In the Lone and Level Sands

by David Lovato

  The truck was red. It slowed as it came down the road toward her. Despite her ducking off of the road, someone had seen her. The truck came to a halt, and the passenger window rolled down. There were two men inside. The driver wore sunglasses and a cap, and the passenger wore a denim jacket and kept a toothpick in his mouth.

  “Hey,” the passenger said.

  “Hey,” Zoe replied. The two men looked at each other.

  “You ain’t one of ‘em,” the passenger said.

  “No.”

  “You doin’ all right? Been bitten? If they bite you, you turn into one of ‘em.”

  “I’m fine. Not bitten. You?”

  “Nope.”

  The three continued to stare.

  “Where you headed?” the driver asked.

  “I don’t know. Wherever this road goes.”

  “The city,” the passenger said. “And then what?”

  “I guess I’ll try to find some safe place.”

  The two men looked at each other, and then shared a brief, exaggerated laugh.

  “Kid, there ain’t no place safe anymore.”

  “I’ll find some place safer.”

  “Now there’s a plan,” the driver said.

  “You need a ride?” the passenger asked.

  “No thanks,” Zoe said. She didn’t entirely mistrust these two, but she questioned the safety of being in a vehicle on the city streets.

  “You sure?” the driver said. “We’re headed down this road anyway.”

  “Yeah. But thanks. A lot.”

  “Sure thing,” the driver said. He revved the engine, and the windows rolled up. The truck started off, but then stopped and backed up again. The passenger-side window rolled down.

  “Just so you know,” the passenger said, “there may not be any place safe anymore. But there are safe people to be in them with.”

  “I’ll remember that,” Zoe said.

  “It’d do you good. Just be careful. There’s a lot of depraved people out there.”

  “I think we’re all a little depraved, these days,” Zoe said. The two laughed again, even after the window rolled up. The truck went on down the road, and Zoe never saw it or its occupants again.

  A few hours went by, and late in the afternoon, the sun began to show through the thinning clouds. The road widened and the trees thinned, and in the distance, Zoe could see buildings. More houses lined the road, which had, at some point unknown to her, become pocked with streetlights and power lines. Zoe had reached the city.

  It wasn’t as unsafe as she had imagined. Strangely, she didn’t see anyone. There were a few wrecked cars, a few bodies, but no people, living or zombie.

  She saw a nearby building. It was tall, but by no means a skyscraper. The land around it was occupied by mud-caked sidewalks and curbs, cement trucks, and cranes, and it occurred to her that she had reached a large lot of un-developed properties. The nearest buildings, especially the tall one, were most likely empty even before the world had gone insane.

  Then it occurred to Zoe that she had found what was probably the safest place she’d find in this city. That building, most likely devoid of people, might have a few finished rooms, a shelter with all sides covered. It wouldn’t be comfortable, it might be cold, and there would almost certainly be no power, but it was out of the way, and it was likely safe.

  Zoe started across the muddy lot toward the tall, grey building.

  35

  In Art’s Office Suite

  After a few days in the Cardigan, the canned food was nearly gone, as were most of the perishables. Jennifer had made herself a ham sandwich one night, but left the package out by mistake. In the morning Jason chewed her out for it, and Jennifer tried to apologize, but in the end, it was Evan who ended Jason’s rant.

  “She didn’t mean to, Jason!” he said. “It was an honest mistake! We were going to run out soon anyway.”

  Jason sighed and sat down on one of the couches. “I’m sorry for exploding on you, Jen.”

  “It’s fine.”

  Later that day, Evan sat on the couch against the left wall of the office, the sun shining brightly on his back. Mal was sitting in a chair across from him, and Cynthia sat next to him. They had their hands full of playing cards. It was their third game of Go Fish.

  “How much food do we have left?” Stephanie asked from across the room. She was leaning against one of the double-paned windows.

  “I figure we have enough for tonight and breakfast tomorrow,” Evan said. “It would probably be a good idea to grab some more from the kitchen.”

  “What if we can’t get to it?” Cynthia said.

  “Well, we’re going to have to. This is not going to end soon, and we’re running out of food.”

