The First 30 Days: A Zombie Novel

by Lora Powell

  "Ok," my voice came out in a whisper.

  "Ok," taking one of my hands in his, he led the way through the maze. While we were on the move, Rex melted out of the shadows to follow us. The dog had been spending a lot of time following Luna around, and the two of them were becoming fast friends. Maggie didn't seem to mind him roaming freely, and he had stopped growling suspiciously at all of the new people, so I was happy to let him go play. Right now, the little girl was better company than me, anyhow.

  I mentally steadied myself as we approached Devon's room. I needed it.

  Someone had thought to move several folding chairs into the space. Already cramped, it was downright claustrophobic now.

  I was a little surprised to find Maggie sitting in one of the chairs. Shawn and I took the two empty ones. Bill had been given the all clear to get out of bed, and he was sitting in the other chair. He had jokingly said that he never wanted to lay down again. Maya and Fallon sat next to each other on one of the cots.

  Finally, I couldn't put it off any longer. I looked at Devon.

  His breathing was rapid and shallow, but that wasn't new. He'd been having difficulty breathing for at least a full day. More shocking was the swelling. The infection had spread throughout his system. Under the light blanket he was covered with, I could make out just how distorted his leg had become.

  His face and neck, the only parts of him uncovered, were swollen and discolored. Broken blood vessels were visible across his cheeks. His eyes were closed, but an almost distasteful looking expression was on his face, as if he was uncomfortable.

  The space smelled like sickness, despite having great air flow. I shifted uncomfortably in my seat and looked away. Next to me, Shawn reached out. I took his hand gratefully.

  My eyes travelled to Maggie. "Hi," I kept my voice soft. It seemed wrong not to.

  "Hey, Bri. Hanging in there?" Her eyes were warm with genuine concern. I knew that she knew about my obsessive new hobby peeling back the newspaper.

  "Not much of a choice, really. So, yeah."

  "This will never get any easier and that's a good thing. As long as death isn't easy, we keep that bit of our humanity." She smiled softly and stood up. "I need to go check on a few things. I'll be back around after a while."

  After Maggie left, strained silence returned to our group. Fallon looked even worse than I felt. Her skin was blotchy from crying and she was now staring vacantly into the distance. She hadn't spoken since Devon fell unconscious.

  I was glad when Alex shuffled into the room, despite my lingering mistrust of him. His comings and goings gave me something to focus on.

  Squeezing his way to Devon's bedside, Alex went through his usual routine of checks. Pulling a syringe from his picket, he gave a dose to Devon.

  "Morphine," he looked at Maya as he explained. "We don't have a lot of the stuff, but I'll do what I can to keep him comfortable."

  After that, there wasn't much left for the nurse to try. We were long past the point of no return. Smoothing the blanket back down, he quietly left the room.

  Others came and went for the next few hours. Most didn't stay, just offered their condolences, but I found that I appreciated the gesture. Maggie's group had embraced us as their own, and it was starting to feel like we belonged here, instead of feeling like guests.

  If my growling stomach was anything to go by, it was around lunchtime when we first noticed the change.

  Devon started to wheeze. When the sound didn't go away, Maya jumped up to go find Alex. Fallon finally broke from her trance and moved closer to his cot. I was still hanging on to Shawn's hand and I squeezed it tighter, my own breathing ratcheting up.

  Alex came quickly, but after another look at Devon, he straightened up with a grim look on his face. I realized then that I wasn't the only one blaming themselves for not being able to save Devon. The nurse was, too. He sat in the empty chair and joined our vigil.

  Devon deteriorated rapidly after that. Within minutes, he choked out one last stuttering breath, and fell completely still. Kneeling on the floor next to him, I saw tears begin to slide down Fallon's cheeks.

  Bill had moved to sit next to his wife, and he rubbed her back reassuringly as the two of them soberly watched on. Beside me, Alex let his head fall toward his chest for just a second, before he straightened up with a sigh and went to the cot.

