by Raymond Lee
The woman’s eyes moved, looking at her.
Raven jumped back, screaming, and swung her katana.
“Raven!” Cruz ran toward her as the zombie’s head fell into the snow, its body still standing.
“I’m fine,” she said, holding her hands up to motion to the others there was no need to rush in. “Their bodies were frozen to where they couldn’t move but the eyes… her eyes moved, scared the hell out of me.”
“That’s what you get for getting all up in her face,” Damian said, reaching her. “Crazy ass. Let’s get up in this house and don’t try any other crazy stuff. That damn scream about made me piss myself.”
“It did make me,” Pimjai said, looking down at the wet spot spreading across the crotch of her pants as Janjai comforted her.
“Aw hell,” Damian groaned. “That’s it. We’re melting snow and taking baths. Come on.”
Hal quietly crept up the porch steps, the others behind him, blades at the ready. The front door was open but didn’t seem damaged. One peek inside and Hal saw why whoever had been in the house didn’t bother closing the door behind them. Furniture was toppled over everywhere in the living room, bullet holes decorated the walls, and blood stained the floor. The dark color of the congealed mess indicated whatever that had happened hadn’t happened recently. The stench of old decay further added to Hal’s assumption that the house had been empty for a while.
They pushed through the living room, Hal motioning to Cruz to stand guard at the base of the staircase to their left in case someone or something attempted to come down it. A large oak table rested in the middle of a small dining room. Hal saw his face reflected multiple times in the shattered mirror covering the entire back wall.
He motioned for Damian and Raven to check the room to his left while he moved to his right, locating the source of the rot he’d been smelling. The remains of a rotten body lay on the floor in front of the stove. The refrigerator door stood open, another decayed body slumped inside, large black bugs eating at what remained of it. Old, dried blood had sprayed onto the door. Hal estimated the door itself had been used as a weapon against the infected who had invaded the home.
“Clear?” he called out to Damian and Raven.
“Yeah,” Damian called back. “There’s a fireplace in this family room and it’s pretty clean. So is the bathroom.”
Hal turned back toward the rest of the group who had stayed with him, noting the pale faces on the twins, and the green infusing Carlos’s. Elijah seemed surprisingly unbothered by the foulness around them while Leah gagged but managed to keep the contents of her stomach inside.
He looked at the basement door and recalled the last mess he’d found when entering the basement of an abandoned home.
“Damn,” Damian said, appearing in the kitchen with Raven at his side. He blocked his nostrils with his forearm. “They have to go.”
“Yeah.” Hal nodded his head, agreeing. “You, me, and Cruz can clean this up after we check the rest of the house.”
He noted the twins had grown paler, and some of the green coloring Carlos had been showing seemed to have spread to Pimjai, who reeked of urine. The mix of smells was making his stomach curdle. He couldn’t imagine how bad it must be affecting the hypersensitive stomach of a pregnant woman.
“Damian, help me check out the basement. Raven, you help Cruz check out the upstairs. Everyone else hang out in the other side of the house until we can get everything checked out and this mess cleaned up.”
“What about me?” Elijah asked, straightening his shoulders. “I can help make sure the house is secure.”
“I need you guarding the others in case anything gets by us,” Hal responded, mollifying the boy’s need to show his manliness at the same time he mollified the father who didn’t want his son in harm’s way.
Appearing content with this, the young man gestured for Leah and the twins to follow him into the other room. His father gladly followed as well, no need for an invitation.
“Be careful, and scream if you need us,” Hal advised Raven as he placed his backpack on the cleanest spot he could find on one of the countertops and retrieved his flashlight, praying he didn’t find a zombie family in the bowels of the house.
“Hal wants us to check out the upper level while he and Damian check the basement,” Raven said as she met Cruz at the base of the stars in the living room.
“Hopefully it’s not so disgusting up there,” Cruz said, stepping onto the stairs. “I’m cold as ice and I hurt everywhere but I’m not laying down in blood to rest. I’ll build a fucking igloo first.”