  “Do you have any threes?” Mal asked.

  “We could just go tomorrow after breakfast,” Jennifer said.

  “We should probably just go today, and definitely before nightfall.”

  “Yeah, we shouldn’t wait,” Jason said.

  “Do you have any kings?” Cynthia asked Evan. He smirked.

  “Yeah.” He sighed, and handed his two kings over. Cynthia set them down with the two she had.

  Daisy was sitting on the couch across from Evan and his family. She had her head buried in a book, one of King’s collections. She turned the page, and then set it face-down on her lap. “So, when do we head down to Hell?” she said, then smacked a piece of gum on the side of her mouth.

  “When this game is over, we’ll get ready and dive right in,” Evan said.

  A few minutes later, Evan stacked the cards, put them back in the box, and set them on the table. Evan, Jason, Stephanie, Eugene, Jennifer, and Daisy all gathered weapons and some minor first aid supplies and prepared to leave.

  “Cynthia?” Evan said.

  “What?” She noticed the concern in his eyes, and knew what he was about to say.

  “I think it would be best if you stay up here with Mal. It’s too dangerous for her to come with.”

  “I was thinking the same thing,” Cynthia said.

  “There’s an extra cleaver over on the window sill, just in case… You know.”

  “Okay. Hurry back, guys”

  “Daddy, wait!”

  “What is it, Mal?” Evan knelt down to her level. She hugged him.

  “Be careful down there. Don’t get hurt, okay?”

  Evan smiled. `“I won’t, honey. I’ll be fine. You keep your mommy safe, and do as she says.” Mal nodded.

  “I will!”

  Evan gave Mal a kiss on her face, stood back up, and headed off. He heard Cynthia doing the best she could to move things back in front of the door after they left.

  Evan moved to the front of the group. “Everyone stay together, and be quiet. If they don’t hear us, we should be okay. Be ready for a fight, though. They could be anywhere.”

  The six survivors moved down the hall. It was about ten feet wide. To their left was another office suite like Art’s. Farther down the hall, there were more offices, these ones much smaller.

  Along the hall, a few of the windows were smashed. One had blood around the edges of the glass and along the window frame, then trailing across the hall. It was as if someone had been pulled through the opening and dragged away.

  “We need to move more quickly,” Evan said.

  The group sped up, and soon they reached the stairs. The staircase was dark, and they couldn’t see much, but they pressed on. They continued downward, not finding any trouble along the way, and made it to the floor the cafeteria was on.

  Evan moved a cautious hand to the doorknob. He looked back at the others and nodded with a quick “Shh.” He walked through and immediately spotted zombies down the hall, chewing on a body. Both zombies wore blood-soaked suits, tattered, one’s tie undone. One of them looked toward Evan. Daisy pushed through the door, followed by Jason, and then Jennifer.

  The first zombie’s abrupt lack of interest in their current meal made the other one halt as we
ll. They stood up.

  “Fuck,” Evan said. Both zombies charged, almost at the pace of a jog.

  A third zombie emerged from a room to the right and tackled Jennifer. She screamed as her body smashed against the door to the stairs, slamming it shut, with Stephanie and Eugene on the other side. Stephanie tried to push the door open, but with two bodies in front of it, there was no use.

  Jason was trying to pry the zombie off of Jennifer. He was having a hell of a time, as the zombie was once a big man.

  When the first well-dressed zombie was close enough, Evan thrust his cleaver forward and hit it in the skull, knocking it to the floor. Evan pulled the cleaver out as blood rushed down the zombie’s already blood-caked face. It was still squirming, so Evan struck again, slicing its throat, nearly severing its head. The zombie stopped moving.

  Daisy had sunk her cleaver into the second zombie’s head, not enough to kill it, but enough for the cleaver to get stuck. The zombie fell from the impact, grabbed Evan on its way down, and the two hit the floor. Evan dropped his cleaver, and the zombie was upon him. He pushed against the zombie while blood dripped from its head wound onto his shirt. Daisy grabbed at the zombie’s arms and tugged as hard as she could, trying to give Evan enough room to get out from under it.

