On Our Own

by Silver, L. D.

  “I think so.” I turn over onto my stomach, slide back to the edge, and look down into the crevice.

  Big and Meaty stands at the bottom and stares up at us with the patience of the dead. He’s given up on getting up the slope, but he hasn’t given up on us. The rest of the zombies, however, are already back in their odd little circle at the other end.

  “We’re fine.”

  Cassie wiggles up next to me and we examine them from a safe distance.

  “How do you think they got in there?”

  “Don’t know.” I shrug. “I’m wondering if someone drove them in.”

  “How would you herd a bunch of zombies?”

  “I don’t know. It just seems like it would be neat if someone had gotten an extra twenty zombies out of the way.”

  “Yeah. They probably just fell in, though.”

  “Wouldn’t they know to avoid a gaping hole?”

  “We didn’t.” Cassie grins.

  “Hey, we were going eighty miles an hour when we hit that gap.”

  “Exactly.” She giggles.

  We watch the zombies for a while. Then I get thirsty and reach for a bottle of water out of my backpack. “Darn it.”

  “What?”

  “Everything we have – my backpack and yours– is down there, with the zombies.”

  Chapter 30

  “That’s okay,” Cassie says. “We’ll just get more supplies in town.”

  I think of the picture of her mom and dad in her pack, but instead I say, “Like the research?”

  “Oh.” She frowns.

  “Unless you have one of the drives on you?”

  She shakes her head.

  I stare at the broken mass of my pretty car. “I’ll go back down and get just the packs. We can pick up new bikes somewhere else.”

  “I’ll go,” Cassie counters, and she’s actually got a leg over the side before I grab her arm.

  “No, Cassie. I can get up the slope quicker.”

  “But I know what I’m doing now.”

  “No. I have a bigger reach and I’ll be quicker. Plus, those backpacks are going to be heavy.”

  She thinks for a minute and then sits down again. “Okay.”

  I examine the situation. Big and Meaty has gone back to the zombie huddle, but even if I slide all the way down he’ll probably be able to meet me at the car. I’ve got my gun and my knife, but Cassie’s gun is in her pack, and mine only has a small number of bullets.

  I’ll be dead before I can get back to the slope.

  “We passed a town right before we hit the pit. How about we go there, get some supplies, and then come back and get the packs?”

  “Supplies?”

  “Well, like lunch, water, new bikes, maybe something like a rope or a bucket, and then something to distract the zombies.”

  “Sure. How far away was it?”

  “Beats me. Can’t be far, though.”

  So we head back, along the same road I once raced so grandly on, just at a much slower pace.

  Screw the bikes. I want my car back.

  #

  A few hours later and I am sticky-hot, my feet hurt and I’m tired. That bright blue sky sure looks pretty until you’re stuck under it for an extended length of time. The sound of cicadas has become annoying. There isn’t any shade at all, just miles and miles of baked grass; sometimes on a flat surface and sometimes gently rolling hills. The only good thing is that we haven’t seen any zombies along the way. I just want to lie down in a room pumped full of air conditioning and fall asleep.

  “Are we there yet?” Cassie jokes.

  “No,” I snap. It would’ve been a funny question to ask if I wasn’t frigging hot and fed up with this whole walking thing.

  We head up a small hill I don’t even remember from our trip out here. As I top the rise, there, finally, I can see the outskirts of town. I collapse on the grass.

  “We’re here. Let’s look at it a minute.”

  Cassie nods and sits beside me.

  We get lucky in a way. The first thing we’ll hit is a shopping center, one of those huge ones that’s basically an outdoor mall. There’s a SuperMart, a Home Depot, a Barnes and Noble, a Ross, a PetSmart, and non-chain clothing stores between each. Chain restaurants dot the parking lot.

  Oh, and did I mention there’s like a thousand frickin’ zombies down there?

  “What weapons do we have?” I ask.

  It turns out we each have a knife. I also have a gun with six bullets in it, which I’m not very good at shooting. Boy, do I wish I had a bat.