  I realized that I was squeezing all of the blood out of Shawn's fingers and forced myself to relax my grip. He gave my hand a light squeeze back as we watched the nurse.

  "I'm sorry. He's gone," Alex tucked the wrist he had been checking for a pulse back under the blanket. He looked around at all of us. "He was a fighter. He held on a long time. I, uh, I just thought you all should know that."

  Alex walked from the room.

  FIFTY-SEVEN-DAY 28

  Shawn went outside with a couple of other men to dig a grave. Maggie told us that they had started a graveyard on a grassy hill just behind the mall. They had been lucky so far, only a half a dozen people had been buried on that hill.

  I had been clutching his hand nonstop, and not having that anchor to keep me grounded had left me feeling oddly bereft.

  Looking for a way to keep busy, I wandered toward the community area. If I had to watch those silent tears track down Fallon's face for another second, I was going to end up screaming my frustration for the world to hear.

  Luna was playing with a doll in the corner. Rex jogged away from me to go sit next to the girl, his big ears perked up in interest as he watched her talk for the doll.

  A pair of fire rings, the kind that stood on short metal legs and were topped with grates for cooking, were where the group heated food. Sara and a woman I hadn't met yet were watching strips of some sort of meat sizzle over top of the coals. I wandered their way.

  "Mind if I join you?"

  Sara looked up at me, "Sure. Bri, this is Sasha." Her voice changed tone. "I'm sorry. We heard about Devon."

  That lump was back in my throat. I swallowed hard. "Yeah, thanks."

  The three of us looked at each other uncomfortably for a second before Sara cleared her throat, "Um, so, Charlie came back with a deer earlier. She said it ran right by her while she was up in the stand. It's strange, we don't usually see deer here, but I'll take it."

  I knew what she meant. For the last month, any meat that we ate was of the canned variety. Along with the meat, fresh fruits and veggies were long ago spoiled. It was a detail that I knew weighed on everyone's mind. What would we do when the cans ran out?

  The simple answer was to farm. But I certainly didn't know the first thing about growing my own food. I'd once tried to grow basil in my windowsill. The instructions on the box said for ages 6+, so I'd thought for sure I could handle it. I'd been wrong.

  Shaking myself from those depressing thoughts, I pulled a camp chair over and sat with the two other women. No one said much as they kept an eye on the cooking meat. Seeing that a bunch of it looked almost ready to take off, I got up and went in search of a plate to pile it on. After handing the platter over, I sat back down.

  The pile of cooked meat grew. When Rex came to investigate, Sara told me to go ahead and give him some. The dog took the strip of venison carefully, impressing me with his self control. I knew he was still too hungry, we all were more days than not. Despite my best efforts to put weight back on him, there just wasn't enough food a dog could eat most of the time.

  "Bri?"

  I turned around when I heard Maggie's voice.

  "They're almost finished digging. We're going to take Devon outside now. It's better if we don't wait."

  I nodded my understanding and stood, handing the giant plate of meat to Sara before following Maggie.

  I wasn't ready to see the body again, and I exhaled with relief when I turned into the room. Someone had wrapped Devon in a sheet, sparing me that at least. Bill, Maya, and Alex were all standing quietly there. Fallon was missing.

  Maya noticed me looking around and correctly guessed who I
was looking for, "She said she needed some air and she'll meet us on the hill. I think she wants to be left alone for now."

  That wasn't surprising, really. Of all of us, Fallon had been closest with Devon.

  Alex flat out forbid Bill to help us, so he joined Maya, Maggie, and I when we carefully picked the body up. As we walked through the building, heading towards the back, we gathered a small group who trailed along behind us. By the time Bill held open the door leading outside, nearly a dozen others were with us.

  The sun was high in the sky and I squinted at the brightness after days spent inside the dark stores. When my eyes finally adjusted, I saw the gradual incline of the grassy hill just ahead. Near the top, the group of gravediggers had a mound of freshly dug earth piled waist high.