“Good luck with that,” Raven advised as they climbed the stairs. “There’s a pretty decent family room with a fireplace. If we can find some wood we’ll probably all stay in there.”
They reached the top of the stairs to find a long, narrow hallway with two rooms on either side and a room at the end. Open doors revealed the room at the end to be a bathroom and the first room on the left to be the bedroom of a young girl. The other doors were closed.
Cruz tightened his right hand around the handle of his machete and used his other hand to pound on the wall next to him.
“What are you doing?”
“Seeing if anything stirs,” he answered, voice low.
They waited a moment, hearing nothing in response. “I think we’re good.”
“Don’t let your guard down just in case,” he said before turning into the room at their left.
The pinkness of the room assaulted Raven first. Light pink walls, hot pink comforter and pillows on the bed, pink, fuzzy throw rugs. Hot pink wooden block letters spelled out B-R-I-T-T-A-N-Y on the wall in between posters of puppies and a shelf full of Pokémon figures and stuffed animals.
Raven ran her gloved fingers over the comforter, wanting nothing more than to burrow under it as Cruz walked across the room and carefully opened the closet.
“She must have been a teenager,” he said, stepping inside. “I think you can fit some stuff in here if you’d like to get out of those wet clothes. Hold up, what’s your shoe size?”
“Seven and a half,” Raven answered as she walked over to the puppy calendar hanging on the wall. She noticed days had been X’d out beyond the start of the outbreak. Judging by the days marked out on the calendar, the family had stayed in their home until about a month ago, on the day marked as Brittany’s birthday.
“Damn,” Raven murmured, hoping Brittany wasn’t one of the rotten bodies in the kitchen. “Happy fucked up birthday, Brittany.”
“Tell me you love me.”
“What?” She looked over to see Cruz emerge from the walk in closet holding one of the ugliest pairs of shoes she’d ever seen. “Are those what I think they are?”
“Snow shoes! Or boots.” He frowned. “Whatever they’re called they’ll protect your feet.”
Raven grabbed them from his hand and marveled over them as if he’d given her the blue heart necklace from Titanic. Her joy deflated. “I should give these to Pimjai. Those poor women are suffering worse than any of us. They’re not used to cold weather at all and Pimjai is pregnant.”
“Have you seen those women? They could fit both of their feet into one of these boots. They’re yours, Raven. I admire how you look out for others but every once in a while you have to look out for yourself. It won’t make you a bad person.”
“I never hear you telling the others that.”
“I don’t have to,” he said. “You think I’m telling you this because of how I feel about you. There’s no hiding the fact that I care about you, but I’m telling you this because you need to hear it. Everyone looks out for themselves, except you. You can’t save everyone. People are going to die and you have to accept that and move on when it happens.”
Sky’s face appeared before her, smiling and laughing before morphing into a blood curdling scream that turned her little pink cheeks blood red.
“You said there were clothes in here that could fit me?” Raven moved to pass him and duck
away in the closet, safe from conversation but he snagged her arm, turning her to face him.
“You have to stop dwelling on those you’ve lost and let go.”
Raven yanked her arm away. “I’m not taking advice from a man who killed his own already dead mother. I lost my little sister and if I want to dwell on it I’ll fucking dwell on it. It’s called having a heart and feeling something for someone other than yourself.”
He backed away, eyes wide as if he’d been slapped. “I know what it feels like, Raven. Don’t forget I lost my brother a long time before I went back to kill my mother. You see what good dwelling did for me.”
She watched him walk out of the room, clearly offended, and muttered a curse beneath her breath. She’d went too far. Cruz wasn’t a bad guy and she needed to stop being so hard on him just because he liked her. It wasn’t his fault that she couldn’t deal with losing any more people she cared about. She was the one who’d sent her sister out of the hotel alone, the one to take Jeremy under her wing, and the one who had inserted herself into Damian and Cruz’s lives in the first place.