  “So, what first?”

  “I would kill for a soda, chips and a hamburger.” I grin at my own joke.

  “Yeah, right,” Cassie says. “Do we go for weapons or food first?”

  “How about both?” I point to the SuperMart. There are currently at least twenty zombies milling around just outside the entrance.

  Some of the empty-heads cluster around the store openings as if something reminds them that those doors might open and people might pour out. Handfuls wander among the dead people and the dead cars, looking for food or other zombies or whatever. Then there are random groups standing away from the stores, like they’re camping out and waiting for some huge event.

  I spot a female carrying a huge plastic bag from the shoe store. Sometimes it’s like, when they zombify, they forget themselves so totally they don’t even notice they’re still carrying things they can put down, and those items become like a weird extra body part. Imagine that, going through the undead life carrying a bag of shoes you would never remember to wear.

  I wonder if she’d been excited about the shoes; if she couldn’t wait to get home and wear them with her favorite outfit. She must have been one of the first killed in this area. I can’t imagine anyone going shoe shopping in those final days.

  I wonder what day was the tipping point, when the day before it had been perfectly reasonable to buy shoes and the next, it would have been outrageous because you were now running for your life. I don’t remember which day exactly had been the transition.

  “Delilah?”

  “Yeah?”

  “So, are we going to go?”

  I snap out of my thoughts. “Sure. How should we get there?”

  “Let’s just go.” Cassie stands up.

  “No,” I shake my head. “We have very few weapons. Let’s plan.” She sits back down and I look at the situation. “What about the backside? You know, where the deliveries come in? Surely there won’t be a lot of them there?”

  “Don’t those usually have solid doors? How would we get in?”

  I pick up the gun and shrug. “I shoot the lock.”

  “Okay.” Cassie agrees. Then we’re off, descending into the biggest mass of zombies we’ve faced so far.

  Chapter 31

  We skirt around to the back, moving very slowly so none of the zombies catch sight of us. Thankfully none of them have wandered there; I guess it’s as boring to the dead as it is to the living.

  The SuperMart is the huge box store in the middle, and I jog at a good pace until reaching that area. It may be empty back here, but I still don’t want to get caught. The heat blazes down on me, made worse by the black road and the white walls of the stores.

  All of the doors are dark gray and look heavy and solid from the outside. I go up to one of them, Cassie right by my side, and notice something odd.

  “It’s open,” she whispers. The gray door is damaged. This wasn’t left open by a fleeing employee; it’s been forced open by someone. I don’t think a zombie could have done this; it had to have been a living human, but then why did they leave it open? Had they gotten it open only to be eaten right after they went inside?

  I slip my knife into my hand and whisper, “Be careful.”

  I slide around the open door and take a step to one side so Cassie can fit inside, too. I wait for my eyes to adjust, fearing there will be a body at my feet and a moaning zombie on the other side, but as the room reveal
s itself I see only shelves and boxes. I motion Cassie behind me, and then shut the door as quietly and firmly as I can, trying to keep out any zombies that might have followed us. As much as I don’t like having the known way out blocked, I really don’t want to let any of the dead in here. As quietly as we can, Cassie and I move some of the boxes in front of the door, so any hungry empty-head will have to push very hard to get inside.

  I lead the way out of the room, out through giant plastic strips hanging from the ceiling, through more storage areas, and finally to the main part of the store. I’m five steps in before I stop cold.

  The lights are on.

  “Delilah,” Cassie whispers at my side.

  “I know. Someone’s here.”

  “No shit.” She rolls her eyes.

  “You said a cuss word!” I grin at her then hold my hand down low and she slaps it.

  “Let’s go find them,” she says, and takes off running.

  “Cassie,” I hiss. “No! They could be dead now. They could be zombies.”

  But does she listen? No! She runs through the store, her sneakers slapping on the linoleum so loudly I’m sure the zombies outside can hear her.