  The physical burden of carrying Devon was nothing compared to the emotional one. Every step was harder than the last. By the time we passed his body over to Shawn and Mark, standing in the grave, I was glad to let someone else take over the burden.

  They carefully laid him at the bottom of the grave and climbed back out to stand with the rest of us. Shawn was muddy, the sweat and dirt mixing on his skin, but I didn't care. When he moved to stand next to me, I grabbed his hand again. He must have needed the contact too, because he held on tighter than usual.

  Fallon swished through the tall grass as she joined us. She had stopped crying, but she avoided looking at anyone as she stopped near the hole. I watched as she looked down at the shrouded body for a few seconds before dropping a wildflower onto the body. Looking around, she met my gaze for a second, before slowly walking away back down the hill.

  After Fallon left, there wasn't a reason to delay any longer. Maggie and Mark each picked up a shovel and began slowly filling the hole back in. They were halfway done when the walkie talkie that Maggie always had nearby crackled to life.

  I recognized the scratchy voice as Colton's. "Maggie?" Even through the tiny device, I could hear that he sounded like something was wrong.

  She immediately grabbed the radio, "Yeah, Colton. What is it?"

  "I don't know what I'm looking at exactly. I'm up in the stand and I started to hear a strange noise. It's coming from the highway."

  "Colton, what's going on?" When he hesitated, Maggie prompted him.

  "This is going to sound crazy, but there's a pick-up driving along real slow. And there's a lot of zombies behind it. Maggie, it's a whole lot of zombies."

  Maggie took a second before she responded. I could see her thinking, trying to figure out what was going on. "Does it seem like it's people who need help?"

  "No, I don't think so. They speed up if the zombies get too close, but slow back down when they are clear. It's like they are leading them."

  My heart started to pound. Somehow, I just knew that it was finally happening. The disaster that I had felt was coming, was here. "Maggie," my voice choked out her name. "Maggie, it's them."

  She frowned at me before pressing the button to talk again, "Colton, stay in the stand and keep an eye on them. But stay hidden. Don't let them know you are up there. Keep me informed."

  "Ok."

  She turned to look at us with wide eyes, "I think it's time we all got inside."

  FIFTY-EIGHT-DAY 28

  The waiting was the worst.

  Anyone who wasn't currently on duty outside was gathered in the central space in the main store. With a few dozen people there, it was crowded. Low murmurs could be heard here and there, but everyone mostly kept quiet. No one wanted to miss the radio updates that Colton was sending every few minutes.

  The strip of venison that I was attempting to get down felt like it was going to choke me. I wasn't the only one. Sara had passed out the meat to everyone, but more than a few of them looked too sick to eat.

  Sitting in the corner leaning up against the wall, Shawn and I watched the people around us. They all looked worried, and they had good reason to be. Colton's last update had given us the news that we were dreading.

  The pick-up had started to slowly roll down the exit, leading the horde of zombies our way. He estimated that there were at least a hundred of the undead stumbling along behind the truck.

  I was worried about Colton. He had stayed to be our eyes, but now that the danger was coming down the ramp, he was trapped. At least he was up high enough that he would be beyond the reach of even the tallest zombie, which was the whole point of that tree stand. None of the lookouts were on the ground.

  I caught the occasional glimpse of familiar faces in the crowd. Here, Bill and Maya were talking with another couple. There, Mark and Charlie were standing with Maggie, listening for the next update. Over by the fire pits, Luna was sneaking a piece of meat to Rex. All around us, the people were waiting tensely to find out just how bad things were going to get.

  The horde of zombies was shuffling along at their slow speed. Colton had reported that there were a few runners in the group. They banged and screamed at the sides of the truck, but the two men in the cab just ignored them. But even at a zombie shuffle, they had covered ground in the hour since we came inside. If they were down the off ramp now, they would be able to be at our door in less than a half an hour.

  I was starting to wonder if we should have run instead of trying to stay here. I wasn't the first to think that way, but Maggie had convinced the crowd that it was safer to stay. If we stayed quiet, the zombies would move on. The men in the truck would have to keep going themselves, or risk becoming trapped by the horde. The potential for something like this was exactly the reason they had covered the windows. If we didn't give them a reason to stick around, the zombies should keep following that truck.