Wetness slid down her face. Raven wiped the tears away and took a deep breath. Maybe Cruz had a point about dwelling, she thought as she entered the closet and started rooting through the contents. Brittany turned out to be her size so she lucked into new jeans. They were icy cold, having been hanging in a closet in a house with no power in the dead of winter, but they were dry. She shivered recalling Hal’s warning about losing feet due to the harsh weather before sorting through the shirts. She smiled, finding concert tees from bands she’d seen herself before the world went crazy then she suddenly found herself staring into David Cook’s eyes. She had the same T-shirt at home, although she’d never worn it and she wouldn’t dare wear this one. She’d been afraid of getting anything on hers and that was before the average day could find you doused in any manner of blood and gunk. She stared into David Cook’s eyes and remembered singing his songs with her sister before burying her face in the cotton and allowing the fabric to dry tears she couldn’t hold back.
Cruz closed the nightstand drawer with more force than necessary and sat down on the queen sized bed before removing his hiking boots and wet socks. His feet were pink and wrinkled, snow having soaked through his boots. He dried them with the comforter before pulling on two pairs of thick socks he’d found in the drawer. A sturdy pair of snow boots had been in the master bedroom closet, but the man of the house was a smaller guy than him. He’d tell the others about them in case they could fit them, but he was pretty sure Hal’s feet were about the same size as his so they were both out of luck.
Of course you found a perfect fit for Raven. Spoiled Raven who never showed you any appreciation.
“Shut up,” he mumbled to the voice in his head as he removed a pillow from its case and used the case to dry the insides of his shoes before sliding his feet back into them. Still a bit damp but nowhere near as wet as they had been, they were better than nothing. He’d already seen a fairly large amount of broken glass in the living room. He wasn’t going to walk around the house barefoot.
She wouldn’t care if you did. She’d watch you bleed and never shed a tear.
“Shut up.” He lowered his aching head into his hands and pressed his fingertips into his temples, trying to ease some of the pressure he felt building there.
Fool. Stupid, stupid fool. Nobody loves you. No one ever will.
Cruz lifted his head and caught his reflection in the full length mirror. His face was pink from the cold and he had the beginning of a beard growing. He stared at himself, entranced by his own eyes which seemed to look through him, sparkling with laughter. He watched the corners of his mouth turn up into a lascivious grin although his face never moved a muscle.
“Cruz?”
He shook his head, the pressure inside easing a little, and turned to see Raven standing in the doorway.
“Are you all right?”
“I’m fine.” He quickly laced his boots and stood, picking his gloves up from where he’d laid them on the bed. “I checked the other rooms. Whatever happened to the people in this house, nothing came up here after them.”
“You checked them all pretty fast.”
“Yeah, well, I don’t linger in each room studying the people’s stuff, trying to get a feel for them,” he snapped as he pulled on his gloves. “I guess what I lack in heart I gain in speed and efficiency.”
“Don’t be like that, Cruz.”
“Like what? You don’t want me to care about you yet you complain that I don’t care enough about anyone else. What the fuck do you want from me, Raven?”
The voice in his head giggled with glee as she stared back at him, her eyes watery. The pink puffiness around her eyes clued him in that she’d already shed a few tears after he’d left her alone in the teenaged girl’s room but the tight set of her mouth and way her nostrils slightly flared told him she wouldn’t do so in front of him.
“Nothing,” she finally said. “I don’t want a damn thing from you.”
He watched her turn on her heel and walk away and cursed himself and the voice in his head that he’d made all too happy.
“No need to be embarrassed, Pimjai.” Raven led the woman into the bathroom. “Pregnant women piss themselves all the time from what I hear.”
“I nearly did it myself,” Janjai said, patting her sister’s shoulder.
“I nearly crapped my pants when we walked into the kitchen,” Leah added, her skin still a little green. “I hope they can get that smell out.”