  As I race after her, I notice the sports section to my left. I take a quick detour, thinking that since I’m bigger and faster I can surely catch up. I race down one aisle full of hockey gear, do a quick turn and then thankfully reach the baseball aisle. I grab a nice aluminum bat, enjoying the feel of it in my hand. Then I cock my head to the side and try to figure out which way she’s running. It sounds like she’s headed to the left, to the far side of the store, so I take off in that direction.

  When I catch up to her we’re in the grocery section, and it reeks to high heaven. Fortunately, she’s slowed down.

  I shake my bat at her. “Don’t do that again. For God’s sake, at least walk next time if you can’t wait for me.”

  “What’s that stench?”

  “I’m guessing rotting food. Definitely rotten vegetables and fruit. Probably the fresh meats, as well.” I don’t mention what else it could be. It could be a bunch of the good kind of dead, possibly massacred on the day everything hit, or it could be zombies. If it’s the latter then we’re totally screwed. This amount of decay means there would be more of them stuck in here than the numbers out in the parking lot.

  Cassie makes a gagging sound but thankfully doesn’t throw up. She quickens her pace a bit, hitting the frozen food section a few steps ahead of me, and then stops in her tracks. Her mouth falls open.

  I follow her eyes and almost walk into her out of surprise.

  About halfway down the aisle, a grown-up is sitting on the floor; a living, breathing, human adult surrounded by food.

  Chapter 32

  The adult I see is not the savior I expected. I admit I figured it would be a dusty stranger with a gun slung over one shoulder and a tough but kind attitude. A grown-up who would grin and take on the responsibilities of a teenager and a child in stride. Then I could relax.

  But the woman sitting in the middle of the aisle doesn’t have a gun in sight. She’s wearing white capris, a pink shirt and strappy white high-heels. She’s also collected some of my favorite junk food, like chocolate cupcakes, nacho chips, cake, and an entire assortment of candy bars. As I’m watching, she tucks her long, blonde hair behind one ear, holds a cell phone onto her shoulder with her head, and tugs open a box of donuts.

  “Hmmm – hmmm, I know what you’re sayin’, Crystal.”

  The meaning of her words hit me like a bucket of ice water. “Delilah, is she really talking to someone on the other end of the phone?” Cassie whispers.

  “No,” I whisper back just as the woman notices us.

  “Hold on, Crystal,” she says into the phone. “You two girls go on and find your momma.” She waves a hand at us then goes back to talking and eating.

  I walk away from the aisle, stunned.

  “How do you think she got in here unhurt?” Cassie asks.

  “I don’t know.” I shake my head.

  The one adult we’ve found, in all this time, is bug nuts. What the hell? Did all the good ones die, protecting me and others like me? Crap!

  I suddenly feel a lot less sure about adults.

  Chapter 33

  We walk deeper into the store, leaving the junk food diva behind. I don’t know about Cassie, but I’m still hungry even after seeing that woman on a binge. The frozen food is not an option and the fresh produce died long ago. I would really love a peach, a nice, juicy ripe one I could eat over the sink like old times. I sigh.

  “Hey.” I turn to Cassie. “If the lights are on, then I bet this place has an employee break room with a microwave just like the department store. We can have hot food.”

  Cassie grins. “Meet you there?”

  “Sure. Thanks to crazy lady, I don’t think there are any zombies in here – otherwise she’d be long dead – but still be safe, okay?”

  She nods and runs off. I walk down the aisles, collecting canned food, microwave meals and stuff to cook them in. I also grab soda, napkins, and forks, so we can eat like civilized people.

  It turns out the break room is between the restrooms and an area full of little lockers. Cassie’s already in there with a pile of good stuff, but nothing’s in the oven yet. Hey, I might not know how to really cook yet, but I know for sure how to make something in a microwave. I pour stew into a plastic container, following it up with noodles, and that oh-so-pleasant hum fills the room.