  From our position on the floor, we watched the group mill around nervously. Most of the lanterns had been turned down until they barely cast any light at all. The shadows blanketed our corner, giving me the illusion of some much needed privacy. It felt like everyone in the group was looking our way more often than usual. The feeling was probably just my frazzled nerves and lack of sleep talking, but it was making me jumpy either way.

  Time passed by tediously slowly. I wished for a way to tell time because I was sure that my inner clock was off. It seemed like it was too long since we'd last heard an update from Colton.

  Then again, maybe I wasn't crazy, because Charlie spoke up. "Maggie, how long has it been since we heard from Colton?"

  I honed in on the conversation.

  Maggie frowned at the radio in her hand. "It's been too long," she looked around herself a little helplessly.

  I wanted to be sure I didn't miss anything they were saying. Glancing at Shawn, I climbed to my feet and wove through the crowd towards them. "What can we do?"

  "I don't know. We need to stay quiet in here. And I don't want to radio Colton first, just in case."

  It was my turn to frown. I didn't like that thought. If Colton wasn't able to talk without giving himself away, that meant the danger was too close to him for comfort.

  Others around us had picked up on the new tension from their leader. The quiet talk died down as more and more people crowded around, trying to hear what was going on. For her part, Maggie looked torn, like she wasn't sure what she should do.

  When the radio crackled to life, I think just about every person in the room held their breath.

  "Hello in the store. I'd like to speak to the person in charge."

  My blood ran cold at the voice. As long as I lived, I doubted I'd ever be able to forget that voice.

  Warily, Maggie raised her radio and pushed the button. "How did you get this radio?"

  A chuckle came through the static. "Sweetheart, I think you can probably guess."

  "Where's Colton?" Maggie sounded furious.

  "Is that his name? I didn't ask, and now he's not talking."

  Chatter started up around me as everyone started talking at once. My stomach dropped at the thought of something bad happening to Colton.

  Keeping it together, somehow, Maggie asked, "Who are you? What do you want?"


  "Right to business, then. I like it." His voice sounded mocking. "A couple of my men tell me that you have some people in there that I've been looking for. Here's how this is going to work. You send them out to my guys in the lead truck, and they will keep on going and lead the zombies right on by your place. They don't come out, and things are going to get real messy, real fast."

  Maggie looked over at Shawn and I. "How do I know who you want? I can't send my people outside, it's too dangerous."

  "You have a lot of murderers in there? Because I'm looking for the pos who killed my brother and his friends. One of them owes me an arm. You have two minutes. After that, we go to plan b."

  Wide eyed, I stared at Shawn. I'd wondered about the damage we'd caused that night. If Mack was to be believed, Shawn had killed his brother after he yanked him off of me. He stared back at me, clearly anxious, worried how the knowledge would affect me.

  In that second, I realized that I didn't care. The old me would have been horrified. The new me was just glad that the other guy was the one who ended up dead. I wasn't innocent, either. I'd hacked a guy with a machete. I reached for his hand to show him that we were ok.

  I turned back to Maggie. She already knew most of the story of our encounter with Mack. I'd told her everything, trying to make her understand how bad those people were. "You are not going anywhere." She raised her voice to be heard by the people at the back of the group. "We will not negotiate with people who would terrorize us. We will not send some of our own to their deaths. That's not who we are."

  I exhaled. A small part of me had worried that Maggie would send us outside to save the rest of her people.

  Distracted as we had been, it wasn't until then that I noticed the sounds coming from outside. A zombie screamed. Another one answered, and a chorus of groans and growls was audible.

  The radio crackled, "Thirty seconds."

  "What do you think they are going to do?"

  "We should run out the back!"

  "Maggie, what do we do now?"

  Everyone started panicking. No one knew what was coming exactly, but we knew that it was going to be bad.