirty, and hardly transparent anymore. She cupped her hands to the sides of her head and peered inside the house.

  What little she could see was nothing out of the ordinary. It was mostly furnishings, old chairs and shelves and lamps.

  Zoe returned to the door and knocked again. There was a doorbell, but it didn’t look like it had been used in ages. Zoe didn’t bother pressing it, as the door was open when she looked back at it.

  An old woman stood at the door. Her eyes twitched with a mixture of horror and curiosity.

  “You,” the woman said, “you’re not one of… One of them, are you?”

  “No, ma’am,” Zoe said. “I escaped the city. I spent the night in the woods. I’m fine.”

  “Well, what are you waiting for? Come in, quickly!” The woman opened the door wider and motioned for Zoe to enter. Zoe stepped inside. The woman looked around outside to make sure no one had seen, then shut the door.

  “Pardon the mess. Suffice it to say I’ve never had any visitors.”

  “It’s no bother at all,” Zoe said. There was a fine smell of must and dust about the place, but it was better than the smell of blood and dirt. “It beats the woods at night, anyway.”

  “You poor dear,” the woman said. “Come, sit on the couch, rest up a bit. I’ll put on some tea and we can get you warmed up.”

  Zoe sat down, and the woman left the room. Zoe looked around. The house looked the same as it had from the outside. Everything in it was old and seemed mostly unused. The lights were all off. Zoe reached for a lamp on an end table, not because the minimal light in the house bothered her, but to see if it even worked. Feeling a bit foolish, she decided against it and withdrew her hand.

  “The lights are off so that they aren’t attracted here,” the woman said. Zoe had no idea she had been standing there, nor how long it had been since she left in the first place, but she was carrying a tray with a pot and two cups of tea on it.

  “Sorry,” Zoe said. “I kind of wanted to see if it works.”

  “It works.” The old woman said didn’t sound angry at all. “But better safe than sorry, yes? Or, in this case, better safe than well-lit. Tea’s done.”

  She handed Zoe one of the cups, and Zoe sipped the warm tea. It was all so comfortable and soothing after the long night on the hard ground of the woods.

  “You’re welcome to stay as long as you like.”

  “Thanks,” Zoe said. “But I think I might leave later tonight, or maybe tomorrow.”

  “Somewhere to be?”

  “Somewhere not to be, actually. I think I’ll head for the outskirts of town. You know, that road that runs along the woods. I’ll lie low, travel at night, and follow it out of the city.”

  “Somewhere else out there you know of?”

  “No. But I’ve been in this city my whole life. I think it’s time for me to leave it behind.”

  “I understand. I’ve done my fair share of walking away, dear.”

  The woman smiled. Zoe liked her, but she couldn’t stay, and she knew the woman couldn’t follow her. If things had been different, Zoe probably would’ve tried to find out the woman’s name.

  “You can sleep in the guest bedroom. Just steer clear of the closet beneath the stairs. Nothing pleasant in there.” Zoe didn’t ask why. She figured it had something to do with the zombies. The woman did, after all, know about them somehow. Zoe had a clear vision of the locked cabinet, that inside would be a small space occupied by a body, wrapped in something—probably a blanket—with blood seeping through in some parts, laid to rest there beneath the stairs, never to be found again. Zoe tried to steer her thoughts in a different direction.

  “So the electricity works?” she asked.

  “Yes, but there’s nothing on the television. And phones don’t work, either. Neither does the radio.”

  “Mind if I plug something into the wall? It’s an MP3 player. It needs to recharge.”

  “Go right ahead, dear! Use the electricity while it’s still here. Who knows when it’ll go?”

  After Zoe plugged in her MP3 player, she spent the rest of the day chatting with the old woman. They made sandwiches and talked into the night, until it was time for bed. Zoe took the guest bedroom, which was safe on the second floor of the house. She fell asleep to thoughts of the kind woman, who seemed somehow personal and familiar, the grandmother Zoe never had in her life. She was sad that she’d be leaving the next day, but was happy to have had the experience.

  That night, as she tried to sleep, Zoe thought she could hear bumps and shuffling coming from the space beneath the stairs, but she knew these to be figments of her imagination. And even if they weren’t, they were nothing she wanted to have anything to do with.

  The morning came and went, and in the afternoon, Zoe said her goodbyes
and headed out into the woods, toward the road.

  ****

  There weren’t any people or zombies in the woods, but the screams and moans of the nearby city grew louder and louder. Finally, Zoe found the road. It was small and paved, and the woods continued on both sides of it. One way down the road led to bigger roads, and eventually back into the city. The other way led to more woods, a few residences, and a great unknown.

  Zoe began her trek. She didn’t walk on the road but in the trees, just close enough to keep sight of it, hoping nothing else could keep sight of her. She would leave the trees if the road was becoming too difficult to spot, or if it curved, but very seldom did she walk on the road itself.

  Eventually night fell, but her walk continued. All the while the moaning and screaming and gunshots of the big city faded, until Zoe could no longer physically hear them. But she knew they’d never completely fade away.

  27

  In the Barricaded Ferrington

  John Kensington sat in the security camera control room in the back of the store. The cameras were positioned to watch over the north and south foyers, the parking lot, and some of the aisles. John stared at the monitors before him, sizing up the emptiness and overturned groceries that filled the Ferrington, his Ferrington. He sighed.

  “John?” Jordan said. It occurred to John that Jordan had said it several times.

  John’s eyes didn’t leave the monitors. “What?”

  “Is it all clear?”

  “Of course it is,” John said. He imagined Jordan rolled his eyes before leaving. John stared at the monitors a while longer. He could hardly believe what the little group he’d been stuck with was about to do.

  John, Evelyn, Erin, and Christian started in the produce section. They began gathering food, enough to last a few days. John clutched a shopping basket of his own, for his own purchases. He planned on paying for everything he took from the store.