  “Get this damn thing off me!” Jennifer said, trying to push the third zombie off of her.

  Jason grabbed it by the hem of its stained jacket. He used all the strength he could muster to try to pull the zombie off of her. The zombie was too big. Jason decided to take another route. He raised his cleaver with both hands and threw himself downward. The cleaver hit the zombie’s shoulder and all but bounced off. Jason raised again and struck, but the zombie rolled over to see what had attacked it, and the blade of the cleaver slammed down between Jennifer’s eyes, splitting her face in half. She let out a quick, sharp screech as the blade made contact, and nothing more. Blood ran down her cheeks and dripped onto the floor.

  Jason backed away, speechless. He wanted to crawl underneath a rock and never be seen again. “Fuck. I-I killed her.” He pulled closer to the wall, too afraid to even attempt to help Evan, worried that he’d somehow kill Evan, too.

  Daisy’s arms were getting tired, but Evan was finally able to squirm out from under the zombie. Daisy shoved the zombie, it fell to the floor, and she swung her cleaver into its face. The cold metal sank deep into its skull, blood splattered on Daisy’s face and shirt. The zombie wriggled for a moment, and then lay still. Daisy yanked the cleaver out and wiped the blade with her shirt, looking at Evan with an adrenaline-fed fire burning in her eyes.

  “Thanks, Daisy,” Evan said.

  “Don’t mention it, hon. You okay?”

  “Yeah, I’ll be all right.” Evan looked at Jason, who sat against the wall, staring at his cleaver as it stuck out from Jennifer’s head. “I can ask Jason the same question.”

  Evan and Daisy moved the bodies aside and let Eugene and Stephanie in. Eugene covered his mouth, and Stephanie looked at Jason.

  “I killed her,” he said. “I didn’t mean to, the fucking—”

  “Jason,” Stephanie said. “It’s all right.” She moved to Jason’s side. “It wasn’t your fault. You were just trying to help her.”

  “I’ve never killed a person before,” Jason said. He looked at Stephanie. “I don’t want to do it again.”

  “You won’t.” Stephanie hugged him, and he returned the hug with tears running down his face.

  “We have to go,” Evan said. “We’ll have time to mourn later. I don’t mean to sound insensitive, but we need to keep moving.”

  The group headed down the hall toward the cafeteria. There was a small cluster of zombies farther down, feasting on two or three bodies. None of the zombies seemed to notice them. They continued quietly to the cafeteria door.

  Evan peered inside the cafeteria, and noticed a few changes. There were planks over the door, and inside the room, a man was pacing back and forth in a tattered and bloody tuxedo and slacks. Sitting on a table not too far away was a woman in a once long, flowing, white gown. It was now a short, ragged, bloody dress. She was barefoot, mascara had run down her face and dried.

  Evan knocked loud enough on the window to get the couple’s attention, but not loud enough to attract the zombies. The couple looked up, the man stopped pacing and marched over to the door. He put his face up to the window.

  “What do you want?” he said. His face disappeared as he lowered his head to spit tobacco onto the floor.

  “We’re from the 22nd floor,” Evan said, “and we’re low on food. We need in.” He looked down the hall that led to the foyer of the Cardigan. The buzzards were still feeding.

  “Well, ain’t that just too bad?”

  “We need you to open this door, please. You can either come upstairs with us, or you can stay down here. Either way, there’s plenty of food in the kitchen, and we need some.”

  The man’s wife appeared next to him.

  “Ain’t that real nice of you?” the man said. “You’re giving us choices! Hear that, Vanessa? We’ve got more than one fuckin’ choice!” He laughed, but his amusement faded quickly as he looked back at Evan. “How about a third choice: Beat it! This is our place now. All the food is ours, and we ain’t sharing!”

  “Butch!” the bride said. “Let them in! Wait, none have you have been bitten, right?”

  Evan and the others shook their heads, and then Vanessa looked condescendingly at Butch.

  “Let them in, Butch! Just fucking let them in! They could really help us out here!”

  Butch sighed and started taking down the barricade he had set up over the door. He pulled a board off, and it slipped from his hands, landed on the ground with a loud clack!, and vibrated a few times, making a warbling sound until it finally settled.