  I sit at one of the tables while Cassie plugs in her new PSP, and she gets my new phone charging, as well. Then we crack open some soda and sports drinks and drink straight from the bottles. The blue sports drink goes down smoothly, and I remember my dad saying once that if they taste good then you really need it. I go through twenty ounces in under five minutes; I must have really needed it. I sit back and enjoy the air conditioning blasting down on us. I don’t know how that woman found the power, but I sure do appreciate it. I actually feel cool for the first time in hours.

  The microwave dings and I put the stew into two bowls, stopping only long enough to take a good, long sniff. Ahhh.... Then I drain the water from the noodles, split that into two bowls, and pour a can of tomato sauce over both to make good, quick spaghetti. I place one of each in front of Cassie and then set a place for myself.

  “Delilah, what’s wrong with that lady?” Cassie asks while we eat.

  I shake my head. “She’s cracked. She can’t handle it.”

  “Then how did she get here?”

  “I’m guessing she has periods of reality, and then the rest of the time she’s gone.”

  “Why the bad food?”

  “You’ve never been around people who have been dieting, have you?”

  Cassie shakes her head. “My family’s naturally thin.”

  “Be glad of it. Don’t ever diet. Now, here’s a question for you – how do we get our stuff back without me getting eaten?”

  We spend the night in the back of the SuperMart, and neither the crazy lady nor zombies disturb us. I fall asleep so stuffed my stomach hurts. When we finally settle down somewhere, those are going to be my two top priorities: AC and food.

  In the morning we grab some supplies, including water bottles, some items for our attack on the zombies, and a couple of bikes. As we’re about to leave, Cassie pauses.

  “Should we say goodbye?”

  I shake my head. “We’ll just close the door good and tight. And Cassie, I know we have things to do and all, but I’d like to make a quick pit stop.”

  “Where?”

  “The bookstore. I figure we go down the alley, I shoot the door, and we go in.”

  “Won’t the noise alert the zombies?”

  “I don’t think so. She got in, after all.”

  “Okay.” Cassie shrugs.

  So we go to the door of the bookstore. Just for kicks I try the handle, but unfortunately it’s locked so, looking both ways, I back up and shoot it. Thanks to my bad
aim, it takes three tries but I eventually get it open. Cassie runs off to the music section – she’s apparently not into books the way I am - and I just stand there a few seconds.

  It’s quiet, and dark, but it’s just that wonderful feeling of being in a bookstore. What will I find? But, unfortunately, even though I have all the money in the world, basically, at this point I can’t spend two hours in here looking for something to read.

  Please, God, let us get civilization back, because I don’t want to reach a point where I’ve read every book available.

  Don’t laugh – it could happen – there are only so many of them.

  But this time, since I’m on a schedule, I head directly for the books I want. I go down the aisles until I find the area that has novels by Laurell K. Hamilton. I pick up a paperback, the next one in the series, the one my mom said I needed to wait until I’m older to read, and I hold it flat in my hand.

  Here it is. Now I can finally know what happens next. But I just stand there and think of my mom. Before the world died, I’d been planning on reading this in spite of what she said. I was going to sneak bits of it at a time during trips to the library. And really, what can possibly be in this book that I should be protected from now, after all that’s happened?

  But I put it back.

  “Love you, Mom,” I whisper.

  Then I run down the aisles to find the next book by Rachel Vincent instead. I slip it into my bag and find Cassie.

  Okay, when we get set up, I’ll want AC, food and a local bookstore.

  #

  I push open the back door to make sure our exit is clear, and unfortunately Cassie was right. The noise I made breaking into the store did bring some zombies. The good news is they’re the slow kind and they’re just now coming around the bend at the far end.

  “Cassie, be ready to ride fast,” I say and get on my bike. She pushes hers around the door, sees the empty-heads, and follows me.

  I know it’s stupid, but a part of me is starting to enjoy this. The day is warm, but not hot yet, and as I pedal my bike a slight breeze ruffles my hair. I imagine I look super-hot, like a young supermodel-to-be. A heartbreaker.