“Hal found bleach. I’m sure the guys will take care of it.” Raven handed Pimjai the bundle of clothes she’d found in Brittany’s room and the tub of baby wipes she’d found in the small nursery next to the bathroom. “Use as many of these wipes as you need. They should do the job.”
“Thank you.” Pimjai kept her eyes downcast as she accepted the items.
Raven and Leah left the sisters in the bathroom to clean up, closing the door behind them. Raven realized she’d left the nursery door open and closed it as well, unsure what effect seeing a nursery would have on Pimjai who had to be in a constant state of worry about the child she carried inside her.
“She is pregnant?” Leah sent a sympathetic glance toward the closed bathroom door.
“Yeah.” Raven led her into the master bedroom. “This appears to be the parents’ room. The woman’s clothes may fit you if you’d like to change into dry jeans. Definitely check the shoes in the closet and I would recommend wearing at least two pairs of socks. This duct tape we found should help stop wetness from seeping into our pants but it’s best to be safe and keep our toes as warm as possible.”
“Thank you, Raven. Thank all of you.”
Raven nodded, unsure what to say. She didn’t want to appear rude but she didn’t want to become friends with the woman either. She may have been the person who did most of the talking when they’d met and didn’t think twice about allowing Leah to join them, but she didn’t want to care about her. Cruz had been right about her being a dweller. If she couldn’t seem to stop herself from dwelling on the deaths of her friends and family she could at least stop herself from caring about them to begin with.
A crashing sound rose from the floor below.
“What was that?” Leah asked, eyes wide with fear.
Raven grinned. “Hal said he was going to find enough wood to keep that fireplace burning all night. I’m pretty sure that was the kitchen table.”
The crack of splitting wood sounded again. Leah shook her head. “I best hurry and get out of my wet things. It has been too long since I felt real warmth.”
“I’ll leave you to it.” Raven saw her way out of the room, closing the door behind her to allow Leah privacy in case anyone else came up the stairs. The entire house had been checked and Hal had given them the OK to move about freely.
As she suspected, she found Hal in the dining room with an ax he’d found in the basement next to a woodworking table. Not satisfi
ed with the amount of wood he’d found down there, he’d moved on to chopping up furniture.
Cruz and Damian were in the kitchen, both wearing scarves over the lower part of their faces. The bodies had been removed but they still had a trail of blood and other gunk to mop up. The bleach effectively killed most of the odor but there was still a light trace of death left behind they would probably never get out.
“Wanna help?” Damian asked, his voice muffled as he pushed the mop.
“How sexist of you wanting the woman in the kitchen.”
“What?” He paused mopping and looked up at her.
Raven wiggled her gloved fingers at him and winked before turning to leave, noticing a chill directed her way from Cruz who hadn’t bothered to look up from his work.
“Girl, don’t play that sexist card with me. Get your ass in here and help.”
“No, I’m offended,” she yelled back as she picked up pieces of the dining table Hal had chopped and carried them into the living room.
The fireplace was already ablaze thanks to the wood found in the basement and Carlos poked at it with an iron.
“Got some wood for you,” Raven said, lowering the pile to the floor.
“That’s what he said,” Elijah mumbled, making her laugh.
“Elijah!” Carlos snapped.
Elijah looked up at her sheepishly and went back to picking up loose items from the floor.
“Need any help?”
“I’m just picking up stuff from the floor so everyone has a clear space to put down their sleeping bags. I guess Cruz and Pimjai will take the couches since they don’t have sleeping bags.
“Cruz isn’t fitting there,” Hal said, nodding his head toward one of the small couches lining the walls where they’d all stacked their backpacks as he entered, placing more wood on the stack by the fireplace. “Raven, why don’t you help me collect some snow? As long as we have snow to melt we shouldn’t dip into the bottled water we have on us. We need to save that for when it’s absolutely necessary to drink.”
“Sure.” She followed him into the kitchen, stepping carefully on the freshly mopped floor.