  The zombies down the hall stood up and looked toward the noise. They were confused for a moment, but once they realized there was fresh meat nearby, they charged.

  “Shit!” Jason said.

  The zombies were almost jogging, still moving unsteadily, but much faster than Evan and the others were used to.

  “Are you almost done?” Daisy shouted through the door. She positioned herself next to Evan, facing the oncoming zombies, ready for the attack.

  “I’m moving as fast as I can!” Butch said. He had retrieved a crowbar and was using it to tear off the wooden planks. He spit out another mouthful of tobacco.

  “Come and get it!” Daisy said. Stephanie and Eugene faced the opposite direction, where a few more zombies had appeared from other rooms and hallways.

  “Are you going to be okay?” Stephanie asked Eugene.

  “Yes. I’ll b-be fine. Thank you.” His face displayed an uncomfortable expression; he had enough trouble meeting new people, let alone being attacked by approaching zombies who plan on eating anything that moves.

  Jason stood between the two duos, frantically trying to pay attention both to Butch’s progress and the oncoming zombies. One rushed straight for Evan. He made a downward slice right on the top of the zombie’s skull. A sickening crack and a small spray of blood, and then Evan ripped the cleaver out of the zombie’s head as it fell to the ground.

  One zombie was heading toward Daisy. When it got close enough, she reached out and slashed its throat. It still made a grab for her, but she lifted her leg up and kicked, pushing it backward. She swung the cleaver again, bringing it right into the next zombie’s temple.

  Eugene stepped forward, bringing his cleaver down on a smaller zombie, a female not much taller than four feet. He ripped the cleaver out of her head, skin tore, blood poured down her face, and she grunted. Eugene forced the blade into her skull again, and then she collapsed.

  Evan turned to the cafeteria entrance and looked in. “Are you almost done?”

  “Half-way, guys,” Butch said. “Hang on out there!”

  A few more zombies came into view down the hall. Jason turned to the door and pounded. “Hurry up, Butch!”

&
nbsp; “I’m working as fast as I fucking can!”

  A zombie came very close to pinning Evan against the wall, but he was able to shove it back. While the zombie was recoiling, he lurched forward and ended its life with a strong downward thrust into its brain. After that, he noticed Stephanie was in need of assistance; she had lost hold of her cleaver and was currently engaged in hand-to-hand combat with one of the zombies. Evan knocked the zombie away, and then sliced at it.

  “Thanks,” Stephanie said. “I’m sorry. I just—”

  “Don’t worry about it. You would have done the same thing for me.” Evan wiped sweat and blood from his forehead.

  “Last couple of boards here!” Butch said. Vanessa helped move the boards and the tables out of the way. Finally, Butch opened the door and gestured wildly to the survivors in the hall. Evan and company poured into the room, and Butch shut the door just in time to block the oncoming zombies. They pounded on it like there was no tomorrow, and the chorus of moaning went on and on. The newlyweds covered the door and held it shut, and Butch looked frantically at the others, who ran into the kitchen to gather more rations.

  “Get the shit, and let’s get the fuck out!” Butch said with his back to the doors. Frantically, the others gathered food and supplies. As they were finishing, Butch screamed. Evan set down the supplies he’d gathered and hurried out to the main eating area.

  “Butch!” Vanessa said.

  A zombie had managed to push the door open and grab Butch. Vanessa was doing her best to pry the two apart while still holding the doors shut. The zombies reached in through the small gap between the doors, not minding when the hard wood slammed into their arms and legs. Another zombie tugged sharply at Butch’s blood-stained slacks. This forced Butch to the floor, and he cried out in pain as his kneecap slammed into the ground. Pain shot through his leg. He grabbed his knee, then one of the zombies sank its cold, bloody teeth into his ankle.

  “No!” Vanessa screamed.

  Others from the kitchen dropped their gatherings near Evan’s and went to help. Evan and Eugene worked to pull Butch free while Stephanie and Vanessa kept the doors closed. Daisy took care of the zombie biting Butch.